“Wow.” Tyler’s heart was beating hard just hearing it. “But somehow Kingaree came through, too.”
Caesar nodded. “Maybe that was the good Lord’s plan-bring that evil man here, where he couldn’t catch any more poor colored folk and drag ‘em into slavery. Still, I can’t help wishing that He woulda dropped Jackson Kingaree in the ocean instead.”
“That’s so terrible!” said Lucinda. “I’m sorry, Caesar.”
“Weren’t your fault, child. Even your granny and your grampy weren’t born back then. Eighteen and forty-eight, that was-long time ago.” He sighed. “We’ll just pray that Kingaree doesn’t come around here-or that if he does, he does it when Mr. Walkwell’s back to catch him at it.”
“How long did he live here on the farm? And why did Gideon let him leave?”
“Wasn’t anything so simple. Kingaree disappeared the night of the big fire. I admit that for a while I was hopin’ he got burned up.”
“The fire in Gideon’s laboratory?” Tyler tried to keep his voice even. The last Continuascope had been destroyed in that disaster. “Did Kingaree have something to do with that?”
“Could be.” Caesar shrugged. “Mister Gideon always thought so, but it didn’t make no sense to me. Why would he burn up that laboratory instead of the house where all the people were?”
A thought was tugging at Tyler. “To make it look like the Continuascope was destroyed?” His heart was suddenly racing even faster.
Lucinda eyed him with something like alarm. “Tyler…?”
“No, think about it. He knew that Gideon would never let him get away with the Continuascope-all these years and Gideon still hasn’t been able to build another one! So maybe Kingaree set the fire so Gideon would think the Continuascope was gone for good.”
Caesar shook his head. “That’s what some of the folks round here thought, too-especially Mister Gideon. He was sure that Kingaree had stolen that thing! He kept Mr. Walkwell out guarding the Fault Line every night for weeks and weeks. But Kingaree never came, thank the Lord. Now why, children, if he had Mister Gideon’s device all those years would he wait until now to come back? And announce it to a little girl? Beggin’ your pardon, Miss Lucinda.”
“Yeah, it doesn’t make a lot of sense.” Tyler was still frowning when he noticed a shadow out of the corner of his eye. He turned to see Colin Needle leaning in the doorway of Gideon’s office, his thin arms crossed over his chest and a look of sour amusement on his face.
“Up to mischief again, Jenkins?” the tall boy asked.
“Needle! What are you doing, spying on us?”
“You wish.” Colin straightened so that he could look down his nose at him. “I have business here, as it happens.” He turned to Caesar. “My mother wants you to come and take your willow bark tea. Also, she said she’s worked up some more mint oil salve.”
Caesar nodded. “Ah, that is a blessing. I’ve been missing it. My hands have been playing me up something fierce.” He turned back to Tyler and Lucinda. “You children excuse me-Mrs. Needle’s medicine tea works best when it’s hot and fresh.”
After the old man had made his way out of the room Colin lingered behind. “I don’t really expect your brother to stay out of trouble,” he told Lucinda. “But if he keeps on poking and spying into old problems he’s going to drop you into trouble as well. I’d hate to see that happen.”
“What’s that all about?” Tyler said after Colin had left. “Does he think he’s protecting you from me? Dude, I would so like to punch him right in his skinny face!”
Lucinda gave him a hard look. “Cut it out, Tyler. He’s not so bad-not like his mother. I think he was just trying to do me a favor.”
“He was listening in on us, is what he was doing.” Tyler snorted. “Calling me a spy-how long do you think he was standing there listening to us talk to Caesar? Listening to us talk about Kingaree? And the Continuascope! I told you, he’s trying to make one!”
Lucinda shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. If Gideon couldn’t make a new one, Colin Needle sure can’t do it on his own.”
It was a good point, especially since Gideon had actually helped Octavio make the first one. “Yeah, but he’s up to something and I don’t like him sneaking around, listening in on us. I’m going to figure out what he’s doing and then he’s really going to know what trouble is!”
“Oh, man!” Lucinda rolled her eyes. “Sometimes I think Colin’s right about you, Tyler.” She turned and headed up the stairs, the noise of her footsteps for a moment as loud as the approaching thunderstorm.
“What?” he shouted after her. “Wait! What’s that supposed to mean?”
Chapter 14
The summer storm had been a powerful one, with lightning and drumrolls of thunder in the night that had set the house shuddering, but it was gone by morning. Now the sky was clear and the hills bright with detail beneath the sun. Even the ground smelled rich and new.
“Did you hear all that last night?” Lucinda asked her brother. “It was hard to sleep.”
“Saw some lightning,” he said. “Pretty cool. Thought it might hit the house… ”
“It did hit the house,” Colin Needle said in his most bored, superior voice. “Probably about ten times. That’s why we have a lightning rod on the roof.”
Lucinda was relieved that her brother only rolled his eyes in disgust and turned away from Colin Needle. It was bad enough they were all so worried about Gideon. She wanted today to go well.
Mr. Walkwell was driving them to the Carrillos’ Fourth of July party, so of course they were traveling by horse cart. Before heading off to Cresta del Sol dairy farm, though, he took them to the unicorn pasture so he and Ragnar could fill the unicorns’ trough. The graceful creatures came down from the hills to feed, but they were skittish: when Ragnar approached a young unicorn who was limping, she spooked and ran. The rest of the herd followed and soon had all but vanished from sight, a shrinking white cloud skimming across the dry, golden grasses.
“Perhaps it is last night’s storm,” Mr. Walkwell called to Ragnar. “But something is bothering them, that is sure.” He looked at Lucinda, Tyler, and Colin as if they might somehow be to blame. “All the animals are strange today.”
“Yes, it’s not just that one foal, Simos,” the Norsemen said. “There are at least three of them, maybe four, who are all wobbly on their feet. I fear we may have some pest among them.” Ragnar walked up the nearest hill carrying his binoculars, trying to get a better look at the foals. He seemed worried, and no wonder: if some disease infected this herd, every single unicorn left in the world might die. The thought of all that beauty just swept away made Lucinda’s eyes blur with tears.
“Maybe Poseidon makes an earthshake soon,” Mr. Walkwell called after Ragnar. “That frightens many creatures. Often animals can sense what the gods plan long before men can guess.”
“The gods-of course, all this must be their doing!” Colin smirked as he said it, but Lucinda wasn’t so skeptical. After all, if the farm’s overseer was a faun, or a satyr, or whatever he was-something that wasn’t supposed to exist-who was to say that Zeus and the other Greek gods weren’t real, too?
“Do you really think the gods are angry with us?” she asked.
Mr. Walkwell gave her a sourly amused look. “The gods are always angry about something.”
“What are we going to tell the Carrillos about Gideon when we get there?” Lucinda asked as Ragnar finally turned and began to make his way back down the hill toward the wagon.