Chase Tinker & The House of Magic (7 page)

"Grandfather told us about your mom," said
Andy. He edged past the odd shrubbery. "Uh—why are the plants
singing?"

"Oh, don't mind them," said Janie, airily
waving her hand at the plants. "They roam around the house
serenading everyone. I kind of like it."

Wanting to hear more about his dad, and not
singing plants, Chase asked eagerly, "Have you heard anything from
your mom?"

"Nope, not a word." She pulled a purple cell
phone from her pocket. "She called me a bunch of times when she
first left." Janie sighed. "But I haven't heard anything from her
in weeks. Whenever I call her, she never answers. I hope she's
okay. And your dad too, of course," she added, slipping the phone
back into her pocket. "Grandfather doesn't want me to worry, but I
do. And I can tell he's worried too."

"Do you think he'll go look for them
himself?" Chase asked.

She shrugged. "I dunno. He hasn't said
anything, but he might have to if they don't come back soon.
Wouldn't you think?"

"I suppose." Staring at the floor, he thought
of something else he wanted to ask. "So are Mrs. Periwinkle and
Persephone magical too?"

Janie shook her head. "No. Mrs. Periwinkle
came to work here years ago when Persephone was a baby. They know
about our magic, though."

"I guess they'd have to," said Chase, "living
in this house and all."

Several more hallways later, they came to a
bedroom with a huge four-poster bed. Like the formal living room,
it had a stone fireplace taking up one whole wall. Unlike the other
one, with its roaring fire, this one had dozens of baseball-size
balls of flames bouncing behind the fire-screen.

"This is Maxwell's room. At least he likes to
think so," said Janie as she crossed the room with the boys
trailing close. "He hides things under the bed."

Getting down on their hands and knees, the
kids peered into the darkness. Janie muttered something under her
breath and snapped her fingers. A flashing-orange fireball popped
into the palm of her hand.

Chase and Andy jerked back. "Whoa!" said
Chase as he eyeballed the strange ball of fire. "Where the heck did
that come from?"

"It's the power of the room," said Janie.

"Power of the room?"

"Don't worry, Grandfather will explain things
to you," she said. "But in this room, you snap your fingers, say
'
fireball
' and it pops right into your hand. Try it."

Chase did as she suggested. POP! "Nice," he
said, smiling at the blazing ball. "Go ahead, Andy. You really
gotta try this."

"I don't know," said Andy, shaking his head.
"Mom always says we're not supposed to play with fire."

"But this is different," said Chase. "And it
doesn't hurt. It actually kind of tickles."

"O—okay…if you say so," Andy mumbled. Leaning
back and stretching out his arm, and looking like he thought the
fireball might attack him when it appeared, he clicked his fingers.
A feeble spark later, he held a ball of flames. "Hey! I did it!
Though, I wish it was a little bigger than a marble," he said,
squinting at it.

They dropped to their stomachs and looked
under the bed again. Maxwell had stashed his loot too far under for
the kids to reach.

"Wow! Look at all this junk," exclaimed
Andy.

"And it looks like he took all my socks,"
said Chase, looking irritated. He spotted Maxwell curled up among
his treasures. He was sound asleep. "Crazy furball!"

"How do we get them out of there?" asked
Andy.

"I know how," said Chase. Squinting with
concentration, in a few seconds he had things flying every which
way. Something squishy bounced off his head while something else
zipped past his ear. "Hey, he took my baseball cap, my hairbrush,
and
my toothbrush. Gross! He chewed on it."

"Cool trick," said Janie as she dodged a
sock-ball zooming by. "That's your power, huh?"

"Yeah, telekinesis," he answered, gathering
his stuff into a pile. "I still need to work a bunch on it, though.
What about you? Is it the one you did in the dining room?"

"No, vanishing is that room's power." She sat
back on her heels. "Mine's called space manipulation. I'm not very
good at it either."

"Space manipulation?" said Andy, wrinkling
his nose. "That sounds weird."

She tapped her finger on her lips. "Let me
see if I can explain it a little. It's like taking the closet over
there and magicking it so it looks the same size on the outside,
but it's much bigger on the inside."

"Sounds like a cool power," said Chase.

"Yeah, it is," she said, pushing her hair
behind her ear. "There's other stuff, but I need to practice
more."

"I can freeze time," piped in Andy. "At least
a couple times I did. I had my—my Dimmyditty something or other a
few days ago."

"
Dimidiatus Anniversarium
?" said
Janie.

"Yep, that sounds right."

"Well, happy half-birthday, Andy. Maybe Mrs.
Periwinkle will bake you a cake to celebrate." She held up a fluffy
red slipper. "I bet Grandfather will be happy to see this." She
dropped the slipper and picked up something else. "Oh, and my, uh,
teddy bear. Shoot, Maxwell chewed off his other eye."

Chase smothered a snicker as she tucked the
stuffed animal under her arm and sent him a laugh-and-you're-toast
look.

"Hey, how do you get rid of these things?"
asked Andy, blowing on his.

"You can either say '
extinguish
' and
it goes out, or you can throw it at something." She hurled her
fireball at a sock-ball. Bang! The socks exploded. Not even a
cinder was left.

"You blew up my socks!" yelled Chase. Sheesh!
What was with this girl? "And anyway, isn't that dangerous?"

Janie grinned. "Only to things, not
people."

He looked at his fireball and whispered,
"
Extinguish,
" even though he had the urge to fling it at his
cousin instead.

While they chatted, Maxwell tried to drag
everything back to his hiding spot. After a few games of
tug-of-war, and one more trip under the bed, Chase's things were
finally back in his bag and stowed safely in his bedroom.

"Sorry about Maxwell stealing all your
stuff," Janie said on the way to Grandfather's study. "He's been
acting funkier than usual lately. It's like he's smarter or
something. Maybe the house's magic is seeping into him."

Chase looked at Maxwell as he clung to
Janie's shoulder. He blinked his beady black eyes and glared at
Chase like he'd just taken all of Maxwell's possessions, instead of
the other way around.

Chase stuck his tongue out at him and almost
fell over when Maxwell did the same thing back. Maybe Janie was
right. Grandfather did say the house was full of magic. And using
his ability back there had been a lot easier. Was it possible he
was soaking up some of the magic in the house too? He sure hoped
so, because he certainly needed it.

"O
h, wonderful,
you're here at last," said Grandfather when they entered the
study.

The warm, comfortable room had a desk,
bookshelves, armchairs in front of a cozy fireplace, and French
doors leading out onto a spacious deck. "I see you found the guilty
culprit, and my long-lost slipper. Thank you, Janie." His eyes
twinkled at Maxwell as he set his footwear on his desk. "Okay,
everyone, let's go. No lollygagging."

"Where?" asked Andy.

"You'll see."

He led them through the house to the spiral
staircase. As they walked toward it, the steps began rolling
upward.

"It's an escalator!" exclaimed Janie.

"Nice," said Chase as they each jumped onto a
moving stair.

"This is much quicker than walking," said
Grandfather, "but it will make you a bit dizzy. I recommend hanging
on."

Everyone grabbed onto the handrails with both
hands.

"What about your motion sickness?" asked Andy
as they twirled higher and higher.

"Don't worry," said Grandfather. "I will
prevail."

Chase glanced over the side. The checkerboard
floor was now far, far below.
Whoa.
Not a good idea to
look down there
, he thought while his lunch rolled over in his
stomach. Instead, he stared at the ceiling as it grew closer.
Much
better
.

When they reached the top, Chase hoped he
didn't look as green as everyone else as he looked around. They
were in an alcove with nothing in it except a glittering oval
window, and a huge painting that completely covered one wall. The
colorful painting was dotted with hundreds and hundreds of tiny
pictures of every sort of door imaginable.

Grandfather strode straight to it. Chase,
followed by the others, hurried after him, but before Chase had a
chance to get a good look at the painting, Grandfather had already
reached out a bent finger and knocked on one of the doors: two fast
knocks, then two slow. Instantly, the door began to stretch and
grow, sprouting bigger and bigger, becoming taller and taller,
until seconds later, a regular brown door was there, right in the
middle of the odd painting. All the other doors were shoved
haphazardly aside to make room for it.

Grandfather grasped the knob, gave it a twist
and pushed the door open. They climbed through the opening and into
a spacious attic. It had no other doors or windows and was empty
except for one brilliantly glowing object sitting in the middle of
the floor.

Toffee-colored, it was about the size of a
basketball. On one side, it looked like a crystal and had at least
a dozen finger-length protrusions sticking out jaggedly; the rest
of it was a smooth surface that had many strange symbols carved
into it.

"What is it, Grandfather?" whispered Janie
breathlessly.

Grandfather looked at the object with pride.
"This, kids, is what we call the Relic. It's where our magic comes
from."

"Whoa," said the three of them in unison.

"Magic comes from
that
?" exclaimed
Chase. "How?"

"We've never known how it does what it does,"
said Grandfather. "I do know how it came to be in the family, and
this is what I want to show you."

"What do all these weird lines and squiggles
mean?" asked Janie as she leaned in for a closer look.

"That I don't know either," said Grandfather.
"It's just another of the Relic's many fascinating mysteries."

Andy backed toward the door. "Are you sure
it's safe? It looks radioactive or something."

"No, no," Grandfather said. "It's perfectly
safe."

"Is it from outer space?"

"I'm not sure of its origins, but I wouldn't
have brought you here if it was dangerous in any way." He conjured
cushioned chairs. "Now sit, listen, and learn. You too, Andy. Come
along."

When they were gathered around the Relic,
Grandfather passed his hand across its smooth face. It changed to a
smoky-gray and began showing scenes from the past.

"Look, it's a magic TV," Janie said,
giggling.

"Shh!"

"
Five hundred and fifty-seven years
ago,
" said a rich, deep voice from the Relic, "
young
Jedadiah Tinker lived in the highlands of Scotland. Even though
everyone loved him for his kindness and generosity, he wasn't ready
to settle down and spend his life as a farmer. What he desperately
longed for the most was to explore the world.

"
He knew he might run into danger and
pitfalls along the way, but he still packed some of his belongings
and left home to pursue his dream. He had an exciting time visiting
many countries and seeing fantastic, exotic places, but, for some
strange reason, he had an uncontrollable urge to see the great
pyramids of Egypt.

"
After his arrival, Jedadiah spent several
days climbing and exploring the many pyramids. One afternoon, to
get out of the burning sun, he plopped down to rest in the shadow
of one of the largest. When he stood to move on, something about
the stone he had been leaning against caught his attention. The
enormous stone now looked as if it had some sort of door etched
into the middle of it. He glanced at the surrounding rocks, but
none of them appeared to have changed.

"Curious, he quickly scooped away the sand
drifts covering part of it. Maybe he'd found some sort of hidden
entry. Sticking his fingers into one of the side gaps, he pulled
with all his strength. The door opened several inches. Gritting his
teeth, he grabbed onto the edge again and heaved and heaved until
he'd finally pried it open enough for him to fit through. Just
inside, he saw a blackened torch stuck in a groove that was carved
in the side of the stone.

"Glancing around,
he took his flint
from his bag, lit the torch and then ducked through the opening. In
the flickering firelight, he saw a stone staircase leading down
into total darkness. His heart pounded as he crept down the steep
steps. At the bottom was a long passageway. Barely breathing, he
followed the chilly, narrow tunnel until he came upon a tall, stone
door. Holding up his torch, he saw that it had many strange-looking
inscriptions carved into it. He tried to read them, but they made
no sense. Hoping to see the writing better, he carefully rubbed the
dust away.

"
Jedadiah's eyes widened when a bright
light swept over him. 'What's goin
'
on?
'
he cried,
his voice echoing down the tunnel. Loud scraping filled the air as
the door swung open slowly and revealed an eerie, dark chamber.
Holding his torch far out in front, he stepped inside.

"
The first thing that caught his eye was a
round pedestal standing in the center of the room. It had an
oddly-shaped object sitting on it. His gaze darted around the
chamber. An old, dusty skeleton dressed in rags and curled up in
one of the corners caused chills to race up and down his spine. He
wanted to flee, but his curiosity was stronger than his
fear.