The missing mortals, p.20
The Missing Mortals, page 20
Emma was nodding her agreement when Mr. Munsen joined the group. “Well, what do ya know ’bout that?” he exclaimed upon seeing the object Doug was holding. “I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.”
Unlikely as it seemed, these four youngsters had actually recovered one of the missing Mortals. This one piece alone was probably worth millions. Along with that realization came the full understanding of what grave danger the kids were in.
While everyone was standing around admiring the new find, an important question came to Emma’s mind. “How are we going to get it back to the school?”
“I guess we didn’t think about that,” Sebastian said, earning a frown from Martha.
“That’s easy,” Mr. Munsen said, after recovering from his amazement. “I’ll give you a book bag from the store. You can wrap the sculpture back up and put it in the bag. It’ll just look like you’ve bought some books.”
“I think Martha should carry the bag. It’ll look less suspicious when we get back to the school,” Doug said after a moment. What he didn’t say was that he didn’t want Bobby Wilcox to get suspicious. It would be out of character for Doug, or Sebastian for that matter, to return from a trip to Windland with a bag full of books. Martha buying a bunch of books was more believable.
“What’ll we do with the box?” Sebastian asked.
“I think I’ll keep it,” Mr. Munsen replied. He was already working on a plan to trap the Reaper, and the box would make a good decoy. As he hadn’t thought everything through yet, he didn’t want to say anything to the kids. He didn’t want to get their hopes up.
Doug lifted his arm to consult his watch, and it was then that Emma noticed that both of his forearms were scratched and bleeding slightly. It must have happened when his foot had slipped as he was climbing down from the ledge.
“Doug, your arms are bleeding,” Emma exclaimed.
Mr. Munsen had also noticed Doug’s wounds. “They don’t look too bad. We’ll stop by my house on the way back to town so you can wash those scratches and put some antibiotic ointment on them.”
“I’m okay, Mr. Munsen. There’s no need to make a special stop,” Doug said as he examined his cuts.
“No arguments, son. I was plannin’ on stoppin’ by the house anyway. I’ve been thinkin’ it’s probably best if I don’t ask Alice for a store bag. She’ll ask questions, and I’ll wager she’s already curious about what you kids wanted. I can give ya one of the bags we’ve got at the house. Then when we get to town, you’ll be all set to go.”
On the ride to Mr. Munsen’s house, Doug began to feel bad for ruining Mr. Munsen’s fishing trip. Instead of enjoying his Saturday, he’d ended up hauling a bunch of kids around. Doug vowed right then that someday he would repay Mr. Munsen for his help.
At Mr. Munsen’s house, Doug took care of his arms while Mr. Munsen got a bag for the sculpture. They needed to hurry. The buses would be headed back to the academy in less than fifteen minutes. When they got to town, Mr. Munsen let them out on a side road. While the others waited on the sidewalk, Doug went over to talk to Mr. Munsen who was still sitting in the truck.
“I can’t thank you enough for helping us today, Mr. Munsen. You don’t know how much I appreciate it.”
“I think I do, son. Before ya go, let me give ya my phone number. I want ya to call me if ya need help again, and I want ya to promise me two things.”
“I at least owe you that much,” Doug said solemnly.
“First, promise me that you and your friends won’t do anything foolish. What I mean is don’t put your lives at risk.”
Doug hesitated for only a moment. “I promise, sir.”
“I know that was hard for ya, son. The next thing won’t be as hard. It’s critical that ya let me know before ya deliver the last sculpture. I didn’t want to say anything to the others, but I’m hoping I can find a way to catch the guy who’s blackmailing you. I need to do some investigating first though. I can’t call ya at school without arousing suspicion, so you’ll have to keep in touch with me. Can ya do that, son?”
“I can and I will. I promise.”
After writing his phone number down on a scrap of paper he had rummaged from his glove box, he handed it to Doug and said, “Better get going now, or you’ll be late.”
Doug walked away from the truck feeling lighter than he had since this whole mess had begun. No longer were the four of them in this alone. Mr. Munsen was going to help them. Not only that, but Doug had a hope in his heart that he hadn’t had before. Mr. Munsen had implied that there might be a way to get the sculptures back and return them to their rightful owner. Doug found himself imagining the look of joy that would transform Lord Dinswood’s ailing features upon seeing the Mortals.
“Come on, Doug,” Sebastian urged. Lost in his thoughts, Doug had begun to lag behind the others.
Another look at their watches had them running the rest of the way to the Windland Inn. They boarded their respective buses out of breath and with less than a minute to spare.
As Mr. Munsen watched the kids walk away, he began to rehash everything Doug had told him earlier that day in the bookstore’s storage room. It was an incredible story, but knowing Doug’s character, he never once doubted that Doug was telling him the truth. Doug had begun the story by describing the discovery of the first sculpture and explaining the mission that Lord Dinswood had given them. Then he’d related the events leading up to the discovery of the first note from the Reaper and the instructions the Reaper had given him for delivering the sculptures. Putting together everything that Doug had told him, Mr. Munsen had come to the conclusion that the person responsible had to be a member of the school’s staff. Because of the location of the barrel, it made sense that the guilty party was one of the cooks. But when he’d said as much to Doug, he had quickly nixed the idea saying that with the exception of the head cook, who was a widowed woman in her mid-forties, all of the other cooks were grandmotherly types. Not only that, but Emma had been pretty sure that the masked figure she’d seen in the library was a man. It occurred to Mr. Munsen that there could be more than one person involved. After all, even grandmothers had been known to commit crimes with the right incentive.
Mr. Munsen sighed and scratched his head. There was only one way to find out who the Reaper was. They’d have to catch him in the act, and to do that they’d have to have the answers to two important questions. How was the Reaper getting the sculptures out of the castle, and where was he storing them? Mr. Munsen was fairly certain that the Reaper would try to sell the sculptures as a set, excluding, of course, the piece already in Lord Dinswood’s possession. It would be far too risky to try to fence each piece individually—that would involve too many buyers. On the other hand, locating one buyer wealthy enough to buy the set would take some time and effort. That was probably why the deadlines the creep was giving the kids were so generous. The Reaper was stalling until he could find a buyer.
With another sigh, Mr. Munsen started his truck. He had a pretty good idea how to begin finding the answer to at least one of the questions.
When they got back to the academy, Doug was glad he’d let Martha carry the book bag because Bobby was standing in the lobby as the eighth graders came in. Doug found it odd that none of his buddies were with him.
“Have a good time in Windland, Dougie?” Bobby asked with a sneer as Doug walked past him.
Doug glared at him but didn’t answer. Sebastian, who was right behind Doug, would have liked nothing better than to punch the sneer right off Bobby’s face. Only the knowledge that that’s exactly what Bobby wanted kept him from it. Still he couldn’t resist saying something.
“We had a great time, Booby,” Sebastian said with an exaggerated grin, purposely mispronouncing Bobby’s name. As Sebastian brushed past Bobby, he saw that his words had had the desired effect. Bobby’s face was red, and his hands were clenched into tight fists. He was nearly choking with the effort to contain his anger. Satisfied that he’d at least managed to make Bobby mad, Sebastian wisely said no more.
By the time Emma and Martha entered the castle, Doug and Sebastian had already gone to their room to get ready for supper, but Bobby was still standing there. Seeing his red face, they could only wonder what had occurred to make him so mad. He glared at the two girls when he noticed them. They hurried past, blissfully unaware that as Bobby stood there silently fuming, he was plotting a terrible revenge.
On the way to their room, Emma asked, “Why was Bobby standing in the lobby? Do you think he was spying on us?” Somehow that didn’t seem likely to Emma. What could Bobby possibly hope to catch them at? Besides it was very unusual to see Bobby without all of his buddies around.
Martha shook her head in the negative. “He was probably waiting for his girlfriend. He’s going out with one of the girls in our class. I’ve been seeing him with her. Her name is Natalie, I think.” Of course, the term “going out” simply meant that Bobby and Natalie were boyfriend and girlfriend.
Emma nodded her understanding. That would explain why Bobby was waiting in the lobby and why he was alone. However, it did not explain why he was so mad. Emma hoped it wasn’t something Doug or Sebastian did. Bobby hated them enough already.
At supper that evening, Emma, Martha, and Sebastian were already seated in the dining room when Doug came in carrying an envelope. Emma felt a shiver work its way up her spine as she recognized the handwriting on the outside. It was addressed to Douglas. Nobody called Doug Douglas except the Reaper.
“I just stopped by my mailbox and found this,” Doug said as he took a seat next to Sebastian. He didn’t appear to be as upset as he usually was after receiving one of the Reaper’s notes. Emma hoped that Doug’s calm demeanor meant that it was good news for once.
Knowing that the others were curious to see what the note said, Doug wordlessly handed it to Emma. He had already read it through several times. With trembling fingers, Emma slid the note from the envelope and unfolded the paper inside. Sebastian and Martha crowded around so they could see as well. Silently, they all began to read.
Congratulations, Douglas. You’ve already delivered two of the Mortals. The last one was even ahead of schedule. In light of your outstanding performance thus far, I’ve decided to make it a little easier for both of us. From now on when you find one of the Mortals, signal as before and leave the sculpture in the prescribed location. I must have the sixth and final piece in my possession by the last day of school. If you fail, Douglas, there will be a “death in the family” so to speak. Heed my warning well. For your father and Lord Dinswood, these are truly words to live by.
“This is good news. Don’t you think so, Doug?” Sebastian asked when he had finished reading. “I mean we’ve only got two sculptures left to find. Surely, we can find the other two before school ends in June. It’s only the end of September now.”
Doug nodded his agreement. They hadn’t had too much difficulty finding the sculptures so far, and now they had Mr. Munsen helping them. Doug was also fully aware that they’d had some divine help along the way; and if God was with them, as He certainly appeared to be, how could they fail?
With the Reaper’s last note, Doug began to breathe a little easier. For the first time since the school year had begun, he felt like he could concentrate on his studies, and with midterms approaching at the end of October, he needed to buckle down. He had a month to get his grades up to where they should be. He had a talk with the others, and they agreed that they shouldn’t deliver the next sculpture until sometime in November. After that they could decide when to make the next delivery. Doug had told the others what Mr. Munsen had said, so they planned to notify him before they were ready to deliver the last sculpture. Everything hinged on them being able to locate the last two Mortals. Although things had gone well so far, there was no guarantee that their luck would continue. All they could do was hope and pray and continue to search whenever the opportunity presented itself.
By mutual consent, they’d decided to take a little break from the hunt and spend some quality time each evening studying in the library. Emma found that Mr. Criderman, the handsome new librarian, was a lot easier to be around than Mr. Hodges had been. At least she didn’t have the feeling that he was watching them all the time. Emma thought he was cute at first, but after a couple of weeks, her opinion of him changed. Oh, he was still good looking. The problem was that he knew it. He seemed to enjoy flirting with the girls in the upper grades. Emma thought it was gross for a man his age to flirt with high school girls. Emma wondered what Dean Harwood would think if he knew how his new librarian was behaving. Mr. Criderman never crossed the line, but Emma still found his antics revolting.
The next few weeks passed quickly and then in mid-October, Doug, Emma, and Martha received an invitation to join the academy’s honor society. The society was called the Alpha-Omegas, but the students called it the Alpha-O’s for short. The invitation was based on the grade point averages they had earned last year as seventh graders. This accounted for the fact that Sebastian did not receive one. He hadn’t exactly strained himself academically last year. Emma felt a little sorry for him, but it was his own fault. If he did well this year, it was possible he would be invited to join next year. Martha couldn’t resist giving him a hard time when she learned that he hadn’t gotten an invitation.
“We tried to get you to study more last year,” Martha stated with a note of reproach. “Now you can’t get in until next year.”
“Big deal,” Sebastian replied with a roll of his eyes. “All it means is, I won’t get to be a part of the nerd herd.”
“That’s not all you’ll be missing,” Martha retorted angrily. “The Alpha-O’s get to do some fun things.”
“Like what?”
Martha took her letter out so that she could consult it. “Well, first it says that if we accept the invitation to join, we’ll be inducted at a formal ceremony in the ballroom next Thursday evening. We’ll get a gold pin, a membership card, and a certificate. They’re going to have refreshments after the ceremony.”
“It sounds terribly exciting so far,” Sebastian said sarcastically.
“I’m not finished yet,” Martha said, getting angrier by the second.
Emma understood her frustration. Whatever the society had planned wasn’t going to be as much fun without Sebastian around. Even though he didn’t seem to care about not receiving a letter, Emma suspected that it was just an act. Still, some good could come of it. It might motivate Sebastian to work harder, so he could get in next year.
“For your information, the society is hosting a hayride and hot dog roast the Friday before the Octoberfest,” Martha continued. “I’ve never been on a hayride, and it sounds like a lot of fun to me.”
“Whoopie,” Sebastian said, twirling a finger in the air. “I’ll be sorry to miss that. You’ll probably sit around the campfire holding hands and singing Kumbaya.”
“Well, guess whose hand I won’t be holding!”
With a huff, Martha left the table that they’d all been sitting around in the lounge. Sebastian watched her as she stalked out of the room. It was clear from his expression that he hadn’t thought of that. With a sigh, Emma looked at the clock and saw that it was nearly nine o’clock. Curfew was at nine, so with a murmured goodnight, she gathered up her books and followed Martha. She gave Sebastian a sympathetic smile as she passed by him.
Sebastian sat there scowling after the two girls had left. An image of Martha cozying up to another guy in front of a campfire played across his mind. Gradually he became aware that Doug was laughing at him.
“If you could only see your face,” Doug said.
Sebastian’s scowl was replaced by a smile as he realized he was letting his imagination get the best of him. “Sorry ’bout that,” he said ruefully.
“I’ll make sure no one moves in on your girl,” Doug promised with a smile.
“She’s not really my girl though. I mean I like her, but I don’t know if she likes me.”
“There’s only one way to find out.”
“I’m not ready for that yet. I don’t think I could take the rejection if she said she didn’t like me.”
Doug nodded in understanding. He’d never actually told Emma he liked her either, but she seemed to already know. Things were going good, and he and Emma were getting along fine, so he’d decided to leave well enough alone. Maybe it would be better if Sebastian just let things go along like they were.
“Still, Martha’s got a point,” Doug said after a moment. “You need to make sure you get into the Alpha-O’s next year.”
“I’ve already got it covered,” Sebastian quickly replied. “Ever since school started, I’ve been working hard to get my GPA up. Dad wasn’t very happy with my grades last year. He promised me that if I could earn an A average this year, he’d take me on a two-week sailing trip. I don’t know if I told you this, but Dad bought that new schooner he was looking at last year. He’s keeping it in storage until next summer. Then, if my grades are good, he and I will take it out on its maiden voyage. It’s going to be great!”
“It sounds like it,” Doug agreed. “And now you’ve got another reason to do well in your classes.”
“Yeah,” Sebastian replied, his expression turning solemn once again. “I sure do.” Martha would have been humbled and flattered to know that Sebastian viewed this second reason as more important than the first.
Emma and Martha found out that Clarice had also received a letter when they got back to their room. Clarice told them that Reggie had gotten one too. This was no surprise to Emma. As far as she was concerned, he was the smartest student at the academy. Without a doubt, he was the brightest eighth grader. Clarice proudly showed them her letter and then went on to explain that Preston hadn’t been invited to join the society this year because he hadn’t been a student at the academy long enough. Students had to have attended the academy one full year and maintained an A average during that year to qualify for admittance into the society. As Preston had just come to the academy this year, he didn’t meet the requirements. Clarice informed them in her haughtiest tone that he would most certainly receive an invitation next year. Emma felt a twinge of disappointment at hearing that Preston wouldn’t be a part of the group’s activities. She immediately felt guilty for caring one way or the other and, knowing that Martha wouldn’t be pleased, wisely kept her thoughts to herself.
