Behind the Bookcase Read online

  After dinner, Sarah took a shower and dressed in her pajamas. She brushed her teeth, then went into the yellow room. She saw that her bedtime was still half an hour away, but she went ahead and got into bed. This proved to be a mistake. When Mom came in to check on her, she frowned.

  “You’re not going to bed already, are you?” she asked.

  “I’m tired,” Sarah said.

  “Okay,” Mom said. “But you sure don’t seem tired. Tell you the truth, you seem just as energetic as you are on Christmas morning.”

  “I’m just so excited about this place.”

  “Since when?”

  “I don’t know. Since now. I’m actually having a lot of fun.”

  “You’re having fun cleaning?” Mom’s frown deepened as she felt Sarah’s forehead. “Are you sure you aren’t sick?”

  Sarah laughed. “Yes, I’m sure.”

  “Okay,” Mom said, and kissed her. “Good night, then.”

  “Good night.”

  Mom switched on the night-light, switched off the lamp, and then went out the door. As she was pulling it shut, she said, “Tell me when to stop.”

  “You can close it all the way,” Sarah said.

  Mom poked her head back inside. “Are you sure?”

  Sarah usually liked to have the door open a little bit. Tonight, however, she needed it closed if she was going to explore the secret room and not get caught. She nodded. “I’m sure.”

  “Okay,” Mom said, and closed the door all the way.

  Sarah waited, listening. A few minutes later, she heard Dad put Billy in bed and say good night to him. Then she heard her parents switch off the light in the hallway and go downstairs. She waited for what seemed like an hour, then carefully pushed the covers back and got out of bed.

  When her feet touched the floor, it creaked and she froze. She was sure that if Mom and Dad heard her creaking around in her room, they would come up to check on her. She knew it would be best if she waited until the middle of the night when everyone was actually asleep, but she couldn’t—she was simply too excited.

  She thought she could hear them talking, but then she heard singing and she realized they were watching TV. Sarah smiled. With the TV on, they wouldn’t be able to hear her if she was careful and didn’t creak too much.

  She put on her slippers, then got down on her knees and lifted the bed skirt. She had put her detective stuff in a box under the bed that afternoon in preparation for this moment. Now she pulled the gear out and took it with her to the bookcase.

  Even more carefully than she had earlier, she grabbed the middle shelf and slid the bookcase out of the wall. This time, she kept pulling until there was enough space for her to fit behind it. She picked up the flashlight, turned it on, and shined it into the darkness.

  As she crouched in the entrance, fear suddenly fluttered through her stomach and her mouth went dry. The cool air that had felt so good on her face earlier chilled her now, and she shivered. She was beginning to think this wasn’t such a good idea. What if there were spiders? Worse, what if there were rats? Sarah leaned back. Maybe she should just wait until tomorrow morning.

  “No,” she whispered. She knew she would never be able to wait. If she didn’t go in now, she wouldn’t be able to sleep.

  She shined the flashlight across the walls again. She saw clusters of spiderwebs, but no spiders. When she shined the flashlight straight ahead, she couldn’t see a wall on the far side. She would have to go in if she wanted to find out how big the room was.

  She inched forward and pointed the flashlight straight up. The ceiling was far away, much farther than in the storage closet. She could actually stand up in this room. She took a deep breath, went all the way through the entrance, and stood up. She rubbed her shoulders, trying to warm up. She thought about going back for a sweater, but then decided to explore a little bit more first.

  She shined the flashlight across the floor and saw that it was unfinished. Splinters stuck up in a few places, so she was glad she was wearing her slippers.

  She took another few steps, using the flashlight to check the ceiling and walls for spiders or webs. With her head tilted back, she didn’t see the hole in the floor.

  Her foot landed on nothing but air and she fell forward with a yelp, tumbling through the darkness.

  Sarah was asleep and didn’t want to wake up, but someone kept tapping her on the shoulder. And they weren’t being very nice about it, either. In fact, it felt like they were hitting her with their fist. “All right, all right,” she said as she opened her eyes and rolled over. Her head hurt and when she sat up, she felt dizzy. For a moment, she thought she saw a giant hand standing in front of her. She bowed her head, rubbing her eyes. She thought that when she opened them again she would see her mother instead of the giant hand, but the hand was still there.

  Sarah gulped. It was the biggest hand she’d ever seen, at least as tall as her dad. Instead of an arm below the wrist, however, this hand had a pair of normal-sized legs with normal-sized feet. An eye as big as a dinner plate blinked at her from the center of the palm. She suddenly realized that if the hand wanted to, it could make a fist and squash her like a bug. She backed up quickly, her fingers digging into the ground beneath her as she tried to get away. But when the hand just stood there, she stopped, feeling somewhat relieved.

  She sat still for a long moment, waiting for the hand to say something to her. But it didn’t.

  “Who … or what … are you?” she asked.

  The eye blinked once, slowly, but the hand did not answer. And then, all at once, she realized the problem and nearly laughed out loud. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she said, covering her mouth with her hand, trying to hide her laugh. “I didn’t notice you don’t have a mouth.” The hand didn’t have a nose or arms, either, for that matter. The eye blinked at her again. Then the hand turned around slowly and the fingers closed on the palm three times fast. Now it was Sarah’s turn to blink. She scratched her head. “You want me to follow you?” she asked. But the hand just walked away, down a narrow path of black sand between dark trees.

  As she got to her feet, Sarah rubbed her head. She had been so scared by the hand and then so relieved it hadn’t crushed her that she hadn’t had time to really think about what was going on. She looked around and saw that she was surrounded by black trees and black sand. Her first thought was that this must be Penumbra, but she didn’t see any sleeping people—alive or dead—so maybe it wasn’t. Mom had said there were other places, too, hidden in the house, places with names she couldn’t remember. Maybe this was one of those places. Sarah certainly hoped so.

  She reached out to touch one of the trees, but her hand went through the trunk, as if it was the shadow of a tree instead of a tree. Behind her, she heard a rustling, like a silk dress rubbing against itself, and when she looked over her shoulder, she saw a stream of silver water flowing between the trees.

  Mesmerized by the bright water, she stepped toward the stream, her eyes tracing its path to where it spilled down the face of a black mountain rising behind the forest. Just above the treetops, she saw a hole in the side of the mountain and suddenly remembered tumbling through the darkness from the secret room behind her bookcase.

  She stopped for a moment, thinking this must be a dream. She closed her eyes and rubbed them open, but everything was the same.

  She peered up at the hole in the side of the mountain. She could barely see it now. It looked more like a shadow than anything else.

  She heard a loud noise behind her, and when she turned, she saw the hand snapping its fingers and motioning for her to follow it.

  “I’m coming,” she said. “It’s just that I’ve never seen anyplace like this before.” Sarah caught up with the hand, then looked over her shoulder. “I didn’t even know a place like this existed. Or that there were … things like you.” The hand looked at her and the eye blinked. “I wish you could tell me where I am.” But the hand kept walking.

  Farther along, the strea
m flowed close to the path and Sarah stopped. She had never seen water so bright, and she bent down to scoop up a handful. She giggled. It was the lightest stuff she’d ever felt—like cotton candy made of ice water—but it wasn’t wet at all. It ran through her fingers quickly, except for a single drop that remained in the middle of her palm. She lifted her hand to her nose and sniffed. The drop of whatever it was smelled like nothing. Without thinking, she dipped her tongue in it and winced. It was sharp and cold, like licking a knife, and she shivered as she got back to her feet and ran to catch up with the hand.

  As they continued along the path, she looked at the sky, but there were no stars. It seemed close, too, like a dark blue blanket pulled over the top of a box. “Are we underground?” she asked the hand, then shook her head and added quickly, “I’m sorry, I keep forgetting you can’t tell me anything. You can’t even tell me where we’re going. I hope you’re taking me to someone who can. You’re a nice hand, aren’t you? I sure hope you are.”

  She squinted at the landscape around her, hoping for the sight of something other than black sand and trees. At last the path reached a clearing, in the middle of which stood a long cabin, its windows glowing with orange firelight and a thin trail of smoke rising from its crooked chimney. The whole cabin looked like it was made of rock from the black mountain behind the forest. In spite of that, the orange light and sweet-smelling smoke made Sarah think it must be cozy and warm inside.

  The hand crossed the clearing and stopped outside the cabin, where it knocked on the door with its index finger, then stepped back, using its thumb to push Sarah onto the porch.

  “Hey,” she said. “Didn’t anyone tell you it’s not polite to push?” But the hand just blinked at her. She straightened her pajama top and faced the cabin door, which was open now. But no one was there.

  “Down here,” a tiny voice said, and Sarah looked toward the floor, where she met the gaze of a fat black cat.

  “Did you say that?” she said.

  “You see anyone else?” the cat asked.

  Sarah giggled. She couldn’t think of anything else to do. And then she realized she wasn’t scared at all anymore. How could she be? This was the most amazing thing that had ever happened to her. “I hope you can tell me where I am,” she said.

  The cat looked at the hand, then back at Sarah. He stepped toward her, sticking his nose in the air and sniffing. “You mean to tell me that you really don’t know?” he asked.

  Sarah shook her head. “I just hope it’s not Penumbra.”

  “What do you know about Penumbra?”

  “It’s the place where all the souls of the dead go to sleep,” Sarah said.

  The cat laughed, a strange laugh, deep and rich. It seemed too big to be coming from a cat, even if he was sort of fat. “No, no, no,” the cat said. “Who told you that?”

  “My mother,” Sarah said sheepishly.

  “Well, your mother doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”

  “So Penumbra isn’t where the dead go to sleep?”

  “No.”

  “Is this Penumbra?”

  “Wrong again.”

  “Then where am I? What is this place?”

  “Why,” the cat purred, “this is where shadows come from.”

  “I didn’t know shadows came from anywhere.”

  “Oh, but they do,” the cat said. “Right here. Actually, from over there.” He lifted a paw and pointed. “That’s where we grow them. It’s called the Forest of Shadows.”

  Sarah looked at the trees behind her, then faced the cat again. “So that’s what this place is called? The Forest of Shadows?”

  The cat shook his head. “Just over there. Everything together is called Scotopia.”

  “Oh,” Sarah said. “And who are you?”

  “My name is Balthazat, and I am the King of the Cats.”

  “The King of the Cats?” Sarah said. “I didn’t know cats had a king.”

  “Then you’re learning quite a lot tonight, aren’t you? Why don’t you come in and have some hot chocolate. You do like hot chocolate, don’t you?”

  “I do,” Sarah said.

  “Good work, Lefty,” Balthazat said to the hand. “Now go make sure none of the sentinels followed you.”

  The hand blinked.

  “Thank you, Lefty,” Sarah said, glad to know the hand had a name. “Goodbye.” She waved at the hand and it waved back, after which Sarah turned on her heels and went through the door into Balthazat’s cabin.

  The inside of Balthazat’s cabin was just as cozy as she had hoped it would be. The light felt even warmer and the smoke smelled even sweeter, like maple syrup. The place was filled with overstuffed furniture, the arms and cushions of which had been used for scratching so many times the stuffing poked through. A big bearskin rug lay on the dark wood floor in front of the fireplace. The dining table was set for four, but there was a different dish at each place. At one was a plate of chicken; at another, salmon; at the third, milk; and at the fourth, a turkey leg. Sarah smiled as she took it in. “Is this all for you?”

  “Of course,” Balthazat said.

  “You really are the King of the Cats, aren’t you?”

  “Would I make up something like that? Now sit down so we can talk.”

  Sarah sat in a rocking chair by the fireplace, pulling herself toward the fire so she could warm up. “But who does all this for you?”

  “His name is Jeb.”

  Sarah nodded. “Is he here now?”

  Balthazat nodded, then jumped onto the hearth and came closer to Sarah, lowering his already tiny voice to a whisper. “When he comes in, don’t be afraid. He’s not the nicest-looking boy, but he’s perfectly harmless.”

  Sarah frowned. “What do you mean by that?”

  “You’ll see,” Balthazat purred, then turned, snapping his tail. “Jeb,” he called out.

  A moment later, a door at the back of the cabin opened and a boy of about thirteen stepped through quietly. At first Sarah thought half his face was in shadow, but then she realized that it wasn’t just in shadow, it wasn’t there: half of his face was gone. Sarah turned away, feeling as if she had seen something she shouldn’t have.

  She felt Balthazat staring at her. “Two hot chocolates, Jeb,” he said. “I’d like marshmallows and whipped cream.” He put a paw on Sarah’s knee. “How about you?”

  Sarah looked at him. “Oh,” she said, “yes, please. The same.”

  Jeb nodded and disappeared back the way he had come.

  “So was I right?” Balthazat asked. “Or was I right?”

  “Even so,” Sarah said. “It’s not his fault he’s like that.”

  “Isn’t it?”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Just that it is his fault he looks like that. He lost half of his face in a bet.”

  Sarah felt very confused. “How can you bet your face?” she asked.

  “You can bet anything when you play with the blemmyes.”

  “What’s a blemmye?” Sarah asked.

  “Strange creatures,” Balthazat said, “with heads below their shoulders, in the middle of their chests. Terrible cheaters, too. I tried to tell Jeb that, but he wouldn’t listen. Good thing he didn’t play double or nothing, eh?” he said, and laughed.

  Sarah suddenly felt very uncomfortable. There was something about Balthazat’s attitude that bothered her. It was as if he thought he was better than everyone else and he didn’t try to hide it. Maybe that’s the way it is when you’re king, she thought, but I don’t like it. “That’s not very nice of you,” she said.

  “Oh, you’re right, of course,” Balthazat said. “I’m sorry. Do you forgive me?”

  “I suppose,” Sarah said. She felt confused again. Now he seemed truly sorry.

  “Good,” Balthazat said. “Because I want us to be friends.”

  “Friends?” Sarah said, surprised. “How can we be friends? You haven’t even asked me my name yet.”

  “Oh, dear
,” Balthazat said. “You’re right again. I don’t know what’s wrong with me tonight. I guess I’m just so excited to have a special visitor like you. One who’s never been here before, I mean. Well? What’s your name?”

  “Sarah.”

  “Sarah what?”

  “Sarah Marie Steiner.”

  “Very nice to meet you, Sarah.”

  “Nice to meet you, too,” she said.

  The door at the back of the cabin opened again and Jeb came through with a tray that held two white ceramic bowls filled with so much whipped cream and so many marshmallows, Sarah couldn’t even see the hot chocolate. Sarah watched Jeb set one bowl on the hearth; the second he put on a low table next to the rocking chair. “Thank you,” she said. Jeb nodded, then turned to Balthazat. With this closer view, Sarah saw that the top of Jeb’s head was normal, but the left side of his face was missing, just below his eyebrow all the way down to his chin. It occurred to her that what he looked like more than anything else was a jigsaw puzzle with a piece missing. She wondered if he could talk, with only half a mouth.

  “That will be all for the moment, Jeb,” Balthazat said.

  Sarah watched as Jeb went silently through the door again. When she turned back to Balthazat, he had buried his whole face in the whipped cream and was licking it up as fast as his pink tongue could go. “Delicious,” he said.

  Sarah gasped. What was she thinking? This had to be a dream. Giant hands and talking cats? A boy with only half a face? It was all simply too unreal. And as much as she wished it wasn’t a dream, she was suddenly sure that at any moment, she would find herself back in her bed with the bookcase in the wall and her mom standing over her telling her to wake up.

  Balthazat stopped eating his whipped cream and raised his head. For the first time, Sarah noticed that his eyes weren’t like a normal cat’s eyes. The pupils were round, like a human’s. “What’s wrong?” he asked.