The missing mortals, p.10
The Missing Mortals, page 10
As they prepared to leave, Doug and Sebastian donned their shirts once again, and Doug put his cap on. Emma was glad not to have to look at the bandage on Sebastian’s stomach anymore. It was a reminder that they had almost lost him. It would be a very long time before she would forget the way he’d looked when Doug had pulled him from the water.
Without a word to the others, Doug set off along the creek bank back the way they had come. Emma, Martha, and Sebastian dutifully followed. They were almost to the gravel road when it began to sprinkle. Although they all noticed, no one made a comment, perhaps superstitiously thinking that if they didn’t mention it, it would soon stop. This was not to be the case, however. They had gotten on their bikes and were traveling on the gravel road back to the highway when it began to come down a little faster.
“Great! This is all we need,” Sebastian complained.
“I’m sorry, guys,” Doug said. “I guess I should have listened to the weather report.”
“It’s not your fault. We’d have had to come anyway,” Martha said, putting voice to what Emma had been thinking earlier.
Nothing more was said for a while as everyone struggled to remain upright on their bikes. The rain was beginning to soften the dirt under their tires. Emma just hoped they could make it to the highway before it got too muddy to ride. She wasn’t looking forward to having to walk her bike the rest of the distance to the main road. As it turned out, they were able to make it to the paved road. Cautiously, they turned onto the highway. The pavement was wet and slippery, but fortunately, there was no traffic. Doug slowed his pace to compensate for the poor road conditions, and they continued to ride in the steady downpour. After what seemed an eternity to Emma, the spires of the castle came into view, and Emma knew they were about a mile from the drive leading up to the academy. By this time, they were soaked through, but Emma consoled herself with the fact that they were almost there. She’d no sooner had the thought than the sky was lit with a jagged streak of lightening. A loud crash of thunder followed seconds later. All of a sudden, what had previously been a steady rain turned into a deluge. The rain began coming down so hard and fast that Emma could no longer see where she was going. The rain beat at her as she continued to pedal, stinging her face and the exposed skin of her arms and legs.
Up ahead, she could hear Doug shouting, but the combination of wind and rain made it impossible to tell what he was saying. A few seconds later, she almost rode past him. He and Sebastian had pulled off onto the shoulder of the road. Quickly, she applied her brakes and felt her bike sliding out from under her. She hit the pavement hard and skidded along with her bike for a few feet before coming to rest on the shoulder of the road just slightly ahead of where Doug had been waiting. Doug was there in an instant to help her up.
“Emma, are you okay?” he asked, as rain dripped steadily from the brim of his cap.
For a moment, Emma was too busy examining her injuries to reply. She had some nasty- looking scrapes on her right forearm, right thigh, and lower right leg. Thankfully nothing appeared to be broken. Her scrapes were raw and bleeding slightly. The unrelenting rain was making them sting even more. Determined to put on a brave face, Emma sucked in her breath. The pain was bearable, and there was nothing she could do about it now anyway.
“I’m really sorry, Emma. I didn’t mean to make you wreck. I was just going to tell everyone that I think we should get off the highway. With it raining so hard, cars might not be able to see us, and the lightning makes it too dangerous for us to be out in the open.”
“It’s okay, Doug,” Emma said loudly in an effort to be heard over the sounds of the storm. “I’m all right.” Her concern now shifted to Martha. She hadn’t seen her waiting with Doug and Sebastian when she had ridden past them on the side of the road.
“Where’s Martha?” she shouted.
“I’m here,” Martha answered. She had been riding behind Emma. Although Martha had also had to brake quickly, she’d managed to keep her bike upright. She’d come along just in time to see Emma wreck. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine,” Emma said a second time. “I just hope my bike isn’t messed up.”
Doug knew that Emma’s injuries, although not serious, had to be painful. But she was determined not to cry. Once again admiring her courage and satisfied that she was essentially all right, Doug picked up her bike and began looking it over. Other than some scratches on the frame and right-side handlebar, it was in good condition. Relieved that it was still in working order, Doug looked over at Martha and repeated what he’d just told Emma.
“What are we going to do?” Martha asked when Doug had finished.
“I think we should turn down this side road here.”
For the first time, the others noticed that Doug had stopped at the turn off to one of the many side roads they’d passed on their way to the arch earlier that morning.
“What’s down this way?” Sebastian asked.
“I don’t know, but at least we’ll be off the main highway. Maybe we’ll find a barn or something we can take shelter in.”
As the others had no better suggestions, they got back on their bikes just as another flash of lightning brightened the sky overhead. The sharp crack of thunder that followed had them pedaling furiously down the side road. The road was muddy and slowed their progress more than Emma would have liked. At least the rain had let up a little, so they could see where they were going. As they struggled along, they looked among the trees on either side of the road for anything they could use as shelter. In a few minutes, they passed a sign that stated that the road on which they were traveling was a dead end. Could things get any worse! Emma wondered angrily. Sebastian must have been thinking the same thing. But never being one to keep his thoughts to himself, he didn’t hesitate to voice his complaint.
“This day just keeps getting better!” Sebastian shouted with an angry snort loud enough to be heard over the rain.
Ignoring Sebastian, Doug continued to lead them down the road until they encountered a gate that ran the width of the road. A sign on the gate warned, “Private Property—no trespassing.”
While the others were wondering what to do next, Doug said, “I was hoping this was the road.” Then he turned to Sebastian, Martha, and Emma. “Just leave your bikes and follow me.”
“You want to tell us what’s going on?” Martha asked as she laid her bike down.
“Let’s get out of this rain first, and then I’ll tell you,” Doug answered.
Emma had questions of her own, but she trusted Doug. Without a word, she put her bike down next to Martha’s and stood ready to follow Doug. When he saw that everyone was ready, he climbed over the gate and began walking along a narrow dirt road that led uphill. Trees on either side of the little lane prevented them from seeing what was at the top of the hill, but Doug seemed to know where he was going. Suddenly, they reached the end of the lane and found themselves standing in a clearing. In the center of that clearing stood a two-story stone cottage with a slate roof and latticed windows. The windows on the first floor had been boarded up, and some of those on the second floor were broken, but the lattices remained. The cottage was obviously vacant and in a horrible state of disrepair.
Boldly, Doug led them up the front steps to a wooden door badly in need of a good sanding and some paint. The door was locked when Doug tried the handle, but that didn’t deter him. After shrugging out of his backpack and handing it to Sebastian, he began trying to bust the door open by repeatedly ramming it with his shoulder.
“Doug, what are you doing?” Martha asked. “This is private property. We could get arrested for breaking and entering.”
Doug said nothing for a moment as he continued to ram the door with all he had. His efforts were rewarded with a creaking sound and on the next shoulder thrust the door burst open. For some reason, Emma’s first thought was that they shouldn’t go into someone’s house with muddy shoes. Looking down at her feet, she saw that they’d been standing on the porch long enough for the rain to wash away most of the mud. Ridiculous as it sounded, even to her own ears, Emma heard herself asking, “Shouldn’t we take off our shoes before we go in?”
Doug, who had already gone inside, looked back at Emma and smiled. “It’s okay, Emma. I don’t think we’re going to ruin anything in here.”
“What is this place?” Emma asked as she stepped into the dim interior. With the windows all boarded up, it was hard to tell what the inside of the cottage looked like. As if reading her thoughts, Doug began removing some of the wooden planks that had been nailed across the windows. The boards looked as old as the rest of the cottage and the nails holding them in place were almost rusted through, so Doug wasn’t having any trouble pulling them off. Once the windows were free of their ugly coverings, Emma could see that they were standing in a small entryway. To her left was a fairly large room with a fireplace on the far wall. On her right was a smaller room that also contained a fireplace. An old wood-burning stove sat in the corner. This room had undoubtedly served as a kitchen many long years ago. Directly ahead was a badly deteriorated staircase. Although Emma would have loved to look around the second floor, she knew she would be risking life and limb if she tried to climb that set of rickety stairs. She’d just have to content herself with poking around the first floor. A short hallway to the right of the stairs led to a small room that had probably been a bedroom. On the other side of the hall was a room that looked about the right size for a washing room. Even in its current dilapidated condition, Emma found the cottage charming. She couldn’t help thinking how sad it was that the owner had let it fall into such ruin.
While Emma had been conducting her tour, the others had been doing some looking around of their own. When they’d satisfied their curiosity and were once again all assembled in the entryway, Emma asked her question again. “Doug, what is this place? Do you know who owns it?”
“Yes, I do,” he answered with a smile. He continued to look at her in a way that suggested she should know where they were too. Emma furrowed her brow for a moment, and then suddenly her eyes widened.
“You don’t mean…” she began. Doug was already nodding his agreement before she could finish her sentence.
“You guys want to let us in on what you’re talking about?” Sebastian asked, looking from one to the other and then over at Martha.
Martha, however, had hit upon the answer almost at the same instant as Emma. Sebastian seemed to be the only one still in the dark. Martha couldn’t help asking, “You’re kidding, right? Don’t tell me you still haven’t figured it out?” When Sebastian continued to look at her with a blank expression, Martha gave an exaggerated sigh and, with barely concealed impatience, said, “We’re standing in Darius and Rebecca’s cottage. You know—the one they lived in while the castle was being built.”
“How do you know that?”
“Doug just told us.”
“No, he didn’t,” Sebastian argued.
Doug interrupted before Martha could reply. “I didn’t realize we were on the right gravel road until we got to the dead end and the private property sign. Lord Dinswood told me about the cottage a few days before you guys arrived at the school. He said he was planning to have it restored and modernized. I think he wants to live in it when it’s done. I asked him where it was, and he described its location as about a mile from the castle down a gravel road on the north side of the highway. He said the road comes to a dead end and an unpaved driveway leads to the cottage at the top of the hill.”
The others were silent as they digested what Doug had told them. It occurred to Emma that one of the other five sculptures might well be somewhere near or in the cottage. They ought to look for it while they had the chance. There was no telling when they would get another opportunity to come to the cottage without a chaperone.
Similar thoughts must have been running through Doug’s mind because a moment later, he said, “You know this was one of the places on our list. We might as well look for the third sculpture while we’re here. If we can find another one today, we’ll be ahead of the game when the Reaper sets the next deadline.”
“I’m game,” Sebastian said. He was in no hurry to go back outside in the rain.
“Do you have any idea where we should look?” Martha asked.
“Not really,” Doug replied with a shake of his head. “But I don’t think Darius would have made it easy to find.”
“No offense, Doug, but that’s not very helpful,” Martha remarked with a frown.
“Actually, it is,” Emma said slowly. “If what Doug said is true, that pretty well eliminates anywhere inside the cottage.” When the others continued to look at her skeptically, Emma explained. “Well, if you think about it, wouldn’t Darius have realized that the cottage could be torn down sometime in the future? He wouldn’t want to risk the sculpture being discovered or destroyed in the process. I agree with Doug. Darius hid the sculptures intending that they would remain hidden forever as a tribute to Rebecca.”
“If that’s true, he didn’t do a very good job of it,” Sebastian said with a smirk. “We’ve already found two.”
“Where do you suggest we look?” Martha asked at almost the same time. Then hearing Sebastian’s comment, she raised her eyebrows and couldn’t help correcting him. “Technically, we’ve only discovered one. The first one was found by the construction crew.”
“Good grief, Martha, I just meant that two of the sculptures have been found.”
“Well, I’d say Darius did a pretty good job of hiding the sculptures. Especially when you consider the fact that it took almost three hundred years to find the first one.”
“So what’s your point?”
“My point is that we shouldn’t get too cocky and think that it’s just going to be a breeze finding the other sculptures.”
“I never said it was going to be easy,” Sebastian countered, beginning to get angry.
Martha took a deep calming breath. For what seemed the hundredth time that afternoon, she pictured Sebastian as he lay unconscious on the rock by the creek. Determined not to fight with him anymore, she said slowly, “I know, Sebastian. I just don’t want any of us to get hurt. You almost drowned getting the last one, and I don’t want to go through anything like that ever again.”
Surprised by Martha’s words, Sebastian’s anger drained quickly away. She was right after all. When he told her so, it was her turn to be surprised. No one said anything for a moment. It seemed that his near-death experience had changed him, and they were all trying to adjust to this new Sebastian.
Martha finally broke the silence by repeating her earlier question. “Well, where should we start?”
“Well, if not in the cottage, how about under it?” Emma suggested.
“You mean like buried beneath the floor or in the basement? Does this place even have a basement?” Martha asked in quick succession. She didn’t remember finding a door to a basement during her brief tour of the cottage.
“I don’t think so,” Doug answered. “But I think it has a root cellar. I saw the entrance to one behind the cottage when we first got here.”
“What’s a root cellar?” Sebastian asked.
“It’s a dirt room where they used to store fruits and vegetables in the old days. It kept them from freezing in the winter and spoiling in the summer. They were usually dug into the side of a hill like the one Doug’s talking about,” Martha answered for him. She had also noticed the root cellar upon arrival.
“Well, I don’t think it’s very likely Darius would have put a sculpture in there. It would be too easy to find.”
“He could have buried it in there,” Martha pointed out when Sebastian had finished his objections.
Sebastian wrinkled his nose in distaste. Digging around in an old musty dirt room was not his idea of a good time. Maybe they would find the sculpture before they had to resort to looking in the root cellar.
Doug suggested they split up and begin exploring the grounds around the cottage. Not having any better ideas, the others agreed. The rain had stopped, and the sun was trying to peek out as they wandered around in the wet grass for several minutes. Doug and Sebastian took a quick look inside the root cellar, but other than a few old gardening tools, it appeared to be empty. Finally, Martha broke the silence. “This is impossible. We’ll never find it like this.”
Doug sighed. “You’re right. If it’s buried, we’ll need the metal detector to find it. I’m afraid we’re wasting our time.”
“I’m sorry, Doug,” Emma said. She knew how worried he was about his dad and Lord Dinswood.
“We can come back tomorrow and find it with the metal detector,” Sebastian suggested. Even as he said it, he knew there was no way they could get the detector without Dean Harwood’s knowledge. Then Dean Harwood would insist upon coming along with them.
“Let’s just get back to the castle,” Doug said, running a hand through his hair. It had been a long tiring day, and right now, he just wanted to get back to the school.
As they went back inside the cottage to get the backpacks they’d left on the floor, Doug consoled himself with the fact that at least they had found one sculpture and would be able to make the first deadline. There would be plenty of time to worry about the next deadline later.
They were leaving the cottage when it happened. Martha was trying to get her backpack on her shoulders when her first aid kit fell out. The kit came open when it hit the ground, and an untimely gust of wind began blowing its contents in every direction. With a cry of dismay, Martha dropped her pack on the ground and began trying to round up the scattered items. The others came quickly to her aid, chasing down and grabbing what they could. The wind, however, refused to cooperate, blowing packets of gauze as far as the stand of trees behind the cottage. Determined not to let them get away, Sebastian followed. He had just reached the trees when suddenly, with a loud cry, he disappeared from view.
