The Doorknob Society (The Doorknob Society Saga) (4 page)

“No problem, Chloe,” he said rubbing the bump. “I’m Edgar Magnus. Your dad asked me to stop by since I’ll be showing you around Paladin Academy.”

“You go to Paladin Academy?” Val asked with a skeptical eye at Edgar.

“You bet.” Edgar grinned proudly.

“Why would they let someone like you in?” she asked her face scrunched in a sneer.

“Wow, you’re really annoying,” Edgar said never losing his smile as he looked right at Val. Her face turned a bright shade of red and she turned and stomped off grumbling something about weirdoes.

At that precise moment I decided I liked Edgar.

I watched Val storm off and Michael Slade walk toward the house. His red T-shirt hugged his lean chest, and a pair of beaten up old jeans hugged the rest of him and steel-toed work boots finished it all. But it didn’t matter what he wore... anything would look good on him.

His smile grew as he got nearer and it was the biggest and warmest smile I’d ever seen.

“Hey, Edgar.”

“Hi, Slade.”

He turned to me. “Hi, Chloe, get those answers you were looking for?”

“Not yet, but the day’s young.” I returned his smile and had to remind myself that Mr. Wonderful here was not for me. I doubt he could handle my darker moods or just generally being the wiseass that I am.

“Can I help with those?” Edgar pointed to the boxes containing clothes.

“Sure, grab what you can.”

Slade joined in and it didn’t take long with everyone helping to finish getting our stuff moved into the house. Dad ordered a pizza and we sat on the front porch waiting for the delivery guy. I sat on the stairs while Edgar leaned against the banister tinkering with one of the tools that hung from his belt and Slade sat across from me.

I tried not to stare at his chiseled features but found my eyes roaming back to him time and again. I finally turned to Edgar. “So what’s Paladin like?”

Edgar looked around and after seeing that Dad was nowhere in sight asked in a conspiratorial whisper, “What have they told you?”

Slade chuckled and rolled his eyes at Edgar.

“Nothing.”

“Then you’re in fo...”

Just then the porch door swung open and Dad came walking out. “Chloe, here’s the cash for the pizza guy. I’m gonna hit the shower.”

Dad handed me a wad of money and went back in the house. I turned quickly to Edgar who had made his way to the porch steps beside me.

“Why did your dad decide to send you there now?” Edgar asked.

“I don’t know, I mean Dad always talked about the place and I know that’s where my parents met.” The last part barely came out as a whisper. I didn’t talk about Mom often even though she was always there in the back of my mind. And questions, so many questions; where was she, why she had left us... why she had left me? It took me a long time to stop blaming myself, though I’m not sure I ever really did.

“I heard about how you arrived yesterday. Was that your first time?” he asked with a wry smile.

“Edgar.” Slade’s voice was low, as if carrying a warning.

“What are you talking about?” I looked at Slade and he met my gaze.

“This is a conversation you and your dad should have.”

“Let’s just say that my dad isn’t the most forthcoming guy, okay,” I said annoyed with Slade, cute or not, he better not be getting in my way of finding answers, because if he did... he’d find out mighty fast who he was dealing with.

“I’m just trying to help.” Slade offered with a shrug.

I ignored Slade and turned to Edgar. “What do you mean?”

“Is that the first time you traveled like that?”

“What do you mean traveled?” Strangely, I did know what he was talking about. I’d been having headaches for weeks now and I kept getting lost wherever I went swearing I had seen a door leading one place or another and when I went to use it... it would disappear. Even before I escaped in Paris or before we wound up in Cape May, something had been happening. I would walk through a door into one room and wind up in another disoriented and confused.

“I’ve been getting lost a lot,” —I shook my head— “stupid stuff.”

“Stupid as in lost doors and hallways, finding yourself in the wrong place when you were sure a moment earlier you knew where you were going?”

“Yeah like that.” My eyes popped wide. How did Edgar know?

“Have you felt sick to your stomach when it happens?”

“A few times.”

“When exactly?”

“I don’t know, I guess when I was opening a door.” I recalled running from the police in Paris and how I had grabbed the doorknob and gotten nauseous and passed out.

“When you were opening it or when you turned the knob?” Edgar asked.

I thought about it for a minute. As soon as I had touched the doorknob I got a tugging in my stomach like when you drive too fast over a bump or go over a hill. The next thing I knew I was in the hotel room with my dad.

“When I turned the knob I felt, I don’t know... something.”

“Felt what?” Slade asked looking at me as if he expected a definitive answer.

“I don’t know,” —I thought a minute—”some type of energy tugging in my gut.”

“Did you feel it during the fight last night?” Slade asked.

I thought back to my hair standing on end, as if I knew something was coming. “Yes.”

“Well that’s good.” Edgar chuckled.

Slade’s eyes met mine and I could tell he wanted to say more, but he turned away and I found myself getting frustrated again.

“What are you talking about?” I asked anxious to know more.

“Oh right, I guess you wouldn’t know about any of this would you?” Edgar scratched the side of his head.

“No, I wouldn’t because no one will tell me what’s going on!” My voice grew louder with each word. I was discouraged and sick and tired of no one explaining. I was mad at my dad and now even at Edgar and Slade because obviously everyone but
me
knew what was going on.

“Isn’t it clear? You’re an acolyte of the Doorknob Society,” Edgar said plainly.

“A what of what?” I asked shaking my head more confused than ever and thinking I had just made friends with a nutter.

“An acolyte of the Doorknob Society,” Edgar repeated more slowly. “I kind of figured you would be with your family history but you never really know. I mean you could have been a guilder also.”

At this point I figured that he was just spewing random words at me to shut me up but it seemed as if, to him, he was making perfect sense. And for some odd reason it was gaining credibility with me. The term Doorknob Society rolled around in my head like an old song you hear on the radio and know the words to but don’t remember learning them. I was sure I had heard it before, but where and when I didn’t know.

“What the hell is the Doorknob Society?” I asked my curiosity running wild at this point. Of course my mind was conjuring up images of old men hanging around in smoking jackets, drinking and smoking cigars while discussing the latest in doorknob technology.

“Well the Society is...”

The sound of a car door slamming snapped me out of the conversation as the pizza delivery guy ran up and handed me off our dinner. As I was paying him I heard the creak of the screen door opening. Dad was done with his shower.

I sat down at the small bistro table on the porch and we all proceeded to dig into the pizza. Edgar acted as if nothing had happened and proceeded to talk with Dad about what he had been doing for the summer. It involved building some type of contraption and talk of travels and maps but I didn’t really pay attention. Slade would talk once in a while but mostly I felt his eyes lingering on me and I didn’t know why and didn’t care. I was too busy thinking and playing those words over and over in my head.

The Doorknob Society.

Edgar excused himself shortly after dinner and gave me a wave and a smile as he walked off. Dad grabbed the leftovers and headed for the kitchen.

Still upset from earlier, I turned on Slade. “You’ve been looking at me all night, care to tell me why?”

“You mean besides the fact that you’re one of the most interesting girls I’ve met?” He looked at me with an intensity I hadn’t seen before.

“What?” I was shocked at the response and must have looked like a deer caught in headlights.

“You’re brutally honest and that’s rare. I might not be able to tell you everything you want to know, Chloe. But I can tell you one thing... I won’t lie to you.”

I believed him, though I had only met him. Michael Slade was an honest guy that much a fool could see. “Thanks.”

“I can almost guarantee that this is going to be a very good year.” He winked at me and walked off the porch with a good night wave.

I watched as he disappeared into the night. I wasn’t sure how I felt about Slade just yet, he was good looking and honest. Two things in short supply in guys most of the time, but he also was playing things very quiet. I had a hard time imagining why he seemed interested in talking to someone as messed up as me. I didn’t exactly see a future with Mr. Wonderful walking around town with me in my combat boots, hoodie and dark eyeliner.

I walked into the house and back to the kitchen where I found Dad wrapping the remaining pizza in tinfoil and putting it in the fridge. My mind was preoccupied with way too much stuff that I didn’t know where to start.

“Everything okay?” Dad asked.

“Yes.” I lied. I wanted to confront Dad but where did I start? I didn’t know what happened last night, or if anything I’d seen had been real. I was used to dealing with illusions maybe this could all be explained away. What Edgar, had said kept rolling around in my thoughts, the Doorknob Society and then there was Mom leaving us. No real answer there either.

“I’m glad we’re here,” Dad said as he turned the faucet on and began to wash dishes.

I moved to his other side, grabbed a kitchen towel and began to dry the plates as he handed them to me. I figured I’d start with something simple. “Why are we here?”

“It’s time to stop dragging you from one magic show to the next; you need to go to a proper school.”

“There was nothing wrong with our life, Dad. Why now, all of a sudden, am I going to the Paladin Academy?”

“Your mom and I always said you would go there someday and it’s time.”

“Mom said a lot of things, her word isn’t exactly gold.”

“Hey, don’t talk about her that way.” He raised his voice slightly.

“She left us. I’ll say what I want about her.” This was an old fight and one I didn’t want to get side tracked on. “Tell me
everything
that’s going on, Dad. After last night I’m figuring either I’m going crazy or something much bigger is going on here.”

“You’re not crazy.”

“Dad, please?” I said turning to face him, though he kept his focus on washing the dishes.

“You really don’t waste any time do you?”

“I guess I’m impatient like you.” I tried a smile and to keep the anger and frustration out my voice. I was tired of all these games and I wanted to know. “Tell me what’s going on.”

“Alright, here’s the truth.”

Chapter 4

Status: I learn my family is a bunch of whack jobs!

“For generations our family have been members of the Doorknob Society, an order of the Old Kind, people who have the ability to use doorknobs to travel between dimensions,” Dad said sitting in granddad’s armchair that smelled like a combination of wood polish and beach.

I stared at him trying to see if he would crack after trying to tell me such an outrageous joke. “Right, Dad. So my grandparents aren’t really on a cruise, they’re traveling the globe using the power of doorknobs. If you are going to lie then the least you could have done was come up with something better than that,” I said rolling my eyes.

“Well, yes they are,” he said with a straight face.

“So our whole family does this, huh? We use magical doorknobs to travel around.” I waved my arms about wildly to demonstrate my point.

“Don’t believe me?”

“Why ever would I not believe that we’re all members of some secret organization who is what... attempting to take over the world with the cunning use of doorknobs? I thought you were going to be honest with me about this. Why are people after you? What is this all about?”

I almost screamed in frustration as I dropped onto the couch. Maybe I’m having some kind of psychotic break, I thought to myself almost happily. That must be it I’m delusional and probably in some padded room somewhere. I patted the couch to make sure it wasn’t really a padded floor I was sitting on.

“I’m not lying, Chloe. It’s the truth.”

“Sure, whatever.” I answered almost convinced that I was going insane and Dad was just a figment of my imagination.

“I can see this is going to take a demonstration.”

Dad stood and walked to the closet door on the far side of the room. His hand reached out to the doorknob but stopped before touching it.

I rolled my eyes again. Great... parlor tricks.

Then I felt it, a surge of energy tugging in my stomach and pulling me toward the door. It was the same sensation I experienced last night but this time it wasn’t as overwhelming, in a way it was comforting. I looked toward Dad and the closet doorknob. It had changed appearance, it was older and more intricate... and shimmered blue. As Dad’s hand got closer the faint light grew brighter until finally it wrapped completely around his hand and the blue light shot up and down the seams of the door almost as if racing one another until they met on the other side of the door jam.

Dad looked back at me and smiled. “See you in a second.” He laughed and swung the door open stepping through and slamming the door behind him. The light disappeared and I blinked looking around.

“Very funny, Dad, I’ve seen the
Disappearing-Man
trick a million times in your act!”

“Not like this!”

I heard Dad yell from the front of the house. I jumped up and ran into the hallway and there stood Dad at the end of the hall beside the front door. His hand still rested on the knob and the door still emanated a faint blue glow while behind him was the strangest thing I had ever seen. Right where our front porch should have been was the inside of the closet from the living room. Winter coats hung beside old umbrellas and Dad rested against the door with a teasing smile. He winked and waved me toward him.