Chase Tinker and the House of Secrets

  CHASE TINKER AND THE HOUSE OF SECRETS

  By Malia Ann Haberman

  Digital Edition published by Crossroad Press

  © 2013 Malia Ann Haberman

  Copy-edited by: Patricia Lee Macomber

  LICENSE NOTES

  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to the vendor of your choice and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Meet the Author

  Malia loves dancing, reading, writing, playing video games on her iPod, watching TV, and chocolate. She also has terrible motion sickness and hates onions. She’s always wanted to have the ability to teleport and the power to move things with her mind. Then one night she dreamed she was living in a house filled with magical rooms and the very next day she started throwing ideas together for her Chase Tinker fantasy series, after consulting with her kids, of course. She lives in the Seattle area with her four wild and crazy ferrets. You can email her at maliah_ann@hotmail.com. She’d love to hear from you.

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  For Shauna and Patty,

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  CHASE TINKER AND THE HOUSE OF SECRETS

  CHAPTER ONE

  Unforgiving

  As thirteen-year-old Chase Tinker yawned and stumbled his way into the bathroom, an incredibly strange sensation came over him. He jerked to a stop. His insides had begun to twist and quiver as if a mass of wriggling worms squirmed around behind his belly button. He’d never experienced anything like it and he had no idea what was causing it, but whatever that thing was, it raced through his blood and up to his mind.

  He rubbed his nose as it itched and twitched like crazy. He held his breath—waiting—but then the sensations stopped as quickly as they had started. Weird, he thought with a shrug, pulling off his pajamas and hopping into the shower.

  For several minutes, he let the warm spray pound the tight knots in his neck and shoulders. More than anything, he wanted to relax so the constant humming in his brain would just stop already.

  For the past two weeks, his sleep had been filled with nightmares of his cousin, James, trying to drown him; Grandfather collapsing and nearly dying; the Marlowe’s attack on his family; and, to top it all off, finding out his Aunt Clair was really dead.

  Why? He thought. Why did all those terrible things have to happen, anyway?

  Taking a deep breath of the warm, steamy air, he closed his eyes as the knots loosened a bit. For the moment, he was like any other ordinary kid taking a morning shower. Not that he was complaining or anything, but for Chase, life was now anything but ordinary. Ever since Hiram Tinker had walked into his life last June, things had become a lot more interesting, complicated, and frightening, for both him and his younger brother, Andy.

  The boys had been shocked out of their minds when a man they had never met before arrived at their door one evening, claiming he was their grandfather. They’d thought he was long dead. As if that wasn’t strange enough, he told them they actually came from a long line of magical beings. Like Chase and Andy, every family member was born with their own special power. It always started on the day he or she turned ten-and-a-half—their Dimidiatus Anniversarium, and every time a Tinker died, their power lived on in one of the hundreds of rooms in the Tinker home.

  Grandfather had made his appearance on the day Andy’s power had shown itself for the first time. He had arrived just in time to keep both boys from completely freaking out, since their dad had kept everything a secret from them, because he hated magic and had wanted to live his life without it. This was something Chase had a hard time understanding. He loved magic.

  Chase squinted at the shampoo bottle. His telekinesis ability made it zoom across the shower and dump a green glob onto the top of his head. As he lathered up, a bizarre, electrifying feeling came over him. He felt breathless, yet totally alive. In fact, he felt…powerful, but it wasn’t the same as the uncontrollable, powerful rage that had swept through him at Doctor Dan’s clinic, and had caused Chase to send Roland Marlowe—one of their evil Dark Enemy—shooting across the sky, like a fiery meteor. This was different.

  Then, a gigantic sneeze exploded from him. “AAACHOOOOOOO!”

  It was so strong he staggered back, flapping and waving his arms as he tried his hardest not to fall in the slippery tub. Shampoo suds flew everywhere and streamed down his face and into his eyes and mouth.

  “Oh, m-man!” he sputtered as he scrunched his burning eyes shut.

  Finally managing to get his feet back under himself, he fumbled with the shower curtain. Shoving it aside, he stretched out his arm and groped at the towel rack. He opened his left eye a tiny crack. Everything was a big blur as he grasped a fluffy yellow towel and rubbed his face.

  Feeling a little better, he opened both eyes. He started to toss the towel to the floor, but something made him stop. “Weird,” he muttered. It was as if the towel was floating on its own. He waggled it back and forth. Was his magical power out of whack or something? No. That couldn’t be the problem since he hadn’t tried to use it.

  Chase waved his hand in front of his face. “What the heck?”

  Scrambling from the tub, he skidded to a stop in front of the foggy mirror. He swiped the towel across the glass, hoping to see his dark-haired, dark-eyed, shampooy reflection, but he saw nothing.

  “I’m…invisible?”

  He ran from the bathroom. “Andy! Andy! Wake up! It’s the weirdest thing. I can’t see myself—A-A-AAACHOOOOO!”

  His own dark hair standing on end, a groggy Andy peeked out from under his blankets. “Nice, Chase,” he mumbled, wrinkling his nose. “Unfortunately, I can see all of you just fine.”

  Chase glanced down then quickly wrapped the towel around himself. “But—but I was invisible. Like I was wearing your enchanted hat.”

  “Sure, anything you say,” said Andy as he flopped over. “You are such a dork.”

  Chase wandered back to the bathroom, shaking his head. Every Tinker was born with only one ability, and his was not invisibility. It must have been his imagination working overtime again. “Maybe Andy and Grandfather aren’t the only ones who need glasses,” he said to himself as he tripped over a sponge, which was crawling across the floor, like a huge, rectangular caterpillar.

  Nothing else strange happened as Chase finished his shower and pulled on his underwear, rumpled shorts and t-shirt. Slipping on his socks and sneakers, he plodded out the door.

  Halfway down the hall, he lurched to a stop when he saw the enchanted, singing plant trio huddled together, their leafy branches wrapped around each other. Their loud snoring echoed down the hallway. Holding his breath, Chase tiptoed past. The last thing he wanted to hear was a rousing version of “Jingle Bells” or something equally annoying.

  At the bottom of the stairs, he ran into Grandfather’s housekeeper, Miranda Periwinkle. She was followed by a throng of mops, brooms, buckets, vacuums and feather-dusters.

  “Chase! Good-morning,” she exclaimed.

  “Morning,” he answered as he goggled at the strange parade. “Um…what’s with all the cleaning stuff?”

  “
Oh, these ridiculous things,” she said. “Any chance they get, they’re off hanging out in the Game Room. I found them playing a wild game of Go Fish.”

  Chase wasn’t surprised by this odd occurrence. After living in the Tinker house for the past few months, he was pretty much used to the supernatural goings on…well, except for turning invisible for no good reason whatsoever. He knew the Game Room had magical games of all sorts, including flying card games.

  “Who was winning?” he asked, picturing the brooms and mops huddled at a table while dozens of cards flapped through the air around them.

  “I do believe the feather-dusters were,” said Mrs. Periwinkle, her eyes twinkling. She gestured to her followers. “All right my little workers, let’s go. It’s time to get back to your jobs.”

  Chase smiled as he watched the unhappy cleaning equipment traipse off after the housekeeper before he headed to the kitchen.

  When he pushed open the kitchen door, his dad was already seated at the counter, sipping a cup of steaming coffee. Chase got the funniest feeling, like walking into a room where the conversation stops because everyone there was whispering about you. Since the night of his dad’s return—if you could call it that—Chase had been doing his best to avoid him.

  More than a year earlier, his dad had gone missing. The stress of it had taken its toll on the family, causing Anne, Chase’s and Andy’s mom, to spend more time working than with her two sons, and Chase to become one of the neighborhood’s biggest troublemakers. He still felt awful about the shoplifting and the problems he’d caused for his mom, but he’d been hurt and angry about his dad’s disappearance. Later they’d found out it was because his father had been captured by the Marlowes, a dark-magic family from Blackshire, England, who wanted nothing more than to see the Tinkers completely destroyed and to take over the Tinker house and the powerful Relic that controlled all the Tinker magic.

  “Um—good morning,” Chase mumbled under his breath as he grabbed a banana, a muffin, and a glass of orange juice.

  Like his son, Benjamin Tinker looked as if he hadn’t slept a wink in days, while his hair stood on end from all the times he’d raked his hands through it. For the first time, Chase noticed how streaked with gray it had become, and also how thin and weak his dad still looked. He’d always been a bit on the quiet side, but before his kidnapping, he’d also been full of strength and energy. Losing his sister, then having pneumonia and nearly dying hadn’t helped matters, either. Chase wondered if his dad would ever get back to his old self.

  “Morning, Chase,” Ben said quietly, setting down his coffee cup. “Where’s Andy?”

  “He’ll be down soon,” said Chase in a formal, stilted voice. He was beginning to seriously hate this awkward feeling he had every time he encountered his dad. “And how’s Mom?”

  “Still mad at me,” said Benjamin.

  Chase hunched over his breakfast and felt as if a gloomy rain cloud hovered above his head. “Sorry to hear that.” Not. You totally deserve the cold shoulders we’re giving you. Jerk! He thought angrily, wishing he had the nerve to say it out loud.

  Using his power to shape-shift, Ben had spent the summer masquerading as his sister, Clair. No one had known except Grandfather. Benjamin said he had to do it to protect the family, because the Marlowes considered him a target, but even with that explanation, Chase and his mom were having a difficult time forgiving him for his deception. Chase still had a hard time believing how stupid he’d been not to realize his dad had been there the whole time. Right under their noses.

  It was a relief when several minutes later the kitchen door swung open and Persephone—Mrs. Periwinkle’s daughter—and Andy walked in, chatting noisily.

  “—said he couldn’t see himself—” Andy exclaimed. He jerked to a stop. “Hey, Dad!” He darted across the room and threw his arms around Ben. “How’s it going?”

  It hadn’t taken long for Andy to forgive their dad. At first, Chase’s mind had screamed “traitor,” but then he realized that Andy was just one of those people who found it easy to forgive, and then move on to other things, like it was no big deal.

  “Pretty good,” said Ben with a smile.

  Andy climbed onto a stool, grabbed a donut, and took a huge bite. Jelly oozed out the sides. “Where’s Mom?” he mumbled around the mouthful.

  “She took breakfast to your grandfather,” said Ben. “And it was time to check his blood pressure and everything. It’s sure great she’s here to help nurse him back to health.”

  “Yeah, it is,” said Andy as he grabbed a napkin and dabbed at his sticky chin.

  Convincing their mom to move to Northwest Washington State from New York City hadn’t been easy. But, luckily, nursing jobs were in demand everywhere, and even though she was as angry at Grandfather as she was at Benjamin, she had finally agreed to come. After all, it was in her nature to want to help people, but also, Chase knew she was a lot happier now that she didn’t have to worry about paying the rent and other household bills by herself anymore.

  “Oh, yeah,” continued Andy, “I just remembered I wanted to tell you about the other day when I walked into one of the magic rooms. I just started dancing and wiggling my rear all around the room. I couldn’t help myself! And I didn’t even say the magic words. Oh, and loud disco music was playing, too.”

  Benjamin laughed. “I guess your Grandfather failed to warn you about that.” He shook his head. “No surprises there. Like a lot of the hallways, the magic in some of the rooms just turns off and on by itself.”

  “Oooh,” said Andy. “I think I’ll stay away from that room, then.”

  Chase wanted to say that he’d had the same experience with the crazy Dancing Room, but he really didn’t want to be drawn into another conversation with his dad. He felt Persephone studying him while she poured herself a bowl of cereal. “And how are you this morning, Chase?” she asked quietly.

  Trying not to blush (he’d been crushing on Persephone ever since he’d first met her), he shrugged and mumbled, “Hanging in there.”

  “You really thought you were invisible?”

  He ducked his head. “Um…sort of.” Come to think of it, it did sound ridiculous.

  “Want to tell me about it?” she asked, cocking her head to the side and brushing a lock of her dark-red hair behind her ear.

  He didn’t; though, sometimes, it was as if those unusual, emerald-green eyes of hers—made greener by her light-olive complexion from her Egyptian heritage—had the ability to see right through him.

  She looked like she wanted to say more, but he was spared being interrogated when the kitchen door swung open again and Janie slouched into the room. Ever since finding out about her mother’s death, she’d kept to herself. Now that Chase was seeing her up close, it was pretty obvious how rough the past two weeks had been on her. Her usually bright brown eyes were puffy and blood-shot, her face was blotchy and red, and her clothes were more wrinkled than Chase’s. Plus, her dark-brown hair looked as if she’d let her pet ferret, Maxwell, burrow in it.

  Ignoring everyone, she flung open the refrigerator door and stood there staring at the contents as if she expected the food to hop out and prepare breakfast for her.

  Benjamin cleared his throat in the awkward silence. “Um, since we’re all here together, I have something to tell you. Your grandfather and I have taken the time to prepare a funeral service for Clair. We’re having it the day after tomorrow.”

  Janie slammed the refrigerator door and whirled to face her uncle. “What? How can we have a funeral?” she cried, her wild hair waving like grass in the wind. “And what are you going to tell people about what happened to her? We can’t exactly tell them the truth, can we, Uncle Ben?” Her voice was filled with sarcasm and dislike.

  Benjamin’s face burned dark-red as he explained. “We’re telling people that Clair died in a bad fall while hiking in the Cascade Mountains. It’s closest to the truth.”

  “We don’t even have a body to bury!”

  “Bu
t we still need closure,” said Benjamin. “It’ll be a way to help us all heal.”

  “He’s right, Janie,” said Chase, even though he didn’t want to admit his dad was right about anything. “We need to say good-bye.”

  “I don’t want to heal or say good-bye!” she shot back. “I want my mom here, alive.”

  “That isn’t exactly possible,” snapped Chase, “now is it?”

  “That’s all fine for you, Chase. You aren’t the one who lost their parent, now are you?” Her upper lip twisted into a sneer while she mimicked the sharp tone of his voice.

  “We all miss her,” he said as he hopped off his stool. Stomping across the floor, he tossed his banana peel into the trash bin and slammed the lid shut. “You’re not the only one who lost someone they cared about.”

  “But it wasn’t really her!” yelled Janie. She took a deep breath, crossed her arms and continued. “And what about my brother, James? Have you thought of him? He would need to be there, too. He doesn’t even know about—about our mom.” She paused and glared at them. “Not that any of you care that he’s disappeared without a word to anyone!”

  “He attacked Grandfather,” chimed in Andy.

  “Grandfather can’t remember what happened, so we have no one’s word but Chase’s on that,” said Janie, her eyebrows practically meeting in the middle as she scowled darkly at Andy.

  Chase opened his mouth to respond, but Persephone shoved him aside as she hurried across the floor and placed a comforting hand on Janie’s arm. “It’ll be okay, Janie. Remember, you still have us.”

  Janie jerked away as if she’d been burned. “No! It’s not going to be okay. And I don’t want to pretend it is!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. “You don’t understand how much I want to see and talk to her again.” She pointed her finger at Benjamin. “This is all your fault. She’d be here now if she hadn’t had to go save your pathetic butt. I hate you! You know what? You can just do your stupid, crappy funeral without me.”