Dekker’s cheeks burned. “Well, I sort of hoped that Cobb wouldn’t be here, so we could get Riley and your music box and sneak out without anyone noticing. And if he does show up, well, maybe we could distract him with something, like before?” Hopefully, he held up Riley’s pink backpack.
Harper sighed. “All right, how about you start here, and I’ll go upstairs. Give me the walkie-talkie. If I run into trouble, I’ll call you.”
Dekker passed Harper a handset from Riley’s backpack and watched as she sneaked up the stairs and into the kitchen. He walked over to the wooden rolltop desk in the corner of the basement. He turned the key that stuck out of the lock, and the rolltop slid up smoothly. Inside the desk lay a large leather-bound book. The cover was embossed with a title in dark letters: Tilted Station—Schedules. Dust scattered as Dekker opened the heavy volume. The pages inside were brittle, and as he turned them, bits crumbled from their edges. It looked like a handwritten phone book, with columns of dates, times and passenger names scrawled in dark ink. Dekker hit the button on the walkie-talkie. “Harper, do you read me? I found an old train logbook. Some of these entries are from about a hundred years ago. There’s a Miss Primrose on the first page.”
Harper’s voice crackled out of the handset. “I knew she was old, but not that old. No wonder she’s so grouchy. The main floor’s trashed, but empty.”
“Where are you now?”
“Your aunt’s bedroom. It’s still perfect, like no one’s been here. Turned-down blankets, fancy pillows, all where they should be.”
“Weird.” Dekker riffled ahead in the book until he found that day’s date. “The next train is the midnight train. And our names are on the list. Not just ours—Riley’s and Cobb’s too.”
Harper’s voice crackled through the walkie-talkie. “That solves one problem—how we get out of here. Now all we have to do is get Riley.”
He glanced through the train schedule for more clues. Huh, that’s weird. He tore the page he was looking at out of the book and stuffed it into his pocket. “Okay, I’m coming up. Wait for me there.”
“Copy that,” said Harper.
Dekker walked through the house, passing by the makeshift fort in the living room and the piles of books and knickknacks that had been pulled from the shelves. He crept up to the second-floor landing and peeked into his bedroom. There was Riley, sitting cross-legged on the floor. Cobb sat facing her, his back to the door. A white music box, fine and delicate, sat between them on the floor, along with a stuffed bear. Some toddler-sized toy soldiers stood guard on either side of the door.
Cobb sighed loudly. “No, I told you already: your stuffies can’t join forces with my soldiers.”
“But why?” asked Riley. Dekker smiled. He used to hate it when Riley did that, but now it was music to his ears.
“Because they’re soldiers. They have a job to do. They don’t have time to be in a family.”
Riley swiped at the soldiers, and they clattered against the wall. “You’re no good at playing. Dekker always lets his soldiers be in a family with my stuffies. I want Dekker back.”
Cobb jeered. “Say that one more time and you’ll regret it. I’m your brother now.”
“I wish he was here, not you.”
Dekker burst into the room between the guards. “Wish granted!” he shouted. Dekker kicked Cobb hard from behind, and he toppled against the bed.
Cobb turned, his face tight with rage. “How dare you!”
Before he could get up, Dekker spoke again. “Don’t even think about attacking me. I did it. I found Riley. And,” he said, pointing out the window, “I did it before the Nightclock reached midnight.” Dekker turned to Riley as Cobb got to his feet. “Are you okay?”
Riley wrapped her arms around his waist and looked up at him, eyes shining. “I knew you’d come.”
Cobb faced them. He smoothed his paper-white hair away from his face. The black marbles spun in his eye sockets. “I hate to break up the family reunion, but we must resolve this quickly. Riley and I will be leaving soon.”
“That wasn’t part of our deal. You said you’d leave Riley alone and answer my question if I found her in time, and I did.”
Riley pointed at Cobb. “Yeah, and there’s no way I’m going with you.”
Cobb flashed his glittery teeth. “But you do want to get home, don’t you? And as your other brother will be staying here, I’m your only way out.”
Dekker crossed his arms. “You can’t go back on your deal. You promised to play by the rules. And I know the rules mean something here.”
But Cobb kept grinning. “I have no intention of breaking the rules. But when you’re dead, I think you’ll find that what you want to ask me is quite different from what you first had in mind.” He took a step forward. “Then I can do as I please. And what pleases me is to take your place on Dayside. Which I shall do once I have your heart.”
Cobb blinked, his pale eyelids briefly hiding the black marbles that were turning where his eyes should have been. Then he lunged forward, but instead of attacking Dekker, he dodged to the right and grabbed Riley’s wrist. She shrieked as she stumbled toward Cobb. Dekker grabbed her other wrist and pulled, but Cobb was too strong. Riley moved slowly toward the bed, where two sharpened soldiers stood at the ready. Dekker yanked Riley toward him. She screamed again.
“Now!” shouted Cobb. “Do it now!”
Dekker felt something brush against his cheek, and Harper was there beside him. She held Cobb’s knife against Dekker’s throat. He let go of Riley’s arm, and she fell onto the bed. The sharpened soldiers held her back.
Cobb lunged forward and drove his shoulder into Dekker’s chest. Dekker fell to the floor, the wind knocked out of him. Cobb straddled Dekker and pinned his arms to the floor with his knees. His marble eyes stopped spinning, and Dekker could see his own face reflected on their surface. “So long, Dekker. It’s been fun.” He made one hand into a rigid claw, his fingertips like talons, and then he drove his fingers under Dekker’s rib cage.
Dekker gasped. He felt as if he were being crushed between two immense stones. His chest burned as Cobb’s fingers dug deeper. He screamed. He heard his bones cracking, and his vision filled with a dull red light. The room narrowed to a small tunnel, and everything went quiet. Except for an intense heat in his chest, he couldn’t feel his body. Far away, he could hear Riley crying. The air smelled scorched, like an empty frying pan left too long on a hot stove.
At the end of the tunnel in Dekker’s vision, he saw Cobb stand up and raise something small and golden above his head in triumph. Dekker expected the tunnel to close forever at any moment. Instead, the burning sensation in his chest became searingly cold and spread through the rest of his body, as if his blood had turned to ice. He began to travel through the tunnel back toward the bedroom. The room grew bigger, but all the color had leached out, and it was black and white. A pale Riley stood by the window, tears streaming down her face. Harper was frowning and talking angrily to Cobb. The smell of burning metal intensified and seemed to trickle down Dekker’s throat. For a moment he heard a clock ticking and felt a wind humming in his ears, like dozens of voices whispering. Just when he thought he couldn’t listen anymore, there was a snick, like the sound of scissors, and the voices stopped.
Cobb held the music box protectively against his chest as he tried to wave Harper and Riley out the door to the landing. “You’ll get your precious box when I’m done with it.”
“My mom gave that to me—you don’t even know how to use it!” Harper protested.
Cobb growled at her and pointed to the doorway. “Get moving, now. Our deal’s off if we miss that train.”
Dekker labored to breathe. Then he realized with concern that he didn’t need to anymore. He only needed air for talking. He took a breath and called out as the others left the room. “Wait.” His voice sounded hoarse. He struggled to sit up. He reached for the bed and pulled himself to his knees. He swayed for a moment, trying to find his balance.<
br />
Cobb stopped and looked back. He sneered. “So you survived. You’re tougher than I thought. Not that it will matter.” He faced Dekker. “Very well. Ask your question. What do you want to know now that you’re dead?”
Dekker staggered forward. His legs felt like they had been dipped in lead. He leaned against the doorframe. “No, Cobb, you’ve forgotten how to play Finding Things.” He took another breath and tried to talk again. It felt like filling a balloon with air, then letting the air escape slowly. “Both players have to take a turn. It’s your turn to be the finder.”
“No! The game’s over.”
Riley crossed her arms. “He’s right. That’s the rule. Otherwise it’s not fair.”
Cobb’s marbles spun in their sockets. He looked at the mark on his palm; it was almost a perfect half-skull too. “Fine. We’ll play your game, and then I’m out of here. I know every inch of the borderland. What do you want me to find?”
Dekker looked into the marble eyes. “I want you to find Captain Tom.”
“Forget it! The dog’s not of the borderlands. That’s not fair.”
“Yes it is,” Riley said. “He’s here somewhere, so he still counts.”
Dekker nodded. “That’s always the way we’ve played it. And try to find him soon, or you’re out of the game.”
“Oh, I’ll find him, and then he’ll pay too.” He turned to the two girls. “Get moving. I haven’t got all night.”
“You promised to leave Riley out of it,” said Dekker.
Cobb laughed, and it sounded like gears grinding together in an old machine. “Take her. Now that I have the heart, I don’t need her anyway.”
“Did you really make him promise to leave me alone if you found me?” Riley asked Dekker.
“Yes,” said Dekker.
“Good,” she said, and she kicked Cobb in the shin as hard as she could. He yowled, and she ran to stand beside her brother.
Cobb turned to Harper. “Come on. If you want your precious music box, stay close to me.” He limped out of the room. Harper turned to follow.
“Harper, why? I would’ve helped you get it back,” Dekker said.
She wouldn’t meet his gaze. “You would have tried, but he’s too strong here. This was my only chance.”
“Is he going to let you go back to your dad?”
“He’s taking me to the station. If I want the music box, I have to get on the next train. I need it, or I can’t get back to Dayside. Without it I’ll be stuck here, wandering. If it means returning to the realms below to get it—well then, that’s where I have to go. Maybe once I have it, I can come back. I don’t know. I’m sorry, Dekker. Sorry for everything.” One of the sharpened soldiers shoved her forward, and Harper stumbled out of the room after Cobb.
Dekker staggered back to the bed. “Thanks, Riley. I couldn’t have gotten Cobb to keep playing without you.” She looked at him and tried to smile, but her eyes filled with tears. “Be honest. How bad do I look?”
“Your skin is the color of Aunt Primrose’s mystery casserole.”
“That bad, hey?”
She pulled up the front of his shirt with two fingers, then held her breath and peeked quickly at his chest. “I don’t get it. You’re not bleeding or anything. There’s just a hole where your heart was. Shouldn’t you have died when Cobb got your heart?”
“I don’t know. Maybe dead means something different here. I’m cold right to the bone, and I’m getting colder. My body feels so heavy; I just want to close my eyes and sleep. But I’m afraid if I do, I’ll be gone for good.” With an effort, he lifted his hand to rest it on Riley’s arm. “I’ll need your help if we’re going to escape.”
“I can do it.”
“I know you can.”
Nine
Dekker leaned on Riley as they descended the stairs. The house was quiet as they passed through the living room and the kitchen. “Looks like Cobb sent all his troops to search for Captain Tom,” Dekker said.
“Who’s Captain Tom?”
Dekker sat down at the kitchen table. His arms and legs were already weak. “It’s Ranger. But he says to call him Captain Tom. At least, that’s what he told me. He saved me from Cobb twice already.”
“What do you mean, he told you?”
“He can talk. We just never understood him before. I have an idea how we can get back to Dayside. And be rid of Cobb once and for all. But we’re going to need the captain’s help.” Dekker leaned on Riley’s shoulder again as they crept out the back door. The oversized toy soldiers were searching the garden. The thought that he was now literally heartless made Dekker sick with fear. He had no idea how that would work in Dayside. But a small insistent voice inside his head forced him to keep moving. Don’t think about it. Just get Riley home. “I don’t think we can get to the train station directly. There are too many soldiers, and we’re not fast enough. Or at least, I’m not fast enough.”
Riley pointed to the edge of the field. “See those trees and that dip on the other side of the yard? Maybe we could try going that way.”
“That’ll give us some cover too. Nice one.”
Riley grinned up at him. They moved out of the yard and crept along the fence. “So how are we going to get out of here?”
Dekker pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and passed it to her. “Look at what I found in the basement. It’s from a book that has all the train schedules in it.” He pointed to two spots on the page. “This is the passenger manifest for the midnight train. It lists Cobb, Harper, you and me as passengers. That means we’re all supposed to get onto that train somehow. Now look down here at the bottom of the page. This is the entry for the dawn train. It lists you as a passenger, and the station agent told me it has the power to take people home.”
Riley wrinkled her brow. “What about you?” she asked.
“I haven’t figured that out yet.” Dekker started to say more but stopped when he heard a rustling in the trees ahead. They crouched in the tall grass that lined the fence. “What is it? Can you see anything? Everything looks black and white to me.”
Riley leaned forward, trying to peer between the nearest trees. Suddenly, she jumped to her feet and ran forward.
“Riley, come back!” Dekker said, struggling to his feet. He heard more rustling from the bushes and then Riley’s laughter.
“Easy now,” came Captain Tom’s voice from the trees. A moment later, Riley emerged with the dog trotting beside her, his black tail wagging. His ears flattened against his head when he saw Dekker. “What happened, lad?” he said, sniffing the air. “You smell awful.”
Dekker shivered. “Harper turned on me, and Cobb got my heart. I think I’m dead.”
Captain Tom shook his head. “She must have believed he was her only chance for escape, poor lass.”
“Poor lass? I thought we were helping each other. I thought she liked me. But she was just using me to get what she wanted.”
“There now. When she realizes she’ll get little satisfaction from Cobb, she’ll feel all the worse for what she’s done.”
Captain Tom padded closer to Dekker and licked his hand. Dekker felt immediately warmer where the dog had touched him. “No,” said Captain Tom, “I know what completely dead tastes like. You’re only nearly dead. But you’ve got to find your heart soon, or you’ll be too far gone to get back to Dayside.” He licked Dekker again and flopped down beside him. “This may look undignified for a sea captain, but if I warm you up, you may last a bit longer. Sit down here with me. I’ll try not to notice that you smell like rotten fish, and you tell me your plan.”
After getting his instructions, Captain Tom loped away toward the house. Riley shouldered her backpack and helped Dekker to his feet. Dekker leaned on her more heavily as they neared the train station, and Riley staggered along the fence as best she could. The moon rose through the sky; it would soon be midnight. When they reached the station, they climbed the wooden steps to the platform and approached the ticket counter.
/> The station agent was waiting for them. “Tickets?” he rasped.
“Yes, please. Two tickets for the midnight train.”
Riley pulled on her brother’s arm and whispered, “Dekker, did you know that man has no skin on his hands?”
The skeleton man flexed his long fingers and tapped them in an intricate pattern on the counter. “Station agents always come from the Bone clan. As our flesh gives way to bone, we forget who we once were and so learn the ways of the dead.” He turned his sallow face toward Dekker. “The train at the Witching Hour—are you sure? That train’s bound for Understory, deep into Nightside. The dead don’t come back from there. In your condition, it will be the last train you take.”
Dekker nodded. “Yes, sir, we’re sure.”
The agent frowned and turned his gaze to Riley. “Do you know what it means to ride down into the valley, young lady? Let your brother pass into the realms below. You should take the dawn train back to where you belong, in Dayside.”
She shook her head once, sharply. “I’m sticking with my brother.”
The skeleton man printed out two tickets and slid them silently through the slot. His gray eyes were full of worry.
They turned away and went into the small waiting room at the end of the platform. There they drew the curtains across the window, and Riley sat down on a wooden bench. Dekker lay down and closed his eyes. “I just need to rest for a minute. Tell me when the train’s here, all right?”
Riley squeezed his shoulder. “Not too long, okay?”
Dekker closed his eyes. “Can you check the walkie-talkie? It’s got to be working if we’re going to pull this off.”
She pulled a walkie-talkie out of her backpack and fiddled with the knobs. “Hey, Dekker?”
“Yeah?”
“What’s it like being—you know—dead? Is it cold? Like being outside in winter in just a T-shirt?”
“No. It’s more like winter is inside you. There’s no color, just black and white. And there’s a wind I can hear but not feel, like whispering. I feel cut off, somehow, from what I know.”
Button Hill Page 6
