Chase Tinker & The House of Magic (20 page)

"They can steal free will?" squeaked
Janie.

Chase rubbed his sweaty palms on his pajama
pants as an unpleasant prickling sensation spread all the way down
to his toes. "Relic, what would happen to the house if you were
taken from it, or—or destroyed?"

"
If the Tinkers fail to keep safe what
they are destined to protect, this house would die and all Tinker
magic in it would then be lost forever.
"

"What about
our
powers?"

"
Your powers would be lost forever as
well.
"

"And—and what if the Dark Enemy had control
of you
and
the house?"

"
Their dark magic would strengthen and
increase until they had the ability to control every fragment of
free will, magic and goodness in the world.
"

"But what can we do to stop them?" asked
Chase, desperation in his voice.

"
The lost Shard of Magic is the
key
."

He flopped back and gazed at the thick beams
stretching across the ceiling. He felt dazed, and queasy, and he
had a funny ringing in his ears. It sounded like the object they
had to protect was much more powerful and terrifying than he ever
could have imagined. And if the bad guys were in charge, the whole
world was in
huge
trouble.

Would it be better to just destroy the Relic
so it would never fall into the wrong hands? No. He didn't want to
even think about that. Now that he'd discovered that magic was the
coolest thing since—well, since magic, he sure as heck didn't want
to lose it forever; especially because of some selfish, disgusting
creeps.

Janie shivered and her face was pale as she
watched her cousin.

"It sounds kind of hopeless, doesn't it?" she
whispered.

"Yeah it does," said Chase, shutting his eyes
as he let the relaxing warmth of the floor seep into him. "If they
get their hands on the Relic, we're finished. Argh! If only there
was a way…if only..."

Wait! He had an idea! It was risky, but if it
worked it would mean everyone, and the Relic, would be safe.

"We need to travel back in time and stop the
Relic from being damaged. That way, there won't be a Shard of Magic
for those creeps to find."

"Travel back in time!" exclaimed Janie.
"Something
dreadful
might happen."

"Something dreadful is happening already," he
answered, sitting up again, feeling a little better now that he had
some sort of plan. "You heard it. The Shard is the key to stopping
them. So, we'll need to read up on the time period, get some
costumes, learn how to get to the time we want, and most important,
how to get back home."

Janie twisted her fingers together. "I don't
think that's a good idea at all. When Grandfather showed me the
Time-Travel Room he told me traveling through time can be tricky
and changing the past can have some very serious consequences for
the future. Which is the present for us. I think. It's way too
confusing!"

"And," said Chase, his face lighting up, "if
we save the Relic, the Dark Enemy won't even exist and then my dad
will never have been kidnapped! I say it's worth a shot."

"Didn't you hear anything I said? Besides, if
it were that easy, don't you think someone else would've thought of
it and tried it before this?"

Chase shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. Or maybe
they weren't as desperate to fix things as we are."

"But—"

They whipped around as a scratching noise
came from the closed attic door. It swung open.

"Ch—Chase? Are you in there?"

"Whew!" said Janie. "It's only Andy."

Andy shuffled into the attic, his hair
tousled and his robe on inside out. "I woke up and you were gone. I
was worried you were kidnapped!"

"We're in here listening to some stuff. You
scared the daylights out of us," said Chase, hoping the slight
shake in his voice wasn't noticeable.

Andy plopped down between them. "Did you find
out anything good? Chase, you promised to tell me how you knew what
door to knock on."

They took a few minutes to fill Andy in on
Chase's premonitions and what the Relic had told them.

"They take away people's free will?" said
Andy. "What does that mean? Do they become like zombies or
something?"

"Maybe," said Janie. "After all, free will is
where you can decide for yourself how to live your life and if it
was taken away, you would spend your time waiting for someone else
to tell you what to do."

"I don't want that to happen to us," said
Andy.

"Neither do we, shrimp," Chase answered
grimly.

They sat in silence, each lost in their own
thoughts.

"So, Chase," said Andy, after a few moments,
"how did you know you were having a premonition dream?"

"At first I wasn't sure, but now it's usually
pretty easy to tell the difference," he said. "They're a lot more
real than your regular dreams."

"You know," said Janie, "if we're going to be
time-traveling—"

"You mean you're in?" asked Chase, leaning
forward eagerly.

"You know, you're probably going to do it
anyway, so I might as well help," said Janie, shrugging one
shoulder. "As I was saying, we need to ask the Relic the exact time
and place to go back to. We don't want to be lost in time or
wandering around searching for Jedadiah."

"And we need to ask it about our dad," said
Andy.

"Good idea, Andy!" exclaimed Chase. "Why
didn't I think of that? Relic, where is Benjamin Tinker?"

"
Benjamin Tinker is the next Keeper of the
House
," said the Relic.

"I know," said Chase impatiently. "But where
is he?"

"
Benjamin Tinker is the next Keeper of the
House.
"

"Yes, but, how do we find him?"

"
Benjamin Tinker is the next Keeper of the
House
."

"We know!" yelled Andy, looking as though he
wanted to bounce the Relic across the floor. "Chase, why does it
keep saying that?"

"I don't know," said Chase, shaking his
head.

"At least it means your dad is alive
somewhere," said Janie. "If he was dead, wouldn't it say Chase was
the next Keeper?"

"Yeah, that makes sense." Chase was ready to
grasp at anything to help ease his mind. "Shouldn't it have some
idea where he is, though?"

"It records the history of the house, helps
take care of it, controls and keeps track of the magical powers,
and knows the dangers to it so we can help keep it safe," she said,
ticking the abilities off on her fingers. "That doesn't mean the
Relic keeps track of our every move. After all, your dad has been
away from the house for over eighteen years."

"Yeah," said Andy, smiling slyly at Chase.
"You wouldn't want it to know about you kissing Persephone."

"I have not been kissing Persephone," he
growled back.

"But you wish you were."

"Just because you'd rather kiss a bug."

Shaking her head and rolling her eyes, Janie
passed her hand across the Relic again. "So, Relic, where and when
was the Shard of Magic broken off? We need the precise time and
location."

"Wait," said Chase. "Maybe we should find out
where those bandit dudes attacked Jedadiah and somehow stop—"

"Shush," she said, waving her hand at him.
"It's talking."

"
Jedadiah Tinker was on the outskirts of
northern Florence, Italy when he was attacked and the damage to
this Relic occurred.
"

They listened closely as the Relic told them
what they needed to know to travel back in time to find their
ancestor.

"Relic, what do we do and say to make the
Time-Travel Room work?" asked Janie.

"
That is for the Keeper of the House to
know,
" said the Relic.

"Crap!" she said as she tapped her lips with
her finger and stared at the wall. "Relic, what if someone needs to
travel back in time and fix a terrible wrong?"

"
It is unwise to tamper with
time.
"

She sighed. "I should've known it wouldn't be
that easy."

"Uh, are you guys sure we should do this?"
asked Andy, with a worried frown. "It sounds like we could really
screw things up. And what if Grandfather finds out? We'll be in
huge trouble."

Janie twisted her robe sash around and around
her fingers. "I know, Andy. And we don't want to come back and find
the house gone because we caused Jedadiah to lose not only a piece,
but the whole relic. Or maybe if that happened, we'd be stuck in
the past for the rest of our lives. I
know
none of us wants
that." She looked at Chase. "What do you think we should do?"

He stared at the Relic's smooth, blank
surface. "You two do what you want," he said, "but I'm going.
Somehow, I'll find out whatever magic I need to know to make that
room work. Then I'll do what I'm supposed to do, and come straight
back. I have to stop that piece from breaking off!"

"What? You
still
plan to go? Even with
all the dire warnings?" Janie twisted and twirled her sash again
before heaving a deep sigh. "I guess we can't let you go by
yourself. Andy?"

Andy gazed at the ceiling as Chase and Janie
stared at him. "Okay, okay. You can count on me too," he
mumbled.

"So we're all in," said Janie. "But what's
the point? We still don't know the secrets of the Time-Travel
Room."

"What can we do about that?" asked Andy,
petting Maxwell, who had curled up in his lap. "The Relic doesn't
want to tell us, and I don't want to mess around and end up
someplace being eaten by a Tyrannosaurus Rex."

"Me neither," said Chase, looking at the
Relic in annoyance.

"Then you better hope you have one of your
helpful premonitions, Chase," said Janie as she stood and headed
for the door, "because it looks like finding the key to
time-traveling is going to be a heck of a lot more difficult than
figuring out how to shoot spaghetti out of your nose."

W
hen Chase made it
down for breakfast the next day, everyone was gone. He glanced at
the clock. It was two minutes until noon.
Maybe I missed
breakfast, but it might've been nice if someone would've at least
waited for me,
he thought huffily as he side-stepped the broom,
which was busily sweeping a pile of dust into the dustpan creeping
along the floor.

"Where the heck are they?" he asked out loud,
snatching a banana, peeling it and gobbling it down. "Doesn't
anyone remember it's my birthday?"

He searched the kitchen and dining room, but
didn't find a cake or any gifts. Wandering down the hall, he peeked
into Grandfather's study. It was quieter than a library in there.
He slipped through a hidden doorway, dodged past the singing plants
(who were crooning "For he's a Jolly Good Fellow"), sprinted up a
staircase and cut through a room where, for some crazy reason, he
had the uncontrollable urge to dance.

Before he knew it, he was waltzing gracefully
around the room as music filled the air and a mirror ball flashed
from the ceiling. "Yikes!" he yelled as the song changed to a
faster one and, without missing a beat, he found himself shaking
his hips, waving his arms, spinning, shimmying and twisting across
the smooth dance floor. The music changed again and he began
tangoing with a coolness he didn't even know he possessed, a red
rose stem clamped between his teeth. With one last spin, he
moon-walked from the room.

Chase spit out the prickly flower and flopped
to the floor. What a weird power! Thank goodness no one else had
been here to see him wiggling around like a fool. He glanced back
at the now silent and darkened room. He definitely had to bring
Andy and Persephone here to show-off
their
crazy
dancing.

Climbing to his feet, Chase headed down
another hallway, while glancing into open doorways as he went
along. Just as he wondered whether he would have to search the
whole house to find someone, which would most likely take the rest
of the summer, he saw Maxwell scampering in front of him. He took
off after the speedy animal.

Zooming down more hallways and up three
flights of stairs, Maxwell bounded through an arched doorway,
followed a little later by a much slower Chase. He paused on the
threshold, gasping for breath, and gazed around the large room.

Decorated like a café, it had a long soda bar
along one wall. White chairs and tables with red and white striped
umbrellas were strewn across the red-tiled floor. Two of the walls
had booths with people dining painted across them; the fourth wall
looked like a huge window showing a street scene with cars and
pedestrians passing by. The room was empty of any real people.

"Okay, Maxwell, where the heck did you go?"
He peered under several tables, but didn't spot the animal's hiding
place. "Oh, forget it," he said sullenly. "Find your own way back."
He turned to leave just as a loud "SURPRISE!" filled the room and
everyone popped up in front of him at once. Balloons rained from
the ceiling and flashing lights zipped through the air, like
glittering fireflies.

"Where did you guys come from?" Chase asked
as he watched the juke box dance by, playing a rock-and-roll
song.

"This is the Chameleon Room!" explained
Janie, excitement filling her voice. "Isn't it awesome? You can
blend in with whatever décor is behind you."

"Hey, Chase!" called
Andy from the soda bar where he was now perched on a tall red
stool. "Look!" He pointed to the wall behind the bar. A huge,
green, neon sign flashed:

"
HAPPY 13
^TH
BIRTHDAY CHASE!"

Chase grinned and batted at the floating
balloons. "I thought you guys forgot about me."

"I'd never forget your birthday," said his
mom from behind the bar. "Here's Miranda with your cake and we've
made cheeseburgers and fries, so dig in!"