Quest for the Secret Keeper

  “What need have we of magical instruments!” howled another voice, and Ian shivered. Atroposa was with her sister on the streets below. “We’ve this green door to find, which will reveal the Secret Keeper!”

  “I sense that this magical instrument will be put to use against you, mistresses,” said the first voice. “That is why I mention it now and, unfortunately, distract you from our purpose.”

  Ian sucked in a breath at the same time Carl did. They looked at each other in astonishment before Ian flew into action. Tugging at his clothing with trembling fingers, he pulled out the sundial, its surface still shining brightly and a shadow pointing across the room.

  In the next instant Carl was by his side, whispering, “Turn it off, Ian! Turn it off!”

  But Ian was so shaken by the appearance of the sorceresses just outside their hotel that all rational thought had left him. For the life of him he couldn’t think how to make the shadow disappear.

  “Ian!” the earl said into his ear as he too stepped close to him. “Get it to stop pointing!”

  Ian stared blankly first at Carl, then at the earl. His mind was frozen, and the more he tried to think of a way to make the sundial stop pointing, the more he couldn’t think at all.

  “What did you ask it to find?” Carl whispered, bouncing from foot to foot as he shook his hands anxiously. “Oh, no, Ian! You didn’t ask it to find Océanne, did you?”

  “It is them!” shrieked another voice, hollow and haunting. “The Oracles are nearby, Sister! They must be using one of Laodamia’s trinkets!”

  “Ian!” Theo said, her voice soft but urgent. “Answer the question! What did you ask the sundial to find?”

  Ian blinked and his mind cleared. Without saying a word, he bolted forward to the pile of satchels near the door and pulled up Theo’s.

  From outside he heard Caphiera say, “Lead us to this magical instrument, witch, and we shall fill your pockets with gold!”

  Ian tore at the latches of Theo’s satchel, his fingers trembling so hard it was difficult to get them to cooperate. “Your jacks!” he whispered when she came over to him.

  “Where are they?”

  Theo’s fingers weren’t shaking nearly as much as Ian’s, and she tugged the satchel away from him and rummaged around inside until she pulled up a small sack that jingled in her hands.

  Immediately the sundial’s burnished surface became dull and lifeless. Ian stared at it, his chest heaving from the quick breaths coming into and out of his lungs. Outside, there was a slight shriek and the first voice they’d heard cursed loudly.

  “What is it, witch?” Caphiera asked.

  “It’s gone!” she said. “The magical vibrations have ended!”

  “They’ve stopped using the trinket?” moaned Atroposa.

  “Yes,” said the witch, and she cursed again. “I cannot sense where it is now.”

  For a long moment nothing stirred and no one spoke. Ian had no idea what was happening out in the alleyway, but he suspected the sorceresses were assessing the buildings they were standing between, and perhaps wondering if the young Oracles they were after might be inside.

  The earl, who’d been standing next to Carl, left his side and approached the window slowly and cautiously. Keeping well out of sight, he eyed the alley, and Ian knew that he spied the sisters, because he could see the earl’s jaw clench and his lips press together.

  “We will search the buildings,” said Caphiera, and Ian closed his eyes and thought, Oh, no!

  “We’ll start with this one,” she added, and then only her heavily steeled footfalls could be heard slowly fading away.

  Ian opened his eyes then and stared about at his companions. “Quickly,” the earl said, already hurrying to the door, his own satchel in his hand. “They have gone to the building next door first. We must put as much distance between us and them as we can!”

  At the door, the earl paused and turned to Ian. “Whatever you do, Ian,” he warned, “do not ask that sundial to find anything more until we are safely out of Paris. Do you understand?”

  Ian gulped. “Yes, my lord,” he said, realizing that his plan to find Océanne had quickly thwarted.

  With that, they were once again on the move.

  * * *

  That night they stayed in a small inn on the outskirts of Paris. Ian was so exhausted by the time he was finally able to lay his head on his pillow that he hardly cared if the sorceresses were still searching for them. He fell asleep almost as soon as he’d closed his eyes, and did not wake until near dawn, when he sat bolt upright after having a terrible dream. Awake, he found the earl sitting in a chair next to the window, peering out into the night.

  “My lord?” Ian said, wondering if the earl had been there all night.

  Without taking his eyes from the window, the earl said, “It’s all right, lad. Go back to sleep.”

  Ian didn’t argue, but going back to sleep seemed impossible. He lay there alone with his thoughts while Carl snored loudly next to him and Theo tossed and turned on the opposite bed. He still felt terrible for nearly getting them killed by being so careless with the sundial, and he wondered who the other woman with the sorceresses had been.

  They’d called her witch, but he wondered if in fact she was a witch. One thing was for certain, however: they couldn’t use the sundial to help locate Océanne and her mother, which left them at a clear disadvantage. How were they ever to find them?

  At last, rays of sunlight began to peek into the room and Ian sat up again. One look at the earl’s drawn features and he knew the poor man had most certainly been awake and kept watch the whole night.

  “If you’d like to sleep a bit, my lord, I’d be happy to take over the watch for you.”

  The earl turned to him. “Thank you, Ian,” he said. “But we will not be here long enough for me to rest.”

  The earl then got up from his chair and stretched tiredly. Carl stirred next to Ian, and he nudged him with his elbow. “Carl,” he said. “Wake up.”

  Carl groaned grumpily and tugged at his clothing. They’d all slept in their clothes, in case they needed to make another hasty exit. “I’m still tired,” he complained.

  Across the room, Theo sat up, rubbing her eyes. “Is it time to leave?” she asked.

  “Yes,” the earl told them. “I think it best that we move along.”

  Travel weary and grumpy from their troubles, the four left the inn and made their way by metro across Paris to the opposite side. Here the earl led them to a set of offices, where he told them to wait outside but to come in immediately and fetch him if any sign of the sorceresses appeared. He returned shortly, looking quite pleased with himself.

  “My lord,” Carl said the moment the earl appeared. “Might we have a bit of breakfast soon?”

  “Yes, Carl,” the earl said. “But first we shall need to get settled. This way, please.”

  They followed the earl for three blocks, until they came to a row of tall flats facing a street lined with shops. The earl paused in the middle of the street and eyed a bit of paper and then the flat they were standing in front of. “Here we are,” he said, climbing the steps. Ian, Theo, and Carl followed.

  “Where are we?” Carl asked.

  “These are our lodgings while we’re in Paris,” the earl replied.

  “You’ve rented us a flat?” Ian said.

  The earl inserted a key into the main door’s lock. “Yes, Ian,” he said, pushing open the door and allowing them all to troop inside. “It occurred to me that Caphiera and Atroposa would likely search every hotel and inn until they eventually found us, so I thought it best not to lodge longer than last night in one. I’ve rented us a flat on the top floor, and my hope is that you three can remain hidden here while I attempt to locate Madame Lafitte and her daughter.”

  They began to climb the stairs then, all three of them trudging up slowly. “We’re not going to help you search for them?” Theo asked the earl.

  “No, Theo,” he told her. “I will
make as many inquiries as I can with my associates here in Paris who may know of their whereabouts, but you three are to remain hidden here.”

  “But what about Jaaved and Argos?” Carl asked. “Who’s going to meet them at the Fontaines de la Concorde?”

  The earl paused midstep and turned to Carl as if he’d completely forgotten about Jaaved and the man from the portal. “It will take them a few days to arrive from Le Havre,” he said after a moment’s thought. “If we have not discovered Madame and Océanne by then, I shall send you boys out once a day to the fountains to see if Argos and Jaaved have arrived while I continue to search for the Lafittes.”

  “What about me?” Theo asked, obviously injured at having been left out.

  The earl looked first at Ian, then at Theo. “I think it best that you remain hidden here, Theo.”

  “But why, my lord?” she asked, her face pouty and frustrated.

  “Because the cause cannot lose you, Theo,” he said softly. “You are the One, remember?”

  Ian looked pointedly at Theo, willing her not to argue. The One from Laodamia’s prophecies was the most powerful Oracle of all and would gather all the other United to her to battle Demogorgon’s evil forces. If Theo was lost, then they would all be doomed.

  Still, this did not appear to ease her foul mood. Ian thought he heard her mutter something about that being silly, but even Theo wasn’t brazen enough to argue with the earl.

  They reached the top floor of the four-story building and the earl opened their flat to them. Ian and Carl rushed in, anxious to explore their surroundings.

  The flat was quite charming, open and spacious, with a delightful view of the city. Ian made his way to the terrace, which overlooked the street below. Directly across from them, he could see the row of shops, and one in particular caught his attention, due to the bright green door with the large brass knocker attached to it.

  Ian squinted to see more detail, but he couldn’t determine what sort of shop it was, and there didn’t appear to be a sign over the shop like the ones over its neighbors’.

  He would have thought that quite odd had Carl not rushed to his side and pointed to the shop next to the one with the green door. “Look, Ian! A bakery! Let’s see if the earl will let us get a bite to eat, shall we?”

  When they went to ask the earl, however, they discovered him slumped in a chair in the sitting room, fast asleep. “Don’t wake him!” Theo quietly cautioned. She was busy covering him with a throw.

  “We were going to see about breakfast,” Carl told her. “There’s a bakery just across the street.”

  “Then go see about breakfast, Carl,” Theo replied, bending to untie the earl’s shoes.

  Ian smiled. Theo was forever proving herself a grown-up. He nudged Carl and off they went, promising to return with something for her.

  He and Carl raced down the stairs and over to the bakery, where they purchased several loaves of bread and some breakfast croissants, which were still warm and were buttery and delicious.

  Nibbling on their wares, they went out of the bakery, and Ian had a chance to observe the neighboring shop up close.

  As he’d observed from the balcony of their new flat, there was no sign or lettering on the front of the shop to indicate what it was. It also appeared to be abandoned by its owner, because a fair amount of dirt and litter had collected just in front of the door.

  “What is it?” Carl asked when he noticed that Ian had stopped to inspect the shop.

  “Nothing,” Ian said, leaning in to peer through the lone window, which revealed only an empty large room. “Just having a look inside.”

  “What do you see?”

  Ian squinted into the gloom. The room was a good size, and it was bare. The far wall, however, held his attention, but he couldn’t fathom why. There was nothing unusual about it other than it didn’t appear to have been plastered over like the other three walls; the stone was left bare.

  “Ian,” Carl said impatiently, jiggling the door handle, which sounded like it was locked tight. “What do you see?”

  Ian pulled his head back. “Not a thing. The shop’s abandoned.”

  Carl looked up and down the row of bustling businesses surrounding the shop. “Odd that no one’s thought to open it back up again,” he said. “These other shops seem to do a right good business.”

  Ian shrugged.

  Still, as they walked back across the street to their flat, Ian couldn’t help glancing a time or two over his shoulder to peer at the green door again. Something about it continued to tug at him.

  The rest of the day passed without incident. There was a radio in the flat, and while the earl slept, Ian, Carl, and Theo sat around it, listening to the grim news from the front lines. The Germans were pummeling the remaining French forces, and it appeared it was only a matter of time before France would give way.

  Late in the afternoon the earl woke with a start, and seemed to be in a terribly foul mood after discovering that he’d slept the day away without making a single inquiry. “I shall have to double my efforts to find Madame and Océanne tomorrow,” he said. “I will leave early in the morning, and I must insist that you three keep to the flat except at mealtime. I’ll leave you with some francs for food, but please don’t wander far from here.”

  They all agreed and Ian hoped the earl would be successful straightaway so that they could return to England as soon as possible.

  The earl, however, was not successful the next day. Nor the next. Nor even the next.

  On the morning of the fourth day, when Ian thought he’d go mad with boredom, the earl took him aside just before leaving and said, “I think it’s best if you and Carl go to the fountains today to see if Jaaved and Argos have made their way to Paris, Ian.” He then handed Ian a hand-drawn map and added, “I’ve drawn the location of the Fontaines de la Concorde on this map. Follow the arrows, and stay no longer than an hour or two.”

  Ian nodded. “Very well, my lord. We’ll go at noon.”

  The earl smiled, gave his shoulder a squeeze, and headed out the door.

  At the appointed time, Ian gathered Carl and told Theo to stay in the flat until they returned. “We’ll bring you back some sweets, all right?” he said when she stood moodily by the door.

  “But what about lunch?” she asked.

  Ian looked across the sitting room to the balcony and the bright sunny day outside. He took a few francs out of his pocket, gave them to her, and said, “I’m sure it will be all right if you only venture out to the shops across the way. If you could also bring us back enough bread for supper, I’m sure the earl would be grateful.”

  Theo sighed, but she took the money and went out to sit on the balcony. Ian felt bad for her, as at least he and Carl weren’t going to be cooped up in the flat another day with nothing but dire news on the radio to occupy their time.

  He very nearly suggested breaking the earl’s rule and bringing Theo with them, but he knew that wouldn’t be the smart thing to do. She’d be much safer here.

  “Are we going, mate?” Carl asked him, pulling Ian’s thoughts away from Theo.

  “Yes,” he said quickly, hurrying through the open door.

  The young men reached the street and trotted down its length, working their way steadily along the earl’s map toward the fountains.

  They discovered that they were several blocks away from the Place de la Concorde, where the fountains were located, but the earl’s map was easy enough to follow. Ian spotted them from some distance, in fact, and they ran the rest of the way, only to find the square brimming with grim-faced pedestrians hurrying through the streets.

  No one, it seemed, was interested in stopping to gaze at the marvelous fountains, save Ian and Carl. “They’re worried about the war,” Carl said.

  Ian sat on the brim of one of the fountains. “I wish the earl would find Madame Lafitte and Océanne,” he said.

  “He will,” Carl said confidently. Ian knew he had absolute faith in the earl.

&nbs
p; Ian nodded, but his heart felt sick with worry. “I wish we could help. If only I could ask the sundial to point the way to Madame Lafitte and Océanne!”

  Then a terrible thought struck him, and he patted his pockets anxiously until he felt the small point of the sundial’s tip. “What is it?” Carl asked, looking at him with concern.

  Ian closed his eyes and swallowed hard, knowing he’d just made a most grievous mistake. The sundial responded to any question asked aloud about the location of something as long as the person asking the question was also holding the dial. Pulling the relic out of his pocket, he peered at it with half-closed lids, willing its surface to still be tarnished and dull.

  Instead, the surface gleamed in the sunlight, save for one thin shadow pointing directly east.

  Carl gasped, and Ian looked up at him, filled with regret. “Ian!” Carl said. “What have you done?”

  “I didn’t mean to!” Ian said anxiously. “I only realized that I had the sundial in my pocket after I’d wished out loud to find the Lafittes!”

  Carl’s head snapped to the bustling crowd around them. “Well, make it stop!” he said, his voice rising in pitch.

  “I can’t!” Ian told him. He knew there was no way to turn off the magic until the lost item in question was discovered.

  Carl focused his attention back on Ian. “Ask it to find something else!” he suggested.

  “Like what?”

  Carl swiveled his head, looking for anything to name. His eyes peered into the fountain and he said, “Ask it to find you a franc!”

  Ian did, and immediately the surface of the dial lit up with nearly a dozen small shadows pointing in a semicircle around the surface. Ian let out a curse and nearly dropped the instrument. “Carl! What have you made me do?”

  Carl pointed to the fountain. “It’s pointing to the coins in the fountain!” he said. He took the sundial out of Ian’s palm while kicking off his shoes, then boldly stepped right into the water and began picking up the coins. Ian also kicked off his shoes and joined Carl, and soon the boys were soaking wet, but every time they lifted a coin, one of the shadows disappeared.