Chase Tinker and the House of Secrets Read online

  For a few minutes, only the sounds of chewing were heard as the kids wolfed down their lunch.

  “I can’t believe school starts on Wednesday,” Persephone finally said. “The summer went by way too fast for me. Eighth grade this year.”

  “Eighth?” said Chase. “I thought you’d be in ninth, since you’re almost fourteen.”

  “Nah,” she said. “My birthday’s in September. Past the cut-off time.”

  “Cool, maybe we’ll have some classes together,” said Chase, trying to keep his excitement from showing in his voice.

  “I’ll be in fifth grade,” said Andy. “I hope they don’t give too much homework. A guy needs time to goof off, too.”

  “I wonder if Janie will be up to starting school again,” said Chase. “She’s like a walking stick of dynamite that blows up anytime she’s not happy with something. We don’t need her acting that way around other people.”

  “I hope she starts acting more like herself soon,” said Persephone, sighing. “I want to be patient, but she’s driving me nuts!”

  “I think we all—AAAAACHOOOOOO!” Chase’s body became like liquid ice cream. Oozing through his chair, he found himself lying on the floor, solid again, and wondering if he was finally losing his mind.

  Andy and Persephone dropped to their hands and knees and gaped at him.

  “There has to be a good reason for this,” said Chase, staring at the bottom of the chair.

  “But, Chase—” said Andy.

  “Shh, I’m thinking.”

  Okay. Sure, he was getting pretty good with all the magic in the house, but that didn’t explain why he suddenly had the ability to perform some of the different powers while not in the rooms. And why were they showing up nearly every time he sneezed?

  Closing his eyes, he thought back over some of the things that had happened in the past two months: moving into an incredibly magical house, crazy premonitions coming true, visiting rooms filled with magic, getting attacked by a gigantic animated plant and an enchanted door, talking to a powerful ancient Relic, time-traveling to the past, his cousin James leaving him to die in the middle of Puget Sound. It was a long list of bizarre occurrences, but nothing he thought would have affected him this way.

  He scratched his head. This wasn’t happening because he’d been zapped by Roland Marlowe that day at Doctor Dan’s, or else Andy would be having the same problems. He remembered everyone teleporting Grandfather to the doctor’s clinic after his grandparent’s heart attack, thick magic drifting through the air, Aunt Clair tumbling to the floor, and then…Grandfather…dying…

  “Oh, man. Holy crap!”

  Forgetting he was sprawled underneath a chair, he jerked up, bashing his forehead on a wooden bar. Thrashing his arms and legs, he shoved the chair aside and jumped to his feet. He ran his hands through his hair as he strode across the room. Andy and Persephone hopped back into their seats and watched him pace.

  Several trips up and down the floor later, he dropped into his chair and guzzled his lemonade. Andy and Persephone stared first at Chase, then at each other, and back to Chase, who was wiping away his lemonade mustache with the back of his hand.

  “Well?” said Persephone. “Are you going to tell us what the heck is going on, or do we have to try to read your mind?”

  Chase leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms and tried his hardest to look as nonchalant as possible. But, if he was honest with himself, he was more than a little freaked out by the whole thing. “Grandfather died.”

  “Duh,” said Andy, with a hey-do-we-look-brainless look on his face. “We already know this. We were there, remember? But he came back.”

  “And anyway, that was a couple weeks ago,” added Persephone.

  “I know. I know,” said Chase. “But what happens to his powers when he’s gone?”

  “They go to the next Keeper of the House,” said Persephone, scrunching her eyebrows together.

  “Yeah, well, the night everything happened, they started to go to Aunt Clair,” said Chase, “who we now know is our dad, but he didn’t want them—I remember seeing Aunt Clair, I mean my dad, struggling to stop it from happening—so they began transferring to the next one in line for Keeper.”

  “Okay…” said Persephone, continuing to look stumped. A moment later, understanding hit her like a flying brick. “Oh, my gosh! You!”

  “What?” said Andy. “Tell me!”

  “Grandfather’s magical powers went to Chase.”

  “You mean that’s why you can do those things? You have Grandfather’s powers?”

  “Not all of them, I don’t think,” said Chase, hurrying to clarify. “Though, I’m not sure how many. He wasn’t gone long enough for all the powers to transfer.”

  “But you got some of them,” said Persephone.

  “Looks like it, huh?” Chase chewed on another bite of pizza, swallowed and continued. “Come to think of it, it seemed awfully weird at the time. I remember feeling kind of strange and different, like powerful magic was swirling all around me. Then after finding out Aunt Clair was really Dad, I totally forgot about it.”

  “I don’t understand,” said Andy. “Why can’t you control them?”

  “I guess I need to practice,” said Chase, shrugging.

  “And you don’t know what ones they are?”

  “You’d think I would,” he answered, getting a faraway look on his face, as if he was searching his mind for this elusive magical knowledge. “I can’t tell. Maybe you have to be a full-fledged Keeper. I guess I have to wait for them to happen on their own.”

  “I bet this is the first time this has ever happened,” said Persephone, her eyes lighting up. “Years ago, they didn’t have the technology to restart people’s hearts the way they do now.” She nibbled thoughtfully on her pizza slice for a moment. “But I’d still bet you’re the youngest who’s ever almost become the Keeper of the House.”

  “This is crazy!” said Chase with a frown. “I’m not ready for anything like that. And Grandfather not being here to help with things is way too terrifying to even think about.” He shuddered at the thought.

  “Well I say it’s a good thing James isn’t here,” said Andy. “He wants to be Keeper of the House more than anything, so if he knew about this, no telling what he’d do.”

  “Yeah,” said Chase. “I have enough to worry about without his crap.”

  Persephone shook her head. “Too bad Janie doesn’t believe that he really did try to drown you when you guys were out fishing. But I guess if I had a brother, I wouldn’t want to believe he could do something so despicable, either.”

  Chase sighed. “I wish she didn’t think I was a liar now.”

  “Hey!” exclaimed Andy. “I just thought of something. You sneezed Aunt Clair’s power. Cool!”

  Chase smiled. Yeah. That was pretty cool. For some reason, the thought of having his aunt’s magical ability made him feel closer to her now that she was gone.

  “Do you think we should tell anyone else about this?” asked Persephone.

  “Let’s keep it to ourselves for now,” said Chase. “I don’t know if Grandfather can tell he’s missing some of his powers, but just in case, I don’t want to be the cause of any more stress in his life.”

  Besides, he hadn’t yet completely forgiven Grandfather for keeping the truth about their dad from them. Chase knew his grandparent was sorry he and Benjamin had to deceive them, but in Chase’s mind, at the moment, it still didn’t excuse the lies.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Changing History

  “Chase, wake up!”

  He swatted half-heartedly at the hand that wouldn’t stop shaking him. “Go away, Andy. We’re having fun playing soccer in the park,” he mumbled.

  “I’m not Andy. You’re having a dream. I’m Janie and I need your help. Now wake up.”

  Chase’s eyes flew open. He blinked several times as he worked to focus on the face staring down at him. “Janie?” he croaked. “Whazgoin’on?” He looked arou
nd. It was night time, but he wasn’t lying in bed. Instead, he was sprawled outside in a lounge chair on the deck. He lurched forward, his grogginess disappearing. “Is everything okay? What time is it?”

  “It’s a little after midnight, and yeah, everything’s fine, as far as I know. Why shouldn’t it be?” she said, shaking her head at him. “Why are you sleeping out here anyway, and with whipped cream on your nose?”

  “What?” He swiped his hand across his nose. “Andy! I’m going to kill him,” he growled, using his shirt to wipe his face.

  The last thing he remembered, he’d been eating chocolate cream pie and watching the sun set with everyone else. He’d only closed his eyes for a moment, and now it was practically the middle of the night.

  Janie plopped onto the side of the lounge chair next to him and pulled out a blue book she had tucked under her arm. “I need your help,” she said, opening the book to a marked page.

  “With what?”

  “I’ve been reading through my journal and I know the best time to go back.”

  “Go back where?”

  “Back in time,” she answered.

  “What! Why?”

  Janie rolled her eyes. “To save my mom, of course, silly.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me!” Chase shook his head. “No, no, no. After what happened last time, I don’t ever want to try it again. No thanks.”

  “But we have to!” cried Janie. “I’ve figured it out. Grandfather brought me here on February 12th. If I get to her before that and tell her what happens—”

  “What about my dad?” he cut in. “She has to save him. Or have you forgotten?”

  “Of course I haven’t!” she snapped. “If Mom knows she has to be extra careful—”

  He continued shaking his head.

  “The thing is,” said Janie, “it has to be before she left because I don’t know any exact times and places after that.”

  “Won’t your mom wonder how you know what’s going to happen? And what if you run into your past self? That could cause even bigger problems. You might get scared out of your wits and attack this other person. Which is you.” Chase slapped a hand to his forehead. “And I thought traveling hundreds of years to the past was weird.”

  “I’ve thought about those things,” she said. “I’ll know where I am in the past so I’ll know to stay away from there. I’ll tell my mom I’m from the future and I’ve come back to warn her.”

  “I don’t care how much you tell yourself that it won’t freak her out,” he said, looking exasperated. “It’s going to freak her out.”

  Snapping her journal shut, Janie jumped to her feet. “That’s the chance I’m willing to take if it gives me the chance to save her life. I have to get her back and I don’t want to do some lame funeral hoping it’ll make it all better.” She marched across the deck. “No matter what you say, Chase, I’m going. With or without you.”

  “Janie, wait!” he called, leaping up and running after her. “Come on. Think about this. You can’t go changing the past anytime you don’t like what’s going on in the present.”

  Janie whirled to face him, her eyes flashing. “What if it had been your dad? Or your mom? Wouldn’t you want to do something? You, Chase, who can never let anything go?”

  Chase shoved his hands into his pockets. She had a point. He did have his way of charging in, no matter what the consequences seemed to be. But it’s always for a good cause, he thought, isn’t it? Well, not always, but usually. He did his best.

  “Okay,” he said reluctantly. “Lead the way.”

  “Oh, thank you,” breathed Janie. “Don’t worry, you won’t be sorry.” She looked ready to hug him. He was glad when she held off.

  “Famous last words,” Chase mumbled to himself, his shoulders drooping.

  They were tip-toeing down a darkened hallway a few minutes later when out of the blue another huge sneeze hit him. “A-A-AAACHOOOO!”

  “Bless you,” whispered Janie, not bothering to turn. If she had, she would’ve been amazed to see Chase bouncing along behind her, his body now shaped like a coil.

  “Chase—”

  “AAACHOOOO!” He fell to the floor as his regular self again.

  Janie swung around. “—would you please keep it down? We don’t want to wake anyone!” she whispered fiercely.

  “But—”

  “No excuses. This is important to me. Now hurry up.”

  He pushed himself to his feet and hobbled after her, wondering if he was allergic to his new powers. Was that even possible?

  The gigantic, tree-sized cuddleupus plant was doing its usual loud snoring when they arrived at the Time-Travel Room, which was also the greenhouse. “Too bad Andy isn’t here to distract that thing,” said Chase. “Maybe we should go get him, because I really don’t feel like being hugged right now.”

  “We don’t have time,” said Janie. “I want to go now.” She pulled him into the shadowy, plant-filled room. “Okay, here goes,” she whispered, taking a deep breath. “Peragro Vetustas.” After she said the secret words, she quickly recited the information that would send them to the past.

  Chase closed his eyes and waited for things to start spinning backward and the world to go flying by. And, for the queasiness to start, but nothing felt different. He opened one eye, and then the other. “Why didn’t we go anywhere?”

  “I don’t know,” she whispered anxiously. “Let me try again.” She repeated the words, and again, nothing happened. “Why isn’t it working?” Childishly, she stomped her foot, which unfortunately awakened the cuddleupus. The plant whipped out one of its long tendrils, wrapped it around Chase’s ankle, and yanked him across the floor.

  “Hey, let go of me, you crazy plant!” yelled Chase as he hopped on one foot and flapped his arms.

  “Chase, quit messing around!” Janie screamed, while dodging a waving tendril. “We have to find out why this isn’t working.”

  “Tell it to the plant. Aah!” He was whipped upside down and more tendrils curled around his legs and chest.

  “Oooh!” Janie marched to the plant and tickled it furiously.

  With a loud clunk, Chase dropped to the floor. “Owowow!”

  “Come on,” snarled Janie, grabbing his shirt and dragging him to the door.

  Back in the hall, Janie stomped in circles, puffing and mumbling, beside herself with frustration. “I said what I was supposed to say so why didn’t we go back?”

  “How should I know?” said Chase, rubbing the top of his head. “You must’ve said something wrong.”

  “No I didn’t! I know I said exactly what I was supposed to.” She leaned against the wall and nibbled on her lower lip. “We need to go talk to the Relic, because something’s definitely wrong with this room.”

  “I don’t want to go to the attic,” he whined. “My head hurts. I wanna go to bed.”

  “It won’t take long,” said Janie. “And you’re sounding like Andy.”

  “Hey! I don’t sound like that,” Andy hollered from the end of the hall. He wandered toward them, his robe sash trailing on the floor. “I was on my way to the kitchen and I heard a bunch of noise. What are you guys doing?”

  “Janie wants to go back in time to save her mom,” explained Chase, sounding irritated, and silently wishing he was upstairs asleep in his comfy bed. “But the room won’t work. She wants to go ask the Relic why.”

  Andy shrugged a shoulder. “It can probably tell her. That’s its job, isn’t it?”

  “See, Chase,” said Janie. “Even Andy thinks so. Now let’s go.”

  “Well, if Andy thinks so,” said Chase sarcastically as Janie hustled them down the hallway.

  They were almost to the spiral staircase when they ran into the singing plant trio. The plants burst into a rousing version of “Deck the Halls,” which would have been pretty good if they had hit the correct notes.

  “Oh, shut up!” snarled Janie, practically kicking the plants out of her way.

  Chase and Andy glanc
ed at each other. Janie usually liked the plants’ noisy serenading. “Told you,” mouthed Andy, waggling his eyebrows. “Scary.”

  Chase nodded wearily. Whatever. He had a feeling it was going to be a long night, and on top of that, he wasn’t looking forward to climbing those never-ending stairs. His knees and head still throbbed. But as they approached the stairway, a word he’d never heard popped into his mind. Adsurgo, he thought. Everyone’s eyebrows shot up as the stairs began rolling upward.

  “They switched on!” exclaimed Andy.

  Chase caught the suspicious look on Janie’s face and remembered that she didn’t know anything about his new powers. He hoped Andy wouldn’t choose this moment to start explaining. Janie was acting too crazy right now. “Um, weird, huh?” he muttered. “Too bad it doesn’t happen every time.”

  “Hmm,” she said, then shrugged. “I guess we just got lucky.”

  At the top, Chase glanced back. Defluo, he thought. The stairs began rolling in the opposite direction. Barely remembering what he was supposed to do, he stumbled to the painting that guarded the attic where the Relic was stored. The gigantic painting was dotted with hundreds of tiny pictures of every sort of door imaginable. How many more surprises are going to pop up? He wondered as he summoned and then knocked on the lemon-yellow car door he knew would metamorphose into a tall, brown, regular door.

  When they entered the attic, Chase was happy to see the Relic still glowed as brightly as ever. When they’d first arrived at the Tinker house, Chase and Andy, along with Janie, were told the story of how all the Tinker magic came from this ancient Relic, which was found hundreds of years ago by one of their ancestors, Jedadiah Tinker.

  Unfortunately, a small part of the Relic had broken off soon after Jedadiah’s discovery. This lost Shard of Magic somehow ended up in the hands of the Marlowes, dark beings who were now using it to steal the abilities of other magical beings and people’s free will. The kids also found out that, just as the Relic had created good magic in the Tinkers, the Shard had created dark magic in the Marlowes. They had wanted desperately to fix this, so they had traveled back in time to stop the damage from happening, but they hadn’t succeeded. In fact, they had been fortunate not to cause more damage to the Relic, so seeing it safe and sound was still reassuring.