The Doorknob Society (The Doorknob Society Saga) (24 page)

“How did you talk your way in?” I asked.

“I didn’t think the guard at the door was going to budge. He didn’t buy the story that I’d left a map behind and told me I’d have to leave. When the other guard showed up I thought I was done for, till he recognized me. His name is Gerard and he dated my sister last year. He vouched for me and I was able to get in the house.”

We moved along the streets swiftly hugging to the shadows and hoping not to be noticed by anyone that mattered.

“You found Dad’s bag?”

“Yeah, by blind luck. It looks like they did a number on the house, ransacked it pretty badly. The bag had been shoved under a bunch of other stuff they had trashed. They didn’t go through it too well though, since I found papers in the pocket you mentioned.”

We stopped at the Cape Beanery, it was getting late and it was one of the few places in town that stayed open all night and catered to Old Kind. We slipped in quietly, Jess and I moved to the back while Edgar grabbed us coffees and then joined us. The place was deserted expect for the barista and a couple on the other side of the café who were more interested in each other than anything else. I thought of the last time I was here with Nightshade and clenched my teeth.

“Show me what you got?” The words jumped out of my mouth before Edgar had a chance to even sit down.

Jess snatched her coffee from him and drank. I realized I needed the caffeine just as badly and grabbed my cup. It was hot, delicious and welcoming.

Edgar sat down beside me, opened his bag and began to dig through it. He withdrew a bunch of papers and handed them to me.

I took them from him, my hands trembling; maybe I would finally get some answers. My stomach clenched seeing Dad’s familiar scratchy handwriting as if he was always hurried and half script, half print like he couldn’t make up his mind. I read through the pages as quickly as possible, stopping now and again to read some areas twice. I laid them on the table when I finished and leaned back in the chair running my hands through my hair, pulling it from my face and tugging tightly on it as was a habit of mine when I needed to think.

There had been a letter from my dad to his brother Archibald, a member in good standing of the Doorknob Society.

Archie,

I did it, I found the legend. It took me all these years but I finally tracked it down. Talia and I were right, an artifact of the First Kind just like the chronicles describe. I’m writing this letter to you because after I discovered the artifact I was tracked, attacked and had to fight my way free. They’re after me. I’m going to hide the artifact and make a run for it. I need you to get it and bring it before the council of the Old Kind. If it is given to all groups then not any one group can claim it. This could be my way back into the Society. It could clear my name and give credence to my past actions. I’m giving you enough information to find it. I know I’m being cryptic but I can’t let it fall into the wrong hands, not after what happened before.

One more thing, you have to protect Chloe. They’ll try to get to me through her. She is all I have in this world, please protect her. I can’t lose her too.

Your Loving Brother,

Elijah

The other pages were filled with diagrams and clues, all foreign to me, to help find the device he had mentioned.

“Can I?” Edgar asked eagerly looking from me to the papers.

“Go for it,” I said still trying to process what Dad had written.

Edgar speed read the pages and handed them off to Jess who grabbed them just as eagerly and started reading. Edgar finished the last page and handed it off. He turned to me wide-eyed.

“Wow, is this for real?” Jess asked.

“I would think so, I said. “I’ve never known my dad to be a liar.”

“It makes sense,” Edgar said nodding as if confirming it. “It would explain the exorbitant amount of power that it is being thrown at you guys. And I could see every variation of the Old Kind wanting a piece of this.”

“What the hell are we going to do?” Jess asked sounding as if we had taken on an impossible task.

“It seems the only chance of surviving this is to follow the clues my dad left and find the artifact.”

Jess glared at me her mouth agape, and Edgar leaned back in his chair raking his fingers through his hair.

“It’s crazy,” Jess said, “There are nut jobs after us. This is dangerous stuff.”

“Exactly, that’s why we don’t have much of a choice, unless you have another plan.” I knew she didn’t so I didn’t wait for an answer. “They took my dad, they took Gran and they’re after us. They either think we already have it or we know where it is. Otherwise they would have just killed us. That artifact is our only leverage. We need to find where my dad hid it and get it. Then maybe we can bargain our way out of this.”

“But an artifact of the First Kind is beyond rare, Chloe,” Edgar said. “People have been searching for them for generations. If your dad really did find one, they’ll stop at nothing to get it. We could be up against everyone here; Skeleton Key Guild, Mapmakers Union, Impossible Engineers, HVO and the Doorknob Society.”

“I know but I have no choice; I’m being hunted. You guys do have a choice. It’s up to you.” I sipped my coffee giving them time to think it over. I didn’t want them to leave but this hunt would be dangerous, possibly more dangerous than we imagined. And I wanted to give them a choice to opt out now while they still had a chance, no matter how much I wanted them to stay.

Chapter 22

Status: I make a crazy plan.

“I’m in for the long haul.” Edgar raised his coffee cup as if in a salute and drank.

I turned to Jess.

“Me too,” she agreed.

“Thanks,” I said meaning it much more than they’d ever know. “I appreciate the help.”

“Now what?” Edgar asked.

“We need to figure out the clues Dad left behind for Uncle Archie,” I said sifting through the papers.

“Couldn’t we ask him for help?” Edgar fidgeted with his goggles flipping the dials on the side.

“I don’t know where he is and even if I did the Society would be watching him.”

“Do you recognize any of the clues?” Jess asked.

“I think I do.” I pulled one of the sheets of paper from the pile and spread it out showing a diagram of some large mechanical device.

“Is that an engineer schematic?” Edgar inquired.

“Yes, and it isn’t the first time I’ve seen it.”

“It isn’t?” Edgar asked surprised.

“No, when I was working with the Impossible Engineers at school Mr. Miller had the same diagram framed on his wall.”

“So we’re going to need the help of an Impossible Engineer?” Edgar raised an eyebrow and Jess looked none too happy about the prospect.

“Yes, we are, and I think I know someone who can help, though I’m not sure he’s going to want to talk to me.”

“It’s not like we have a bunch of options here,” Jess said.

She was right but I had the feeling Slade was less than happy with me right now. I reached into my pocket, pulled out my cell phone, scrolled through my contacts, clicked on Slade and typed out a quick text to him.

Meet me @ Cape Beanery plz

I hit send and sighed not sure how this was going to turn out.

Edgar grabbed our empty cups and went to get refills. I rested my elbows on the table and ran my hands through my hair. Jess watched me and I could almost see the wheels turning in her head.

“What?” I asked before she could pose the question.

“Are you sure about these people? We could go to the Guild I have friends there.”

“I trust Edgar and Slade even if he doesn’t like me right now, he is reliable. You’re Guild and I don’t have the best relationship, you know that better than most.”

“It doesn’t seem like the Doorknob Society has your best interest at heart either. Did anyone else know you’d be at Gran’s? They were the ones who sent you there right?”

“Right.” I’d been thinking about that since the attack. Supposedly the only people who knew where I was going were DS members and yet we were still attacked. Could the Society be behind everything that had happened? I wasn’t sure who to trust. But I hadn’t had the best experiences with Skeleton Key Guild members either. As a matter of fact they had been my biggest problem since finding out about the Old Kind.

“I could contact them.” She grabbed her phone from her pocket and placed it on the table in front of her.

“I’m not ready to trust the Guild yet.”

“What about me? I’m part of the Guild.”

“Why do you hate me so much?”

“You deserted us.”

“I deserted all of you?”

“You made no effort to stay in touch. Gran missed you and now look what’s happened. And you and I... never mind.” She looked away.

She obviously had more to say but I didn’t push the issue. I guess I wasn’t ready to open that wound. She saw it one way and I saw it another. The truth was that Jess and I had been forced together and though she had voluntarily agreed to help me, I wondered over her motive. We hadn’t exactly gotten along and she was a Guild member.

Edgar returned and behind him, his size overshadowing Edgar, stood Slade.

“Hey, Chloe,” Slade said with a smile as Edgar slid into his chair at the table.

I grinned back, hoping that smile meant he wasn’t still mad at me for the way I had treated him. He motioned to the stool beside me and I yanked my bag off it and slung it over the back of my chair. He slid in the seat beside me and glanced around the table.

“So you all going to tell me why I’m here this time of night and just what such a diverse group of students is doing together?”

“It’s all my fault,” I said and brought him up to date about my dad and how Jess and I had been attacked at Gran’s and ended with our plan and the fact that his favorite teacher had an exact duplicate of the diagram on his wall.

“So you need me to get you into the Impossible Engineer hall in Paladin Academy?” he asked nodding as if confirming to himself that I had lost my mind.

A logical assumption since basically I was asking him to take the chance of getting kicked out of Paladin if he got caught. I smiled and nodded. “Yes.”

“You do this and there’s no going back. You all know that right?” he asked looking to each one of us.

“It’s our only option,” I said.

“No, it isn’t,” Slade insisted “You could go to the council, give them your dad’s papers and ask for help. This is dangerous, Chloe, you guys could get hurt.”

“You don’t think I know that,” I said louder than I should have. “You weren’t there. You didn’t see what happened to my grandmother and I still don’t know what happened to my dad. You think I want this, Slade?” My temper was climbing with my voice. “I can’t trust the council, for all we know they’re the ones after us.” I stood my anger or the unfairness of it all getting the better of me.

Edgar cast a quick glance around and then shot me a warning look. I understood, others could hear; I had to be more cautious.

Slade reached out and took my hand. “Calm down, Chloe, all I’m saying is that you do have options.”

His warm hand offered comfort but I was angry and didn’t care. I had seen my own grandmother struck down and been running scared and I needed to vent and once again Slade gave me the perfect person to attack.

“Calm down, really that’s all you can say? Was it your grandmother bleeding and begging you to run for your life, Slade? I don’t think so!” I ripped my hand away from him, snatched my bag off the back of the chair and stormed out of the Beanery.

I saw Slade’s reflection in the window chasing after me but I didn’t stop. I pushed open the door and rushed out into the cold night. His strong hand on my shoulder stopped me.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I can’t even imagine how frightening this must be for you.”

I didn’t turn to look at him, I couldn’t right now. I desperately needed him and I wanted to know he’d be there for me. I didn’t turn to face him when I asked, “Will you help me?”

“I could be expelled not just from school but from the Engineers.”

He was right. It was selfish of me to ask him to do something that could ruin his life. And yet I had. I reluctantly said, “I need you.”

His hand slid off my shoulder and down my arm, grazing my hand before he took hold of me and turned me around. “For you, I’ll do it.”

“Thank you.”

He smiled and took my hand squeezing it as we walked into the Beanery together. I almost sighed in relief that he had joined forces with us. And then there was the surprising fact that I had admitted that I needed him. That was a miracle in itself.

Edgar smiled when he saw us holding hands and a slight grin spread across Jess’s face before it quickly disappeared.

“So what’s the plan?” Slade asked.

“We need to figure out why my dad chose this diagram. I can tell that he sketched it out quickly and I’m sure Uncle Archie might know its significance but since I don’t know where he is we can’t ask him.”

I handed the diagram to Slade and he examined it, his fingers tracing the edges of the different devices. I could tell by his studious expression that he was trying to determine the various functions by their components.

“I’m not sure what it is but you’re right. This is a copy of the one in Mr. Miller’s office. I could wait till morning and ask him about it?”

Slade left me to answer. “We can’t let anyone know what we’re doing or even get a hint of what we’re up to. We need to remain as invisible as possible. I think we should go in tonight.” I looked from Jess to Edgar and they nodded in agreement.

“The Academy is always open,” Slade said, “but it won’t be easy to sneak the three of you into the Impossible Engineers hallway.”

“Do we all need to go?” Edgar questioned.

“I don’t like the idea of us splitting up,” I said. “We don’t know what we’re facing here. It’s better if we stay together.”

“Chloe’s right, for now we need to stick together. I’ll come up with a way to get you guys into the hallway.” Slade turned to Edgar. “Do you have a map of Paladin? I don’t think it’s a good idea to walk in the front door?”