The missing mortals, p.14
The Missing Mortals, page 14
Clarice spent most of the meal complaining about all of the homework they’d already been given and about the teachers responsible. She seemed to be particularly upset with Mr. Godfrey. “It’s our first day back for heaven’s sake. I don’t understand why we need algebra anyway. I mean, when are we ever going to use it?”
Although Clarice had intended it to be a rhetorical question, Reggie was ready with an answer. “Actually, Clarice, it depends on what you want to do when you graduate.” He would have said more, but the look on Clarice’s face stopped him.
“Why can’t you ever just agree with me, Reggie? Honestly, sometimes I think you’re trying to make me mad.”
With that, she picked up her tray and left the dining hall with Susie in tow. Reggie was left sitting opposite Emma and Martha with an expression that was a comical mixture of surprise and confusion. Emma and Martha smiled at each other. One day, Reggie would learn when to keep his mouth shut, but unfortunately for him, today wasn’t that day.
THE REST OF the week passed quickly with little time for worrying about Preston Danvers or anyone else for that matter. Sometimes, Emma would see Preston as he passed her in the hall. Usually, he would say a quick hello, but he made no effort to seek her out after classes were over for the day. It was just as well, Emma thought. His attention would only cause friction between her and Martha, and she didn’t want to hurt Doug.
Each evening after supper, Emma and Martha could be found working on their homework, either in the lounge or library. Doug and Sebastian usually joined the girls for these study sessions. Emma was glad that things at least appeared to be back to normal. She couldn’t help noticing how tired Doug looked. Martha had noticed Doug’s haggard appearance as well and had commented on it to Emma. Both girls wished there was something they could do. If things didn’t change soon, Doug’s grades would begin to suffer, and then he could lose his scholarship.
Doug was checking his mailbox every morning and evening for a note from the Reaper that would tell them when the next sculpture was due. He hoped they would be given more than two weeks this time. In the meantime, Doug had wrapped the sculpture they’d found at the cottage in a blanket and hidden it in a suitcase he kept in his closet. When the note came, they would be ready. Doug’s main worry now was finding the other four sculptures. If they were going to stay a step ahead of the Reaper, they needed to be looking for the fourth sculpture now. The problem was going to be getting to the rest of the locations on their list. Only one was within walking distance of the castle. The others were along the river and would require a boat. How they were going to get their hands on a boat, assuming they could even get to the river, was what was keeping Doug awake at night.
Saturday morning, Doug found a small white envelope in his mailbox. He held it in his hands for a few seconds without opening it, afraid of what it might say. With shaking hands, Doug took a deep breath and tore the envelope open. Quickly, he scanned the brief note inside.
Thank you for the lovely sculpture of Sarah, Douglas. I knew I could count on you. I’ve decided that since school has started and it will undoubtedly be more difficult for you to “get away,” I will give you until the end of the month to deliver the next Mortal. When you have it, hang the school banner in your window as before. The next evening, put the sculpture in the same wooden barrel. I will not send another note unless you fail to do your part. Remember what’s at stake, Douglas. Happy hunting!
Doug put the note back in the envelope and hurried to the dining hall in search of Sebastian, Emma, and Martha. He had been so tired that he had slept later than usual that morning. He had awakened to find that his roommates had already gone to breakfast. Knowing how little rest he’d been getting lately, Sebastian had probably decided to let him sleep. Doug had to admit the extra sleep had done him good. He was feeling much better.
He found Sebastian in the dining hall, but it seemed that the girls had already eaten and gone outside to enjoy the fresh air and sunshine. Sebastian waited while Doug had his breakfast, and then the two boys left the castle in search of Emma and Martha. They found the girls sitting on a swing under the oak tree nearest the castle’s main entrance. On the way over to the girls, Doug noticed that several of the academy’s other students were also taking advantage of the fine day. He couldn’t blame them. The temperature was in the low eighties, and there was a nice breeze. Although it was still early September, the air had a different feel to it. Fall was on its way. Even after receiving the latest note from the Reaper, Doug found it hard to be gloomy on a day like this.
Emma looked up and smiled when she saw Doug approaching. She was relieved to see him smile back. He looked a lot better this morning. The dark circles under his eyes were gone, and he appeared to be in good spirits. At breakfast, Sebastian had told the girls that Doug was sleeping in. Emma was glad to see that it had helped him. He looked well rested and ready for whatever the day would bring.
The boys got a bench from under a neighboring tree and positioned it so they could sit across from the girls. Once they were settled, Doug showed everyone the note he’d found in his mailbox. He hadn’t told Sebastian about it at breakfast because he’d wanted to tell them all at once.
“Well, we’d better start looking for another sculpture,” Sebastian said after reading the note.
“Yeah,” Martha agreed with a shake of her head. “Which spot on our list should we search next?”
“There’s only one within walking distance of the castle,” Doug replied. “I guess we should try it first.”
“When do you want to go?” Emma said.
Doug didn’t answer for a moment. He was thinking about the other locations on their list and how hard it was going to be to get to them. He’d been worrying about it ever since they’d gotten the first note from the Reaper. With a sigh, he decided it was time he shared his concerns with his friends. Maybe they’d have some ideas that he hadn’t considered.
“What’s wrong, Doug?” Emma asked when Doug didn’t respond.
“Well, it’s just what I said earlier. We’ve only got one spot on our list that we can get to without help. The rest of them are along the river. How are we supposed to get to them?”
Even though she knew the answer, Emma asked, “That’s what you’ve been so worried about, isn’t it?”
Doug looked into Emma’s beautiful green eyes and nodded. He could see concern etched in her lovely face. He saw similar expressions on the faces of Martha and Sebastian, and he was reminded of something he’d forgotten: he was not alone. Now that he’d shared his worries with his friends, he felt as if some of the burden had been lifted from his shoulders. He began to wish that he’d talked with them about it sooner. If he had, he might have saved himself a lot of sleepless nights.
“I think I have an idea,” Sebastian said to everyone’s surprise.
“By all means, enlighten us,” Martha replied with a lift of her right eyebrow.
Sebastian would have liked to let the suspense build a bit before satisfying Martha’s curiosity, but he couldn’t do that to Doug, so he answered without hesitation. “I was thinking that we could ask Mr. Munsen to help us.”
The group was silent for a moment as each weighed the pros and cons of Sebastian’s idea. Mr. Munsen had helped them last year when they’d needed a ride to Cal Thrabek’s cabin. The cabin, located a few miles outside of Windland, had been too far away for them to get to on foot. Mr. Munsen had taken an instant liking to Doug and had given Doug and Sebastian a ride out to the cabin without asking a lot of questions. As it turned out, he’d ended up saving the boys’ lives. Mr. Munsen was a big bear of a man with a mustache and a full beard. He had reminded Emma of a mountain man when she’d first seen him. His wife, Alice, and daughter, Becky, ran the bookstore in Windland for Cal. Emma felt they could trust Mr. Munsen.
Martha had been thinking along the same lines as Emma. As much as she hated to admit it, she thought Sebastian’s suggestion was a good one. Ultimately, however, it would be up to Doug whether or not to enlist the aid of Mr. Munsen. After all, it was his father whose life was on the line. Martha looked over at Doug and tried to gauge his reaction to Sebastian’s idea. It was difficult to tell what he was thinking from his expression. She looked over at Emma and Sebastian and saw that they too were watching Doug intently.
Finally, Doug spoke. “Sebastian, I think you’ve found the answer. I’m pretty sure that if I explain everything to Mr. Munsen, he’ll help us.” Doug liked and respected Mr. Munsen, and more importantly, he trusted him. They would have to find a way to talk to him the next time they were in Windland. Thinking of Windland reminded him of Emma’s earlier question.
“Next Saturday, it’ll be the ninth graders’ turn to go to Windland. I think we should look for the fourth sculpture while Bobby Wilcox is out of the way. I’m convinced he’s got some of his goons watching my every move.” Doug looked over at Emma. What he didn’t say was that he thought Preston Danvers was one of the ones Bobby had enlisted to help him keep an eye on Doug. Bobby was hoping to catch Doug breaking a school rule so he could have his dad and the rest of the school board expel him from the academy. Doug was just as determined to keep that from happening, but constantly being watched certainly did complicate things.
They spent the next several minutes making plans for the following Saturday. The location they would be searching was an artesian well located a couple of miles down the mountain on the castle’s north side. Doug’s dad had shown him the spot the first summer he was at the academy. Rebecca had mentioned the well in her journal, explaining that she and Darius had been out walking when they’d come across it. The water erupting from the ground had amazed them both. A couple of years later, Darius had ordered the construction of a fountain around it. At Rebecca’s request, he had also placed some stone benches nearby. It had become one of Rebecca’s favorite spots. According to her journal entries, she would often go there to read and enjoy the natural beauty of the area.
“What exactly is an artesian well?” Martha asked Doug when they’d finished talking about what they were going to do the following Saturday.
“Well, according to Dad, it’s what happens when water from a higher elevation runs down and gets trapped between two layers of rock or clay that are impermeable to water. The water has nowhere to go and pressure forces it to defy gravity and erupt from the ground.”
“Sounds cool,” Sebastian said.
“I bet the fountain is beautiful,” Emma said, looking at Martha. It sounded like the sort of thing that would appeal to Martha’s artistic nature. Emma felt certain that Darius had gone all out to create something wonderful for his wife to enjoy. She had to admit that she was looking forward to seeing the fountain herself.
“I just hope we can find one of the sculptures there,” Doug said. “I don’t remember seeing any carvings of ravens or roses when I was there with Dad.”
“Yeah, Doug, but you weren’t really looking either,” Martha pointed out. “It’d be easy to miss something like that unless you were really looking.”
“I guess so,” Doug replied with a frown.
Suddenly, Sebastian stood up and stretched. “I’m tired of sitting around here. Let’s do something. It’s too nice a day to waste it sitting under a tree.”
The others agreed, and at Sebastian’s suggestion, they decided to play croquet until it was time for lunch. After lunch, they teamed up with some of their classmates and spent the afternoon playing volleyball. The combination of fresh air and exercise had them all famished by suppertime.
Later that evening, the foursome sat around one of the tables in the lounge and played board games. By unspoken agreement, they had decided to put off their homework until the following afternoon. There would be plenty of time to work on it tomorrow.
Emma fell into bed that night tired but happy. It had been a wonderful day. It was a relief to see Doug behaving more like his usual self. Just before falling asleep, Emma prayed that things would go well for them next Saturday.
The warm weather returned during the week, and by the time Saturday arrived, the temperature was forecasted to rise to near ninety degrees by the afternoon. It seemed that the dragon of summer had decided to unleash one final blast of its fiery breath before bedding down for the winter. Although the temperature wasn’t going to be ideal, Emma was at least thankful that it wasn’t supposed to rain.
At breakfast that morning, the foursome decided that it would be best to leave for their little excursion after lunch. The buses wouldn’t be departing for Windland until ten o’clock, and then they would only have two hours until lunch. Doug wasn’t sure if two hours would be enough time to locate the sculpture, and it certainly would look suspicious if four students didn’t turn up for lunch. If they left immediately after the noontime meal, they would have almost six hours until supper. That should be ample time, assuming that one of Marnatti’s masterpieces was indeed hidden somewhere near the well.
At ten o’clock, Doug and Sebastian watched from the ballroom windows as the buses pulled up to take the freshmen to town. They wanted to be sure that Bobby and all of his goons got on the buses. This was one day they couldn’t afford to have anyone spying on them. Doug was relieved to see that almost the entire freshman class had decided to take the trip to town—including Bobby and his crew. After the departure of the buses, the time until lunch seemed to drag by. They played a half-hearted game of badminton and then walked around to the back of the castle to see how work on the sports complex was coming. As they turned the corner around Bingham Hall, the boys’ dorm, they saw that the construction site had been cordoned off for safety purposes. Even so, they could see that the walls of the gym were up and the trusses for the roof had been set. Soon the exterior would be finished, and work could begin on the inside. It looked like things were moving along nicely. By the time they’d finished satisfying their curiosity about the construction crew’s progress and returned to the front of the castle, it was time for lunch.
They ate quickly so they would be the first to get back outside and hopefully be able to slip away unseen. As they exited the castle by way of the main entrance, they took a quick look around to make sure they were alone. Satisfied that they were not being observed, they once again headed around the east side of the castle. Only this time, their destination was the bus barn. All of the tools that had once been stored in the old shed behind the school had been moved to the bus barn. The shed had recently been torn down to make way for all of the new construction. Doug felt reasonably sure that they would at least need a shovel and a crowbar. He wished they’d been able to bring their backpacks along, but then it would have been obvious that they were up to something.
“There’s a path that leads down to the fountain just behind the bus barn,” Doug told the others once they had what they needed in the way of tools. Without any further comment, Doug led them around the south side of the barn. The bus barn was set back far enough in the woods that it was unlikely that anyone from the school would see them even if they were outside. They found the dirt path without any difficulty. The path took them right through the heart of the woods and was so narrow that they were forced to walk single file. Doug took the lead with the shovel slung casually over his shoulder. Emma went next, followed by Martha. As had become his custom, Sebastian brought up the rear. Emma smiled to herself when she saw that Sebastian was carrying the crowbar in a manner similar to Doug.
The air was hot and muggy as they trudged down the steeply sloping path. Although the dirt had been packed down, the path was still rocky and uneven. A layer of dead leaves added an extra element of slipperiness, and at times, it was difficult to keep their footing. There was little conversation as everyone was busy concentrating on staying upright. Before reaching the bottom of the hill, they’d each had moments where they’d almost ended up on their backsides. No one complained though, not even Sebastian.
“At least we’re in the shade,” Sebastian commented after almost falling on his bottom a second time.
“Don’t you dare fall, Sebastian,” Martha warned after seeing him slip yet again. “If you do, you’re likely to take us all down with you. Honestly, knowing how clumsy you are, you probably should have gone first.”
Instead of getting angry at Martha’s comments, Sebastian replied calmly. “Well, since I don’t know where we’re going, it would be pretty stupid for me to lead the way, wouldn’t it?”
“He’s got you there, Martha,” Doug said without turning around. Emma couldn’t see his face, but she was pretty sure he was smiling. Smiling herself, Emma turned around to see if Martha was upset by the fact that Doug had taken Sebastian’s side.
At the same time, Sebastian said, “I’m not doing it on purpose, but now that I think about it, it would get us to the bottom of the hill a lot faster.”
Martha turned to glare at him, but when she saw his expression, she started laughing instead. He was grinning from ear to ear, and it was obvious that he was just trying to get a rise out of her. “I think I’d rather walk if it’s all the same to you.”
“Your wish is my command,” Sebastian replied with a bow.
Martha turned back around with a shake of her head. “Just don’t knock me down. That’s all I ask.”
A few minutes later, the path began to level out and lead in a more easterly direction. Now that they were on level ground, it was easier to walk, and they made better time. Suddenly, they stepped into a small clearing. In the center of the clearing was the fountain Darius had built for Rebecca. The circular base was constructed of layers of natural rock and was about eight feet in diameter. In the center was a stone pedestal in the shape of a hexagon. Sitting atop the pedestal and carved in the same stone was a birdbath with a raven perched on its rim. Emma smiled when she saw that the raven held the stem of a rose in its beak. The raven and the rose seemed to be the theme of Darius and Rebecca’s marriage. Apparently, Darius had wanted to be sure that Rebecca would think of him every time she visited her favorite spot.
