Читать книгу The Longest Halloween, Book Two - Frank Wood - Страница 6

“And on a final note, our county’s been placed on alert,” the middle school principal, Mr. Price, was saying to the gathered elementary school teachers that afternoon. “There is a notorious band of burglars known as the Sugar Hill Gang, I’m sure you’ve been hearing about them on the news. They’ve been committing high-end break-ins down the coast. They dress like pirates and are rumored to have members with connections right here in our community. The authorities have been closing in on them but haven’t been able to make an arrest. We just want to exercise the appropriate amount of awareness and caution when it comes to the children and their deliveries and pick-ups at the beginning and end of the day. According to what the police have told me, this gang tends to lay low, so it shouldn’t be too much of an issue. We’ll probably schedule a lockdown practice drill next week, so review all of your policies in that respect. Otherwise, you all have a quiet weekend.”

“Quiet weekend,” one of the teachers, Mr. Ehrlichson, echoed with a snort, “yeah right, after that? You’re just not safe in your own backyard anymore, you know?”

“Indeed,” came the response from Josiah Scroggins, his tall frame slumped on the sofa next to Mr. Ehrlichson.

“Bet you didn’t count on this kind of action when you agreed to sub here,” Mr. Ehrlichson said.

“Yes, it is rather rich for my blood,” Scroggins smiled drolly.

“Ya have a good one there, Scroggins,” Ehrlichson said.

“You too, chum,” Scroggins said, when his eye was caught by young Gribbett Keith, whom we have met before, loitering outside the door to the teachers’ lounge. Scroggins unfolded his long frame and dashed out of the lounge.

“Dreyfuss, hurry up! We’re going to be late,” Jasper Franklin warned his best friend, Dreyfuss Rodgers, who was feverishly rifling through the lost and found box in the school office. Dreyfuss would be spending the weekend with Jasper and his family while his own parents were out of town.

“Well, maybe if you’d help me, I could get this done faster,” Dreyfuss shot back.

“Oh, for crying out loud,” Jasper said, dumping his book bag to the floor and sidling up next to his friend. The two pawed through the assortment of hats, mittens, socks, scarfs and shoes.

“What are we looking for again?” Jasper asked.

“My red and purple scarf,” Dreyfuss replied. “My Aunt Clara knitted it for me and she’s supposed to be coming to town next weekend and my mom wants me to show it off.” His voice raised to a yelp as he found the much-desired item, “Here it is! Yes!”

Dreyfuss twirled the scarf about his neck. “We can go now,” he said. But Jasper had found something also: an old—actually super-old—piece of rolled-up parchment paper.

“What’s that?” Dreyfuss asked as Jasper slowly unfurled the crinkly paper.

“It looks like a map,” Jasper said, his brown eyes rapidly studying the darkly inked paper.

“Do you think it’s real?” Dreyfuss asked.

“I don’t know,” Jasper said, “but we can ask my brother, he’ll know.”

“Know what?” came a voice behind the boys. They both rolled their eyes.

“It’s her again,” Dreyfuss muttered.

“I know,” Jasper said.

The two boys turned to face Renee Atherton, all around annoying and know-it-all sixth-grader.

“Hey, Renee,” Jasper said.

“Hey yourself, Franklin,” she retorted. Renee always called people by their last names. Her father was in the military, so Jasper figured this must be what they did around her house.

“What are you two up to?” she demanded.

“None of your …” Dreyfuss began.

“Just looking for Dreyf’s scarf is all,” Jasper cut in, figuring it was best to keep the encounter between the three of them as simple as possible.

“What’s that other thing you’ve got there?” she asked, sharp as a tack.

“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jasper said.

“I’m talking about this,” she said, snatching the old parchment away from Jasper. “Looks like a map to me,” she concluded.

“Give that back,” Jasper ordered.

“I don’t see your name on it,” Renee said.

“You’re going to see my name on this if you don’t give it back,” Dreyfuss said, holding up his fist.

“Oh please, you can’t hit me,” Renee said, “I’m a girl and plus I’ll tell. Besides, it’s not real anyway,” she said, turning over the map to Jasper.

“How do you know?” Jasper asked.

“My dad used to be a captain in the army before he became a policeman,” Renee said. “He used to read maps all day long and I can tell you that map is not real.”

Jasper and Dreyfuss exchanged worried looks. “Well, it may be,” Dreyfuss said.

“I’ll tell you what,” she said, “if you guys want to come over to my house, I can show it to my dad and he can tell us for sure if your old map is real or not.”

“Gross, why would we want to go over to your house?” Dreyfuss asked.

“Because that’s where my dad lives, plus you need someone else to fill out your triad,” she said. Everyone around school knew that Jasper, Dreyfuss and Earl had been nearly inseparable until Earl had to move away last summer.

“Yeah, but that someone’s not going to be a girl!” Dreyfuss said.

“Why not?” she retorted. “Girls are just as good as boys.”

“We’ve got to go,” Jasper said, pocketing the map in his backpack. “Maybe we’ll come by after school to have your dad take a look. Come on, Dreyfuss.”

“Maybe we’ll come by,” Dreyfuss mimicked to Jasper, “are you crazy? Her dad’s really mean and soldier-like … he’ll probably make us do push-ups!”

“We need to know if this map is real and her dad can help us,” Jasper said, “and girls really aren’t that bad. She could do all right as Earl’s replacement.”

“You’re nuts,” Dreyfuss said, “girls are nothing but trouble! I say stick with showing it to your brother, at least he won’t make us do push-ups!”

Jasper and Dreyfuss were so preoccupied with their conversation about Renee that they weren’t watching where they were going and ran pell-mell into a pair of long, hard, bony legs. The two boys were sent sprawling.

“You boys need to watch where you’re going,” droned the rolling voice of Mr. Josiah Scroggins, social studies and math substitute teacher, who had just started at their school this fall since Mrs. Hobson was having her baby. With him was Gribbett Keith, a high schooler who had gone to the same school as Joel before he dropped out a year ago.

“Sorry, Mr. Scroggins,” Jasper and Dreyfuss apologized together.

“Don’t be sorry, boys,” he said through a mouth frozen in a sneer, “be careful. You don’t want to miss what’s right in front of you. It could be a snake …or something much worse.” He let his words trail off ominously.

“Is it just me or does that guy give you the creeps?” Dreyfuss asked.

“Major-ly,” Jasper replied.

“Hey Jasper, let’s go,” Jasper heard his brother’s familiar voice call from the busy school entrance. Jasper and Dreyfuss scampered in Joel’s direction. “Sorry I’m late … and Dreyfuss, you officially become little brother number two this weekend while your folks are out of town.”

“Why do I have to be number two? I’m older than Jasper!” Dreyfuss protested.

“Hey Jasper,” a girl called to him, “is that your big brother?”

“Yeah,” Jasper answered.

“He’s cute,” the girl giggled back and went on her way.

“You guys ready?” Joel asked.

“Yeah,” Jasper answered. “Hayley Anderson thinks you’re a hottie, by the way.”

“And that is a little creepy,” Joel returned, helping Jasper shoulder his backpack.

“So Joel,” Jasper said on their walk home from school, “if you get a new car, does this mean that we won’t have to walk home from school every day?”

“When I get my new car,” Joel corrected him, “the last thing I’m going to want to do is to cart you rug rats around. You can get your own car for that!”

“Is it true that you’re going to be working at the McClafferty farm?” Dreyfuss asked.

“Hopefully,” Joel said.

“Uh-oh, not good,” Dreyfuss said.

“What are you talking about?” Joel asked.

“I heard the McClafferty brothers are really werewolves,” Dreyfuss said.

Joel almost choked on a laugh. Sure, the boys were kind of hairy and overgrown, but werewolves? “Now where you’d hear that?” Joel asked.

“Angus Robinson said when he and Herman Boone went looking for frogs over by that graveyard, he saw three great big wolves with shirts on prowling around, digging up graves and such,” Dreyfuss said, “and that was just before that McClafferty family came to town!”

“Oh, okay, now I believe you,” Joel said mockingly.

“Joel, you know there are werewolves,” Jasper said. “There was that big one from last Halloween. Remember, Dreyfuss?”

“Yeah, he was like on steroids!” Dreyfuss said.

“Major-ly!” Jasper said.

“It would probably be all right if you worked there though, Joel, as long as you don’t work on days when there’s a full moon,” Jasper said.

“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.” Joel rolled his eyes.

“You should,” Jasper said, “and I’d carry some wolfsbane with you, just in case!”

“I’ll keep that in mind, too,” Joel returned sarcastically. He led the younger boys into the corner store.

“Afternoon, Mr. Greene,” Joel said.

“Afternoon, Joel,” the owner returned, pulling a bag from behind the counter and handing it to him. “Do you know where this is?” he asked, pointing to the address on the front of the bag.

“Sure,” Joel said, “it’s on the way.”

“Mr. Greene,” Jasper said, “can we have a pretzel stick?”

“Go ahead,” he said.

“One each,” Joel said to his brother and Dreyfuss, “and what do you say?”

“Thanks,” the boys echoed.

“Thanks for dropping that off, Joel,” Mr. Greene said as the boys left.

“Show him,” Dreyfuss started to hound Jasper on the walk home.

“I will,” Jasper replied, “but not here!”

“What are you guys flapping about?” Joel asked.

“Jasper has something to show you,” Dreyfuss said.

“It’s an old map we found in the lost and found,” Jasper said. “We think it may be real.”

“I bet it’s not,” Joel said, “or someone would have claimed it by now.”

“But it’s old and crinkly, just like a pirate’s map,” Jasper said.

“Let me see it,” Joel said. Jasper produced the old parchment and Joel examined it.

“What do you think?” Dreyfuss asked the older boy.

“It’s hard to say,” Joel said, “but I know someone who can help and it just so happens that I’ve got to drop this off at his house.” Joel shouldered the bag of groceries.

Back at the school, which had all but closed for the day, Josiah Scroggins had his own problems. “Well, where is it?” he nearly roared in the blanched face of Gribbett Keith, in a voice that was raspier and more guttural than the one his students heard. “That map is the key to everything!” The two had torn up the lost and found. The floor was strewn with boots, shoes, gloves and jackets.

“I tell you, I left it right here,” Gribbett replied, his voice panicky. “Someone must have taken it!”

“But who? The wolves?”

“No,” Gribbett said, “they didn’t see me come in here. I swear to you, they had made it outside by then! The necklace kept them at bay,” he wailed, touching the silver ram’s head necklace he wore about his neck. “It let me have all the time I needed to stash the map.”

“Now you’re a believer, are you?” Scroggins said smugly.

“Uh, Mr. Scroggins?” a voice suddenly came from behind them. The school’s administrative assistant, Felicia Hartmann, said smartly, “I certainly hope you and your young charge plan to clean up the mess that you’ve created here.”

“Ms. Hartmann,” Scroggins said through gritted teeth, “we were just getting around to that.”

“I should think so,” Ms. Hartmann sniffed, and turned away.

He fumed for a moment while watching the woman clip away, then turned to Gribbett, who had been replacing the clothes in the lost and found box. “We need to find that map! I’ve not come all this way to be stopped now!” The tall teacher whirled, sensing that he was not alone, to see Renee Atherton standing at the door to the office, visibly shaking and upset.

“Miss Atherton,” he said, glowering down at the girl, his cultured and controlled voice returned. “What are you doing here?”

“I forgot my pencil box,” she said, her voice tremulous.

“You left your pencil box at the lost and found?” Scroggins queried her.

“Yeah, I was just retracing my steps,” she said. “Did you lose something, Mr. Scroggins? I’m pretty sure none of those clothes would fit you,” she observed.

“We ain’t looking for no clothes, girl, why don’t you run along?” Gribbett growled.

“Be quiet, you,” Scroggins snapped, “and clean this area up!”

“If you’re not looking for clothes, then what else could you be looking for?” Renee asked, a bit of a stammer escaping in her voice.

“My, but you’re inquisitive,” Scroggins said. “I thought you said you were missing your pencil box?”

“That’s right,” Renee said, “and I haven’t checked my locker yet! I think that’s what I’ll do right now.” She hoped her nerves weren’t getting the best of her.

“Well, that you should, Miss Atherton,” Scroggins smiled coldly. “How will you ever get your homework done without your pencil box?”

“Yes sir,” she agreed, then rapidly dashed out of the room, heaving deep breaths. She had clearly heard part of Scroggins’s conversation … enough to know that the map Jasper Franklin had in his possession was the real deal after all. She had to let him know as soon as possible.

“You think she knows something?” Gribbett asked.

“I think she’s all that we can go on now,” Scroggins said. “If she was here, perhaps she saw something or someone else who also frequented the vicinity. Follow her,” Scroggins ordered Keith, “and let me know exactly where she goes. Do you think you can do that without screwing it up?”

“Course I can!” he said.

“See to it that you do,” Scroggins said. “I have a feeling that she knows more than she’s letting on.”

As Gribbett made his quick exit from the scene, he caught the interest of the same young man in the hoodie who had followed him to the elementary school—and who had almost been food for the gang of wolves last evening.

“Thanks, Ian,” Polly said as he pulled his silver car to a stop in front of her home. “Want to come in?”

“I’d better not,” he replied. “It’s late, and I’ve got practice in the morning.”

“Sure, call me later then,” she said.

“I will,” Ian grinned. “What better way to end my night? Farewell, sweet lamb, may the time until we speak again pass as quckly as the years of servitude Jacob endured for Rachel.” He took her hand in his huge hand and kissed it gently.

Polly giggled and took her hand back. She skipped into the house, where she found her mother waiting at the window.

“So that’s him?”

“Oh, hi Mom,” Polly said.

“He’s very handsome,” her mother remarked.

“It’s strange,” Polly said. “I didn’t think he’s my type at all—I always thought I would end up with someone like Joel, more cerebral and all, you know, but Ian’s actually really deep once you get to know him.”

“I think it’s too early for you to ‘get to know’ anyone at this point,” Polly’s mother said.

“Oh Mom, you know what I mean,” Polly said.

“I just want you to be careful is all,” Polly’s mother replied.

“I will, Mom,” she said, “and right now I want to wash my hair. I’m going to meet him at football practice tomorrow.”

As Polly went to tend to her hair, her grandmother, watching at the window above, met Ian’s eyes in the car below. In a flash just before he peeled away, his face became wolfen. The older woman jerked back in her chair, surprised and shocked. “The sign of the wolf!”

Back at the McClafferty farm, a curious scene was unfolding in the basement of the home. ”Will he be all right?” Aaron asked his mother as they looked down at the wounded kestrel on the table before them. Mrs. McClafferty was feeding the bird a concoction made with the ingredients that Ian had brought.

“It will take a while, it looks like he’s molted a bit,” McClafferty said.

“What’s that mean?” Aaron asked.

“It means that I won’t be able to see what he knows for a while yet, not until he’s started healing,” she said.

“I could crush those bandits for what they’ve done to Barnabas!” Aaron growled, crushing a plank in his hand.

“Careful, son,” McClafferty said, “it’s important to save your energy for when it’s really needed. And besides,” she said, getting to her feet and going to the pen in the corner where more kestrels awaited, “this is why we raise them in flocks.”

“Berethia,” she smiled, calling out to a wicked-looking kestrel with sharp, evilly gleaming eyes, “you’ll pick up the trail where your brother left off! Find me that map, darling bird!”

She quickly plucked a feather from the bird’s tail and tossed it into a bubbling cauldron in the center of the room, then let the bird out onto the porch of the farmhouse. Turning her attention back to the cauldron, where some elements were congealing with the bird’s feather, she gave the contents a slow stir and added artifacts that she had been carrying in her apron, muttering to herself. She tossed in some of the nutmeg that Ian had delivered, then cried out, “Now … show me the map!”