The Door in the Forest (21 page)

“We’d better go up and see.”

They cleaned the pot as well as they could with what little
water was left in the canteen; then they scattered the fire and set off toward the Byrdsong manse at the top of the hill.

Crouching at the edge of the woods, they looked out across the yard to the house with its pillars and porch. Two military staff cars, like dozing bulldogs, lay parked in the curved driveway.

“What do we do now?” whispered Wesley.

“We cross. There’s only one window on this side. It’s not likely anyone will see us.”

“Okay,” said Emily. “Let’s go.”

They raced out of the trees and reached the side of the house, then listened hard.

“Let’s go around back,” said Wesley.

Daniel nodded.

The children slipped in the back door and could hear muffled voices coming from the dining room. They crept into the adjoining pantry among the plates and spice racks. At first, they could hear very little. Daniel recognized the insinuating voice of the captain, but couldn’t place the other.

As Emily snugged up to the door, Daniel tried to put out of his mind the fact that she’d snugged up to
him
as well.

Then Sloper raised his voice. “Come on, Stecher, you don’t expect me to believe that. What is it with you people? Everybody lies to me, and they think I don’t notice.”

The other man muttered something.

Daniel felt Emily grab his shoulder. “That’s my uncle!”

He remembered the surly man in the misshapen hat who’d brought the girl to Everwood. It seemed a long time ago.

He heard a soft gurgling sound—Sloper’s flask of calvados emptying into a glass.

“What can you tell me about a map the girl had?”

“Emily had it? You mean the whole time we were traveling she had it?”

“I suppose she did.”

The man called Stecher gave a short laugh, like an out-of-breath dog. “Didn’t think she had it in her. Mangy little Emily. Nothing like her mom.”

“Yes, well, the girl had it. Then I had it. Now nobody has it.”

“You mean it’s
gone
?”

“Burnt up.”

“That’s bad.”

“Bad, why?”

“It was a treasure map, right? That’s what I always thought, from the way old Byrdsong was so secret about it.”

“Wrong, Mr. Stecher. It was a map the rebels made. It showed their hiding places, meeting places, where they’ve stashed their weapons.”

“You think so? I don’t think so. The old lady wasn’t political like that.”

“Well, your sister was. The rebels thought she was some kind of saint. She inspired them. They’d have followed her anywhere.”

“She wasn’t my sister.”

There was a beat of silence before Sloper answered. “Meaning what?”

“My mother died when I was fifteen. That’s when the old lady had me come and live with her. I never called Miranda my sister. I wanted nothing to do with that crazy family.”

“But they raised you.”

He snorted. “They took me in, if that’s what you mean.
I had to listen to their talk about magical protections and God knows what. They thought they was real special.”

“I’m sure you have a sad story to tell, Mr. Stecher, but right now I’m more interested in traitors. Rooting them out.”

“Fine. I’m interested in money. Bringing it in.”

“Not from me.” Sloper took a noisy gulp of his drink. “I know all I need to know. The Byrdsongs are in with the rebels. High up in the organization. Unless you can tell me where the arsenal is hidden, I can’t see that you have anything I want to buy.”

“I come in here with valuable information.”

Sloper took another swallow and let out a sigh. “You come in here with a bunch of nonsense about the Byrdsong family, who, as far as I can make out, did nothing but treat you well.”

“I’m telling you the truth. I can prove it.”

“You can prove that they’re all a bunch of witches and—
what
was it again?”

“Don’t believe me. But I lived in this house for four years. I listened and I saw. I bet you never knew about the windows in the Four Seasons room, did you?”

“The what?”

“And that’s only the beginning. In one part of the house you can hear the ocean.”

“Mr. Stecher, I think you’re quite mad.”

“Mad, am I? Come up with me. I’ll show you the windows right now.”

“You’re mad, and you need a bath. Why don’t you leave?”

“You didn’t think I was so mad when I turned Miranda in to you!”

“You were well paid for that.”

“Or before that, her traitor husband.”

“All good work. Necessary work.”

In the darkness, Daniel felt Emily’s fingers digging into his shoulder.

“Well,” Stecher was saying, “it’s the same now. By my count, you’re missing four people, the old lady and three kids. Why do you suppose you can’t find them? With all your soldiers?”

“I don’t know why we can’t find them.”

“No, you don’t, do you? All the king’s soldiers and all the king’s men, as they say.”

“What are you getting at?”

“I’m saying they got things you don’t know about. Inventions that can make things disappear. People, too, maybe.”

There was silence.

“They got false doors and blind hallways, tricks you could use against your enemies, if you knew how to work ’em.”

Daniel was painfully aware of a cramp in his leg, but was determined not to move. He wasn’t breathing much, either.

More silence.

“Very well, Mr. Stecher,” said Sloper at last. A chair leg scraped along the bare floor. “Why don’t you show me those windows of yours.”

“
He’s going to tell our secrets
!” Emily’s whisper was almost a hiss.

The three children were standing in the empty dining room.

“Maybe the captain won’t believe him,” Wesley said hopefully.

She shook her head. “You haven’t seen the windows. Or the staircase that takes you downstairs by going up. He’ll believe him, all right.”

“First,” said Daniel, “we need to find your grandmother. It sounds like Sloper doesn’t know where she is.”

“Didn’t she say to look in the library?” said Wesley.

Emily laid two fingers over his mouth. “Listen!” The sound of booted feet echoed in the hallway. “Quick!” She led the boys through the living room to the pocket doors at the entrance to the library. They slipped in and slid the doors shut. Daniel, who’d never been there before, couldn’t help looking around, looking up mostly, at the floor-to-ceiling
bookcases stuffed with dusty volumes. An oversized dictionary lay open on a shawl-covered library table near the back wall.

“I used to play in here when I was little,” said Emily. “I’d hide behind that table and make up stories.”

“Did you ever come across a book by your uncle Jakob?”

“I wasn’t old enough to read.”

Daniel was scanning the shelves. “A red binding …”

She held up her hand for quiet. “They’re coming! Behind the table, quick!”

They all huddled down, out of sight, just as the pocket doors slid open and two soldiers entered.

“I don’t want to hear about this,” said one man.

“You better hear about it. It’s getting worse.”

“Is it safe in here?”

In the shadows, Daniel looked over at Emily.

“How long have we been in this hayseed town, anyway?” came a voice.

“Lost track. He’s got this idea there’s a load of weapons here.”

“No wonder he’s in trouble. He can’t go back, you know.”

“Don’t talk so loud.”

“
Meoww
!”

Behind the table, the children looked at one another questioningly. A moment later, Mallow, Bridey’s white cat, was behind the table with them, purring loudly. She must have come in with the soldiers.

“Everybody knows he’s a loose cannon,” one of the men was saying. “And I don’t mean the one he keeps firing off into the trees.”

The other soldier shuffled over to the library table and flipped idly through the dictionary. The children stared at the tips of his round-toed boots. “So, what are we supposed to do? Desert?”

The other came over and sat on the table’s edge, just in front of where the children crouched. “Some already have. Except for that poor lad he shot.”

“That was a horror.”

“He’s getting crazier. He gets these ideas in his head. Now we have to chase around after an old lady and some kids.”

“I know.”

“
Mrroww
!”

She’s hungry
, Emily realized, petting the animal to quiet her.

“Besides which, he thinks everybody’s lying to him. Well, how can you tell him the truth? He doesn’t want to hear that we’re losing.”

“You think we’re losing?”

“I think we’ve lost.”

The soldier stopped flipping through the dictionary. “Look, Bailey, we’re not the first soldiers who’ve had crazy leaders, and we won’t be the last.”

“So we stick?”

“Long as we can.”

There was a big sigh from one of them. “We better get back. They’ve started firing again.”

The doors rumbled open, then rumbled closed.

Emily peered around the side of the table. Slowly they all stood up, the cat circling their legs.

“Bailey,” Daniel murmured. “He’s Sloper’s aide. And
he’s
thinking about deserting?”

“What did he mean, ‘He can’t go back’?” said Wesley.

Daniel pursed his lips. “Sounds like Sloper’s got himself in trouble with the higher-ups.”

“Whatever it is,” said Emily, “we’ve got to find Grandma. Let’s check that book we’re supposed to see.”

Daniel was scanning the higher shelves. “Is that it?” He pointed to an oversized volume with red velvet binding. It was well out of reach. He pulled over a chair. Even that didn’t get him high enough, so he set the big dictionary on the chair and stood on it.

The chair had one leg shorter than the others and wobbled dangerously. Still, he was able to touch the bottom edge of the book and tease it out with his fingertips.

He almost had it. But it was heavier than he’d expected. Still grabbling for the book, he felt the chair tip to the side, and suddenly book and boy went crashing to the floor.

He moaned, but quietly, listening hard. All he could hear was his heart.

Then came the tromping of feet and the two soldiers barged in, staring. Seconds later, Captain Sloper appeared, with Stecher right behind him.

The sitting room was made for afternoon teas, not muddy-booted soldiers, but that’s where the children were taken. Sloper threw himself into the flowered chair beneath the painting of the picnic and flicked ash from his cigarillo. “Let’s be quick about this. I can’t be bothered with children when I’ve got a war to run. Dominick! Be a good fellow and take them out and drown ’em.”

The large person named Dominick flushed.

“What? Haven’t you ever drowned a litter of kittens?”

“No, sir.”

“Time you learned. On second thought, leave the older boy. I need
one
person who’ll tell me the truth.”

“Yes, sir. So I should drown these other two?”

“The young one I don’t care about. You can leave him. But the girl, yes.” He glanced at Daniel. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Like what?”

Sloper cocked his head. “You think I’m cruel.”

“Yes,” said Daniel. “Emily is no threat to you.”

“Yeah!” cried Wesley, who was near tears. “She never hurt you!”

The captain leaned back and took in the children standing before him. His cigarillo wove a foul-smelling wreath around his head. “I don’t have time for this. I have to get into town. There’s some kind of riot by the grocery store.”

“My
dad
’s store?” said Daniel. “Are my parents there?”

“I suppose they are. Dominick? If you please. You can take Johnson with you. Come right back, though. And then get into town. I’m going to need you.”

Daniel took a step forward, though a soldier held his arm. “Wait. What is it about Emily? Why do you care about her?”

“I don’t. She’s unfinished business, that’s all. The family’s a symbol, a rallying point.”

Daniel’s face was hot. “She’s not a symbol, she’s a
person.
”

“To you she’s a person. To the rebels …”

“I think you’re crazy.”