The Glass Wall (Return of the Ancients Book 1) (26 page)

My mother blinked, confused.

Al’s brows crawled up his face in surprise, but he managed a polite nod. Reaching into his shirt pocket, he withdrew his scrap of paper, patted his shirt again, and took out a mechanical pencil to scratch notes.

Setting his chopsticks down carefully, Rafael casually leaned back in his chair to study Al with a shrewd gaze as Jareth stopped smirking and cocked a brow at Al as well.

The atmosphere in the room shifted as everyone resumed eating.

Everyone, except Al. He was scribbling away until his pencil apparently ran out of lead. With an apologetic bow, he walked over to the coffee table, and picked up a small silver pen.

As one, Jareth and Rafael leapt to their feet, one arm dropped to their sides as the other rose halfway, as if prepared to attack. Their movements were swift and the gazes they fixed upon Al were deadly.

My heart stopped.

Al blinked, setting the pen slowly on the dining room table in obvious confusion.

Jareth and Rafael watched Al a moment before exchanging glances with each other and then the tension visibly left their faces.

As Rafael sat back down, I saw a small flash of silver in his hand, just like I had seen in Jareth’s a few days ago. It looked similar to Al’s pen, but I knew instinctively that it wasn’t a pen. My heart flopped and I stared at Jareth in surprise. What had he been pointing at me a few days ago? It wasn’t just his finger! Had I been in real danger?

I glanced around the table. Ellison and Grace’s eyes sparkled with excitement. Betty had been pouring herself wine, but had stopped short, clearly startled. My mother had decided to focus on her food, while everyone else just stared at Rafael and Jareth.

I was forever grateful to Tigger at that moment, because he decided to start barking and howling again in the living room. The tension broke, and as everyone began to talk at once, I excused myself to go check on the dog.

There was simply too much happening to know what to think about first. I was going to have tons to write in my science notebook. Tigger’s barking abruptly changed into whimpering, and I hurriedly rounded Betty’s mound of boxes to stop abruptly in surprise.

The bloodhound lay sideways on the floor, front and back paws, as well as his muzzle, tied neatly with twine. Frowning, I glanced up at the pigeon ruffling its feathers on the curtain rod above him. The thought that Galahad was responsible was a preposterous one, but it was one that I couldn’t shake as I dropped to my knees besides Tigger.

Tigger whimpered and thumped his tail at me mournfully.

“How did you get caught up in this, you crazy dog?” I asked, but I fell silent upon closer inspection. This was no accident. I stared at the twine on his paws and muzzle. Each binding terminated with an elaborate bow.

Gasping, I rose to my feet and eyed the pigeon. “You’re not a normal bird!” I whispered. I’d been lulled into thinking our neighbors and Jareth might not mean any harm, but how did I know that? This dinner certainly had proven they were aliens. I couldn’t help but think I should start talking to the police. Or Homeland Security.

Fishing in Betty’s desk for a pair of scissors, I freed Tigger and headed toward the family room just in time to meet everyone coming out. Rafael was supporting Harmony, as she stumbled, giggling and hiccupping.

“It was such a lovely dinner,” Zelphie was saying to Betty. “I can’t thank you enough for inviting us.”

“Thank you so much for coming!” Betty replied, eyeing Harmony with a worried expression. “Are you sure she’s ok?”

“She is just drunk.” Marquis snapped.

Ellison came to stand next to me and murmured incredulously, “Yeah … on water … and it only took about two minutes. You missed quite the scene!”

I watched them go, Rafael sent me an elegant wave as Jareth scowled, but I walked away from them both. Grabbing my mother’s hand, I pulled her into my bedroom. I didn’t want to think of aliens or weird dinner parties or pigeons that tied up bloodhounds. I just wanted my mother to hug me. Only, she didn’t. She sat on my bed for an hour, talking about all the cities we might move to until Neelu came to pick her up. And then she was gone.

It was Betty who came to my room, sat next to me, and gave me a big hug.

Chapter Eighteen - The Tulpa

I didn’t have a chance to talk to Al before I left for work the next morning. Samantha kept me washing dishes all day. It gave me a chance to think anyway. I knew Al and his buddy Jack were suspicious of our neighbors now, but they easily might just try to handle it by buying some new goofy contraption off of the internet.

I couldn’t really call the police. I mean, if I called them and said that aliens lived across the street and I had a red fluorescent light bulb to prove it, I would probably soon find myself locked up in an institution like my mother.

One of Samantha’s employees called in sick, and I stayed for a couple of extra hours to cover her shift. By the time I got home, it was almost dark. A note on the counter said that Al was working late and that Betty and Grace had popped out to take advantage of Black Friday sales.

The house was quiet, except for the sounds of Tigger snoring in the kitchen. I made myself a cheese sandwich and sat at the table, lost in thought.

I had been depressed all day, and I still hadn’t decided what I was going to do about our neighbors. This really was a matter for the proper authorities. I knew that a mere high school student shouldn’t be the one to handle a genuine situation of first contact with an alien species. But the problem would be in finding someone to take me seriously.

I noticed it was getting very dark inside and got up to turn the lights on when I heard the sound of voices outside. Cautiously, I crept to the kitchen window and squinted out into the gloom.

Marquis was searching through the trunk of his car, tossing items out onto the driveway as he spoke to someone. He was obviously looking for the red tube.

Rafael’s car was nowhere to be seen.

As I watched, a tall, familiar, dark-haired figure stepped around to join Marquis. It was Jareth. He didn’t participate in the search. Instead, he slouched against the back of the car, folded his arms, and began to speak.

Marquis was still throwing stuff out of his trunk. Their voices began to rise, and from their body language, it appeared they were frustrated.

Very slowly, I inched the window open and strained forward. I could
almost
make out the words.

I was getting a little frustrated myself when I remembered Al’s portable bionic ear in the spy drawer. Hurriedly, I tiptoed across the kitchen, found it, and crept back. Jamming the earphones over my ears, I carefully pointed the little radar dish out of the window and toward Marquis and Jareth.

To my astonishment, I could hear their voices clearly.

“—
fast turning into shambles!” Jareth was complaining. “He should be sent back to Avalon! I don’t care if he is your son or not, Marquis. He has begun to read the past Threads of Fate with his mirror. I didn’t even know that could be done, and if you don’t stop him, he could very easily track his way back to
you
!”

“It isn’t that simple, Jareth!” Marquis slammed his fist down on the car. “The Inner Circle must act prudently. We cannot reveal ourselves, not yet. As an initiate, you should at least know that much! Outside the Circle, I have little power over our Queen. As Rafael’s counterpart, you must find a way to control him yourself!”

“He is uncontrollable!” Jareth countered indignantly. “His fate line grows darker each day he walks this path. And now he’s breaking tradition!”

Marquis straightened slowly and folded his arms. “Odd that you should complain of that … when you have scarce followed tradition yourself.”

“I am Dark. It’s expected of me!” Jareth retorted. “You know better than I that change is never anticipated in a Light!”

“Remember this, Jareth!” Marquis drew himself up to his full height, which was still remarkably shorter than Jareth’s. “Rafael is my son and you’re merely an Initiate! You are treading a dangerous path in your criticisms of him!”

“Then watch your plans unravel!” Jareth huffed with a shrug. “You should have listened earlier and never have allowed him to come here. Now we sail an uncharted course, one that grows more treacherous by the day.”

“If you were half the Fate Tracker he is, we wouldn’t be in this predicament!” Marquis almost shouted. “You’ve been here several
years
! I couldn’t stop the Queen from sending him! Rafael found her in three months, and he should never have found her at all. You were supposed to remove her from the equation as ordered. You have made more than one serious blunder these past few months!”

At that, Jareth slammed
his
fist on the car.

“I didn’t mind Jung! She was a mere human!” Marquis said as he grabbed an armful of items off the ground and shoved them back into the trunk. “But your bodyguard was one of our own. You still haven’t explained his death to my satisfaction.”

At the mention of Jung’s name, I shivered uncontrollably. So Jareth
had
been involved! And what had Marquis meant about removing
her
from the equation? Remove whom? Surely, they didn’t mean me? My heart was racing and it was hard to breathe.

The fight seemed to have left Jareth. His arms slackened and he bowed his head.

“Now, it will be harder.” Marquis grated. “You must find a way, and quickly. Rafael is making unholy progress with her.” He pointed to their house.

“I fail to see what can be done at this point—” Jareth began.

“If she lives then I can’t control what happens!” Marquis snapped. “Take care of it. I made you what you are, and I can unmake you just as easily.”

Jareth kept his head bowed, but even from across the street I could see the tension in his body. Finally, he said, “I can’t see the wisdom in this path.”

“Who are you to question me?” Marquis hissed. “It is not your place to question. It is your place to follow orders!”

Jareth didn’t reply. He remained as he was, head bowed, and then he disappeared.

I watched with growing fear as Marquis paced around his car, striking it violently at times. I’d been very foolish to steal the red tube. Now that Marquis was obviously looking for it, maybe he’d discover that I had taken it. I would end up dead like Jung. After what I had just heard, I had no doubt that at least one of them, if not both, were killers.

Finally, Marquis got into his car and drove away.

I huddled in the darkness. I still didn’t know how I was going to make the police believe me, but I had to try for sure now. If Melody was trapped in the house and Marquis wanted her dead, then someone needed to tell the police. Even though we had all seen Melody’s obituary last week—it had been posted on the community board at school as she’d been a school benefactor—I couldn’t ignore the evidence that the elderly lady was still alive and in great danger.

I had to think of a plan. I sat up, twisting my lips in thought. Maybe the police would listen if I could just show that she was still alive and that her death had been faked. Maybe they would take me more seriously about the rest of it. It just might work. However, I had to verify that Melody really
was
alive first.

I peeked out of the kitchen window. No cars were in the driveway and the house was dark. It seemed as if no one was home. I knew they could appear whenever they wanted, but now looked as good a time as any to poke around.

Taking a couple forks out of the silverware drawer, I slipped outside and casually walked across the street and up to their front porch. I figured if Ajax started barking and they
were
home, I could use the pretense of asking how Harmony was doing, or if they had liked Thanksgiving.

I waited on the porch for a few minutes, looking over my shoulder and peering through the window a couple of times. The house definitely seemed deserted. The living room was empty and there was no sign of the wheelchair. I tried to turn the doorknob, just for grins, but found it locked. Ajax hadn’t appeared, but then, I never knew what to expect from that dog. He could just be waiting for the perfect opportunity to scare me again.

I decided to check out the backyard.

For the benefit of anyone who might be watching, I acted as if I had business being there and strolled around the side of the house and toward the back. There was a large privacy fence and a gate. I tried the latch. To my surprise, it swung open. Without hesitation, I strode through and clicked the gate shut.

The backyard was dark and empty. I could barely make out a lawn with bushes around the perimeter. A chilling gust of wind rustled the trees behind the fence. It was definitely dark and mysterious.

I shivered.

What would I do if I ran into Marquis? I clutched the forks in my pocket tighter. I had almost decided to return home when I saw a beam of light arc across the backyard.

I froze.

After a minute, another arc of light passed through. It seemed to be coming from the back of the house, as if someone were shining a beam from a large flashlight from one side of the yard to the other.