Chapter #17The Story Behind the Book by: Seuzz   "Whatever is going on, I don't want to be in the middle of it," you say.
The two boys exchange a glance. "Probably not a bad decision," Frank says. "But we don't want you driving, and we don't particularly want you going to school."
"I don't think my parents are going to let me drop out," you say.
"Give us a week," Frank says, "and we should have this case wrapped up."
"What do you mean by 'case'?" you ask in bewilderment. "You're talking like--"
"You've trusted us this far," Joe says. "Please trust us a little more. Tomorrow, and until we tell you otherwise, take the bus to school, and stick close to home. As for school--" He falls silent for a moment. "Bring me something that's got your dad's handwriting on it. We'll pick you up in front of Westside as soon as the bus arrives, and cover your absence. Oh, and leave your cell phone with us."
"What if someone tries to call me?"
"You don't want to be taking any calls," Frank says in a very emphatic tone.
* * * * *
They take you home, and your parents are very solicitous of you, and don't even ask about who Frank and Joe are, to your relief. Your sleep is more troubled than the previous night's, and when you wake you have the strong impression you have dreamed about graveyards, but you're mostly rested. You tell your parents that you don't want to be driving--a decision that they accept completely--and take the school bus. As soon as you dismount you hear Joe calling, and you trot over to their truck, where at Joe's query you hand over a handwritten note you'd found on your dad's desk. He pushes you into the truck, and then leans on the hood, where he studies your dad's note before writing one of his own. He dashes off quickly to the school office.
"Did he just forge a letter from my dad?" you ask Frank.
"Joe doesn't often get a chance to practice his counterfeiting skills," Frank says. "You'll be off for the next week at least, and all calls from the school will go to your phone, which we have." You blink. "And we'll be picking up your homework, so when you go back into the school there shouldn't be any hiccups." That causes you to blink and sigh.
* * * * *
They take you back to their place; Frank goes on to school while Joe remains with you. "You bored?" he asks after feeding you another breakfast. "Wanna play some board games? They can bore you, or I can."
"Could you tell me about yourselves? I guess I trust you after all you've done for me--"
"But we're still strangers," Joe nods. He settles back with a sigh. "Well, you might say we've got a little family business. We treat each other kind of like family, even though none of us are related by blood." You notice the emphasis on the last word. "Frank and me aren't even related, even though we tell everyone we're brothers. Anyway, the world is full of subterranean caverns and channels full of all kinds of grotty things. We try to keep them from breaking out into the daylight."
"You mean like vampires and--" You're brought up short by his very sober nod of the head. "So you're, like, monster hunters?"
"Well, we don't hunt them, exactly. Those sorts of things, they're kind of like bears. As long as they stick to their business, we don't go looking for trouble with them. It's when they come down out of the mountains, so to speak, and make themselves nuisances--"
"This Blackwell guy is kind of like a bear?" you ask with more than a touch of incredulity.
"He's a magician. That's a little different. Most magicians are harmless, except to themselves. Typically, they set themselves on fire and no one even notices the ashes. Blackwell has set a fire, a pretty big one, and we're trying to put it out."
"How?"
"How has he set a fire, or-- Oh, but you'll want to know both." Again, he sighs. "In this case, the fire is that book you and Caleb were playing with. It's a major disaster waiting to happen, as you guys found out. He's gotten his hands on it. We have to get it away from him, and since he's shown himself to be smart, ruthless, and capable, we're going to have to do something about him too.
"We're not sure what yet," he adds when you say nothing. "As I say, we have to do a little more investigating." He gives you a penetrating look. "You mind answering a couple of questions for me? It could plug a couple of holes that have us worried."
You shrug, and he continues.
"Did you know any guys at Eastman named Sawyer Harrison or Taylor Mitchell?" You shake your head. "Taylor Mitchell was Sean Mitchell's twin brother."
"I didn't know Sean very well, and I didn't know he had a twin brother. And what do you mean by 'was'?"
"I mean the past tense," Joe says soberly. "He died at the end of August. Car wreck." You shudder. "Yeah. It's the kind of coincidence that's the mark of a hack fiction writer or of something rather sinister. Now, you said you found that book at a used bookstore in September? Did you ever see it or anything like it at your house before that?" You shake your head. "Your dad works at Salopek Aerospace?" You nod. "That's very strange," he says.
"What is?"
"I don't know yet, so I can't say more. What does your dad do at Salopek?"
"I don't really know. Some kind of engineering. And management."
"Does he have any business with the university?"
"I dunno. Why are you asking about--?"
"Your dad works at Salopek. Sawyer and Taylor also worked there. Sawyer, I forgot to mention, went into a coma the same day that Taylor died."
You feel the blood drain from your face. "Sean and Caleb worked there too," you say. Joe looks at you sharply and asks you how long. "I don't know in Sean's case. Caleb met him there. Caleb started working there about a week after I found the book."
Joe sags against the sofa cushions with a perplexed expression on his face. "How did Caleb come to have a job there?"
"I got it for him. Well, my dad." You don't like the way Joe's eyes have frozen. "My dad kept trying to get me to apply for this job out there. I didn't want it, but Caleb did, so I put the two of them together."
"And this was in early September? Your dad again," he mutters.
"Why? What has my dad got to do with this?" you ask, and a feeling of dread spreads through your gut.
He stares at you hard. "It's just really weird how so many people who have been touched by the book are connected to Salopek." He sits up. "Our job--Frank's and mine's--was to retrieve that book before it did any damage. It's very old, and was lost in those subterranean channels until last summer, when it turned up in upstate New York. An old woman had died, and it was among her things. We went to get it. We got there too late, and it had already been shipped off to some of her survivors. But it didn't get to them. Someone intercepted and redirected it. The person who intercepted it was Aubrey Blackwell. Salopek Aerospace was the place he had it redirected to.
"Frank and me got to town and went to Salopek. We found the box it had been in, but it wasn't there anymore. A lot of things that were supposed to be in the box were gone. And then it shows up at that bookstore, where you of all people buy it."
"Why 'me of all people'?"
"Because when Blackwell hijacked it, he had it sent to Harris Prescott, care of Salopek Aerospace."
Chills run up and down your spine, and you rear back. "Now, hang on!"
He grabs your knee and clutches it in a reassuring manner. "Calm down. I told you, it's weird, but I don't know what it means, if anything. Blackwell had it sent to your dad, but then there is a gap, and it winds up at that bookstore. Somewhere inside that gap, Sawyer Harrison and Taylor Mitchell, who worked at Salopek, had those accidents. And then after you found it, the book found its way to two more Salopek employees, who then suffered accidents.
"It's like the book is orbiting Salopek, or it's orbiting someone at Salopek, or someone associated with Salopek. And where there are orbits, even in cases like this--maybe especially in cases like these--we're talking about invisible forces, not coincidence."
You stare at him for a very long time, loathing the implications of what he has said. "So you're thinking it's my dad."
"Not necessarily," he says. "Possibly it's just looped past him while orbiting the actual center of gravity. But he is a data point. Also--" And now he gives your knee a very hard squeeze. "Even if it is orbiting him, that doesn't mean that he is culpable. These things can orbit people who have absolutely no clue that they are being orbited. A lot of times, in these situations, people are swept up by things and forces that they have no knowledge or comprehension of."
He's very quiet for a bit, and then he adds, maybe for you benefit and maybe for his own, "Be very careful of what you bring into the house with you. It may not be alone."
* * * * *
He tries distracting you after that, but he's not very successful. And when Frank takes you home after school, you find yourself lingering near your father's study. He's in it, and he catches you watching him.  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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