Chapter the 15th
A high tinkling musical sound gently lifted Sheila Armstrong out of her sleep. She recognized the music as a sonata by Josef Haydn that she was working on. She reached over for her portable radio, thinking she had left it on by a mistake, but the music wasn’t coming from there. A look at her digital clock told Sheila it was just a little past five in the morning. She switched on the reading lamp next to her bed and looked about the room. To her surprise, she saw Theodora, her favorite teddy bear, seated in the middle of the floor, playing the pink toy piano. How she managed to play the tiny keys with her paws was beyond her.
“I didn’t know you could play the piano, Theodora,” Sheila whispered to her teddy bear.
The teddy bear didn’t stop to reply to her, but continued to play the piano. Sheila listened anxiously for signs that either of her parents had heard the music and were coming to find out what was going on so early in the morning, but she heard not a peep out of them. She checked the corner of her room to make sure the candle was still lying on her dressing table. It was.
Sheila pulled back the curtains and looked outside. Milton was foggy and dark, the trees little more that shadowy blurs. Sheila shivered at the thought of going out in such a forbidding dawn, but then she remembered the odd way she had returned to her house. That made her wonder if she would be able find the inside route back to the strange house from the other direction. If not, she would have to sneak out of the house before her parents got up for breakfast and hope that the house was still next to the rectory of St. John’s Episcopal Church.
With her parents sure to sleep late, Sheila figured she could go back to sleep for a couple of hours more before setting out. But as soon as she put her head back to her pillow, the music stopped. Sheila looked down at the floor just in time to see Theodora her pick up the pink toy piano, tuck it under her arm, and pad over to the door. There, she stood, obviously waiting for Sheila to open it for her. Reluctantly, Sheila crawled out of bed, walked to the door, and opened it for her teddy bear. A cloud of fog, laced with purplish threads, poured into her room. When Theodora took a step to walk out into the fog, Sheila closed the door against her teddy bear’s nose. She immediately dropped down to the floor with her teddy bear and rubbed her nose.
“Oh Theodora! I’m so sorry if I hurt you!” Sheila apologized. “But what are you doing and where did you think you were going?”
If Theodora knew the answers to those questions, she wasn’t talking. There were other questions that worried Sheila even more. The most important one was: Where was her room? As an experiment, she picked up her phone receiver. There was no dial tone. As her throat tightened with panic, Sheila told herself to stop and think. Everything was illogical by the normal meaning of the term, but she decided she might get somewhere if she matched her logical thinking to the twisted logic of Carelin. Kevin had told her that in Carelin, events just happened and her best bet was to go with the flow. More important, the flow of events had a purpose of sorts. If Kevin was right about that, then it followed that if she was “meant” to return to the house where those three children lived, she would find her way there somehow. Theodora remained standing at the door, patiently waiting for Sheila to open it again. If toy train cars could follow Kevin around by their own volition, then a teddy bear could just as easily know what to do.
With these considerations, Sheila hit upon a simple plan that seemed to fit the logic of Carelin. She put her jacket over her shoulders in case she had to go outside, picked up the candle, and then opened the door of her room a second time. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw a boy sprawled across the floor right at her feet. She recognized him as one of the many lost children that Amarilla had gathered at Morley’s Toy Shop. Theodora walked right over the boy and went on past him. A moment later, Sheila heard the tinkling sound of the piano. Theodora had just seated herself on the floor and was playing the piano among several other children who were just starting to wake up. Sheila stepped over the boy and closed the door behind her. The door disappeared as soon as she let go of the knob, and she was back in the house she had visited the night before. She smelled bacon cooking from the kitchen.
“Morning Sheila,” said Kevin from the other side of the room.
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Shawn looked away from the spider, but he still felt her yellow eyes piercing him to the bone. He turned back and stared at her—hard. The spider stared back at Shawn just as hard. He would never win a stare down with her. Finally, Shawn decided he might as well take her advice. He tried bending over the side of his bed where his knife lay on the floor. The spider web did not hinder his movement after all, just as she had promised. Shawn cast a suspicious glance at the spider, but she did not poise herself for an attack. Shawn reached down the rest of the way and picked up the knife. He pointed it at the spider, but even then she did not pounce on him.
“I am not your package, you know,” said the spider.
“So what?”
“What that means is that if you open me up with that knife, you won't get what you want.”
“I’d get rid of you. That’s one thing I want.”
“Melanie the web spinner will have you know that getting rid of me would be a very bad idea.”
Although the spider was still speaking softly, her words thundered in Shawn’s ears.
“Why is that a bad idea?” Shawn asked.
“Because the threads connecting the universe, tenuous as they are, thanks to people like you, will be broken completely and the entire universe will fall apart,” the spider answered.
“You aren’t modest are you?” Shawn asked her.
“I only make claims that are perfectly true,” said the spider, her patience growing thin.
“All right, all right. You hold the universe together. Good for you.”
“Now sharpen the knife,” Melanie ordered.
Shawn looked at the spider suspiciously.
“Well,” said the spider. “You don't have to sharpen your knife if you would rather not open the package.”
Finally, Shawn felt so ridiculous for not following the spider's advice, that he started to sharpen his knife on the web. To his surprise, he heard the scraping sound one gets out of any good metal sharpener. He looked over his shoulder at the spider, but she remained seated where she was, looking on with detached interest. When Shawn thought the blade was sharp enough for the task, he snatched the package. The web remained stuck to it as much as to Shawn himself, but Shawn found that he could move freely enough to cut through the thick tape holding the package together. No sooner did Shawn rip open the package and throw away the packing paper thrown away, then he found himself holding yet another package addressed to him with the same return address Royal Corelee Light Bandits, Inc. In one breath, Shawn yelled out every swear word he had every heard in his life.
“Swearing will not help you open your package,” said the spider.
“How do you know?”
“Melanie, The Web Spinner, is not used to being questioned in that way.”
Shawn threw the package at the spider. It bounced off her face and boomeranged off Shawn's chest.
“I suppose I could tell you that throwing things will not help you open your package, either,” said the spider. “But you show no interest in listening to me.”
“I’ve never listened to a spider before in my life and I’ve never been interested and never will be,” Shawn grumbled.
“Is that something to brag about?”
“I never thought listening to a spider was anything to brag about.”
“Do you have anything at all to brag about?”
“My train set. My clothes. My brains. My good looks. Do you want the whole list?”
“Not if the rest of the items in your list are as insubstantial as the ones you have already mentioned.”
“My train set is the best in the whole state of Pennsylvania!” Shawn yelled.
“And where is that?”
“In my room.”
That prompted Shawn to look about the image of his room, wondering if it really was his room. He still couldn’t see anything beyond a few feet from his bed, but it was clear that his train set was not in this room
“Where is my train set?” Shawn yelled at the spider.
“Somewhere else, I should think,” replied the spider.
“And where might that be?”
“I should think that your train set is wherever it needs to be at this time where it can be put at the disposal of whoever has the need of it for a quest at this time,” Melanie answered.
“Do you mean to tell me that you have stolen my train set?” Shawn thundered.
“Melanie the Web Spinner does not steal anything,” said the spider. “Melanie the Web Spinner only places each thing where it is most needed on her web at any given time.”
“I don’t care about your web,” Shawn muttered. “I just want my train.”
“Melanie the Web Spinner also suggests that you learn to care about Melanie’s Web much more than you do if you do not wish to be lost on a broken thread forever,” said the spider. “Melanie the Web Spinner further suggests that you open your package with no further delay.”
“I don’t like your suggestions,” said Shawn.
“If you do not think I am helpful,” said Melanie, “you can stare at your package forever, if you would rather.”
Shawn heaved a fierce sigh and cut open the package only to find another package inside addressed to himself with the same return address on it. In a flurry of activity, he opened that package, found yet another package inside, and cut that one open as well.
“Why don't you open the package to see what's inside?” Melanie asked Shawn.
“I’m trying to.”
“Hmm.”
Just to spite the spider, Shawn tore open the package, desperately hoping to find his new train engine at last. To his surprise, there it was! Or so Shawn thought. When he pulled his toy out, what he held in his hands was not a train engine, but a small treasure chest. The chest felt so light in his hand it had to be empty. He opened it anyway and found yet another treasure chest inside the one he had just opened.
“Oh no, not again!” Shawn groaned.
“What is the problem?” asked the spider.
“I’m tired of empty boxes and empty treasure chests!” Shawn yelled.
“I suggest you look inside the treasure chest more closely before you say that it is empty,” said the spider.
Shawn pursed his lips and thrust open the chest, grabbed a chest he found inside it, and flipped that one open as well. Inside this chest, Shawn found treasure chest that was larger than the chest that had contained it. He opened that chest and the chest inside of that was larger still. Not until he had opened more treasure chests inside of treasure chests than he could count did Shawn look up at the spider again and glare at her. If she had appeared big before, she now looked monstrous. Shawn’s knife hung on the web above him, poised like a giant axe that could chop off his head in one blow. The carpet looked to be over a hundred feet below his bed. The treasure chest he had just pulled out of the last treasure chest was almost as tall as he was.
Standing on his tip-toes, Shawn flipped open the lid of the chest. He climbed to the rim and reached in for the chest inside. This time he found nothing except a prick of light deep inside the chest that flickered like a distant star. The rim of the chest was so wide that Shawn could walk along it. He walked up and down the rim while looking down to get a better look at the light. The threads of the spider web wrapped around Shawn's body like a blanket but they did not restrict his movements.
“Is that all the light my bandits stole from that king who wants to start a war with me?” Shawn asked himself as he recalled the return address on each of the packages.
“That is all the light there is,” the spider replied, her voice booming. “Melanie the Web Spinner suggests that you retrieve it.”
Shawn stole a glance in her direction, but she was now so monstrous that he could not bear to look at her and he looked away.
“Why should I?” he snarled.
“If you do not retrieve the light, then somebody else will have to do it and Melanie the Web Spinner will not like that,” said the spider.
“Then let somebody else do it and you can lump it!” Shawn yelled.
“Very well,” said Melanie the Web Spinner. “I will other questers in my web retrieve the light, but you must still do your part.”
“I do not!”
“What are you going to do with all the light, then?”
“I’ll hold it for ransom until I get my train set back,” said Shawn.
“What if I hold your train set for ransom until you retrieve the light?” the spider asked in return.
“I’ll show you what,” Shawn muttered through clenched teeth.
He reached over to grab the prick of light but it skipped out of his reach. Shawn stretched his arm further down the side of the chest and closed his hand over the spark.
“Gotcha!” Shawn yelled.
But as he gloated, he plunged into the chest. The spark burned Shawn’s hand so badly that he could not hold it for more than a second and he had to let go. But when he let go of the spark, the spark consumed him in a blaze and Shawn fell deeper into the treasure chest with no sign of there being a bottom to it.
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Miss Shepherd could not disguise her surprise and confusion at seeing Sheila at the door with three other children, two of whom she would never have seen before, on a Saturday morning. Sheila could hear an inept piano student torturing a simple piece of music in the living room. She had her candle clumsily hidden under her jacket, trusting that Miss Shepherd to be so dense that she wouldn’t notice anything.
You don't have a lesson today,” said the piano teacher.
“I know,” Sheila replied, “We came to see Shawn.”
“You did?”
The shock registered on her piano teacher’s face was so great that Sheila was sure that she was the first person in Milton ever to call on Shawn.
“Yes,” Sheila lied.
Miss Shepherd’s expression became one of total befuddlement.
“Shawn isn't here. He hasn’t been here since yesterday.”
Sheila exchanged glances with Kevin, Roger and Samantha.
“He hasn’t?” asked Sheila.
“That’s what I just said. Shawn hasn’t been here since yesterday and I have no idea where he is. His father does not know where he is. The police do not know where he is.”
“Uh—we were going to ask him to show us his train set,” Kevin stammered.
“That will be a first if that should happen,” said Miss Shepherd. “He doesn't even let me look at it.”
The children shuffled about the front porch uncomfortably.
“I brought two new train cars,” said Kevin as he held up his prizes. “I called Shawn yesterday and asked if he wanted to see them and he said he did.”
Miss Shepherd started to close the door.
“I'm sure Shawn will be glad to see them when he gets back,” she said, “if he ever gets back.”
“Can we take these up to his room?” asked Kevin.
“That’ll surprise him,” said Samantha.
“Won't it be fun when he comes back and goes up to his room and finds two new train cars waiting for him?” asked Roger.
“I wouldn’t count on that,” said Miss Shepherd, “Shawn’s awfully touchy, you know.”
“We know,” said Kevin.
Miss Shepherd looked over the four children with so much suspicion that they were afraid she was about to slam the door in their faces. But just then, the sounds coming from the piano became worse than ever. Miss Shepherd winced.
“Who’s that?” asked Samantha.
“One of my worst students,” Miss Shepherd replied in a low voice.
“If we bring the cars up to Shawn’s room,” said Roger, looking super-polite, “we can start up the train set and that will drown out your pupil and you won’t have to listen to him.”
“Thanks for the offer,” said Miss Shepherd with a faded smile.
“When Shawn sees the train cars,” said Samantha, “he’ll be so happy that you’ll be glad to have him around for once.”
Miss Shepherd looked doubtful.
“Well, okay, but if Shawn has a fit, I'm going to tell him who is responsible.”
‘We'll own up to it,” said Kevin.
The four children squeezed through the door before Miss Shepherd change her mind and ran up the stairs. There, they stopped and looked at each other.
“We didn't ask which room is Shawn's,” said Roger.
“It won’t take long to find it,” said Kevin.
He carefully opened one door and found a bedroom with an unmade bed and sheets of music stacked in several piles on the dresser. The next door Kevin tried revealed a whole little world laced with train tracks.
“Wow!” cried Roger and Kevin together.
The children looked in wonder at the little world that was bustling with life. Not only was the train making its rounds throughout the country, but toy soldiers were marching about, army tanks were rolling into position to defend the towns, and the toy cowboys were riding unicorns all over the countryside and shooting their pistols.
“Let’s see if we can get the new cars hooked up,” said Roger.
“Better stop the train,” suggested Samantha.
Kevin found the control switch and turned it off, but the train continued to wind its way along a river and over a mountain. Crossing another river over a railroad bridge, it approached a village and finally slowed down on its own as it approached a miniature station.
“This is not the way a train set run by electricity is supposed to work,” said Kevin.
“Then I would think that this train set is not run by electricity—whatever that is,” said Roger. “It’s running by life—whatever that is.”
Kevin gave Roger an uncomprehending look, then unhooked a pair of cars in the middle of the train and hooked them up to the circus car with the silver wolf. Then he tacked the caboose on to the end of the train.
“That wolf!” Sheila gasped in a whisper. “It’s coming to life!”
“Of course it is,” Samantha replied “Who wants a dead wolf in a circus car?”
The children watched with fascination as the tiny wolf paced back and forth in its cage, looking so lifelike that it no longer looked like a toy.
“Gosh! This train even has a milk car!” Samantha gasped.
“That’s so they can feed the wolf milk for lunch,” said Roger. “I hope they have a music car.”
“Can’t you do without music even for six seconds?” Samantha asked him.
“No, can you?”
“No.”
“I’d love to ride a train like this,” said Kevin.
“I think we’re supposed to ride a train like this,” said Samantha.
“How are we going to manage that without drinking a potion that makes us little?” asked Sheila.
“All aboard!” cried a bearded engineer from the cab of the engine.
The train started up once more and rode into a flat countryside, past some open fields, and a couple of plastic castles. A gentle mist cast a halo of mystery about the castles, almost making them come alive. The whistle blew as the train turned around the bend.
“Aw!” Kevin exclaimed, “we missed it.”
“We can catch it at the next station,” said Roger.
“This one?” Sheila asked as she rested her hand on the roof of the station.
“Yea, that’s it,” said Samantha. “Careful!”
Sheila felt something pull her hand away from her. She whisked it away just in time and staggered away from the station that suddenly towered above her head. Somehow, she had managed to keep a firm grip on the candle through the process, although Sheila was beginning to wonder if it was the candle that was keeping a tight grip on her. Sheila heard the rumble of the train, punctuated by blasts of the whistle. The train turned a corner and chugged into the station. Sheila looked about anxiously for her friends and saw Roger, Kevin, and Samantha running to the station just as the train pulled in. The children stood together on the platform and watched the cars go by, their mouths wide open. When the circus car passed them, the silvery wolf looked as fully alive as any wolf in a zoo. It cast the children a knowing look that made Sheila’s spine tingle. Then the wheels squealed and the train came to a full stop. The engineer poked his head out of the window so that his beard fell out and dropped all the way to the ground.
“You must be the appointed passengers!” said the engineer.
“We hope so!” said Roger.
“I think we’re supposed to go somewhere,” added Samantha.
“Somewhere is where we're going all right, if we don't get lost on the way,” said the engineer. “Don't worry, just joking, ha-ha! If you don't get lost, I don't get lost either. How’s that for a negotiated agreement? Is there a purpose for this trip?”
“Of course there is,” said Roger. “We’re trying to find all the light that’s missing.”
“Sounds like a pretty good purpose to me,” said the engineer. “I wish I had a better sense of direction than I’ve got right now. Owner of this railroad isn’t very helpful.”
“No kidding,” said Sheila.
“Are you the ones who added the animal car and the caboose?” asked the engineer.
“Yea,” said Kevin. “I hope you don’t mind.”
“Where did you get them?”
“At Morley’s Toy Store,” Kevin replied.
“Ah! Then I don’t mind the extra cars at all. On the contrary, I’m glad to have them. Might even need them before our trip is done. You better get on the train before I take off without you. Take the third car down. It's the best one. Be sure you stay on the train, no matter what happens, until it comes to a complete stop.”
“Roger!” Roger called out.
“That's my name!” said the engineer. “Best name in the railroad directory.”
“You bet it is!” Roger replied. “Roger!”
“Keep that candle with you, Miss,” the engineer said to Sheila.
“I’ll try.”
“Best way to succeed is to keep trying, as long as your candle keeps trying, too.”
The children ran to the car indicated by the engineer, but Sheila looked back and noticed that the engineer was having troubled pulling his beard back into the engine.
“His beard is caught!” Sheila cried out.
“Tintabulating tom-toms!” Samantha exclaimed when she saw for herself what had happened.
She ran back, and tried to lift the beard, but couldn’t.
“Never you mind, miss,” said the engineer, “this beard ain't worth it.”
“Yes, it is,” Samantha insisted.
“It looks like seaweed caught in a roller coaster!” said Roger as he ran back to help.
Samantha and Roger and Kevin pulled and twisted as best they could. When they had yanked the beard free, the engineer cried out. The children pushed the beard back into the cabin and the engineer placed it about his body as if it were a blanket.
“Much obliged to you all,” said the engineer. “Have a happy ride.”
The engineer blew the whistle and the children hurried down to the car. The second they were on the train, the whistle blew and the train headed out of the station. When they entered the car, the children could not believe their eyes. The cabin was furnished as if it were the living room of a mansion owned by a turn-of-the-twentieth-century millionaire. Colorful plush cushions decked the chairs, an oriental carpet covered the floor, and a mahogany coffee table was covered with snacks laid out for the passengers. The sound of a tinkly piano added itself to the train’s noise and its whistle. Sheila winced when she saw Theodora sitting on the floor in a corner, playing the pink toy piano she thought she had left behind at the house.
“That thing keeps following me wherever I go,” Sheila complained.
“It likes you,” said Samantha with a grin.
By this time the train had gathered enough speed that the countryside was whizzing by. The children sat down around the coffee table and eyed a platter of mushrooms stuffed with crabmeat and another platter piled high with chocolate brownies. Samantha poured hot chocolate into little cups out of a large silver urn on the coffee table.
“We're on our way,” said Roger, trying to sound grown-up.
“Yep,” said Kevin, trying to sound like an old man enjoying his millions of dollars.
“Got the candle?” asked Roger.
Sheila held it up.
“Candle accounted for,” she said.
The train entered a thick forest where evergreen trees dwarfed the train and cut down on the light that came into the cabin.
“Do you think Shawn minds our using his train set?” Kevin asked with a smile.
“What he doesn't know won't hurt him,” said Sheila with her mouth full.
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At bedtime Agnes Shepherd slowly climbed the stairs to her bedroom. Saturdays were always her worst days as she had pupils booked from early morning through the early evening. As soon as she reached the upstairs hall, she knew immediately that something was wrong. After a tense moment she realized that Shawn’s door was open. He never left his door open. A bigger shock awaited Agnes when looked into Shawn’s room. The bed was up against the wall, but there was a gaping hole where the train set should have been.
“Remember those kids who came this morning calling for Shawn?” asked an old man dressed in black.
“Of course you forgot,” said a woman, also dressed in black. “You couldn’t be bothered with thinking about anything that concerned your nephew, could you?”
“It is because of your inattention that four children walked up to Shawn’s room and walked away with his entire train set,” said a younger man.
“You let those kids in and then you forgot about them for the rest of the day,” added the woman.
“And now what are you going to tell Shawn when he comes home?” asked the younger man.
“Of course, you might be spared having to explain yourself to Shawn,” said the older man.
“After all, Shawn may not ever come back to this house,” said the woman.
“Won’t it be a relief, not to have your nephew to fret about?” suggested the younger man.
“Surely you can understand why Shawn would leave you without notice,” said the older man.
“You haven’t been exactly welcoming to him, you know,” said the woman.
“Any child stuck with staying with you would leave at the earliest opportunity,” said the younger man.
With a heavy heart, Agnes walked into her room and shut the door. That shut out the voices, but their words continued to make their rounds inside her head. She thought of calling the police to ask if they had come across any clues as to where Shawn was, but she thought better of it. After all, they did promise to call if there was any news. Besides, she didn’t want to take a chance of getting her only good pupil into trouble.