“Where is that, Lucy?” asked Noah.
“Here,” said Lucy, rolling her eyes.
“And where is here exactly?” he asked.
“Silly,” said Lucy, pulling Miss Brett along down the passage to the right. “Oh, goodness!”
“No, Lucy,” Noah said, coughing. “This is not goodness.”
By the light of Jasper’s torch, the others could see they were facing the massive doors to the castle. Now they could see what they had only smelled—smoke so thick they could not see beyond it. But there was far too much smoke for a fire they could not see, feel, or hear.
Soon they were completely surrounded by smoke.
“We need to get out of here,” Faye said, feeling panic as the smoke filled her lungs. She coughed. “This smoke isn’t just smoke. It’s a chemical fire somewhere in here. We’ve got to go in the opposite direction!”
But now she wasn’t sure which way that was. She couldn’t even see anyone else around her.
Suddenly, Noah felt someone grab for him in the dark. “Get off!” he cried. But he couldn’t see who was where. No one could. He could only see that the hand wore a steel-studded, black leather glove, and he knew that none of them was wearing gloves.
“Everyone behind me!” cried Miss Brett. She reached out, feeling for the heads of each of her children. Then, from the darkness, a hand grabbed at her, too. It missed. A growl emerged from the darkness. And then they could see what it was.
A huge, hulking form emerged. With the shadows against the smoke, he seemed bigger than a man. In his arm, he carried a gun or a machine, or something that was a bit of both.
“It’s Mr. Tesla’s death ray!” cried Noah.
“You horrid little beasts,” came a menacing growl from the man as he stomped his foot. “I want it. And I want it now.”
Desperate to get away, the children and Miss Brett backed up toward the doors. Lucy began to cry
“What do you want from us?” demanded Miss Brett, backing away.
“Give it to me!” the man growled, shaking his fist in the air.
“It’s them,” Lucy whimpered. She pointed at the huge man. “Komar Romak.”
Jasper could see the man’s face as a swirl of smoke wafted away from his raised fist. There was a scar from his forehead down to his cheek, his nose was bent and misshapen, and he clearly had only half of a thick black moustache. It was Komar Romak.
Miss Brett pulled the children behind her. “This?” she pointed to her bag—the bag that held the electric torch. “Is this what you want?”
With a swift swing of his arm, the giant grabbed the bag and tore it from her arm.
“Run!” cried Jasper as the man swung the gun into position. They ran back into the darkness, Jasper fumbling to turn off the torch as he ran.
“Let’s go back up the chute!” cried a running Lucy, but even had they been able to climb a chute, there was no chute—only a stone wall.
“This way!” cried Noah, running down the left side of the fork in the tunnel.
Behind them, they could hear a blast from the death ray. The giant was shouting at them, firing the death ray against the walls of the tunnel. But up ahead of them, there was yet another noise. This time, it was a grunting, snuffling sound.
“What is that?!” said Faye.
“It’s the other half!” cried Lucy.
“That didn’t sound human,” Wallace said, whimpering.
Again came the snorting, grunting sound.
“Whatever this is,” said Miss Brett, “that Komar Romak is human.” Her arm still ached where he’d grabbed the bag.
There came another loud snorting grunt, this time sounding closer.
“I think there’s a wild boar in here!” cried Noah, clinging to Faye.
Jasper flicked on his torch. They were headed toward another fork in the tunnel. He shined down one that turned sharply to the left. The other path looked straight, but the torchlight reflected a pair of eyes. Grunts and snorting came from that side. And then, a pop, and darkness.
“Come with me down the other side, children!” cried Miss Brett as she gathered them all as close as she could. They ran, feeling along the walls as they did. Wallace flicked on his torch—the only one left. Soon, they found they could see a bit better, though the smoke was still filling the air. There was no sign of either man or beast.
“Against the walls, children,” Miss Brett said in as loud a whisper as she could manage. “Wallace, shut off the torch.” That way, she reasoned, no one could see them in the darkness with their backs against the wall. That, and they could save their last light bulb. Komar Romak had seen where they were going. It was only a matter of time before he caught up to them, for he knew by now that nothing important had been in her bag—not Antonio’s orb, and certainly not anything else he might have wanted.
“Let’s keep moving, children.” Miss Brett tried to keep her voice calm.
The sound of the growling giant was faint, but it seemed to be getting louder
“Listen, Wallace,” Jasper whispered, “get the last electric torch ready. If anyone jumps out, we can shine the light in his face.”
“Do you think that would stop him?” asked Faye. “That was Komar Romak. An enormous Komar Romak, armed with a death ray!”
“We have to make him go away!” cried Lucy, her face in Miss Brett’s skirt.
“Once we blind the fellow, then what do we do?” asked Noah. “We can’t very well pelt him with light.”
“I know what to do!” said Faye. She had nearly forgotten the bag she still had over her shoulder. She grabbed it, pulling free of Noah. Swiftly, she pulled out the pieces of her snowball-throwing machine. She attached the disassembled weapon.
“He’s coming!” cried Lucy. The floors shook as a flash of light appeared far down the tunnel.
Wallace gulped. Keeping his back touching the wall at all times, Wallace handed Jasper his torch, then reached into his pockets. He retrieved the bismuth pellets. He removed from his other pocket the magnets, which were in a clump, clinging tightly to each other. When he held his hands near each other, the magnets and the bismuth felt as if they were alive, wiggling and fighting.
Suddenly the smell of smoke filled their noses.
“Hand me some of those small rocks!” said Faye, noticing many on the floor of the tunnel. “Hurry! Just pile them here.” Jasper bent down and swept over some of the rocks.
Faye knew that the machine would scoop up the rocks as it did the snowballs.
She set her machine to aim directly into the cloud of smoke. She was going to start with the rocks first.
Faye looked up at Jasper, who was holding the last torch. She wound up the machine.
“Torch ready, Jasper?” she asked. Jasper nodded.
Something moved in the darkness.
With a flick of the wrist, small rocks were suddenly flying into the smoke. Jasper switched on the torch.
Cries of anger emerged from the smoke-filled tunnel.
“More rocks!” cried Faye.
But the growls of man or beast or both were now closing in on them through the smoke. Suddenly, there was a blast and a high-pitched squeal. Komar Romak had hit the boar.
They could hear the lumbering steps on the gravely stone. And then, Komar Romak was standing before them. He raised the death ray and aimed. Miss Brett jumped in front of the children.
“No!” she cried. “You cannot kill them.”
Wallace’s mind raced at lightning speed. The death ray. The iron and mercury alloy. The bismuth. Together, the bismuth pellets were strong. They could reverse a magnetic field.
With strength he did not know he had, Wallace hurled the handful of magnets at the death ray. Several hit their mark, and others hit the giant in the face, clinging to the steel studs on his upraised hand that flew up in defense. Distracted, the giant aimed high, and in a flash, a stream of mercury shot from the gun. At that exact moment, Wallace threw the bismuth. As if in slow motion, they all watche
d as the mercury turned from its path, moving away from the bismuth and finding the magnets on Komar Romak’s hand. The mercury flew back. With a sickening scream, Komar Romak dropped the gun and writhed in agony on the cold stone floor.
Faye’s face was streaked with soot, cold sweat, and hot tears. Jasper grabbed her arm as she took a step toward the flailing Komar Romak. With a stifled groan, she tried to pull away from Jasper who knew what she was thinking. Faye wanted to go after Komar Romak, for all the sorrow and hurt. For the death of Signora Fornaio. But Jasper knew they had to go, and go now. They didn’t know how hurt Komar Romak was, or even if he was alone.
Finally, Jasper felt the tug of Faye’s arm ease. She turned back toward them.
“If we run down that way . . .” Jasper started, but suddenly, with a pop, they were in total darkness again. So they just ran.
They ran through the serpentine tunnels, scraping their fingers along the walls. They ran until they hit a wall.
“No, it can’t be!” cried Faye.
“No, it can’t,” said Jasper, desperately feeling along the wall. There had to be a round carving. There had to be a keyhole. Sure enough, he felt one, just the size of Wallace’s coin.
“Your coin!” he called to Wallace. Wallace’s hand shook as he tried to get the coin into the groove. A sharp cry from the tunnel made him jump and he dropped the coin.
“Wallace!” shouted Faye, who heard the coin hit the stone floor.
But Jasper was already on the ground, feeling for the coin.
“I’ve got it,” said Lucy, who had clearly been doing the same.
“That’s my girl,” Jasper said, feeling in the dark for his sister’s hand.
“Here,” said Noah, feeling for Jasper. He had the coin from Lucy, and he was not going to let it go until Wallace had it in the keyhole. His hand searched until it found Wallace’s hand, and together they put the key into the slot.
With a turn of his wrist, Wallace pulled the coin back out. With a grinding of stone, the cave door opened. Though the light was very dim, there was light. They ran toward it. After turning twice to the left, they found the light to be closer and the air clearer. Another turn to the left, and there it was: Faye’s torch, lying on the ground.
“I guess it was a very good thing you threw it, Faye,” said Jasper, picking it up. “And the throw seems to have wedged the loose wires back into place.”
They could see the tunnel ahead and kept running, putting as much distance between them and that man. But as they ran and ran, they still could find no way out—only many ways within. They found locked passages and blocked passages, and some tunnels they were sure had been a way out only hours before. They felt as if they were going in circles, and circles that constantly changed.
When they smelled smoke again, they realized that they really were going around in circles.
“Go back!” cried Jasper. “We must have missed a passage. I’ll shine the torch along the walls.”
Sure enough, they came to a dark passage that had been hiding in the shadows before. Once inside the passage, they slowed down.
“I know this place,” Jasper said, running his hand along the wall. “Or, at least I know we’ve been in this part of the tunnel.”
“Look, there’s the first carving that fit Wallace’s coin,” said Lucy
“Yes, it is,” said Wallace, running his hands over the ancient carvings on the wall. There was the etching of the bird. He remembered it from that first time. “And there.” He pointed ahead.
The pile of rubble was in front of them. However these tunnels worked, they were now in a familiar place.
“Even if we could dig our way through the rocks again, we’ll never get through the beast garden door,” said Faye, disheartened. She had not wanted to even consider digging through the pile of rubble that collapsed moments after she had brought Miss Brett, Lucy, and Wallace back from their fall.
“But we can get out the passage from the chapel,” said Jasper. “It might be a far walk, but—”
“This way,” Lucy said, pointing to the right.
“Where are you going?” asked Noah. “How can you know?”
“Because it’s the right way,” insisted Lucy. “Even if the castle moves, the tunnels connect themselves.”
“What?” Noah shook his head.
“Just follow her!” said Faye.
“I know where I’m going,” said Lucy.
“To the chapel?” said Noah.
“No,” said Lucy, pointing now to the left and picking up speed. Everyone followed quickly. Within a minute, they could see moonlight up ahead. “That’s one of the tunnels to the garden.”
They could hear the raven before they saw the full moon up in the sky. There was a light dusting of snow, and the scene, coming through the vines, felt almost like a fairytale. From the dark stifling tunnels into the icy freshness of the winter air was like stepping from one strange world into another. The chill of the night made Lucy’s teeth chatter. She pulled Miss Brett’s cloak and found a warm embrace.
“You did it, Lucy!” said Miss Brett, kissing Lucy’s cold, rosy cheeks. “You did it!”
They found themselves in the olive orchard garden of the palazzo. They looked up at the house. Jasper and Faye took a few steps toward it. But then they stopped dead in their tracks.
Another explosion lit the sky. This time, it sounded as if it came from the manor house itself, but they could not see for sure through the trees that hid the entrance. What if it had been the house? Wallace looked up and adjusted his glasses, now fogging from the cold air blowing into the mouth of the tunnel. Miss Brett stopped, too. Did that explosion mean the ancient manor house of Solemano was being destroyed? All the history? The art and the books? And what about the mysterious men in black?
Wherever it had come from, someone had set it off. Someone was there—someone who meant them harm.
“We can’t go up there,” said Miss Brett, her face aglow in the moonlight.
“But we can’t stay here,” said Wallace, suddenly feeling quite exposed.
“And we can’t walk down the street,” Jasper said. “The moonlight is so bright. We’d easily be seen.”
“I know!” said Lucy. “We can take the short tunnel to the chapel.”
Noah was about to ask what she meant, but everyone had already started off after Lucy. They ran through the gardens, with nothing but moonlight to keep them from falling into ponds or off bridges. When they came to the hidden archway under the bridge connecting the olive orchard with the beast garden, Lucy pushed aside the hanging vines. “This is the tunnel I found when we first met the garden.”
“You knew this was here?” asked Jasper, following his sister into the night.
“I didn’t go in here because I don’t like the dark,” said Lucy, fumbling in the pocket of her pinafore.
“So you don’t know where it goes.” Faye stated this as a fact, not a question.
“This leads to the chapel,” said Lucy looking at the compass she now had in her hand.
“How do you know for sure?” asked Faye.
“I traced it with my fingers,” said Lucy. “I imagined where they went after we walked through them.”
“Did anyone understand that?” asked Noah.
“I think you mean you mapped out the tunnels once you had been in them, right?” asked Jasper. “I mean, you mapped them in your mind.”
“So we should go?” asked Wallace timidly. He, too, was not fond of the dark.
Another explosion lit the sky. And then a blast came from the orchard.
“We have to get out of here!” said Noah.
“I’d say we don’t have much choice.” Jasper gestured for them to enter, and no one argued. They followed as Lucy read Noah’s compass.
This time, the tunnel went almost straight. There were no stairs, but the floor descended at a rather sharp angle. They came to a cavern. While the passage was new to the others, Lucy was sure the cavern was connected to the sam
e tunnel they had taken at Christmas. The tunnel began to even out, and then it inclined upwards. They climbed up with some difficulty, especially for those in skirts and dresses. Again, the ravens, with their unmistakable chatter, signaled they had arrived at ground level. With the light of the moon, they could see an outline of light around the door in the chapel alcove. Jasper felt the door and, yes, he found a doorknob.
The doorknob was icy cold against his bare hand. This had to lead to the outside. Jasper pushed hard against the mossy door. It did not move. He and the others searched for a round keyhole that would fit Wallace’s coin. Jasper could not see well enough, and no one was able to find a keyhole. They all pushed and pulled at it, but the door didn’t move. Was there some crazy lock from the inside? Or outside?
Jasper took a step back and pushed as hard as he could. In one try, he broke through with a force that sent him stumbling out onto the ground. They were not inside the chapel. This was not the entrance they had used before. This time, they found themselves in what had once been the chapel’s small herb garden. The remains of flowerbeds, now containing wildflowers and weeds, lined the outside walls. It was yet another entrance to, or exit from, the ancient chapel. Jasper crawled into what he thought was a bundle of rags. Only it was not a bundle of rags.
“The shepherd!” Jasper cried, scrambling to get away from the man. But when the shepherd leaned over, Jasper could see that he had a handkerchief tied around his mouth. Ropes tied his feet together, with a pile of ropes around him, one hand still tied, the other partially freed. It was clear he had been trying to untie himself but did not have the strength.
“He’s been tied up,” Noah said. “And look.” Noah pointed to a bench. Leaning on the bench was a shepherd’s crook—a wooden staff. It was not the one they had found, the one with the deadly knife. If he had another, that one couldn’t be his.
Faye was hit with a sickening sense of guilt. The poor man, she thought. They had thought him a monster, but he was a victim, just like Signora Fornaio.
“Is he not a bad man?” Lucy asked Miss Brett. Wallace hid behind his teacher, but Noah shook his head.
The Ravens of Solemano or The Order of the Mysterious Men in Black Page 37
