“He told me that as he approached, he stopped hearing the cries of the baby and thought it must have been his imagination, but then he heard shouting, and so he went down the stairs to investigate.”
Ian’s heart had begun to pound. He knew that what the earl was telling him was about to change his life forever, and he focused on every nuance and syllable.
“When my gardener reached the last step, he saw that he was in a tunnel and he swore to me on his life that at the end of the tunnel he saw a series of things which were quite troubling: The first was that a beautiful woman clad in the finest silks and holding tightly to a newborn babe was crawling along the tunnel floor, and my gardener could see that the end of the tunnel opened up to a hot breeze, desert sand, and palm trees. He also swore that in the distance he could hear shouting from men in a language he didn’t recognize and he distinctly heard the approach of galloping horses.
“Then,” his patriarch continued, “the woman lifted her babe up to my very stunned gardener as if she was begging him to take the infant. He claims that he rushed to her and she pushed her child into his hands but refused to let him help her any further. He says that she only allowed him to get her to her feet before she stumbled back down the tunnel, in the direction of the approaching men on horseback. He said he stood there in a daze for several seconds and the beautiful lady turned once to look back at him and pointed to the babe. She said the name Ian and then, as if by magic, a wall appeared out of nowhere and shut off the woman and the approaching men on horseback from his sight.”
Ian could feel the first trickle of a tear as it slid down his cheek. “My mum,” he said hoarsely. “She was from the portal?”
The earl nodded gravely. “So it appears, Ian,” he said.
“Where is your gardener?” Ian asked with sudden urgency. “I’ve got to talk to him! I’ve got to ask him what she said … what she looked like … why she gave me away!”
But the earl laid a gentle hand on his arm to calm him. “I’m afraid, my young lad, that he is no longer here.”
“What happened to him?” Ian demanded. He had to find out more.
“I dismissed him,” said the earl sadly. When Ian’s jaw fell open, the earl explained, “You have to understand, Ian, my gardener had been known to nip at the bottle more than was healthy, and I kept him on solely because he’d been in my family’s employ for many years before his drinking became a problem. But when he showed up in my library, claiming some fantastic tale to be true with a real baby in his arms, I’m afraid I thought the worst of him. I thought he had stolen the child in a drunken haze and couldn’t remember where the babe had come from so he’d invented this outlandish story. I dismissed him immediately, and reported what had happened to the authorities, hoping to find your parents, but there were no reports of a missing baby anywhere in Kent. And so, I delivered you to the keep until such time as your mother could be located or we found a home for you and, barring that, I would provide you with food and shelter at the orphanage until your sixteenth birthday.”
Ian sank into the pillows, utterly crushed. It was horrible to hear these details about his mother but not be able to know anything more about her or where she’d come from or who she might have been. And because she had come through the portal, he knew he was likely never, ever to know who or what or why or where.
And that was what sapped the hope right out of him. His mother would never appear at the orphanage to claim him. He would never be able to trace her through records or a search of the countryside. His past was lost to him forever, and he realized that knowing for certain that it was out of his reach was far worse than simply assuming it might be.
The earl seemed to understand, because he squeezed Ian’s arm and said, “I’m terribly sorry, lad, but that’s all I know.”
Ian nodded dully. What else was there to say? They sat there in silence for a while as Ian did his best to accept what he’d just heard. Finally, with a deep sigh he said, “Thank you for telling me, my lord.”
The earl smiled sadly. “I felt that it was important for you to know.”
Ian nodded again and his stomach gave a low growl.
The earl’s smile broadened into a happier one. “All right, lad, I’ve kept you long enough. Time to get some food into you, and I must pack for my journey in the morning.”
“Where are you going?” Ian asked curiously.
“To London,” the earl said, getting to his feet. “Given the fact that all of you are claiming that Searle is dead, and yet we’ve found no trace of him either in the tunnel or in the surrounding woods, I’ve got to meet with an investigator.”
Ian gasped, remembering how Searle had died at the feet of Caphiera. “I feel terribly responsible about that,” he said to the earl.
“You shouldn’t,” said the earl. “But I’ll still need to look into this to the full extent of my resources. I’ve already got a man working to locate this couple, the Van Schufts, and get to the bottom of this mess. Did you know they came back to the orphanage looking to adopt again?”
Ian’s jaw fell open. “Your aunt told us they would!” he exclaimed.
The earl nodded gravely. “That doesn’t surprise me. Lady Arbuthnot is usually correct about these things. Madam Dimbleby reported that the couple arrived at the keep shortly after you dropped her off and went on to the portal. She said that she was very stealth in sending them away, but I’m concerned about their efforts to find you and Theo. I’ll be looking far more carefully into the background of anyone who wants to adopt one of my children from now on.”
“Thank you, my lord,” Ian said gratefully. He hated the thought of that couple making yet another attempt to get at them, and he wondered if Searle’s showing up with Caphiera meant that they worked for her.
“My man Binsford will be up with your dinner shortly,” said the earl. “In the meantime, there is someone who’s been pestering me all afternoon to see you.”
“Who’s that?” Ian asked as the earl made his way to the door.
Instead of answering, the earl held the door open and waved someone in from the hallway. A moment later Theo bounded into the room, looking much better than she had in days. “Ian!” she squealed, and hurried to his bed and plopped down on the end of it. “I’d begun to worry about you.”
The earl left them with a wave, closing the door behind him.
“What time is it?” Ian asked her.
“It’s nearly five o’clock in the afternoon!” she said, taking up the chair the earl had just vacated. “Are you feeling better?”
“Yes,” Ian said. “Just hungry.”
“Well, you still look awful,” Theo said with a playful smile. “Best to take the doctor’s advice and stay in bed for another day or two.”
“That’s what the earl said.”
“Well, he’s right. Did you hear about Carl?”
“That he was in hospital and will be all right? Yes, I heard.”
“And the earl asked you for your version of events, I expect?”
“Yes, he did.”
Theo nodded. “He’s asked each of us separately, and we’ve all told him much the same story, so he has no choice but to believe us, especially since we’ve brought Jaaved back. Did the earl tell you that yesterday was still the same day?”
Ian furrowed his brow. “I’m sorry, what?” he asked.
“Time held still for us! We passed through the portal and time progressed, but when we tucked back through, we arrived just a few hours later than when we’d left. Yesterday was Saturday, the same day we went to London.”
“How is that possible?” he asked.
Theo shrugged. “I don’t know, but it is uncanny, isn’t it?”
“I don’t ever want to go through that portal again,” said Ian. “I’m through with caves and tunnels and big hairy beastly things.”
Theo smiled and patted his hand. “Well, at least there’s one less beast to worry about. Perry and Thatcher took the earl back there so that he could s
ee it for himself, and do you know what they found?”
“What?”
“Just a pile of fur,” said Theo. “That, and the skeleton in the wall had been put back to its original position, imbedded within the stone, as if the wall had never let go of it, and all evidence of Caphiera’s icy deathtrap is also gone. There’s not even an icicle left.”
Ian shivered. “She was a ghastly creature.”
Theo agreed and they talked amicably for a bit until there was a knock on the door and Binsford appeared with a tray of food. Ian barely mumbled his thanks before diving in to the generous portions of roast beef and creamy potatoes. While he ate, Theo filled him in on the earl’s reaction to Jaaved, which was quite humorous, given the magical gem in Jaaved’s possession. She also said that Jaaved had been assigned Searle’s old bed back at the keep, and he was being introduced to the rest of the orphans as they spoke.
During their talk, Ian thought about telling Theo the story of the gardener, but he decided to keep it to himself. He knew he’d tell her eventually, but he felt he needed time to sort the pieces out and try to make sense of them. His mind kept drifting back to the part about the gardener’s hearing approaching men on horseback, and this disturbed him in a way he couldn’t fathom. He sensed that his mother had been trying to save him by handing him off, but that also meant that she had gone back to face the approaching danger alone, weakened, and likely very scared. Now that he knew a little, he ached to know more by finding the gardener, but didn’t know if he could. Until he could figure out where to start looking he would keep quiet about it.
Theo stayed with him until he’d finished his supper and began to grow drowsy again, which he thought was absurd, because he’d slept all the night before and much of the day, but Theo reminded him of how little sleep he’d gotten in Morocco. And with a peck on the cheek, she left him to get some rest. He drifted off just as she closed the door to his room, his dreams filled with a beautiful woman with long brown hair, offering him up to an old man with a garden hoe.
A few days later, after Ian’s feet had healed and his body had recovered, he returned to the keep. He was very glad to be home, though when he went upstairs to his cot and saw the empty bed where Carl slept, he couldn’t help the achy feeling in his heart.
But his spirits were lifted later that day when Madam Dimbleby pulled him aside and said, “The doctors have declared Carl well enough to receive visitors. He is asking to see you and Theo, so I have arranged for Schoolmasters Thatcher and Perry to accompany you to the hospital.”
The tenseness that Ian had carried ever since seeing the beast on top of Carl seemed to lift at that moment. “That’s brilliant, ma’am!” he said. “I’ll go tell Theo straightaway!”
But Theo already seemed to know when she met him in the hallway of the girls’ dormitory. She announced, “I’ve just had a vision; we’re going to see Carl tomorrow!”
Ian laughed, realizing that there was no getting anything past her. “We should bring him a present,” he said.
“I know just the thing,” said Theo with a mischievous look in her eye. “Leave it to me, Ian.”
The next morning Ian, Theo, Thatcher, Perry, and even Jaaved set off to the hospital to visit Carl. They found him already receiving guests as Professor Nutley sat by the boy’s bedside in a wheelchair, still looking a bit peaked but overall in good spirits.
“Well, well,” the professor said as Ian and the others marched in. “If it isn’t my traveling companions. About time you lot showed up.”
At the professor’s ribbing, Thatcher smiled easily and joked, “We had to make sure we wouldn’t need to arrange for your funeral, sir.” And Ian found himself laughing heartily for the first time in ages.
“And thank goodness,” said Perry, joining in on the fun. “Those can be such a bother.”
Around him Ian heard the chuckles and laughter of the rest of the group, except for Carl, whom Ian noticed gave only a short laugh, then held his side in pain. Theo strode right next to him and climbed onto the bed, mindful of the various tubes jutting out of Carl’s arm. “How are you, then?” she asked him directly.
“A bit knackered,” Carl admitted weakly. “But I think I’ll make it.”
“Well, you’d better,” said Theo sternly. “Or else, who will inherit this?” She held a small blue booklet out to him. Ian stepped forward, curious about what she was up to, while Carl took the book and prepared to open it. Before he did, though, Theo handed a similar blue book to Ian.
“What’s this?” he asked her.
Before she could answer, he heard Carl exclaim, “Gaw, blimey!” as he stared into its pages.
“See for yourself,” said Theo with a happy grin.
Ian opened his booklet, which he saw was imprinted with the gold embossment of the Bank of Brittan on the cover, and inside were two columns, one headed “Deposits,” the other headed “Withdrawals.” Under the first column was a sum so large that Ian had to blink three times before his eyes could fully take in the digit.
“Ten thousand pounds!” shouted Carl. “How can that be?”
Theo smiled and looked at Ian, who was just as confused and astounded as Carl. “It’s from the treasure,” she explained. “With the earl’s help, I took the bulk of what Ian and I got from the cave in Morocco and divided it by three. The earl sold it off at auction yesterday and made these deposits from the proceeds in our names. Jaaved also had the earl cash in his treasure, and he’s got his own account now too.”
Ian was at a loss for words. His mind had been so preoccupied by the story the earl had told him of the gardener and the woman who might have been his mother that he’d almost managed to forget about the treasure completely. “Theo …,” he said, looking up at her with a heart filled to bursting as he realized they would never, ever have to worry about making ends meet when they left the keep.
“Oh, but there’s more,” Theo said, and Ian’s eyes widened.
“More?” he asked, holding up the booklet. “You mean this isn’t all of the treasure?”
“Not quite,” she said, motioning to Jaaved, who stepped forward then and said in perfect English, “I have something for you as well.” He handed two small pouches with long bits of cord to Carl and Ian. “For you to wear,” he said, and Ian noticed for the first time that Theo was already wearing hers.
Ian peeked inside at something small, triangular, and luminescent. Tipping the pouch, he let the thing drop into his palm. It was one of the points from the Star of Lixus.
“Jaaved!” he said in astonishment. “You’ve cut up the Star!”
Jaaved nodded. “The power of the stone has not lessened, though,” he said. “It carries through each point even when it’s separate from the center star.”
“‘Break the Star to serve you best,’” said Theo, quoting Laodamia’s prophecy.
Jaaved nodded and handed Ian a second pouch. “These are the other points. I think you should be the one to hand them out.”
“To whom?” Ian asked.
“It is not for me to say,” Jaaved replied with an easy smile.
“Perhaps the answer lies in here,” Theo said, pulling out the silver treasure box they’d found in the cavern with the Star.
Thatcher inhaled sharply. “You found another box?” he asked.
“Yes,” Ian answered. “We found it in the cavern with the gold.”
Thatcher stepped forward and extended his hand. “May I have a look?” he asked. Theo glanced at Ian, who nodded, and she gave it to him. Thatcher inspected it, but Ian could tell he wasn’t happy to see it.
“I’ve already looked inside,” Ian said. “There’s another scroll in there and a rather curious-looking sundial.”
Thatcher’s frown only deepened. “Yes,” he said, “I rather expected that if we found another box, there’d be more instructions.”
The professor seemed to notice Thatcher’s unease and he asked, “Something troubling you, Master Goodwyn?”
Thatcher looked up.
“I think we shouldn’t translate the new scroll,” he announced. “In fact, I think we should take this box, dig a hole, and bury the thing for good.” Ian’s eyes widened in surprise. That was not at all the attitude he was expecting from his schoolmaster.
Beside him, Perry barked in laughter. “You’re joking!” he said.
“Not in the slightest,” Thatcher said gravely. “Look here. These riddles from Laodamia have nearly gotten each one of us killed, and several of us have been gravely injured. While I’m delighted to see the children recover a bit of treasure from their exploits, after what we’ve been through, I hardly think it worth it to continue putting ourselves in harm’s way.”
“But we’ve no choice!” Theo said loudly. “We simply must follow the Oracle’s prophecy!”
But Ian was having his own doubts, and the more he thought about his schoolmaster’s reasoning, the more he thought it might be good to quit while they were still all alive. “Theo,” he said, “I think Schoolmaster Goodwyn is right.” Theo whirled around and stared at him with large, disbelieving eyes. “We’ve got our treasure, and with it we’ll never have to worry about the future. What more do we need?” he argued.
“We’ll never have to worry about the future?” she repeated, her voice rising to a high, screechy pitch. “Have you gone daft?”
“Er,” Ian said, wondering what he’d said to make her so upset.
“Ian,” she snapped, as if he were a slowwitted git, “don’t you realize that Demogorgon does not care if you don’t want to follow Laodamia’s prophecy? He clearly believes that you and I are part of his undoing, and he will not allow his evil offspring to quit until we are dead or they have been destroyed!”
“And there’s that end-of-the-world bit to worry about,” added Carl. When Ian looked at him, Carl shrugged apologetically and added, “Sorry, mate, but I’m with Theo. I’d much rather go down fighting than turn a blind eye and hope for the best.”