Taken by the Cowboy (37 page)

“And the whole class
stays after school to write a math quiz,” Lewis said. “Great idea.
You’ll be even more popular with the class than you are now. And we
both know you don’t want to write that test either, so give the
eraser back.”

Wanda narrowed her
eyes. She didn’t like being beaten at her own game. “Well, if we
did have to stay and write the test, it would be because of your
little girlfriend, here. I’d just be doing my duty as a responsible
student, reporting people who pass notes. I’m sure Ms. Randall
would take my side.”

She had a point.

Callie sighed. “How
much do you want? I assume you’re going to blackmail us.”

Wanda held out her
hand, looking completely proud of herself. “I prefer to call it a
donation to the Wanda Morris College Fund. Just think, Callie, you
and all the rest of these jokers will be paying towards my higher
education. Today’s donation will be ten dollars.”

“Ten dollars! That’s
not fair,” Callie protested.

“Newsflash: life isn’t
fair, numbskull. I would think a girl without a mother would have
realized that by now,” Wanda said nastily.

Callie’s heart did a
painful flip-flop. She felt her eyes welling up with tears but
fought valiantly against them. She took a deep breath to try and
steady her emotions.

“Ten bucks or the class
writes Ms. Randall’s test,” Wanda said. “Take your pick.”

Callie reluctantly dug
in her pocket and pulled out the ten dollar bill her dad had given
her that morning. At this point, she would have paid any amount of
money to make Wanda go away.

Before Callie could
hand over her birthday money, Lewis shoved a balled-up bill into
Wanda’s hand. “There. Now give us back the eraser, Wanda. And in
case you didn’t know-which judging by your behavior you obviously
don’t-it isn’t cool to make fun of someone whose mother died. And
speaking of mothers, at least Callie’s mother loved her, which is
more than you can say about yours.”

This time it was
Wanda’s turn to be speechless with shock. Her expression darkened
like a sky before a thunderstorm, and her eyes narrowed
dangerously. She shoved the ten dollar bill into her pocket and
hissed, “Later, Losers,” then stomped away.

Callie let out a deep
breath. Lewis put a comforting arm around her shoulder and led her
over to their favorite spot on the retaining wall that surrounded
the playground. “I’m sorry about that, Cal,” he said. “Wanda Morris
is getting worse every day. Talk about dysfunctional.”

“I know,” Callie
agreed. “I think what you said might be true. Maybe that’s why
she’s so mean to everyone…her parents don’t really love her.”

Lewis gave a lop-sided
grin. “Forget about her. Open up your package!”

Callie felt a whoosh of
excitement course through her stomach. She gently untied the velvet
ribbon and put it in her pocket. “I wonder what it could be?” she
mused, unfolding the stiff brown paper.

Lewis craned to get a
better look. “Do you think it’s from your dad?”

“It must be. Who else
would have a gift delivered to me at school?” She lifted out a
rich-looking rectangular case covered in burgundy leather. The top
was embossed with gold. Intricate swirls and designs combined to
form the letter A.

“Open it,” Lewis
said.

Before she could stop
herself, she blurted, “I’m afraid.” She couldn’t explain it, but
somewhere deep inside she knew that whatever was in that case would
have a huge impact on her life.

Lewis looked puzzled.
“What’s to be afraid of? It’s just a case with a present in it. It
can’t hurt you.”

Callie had the same
funny feeling as she’d had after her dream and the message in her
cereal. “The dream….” she mumbled, slowly opening the case.

What she saw there made
her gasp. It made Lewis gasp, too, and Lewis was not much of a
gasper.

On a bed of dark blue
velvet was the most spectacular jeweled necklace that Callie had
ever seen. It was covered in brilliant stones, which to Callie’s
untrained eye looked like diamonds, but they had a soft pink hue.
They sparkled in the sunlight. Unable to stop herself, Callie
lifted the beautiful necklace from the case. The pink stones formed
a long chain, and hanging from the bottom of it was a
jewel-encrusted key. One large stone on the top of the key had the
image of a unicorn cut inside it. It was the most beautiful thing
Callie had ever seen.

“Wow,” Lewis said.
“Your dad sure outdid himself this year.”

“I don’t think this is
from my dad,” Callie said. Her dad loved her, but he would never
buy his twelve-year old daughter a priceless necklace for her
birthday. It looked like it was worth a lot of money.

“If he didn’t send it,
who did?” Lewis asked.

“Maybe this will tell
us.” Callie pulled out a thin scroll tied to the inside of the
case. It seemed to be made of the same strange parchment as the
proof of delivery she had signed. She unrolled it, and gasped
again. “It’s a map! And there’s another poem. Just like the one in
my dream. It went like this:

When one is two and
two are one

King Eldric’s magic
has begun

The Queen will call
the princess home

To sit upon the
Enchanted Throne.”

“What does this one
say?” Lewis asked.

Callie took a deep
breath. “At the top it says Royal Summons.” Then she read:

“The key will open
the magic door

Found beneath the
forest floor

The unicorn will
lead the way

And protect you
both night and day

Make your way
through the Grimstead Gate

Come and claim your
royal fate

Proceed to the
Palace of Arraband

Our country’s fate
lies in your hands.”

“A unicorn? A door in
the floor? What the heck does that mean?” Lewis asked.

Callie felt a chill
shimmy down her spine, but it was a strange chill-one of excitement
and trepidation combined. It couldn’t be a coincidence. Now there
was a mysterious key, a map and a royal decree to contend with.

She touched her
friend’s arm. “Lewis, there’s an old statue of a unicorn in our
back garden. It’s covered now by weeds and ivy.”

The house was set on a
huge property and bordered a shady forest of maples. Her dad had
never been much of a gardener, and since Callie’s mom had died,
everything had been allowed to grow over.

“What does the map
say?” Lewis asked, reaching over to look at it.

Callie held it across
her lap so they could see it better. The swirling letters said,
“Royal City of Arraband” across the top, and showed what looked to
be a fairly large city surrounded by a wall with several gates of
entry.

“Look here,” Callie
exclaimed. “It’s the Grimstead Gate! Lewis, that was in my dream,
too. And here’s the palace in the middle of the city.” She pointed
at it.

“Hold on a minute,”
Lewis warned. “We don’t even know who sent you this. Cal, come on.
You can’t seriously believe all this.”

“You think I’m making
it up?”

“No, I don’t think
that. I just think, maybe you should talk to Dr. Sam about it.”

Callie put the necklace
back in its case and slammed it shut. “I don’t need to talk to Dr.
Sam. What I need to do is look for that door tonight. Something
strange is going on, and I want to find out what it is. If you
don’t want to help me, I’ll do it alone.”

“Callie-” Lewis
began.

“And by the way, Dad’s
having the pizza delivered tonight at seven. Be there.” She packed
up her things and stood, then stopped.

Staring at them from
the nearby trees was Wanda Morris with a very strange expression on
her face. Then Wanda slunk back towards the school like a
snake.

THREE

The Door in The
Floor

That evening, after the
pepperoni pizza had been eaten, the birthday candles had been lit,
and the cake and ice cream had been gobbled up, Callie received the
worst news she had gotten since learning of her mother’s death.

Her dad and Sharon
calmly announced that they were getting married.

The funny thing was,
this had been the extra special surprise her dad had told her about
that morning. The “something rare and beyond price.” Callie had
been hoping the mystery gift was a trip to France.

It wasn’t a trip to
France.

It was a new stepmom
named Sharon Hennessey.

Somehow, the news had
formed itself into a knife that was right now sinking into Callie’s
heart and causing her unbelievable pain. Before she could stop
herself, Callie looked at her dad and blurted, “How could you do
this? Don’t you love Mom anymore?”

Her dad looked a little
shocked at his daughter’s outburst. “Of course I do, Callie.
Nothing can change that.”

Callie stood up,
completely oblivious to the fact that Lewis was sitting quietly in
the armchair and was witnessing the whole terrible scene. “Well, if
that’s true, how can you want another wife? You and Mom didn’t get
a divorce, you know. You can’t marry someone else. You can’t do
this to her, Dad!”

Her dad looked hurt,
more hurt than she’d seen him look since the horrible day of her
mom’s car accident. Callie immediately felt bad. Worse than bad.
Horrible. She didn’t want to hurt her dad, but she didn’t want him
to forget about her mother, either.

Because if he could
forget about her mother, then maybe someday Callie would, too, and
that thought terrified her.

She grabbed a picture
off the mantle. It had been taken during their last family
vacation. They’d gone sailing and fishing on Chesapeake Bay. There
they were, the three of them on the deck of the Miss Amy, holding
tight to one another, smiling and laughing as her dad held a huge
fish up by its tail. Two weeks later, her mother was dead.

Callie showed the
picture to her father. “We’re a family, Dad. I want our lives back
the way they were. I want Mom back.”

“Callie…” His voice was
choked with emotion as he stood and went to her.

But Sharon stood, too.
“Callie, could I have a word with you, alone?”

Callie was momentarily
shocked-she had never really spent any time alone with Sharon
before. It seemed like Sharon was already taking her new job as
stepmom very seriously.

“Ben,” Sharon continued
gently but firmly, as she might in the court room, “why don’t you
take Lewis out onto the veranda for a few minutes so you can talk
about baseball?”

Baseball? Ha! Callie
wanted to say. If you knew even an iota about Lewis, you’d know he
isn’t interested in baseball. But as she saw her dad obediently
steer Lewis onto the front porch, what she really wanted to say
was, Dad, don’t leave me alone with her.

Sharon looked down at
Callie with a forced smile. If this was Sharon’s attempt at
relating to kids, it was falling as flat as a three-ton pancake.
“Callie, I realize our news might have come as a shock to
you….”

That was an
understatement.

“I know you’re still
dealing with your mother’s death, and probably will be for the rest
of your life.”

Callie’s heart began to
beat faster. Somewhere deep down, she knew that Sharon was trying
to be helpful, but right now her efforts were anything but.

“It’s been two years,
Callie,” Sharon said as gently as she could. “And though you may
not be, your dad is ready to move on with his life. And that means
having a new wife-me. And I know you probably thought your dad
would never, ever want a wife other than your mom. But… he
does.”

Callie couldn’t believe
this. Though it was obvious Sharon was trying really hard to tone
it down, no one had ever spoken to Callie so bluntly before.
Especially not about her mother’s death.

“Callie, I love your
father very, very much. He’s been through a hard time, too. And
now, he has a chance to be happy again, with me. I want to make him
happy, Callie. I want us both to make him happy. In order to do
that, we’re going to have to work together, okay?”

If it was possible,
Callie felt worse than she had a few minutes ago.

What Sharon had said
was true. Though Callie knew it was selfish, she had hoped deep
down that her dad would never meet anyone and never date anyone,
and never, ever remarry. Because it would have made Callie’s life a
whole lot simpler.

Sharon continued, “This
is going to be a difficult transition for all of us, no doubt about
it. And I’m hoping that together, all sides can reach an agreeable
resolution to this problem….”

Callie couldn’t believe
it. Sharon was using legal jargon while attempting to relate to her
twelve-year-old, soon-to-be step-daughter.

“I’ve drawn up a
proposal for you to peruse,” Sharon continued, handing Callie a
thick set of papers. “Since I’m going to be your new stepmom, I
think we should set aside one day a week to get to know each other
better. Forge a bond-‘Girlpower,’ and all that. I’ve put together a
list of activities you might find interesting….”

Callie scanned Sharon’s
list: a tour of the legal library at Sharon’s office…reorganizing
Sharon’s closet…cataloging Sharon’s shoes…and about a dozen other
things you’d only agree to in order to get out of a Turkish prison.
The only thing that was missing was cleaning Sharon’s bathroom with
a toothbrush.

This woman didn’t have
a clue. That was what worried Callie.

“And now, I have a
favor to ask of you,” Sharon said seriously. “As young people, it’s
very common for us to concentrate on ourselves, while forgetting
that there are others around us who need our consideration.”

Callie detested the
term young people. It was usually used by adults who didn’t
understand kids.