Not wanting Alex to suffocate before he had a chance to speak to Grandfather, Chase popped up the built-in drinking spout. Then, sliding the bottle back into his bag, he headed down the street to Doctor Dan's house and clinic. Was this going to freak out everyone or what? It was beginning to freak him out now that he had time to think about it. He actually had a Marlowe riding in his backpack! And he'd thought his birthday was going to be just another boring day.
Running across the smooth, well-trimmed lawn, he jogged up Doctor Dan's front stairs and shoved the door open. Except for the wedge of light coming through the doorway, it was pitch black inside. His heart began to pound. Was it some sort of trap, after all? If so, it was a strange way to go about it, what with one of their guys trapped in the water bottle. And even if Alex did morph into smoke and escape out the spout, he needed Chase's magic to get back to normal.
Chase eased the door shut and edged down the short hall to the waiting room. Where were his mom and everyone else? Maybe the other Marlowes were already here, holding them hostage. Instead of going in, he should probably head home to get help. He stepped back just as loud yelling filled the air.
"SURPRISE! SURPRISE!"
The lights flashed on.
Chase stumbled back, stepped on his own foot, and fell to the floor. “Owowow!" Blinking in the sudden brightness, he saw a bunch of faces peering down at him. "I—I thought something awful had happened to you guys," he choked out.
"It's a surprise party, dork," said Persephone. "You're fourteen now, remember?"
"Are you okay?" said Anne.
Chase pushed himself to his feet and massaged his elbow. "Mostly. My backpack broke my fall. Backpack. Oh no!"
He whipped off his pack and zipped it open. He carefully pulled his water bottle from it. Alex was sprawled on the bottom.
Chase tapped on the plastic. "Hey, are you alive? Alex? Can you hear me?"
At last, Alex sat up. He rubbed his head and scrunched up his face. Shaking his finger at Chase, he yelled something. Chase didn't know what, but he was pretty sure Alex wasn't telling Chase how awesome he was.
"Sorry," Chase mouthed.
"What do you have there?" asked Ben, bending to take a closer look.
"Some kind of new bug?" said Andy. "Cool! Let me see."
"He's not a bug," said Chase. "He's a Marlowe."
CHAPTER NINE
Marlowe Time
Everyone drew back and looked at Chase as if he'd just announced—well, as if he'd just announced he'd let a Marlowe into Doctor Dan's house.
"Holy Frankenstein!" cried Andy.
"A Marlowe!" exclaimed Nori. "We thought you were at school!"
"I knew it was unsafe out there," said Anne, twisting her fingers together.
"No worries, Mom," said Chase. "I handled it just fine."
"How did you capture a Marlowe?" asked Ben as he stared into the bottle.
"I didn't," said Chase. "He surrendered." Chase paused. Was this the "surrender or die" thing Nori had warned him about? If so, then why the heck had she acted like it was such a big deal?
"He just walked up to you and surrendered?" said Ben, looking as though he found this difficult to believe.
"Yep, and I brought him to see Grandfather," said Chase. "Is he around?"
"He's in the waiting room," said Persephone.
Chase squeezed past everyone and rushed into the spacious room. It now looked like an undersea paradise with silvery sand, tall green plants, and rainbow-colored coral. Tropical sea creatures swam all around as if they really were in water, and the usually white walls were now ocean-blue.
Chase waved his hand to swish away the dozens of shimmering fish darting all around him. He saw Mrs. Periwinkle across the room. She was lounging in a chair carved out of a rock dotted with golden sea stars. Next to her was Grandfather, seated in another strange-looking chair.
"Uh…are you sitting on an octopus?" Chase asked, staring at the large brown creature. Its long arms, with its round suckers, were twisted around to form the chair's legs and armrests.
Grandfather glanced down. "Yes, I do believe I am. It's a bit mushy, but quite comfortable. Now, what is all this ruckus I hear?"
"You're never gonna believe it!" exclaimed Andy as everyone else crowded around.
"Okay," said Chase, "don't freak out or anything, Grandfather, but I have Alexander Marlowe in this bottle."
Grandfather's eyebrows shot up. "Marlowe, you say?"
"Yeah, and he says he wants asylum with us," said Chase. "Here, I'll let him explain."
Chase opened the water bottle. Squatting, he slowly emptied the contents onto the floor. Alex rolled out and lay sprawled there, looking rumpled and upset about his rough ride in Chase's backpack.
"I don't know about this—" began Anne.
"Grow," said Chase, flicking his finger at the other boy.
ZZZZIIIIP! Alex and his bag were back to their original sizes in an instant.
"Whoa!" breathed out Andy.
Alex scrambled to stand. As he brushed his hands down his shirt in an attempt to look more presentable, he glanced around at the wide-eyed group. "Er…no need to worry," he said in a polite voice. "You have my solemn vow I'm not here to harm anyone. I don't even use dark magic. I'm only here to ask for your assistance. Please believe me; I'd rather not be associated with my—wayward family."
"Yeah, right," muttered Persephone under her breath.
When his gaze landed on Grandfather, Alex stepped forward and held out his hand for a handshake. "I'm honored to meet you, sir!"
"I never thought I'd ever hear those words coming from a Marlowe," said Grandfather as he grasped Alex's hand and gave it a quick shake. Grandfather pulled his hand away and looked at it as if he was surprised it was still intact after touching one of their hated Dark Enemy.
"I never thought I'd be saying them to you, sir," said Alex. "This is fantastic!"
"A nice Marlowe?" said Andy. "That's too weird."
"I know," said Chase. "Hard to believe, huh?"
"So none of your family knows you're here?" asked Grandfather.
Alex shook his head. "No. And I don't plan on telling them, either. It's a relief to finally be away from there."
"Hey, I have an idea," said Chase. "Why don't we do the memory charm on him? It'll give loads of info, won't it?"
"Alex must agree," said Grandfather.
Alex nodded vigorously. "Whatever you need me to do, I'll do it."
"Isn't there a way to bind his powers first, Mr. Hiram?" said Persephone. "Even if he is acting all nice, I still don't trust the guy one bit!"
"We can stop powers?" said Andy. "I didn't know that."
"Yes, Andy, we can when necessary. Good thinking, Persephone," said Grandfather. "Chase, will you do it for me, please?"
"Anything to help," said Chase. He knew Grandfather didn't want to weaken himself even more by doing too much magic.
"To accomplish this particular charm, you must do four things in exactly the order I tell you," said Grandfather. "First, you spin three times. Second, you stick your right pinkie finger into your left ear, then place your left index finger on Alex's right elbow, lastly—"
"Wait. My ear? His elbow?" Chase cut in, wrinkling his nose. "Some of the things to make these charms work are so weird. How many are there?"
"I'm not sure," said Grandfather, "but there are a number of them any magical Tinker can execute."
"Is there one to turn him into a warty toad?" muttered Anne.
Andy giggled. "Yeah."
"As I was saying," said Grandfather, "after you've done those three things, say, 'Constringo Magicus.' His magic will then be bound and everyone will feel safer."
"I don't—" began Alex, looking worried.
"Unless you want to be blasted into outer space," said Chase, "I'd go along with it if I were you."
Alex gave a quick nod and held up his bent arm. "No blasting, please."
Alex blinked. "A little bit, yeah."
Grandfather beckoned Alex closer. He knelt, and Grandfather placed his hand on top of Alex's head. "Memoria." Alex slumped across one of the octopus tentacles.
Chase, along with everyone else, hardly moved a muscle as they waited nearly ten minutes for Grandfather to finish.
At last, Alex awakened, startled to find himself almost lying in Grandfather's lap. He jumped to his feet. "I'm dreadfully sorry, sir! Did I fall asleep?"
"Well?" said Chase. "What did you find out?"
"He's telling the truth," said Grandfather, sounding surprised. "He has never used his magic for anything evil. He uses his morphing ability to move from place to place and that's it."
"I still don't trust him," said Anne.
"Me neither," said Andy, crossing his arms.
Persephone narrowed her eyes at Alex. "Marlowes are known liars."
"We can at least give him a chance, can't we, Uncle Hiram?" said Nori.
Chase's eyebrows nearly shot off his forehead. "You want to give him a chance? But you're always going on about how you can hardly wait to mop up the floor with those slimy Marlowes."
Alex grinned. "It's lovely to meet all of you as well."
Nori giggled. "Isn't it cute how a British guy can say 'lovely' and it comes out sounding cool?"
Chase shook his head. What was wrong with that girl? He'd never heard her laugh like a giddy schoolgirl before. She was always so sensible and level-headed about everything. "So, what're we going to do with him?" he asked, scowling at Alex.
"If the situation was reversed," said Anne, "I bet they'd stick Chase right back into that bottle and toss him out to sea."
"Or they'd torture him the way they did Dad," said Andy. "I guess it doesn't mean we should do it, too, even if we do think he's suspicious."
"He could know things that would be a help to us," said Ben.
"I'm quite sorry for the difficulty and pain my family has caused you," said Alex. "I would help you if I could, but I stay as far away from them as I possibly can. That's why Mum always shipped me off to boarding school. I know nothing of what their plans are."
"Have you seen our cousin Janie?" asked Andy eagerly.
"Like I said," answered Alex, shaking his head. "I don't want to be anywhere close to them."
"Plus, you can't see a dead person," Chase muttered to himself.
Andy's shoulders slumped. "I hoped maybe…"
Grandfather rubbed his finger across his mustache and squinted at Alex. "Why don't all of you, except Ben, go on to the kitchen and help Mika and Daniel fix dinner. Meanwhile, we'll speak with Alex a little more."
"But we—" Chase began.
"No arguments," said Grandfather. "Off you go."
Ducking beneath the three dolphins swimming past, Chase, Nori, Andy, Anne, and Persephone walked reluctantly from the room.
In the kitchen, Anne went to help with the Japanese dinner Mika and Doctor Dan were busy preparing—both pretending not to know something odd was going on downstairs in the waiting room. Not wanting to get in the way, the kids scooted into the breakfast booth in the corner and began snacking on the hors d'oeuvres.
They hadn't been all together like this since their disastrous trip to the attic. Everyone avoided looking at each other and concentrated on eating.
"So," said Persephone after a while, "what do you suppose they're talking about down there?"
"Who knows?" said Chase angrily. "I hate being kicked out like I'm some sort of kid."
"But you are a kid," said Andy around his mouthful of cheese and crackers.
"That's not what I mean," said Chase. "I just want to know what the heck the guy is really up to."
"I think he's kind of hot," said Nori, staring at her fingers as they swirled a chicken nugget in the barbecue sauce.
"Maybe a little," said Persephone.
"Hot!" exclaimed Chase. "Are you kidding me? A Marlowe can't be hot!"
Nori shrugged one shoulder. "I don't see why not. Besides, he doesn't want to be a bad guy, so this makes him a nicer and better-looking person in my book."
"Sick!" said Chase. He snatched up a celery stalk and snapped it into several pieces. "You are so sick!"
"How many Marlowes are there?" asked Andy, wrinkling his nose. "And why aren't there more Tinkers?"
"You'll have to ask Grandfather," said Chase. "When someone becomes a full-fledged Keeper, all the family history, like, downloads into them with the powers."
"I already asked him," said Nori, "and he said the Tinkers have had a lot of bad luck with sickness, plagues, magical mishaps, and other things through the years. Those time travelers—what are their names?"
"Charles and Beatrice?" said Andy.
"Yeah, them," said Nori. "They never came back from a trip. Uncle Hiram said they were eaten by a T-Rex or one of those carnivorous dinosaurs."
Andy snapped his fingers. "I knew that could happen!"
Chase frowned. "You know, we all know a lot of stories and secrets about our house and family. I don't want anyone blabbing anything to this Marlowe dude." He eyeballed Andy. "Especially you, Mr. Big Mouth."
"What?" said Andy. "I'd never do that!"
"Make sure you don't." As Chase chewed on a cracker, he watched Anne and Mika dumping ingredients into a bowl. Mika looked almost like her usual self. Her skin was still speckled with plaid pimples, but they were a lot smaller. Plus, her ears and hair were completely back to normal.
"Hey, Nori, has your mom been using her magic?" he asked. "She looks loads better."
"Nope," said Nori. "She still refuses, but she's doing better thanks to Persephone's necklace."
"What do you mean?" asked Chase.
Persephone pulled her necklace from under her shirt. The disk dangling from the gold chain glowed so brightly, Chase had to squinch his eyes halfway shut. "It was Mr. Hiram's idea," she said. "It's a pretty tricky procedure because it can be extremely painful if it's done wrong."
Chase frowned. "If what's done wrong?" Even as he asked, he had a sneaking suspicion he knew exactly what. He rubbed his temple as he remembered the dream he had about his magic being sucked out of him by the Shard.
"Magic siphoning," said Persephone. "But we have to do it exactly right and for only two seconds at a time, or it'll cause her extreme pain."
"And Grandfather thinks this is okay?" exclaimed Chase.
"It was his idea," said Persephone. "We're being extra careful."
Not wanting Mika to hear, Chase leaned in closer and hissed, "That's crazy! It's way too dangerous."
"Look," said Nori, glaring at Chase, "she said they're being careful. They're not incompetent! Besides, I think Uncle Hiram knows plenty more about it than you do. And it's helping my mom feel better. So drop it, okay?" She tossed a meatball skewer back onto the tray. "This is exactly why we didn't tell you in the first place. You always become way too bossy."
Chase wanted to argue more, but from the looks on Nori's and Persephone's faces, he knew it would be a waste of time. Maybe I'll tell them my dream sometime when they're actually in the mood to listen to me, he thought grumpily.
After a minute of tense silence, Chase said, "And another thing—"
"Now what?" said Nori, rolling her eyes.
"Did you ever realize they're Blackshire and we're Blackberry Island?"
Persephone shrugged. "So?"
"It's just another thing connecting us to them," said Chase. "And I don't like it. Maybe I'll change our island's name to—to something like…Tinker Island, or…Magic Island."
"You can't just change a name because you don't like it," said Nori. "I'm sure there are a ton of channels you'd have to go through."
"Figures," mumbled Chase. "Nothing's ever easy."
"I kind of like Dragonfly Island," said Andy, nodding.
Persephone patted his arm and smiled. "No surprise there, Andy."
The kids had emptied the snack tray by the time Grandfather and Benjamin let them return to the waiting room.
"Okay," said Ben, as he avoided looking into anyone's eyes. "We've come to a decision. Alex will stay at the house."
"What?" cried everyone in unison.
"No way! We can't let a Marlowe stay there, no matter what his memories did or didn't tell us," said Chase, shaking his head.
"Janie and James did," Nori pointed out.
"Yeah, but we didn't know they were Marlowes at the time," said Chase. "At least, most of us didn't. And anyway, they're half Tinker, too."
"Are we gonna lock him in a room?" asked Andy.
"No," said Grandfather. "He'll be there as our guest."
Chase thought his head would pop off his neck at these words. "A Marlowe can't be a guest! He's—"
"I don't believe this!" Anne cut in. "After everything those sick, awful people have done to us." She pulled Andy into the crook of her arm. "Look what they did to my son!"
"Anne," said Ben, "he's not here to hurt anyone."
"I don't care!" she yelled. "He's still one of—them!"
"I'm with Chase and Anne," said Persephone. "Trusting him could be one of the worst things we've ever done."
"I'll help keep an eye on him," said Nori, raising her hand like she was in a classroom.
"You and me both," Chase muttered.
Alex bent down and studied Andy's scars. "You got those from my family?"
Anne pulled Andy closer. "From Janie," said Andy. "'Course, she's a Tinker, too."
"Doesn't matter, it was still caused by Marlowe dark magic," said Alex. "I'm so sorry, Andy. I wish I had the ability to fix it for you."
Chase put his hand protectively on Andy's shoulder. "Stay away from him! He doesn't need your help or sympathy."
Alex backed away. "Sorry," he mumbled.
"Why don't you go back where you belong?" said Anne. "We—"
"It's settled," said Grandfather, holding up his hands. "No other arguments from anyone will be heard."
Chase Tinker and the HOUSE OF DESTINY Page 7
