Chapter 23
I walked slowly to my house. I felt dead, very dead. I hoped my dad would be back, cured by Masteress Jakelyn—I mean relieved of his symptoms—but the house was totally dark when I got there. Three newspapers littered the front porch. Luckily, I had my key, and I let myself in to the empty house. I gently dropped Simon to the floor.
“This is your hew home, Simon,” I said to the cat.
He looked up at me and tried to meow, but couldn’t. I was pretty sure I knew what he wanted. I went straight to the kitchen. At least it wasn’t a mess, although there were some washed dishes on the rack. I got a bowl and filled with water so that Simon could quench his thirst. Then I opened the refrigerator and found some roast beef slices I thought Simon would like. He did. As for me, I didn’t feel like eating. All the stuff that had just happened to me had robbed me of my appetite. I sauntered back into the living room and plopped myself down on the couch. As soon as Simon had eaten enough for the time being, he hopped up on the couch with me and sat on my lap.
I just wanted to sit there all day and wallow in my gloom. But wallowing in gloom isn’t the most fun thing in the world. Going to school wasn’t exactly something I felt like doing for fun either, but since I was back to my old life, it seemed better to get back into the swing of things sooner rather than later. Missing more school days wouldn’t help me get caught up. I placed Simon on the couch and went upstairs to take a shower and change clothes. Before leaving, I refilled Simon’s water bowl and put out some more roast beef. I remembered that my jacket was in the chorister’s cottage. The best I could do was borrow one of my dad’s. It was a bit big for me, but wearable. I looked for my school books and my backpack. When I didn’t find them, I remembered they were still at the drugstore. I would have to make a detour to get them and I was already going to be late for school. On balance, I decided that coming without any schoolbooks would be worse. I tried to tell Simon I would be back soon, but that did not keep him from showing his displeasure at being left behind. Silent as his cries were, they rang in my ears as I jogged down the walk from my house.
My stop at the pharmacy was as awkward as I thought it would be. Since I’d have to face Mary Ann some time, I decided I might as well get it over with. The look on her face when she saw me coming down the aisle told me this wasn’t going to be easy.
“Nathaniel! I’ve been worried about you!”
“So have I.”
“Where have you been?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why didn’t you come to dinner Wednesday night?”
“Something came up.”
“Nathaniel! Something is wrong.”
I stooped down to pick up my backpack which was right where I’d left it.
“It hasn’t been easy,” I said. “I’m late for school.”
“Are you stopping by this afternoon?”
“Maybe.”
I felt like a heel, and I deserved to, but I didn’t know what I could really say to Mary Ann. I ran to the school as fast as I could. I missed home room and part of my first period class, mathematics. I had to go to the dean’s office for a tardy slip, and then I had to explain that my father had meant to write a note about my absence before taking me on his business trip, and that he would write a note next week.
I had a dreary and miserable day at school. I couldn’t tune in on anything my teachers said. My history teacher bawled me out for not listening. I apologized. I really was sorry to be so inattentive, but I couldn’t get interested in the Roman Empire when I was so worried about all the people who were either going to die of the strangling pestilence or submit to the Guild of Gifted Rulers. My English teacher was more understanding.
“Is something wrong, Nathaniel?” she asked me.
I shrugged.
“You know, we have a good counselor you could see if you need someone to talk to.”
A good counselor would be good, but how could I talk about what had happened to me?
“Thanks, I’ll think about it.”
Lunchtime was the worst part of the day. I hadn’t thought to fix myself any lunch, and I had very little money on me. Worse, this was the time when I was most likely to get picked on in some way. I went through the lunch line and bought myself a carton of chocolate milk, about all I could afford. I was carrying it away from the cash register when a girl who looked kind of familiar ran up to me.
“Nathaniel! You forgot your sandwich!”
Before I could tell her I hadn’t bought one, she thrust it in my hands and run back to the service line. I never figured out what was in the sandwich, but it tasted good. As soon as I finished it, I headed to the library, about as safe a place as any. Unfortunately, the hallways weren’t so safe. A couple of boys and then a couple or three more boys drifted over to me and surrounded me.
“We missed you,” said one of them.
“Good for you.”
“Hmm. That wasn’t very polite of you.”
“It isn’t polite to get in my way.”
“I think you need to learn some manners.”
“So do you.”
I was surprised with the way I was talking to these guys. Usually I tried to weasel my way out by being more respectful and submissive. I felt better about taking a stronger stance, but I was afraid I was about to feel bad about it in my face or stomach.
“Nice to see you back, Nathaniel,” said a fair-haired boy who suddenly filtered through the guys who had surrounded me.
“Thanks,” I said, not knowing what to make of him.
“Are you going this way?” he asked me, indicating the direction I was going.
“Yes.”
The group of bullies melted away, apparently not knowing what to do with this boy, either. I guessed he was an eighth-grader. Why he would care about a sixth-grader like me was beyond me, but I was grateful he had saved me from a sticky situation. As I walked on, I turned to thank him, but he was already gone. Somehow, I felt a little calmer about everything after that.
I thought of stopping by the pharmacy after school like I usually did, but decided against it. I hoped there wasn’t somebody who needed to have some meds delivered real bad. I just wasn’t ready for another run-in with Mary Ann. As I approached my house, I thought of dad, and thought maybe he’d be back, having gotten cured by this time. But I knew the house was empty as soon as I let myself in. Simon was making circles about me before I could even close the door. I picked him up and held him close.
“Poor Simon. Poor, poor Simon. Did you have a good sleep while I was gone?”
Simon didn’t look like he’d had a good while I was away. I set him down on the floor and went to the kitchen. Simon positioned himself in front of the refrigerator and looked wistfully at it. I had no choice but to get out some more roast beef. At this rate, Simon was going to be stuck with baloney or cheese if I didn’t get to a grocery store soon.
As for myself, I didn’t feel like doing anything, so I sat down in the living room, stared into space for the longest time, and let my mind go blank. Simon eased himself onto my lap and positioned himself where I simply had to pet him. I thought about friends like Mirry and Pollo and Maranissa and Charles, none of whom I expected to see again, and started to cry. Why couldn’t I make friends in the real world the way I made them among the Gifted? I also thought about the people I wanted never to see again, and wondered how I could make so many enemies when I only wanted to help people. The living room started to get dark. I didn’t bother with turning on any lights. The phone rang. I didn’t get up to answer it. I was pretty sure it was Mary Ann trying to invite me to dinner. It was kind of her to think of me, but I still wasn’t ready to see her. Besides, I was still hoping that my Dad would come through the door, cured, or at least half-cured by Masteress Jakelyn. The phone stopped ringing. I kept on staring at nothing and stroked Simon’s fur.
Without meaning to, I started to sing. I started with “Bridge over Troubled Water.”
When you’re down and out,
feeling small,
When evening falls so hard,
I’ll comfort you,
I’ll take your part.
When I sang that song with my mom, I never thought I’d ever feel so down and out, or so small, or that evening would fall so hard as it did that night. I was crying like a baby, but I didn’t care. There wasn’t anybody to see me crying except God, and I was sure God understood my need to cry.
I went on to sing the willow song that Rosalind taught me. Its tune broke my heart more than ever. Then I sang the willow song I’d made up and sung with Charles and Mirry and Pollo. I sang “Poor Wayfaring Stranger” because I felt poor, I felt I was wayfaring, and I felt like a stranger in the universe. As time went on, I got to singing whatever I felt like singing. I mixed up one song with another, and improvised some songs. The living room got very dark except for a soft light coming from somewhere. I thought maybe it was a nightlight, but there weren’t any nightlights in the living room. When I felt an itch on my face, I lifted a hand to scratch it. I heard my arm swish against a piece of cloth, and a couple of sparks floated in front of me. What really caught my attention, though, was seeing the palm of my hand lit up by a light right in front of it. I looked down and saw the pale light shining on my cape clasp. In spite of what Masteress Jakelyn had said, my quest was not finished after all.
“Simon,” I announced, “we’re going on a little trip.”
I jumped out of my stupor and moved faster than a speeding train. Gathering Simon in my arms, I ran out of the house and down the street. The only thing I could think of was to run to Livingston Street and hope the house I’d gone to with the medicine would still be there for me. It was dark by then, but I knew my way well enough. I wasn’t jogging; I was running the whole way. Even though the pestilenced cared-fors were on doubly compressed time, I didn’t want to make them wait any longer than I had to. I had no idea of how I was going to fulfill my quest now that the last windmere willow blossom was gone, but I was going to find the rest of the guild and find out what I could do. I stopped at each street to check for coming cars. When I had to wait for a car, I danced around the corner impatiently until I could get going. I asked myself what I would do if the house wasn’t on Livingston the way it was the other day, but I decided I didn’t want to think about that unless I had to.
I slowed down again at the next corner, and then quickened my steps to run across the street when I saw nothing coming. But then, right out of the blue, the headlights of four roaring motorcycles racing down the street hit me in the eyes. I jumped back to the curb to wait for them to pass.
“Help!” cried a child from close by.
A boy was running away from the motorcycles. It was Denny. Then I recognized the four motorcycle riders. I wasn’t going to let Denny fall back into their clutches. I thrust Simon deep into my cape and made a mad dash to the middle of street, scooped up Denny in my arms and ran the rest of the way across the street. We didn’t get far before they caught up with us and surrounded us. Heavy as he was, I didn’t put Denny down.
“What are you doing out here?” asked Howard.
“Jogging.”
“I didn’t know you were so interested in running,” said Charna.
“Do you always carry disloyal children when you jog to make it a bigger challenge?” asked Marilyn.
“You don’t know much about what interests me,” I said back.
“Anything you’re interested in isn’t worth knowing about,” said Parrison.
“Same to you,” I said.
If it was just me, I might have just given up, but with Denny depending on me, I felt I had to do something, so I sang in a fake opera style:
“May your tires stick to the street!”
Then I ran between two of the motorcycles and was off to the races. The engines roared with frustration and the motorcyclists yelled out a lot of words I wouldn’t think of writing down. My spell had worked! But I hadn’t covered much more than a block before I heard heavy footfalls behind me. A quick look back showed me that Parrison and Charna were rapidly gaining on us. Denny was too heavy for me to run my fastest with him in my arms, but I was afraid that if I put him down, he wouldn’t be able to get away from the apprentices. So, I tried another singing spell:
“May the nearest root trip you up!”
Sure enough, that got me a lot more horrible curses and a little more distance from our pursuers.
“How fast can you run?” I asked Denny with what little wind I had.
“Not fast enough.”
“Then hang on.”
My adrenalin was going full steam by then, and that helped. A little ball of fire blew up a few feet from us. I kept going. The next series of curses came from further away. I thanked the tree roots in front of people’s houses for that. I began to think we had a chance after all until a long lit-up net spread out and flew through the air in our direction. Then I wasn’t so sure we’d make it after all. To make matters worse, a thunderous sound suddenly filled my ears and the shape of a winged monster bigger than a house blocked the net. This time, there was no escape. The monster was on us almost as soon as I saw it. A pair of hands grabbed me and Denny. Next thing I knew, I was looking down at the ground from far up in the air and a foul stench attacked my nostrils from behind.