“Why?”
“Because you are not one of us, and we are all headed to the Estate.”
“Who says I’m not one of you?” she asked. “I’m related to someone from this town.”
Jake and I looked at each other. Could she be a creature too?
“I suppose it’s possible, but people from around here don’t leave too often. I think your parents would have told you.”
“Okay, well, whatever,” she said making a flapping motion in the air with her hands. “What is this about? The Estate thing, I mean.”
I chewed my lip and thought about it. I wasn’t sure I should tell her.
Danny finally leaned into the talk again. “Good thinking, Connor,” he said. “She’s a mundane. Don’t give away all the family secrets.”
I was so tired of Danny. I decided to tell Beth about Vater, if only because it would bug him.
“It’s all about Vater,” I told her. “He’s the original creature, from a long time ago. We are all related to him.”
Danny made a disgusted sound and leaned back in his seat.
“Vater? What kind of a name is that?” asked Beth.
“It’s Swiss, I think. My parents always say he’s from the Alps.”
Beth nodded, but kept her lips pursed up in a doubtful expression.
“Vater is our great, great, great grandfather. Actually, I should probably put about five more greats on there, but you get the idea. The guy is really old and our clan is really a very large family that is all descended from one person. We don’t say his real name, we just call him Vater. That means something in the old country, where we all came from about a hundred years ago. But nobody has seen him since long before I was born. Some people even thought he was dead, until now.”
“So, he is some kind of super-old dude? How old can he be?”
Jake and I looked at each other.
“Well, Mr. Waldheim, that’s the dean, he says he’s very old,” I said.
“Mr. Waldheim is an alligator,” said Jake, jumping in.
“An alligator?” asked Beth, rolling her eyes.
“He’s really more like a monitor lizard,” I said seriously, “when he changes I mean. You see, sometimes it’s hard to tell exactly what kind of animal a person is because they only change part way, and they keep part of their human look.”
“You don’t want to get detention with him when he gets mad,” added Jake.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” said Beth, sighing. “You were talking about Vater.”
“No one really knows exactly how old he is,” I said. “At least if they do, they don’t tell us kids.”
“Half-human alligators? Centuries-old grandpas?” she said. She threw up her hands. “Now I know you guys are full of it.”
The bus stopped then. We hadn’t been paying attention to where we were going, but now everyone looked outside. The white-frosted trees crowded up to the bus on both sides of the narrow lane. A huge gate of black iron bars squatted in front of us. Beyond the gate, the road ran uphill to a big, strange-looking house. It was huge and rambling and my mom always called it “Victorian”. It had shingles on the walls, lots of balconies and turrets like a castle. There were stained-glass windows and complex designs made of wood everywhere. There were statues too, carved things like animals and gargoyles that crouched on the roof. Even though it was morning, up high, maybe on the third floor, a pair of yellow lights shined in the windows. They looked like eyes staring down at us.
“This is the Estate?” asked Beth, her voice filled with awe at the sight of it. “Who lives there?”
“No one really lives in the mansion. It’s Vater’s home. We take care of it for him.”
“That’s wild! It looks huge.”
The gates slowly swung open. We heard them creaking, screeching on their rusty hinges.
“What’s in there?” she hissed to us excitedly.
“Lots of stuff,” I said. “We usually get to go in only once a year, for Vater’s birthday celebration in the summer. We have a cake and everything, but he never comes.”
“What’s up in those top rooms? In those towers and things?”
“I don’t know. I’ve only been on the main floor,” I said.
“Cool!” she said. “I want to check out those towers.”
I smiled. Beth was no chicken. Maybe she would do all right in this town after all.
“Listen,” I said to her, “if you want to come along, I’ll help cover for you and tell you what is going on.”
She looked at me and chewed her lower lip. “Okay,” she said.
The bus didn’t move, not even when the gate was open. Mrs. Urdo got up and walked down the aisle. Her steps were graceful, measured and sure. She stopped in front of us and crouched down so her face was at our level. She looked at Beth seriously.
“I’ve called for a ride for you,” she said.
Beth looked at her for a long moment. Everyone else on the bus stared at us.
“I don’t want a ride,” she said finally.
“You aren’t from here,” said Miss Urdo gently. “There’s no need for you go with us.”
Beth and Miss Urdo locked stares for a moment. “I do belong here,” said Beth. “My Aunt is from here. I’m just like everyone else.”
Urdo stared at her for a moment longer without any expression. Then she glanced at me. Her gaze always made me squirm. Then, finally, she gave us a tiny smile and nodded.
She walked back up the aisle to her seat and the bus lurched into gear.
We headed into the Estate grounds.
Chapter Eight
We piled out of the bus and trudged through the snow to the mansion steps. They were steep, about a foot high each, as if made for someone taller than a normal human. HHHuge double doors waited for us at the top of the steps. The doors stood open, yawning wide like a giant’s mouth. Beth stopped at the threshold before going inside.
I stopped beside her. She was eyeing the ornate old-fashioned door. She ran her hands over the heavy rings that opened the door.
“The adults called this The Portal,” I explained.
“Is that real gold?” she asked. She rubbed the thick, gleaming rings of yellow metal that you pulled on to open the doors. They looked like they were solid gold to me.
“Maybe,” I said. “Knowing my family, it probably is.”
“That’s great,” she said, grinning. “You might be full of it, Connor, but I’m glad I came along.”
I nodded and smiled. She would figure things out soon enough. I only hoped she didn’t go too crazy when something really strange happened.
We tramped into the entryway and knocked snow off our boots. The carpet was thick and red and your feet sank into it as if you were walking on cushions. Along the walls were more carvings, mostly of animals. One was a wooden carving of a beaver that leaned on a cane. The beaver looked old and tired, but strained to stand up straight.
Beth giggled. She pointed at the beaver. “One of your uncles, I presume?”
“A grand aunt, actually,” I said.
“Oh Connor, you’re too much.”
I pointed at the plaque at the bottom of the statue. It read: In loving memory of Aunt Ethel.
Beth’s mouth sagged open. “Oh, come on!” she said. She stared at it for a few more moments. “Okay, so somebody had an aunt that loved beavers, right?”
“Yeah, she had a thing for beavers that walked with canes,” said Jake.
Beth just laughed and shook her head.
Jake and I exchanged glances. I knew what he was thinking. She still didn’t believe us. This was going to be a rough landing for Miss Elizabeth Hatter.
The entry led into the Great Hall. The hall was two stories high and all around the upper level were dusty portraits of people in old-fashioned clothes. Down on our level there were doors and corridors that led off deeper into the mansion. The middle of the hall was full of more plush, red carpet and a lot of overstuffed chairs and sofas. There were tables and old-fashioned frosted-glass lamps everywhere. Miss Urdo let us all relax here.