Chase Tinker & The House of Magic (28 page)

An oak tree stood in a corner, practically
touching the ceiling, its branches filled with a many-leveled
treehouse with walkways meandering off in at least twenty different
directions.

In the middle of the room stood a fountain of
a towering, green and red dragon, spitting jelly beans from its
mouth; on the far side a spectacular pirate ship rested, its sails
billowing as though they were filled with wind. Every spare bit of
wall was lined with hundreds and hundreds of books. Armchairs,
sofas and colorful throw-rugs were scattered throughout the
room.

They jumped back in surprise when a black and
gold locomotive skyrocketed from the fireplace, followed by several
railroad cars and a caboose. The old-fashioned train made several
soaring loops around the room on invisible tracks then vanished
back up the chimney.

"Wow!" yelled Andy, holding out his hands to
catch the jelly beans. "I've never seen anything like this!"

"Ew, jelly beans!" said James. "I like
butterscotches." The jelly beans vanished and yellow butterscotch
candies spurted from the dragon's mouth.

"Does this room have a power?" asked Chase as
he stared up at the vicious-looking dragon, which looked like it
was about to come to life at any moment.

"I think it's the Conjuring Room," said
Persephone.

"What can we conjure?" asked Andy.

"All kinds of things, I would guess," said
Janie. "Let me see." She closed her eyes and concentrated. "I want
a…
pepperoni pizza
." The air filled with the scent of cheese
and pepperoni as a steaming pizza popped onto a table.

"All right!" said Andy, snatching a piece and
taking a huge bite. "Yum!"

Chase wandered to a wooden shelf filled with
hard-covered books and ran his finger along the spines. Maybe if he
found the right book and pulled on it, it would open a secret door.
After all, like Andy said, libraries in movies always had hidden
passageways filled with dusty cobwebs and other creepy things. As
he read the titles, one caught his eye: "
The Passage of
Time.
" Passage. Hm. He slid the book out partway, tilted it
forward and held his breath as he waited…but nothing happened.

He looked around to see how the other kids
were doing. Andy was on his hands and knees with his head in the
fireplace, Janie and Persephone had climbed inside a pumpkin-shaped
carriage he'd missed earlier, and across the room, James was
standing next to the pirate ship. As Chase watched, a wooden
gangplank appeared and lowered itself to the stone floor.

Andy ran up to Chase, a dark smudge on his
nose. "I wonder where the train went," he said. "I couldn't see
anything up the chimney. I wanted a ride in it!"

"You should be happy it didn't fly out and
run you over," said Chase.

"Hey!" called James. "Let's check out this
ship."

"Sounds good. Come on, Andy." Chase and Andy
hurried to the ship and tromped up the ramp. "Hurry up, girls!"
yelled Chase.

"We're coming!" Janie hollered back as she
and Persephone jumped from the carriage, skipped across the floor
and boarded the ship. Standing on the deck, they looked around.

"Where the heck did they go?" asked
Persephone.

"We're down here!" called Andy. "We're in the
hold place."

The girls looked down and saw a square
opening in the floor with a ladder leading into the ship's dark
belly. They scrambled down into the shadowy hold, which was dimly
lit by a lamp dangling from a beam. Ragged hammocks hung at one
end, and the other was filled with at least a dozen
different-colored chests.

"Treasure chests!" exclaimed Janie. "What's
in them?"

"They're all locked," answered Chase.

She bent down and inspected one of the large
keyholes. "Maybe the keys are here somewhere."

"Don't worry, I can break into them," said
James, digging in his pockets and finding a paperclip. He
straightened the ends and crouched in front of a green chest.
"Always come prepared, I say."

"I don't think you should do that," said
Chase as he ducked behind a big barrel, picturing the chest
transforming into a fire-breathing dragon, or worse. Though, there
probably wasn't anything worse than a dragon spitting fire all over
the place.

"It'll only take a second," said James. He
stuck the paperclip into the keyhole and jiggled it. What happened
next didn't surprise anyone except James as a huge mouth with long,
sharp teeth appeared where the lid and the bottom of the chest met.
It snapped and snarled. James barely leaped back in time to avoid
becoming its snack. "Holy—!"

"I warned you," said Chase, grinning at James
as he scrambled across the floor like a huge crab and the chest
returned to normal.

James glared at him. "Real funny. Ha ha."

"As I was saying," said Janie, smiling and
shaking her head, "maybe we should look for some keys."

They scoured the ship, searching every nook,
cranny, deck and cabin.

"I give up," said Chase as he, Andy and James
each flopped into a hammock. He folded his hands behind his head
and closed his eyes. "Doesn't look like they're anywhere around
here."

"Yeah," said Andy, clinging to the sides of
his hammock so he wouldn't flip over. "And I could use a nap
now."

"What a waste of time!" snarled James.

Five minutes later they heard Janie yelling,
"Hey! We found something!"

The girls thudded across the deck and
clambered down the ladder. Persephone, waving a golden ring with a
clunky brass key jingling on it, paused. "Have you guys been
lounging down here the whole time?" she asked, narrowing her
eyes.

The boys scrambled to stand, which wasn't
easy with the twisty, swinging hammocks. Andy and James managed to
land on their feet, but Chase ended up in a heap on the floor. "Ow!
Uh…no. We've been looking too."

"Boys!" muttered Janie under her breath.

"Where was it?" asked Andy, putting on his
best not-guilty face.

"Stashed under a cushion in the captain's
cabin," answered Persephone. She strode to a chest, then scuttled
away. "Uh, who wants to try it?"

"Not me," said Chase.

"I guess I'll volunteer," said Janie, acting
brave, but looking like she'd rather be lounging safely on the
beach. "I'm a pretty fast runner." Handing Maxwell to Persephone,
she took the key, carefully inserted it into one of the locks and
twisted it. The lock gave a loud click. Janie let out the breath
she'd been holding. "Oh my gosh! I am
so
glad that
worked."

Chase hurried to the chest and tugged open
the heavy lid. "It's empty!" He yanked the key from the hole and
unlocked the rest. The other kids rushed to raise the lids.

"Another empty!"

"This one too."

"Nothing here either."

"Are they all empty?" Chase asked, looking
disappointed.

"Looks like," said James. He stared at the
chests with disgust. "Then why were they all locked?"

"Who knows," said Chase, "but they must be
here for a reason."

"Maybe they're magical and you need to ask
them for what you want," said Janie. She closed a lid. "I would
like—
a
bunch of fuzzy slippers
." She reopened it.
"Nothing! Sorry, Maxwell."

Meanwhile, Andy had climbed into another
chest. BAM! The lid shut by itself.

Persephone jumped. "What was that?"

"And where's Andy?" said Chase, scanning the
dusky hold.

"I saw him standing there," said Janie,
pointing to a blue chest in the corner.

Chase rushed to throw back the lid. It was
empty. "What the heck? Where did he go?"

"Shh. Do you hear something?" Janie waved her
hand at him as she walked toward the hatch.

They stood quietly and heard a distant yell.
"Chase! Janie! I'm in the treehouse!"

Hurrying up the ladder, they dashed across
the deck and down the gangplank. Their clattering footsteps echoed
in the cavernous room. Andy waved from a very high walkway, but
when they skidded to a stop at the bottom of the tree, they saw no
way of climbing it.

Stepping back, Chase looked up at Andy.
"There's no ladder!" he called. "How did you get up there?"

"I don't know!" said Andy, leaning over the
railing. "I got in a treasure chest and was thinking how cool and
fun the treehouse looked. The lid slammed shut and next thing I
knew, I was here. Wait a sec, I think I can walk on the clouds and
catch a ride in the balloon!"

"I don't think that's a good idea—"

Andy jumped from the walkway and began
hopping from cloud to cloud, but right before he reached the
dangling basket, he vanished into the mist.

"Oh no! What now?" cried Chase.

Five seconds later, Andy burst from the
dragon's mouth, flew through the air and plopped into a cushiony
armchair by the fireplace.

"Oh, man! How fun was that!" he exclaimed,
scrambling from the chair. "I wanna do it some more."

"Andy! Don't scare me like that again!" Chase
snapped.

"So do you think those chests are some kind
of teleporters or something?" Janie asked.

"Beats me," said James, "but I'm checking it
out. Come on."

They all raced back to the ship and zipped
down the ladder. James jumped into a red chest. "
A fighting
power room!
"

"You didn't go anywhere," said Chase after a
few seconds of holding his breath.

"I know! I know!" James snapped. He jumped
out and slammed the lid.

"Maybe you need to be more exact," said
Persephone.

Janie nodded. "You probably have to know
exactly where you're going."

"Let's see," said Chase, leaping into a
purple chest. "
The Premonition Room.
" The lid banged
shut.

It was somewhat different than regular
teleporting. Chase still felt as if he'd left his hair behind, but
this was like his molecules flew apart, zoomed around, and whipped
back together. One heart-stopping moment later, he was crouched on
the floor in his bedroom.

"Chase!" yelled a surprised voice. "Where did
you come from?"

He clambered to his feet. "Aunt Clair! What
are you doing here?"

"I—I was looking for you and the other
kids."

"Why are you holding my shirt?"

She glanced down at the t-shirt clutched in
her hands. "Well…it looked so untidy. I thought I'd pick up a
little. Sorry if I intruded," she mumbled. She ducked her head and
ran her hand through her wavy, dark hair.

"Um, that's okay, you don't have to do that,"
he said, his face turning bright-red. Grabbing his shirt, he saw
the mess was only on his side of the room. Andy's was spotless, as
usual. He kicked some things under the bed. "I, uh, planned on
cleaning later." He didn't want her to think he was a major
slob.

"Where are the other kids?" asked Clair,
pretending not to notice his special way of cleaning.

"In the library. We're messing around up
there. It's a cool room."

"That's right, I remember." Clair smiled. "I
haven't been up there in ages. I loved the treehouse. You must have
been in the pirate ship."

"We're trying out those treasure chests, but
it doesn't look like it's a round trip."

She laughed. "No, but it was great for
getting to the kitchen quicker if you were late for dinner. They
used to be strewn about the house because they only teleport you
around inside. Of course, Ben never cared much for that. He loved
being outside fishing or catching bugs or climbing trees."

Chase looked away as he scuffed his toe on
the floor. He used to enjoy hearing stuff about his dad, but
lately, he had a hard time talking about him. In fact, a number of
times Chase had to stop himself from thinking that the way things
were going, they'd probably never see Benjamin again.

"Anyway," she said, heading out the door,
"I'll let you get back to what you were doing."

"Wait! Why were you looking for us?"

"It doesn't matter," answered Clair, waving
her hand. "I just wanted to see what you were up to, is all. Now
that I'm feeling better, I'm a little bored. I might have to take
up knitting."

He stared guiltily at the floor as she
wandered away. Come to think of it, they had been ignoring her
lately now that she was no longer sick. Maybe they should take time
to plan some sort of family excursion for tomorrow.
I'll talk it
over with the others
, he thought as he ran from the room and
back to the library.

When he arrived, James was lounging in a
chair by the fireplace and thumbing through a book. When he saw
Chase, he tossed it aside and jumped to his feet. "Good, you're
back. I've been thinking—"

He was interrupted by Andy, Persephone and
Janie thudding across the floor. Andy's pockets rattled with jelly
beans.

"—anyway," he continued, glaring at them, "I
think a place we need to search is the old man's room."

"You mean
Grandfather's
room?" said
Janie as she skidded to a stop next to Chase. "You have to be
kidding! We can't search for anything in there."

"Have you ever even seen it?" asked
Chase.

She shook her head.

"Do you at least know where it is?" asked
James.

"Maybe…" she said, putting the squirmy
Maxwell on the floor so he could run around and sniff things.

Chase smiled to himself when the little
animal snapped and hissed at James on the way by. Knowing Maxwell
didn't care for James any more than he did made Chase think that
maybe the ferret wasn't so bad, after all.

"Persephone's lived here her whole life,"
said Andy, turning to her. "Do you know where it is?"

She shook her head. "Sounds like Janie knows
more than I do on this one."

Janie crossed her arms. "We can't go there. I
won't be a part of this," she said adamantly. "It would be going
way too far."