A Quill Ladder (33 page)

Mark did a slow turn, rotating away from the statue, but ensuring that he checked back on it every few seconds. The historical downtown core of Coventry City was laid out much like a wheel, with the streets on angles extending out like spokes to the girdle streets that formed circles around it. Some of the circles were a bit off-kilter, more like ovals or eggs with wobbly sections. There were also sections where overly ambitious city planners or developers had supplanted the original circular design with the more common grid structure.

The square was the spot where the lines on the second map intersected. It was also pretty much at the center of the original spokes, and, he realized as he rotated carefully around, the streets lined up in such a way that, from here, he could see all three of the buildings that were represented by dots on the first map: the Heximer, the Dorset, and the museum.

He wanted to pull out his copy of the first map with the dots, but he decided that this was risky. The two men, and who knew who else, could be watching.

Mark
’
s knees went a little woozy at the prospect of being able to see all three buildings at once. His sense of unease wasn
’
t helped by the presence of the creepy statue behind him or by the two men he was sure were watching him, and he found himself jogging back toward the relative safety of the bus shelter as fast as his legs could propel him.

He had done enough investigating the dots until after Christmas, he decided. He would spend some quality time with his Oxford Atlas. Perhaps it was time to ensure that he still had all of the capital cities in the world memorized in alphabetical order.

Mark was awaiting the Coventry Hill bus, and was on the letter G in his run-through of capital cities, on the third Georgetown in fact, when he realized with alarming certainty that the man with the beret and the dog (the very bad dog, although the man didn
’
t have the dog with him at present) was standing next to him at the bus stop, humming a jaunty tune.

Mark stared straight ahead across the street at the front door of the Dorset Hotel, which was lined with gold trim. A large, dark awning hung over the entrance and two red-coated valets milled about.

“
I
’
m afraid we
’
re going to need your help,
”
the man said.

Mark
’
s eyes felt slightly dry. The valet uniforms were quite slimming, he decided.

“
It won
’
t take that long. Do you mind coming with us
…
to the stones? We have a bit of an urgent errand, and, well, with you not there, they aren
’
t working too well.
”

The sun glared off the dark windows of the Dorset.

“
I can offer some information in return.
”

Mark checked the bus schedule and then resumed his focus on the Dorset. Two men
—
hairy and tattooed from Nowhere, Mark realized with a lurch in his stomach
—
emerged from the gold-trimmed door and sauntered around the corner of the hotel.

“
I can tell you about the statue,
”
the man with the beret said.
“
Please. It
’
s important.
”

Mark wasn
’
t entirely sure why he decided to get in the back of the Camry with the very bad man (although he was starting to lose track of how many verys applied to the variety of bad men that seemed to be plaguing him now). Perhaps he had just wanted to get away from the statue, and the Dorset, which was beginning to seem more eerie than he would have liked. Fortunately, the dogs weren
’
t in the back of the Camry, although the driving of Hairy and Tattooed One (as Mark was calling him) was a bit erratic, with a lot of acceleration and sudden stopping.

Beret Man was sitting silently, wearing a pleasant sort of smile. They were nearing Coventry Hill, and Mark feared that now that the stones would be working again, they were going to just drop him off, run their errands, and neglect to hold up their end of the bargain.

“
Are you going to tell me about the statue?
”

“
Oh, yes, yes. Of course. Once we get to the stones. You can walk us up there. You
’
re welcome to come yourself if you like.
”
The invitation surprised Mark, and he turned his head to look and see if someone else sat beside him
—
the person who had actually been invited. But he was alone in the back seat with Beret Man.

Something moved in Beret Man
’
s pocket. Mark screamed and pressed himself against the car door as a brown and white rat emerged and moved to sit on Beret Man
’
s lap, regarding Mark with beady black eyes.

Beret Man smiled.
“
It
’
s okay, Mark. It
’
s just Digby. He
’
s perfectly friendly.
”

Mark had just finished telling Beret Man about the rat involvement in the Bubonic Plague, leptospirosis, and tapeworms, and was just about to launch into a discussion of the flood of rats in India, when HT One (Mark decided it would be better to shorten the names) turned abruptly just before the street that led to the Sinclair residence, pulled into a side street, and parked.

“
We
’
re going to take another path up the hill, if you don
’
t mind. No need for everyone to know what we
’
re about,
”
Beret Man said.

HT One, HT Two, and Beret Man got out, and Mark scrambled out as well. The three men set off at a rapid pace up the hill, and Mark hustled behind them as the trail wound through the trees and toward the stones.

The two other very bad men and the very bad woman
—
the ones that had been in the future at the train station and at the library (with guns), and in Dr. Ford
’
s office in the present
—
were waiting for them by the stones. Jake stood behind them with his hands shoved deep into his jeans pockets.

The woman wore a deep scowl. Even Mark, with his limited ability to interpret facial expressions, could tell that she wasn
’
t happy. The cloying scent of her perfume made Mark
’
s head hurt.
“
What took you so long, Ian?
”
the woman said.

“
I had to find Mark, and then convince him to join us. I wasn
’
t keen on just abducting him.
”

The air came out of the woman
’
s nose in a rush.
“
Very well then. Are you ready?
”

“
As we
’
ll ever be. Mark is going to join us.
”

The woman
’
s eyeballs got wide and dry-looking (kind of like Mark
’
s had felt when he was staring at the Dorset Hotel), and then went all squinty, eyeballing Mark up and down as if he might start lurching around, moaning like Frankenstein. Then she turned and looked with at Beret Man again with her eyes slitty.
“
This is important,
”
she said, as if everything important by definition excluded Mark.

Beret Man just shrugged. He reminded Mark a little of Caleb.
“
It
’
s just an experiment, Selena.
”

“
An
important
experiment.
”

“
Let him come. We should get going.
”

“
Fine.
”
The woman jabbed a sharp-looking fingernail in the air in the direction of Jake.
“
You first.
”

Jake pursed his lips and then obligingly stepped on the stones and vanished. The rest followed one by one. Mark went second-to-last, with HT Two behind him.

He was a bit surprised to find himself in the deep dark wood of the forest where they had come a few weeks before
—
the one where they had seen the dancers and Abbey and Jake had used the docks. The damp air saturated his lungs, and Mark suppressed a faint shiver.

The others had gathered in two groups. The claw-fingered woman with the red scarf stood with the two very bad men with guns, and Beret Man stood with HT One and Two. Only Jake, like Mark, stood detached from the rest.

“
All right,
”
Beret Man said, clapping his hands together.
“
Let
’
s find ourselves a wormhole.
”

“
You needn
’
t make a joke out of it, Ian. We need to find it,
”
the very bad woman said.

Beret Man, or Ian, as Mark tried to remind himself (he needed to get better at names), broke into a broad grin.
“
Well, that
’
s a matter of opinion. But since we
’
re all here, we might as well give it a go. What was it you said, Selena? Right person, right place, right time? Let
’
s see if we
’
ve got three for three. Too bad the universe doesn
’
t give you part marks. We might be able to narrow things down that way.
”

The woman
’
s arched dark eyebrows pulled upward into two very pronounced commas.
“
Very funny.
”

“
If it
’
s all the same to you, can we get a move on?
”
Jake asked.
“
I have to work in my parents
’
restaurant at five.
”

“
Absolutely. Should be a lovely little walk in the woods. Let
’
s be off then,
”
Ian murmured before turning and marching off into the trees, heading in the direction of one of the higher mountains that bordered the Circle Plateau and whistling a cheery collection of notes that made Mark all the more nervous.

*****

Abbey discarded her orange and pink sweater in favor of her purple hoodie and took another look at her jeans. They were dark and tight, tighter than she was used to wearing, but all of the other girls wore them, and her mother had bought them for her, so they must be okay. She had already examined every pore in her face, wondering if she looked even a fraction of a second older than she had six months ago at science camp. The small, furtive stroke of eyeliner across her upper lids was surprisingly effective. She just had to make a decision about her outfit. Sam would be arriving any minute, and would hopefully be able to pass sufficient muster with her dad such that he would be permitted to chaperone her to the coffee shop down the street to talk about a science project for an hour.

The two-hour coffee date, or tea date, as her dad had reminded her, since she was not permitted to drink coffee, had already required a phone call from Sam, from his Berkeley number, to officially request the meeting. Sam had also indicated to Mr. Sinclair that he was considering Abbey for a junior counselor position at camp next year, which had made Abbey jump around her room for half an hour in a very undignified way. But that was two days ago. She was over it now. She had to look casual about it in front of her dad and Simon, and of course in front of Sam. Definitely in front of Sam.

Simon had already wrinkled up his forehead at the announcement that Sam was coming, no doubt because he knew about the list. At least Simon didn
’
t know that Sam
’
s last name was Livingstone
—
only Caleb did, and he wasn
’
t due back from his game until that evening. Although that could easily slip when Sam introduced himself.

Abbey made her way to the living room, clutching the file folder of notes that she had made about time travel and parallel universes, the second card from Ian nestled within the folder as well. How much should she tell him? She really wasn
’
t sure.

Her father and Simon were already sitting in the living room. Simon
’
s eyes fell to her jeans and his eyebrows arched fractionally. She ignored him and turned to look out the window.

A blue Vibe slowed in front of their house, then pulled into the drive. They all watched Sam get out, and Abbey heard her own intake of breath, which she tried to cover with a coughing fit that caused both Simon and her dad to look at her askance.