Behind the Bookcase Page 4

  “I was just thinking that maybe this is all a dream. I really hope it isn’t.”

  “Oh, it’s not,” Balthazat said. “Would you like me to prove it to you?”

  Sarah nodded and Balthazat suddenly shot one paw out and scratched her arm. “Ow,” Sarah said, pulling her arm away and rubbing it. “What’d you do that for?”

  “You wanted me to. To prove you’re not dreaming. Now drink your hot chocolate and tell me where you came from and how you got here.”

  In between sips of what proved to be the best hot chocolate she had ever tasted, Sarah told Balthazat she was from California but that her family had come to Pennsylvania because her grandma had died and they were fixing up her house to sell it. She told him how she had discovered the secret room. Balthazat seemed especially interested when she told him about the basement and the big door she had seen behind the boiler, the one her mother had said went to Penumbra. Then he finished his hot chocolate and sat on the hearth, licking one paw and dragging it over his head and ears and mouth, purring the whole time. When Sarah finished, he stopped licking and looked at her.

  “Quite a story,” he said. “You say your grandma used to live in the house?”

  “That’s right.”

  “I see,” Balthazat said. “Well, it sure sounds like a nice place.”

  “It is.” She drank the last of her hot chocolate and smiled slowly as she wiped her mouth with her sleeve. “You should see it,” she said dreamily.

  “I would very much like to,” Balthazat said. “In fact, I was thinking that maybe you could take me home with you.”

  Sarah’s eyes widened. “Really? For real?”

  Balthazat nodded. “But what will you tell them?”

  “Who?” Sarah asked.

  “Your mother and father. What will you tell them about where I came from?”

  “I’ll tell them you came from here, of course.” In fact, she couldn’t wait to tell them. She was sure that Mom would be relieved to discover that Grandma Winnie hadn’t been making things up after all, and certainly was not crazy. This would prove it. Sarah was so excited that she decided she would even tell Billy about this place.

  “No, no, no,” Balthazat said, and laughed. “You can’t tell them that.”

  Sarah shook her head. “Why not?”

  “Because this is our secret.” Balthazat jumped into her lap and then crawled onto her shoulders. He rubbed his body against her neck and lowered his voice to a whisper. “Imagine if you told your mom and dad about this place. First of all, they wouldn’t believe you. You know how grown-ups are, don’t you?”

  “What do you mean?” Sarah asked.

  “They never believe anything kids say.”

  “I guess so.”

  “Furthermore,” Balthazat said, purring again, “even if you proved Scotopia was real by bringing them here, what do you think they would want to do?”

  “Show it to all their friends?” Sarah said.

  Balthazat nodded. “And then what would happen?” He rubbed his black nose against her cheek. “Those friends would show their friends, and then it wouldn’t be a secret anymore. They would form some kind of tourist company to bring even more grown-ups here on trips, and they would trample the forest and throw their trash in the stream and it would be ruined.”

  Sarah felt herself sagging. “I suppose you’re right.”

  Balthazat jumped to the floor and turned around, flicking his tail in a series of short jerks. “Of course I’m right. The king is always right. Don’t you know that?”

  Sarah shrugged.

  “So the only way we can prevent such a catastrophe from happening is to keep this place a secret. To do that, you must tell your mother and father that you found me outside, hiding in the bushes, in spite of how undignified that will be for me, the King of the Cats.”

  Sarah sighed. “I can’t tell anybody the truth, can I?”

  Balthazat shook his head. “That’s what a secret is.”

  “But you’re a talking cat.”

  “Not when anyone else is around I won’t be.”

  “Aww,” Sarah said, very disappointed.

  “Come now, you and I will still be able to talk. As long as we’re alone.”

  Sarah nodded. “Okay. But what about all this?” She waved her arm at the furniture and plates of food. “I won’t be able to give you all of this.”

  “Oh, I know that,” Balthazat said. “This will still be here waiting for me when I come back. Jeb will take care of it.”

  “You mean you’re not going to stay with me?”

  “No, no, no. I didn’t mean that at all. I meant that Jeb will take care of the cabin until we come back to visit. Won’t that be fun?”

  Sarah nodded excitedly. The thought of having a place like Scotopia to visit anytime she wanted—especially with her very own talking cat—was just too much. “So when do you want to go?”

  “We have to wait until Lefty comes back,” Balthazat said. “Until then, would you please scratch my head?”

  Sarah nodded, and as she rubbed her fingers through Balthazat’s thick black fur, he purred with delight.

  After a few minutes, the door at the rear of the cabin opened and Jeb came in again. Balthazat twisted out from under Sarah’s hand. “Thank you, dear,” he purred at her.

  As Jeb collected their empty hot-chocolate bowls, Sarah caught his eye and their gazes locked for a long moment. His eye was as dry and dark as an empty birdbath, and as sad. Sarah’s excitement was suddenly gone. She felt very bad for Jeb. It was the same feeling she got when she saw people who lived on the streets. She wanted to help him in some way, but she had no idea how.

  Before she had a chance to say thank you, he turned away quickly. As he rushed back to the door, Balthazat hopped down and followed him.

  “Where are you going?” Sarah asked, and stood up.

  “I’ll be right back,” Balthazat said. “You wait there.”

  Sarah sat down again. Balthazat jumped onto a long table near the door and said something she couldn’t hear. Jeb stopped next to him. His shoulders sagged and he faced Balthazat. The cat looked at Sarah, then said something to Jeb in a hissing whisper. Jeb seemed upset by whatever Balthazat was telling him. All at once, Balthazat swatted Jeb’s ear and hissed again. Sarah didn’t know what was going on, but it didn’t seem right for Balthazat to treat Jeb like that, even if the boy was his servant. She stood up, but before she could cross the room, there was a loud tapping at the door and Balthazat looked at her. “Would you mind getting that for us, dear?” he said.

  Sarah opened the door and saw Lefty standing on the porch. “Oh, hi, Lefty,” she said, and waved. The hand waved back and blinked at her. “Do you want to come in?”

  “No, no, no,” Balthazat said. “I’m afraid he’s not allowed inside.” Sarah looked over and saw the cat running toward her. Behind him, Jeb stood with the tray in his hand, staring at her as if he desperately wanted to say something. But then he turned away and went through the door.

  “You certainly have a lot of rules,” Sarah said.

  “That’s part of what a king does.”

  “What were you saying to Jeb just now?” she asked.

  “I told him that I was going away and that he would have to take care of the cabin while I was gone.”

  “What did you swat him for?”

  “It’s really none of your business. But since I want us to be friends, I’ll tell you. I told him I was leaving and he said I couldn’t. I simply had to remind him who makes the rules around here. Don’t your mother and father spank you when you break their rules?”

  “No,” Sarah said.

  “No?”

  “They give us time-outs.”

  “Us?”

  “Me and my brother, Billy.”

  “Ah. Well, at least they have some sort of discipline.” Balthazat faced Lefty. “Well? Is the coast clear? No sentinels?” Lefty turned around and stepped down from the porch. “Excellent,” Balthazat
said. He looked at Sarah. “Are you ready to go? Shall we have Lefty take us back to where he found you?”

  Sarah nodded and closed the door after Balthazat trotted past her. Together, the three of them stepped into the clearing and headed toward the forest.

  “So what’s a sentinel?” Sarah asked.

  “They’re like guards,” Balthazat said. “They patrol the forest and make sure that no one like you gets in. You’re lucky Lefty found you before one of them did.”

  “You mean I’m not supposed to be here?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Why not?”

  “For the same reason you can’t tell your parents about this place. Because then it wouldn’t be a secret anymore.”

  “What would they do if they caught me?”

  “Take you to the king, I suppose.”

  “Isn’t that you?”

  “No, no, no,” Balthazat said. “I’m just the King of the Cats. Even I have a king. The one who rules all of Scotopia. And that is who the sentinels would take you to.”

  “What’s his name?”

  “Nobody knows.”

  “Where does he live?”

  “Nobody knows that, either. Except the sentinels, I suppose. For everyone else, visiting the King of Scotopia is a one-way trip.”

  Sarah felt a sudden tug of fear. “Is that why you’re scared of the sentinels?”

  “I’m not scared of the sentinels,” Balthazat said, practically spitting the words. “I just don’t want our fun to be spoiled, that’s all. If they caught me with you, we’d have double trouble.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The breach is not to be crossed in either direction.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  Balthazat sighed. “You aren’t supposed to be here and I am not supposed to go where you came from. But I won’t let that stop me.”

  “Oh,” Sarah said, and looked away from Balthazat, into the shadow trees. She began to feel guilty and wondered if she should still let him come with her now that she knew it was against the rules. Trouble could mean punishment. She didn’t like it when her parents punished her. And she certainly didn’t like the sound of being punished by the King of Scotopia.

  Balthazat stopped and put his front paws on her knees. “Don’t tell me you’re having second thoughts,” he said.

  “Well …,” Sarah said, looking down at him and twisting her hair the way she always did when she had a difficult decision to make.

  Balthazat dropped to all fours again. “Aren’t you the high and mighty one,” he said, pacing back and forth in front of her, his tail flicking angrily. “Didn’t you tell me you weren’t supposed to play in that secret room? And you did anyway, didn’t you? Now that you’ve had your fun breaking the rules, you don’t want to help me have my fun, is that it?”

  “No,” Sarah said. “It’s not like that at all.” She was trying to figure out a way to make sense of what she was feeling, but she knew Balthazat was right. She should have told her mom and dad about the secret room as soon as she found it. She knew she shouldn’t have played in it without getting permission first. Now she was trapped. If she did the right thing and didn’t take Balthazat with her, he would be very upset. But if she did take him with her, she would be breaking another rule, and she knew that might mean even more trouble down the road.

  “So what is it, then?” Balthazat asked.

  Sarah looked down at him and knew at once that she simply could not pass up the chance to have a talking cat for a pet, no matter how many rules she had to break. She bent over and picked him up. “You’re coming with me, of course,” she said.

  “Bravo,” Balthazat said. “I knew you would make the right decision. Now, put me down, please.” Sarah dropped him and he shook out his fur. “Shhh,” he suddenly hissed, lifting his head as high as it would go. He sniffed at the air, the way he had when he’d first seen Sarah.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “Shhh,” he hissed again.

  Sarah looked toward where he was sniffing and saw Lefty facing that way, too. A cool wind gusted through the trees, and as the shadow branches shifted, she saw a shape in the distance, white against the black, moving toward them.

  “A sentinel,” Balthazat whispered. He looked up at Sarah. “We need to hide you quickly.”

  “But where?” she asked.

  “Lefty, down on the ground. Pretend you’re asleep.” Lefty did as he was told, dropping to his knees and rolling over so that his open palm faced the dark blue sky. “Now get in,” Balthazat said to Sarah. “But be careful of his eye.”

  Sarah crawled onto Lefty’s giant palm. He closed his eye and she curled around it. Then he closed his fingers into a loose fist, surrounding her except for a small space near his thumb. Balthazat poked his head in. “Everything will be fine as long as you stay quiet.”

  “I will,” Sarah promised, and as Balthazat pulled his head back, she moved forward, pushing her face into the space, not only so she could breathe but so she could see what was happening, too.

  The sentinel came down the path slowly, carrying something in his left hand. He looked like a normal man, Sarah thought, except for how pale his skin was. As he got closer, Sarah changed her mind. He wasn’t normal after all. His chest and feet were bare and his pants were made of some rough black fabric held up by a length of dark brown rope knotted around his waist. His head was bald and his eyes and mouth were stitched shut with X’s made of thick black thread. The object in his left hand was a head in a sling made of red rope. He carried it as if it were a lantern, holding it at arm’s length in front of him. The head gave off no light, however. Its eyes and mouth were unstitched and open. Sarah wondered which one was the sentinel: the head in the sling or the body carrying it. For a moment, it looked like he was going to walk right past them, but then the head in the sling caught sight of Balthazat and the body changed direction. The cat ran ahead to meet him.

  “Balthazat,” the head in the sling said, “what are you doing out here?”

  “Looking for you, actually.”

  “That so?”

  “Yes.”

  “What for?”

  “Jeb has finally gone off the deep end. He’s locked me out of my cabin and won’t let me in.”

  “What’s wrong with Lefty?”

  “I don’t know. I think Jeb may have done something to him. He was trying to help me get back in. When I realized it was fruitless, we came looking for you. Then Lefty said he was tired and he just curled up like that.”

  “Maybe I should have a look at him,” the sentinel said, and started toward Lefty. Sarah reflexively backed up and held her breath. She realized only now that her heart was pounding fiercely, drumming in her ears. It seemed so loud that she worried the sentinel might hear it.

  “No, no, no,” Balthazat said. “You must do something about Jeb first. I’ll stay here with Lefty.”

  The sentinel stood still. After a moment, he said, “All right,” then started up the path toward the clearing and the cabin.

  Once he had vanished from sight, Lefty opened his fingers and Sarah crawled out of his palm. “Good work, Lefty,” Balthazat said. “We must hurry now. They’ll know I was lying in just a few minutes.”

  Lefty got back to his feet, and the three of them continued along the path until they reached the black mountain. Sarah found the spot where she had fallen, then pointed up. “I think I came out of that hole there.”

  Balthazat shook his head. “Of course you did,” he said. He looked at Lefty. “Ironic, isn’t it? All this time it was right in front of us.” Lefty blinked at him.

  “What was right in front of you?” Sarah asked.

  “That hole you came through is called a breach. It’s a crossover from here to there or from there to here, depending on which way you’re going. There are supposed to be many of them all over Scotopia. I’ve been trying to find one for a very long time.”

  “But why?” Sarah asked.

&n
bsp; “For the same reason that you think it’s so much fun visiting here,” Balthazat said. “I have always wanted to visit where you come from. That’s why Lefty brought you to me and why I was so glad that he did. Because I hoped you could show me right to what I was searching for. And now you have. So let’s hurry. We can’t waste any more time. Pick me up, please.”

  Sarah did as she was told. Lefty stepped up behind her and used his thumb and index finger to pick both her and Balthazat up and lift them onto a small ledge just below the breach. Balthazat jumped from her arms, scrambling into the mouth of the hole. He faced Sarah.

  “Can you make it?” he asked.

  “I think so, but what about Lefty?”

  “He can take care of himself. Come on now.”

  Sarah looked back at Lefty. She was sad to leave him behind. She was afraid of what would happen to him because of the lies Balthazat had told the sentinel. She realized then that it would probably be worse for Jeb, since Balthazat had said he had done something bad when he really hadn’t. But what could she do about it? Lefty could never fit inside the breach, and even if he could, a giant hand with an eye in the center of its palm was not the kind of thing she could say she found in the bushes outside her house. She lifted her hand and waved at him. He waved back, then turned away from the mountain and started into the forest. Sarah turned around and pulled herself up.

  It was very dark inside the hole, and she wished she had brought her flashlight. Then she remembered: she had. She quickly patted herself down, but the flashlight was gone. She moved to the edge of the hole and looked at the black sand below. She was almost sure she had dropped it when she had come through the first time. It was probably buried somewhere down there.

  “What’s wrong?” Balthazat hissed.

  “I think my flashlight is down there.”

  “Never mind that. There’s no time. Besides, you could never climb back up without Lefty. Come on. I can see well enough to guide us. Just hold on to my tail.”