Behind the Bookcase Read online

  The cyclops faced her, and in one swift motion pulled the torch from her hand. He was much stronger than she was. When he pressed the burning end against her arm, she, too, shouted in pain. But not because the fire was hot—it was like ice, colder than anything she had ever felt. When he took the torch away, she rubbed the spot where it had been, trying to soothe the pain.

  “This one, on the other hand,” the cyclops said, “is definitely not from around here. Are you?”

  Sarah looked at the cyclops, feeling sick. When she looked at Jeb, he shook his head, and she knew he meant for her to say nothing.

  “So that’s how it’s going to be, huh?” the cyclops said. “All right. Take them away. Put them in the Blue Suite. I’ll make them talk later. After dinner, perhaps.”

  Mr. Ink moved forward. A half-dozen hands suddenly shot from his middle. The hands grabbed Sarah and Jeb and hoisted them both to their feet. “Mind if I stick around and watch?” Mr. Ink asked.

  “Not at all,” the cyclops said as the other guards moved forward to take Sarah and Jeb, dragging them toward a door in the floor.

  Sarah was scared now. And the deeper they took her and Jeb into the Black Iron Prison, the more scared she got. The rocklike confidence she had felt not so long ago turned to dust with every step toward the Blue Suite. She remembered now how she had been so angry with her mom and dad that she’d considered staying in Scotopia forever. That was beginning to sound like the silliest idea she’d ever had.

  After being marched around countless corners and down endless flights of stairs, they reached a spiral staircase and descended to a narrow walkway over a dark pit that seemed to fall away forever. Their one-eyed escorts pushed them toward a door. One of them took a key from a hook on the wall and unlocked it. They pushed Sarah and Jeb inside and slammed the door shut behind them.

  The Blue Suite wasn’t what Sarah had expected. First of all, it wasn’t a suite, it was simply a big rectangle of concrete painted blue and made bluer by the ranks of cold-fire torches that burned in fixtures set at intervals near the tops of the walls. Most of the smoke escaped through holes in the ceiling, but some of it filled the room like thin fog. As she scanned the room, Sarah saw that Jeb was crying.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  “This is all my fault,” he said.

  “No, it’s not,” Sarah told him.

  “But it is,” he insisted. “None of this would have happened if I hadn’t dropped my face.”

  Sarah felt bad for Jeb. She didn’t like to see anyone cry, especially not her friends. And she had definitely begun to think of Jeb as a real friend. Wanting nothing more than to make him feel better, she said, “That’s not true.”

  Jeb sniffed. “What are you talking about?” he asked, his voice stiff with disbelief.

  Sarah twisted her hair, trying to think of what to say next. And then she realized that it wasn’t his fault—it was hers. “None of this would have happened if I hadn’t jumped down to get your face for you. So if you want to know the truth, this is really my fault. But that still doesn’t get us out of here.”

  Jeb sniffed again and wiped his eye. He began to smile as he understood what she was saying. “You’re right. I guess it doesn’t really matter whose fault it is, we need to find a way out.”

  “Hear, hear,” a voice called from the darkness, and Sarah and Jeb both jumped and faced forward.

  “Who’s there?” Sarah said, fear returning to her chest like a bird to its nest.

  A black shape formed in the thin smoke, and for a terrible moment, Sarah thought Mr. Ink had somehow joined them in the Blue Suite. Without really thinking, Sarah grabbed Jeb’s hand just as a man stepped out of the shadows. Sarah was only slightly relieved to see that it was not Mr. Ink. This man was dressed in old-fashioned clothes, like an actor from a movie with cowboys in it. His pants were dark gray and his jacket had thin stripes and two long parts that hung off the back like tails. His shirt had frills at the cuffs and under his neck. His hair was black and slicked back and he had a mustache that looked like handlebars on a bicycle. “My name is Edgar,” he said. “Edgar Merton. Born in New York City. Presently of San Francisco. How about you two?”

  Sarah suddenly realized she was holding Jeb’s hand and quickly let go of it. She hoped he hadn’t noticed. When she looked at him, she saw that he wasn’t paying attention to her at all. He was staring at Edgar.

  “You’re Edgar?” Jeb said. Edgar nodded. “The Edgar?”

  Edgar laughed. “If by that you mean am I the only Edgar in this place, then I would have to answer in the affirmative.”

  Jeb smiled at Sarah. “This is Edgar. The Edgar.”

  Sarah frowned. She could tell Jeb was very excited, but she had no idea why. “I don’t get it,” she said.

  “I’ve heard Balthazat talk about him.”

  “You have?” Edgar asked, surprised.

  Jeb nodded. “He threatened me once. Said he would put me in the Blue Suite, just like he’d done with you.”

  Edgar smiled crookedly. “And here I thought he’d forgotten all about me.”

  “You’re like us, right? You came over from the other side. A long time ago. Long before me.” Jeb faced Sarah. “Just look at him. What year was it when you came over?”

  “It was 1883,” Edgar said.

  Now it was Sarah’s turn to express disbelief. “In 1883?” she said, frowning. “But how can that be? You shouldn’t still be alive.”

  “Normally, that would be true,” Edgar said. “However, before I became a—how shall I say—more permanent resident here, I had the opportunity to go back and forth several times. I discovered that as long as you are here, time stands still for you back on the other side. When I went back, it was as if I had only just stepped through.”

  Sarah thought about this for a long time. If what Edgar said was true, then things weren’t really as bad as she had imagined. She looked at Jeb and they both smiled. Obviously he was reaching the same conclusion. “So it really isn’t too late,” she said. “Because it’s still right before lunch back in my room. And it will be as long as I stay here.”

  “There is one exception, however,” Edgar said.

  “What is it?” Sarah asked.

  “It’s just a theory, but I think this only works when you go back through exactly the same way you came.”

  “That makes sense,” Jeb said. “Your tunnel would lead back to 1883 and Sarah’s would lead back to her present.”

  Edgar nodded.

  “Wait a second,” Sarah said, now remembering all the stuff about cause and effect from science class. “If my coming over here means time has stopped back there, what if something from here went back over there with me?”

  Edgar’s face darkened. “That’s what Balthazat has been trying to do for a very long time,” he said. “That’s why I’m here, in fact. Because I refused to show him where I came through.”

  Jeb’s half-mouth opened wide. “You mean you actually remember where you came through?”

  “Of course. I spent a good deal of time mapping Scotopia before one of the sentinels caught me and brought me to Balthazat.” Edgar’s eyes grew distant, as if he was looking not at Sarah or Jeb or the walls around them but into his own memories. “He was so sweet at first. Telling me how he was the King of the Cats. Giving me good food to eat and that nice warm fire to sit by in his cozy cabin.”

  Sarah didn’t feel so bad now. Yes, Balthazat had tricked her and Jeb. But he had tricked Edgar as well, and Edgar seemed like a very smart man.

  Edgar’s eyes grew still more distant as he continued remembering. “It didn’t take me long to start seeing stars.” He waved his hand through the air in front of him as though drawing a giant banner. “ ‘Edgar and his Amazing Talking Cat!’ ” He faced Sarah and Jeb. “I told Balthazat that what he had here was nothing compared with what he could have back where I was from. He would be a star like nothing the world had ever seen. He refused at first, telling me he wasn’t allowed
to leave here because of his duties and so forth. But I persisted, working as hard as I could to convince him to come back with me.” Edgar lowered his head grimly. “Ha! How terribly ironic it all seems now.”

  “I don’t understand,” Sarah said. “If Balthazat wanted to go back with you, why would he refuse?”

  Edgar shook his head, as if shaking off all the memories that were crashing in on him. “To trick me, of course. To make me think it was my idea to take him back. To throw me off the scent of what he was really up to.” Edgar sighed. “And it would have worked except that I saw his true form just before we left.”

  Jeb gasped and his eyes went wide. Edgar noticed and smiled sadly.

  “You’ve seen it, too?”

  Jeb nodded.

  “I panicked when I saw it,” Edgar said. “He wasn’t a cat at all. He was a monster. And I knew then that it was all a trick. All a lie. That he was using me to find a way through to the other side. By then it was too late for me to turn back. If I did, he would have known I knew the truth. So I pretended I hadn’t seen his real face. And then I pretended to forget where I had come through. After we returned to his cabin, I sneaked out, hoping I could escape and never return. But he was watching. The sentinels caught me. They took me back to Balthazat and he demanded that I tell him the way through. Then one of the sentinels found the map I had made. I barely managed to get it away from him before he could give it to Balthazat.”

  “What did you do with it?”

  “I ate it,” Edgar said, laughing. “It was the only way I could be sure that he couldn’t get it. After that, he brought me here and said he would let me go only if I re-created the map for him.”

  Sarah and Jeb looked at each other. Neither one of them knew what to say. Finally, Sarah turned back to Edgar. “You still haven’t answered my question.”

  “You mean about whether or not time stops if something went back over with you?” Edgar said. Sarah nodded sheepishly. “Is this a hypothetical question?”

  “What does that mean?” she asked.

  “Hypothetical means it hasn’t happened yet.”

  “Oh,” Sarah said. “Then I’m afraid this isn’t a hypothetical question. Balthazat tricked me. I never saw his true form. I took him to the other side.”

  “Oh, dear,” Edgar said. “But then you came back?”

  Sarah nodded.

  “Oh, double dear. I don’t know what that does to my time theory.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Just that, I’m afraid. I don’t really know. I would guess that with each of you where you aren’t supposed to be, time would continue normally on both sides.”

  “Which means it is too late,” Sarah said, and suddenly sagged. It was worse than she wanted to admit. Worst of all, this was more her fault than she had imagined. Not just because she had jumped down to save Jeb’s face for him, but because she had come to Scotopia in the first place.

  “Maybe …,” Jeb said. “But maybe Balthazat hasn’t gotten to your brother yet. Maybe they don’t even know about the journal.”

  “The journal?” Edgar said.

  Jeb explained quickly how the journal and the key needed to be used together in order to open the door to Penumbra. He also explained how he had not revealed any of this to Balthazat.

  “Then I have some bad news for you,” Edgar said.

  Sarah’s heart sank still deeper. “You told him?”

  Edgar nodded. “Long ago. Before I’d seen his true form, of course. My sister was a record keeper.”

  “So Balthazat will be able to get the door open,” Sarah said. She faced Jeb. “And since we’ll never get out of here, it’s all hopeless.”

  Edgar clucked his tongue. “Now, now,” he said. “It’s not hopeless at all.”

  Sarah lifted her head slowly. “You don’t know my brother.”

  “That’s not what I’m talking about,” Edgar said. “I’m talking about you getting us out of here.”

  Sarah pointed at herself and raised her eyebrows. Edgar nodded.

  “How do you figure?” she asked.

  Edgar pointed toward the ceiling and Sarah looked up. The only thing she could guess he was pointing at was one of the holes the smoke was going through. They were too small for Edgar or Jeb to fit through. But not for her. She realized immediately what Edgar had in mind. “Do you have any idea where they go?”

  Edgar shrugged. “What else do you do with smoke but send it outside?”

  “Okay. Say I can get out. What then?”

  Jeb stepped forward. “To the Green Desert. Get the blemmyes. Bring them back here. Get us out. Then we’ll all go back to the breach you came through.”

  Sarah shook her head. “But I don’t know how to get to the Green Desert.”

  In answer, Edgar whipped open his jacket and revealed rows of pockets inside, each containing a folded piece of paper. He ran his fingers along the edges of several, then plucked one free and shook it open. It was a map, drawn in black ink on yellowing paper. It looked terribly old and fragile to Sarah, like a pirate’s treasure map.

  “But I thought you ate it,” she said.

  Edgar smiled. “I did. The original. I started work on this copy as soon as Balthazat locked me in here. I didn’t want to forget everything I had worked so hard to find.”

  Sarah smiled, and the three of them moved closer to the wall, holding the map in the light from one of the blue fire torches.

  “Tell me what you can remember about where you came through,” Edgar said. “What was the landscape like?”

  Sarah lifted her fingers to her mouth and started chewing on her nails, something she always did when she was thinking her hardest.

  “It’s in the Forest of Shadows,” Jeb said. “Just near the River of Moonlight.”

  “Moonlight?” Sarah said in disbelief. “That silver water is moonlight?”

  Jeb nodded. “It flows out to the Moonlit Sea.”

  “No wonder it was so cold and tasted so … sharp,” she said.

  Edgar and Jeb exchanged glances and then looked back at her grimly.

  “You tasted it?” Jeb said.

  Sarah nodded slowly. “What if I did?”

  Jeb swallowed hard. “That’s how Balthazat makes the sentinels.”

  Sarah suddenly felt cold and wet. She shook her head, trying to deny what they were saying. “You mean I’ll turn into one of those things that carries the heads around?”

  Jeb nodded.

  “How long before that happens?”

  “I’ve only seen it once. He captured a blemmye and made him drink a whole bucket of moonlight. After that, it didn’t take long. A day, maybe.”

  “But I only drank a little bit.”

  “Then we still have time,” Edgar said. “But we better get moving.”

  Sarah turned away from the two of them, putting her hand to her forehead. “I don’t want to turn into one of those things,” she said, feeling like she was about to cry. She faced Jeb. “Is there any way to stop it?”

  “Only Balthazat would know,” Jeb said.

  “Oh,” Sarah said, turning away from them again. “What are we going to do?”

  “Pay attention,” Edgar said with such force that Sarah was shocked and a little scared. “That is what you are going to do.”

  In spite of her fear, she knew he was right. Sometimes you had to take things very seriously. Like when they did fire drills at school. “You’re right,” she said. “I’m sorry.”

  Edgar put his hand on her shoulder. “No need to apologize. Just make it up to us by getting us out of here.”

  Sarah sniffed back her tears and wiped her nose. Then Edgar pointed at the map. “Here’s the Forest of Shadows. The River of Moonlight comes from this mountain. This spot here”—Edgar put his finger on an X—“is where you came through. It’s the only breach in that area.” Sarah nodded. Edgar pointed to another spot on the map. “This is where we are, in the Black Iron Prison. Here is the Moonlit Sea. And here is Crooke
d Canyon. If you follow that, you can reach the Green Desert and cross it to where the blemmyes are, here.”

  Edgar handed Sarah the map and she looked at it closely, making sure she had followed everywhere he had pointed.

  “Can you do it?” Edgar asked.

  “Of course she can,” said Jeb. “I know she can.”

  Sarah looked up at him and smiled. “That settles it, then, huh?” She folded the map and put it in her pocket.

  “Almost,” Jeb said, lifting his shirt. He took out the glass case containing his face and held it out to her. “Can you take this with you? Keep it safe?”

  Sarah frowned and shook her head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  “Of course it is.”

  “But what if something happens to me?”

  “I trust you. Besides, if I keep it here, it’s only a matter of time before they search me, find it, and take it away.”

  Sarah nodded and took the case, suddenly overwhelmed by their faith in her. Yes, it was her fault that all of this had happened. But now she had the chance to undo all the bad things. More than that: to make everything right again. To give Jeb his face back and to free Edgar so that he could return home.

  At once, Edgar set to work helping Jeb onto his shoulders. They stood against the wall and then helped Sarah climb up their backs. When she reached Jeb’s shoulders, he held on to the base of one of the torch mounts and they carefully leaned away from the wall. Sarah reached one hand into the dark hole. She found an edge and quickly pulled herself up. When she was halfway in, Jeb pushed her feet through, then went back to the wall and climbed down from Edgar’s shoulders. The two of them stood on the floor and looked up, waiting to hear what she saw.

  “Well?” Edgar said.

  The truth was, Sarah could see only darkness. She had half expected to see stars, but then she remembered that the sky in Scotopia had no stars. What if the darkness above her wasn’t the sky? Sarah wondered. Then she realized that it didn’t matter. This was the only way out. “I can see the sky,” Sarah called back to them, hoping they couldn’t hear the doubt creeping into her voice. “It’s pretty far away, but I can see it.”