Osa was as calm as I was upset. She said, “If they had done anything, Kagan would have sent an army to punish them. They had no choice.”
I looked to Loor and was surprised to see that she too looked upset. She may not have been ranting the way I was, but her icy calm was cracked. I even thought I could see a tear in her eye. Maybe there was a heart beneath that tough exterior after all.
Still, I didn’t buy what Osa was saying. “So what? They should have done something,” I cried. “If they don’t do something, it’ll never stop.”
Osa put a hand on my shoulder, and I could feel myself starting to calm down. But what she said next was the last thing I wanted to hear.
“They are going to do something, Pendragon. They are going to take destiny into their own hands and rise up against Kagan. That is why we are here. We are going to help them.You are going to help them.”
These words hit me like a bolt from the blue. Uncle Press had told me there were people who needed our help, but I had no idea he was talking about an entire village of people who were at the mercy of a vicious army that didn’t think twice about killing people in cold blood. This was crazy. I felt bad for these people, but there was nothing I could do to help them. I didn’t care how tough this Loor person was, those knights were killers. And there were only three of us…four if you counted Uncle Press. What good could we do against an army? No, this was crazy. I made up my mind right there that the first chance I got, I’d get away from these nutburgers and get back to that flume thing. If it brought me here, then there had to be a way for it to get me back home. Yes, that was the answer. I was going to get myself out of here and kiss this place good-bye-with or without Uncle Press.
Second Earth
“Hey, you kids!”
Mark and Courtney looked up from their reading to see Sergeant D’Angelo calling to them from the front of the building. The two had been sitting there the whole time, reading the pages from Bobby.
“Run!” yelled Mark. He started to get up, but Courtney grabbed him by the seat of the pants and pulled him back down.
“Why?” she asked him calmly. “We’re not doing anything wrong.”
Mark had to think about that for a second. She was right, all they were doing was sitting in the alley, reading. Nothing illegal about that. So then why was this policeman yelling at them? Courtney looked to the cop, but didn’t budge.
“What do you want?” she yelled.
“I want to talk to you,” came the reply.
“Then you come to us,” Courtney yelled.
Ouch. Mark winced. Courtney was being pretty disrespectful. Okay, so maybe the guy dissed them before, but he was still a cop. Mark was sure he was going to arrest them.
D’Angelo took a few steps toward them with his hands on his hips, and said in a downright civil tone, “I want to talk to you about the Pendragons.”
“Why?” asked Courtney, oozing skepticism.
“Because I believe you,” answered D’Angelo.
Mark and Courtney shot each other a look. Victory! He must have found Mr. and Mrs. Pendragon. They both jumped up to go to the cop. Mark made sure that Bobby’s half-read journal was tucked securely in his pack, and the two followed D’Angelo back into the station house.
Once inside the sergeant led them past the lobby and continued on through the back offices. Mark thought this was kind of cool. He had never been behind the scenes at a real police station. The experience wasn’t exactly what he had expected. On TV, police stations had a lot of activity. There were always cops leading handcuffed perps toward interrogation rooms, and detectives taking statements and SWAT teams hurrying to some mission and generally a ton of cop-type hubbub. But not here in Stony Brook. Here a guy was making a phone call to Domino’s for pizza, and another guy looked bored while playing FreeCell on an old computer. Not exactly a beehive of electrifying police activity. Very disappointing.
“I gotta be honest,” said D’Angelo as he led them through the station. “I thought you two were pulling a number on me until I spoke with Captain Hirsch.”
“What did he say?” Mark asked.
“Ask him yourself,” said the sergeant as he opened a door and motioned for Mark and Courtney to enter. The two walked into a conference room with a large metal table surrounded by eight chairs. It was a plain room with a huge mirror that covered most of one wall. Sitting at the head of the table was a pleasant-looking man wearing a suit. When the kids entered he stood up and smiled, but both kids sensed that he was troubled. Good. He should be. There were troubling things going down.
“Hi, guys. I’m Captain Hirsch,” the man said. “Thanks for coming back.”
Courtney went right up to the mirror and stuck her nose to the glass while cupping her eyes to block out the light.
“This a two-way mirror?” she asked. “Who’s back there? You interrogating us?”
Hirsch looked to D’Angelo and the two chuckled. “Yes, it’s a two-way mirror,” said Hirsch. “But nobody’s back there and we’re not interrogating you.”
Courtney kept trying to look through the mirror. She didn’t believe him.
“Why don’t you two sit down and relax,” said the sergeant.
Mark and Courtney took seats next to each other at the table. D’Angelo stood by the door. Hirsch sat down and looked at the kids. The kids looked back at Hirsch. Hirsch nervously pulled at his eyebrow. It seemed as if he didn’t know where to begin, so Courtney being Courtney, decided to kick things off herself.
“So how come you suddenly believe us about the Pendragons?” she asked Hirsch.
“Mr. and Mrs. Pendragon are good friends of mine,” he said.
“My son Jimmy plays basketball with Bobby.”
“Jimmy Hirsch!” shouted Mark. “I know him. Strong forward.”
Captain Hirsch nodded. This was good. Now they had an adult on their side. And he was a cop. A captain, no less. Now things were going to start happening.
“When was the last time you saw Bobby?” he asked them.
Mark knew the answer, but it was up to Courtney to give it.
“Last night at his house,” she answered. “About an hour before the game.”
“Did he say anything that would make you think he was going away?” came the next question.
Courtney and Mark looked at each other. They knew exactly where Bobby had gone. If the story on the parchment were true, then they knew how Uncle Press had taken him on the back of his motorcycle and left for a place on the far side of the universe called Denduron. But neither of them were sure if the outlandish story was really true, and they didn’t want to sound totally insane. Besides, the pages didn’t explain what had happened to the Pendragons’ house. Mark and Courtney had decided before going to the police that they’d stick to the facts that could be proved. And it was pretty easy to prove that the house was gone. So without discussing it again, they both decided to stick with the original plan.
“I was talking to Bobby at his house,” answered Courtney. “His uncle Press came in and I left. That’s the last I saw him.”
Captain Hirsch looked down at a piece of paper where he had written some notes.
“Right. Uncle Press,” he said out loud, though it seemed like he was thinking it more than saying it. Hirsch looked like he wanted to say something, but wasn’t sure if it was a good idea or not. He looked to Sergeant D’Angelo for guidance.
“I think you should tell them, Captain,” said the sergeant.
“T-Tell us what?” asked Mark.
Obviously these policemen had some disturbing information. Captain Hirsch stood up and paced nervously.
“After you spoke with Sergeant D’Angelo, he told me about your visit,” began Hirsch. “Frankly, he didn’t believe you because he couldn’t find any information on the Pendragons.”
“But you know them,” interjected Courtney.
“Yes, I know them,” said Hirsch. “I’ve been to their house many times.”
“And the house is gone!” added Mark.