The Doorknob Society (The Doorknob Society Saga) (11 page)

“Thanks for the info.”

“No problem, so what happened this summer?”

Slade looked at me sideways but I refused to meet his gaze. I had an idea of what he wanted to talk about but I wasn’t interested in starting anything, not with so much uncertainty in my life. Plus I had seen what happened to supposedly happy couples, like my parents. It doesn’t end well.

“I was busy with work.”

“Funny I thought you were just avoiding me.”

“Then I’m doing a crappy job right now.” I laughed trying to avoid how awkward I was feeling.

“Well I’m around if you need any more information.” Slade leaned close and whispered. “And if you need to talk, I’m here.”

I tried to ignore the possibility of what a great boyfriend he’d make, being willing to listen to me and giving me hugs when I needed them not to mention that I thought he was probably a hell of a kisser. So I did what I do best, avoided going there and changed the subject. “You’re an engineer?”

“That’s me Michael Slade of the Impossible Engineers at your service.”

“Chloe Masters, undeclared.” I detested saying it but in the Academy what group you belonged to made a difference.

“Undeclared, that won’t last long. But if you get to train with the Engineers ask for me I can help tutor you,” he said with a playful wink.

“Can you now?” I had the sneaky suspicion that his tutoring had nothing to with school subjects. “I’ll remember that.” I slid back in line thinking a bit of distance between Slade and I might be good. I made my way to Edgar. He was scanning the walls with his goggles. “What’re you doing?”

“Rumor has it that some legendary artifacts are hidden somewhere in the Academy walls. I configured my goggles to x-ray and I’m scanning for them.”

“Don’t you think that they’ve already thought of that?”

“I suppose but maybe they missed something.”

I perused the walls along with Edgar. They were adorned with old photos and paintings of alumni. Large sconces were placed at intervals along the walls and burned brightly throwing strange shadows across the carpeted floors.

“We are currently in the main wing of the Academy. Each group has a wing that it uses exclusively for training, bringing it to a total of six wings. In this wing you’ll find the gymnasium as well as our library.”

Mrs. Flint had been talking the whole time but I’d finally started paying attention again and caught that last part. A library could be just what I needed. It’s not like you can search for The Doorknob Society on the Internet, so I figured a good old-fashioned library would be a nice place to start probing for information on my mom. And perhaps find some evidence as to why my dad had been kicked out of the Doorknob Society, and maybe, with some luck, I’d discover something about the man in black.

Mrs. Flint kept us walking until finally at the end of one hallway we were greeted by two extremely tall oak doors. She grabbed hold of one of the ancient doorknobs and pushed open the doors in one sweeping motion. Light flooded the hallway and we stepped through into the vast library.

The room soared so high that you couldn’t see the ceiling, though I was pretty sure there was one. You certainly couldn’t have it raining on books. Two-story windows dotted the far wall and illuminated the entire room. Massive shelves dominated the other walls on the first floor and continued above to the ascending floors.

“The library was one of the first sections of the school to be built and has been expanding ever since. In here you will find almost every book ever written on the different groups,” Mrs. Flint said proudly.

“Almost?” I wanted to bite my tongue as soon as I said it but as usual my mouth was quicker than my brain.

Mrs. Flint squinted over the rim off her glasses at me and the class followed her gaze. Her ever-present smile had disappeared and she regarded me with a calculating expression. She sized me up and down in one quick glance and then pushed her glasses back up her nose. Her smile then quickly returned.

“Well, dear, some of the earliest books written about the Old Kind have been lost to time. And while a concentrated effort has been made through the years to locate them we’ve yet to be successful.”

Slade jumped in with his two cents. “You mean like the Chronicles?”

His remark appeared to send a jolt of apprehension through the students and they began whispering amongst each other.

“Quiet now, this is, after all, a
library,”
Ms. Flint ordered and then turned to Slade. “Yes, Mr. Slade, you are correct, the so-called
Chronicles
are among the volumes believed to be missing from the library. However we do have a few pages from those rare books on display. They are the only known surviving pieces.”

“Are those documents about the Founders?” Slade continued his query.

Mrs. Flint huffed in frustration. “Yes, they are.”

“Do they say anything about the artifacts?”

“Mr. Slade, I’m well aware that you are an engineer and like all engineers you are fascinated with moveable objects but the Chronicles say no more about the legendary artifacts of the founders then you’ve heard in bedtime tales. Now if we can continue the tour without further interruption.”

Mrs. Flint turned and without another word on the subject continued the tour.

I glanced around the library, knowing that I’d be returning, and anxious to do so, as soon as I could to begin my search.

Several students gathered around Slade and continued to whisper.

I stuck closer to Edgar as we made our way out of the library. “What was that about?” I asked nodding toward Slade.

“Slade is like so many, eager to find the legendary artifacts of the Founders and eager for recognition.”

“What artifacts?”

“That’s part of the problem... no one is really sure. Supposedly the Founders gathered together the most powerful inventions of each group. They are believed to have amazing abilities in defending against some unknown adversary. After they defeated this nameless or fabled foe the Founders hid the inventions until such a time when they were needed once again. All the information is contained in the Chronicles but the volumes themselves were lost with only supposedly a few pages surviving. The few stored here and some pages in private collections.”

“So they’re history books?”

“Kind of, they tell the history of the earliest Founders and even the first of our kind. They supposedly also contain knowledge of the three missing societies that have been lost to time. Most people consider the Chronicles nothing more than fables while others think they contain the true history of our kind.”

“Sounds like some people take it too seriously.”

“Some say that a single chapter of the Chronicles is what led to the dissolution of the truces that lead to World War II.”

“What?”

“You learn all about it in 20
^th
Century and the Temporal Wars.”

“What’s that?”

“This semester’s history course.”

“Sounds fun.” What I really thought it sounded like was the bizarre ravings of a mad man but standing in this place I knew that wasn’t the case. It looked like I was going to need to do a lot of studying.

We passed through the cafeteria, which resembled some gothic parlor more than an average school cafeteria. The gymnasium contained numerous odd looking machines that I assumed were created by the engineers because Slade was busy showing them off to other students. We finished with a tour of the numerous sports fields and activities that the Academy offered.

We returned to the classroom where Mrs. Flint handed out a complete class list to each of us. Mine detailed the classes for the first half of my day, including the history class Edgar had mentioned. The second half of my day consisted of classes dealing with each specific discipline from The Doorknob Society to the Skeleton Key Guild. It also contained a chunk of time marked as undeclared, I bit my tongue unsure what it meant.

“Those of you who are undeclared are probably feeling a bit apprehensive but it isn’t that unusual for new students to go undeclared for their first year. That is why we will have you cross train in each discipline until your abilities display themselves. We are currently determining where each of you will be placed for the first semester. And once we make our final determination, I’ll inform you.”

Mrs. Flint’s voice carried across the classroom as she droned on and I let me mind wander. I needed to get into the library. I knew Dad would be mad if he knew I was investigating the family, but deep down something nagged at me. I couldn’t help wonder if the faulty truce and the disappearances had something to do with why Mom left us. I might not be able to bring her back but I could damn well find out why she left... I deserved that much.

Chapter 11

Status: Do I just attract the crazy?

The lunch bell rang and we all hurried out of the classroom and headed to the cafeteria. I meandered alongside Edgar as he talked endlessly to one of the other students about mapmaking. The ornate wooden doors stood open and delicious scents greeted us as we made our way to one of the numerous round tables. Edgar and his friend continued chatting and Slade wandered over with a few other students and took up the other chairs at our table.

I pulled out my cell phone and quickly checked my text messages. The first was from Dad asking how my day was going and I sent a return message telling him it was great and added a smiley face. I wanted to talk with Dad about all this but he was the one person I couldn’t talk to right now. The next three messages were from Val asking me just about everything from how it was going to what kind of books did we get. I fired off quick responses and then turned back to the other students.

“From everything my dad says the truces are in real danger for the first time in a while,” Slade was saying as all the other students listened with rapt attention.

Slade’s Dad was a high ranking member of the Impossible Engineers so he would be aware of what was going on.

“They say that all the time,” Edgar countered.

“And Mapmakers always want to believe that everything will turn out fine.”

“Almost as much as Engineers worry that people are out to steal their designs.”

Slade grinned. “You’re lucky you’re declared, Edgar. I don’t think you’d do well as an Engineer.”

“Damn lucky, this way I don’t have to listen to you drone on about boring gears and systems,” Edgar shot back.

“Look, Jackie, the help is fighting with one another.” A blonde girl was walking passed the table and stopped to make the comment. Her friend snickered and put her hand up to her mouth to stop from laughing. A guy stood behind them looking menacing, which was easy for him since his flat nose appeared as if it had been crushed against his face.

“No one’s talking to you Guilder,” Slade warned.

He didn’t even turn the girl’s way as he spoke. I realized it was the same girl I had seen earlier with Nightshade. Her eyes met mine for a moment and it hit me that I knew her but from where?

“I wouldn’t bother talking to the help anyway,” she scoffed and flicked her flowing blond hair, turned and walked away.

“Ridiculous.” Edgar rolled his eyes.

The words had barely left his lips when the flat-nosed jerk spun around and grabbed Edgar by the shirt yanking him out of his seat.

“What did you say punk?”

Edgar’s shirt caught tight at his throat and he couldn’t respond; he could barely breathe.

I bolted out the chair and grabbed the guy’s hand. “Let him go— now.” My hands went for his thumb that gripped the shirt.

“Shut up,” he snapped and laughed at me.

I smirked back at him. Being the daughter of a magician had its advantages. Dad had explained the best way to escape various situations. The mistake people make when trying to break someone’s grip is going after the wrist. What you need to do is go after the thumb on the hand holding you, which is just what I did.

I yanked back on his thumb pulling it away from Edgar’s shirt and bending it back as far as I could. He yelped in pain and lost his grip.

“You little...”

He swung at me and for a split second I pondered why it was that I always got myself into these situations. I braced for the inevitable blow but it never came. Slade’s arm shot out and wrapped around the Guilder’s.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you?” Slade nodded at me and I let go of the guy’s thumb and stepped away.

“You picked the wrong fight gearhead.” The guy swung at Slade and he stepped into the blow cutting it off and letting the arm slam into his side. It barely budged him. Instead he grinned and snapped his head forward slamming his forehead into the guy’s nose. His skull connected with a brutal smack and the Guilder stumbled backward grabbing at his bloody face.

“Some kind of problem here?”

I knew the voice as soon as I heard it. It was smooth and arrogant and I sighed wishing I was somewhere else.

“It’s none of your business, Guilder,” Slade said angrily.

“It is now,” Nightshade said stepping between Slade and the Guild member.

“If you’re planning on fighting a Guilder why not take on someone more skilled?” Nightshade challenged.

“This isn’t any of your business, Nightshade,” Slade warned.

The two clearly knew each other and it didn’t appear that they had the best of relationships.

“I’m making it my business. You attacked a Guilder, not a smart move.”

“What are you, protector of the Guild now? Last I heard people around you have a tendency to die.”

Slade definitely hit a nerve. Nightshade’s eyes narrowed and looked ready to kill. The blonde, who had started the trouble, stood in the background her body turning rigid at Slade’s accusation.

“If that’s true you’ve put yourself in a bad situation,” Nightshade said.

Energy crackled in the room and I didn’t need to see the key in Nightshade’s hand to know he was activating his abilities.

I didn’t think twice, I stepped forward and placed myself between them. “Like Slade said, it’s not your business.”

“Masters, I should’ve realized you were part of this?” His glance flickered back to the blonde and then back to me.