A Quill Ladder (47 page)

Farley sat between Mark and Abbey and behaved as if he was going for a grand adventure, pressing against Mark
’
s side to stare at something out the window and offering Mark an occasional lick with his slobbery tongue. (Mark had to count to ten several times to avoid screaming, and he was trying to find an appropriate time to ask about Sylvain
’
s map.) Sandy
’
s car was gone, Mark noted as they passed Warm Hollow Road. They continued through the orchards up Top Point Drive for fifteen minutes and then started to head up into the hills.

The conversation in the front between Caleb and Sylvain was heated, and Mark got the sense that Caleb wasn
’
t very happy that the stones had been ripped up. Caleb said something like
“
you couldn
’
t have just knocked first
”
and Sylvain said something about
“
backhoes being expensive and charging by the hour
”
and that
“
someone was changing the timeline and it was all going to end badly.
”
Then Caleb told Sylvain about Mr. Sinclair and Selena and seemed to be saying something else about Selena with his eyes (Mark hated it when people talked with their eyes), but Sylvain somehow seemed to understand and started to drive faster. Mark managed to insert a request to look at Sylvain
’
s map into the conversation, but was rewarded with pinchy-faced looks from both Caleb and Sylvain.

The road wound up through expensive subdivisions with sprawling homes, and then pulled into one of the larger homes. Sylvain parked, but fluttered his fingers at Caleb, who had started to take off his seatbelt.

“
No need to get out. This isn
’
t my house. I just have to get Russell.
”

“
Why?
”
Abbey said.

“
He
’
s the Energy for my stones.
”

“
Hurry,
”
said Caleb.

“
Of course,
”
replied Sylvain.

Russell emerged a few minutes later and followed Sylvain back to the car, his face still puffy from sleep. Farley was (thankfully) ordered onto the floor in the front beneath Caleb
’
s feet, and Abbey moved over to sit next to Mark. Russell squeezed in next to Abbey, who gave him a glare. Russell kept his gaze focused out the window. Even as unaccustomed to the nuances of human greetings as Mark was, he decided that Russell and Abbey clearly did not like each other for some reason.

“
I haven
’
t stayed at my house in a few weeks,
”
Sylvain said, after they
’
d driven another few kilometers up the road and pulled down a long and winding drive.

“
Why do they want to get to your stones so badly?
”
Caleb said.
“
Why not just use the ones they know about?
”

“
Well, you see, that
’
s the thing,
”
Sylvain said, pulling into a small turnout in a patch of trees and cutting the engine.
“
They don
’
t think they
’
re stones. They think I have something else.
”

Sylvain got out of the car, holding his finger to his mouth.

“
But what else could you have?
”
Caleb whispered, following suit.

“
Docks,
”
Abbey said, and then gave Sylvain a squinty-eyed look.
“
Except they
’
re not interested in docks. So what else is there?
”

Sylvain flapped his bandaged hand at her.
“
That isn
’
t important right now. What
’
s important is that they
are
stones, and that the house may still be watched. So we need to be quiet, and approach cautiously.
”

“
Why wouldn
’
t they just break in?
”
Caleb said.
“
If you haven
’
t been here.
”

“
My house, young man, is like a vault, built around the stones, which are in the basement. I
’
d like to see them try to get in. And even if they did get in the house, they would never get in the basement. Fingerprint entry, remember?
”

They crept through the trees toward the house, having left Farley in the car. Mark was conscious of every twig that he laid his foot on, and conscious that he seemed to be the twig-stepper in the group. (They probably should have left him in the car too.)

After several minutes of walking, the house emerged out of the forest: a rock-walled, monstrous, fortress of a thing, with a massive drive-through portico and shuttered windows.

“
Looks cozy,
”
Caleb murmured before Abbey gave him a look.

A single Madrona tree arched up and out of a small circular opening in the pavement in front of the portico.

They were about to emerge from the trees and cover the final distance to the house when Mark spied movement in the trees beyond the house
—
one of the dogs. He jerked Caleb
’
s sleeve and pointed. Caleb managed to catch the corner of Sylvain
’
s shirt just as he was about to step out onto the driveway, and they all crouched down behind a large, thorny blackberry bush.

Selena walked around the corner of the house and called,
“
I
’
m back. Where are you two? You
’
re sure you have enough charge this time? Peter
’
s not cooperating.
”

Nate and Damian appeared around the other side of the house and approached Selena. They gathered in a huddle, and their voices became too muted to hear.

“
They
’
re going to blow up my house?
”
Sylvain whispered.

“
Sounds that way,
”
Caleb said.

“
But I have papers, and furniture, and
…
things that I like in there.
”

“
You could go and talk to them,
”
Caleb said.

“
This is ridiculous. They
’
re not even going to find what they
’
re looking for.
”

“
You might want to go explain that to them,
”
Caleb offered. Selena, Nate, and Damian had disappeared again around the back of the house.

“
Stop it, you two,
”
Abbey hissed.
“
What if Dad
’
s in the house?
”

“
They wouldn
’
t do that. They need
—”
Sylvain started. His voice was drowned out by a giant
kaboom
that toppled the left wing of the house.

Mark dropped to the ground and covered his ears.

“
My library! My maps!
”
Sylvain said, in a half moan.
“
That
’
s not even
near
the stones. They
’
re going to destroy my house. Russell, let
’
s go. I have to save some things. Important things. The three of you go back to the car. Don
’
t approach the house. If we don
’
t come back, get out of here. In fact, go now, before the dogs smell you. Don
’
t worry about your father. They won
’
t risk harming him. He
’
s too valuable.
”
Sylvain thrust a set of keys at Caleb and then ran off, followed by Russell, as Abbey and Caleb sputtered unintelligible things after them.

More blasts followed. Mark pressed himself into the smallest ball he could. The pillars supporting the portico crumbled, and the roof fell forward and nearly took out the Madrona. Thick grey smoke and an acrid chemical smell washed over Mark, and his head started to pound.

Above him, Caleb and Abbey bickered quietly about what to do. He wanted to start screaming, but the blasts didn
’
t stop, and his screams would add to the noise, which was already unbearable. He pushed his hands harder against his ears and started to rock in his small ball on the ground.

*****

After six explosions, the house lay mostly in ruins, stones and pillars jutting out of the foundation like wide-spaced teeth. Sylvain and Russell had darted in the front door, ducking beneath the collapsed portico between the second and third blast. Abbey wondered if they were dead. Once the blasts stopped, there were enough gaps between the walls that Selena, Nate, Damian, and the dogs were visible on the other side of the house. Nate disappeared for a few minutes and emerged from the trees driving a small Bobcat. He went to work clearing the rubble on the north side of the house. Already Abbey could feel the faint pulse of the stones pulling her toward them.

The dogs milled about in the rubble, sniffing. Mark had formed himself into the smallest shape possible and hadn
’
t moved in the last five minutes. A tremor of fear ran down Abbey
’
s legs.

“
Do you think they
’
re dead?
”
Abbey said.
“
Russell and Sylvain?
”

Caleb wore a bleak expression.
“
Dunno. The front part of the house was the last to go. It depends if they got in and down to Sylvain
’
s basement in time. Either way, we should go. I don
’
t like the look of those dogs.
”

“
What about Dad?
”

“
Well, he
’
s obviously not here. My guess is they have their vehicle parked out on Top Point Drive, farther up than where we turned off into Sylvain
’
s driveway, and that the road parallels the driveway. That
’
s why they seem to keep appearing out of the woods behind the house. They
’
re cutting from the road through the woods. Dad may be in their vehicle, which means we should head back out to the road. But we don
’
t know for sure if they even have him.
”

“
And what about Mom?
”
Abbey
’
s throat was tight and dry.

Caleb
’
s freckled face looked bleak.
“
We
’
re not going to get to those stones any time soon, assuming they still exist.
”

Abbey fought back tears at this and opened her mouth to argue, but Caleb placed a hand on her shoulder.

“
Sylvain said he had a set of stones at his house,
”
Caleb said.

“
So?
”

“
So that was a strange way to say it. He didn
’
t say he had
the
other
set. He said he had
a
set.
”

“
So, you
’
re thinking
…”

“
There
’
s more than two sets.
”

Abbey
’
s mind automatically spun through this possibility, the potential locations of another set of stones, and their current situation. She came up with a dismal outlook.
“
We
’
re in the middle of nowhere, and we haven
’
t the faintest clue where the other stones are.
”

“
Let
’
s just get back to Sylvain
’
s car.
”

Abbey nodded, closed her eyes, summoned some sort of sense of fortitude, and then knelt next to Mark.
“
Mark, we have to go now. We need you to get up. We
’
re going to make a run for the car.
”