The Mapmakers Union (The Doorknob Society Saga Book 3) (17 page)

“It’s no big deal.” I tried to ignore the people staring at me as they passed by and hearing my name much too often in hushed whispers didn’t help either.

“Do you want to go to the training room?”

That was the one room I was intimately familiar with in this place. “No, I’ve seen that plenty.” We exited the hallway into a large common room with floor to ceiling windows and fireplaces situated on opposite walls. Couches and arm chairs were placed around the room in small groups so people could huddle in conversation. It reminded me a bit of the Reliquary.

Faith grabbed my arm and pulled me to a set of couches where a small group was sitting and chatting. She came to a stop and they all turned to us smiling.

“Everyone this is Chloe Masters.”

Two guys and a one girl stared back at me. They seemed to be about my age or slightly young. I thought I might have seen some of them before, maybe at the Paladin Academy.

 “This is my team,” Faith said proudly.

“Hi, everyone.” I lifted my hand and gave a short wave and immediately felt like an idiot for doing so.

The girl stepped forward and offered her hand. “Hi, I’m Mary Hing.”

 I shook it and smiled. Her hand trembled nervously and her voice had cracked just a bit as she spoke. Her ink black hair hung in a long braid down her back to her waist. She wore a black skirt and red sweater and though her few words only gave me a slight hint to her accent, I figured she was from Hong Kong. Dad had done a few tours there and I had learned the difference between some of the dialects.

“I’m Jackson and that one’s Hitch; he doesn’t talk much.” Jackson jerked his thumb toward Hitch who sat quietly watching us and nodded in my direction. “So are all the stories about you true?”

“Jackson,” Mary scolded and Faith reached out and slapped his shoulder.

“What? I know she’s done a lot but I half expected her to be ten feet tall.”

“Sorry to disappoint you—and as for the stories—what stories?”

“You have to forgive Jackson, he’s an idiot.” Mary smiled and pushed him and Jackson gave up and slid down on the couch beside Hitch. Who, at this point, was turning out to be my favorite member of Faith’s team.

“I’m showing Chloe around. She never really got a chance when we practiced with our old team,” Faith explained as she shot Jackson a death stare. He pretended not to notice by gazing at the wall as if it mesmerized him.

“I could walk around with you guys,” Mary offered hopefully.

“That’s okay. Why don’t you guys try and get in some practice and I’ll be back later to check on your progress.” Faith took my arm once again and we walked out of the common room and onto the grounds of the manor.

“Nice team,” I offered.

“I guess. Jackson is always trying to be in charge and Mary is always busy asking about you. While Hitch, I don’t think has ever said more than two words to me.” Faith dropped her head back for a moment as if exasperated and let out an audible sigh.

“I’m sure it’ll all work out.”

“I don’t know. I’m not sure I’m cut out to lead like you. When you ran our old team no one ever questioned you, and you always had a plan.”

That was the second time today someone had said I was meant to lead. What was everyone drinking? While I always had plans, they usually failed miserably or got people hurt or worse killed. “Having people follow you isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.”

“You should be the one leading a team not me. I know you’re not sure you want too, but it could be great. You could take over the team and I could learn from you.” Faith spun and grabbed my hand squeezing it.

Her eyes gleamed unusually bright and for a moment a pain shot from the back of my neck through my skull. I pulled my hand away and grabbed the back of my neck.

“Are you okay?”

I opened my eyes and wasn’t quite sure if Faith was smiling or wore a worried look. I gave my head a slight shake and suddenly felt terrible for her situation. Here was my best friend asking for help and I all I could do was think of myself.

“Is everything okay out here?”

I turned to the familiar voice and came face to face with a very handsome man in a trench coat and wearing a fedora pushed high on his forehead.

“Look who we have here, Chloe Masters.”

“Declan?” I was surprised to see him here.

“You two know each other?” Faith chimed in.

“Declan is a bouncer at The Bronze Compass, we met there.”

“I was right about you; trouble just seems to follow you.” He smiled as he reached up and pulled off his fedora, his blonde hair falling loosely and perfectly around his perfect face.

“What’re you talking about? What trouble?”

“The HVO just detected a surge of Impossible Engineer energy out here. Are you two okay?” He looked back and forth between us.

“We’re fine and there was no Impossible Engineers here with us.”

“Now that’s odd, isn’t it?” He scratched his head.

I swallowed hard, worried that I somehow activated my Engineer abilities and wondered if that was the reason for my headache.

“The HVO is rarely wrong about these things.” The words hung in the air like an accusation, and I really didn’t need this right now.

“There is a first time for everything, and besides, does either of us look like Engineers to you?” I snapped and he chuckled at me.

“No, you don’t.”

“Good, then I think we’re done.”

“Actually, there is one other thing.” Declan said.

“Yeah, and what’s that?”

“You never did answer me about that date?”

“What?”

“You know... me and you going out.” He smiled and I opened my mouth to respond but nothing came out. “Should I take that as a yes?”

“No.”

“It’s a no then?”

“No, that’s not what I meant.”

“When you decide what you do mean make sure to let me know.” He winked and walked off leaving me standing next to Faith scratching my head as to just why I was always an abject fool around him.

“What was that all about?” Faith’s hands were buried in her coat pockets and she was biting her lower lip.

“Nothing, it’s no big deal.” I reached back and started rubbing my neck, my frustration returning. I knew I was forgetting something, though I couldn’t put my finger on what it was.

“Come on, let’s go inside. We can hang out with my team. It will give us a chance to change your mind about joining us.” Faith eased my hand away from my neck and led me back into the Manor.

Mary Hing waved us over and as I watched them huddled together laughing and talking I thought about my friends and how I used to enjoy hanging out with all of them. Edgar with his head perpetually stuck in a map while Jess and I joked around with Slade smiling and Nightshade scowling, and of course having to hide everything from Val. All that was gone now. Jess was off to be an apprentice, Slade wanted nothing to do with me, Edgar and Val were still around but I didn’t want to be their third wheel. And as for Nightshade, he was gone and I was finally coming to accept that... no, I was learning to live with it.

Mary, Jackson, and Hitch made room for Faith and me to sit and I looked around at my new situation... and hated every minute of it.

Status: Family History and a headache don’t mix.

“This is not my idea of relaxing.” I looked around the Paladin Academy Library as I tossed my book bag on the table which was covered with a gaggle of old books that Edgar had gathered together. His head was buried deep inside one of them and he didn’t even flinch as my bag crashed into one of his stacks knocking it over.

I’d been spending my time between helping Edgar with research and practicing with Faith’s team. It was still cold out but winter had broken and spring was approaching. Jess had left for Paris after the holidays and I had to do something to keep myself busy.

I walked around and picked up the books, taking a quick glance to see that some of the Impossible Engineer monitors that served as librarians were looking my way. I didn’t want to cause myself any grief so I quietly slid into the seat beside Edgar and slouched down waiting for him to awake from his learning coma.

After a few minutes I got bored and started pushing the books around with my finger trying to align them perfectly. I shoved a little too hard and one of the volumes slid off revealing the one underneath.

Tales of the Darkwatch.

The Darkwatch was the group my ancestor Ichibod Masters had fought against over a hundred years ago. I knew a little about it but not much, my family wasn’t great at sharing its history. It was his map we were using to try and access the Tavern at the End of Time. I opened the book and began reading.

After the Napoleonic wars tore apart the last great truces, there was a time of great strife amongst the Old Kind. Trust was in short order, so as we had always done, we turned to the Honorable and Venerable Order of Detective Inspectors. But the HVO asked a heavy price to police all the Societies. Each order had to send five of its own to the HVO to be trained to keep the peace. It was a desperate time and so all agreed to the stipulation and sent our brothers and sisters to the HVO. And hence was born the Darkwatch.

The Old Kind who was trained by the HVO was not seen for months, when suddenly they appeared and they did as we had asked; they kept the peace. But there had been a hefty price paid, each of the Darkwatch members had little or no memory of their life before being sent to the HVO.

It had seemed a small price to pay for the peace that followed but soon things took a more sinister turn. The Darkwatch enforced—not the law—but its own version of it. When a Council was convened to discuss the problem no member of the HVO appeared.

A member of each Society was selected and sent to discover what had happened with the HVO. They returned with a horrifying tale of what was left of the HVO: they had been nearly destroyed by the Darkwatch.

I leaned back in the seat and pulled the book in close mesmerized by the tale. It seems I’m not the only one who’s had to deal with crazed groups looking to destroy the Old Kind. For a few minutes I figured it wouldn’t hurt to rest and let myself think about something other than my own problems.

Among those chosen by the Old Kind were Guy de Martin of the Skeleton Key Guild and Ichibod Masters of the Doorknob Society...

And there he was... my ancestor. I’d heard about him since the first day I learned about the Old Kind. He wasn’t just famous; he was a legend. Even now he continued to help us to try and stop the First Kind through the use of his map. I read on wanting to know more about this man who I had only heard about in hushed whispers and rumors—my great-great grandfather —the man who save the Doorknob Society.

“Ms. Masters.”

 I pulled myself away from the book and looked up to find Principal Tower standing over us. His grey eyebrows scrunched together questioningly.

“Studying?”

“Um, yup.” I pushed my elbows up off the edge of the chair. I had slouched halfway down in the seat like a sloth as I got lost in reading.

“I’m glad to see you are taking your studies seriously. I take it you’ve been keeping yourself out of trouble?”

“Oh, of course I have.” I smirked.

“With truces called off, I would think you would take my warnings more seriously.”

“I am very serious, sir.” His eyes narrowed and I knew I was pushing my luck. But something about the way he talked to me just rubbed me the wrong way.

“You’ll be graduating soon and out in the real world. I hope you’ve learned enough here to be ready for that.”

“I’ve learned plenty.”

“I believe you have.” Mr. Tower’s fingers slid across the Skeleton Key that hung around his neck. I held his stare and didn’t blink. I knew he had seen me activate a Skeleton Key the last time we spoke, but I didn’t know what it would mean if he discovered that I was a Polymorph “You’d do well to stay close to DS. I wouldn’t want you running afoul of anymore Guild members.”

“I can handle Guilders just fine, Mr. Tower.”

“Yes, I suppose you can. I’ll let you return to your work.”

“Huh, what? Mr. Tower?” Edgar finally looked up from the book he was reading and stared at Mr. Tower like he had three heads, then spun toward me with a look of utter amazement. “Chloe, when did you get here?”

“Keep an eye on this one, will you, Ms. Masters?” Mr. Tower shook his head and walked off.

“You are a rock star, Edgar.” I laughed and placed the book I’d been reading back on the table.

“That’s a good one, all about the Darkwatch.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty interesting stuff.”

“It also helped with some of the final coordinates I needed.”

“Does that mean what I think it means?”

“I just need to check my final calculations, and then we can travel to the Tavern at the End of Time.”

“That’s great news,” I said more loudly then I meant to, the librarian monitors all spun and shushed me in unison. I put my hands up and shrugged my shoulders. “Sorry.”

“This is going to draw a large amount of power. How are we going to cover that so no one notices?”

“I’ve been working on that and I have an idea. We can’t use the Diesel Factories, we need something more covert.”

‘What’d you have in mind?”

“You’re looking at it.” I smiled and waved around the room.

“Are you kidding me? You want to open the portal in the school?”

“Where else could we do it without anyone noticing? More power is used here every day than in most places, even the Infinity Library barely registers next to the Paladin Academy.”

“How would we pull it off? I mean the teachers would feel the power surge.”

“End of the year is coming up and they always do a big show for graduation. We’ll do it during one of the practices. We’ll use their show to mask our portal and since it’ll be during the day no one will even know we’re gone until it’s too late to do anything about it. So the likely hood of the First Kind coming after us is small.”

“Us?”

“It’s just you and me rock star.”

“Jess?”

“She left for Paris already.” Plus getting her into the school without anyone noticing would be too hard.”