The Legend Thief (22 page)

''I'm sorry to hear that
Miss .
.."

"
Hazzleweed,
“said Hazzleweed. “No Miss, just Hazzleweed." "Well,
Hazzleweed,"
said Em, smiling politely, "as you can see, we're not here to bowl. We just need my son's shoes, and then we'll be on our way. You can't expect him to go without his shoes, can you?"

"What's wrong with the ones he's got on?" Hazzleweed asked.

Everyone looked at Sky's shoes.

"Those? You can't expect him to wear
those
shoes; he'll be a laughingstock!" Em declared.

Sky frowned, wondering what was wrong with his shoes. Sure, they were a little scuffed. Sure, there was a tear or four and they were covered in sewage, but for all that, they were very comfortable shoes.

"Oh no," Em continued, "
these
shoes would never do. We just pulled them out of the garbage so he'd have something to wear."

Hazzleweed nodded as if that was a perfectly acceptable answer.

"Please, Hazzleweed," Crystal chimed in. "Can't you find it in your heart to spare my brother the humiliation of wearing these shoes? I'm sure a woman of your caliber, with such a fine name, must have an equally fine disposition to match."

Crystal was laying it on a bit thick, in Sky's opinion, but it seemed to work.

"All right," Hazzleweed barked. "But you're in and you're out- find the shoes and leave. No lollygagging."

"We'd never dream of it," said Em.

Hazzleweed harrumphed and stepped to the side.

Then Sky, Crystal, and
Andrew's
dead mother-
Emaline
Livingstone-walked through the door.

Crystal handed the bowling shoes to Hazzleweed, who grimaced and held the shoes at arm’s length. Sky couldn’t blame her; those bowling shoes looked even worse than the shoes he was wearing.

Hazzleweed locked the door behind them.

“This way,” Hazzleweed barked, leading them toward the shoe counter.

Sky hung back with Crystal. Now that they were inside,

Sky noticed that there were far more people in here than he'd first suspected. What's more, the place was a mess: pins everywhere, tables overturned, the pool table busted into pieces. The bowling alley patrons were putting on a good show now, acting like they were bowling, but it was obvious they had searched the place before
he
, Crystal, and Em had arrived.

"It's not possible
... ,
" Crystal whispered, looking at Em, who walked a few feet ahead of them talking to Hazzleweed.

"She's dead! She's been dead for twelve years, since Andrew was one!"

"Hannah and I ran into her in the prison last year, a trapped hunter," Sky whispered back. "She nearly shot me in the face! I knew she looked familiar. Remember how Andrew told us her tomb was empty-that they'd never found her body? She was there the night I was
Changed
. She was with Phineas. He r husband, Nikola, was my protector-he's the janitor now. He's Andrew's dad!"

Crystal covered her mouth in shock. "Poor Andrew
.. .
I can't imagine how he'll react to this.
Raised
by that horrible uncle of his and those step-cousins . . . and all this time his parents were alive. Sky, what are we going to do? Where has she been for the last year?"

"Hunting your mom, by the sounds of it," Sky replied, thinking of the note. If Em was really the "M" from Ursula's note-and he felt certain that she was-then that's precisely what she'd been doing for the last year.

Crystal's expression changed dramatically, going from sympathetic to dangerous. "You think she shot my mom? You think she's Bedlam?"

"I don't know," said Sky. He glanced at Em, but he couldn't tell whether she was the one he'd seen running away in the Grove of the Fallen or not. "I didn't get a good look." He shook his head in frustration. "Let's just find whatever the Marrowick left here and get out. We'll sort out the rest later."

Crystal narrowed her eyes and nodded once. "Do you notice anything weird?" she asked.

"What? Aside from the fact that we're following an orange skinned woman named Hazzleweed and our friend's dead mother?" said Sky.

"Like the fact that no one is
bowling,"
Crystal hissed.

"I noticed," Sky replied.

"Hazzleweed!" barked a gravelly voice.

Turning, Sky found a tall man with a long pointy nose, pockmarked skin, and a sinister chin nearly as sharp as a beak.

"What is it, Hazzlebark?" Hazzleweed spat.

"Who're your friends here?" asked Hazzlebark, surveying them with sickly buzzard eyes.

"Looking for shoes," said Hazzleweed.

"Looks like they got shoes."

"Looking for other shoes," Hazzleweed stated.

Hazzlebark grunted and picked something from his teeth, which he inspected for several seconds before responding. "Well, get '
em
out fast. We got
cleanin
'
to do."

Hazzlebark walked to the wall a few feet away, still inspecting whatever he'd pulled from his teeth, and then he turned around and stood there.
Doing nothing.

Sky and Crystal exchanged glances before following the woman, Hazzleweed.

"Stupid Hazzlebark thinks he's so smart," Hazzleweed mumbled to herself. "Got
cleanin
' to do-I'll show him
cleanin
' .
..
clean
him right across the head, I will ..."

"So, Hazzlebark and Hazzleweed . . . ," said Crystal, clearly trying to break the tension, "unusual names. Are you two related?"

Hazzleweed stopped and turned her fiery eyes on them. "No."

"It's
just .
..
Hazzle
," said Crystal.
laughing
uncomfortably, "seems like an uncommon name."

"I don't know any
Hazzles-so's
I suppose it is," said Hazzleweed. She pivoted her arm like a sprinkler and dropped the bowling shoes into a garbage can. Her finger shot out. "Lost and
found's
over there." She pointed. "Help yourself."

Her arm dropped and Hazzleweed wandered off muttering curses under her breath. "Get '
em
out fast, right. I'll show him how fast I can get '
em
out . . . get '
em
out fast across his head, I will ..."

Several people wearing heavy makeup glanced their way as they huddled around the lost and found box and began sifting through its contents, but Sky ignored them.

"What are you two doing here?"
Em hissed.

"What are
you
doing here,
Juliet?"
Crystal retorted quietly. "Don't think we don't know who you are. Aren't you supposed to be dead? Because I thought you were dead- your son still thinks you're dead!"

"
Shhh
," Em hissed. "Unless you want to burn this place to the ground, I'd recommend you keep your voice down." "What are you talking about?" Sky asked.

"You first," said Em.

"We found a note you sent to Ursula," said Sky, watching her closely.

Em's
face gave nothing away.

''The note said that a Marrowick was supposed to deliver something here," Sky continued. "Last night we ran into a Marrowick as it was leaving, so we know it was here.
Your turn.
What's the delivery? Is it Alexander's blade?"

"No," Em stated without hesitation. "How do you know?" Sky asked.

Em pulled the other half of Nikola's picture out of her pocket. The picture showed Nikola dressed in a white button down shirt. On his eye Sky saw the white monocle, one of the keys to Solomon's prison. Nikola's arm was wrapped around Em, while the other arm held a toddler: Andrew.

"I don't
- "
Sky started, but then he saw it. The rusted sword hung on a band around Nikola's shoulder. Nikola had [ought the Shadow Man with
that
exact sword, Sky remembered. "Nikola has the blade."

"It's never shimmered for him," said Em. "It's never shimmered for anyone since Alexander."

"Are you saying Nikola killed Alexander Drake?" Sky asked, clarifying.

"No!" Em snapped. "
Nik
was in Austria at the time."

Sky ignored the fact that Andrew's dad was more than four hundred years old, and he let Em continue. "He only showed up lo help with the body. The story that Alexander was buried with the blade was fabricated to keep hunters from finding it.
Nik's
protected the blade since Alexander's death-or he did, I should say. He lost it in his madness. I sent him the picture hoping to jog some memory loose, but so far it hasn't."

"So if Nikola has the · blade, what are you doing here?" Crystal asked. "Were you hoping to shoot some other innocent hunter?"

Em narrowed her eyes. "I've hunted your mother for the last year, Crystal. She is one of my closest and dearest friends. I promise you, I wouldn't do anything to endanger her life. I used a Harksplitter arrow. Harksplitter traps edgewalkers in their host-the arrows don't ever kill, even
through
the heart. Harksplitter is used for that very reason. If the host died, Bedlam would just jump to another."

Sky shook his head. "Cass told me that Bedlam had left her. He attacked me last night. Cass could've gotten away then and used the barrow weed to keep him from reentering her mind."

"Bedlam put her to sleep when he attacked you," said
Em .
"I know. It's ·the only reason I was able to catch up to him. Barrow weed only keeps Bedlam and other edgewalkers from entering your mind; it doesn't do any good once they're there. Bedlam has been pushing Cass's body hard, making her run faster, making her stronger, healing her over and over again; she's exhausted. I'm sure you must've noticed?"

Sky thought back. He remembered how Cass had leaped from Alexander's grave and how she had thrown the coffin over her shoulder as though it weighed nothing. Of course, that didn't prove anything. He'd seen hunters do those kinds of things as well.

"If Cass was Bedlam," said Sky, "then why didn't he try to take control of me in the Grove of the Fallen? Why give me barrow weed to keep him away?"

"If
I
was Bedlam, what would stop me from ripping that barrow weed from your nostrils and taking control of you right now?" Em countered.

Sky gulped. "Nothing, I suppose."

"Precisely," Em replied. "It's simple misdirection. Bedlam is the master of mayhem. You've shown that you can stop him. He's unlikely to try a direct assault again, even if he wasn't trapped in Cass. Maybe he thought you could be useful some how. But the point is that no matter what she told you, Bedlam is still in there. He let her think she was in control to make her more cooperative, but now he's trapped. It'll take days for the Harksplitter to work itself out of Cass's system."

"And in the meantime, Bedlam's army will arrive and destroy Exile," Crystal observed.

"Bedlam is more powerful than his army," said Em. "I took out the greater threat and gave the hunters a chance. Bedlam still has creatures looking for the blade, and Morton is after it for his own reasons. Right now Bedlam is weak, but if someone freed his body, he could escape the Harksplitter. Fortunately, the odds of anyone finding the blade-let alone getting it to work-are almost zero."

"So if that's all true, then why are you here? Why look for the blade?" Crystal asked. "It seems like you could find a better use for your time, like maybe letting your son know you're alive."

"I was told that the Marrowick would deliver the means to stop Bedlam's army," Em replied, ignoring the jibe.

"And where did you get the information?" Sky asked.

"An anonymous letter," said Em. "I was casing the place when you two showed up. I was hoping Ursula would arrive."

"She's on vacation," Sky stated.

Em raised an eyebrow. "I seriously doubt that."

"And what about Andrew?"
Crystal jumped in before Sky could reply. "What do you plan to do about him?"

Em was quiet for a moment. "I honestly don't know. I was only a mother for a year before I was trapped....
Nik
is insane. We're hardly fit parents."

"So you're not going to say anything? You're just going to keep it a secret and pretend to be someone else?" Crystal snapped.

Em glanced at her. "Crystal, I'd have thought that you, of all people, might understand that some secrets are best left unshared-especially among friends."

Crystal blanched. "What are you talking about?"

"I've been to your house," said Em, sounding on the verge of tears. "I know what you're hiding."

"What's she talking about?" Sky asked, confused.

"It's nothing," said Crystal, refusing to meet his eyes. "We should get moving."

"Found your other shoes?" Hazzleweed gargled from immediately behind Sky, making him jump.

"What, this?" said Sky, holding up a pair of sunglasses he'd found in the box. "This is a pair of sunglasses."

"Hardly seems fit for walking 'round in," said Hazzleweed sagely. "Where do you put your toes? There
ain't
no
toe pockets."

"That's sort of what I thought, too," said Sky, afraid to ask what toe pockets were. "It appears that my shoes aren't here. I think I might've put them in the ball return, or maybe in the pit. I think I bowled with them once while I was waiting for my ball."

"Oh, son," said Em, her voice carrying an is-that-seriously the-best-you-can-come-up-with kind of vibe, "what am I going to do with you?"