The Owl Keeper (20 page)

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"Forget it, you daft smelly old fossil, I'll never go anywhere with
you!"
screamed Rose, running toward the muffins. Max watched, impressed by her defiance. She swung her foot and missed the basket.

Max stifled a cry. Rose's eyesight must be getting worse.

She kicked again and muffins flew up as the basket sailed into the air. First Max felt relief, then panic, realizing that Dark Brigadiers could surround the tower at any minute. He sprinted over to Rose, who had stopped kicking to put on her coat and boots.

"My boots!" Mrs. Crumlin's eyes narrowed to dark, puffy slits. "You're the thief who stole them!"

But Rose didn't answer. She stomped on the basket with the enormous green boots, crushing it to pieces.

"You'll regret that," said Mrs. Crumlin in an ominous tone. Then she turned to Max. "Gather your belongings."

Pretending to obey, Max began stuffing things into his knapsack, his mind whirling. The moment Mrs. Crumlin looked away, he whispered into Rose's ear. "Run!" Then he stopped her. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a shadow in the doorway. "Hold on," he warned. "Crumlin's bodyguard--"

Max watched a lean, cloaked figure creep into the hall, face hidden beneath a hood. The air turned dense and heavy. From the folds of the dark red cloak a skeletal hand slowly emerged. Something between the bony fingers caught Max's eye: the InjectaPort, glinting in the sunlight.

An icy fear slid down his back. Dr. Tredegar! Mrs. Crumlin's words came back to him:
She must be gotten rid of.
They were going to murder Rose by injection!

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He knew that, whatever happened, he had to save Rose--he had to distract them so she'd have a chance to get away. He wouldn't survive--the sun's rays would kill him--but Rose could outrun them. They'd never be able to cage a free spirit like Artemis Rose Eccles, he told himself. It would be like trying to cage the wind or the stars.

Rose was his one true friend: she would risk everything to save him. And Max would risk everything to save her--even if it meant going up in flames.

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CHAPTER TWENTY

[Image: The owl.]

Dr. Tredegar threw off his hood, revealing his slicked-back hair and frigid smile. He was light-years away from the folksy, wisecracking doctor Max had known. His insectile body was all sharp angles, darting and quick, his eyes terrifying pinpoints behind the tinted lenses.

The doctor exhaled a dry, whistling breath. "Steady now, young lady, this won't hurt a bit," he crooned in an oily voice.

Watching Dr. Tredegar slink toward him and Rose, Max reeled back, clutching Rose's arm, feeling a deep repulsion. The Inject Port looked lethal in the murky light.

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"Ready?" whispered Max, waves of panic rising inside him. Rose nodded.

"Don't fight me on this one." Puffs of sour breath escaped Dr. Tredegar's mouth. "I'm a medical doctor, see, I would never hurt you--" Raising the InjectaPort, he lunged at Rose.

"No!" screamed Max, throwing himself between the two of them. The doctor spun out of control, slipping sideways in his alligator shoes, and Rose sprinted across the floor, pushing past Mrs. Crumlin in the doorway. Mrs. Crumlin gave a little shriek and Max saw her fall against the doorframe, then collapse.

He watched as Rose jumped over Mrs. Crumlin and raced outside.

"After that girl!" cried Mrs. Crumlin, lumbering to her feet.

Dr. Tredegar sprang to the doorway and collided with Mrs. Crumlin. Both went sprawling onto the floor, and Max saw his chance. He took a deep breath, rushed to the door and leapt over Mrs. Crumlin's puddinglike body, ready to meet his fate.

As he jumped, a skeletal hand shot out and gripped his upper arm, pulling him back inside.

"Where do you think you're going?" snarled Tredegar, scrabbling to his feet. He squeezed Max's arm tightly, cutting off the circulation. "You won't get two yards in that sunlight!" Max struggled to break free, but the doctor held him in a merciless grip.

Beyond the door Max saw the black dog tied to a tree a few yards away. Straining at its leash, it snapped at Rose as she fled up the stone steps. Panicked, he yelled, "Watch out, Rose, that dog's a killer!"

Face mottled with rashes, Mrs. Crumlin rose slowly to her feet. "Clumsy old fool!" she shouted at the doctor.

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"Not my fault." With his free hand, Dr. Tredegar fumbled through the folds of his cape. "Oh dear, where did I put the InjectaPort for Maxwell?"

"The High Echelon will
not
be pleased, Phineas." Mrs. Crumlin gave a sniff of contempt. "You were told to take care of that runaway child and you failed--miserably, I might add."

"Ah, but you are forgetting. She was hit by one of my darts! That drug will kick in very soon. Her sight will go and the Dark Brigade will finish her off in no time."

Max began to shake all over, overcome by fury and horror as he realized the depth of their betrayal. Mrs. Crumlin and Dr. Tredegar had never intended to take Rose with them in the wind-borne vessel. They weren't even going to send her to Children's Prison. They'd been planning to kill her instead!

Enraged, he shouted, "You're paid killers, both of you! The High Echelon sent you to murder Rose!" He wasn't sure whether it was true or not, but when he saw them exchange a knowing glance, he knew he'd guessed right.

"Settle down, Maxwell," said Mrs. Crumlin with a tight smile. "You're becoming overwrought."

Tears spilled from his eyes. "That's why I have trouble remembering things! You poisoned my hot cocoa and my desserts-- that's what gave me fevers and confused me about Gran and her stories and made me tired all the time!" An awful thought struck him. "You're doing the same to my parents, aren't you? You're poisoning their food, too!"

"You
are
fragile, Maxwell!" snapped Dr. Tredegar. "You need looking after right around the clock. Mrs. Crumlin has spent

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years guarding you from germs and fevers and wrong influences such as that ghastly child."

Max shot him a look of pure loathing. "She's not ghastly, she's my best friend!"

"Oh, but you have no friends, Maxwell," said Mrs. Crumlin in a low, threatening voice. "When push comes to shove, all you have is
me.
And when I'm gone, you'll have the skræks. Simply put, Skræk Master is your destiny."

Max's breath came in great shuddering gasps. It was, he told himself, a destiny he would fight to the death.

"Let's go, Maxwell. You have some catching up to do, to prepare for the Transmutation." Mrs. Crumlin's eyes were as cold as ice chips. "I'd venture to say that, once the Transmutation takes place, you will grow attached to these psychotic creatures."

Max threw Mrs. Crumlin a defiant look. He didn't care about his future or anything she said anymore. She no longer had power over him.

"Find somebody else, I don't want the job!"

"Sorry, Maxwell, but you are the one the High Echelon has chosen. You will be given assistants, of course, but only
you
can be Skræk Master."

He glared at her, despising her, struck by how savage and ugly she was. "I hate you! You're the one who's psychotic! You're evil and weird!"

"Hmm, perhaps you already fly with the skræks--in your dreams?" Mrs. Crumlin gave him a funny look. "Yes, I know what happens in your 'bad dreams,' Maxwell, despite your refusal to tell me. The High Echelon keeps me in the loop about that sort of thing."

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His emotions in turmoil, Max watched a feather drift by and land on his sleeve. Wiping away hot, angry tears, he tried to pull himself together, determined not to wither under Mrs. Crumlin's icy glare.

But how, he asked himself, was he going to escape?

"Take the boy." Dr. Tredegar shoved Max toward Mrs. Crumlin and extracted a fresh InjectaPort from his pocket.
"Transmutation,
from
transmute:
to change from one nature, substance, form or state into another. I'll skip the boring details." He gave a gleeful snort. "Everything will come clear for you with this final dose."

Mrs. Crumlin grabbed Max's arm, wrenching it behind his back.

"Dose of what?" he yelled, trying to shake her off. "What are you giving me?"

"We've been injecting you with the no-fear gene, Maxwell," replied Mrs. Crumlin, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

"The InjectaPort is actually a gene gun," said the doctor smugly. "We've been altering your DNA."

Max was stunned. They'd been injecting him with genetically engineered blood
and
a synthetic gene? He was
an experiment--
no better than a skræk or a Misshapen!

"Let me go!" he screamed in terror. Mrs. Crumlin gave him a rough shake in response.

"You'll assume their habits and thinking patterns," she went on, as if she was enjoying all this immensely, "and physically you'll even begin to resemble a skræk."

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Max struggled against her, kicking her in the shin. "You're not turning me into a skræk!"

"We've kept you pure and innocent, isolated from the world, a perfect smooth stone," Mrs. Crumlin continued in her overbearing tone. "As planned, the Transmutation will take place on the cusp of your twelfth birthday, to ensure your capability as Skræk Master will be at its zenith."

"To quote from
The Secret Book of the Alazarin Oro,"
said Dr. Tredegar in a solemn voice, fumbling with the InjectaPort," And his pure heart will blacken and wither, and all manner of Darkness will enter his innocent soul.'"

"That was lovely, Phineas," murmured Mrs. Crumlin.

Max felt a cold, sharp lump in his throat, as if he'd swallowed the blade of Mrs. Crumlin's paring knife. His stomach heaved.

There was a whoosh overhead. Max looked up to see a flash of silver, and hope returned. Astonished, he watched his owl swoop down, claws bared, wings straight out.

She looked, he realized, powerful and magnificent.

With a furious shriek, the silver owl tore Mrs. Crumlin's rain hat off her head. She screamed and let go of Max. Hooting wildly, the owl raked her talons down the woman's face and blood trickled onto her collar. The owl gave a warning cry and Max turned to see Dr. Tredegar running toward him, the InjectaPort in one hand.

Whipping around, he bolted for the door--his last chance to escape. Pausing in the entryway, he looked back to see his owl nip Dr. Tredegar's hand. He gave a defiant smile as he heard the doctor curse. Then, bracing himself for a fiery death, he sprang into the sunlight.

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Blinking in the leafy shadows, Max saw with a start that the dog had broken free of its leash. Was it chasing after Rose? He raced up the steep flight of steps, anxious to find her. The air was unnaturally bright--a symptom, he knew, of his allergies. The light was so painful he could hardly keep his eyes open.

When he reached the top step, he saw trees all around and a path running into the forest. From somewhere below, he heard the doctor shout, "Don't be an idiot, Maxwell, come back! You won't last a minute out there!"

He flew down the path, feeling the sun's warmth through the trees, heating his wool hat and mittens. Where was his owl? he wondered. He wished she could be with him now, in his last moments, but she was nowhere in sight.

Dazzling sunshine flooded his vision and tears streamed from his eyes, brought on by the wind, the light and the fact that his life was ending. Leaves glimmered, dissolving into shards of fire: grass, moss and flowers, spinning out of control.

Soon his skin would bubble up, his eyes would sizzle and melt. Lesions would erupt on his arms and legs. Once his blood hit the boiling point, flames would shoot out of his skull, catching his hair on fire. He knew the symptoms by heart, since Dr. Tredegar had described them countless times.

Half-blinded by sunlight, he struggled on. This is it, he told himself, the end of everything. Sorrow washed over him. He'd never see his parents again, or know what it meant to grow up. He'd never find the Owl Keeper or the Sages or the silver owls. Yet in the midst of everything he had one happy thought to hold on to--at least he had Gran, and the owl, and one true

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friend, Artemis Rose Eccles. He wouldn't have missed them for anything.

Max raced downhill to a sunlit field where russet grasses swayed in the wind. Beyond the field he could see a vast bridge of gray-blue stone arching over the river. Eyes fixed on the bridge, he ran for all he was worth, pumping his arms and legs, fighting for breath.

With a start he saw Rose at the far side of the field, running toward the river, the doctor's black hound snarling at her heels. He wanted to call out to let her know he was there, but he was sapped of energy; it was all he could do to move his limbs. Could Rose outrun the dog? he wondered. Would she make it across the bridge to a safe place?

High overhead the clouds parted and the sky cracked open. Max plunged into the field, staring at the bright blue glorious sky and the fiery globe that was the sun. Blue sky, golden sun--he had forgotten how beautiful they were.

He charged ahead, bravely waiting for the sun's rays to finish him off. But as he ran, he grew confused. Why wasn't it happening--the smoke, the flames, the fiery explosion? Light poured down, thick as butter, warming his face. Beads of sweat roiled out from under his hat. Sunlight danced around him, yet nothing was happening.

Then he realized. Nothing was going to happen.