Part 7 (2/2)

”Why is your light on at such a late hour?”

Edgar heard the voice from where he lay under the bed, loud and shrill in the night.

”What have you got there? What's that you're reading?”

The voice was that of a grown man. Disoriented, Edgar turned his head so that he could see out from under the bed, and then he remembered-he was in Samuel's room. Edgar could see the light dancing on the floor, stirred by the door being shut. The man walked across the room with heavy steps and stopped where Edgar could see his boots.

”Where did you get this book? WHERE DID YOU GET IT?” the man screamed at Samuel, but the boy wouldn't answer. ”Lord Phineus is going to be very interested to see this,” said the man. ”And you.”

Samuel was pulled out of his chair, and now Edgar could see all four feet moving for the door. He listened as Samuel was hauled out of the room and the door slammed shut.

Edgar was alone. Samuel was gone, and the book had been taken by what sounded like a cruel man. Where had he taken Samuel, and what would he do to him? Edgar was surprised to find that he cared more about what happened to his friend than he did the book, his only true possession. He felt responsible for putting Samuel in danger. A new feeling of dread settled into his stomach that he'd never known before. I should never have come here.

After his racing heart slowed, Edgar crept out from under the bed. He looked all around the small room, then sat down in Samuel's chair and leaned forward over the table. He was startled by a crinkling noise, as if something were in the front pocket of his s.h.i.+rt. Edgar sat up straight, reached into the pocket, and pulled out a piece of paper, ripped and crumpled at the edges. The size and handwriting were familiar. It was a page from the book of secret things.

But how had it come to be in Edgar's pocket? And more importantly, what did it say? And then he had an awful thought that sent his heart racing once more.

They will be looking for this page, and the first place they'll come is here. I must get out.

Edgar quietly opened the door, looked all around, and ventured out into the night.

Lord Phineus stood at an open window in a private chamber at the top of the House of Power, surveying the world below. He was a tall man with a long face and short black hair that came to a widow's peak high on his forehead. It was a haircut that heightened the severity of his face-the cold eyes, the bony nose.

There was no higher place in the world than the window where he stood, and it pleased Lord Phineus to stand above it all, relis.h.i.+ng the power he had attained. He alone controlled the water flow in Atherton. He lived in a mighty fortress of stone, and he had an army of Highlanders to protect him should the need arise. He had carefully built an inner circle of devoted allies in Sir Philip, Sir Emerik, and Mr. Ratikan. They were all indebted to him and motivated to do his bidding. He'd gotten rid of those who questioned his authority.

And yet, as Lord Phineus stood at the window, he couldn't help thinking about what would happen if ever the people in Tabletop were to revolt and try to find a way into the Highlands, and this thought wiped the wicked smile from his face. He had weapons and horses, which Tabletop didn't have. The cliffs had always protected him, and he could never be reached by an army from below. Still, the idea of invasion troubled his dark mind as he looked out over the sleeping world. His entire army comprised just one hundred twenty men and horses. There were many more people below, over a thousand, and all of them serving the few in the Highlands.

His anxiety had increased when people started reporting that the horses were restless. And there was something else, something more peculiar still. He had woken in the night several times and thought he'd felt a trembling. It was a deep, quiet movement he did not understand. In recent days the trembling had occurred during the day, and it had gotten stronger. Others had felt it, too. Could it be the water moving faster out of the spring below the House of Power? Or maybe it was the horses themselves-agitated by a force unknown-pounding across the fields with a fury?

As Lord Phineus sat brooding over these developments, he felt it again. The soft and steady rumble went on for a time before he left his room in search of where it came from. He had only one thought on his mind now: What is that strange trembling?

While Edgar was making his escape from the Highlands, a rabbit found a hole in his pen and slipped out of the Village of Rabbits. He hopped past the inn where Briney was busy tending the fire and his wife was sweeping the floor. After a time, the rabbit arrived at the cliffs leading up to the Highlands. He sniffed all around as the rock wall in front of him moved down.

The rabbit hopped back and forth as he watched. He had spied a small bit of green gra.s.s growing out of the cliff five feet above and wished he could have it.

He didn't have to wait very long.

Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge, and how much happier that a man is who believes his native town is the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow.

DR. FRANKENSTEIN.

FRANKENSTEIN, 1818.

MARY Sh.e.l.lEY.

PART.

TWO.

”How could you let this happen? You knew he was unstable and you let him go anyway.”

Dr. Kincaid didn't know what to tell them. He was every bit as devastated as they were.

”We always knew this could happen. As brilliant as he is, we knew there was a risk we'd lose him. A risk we'd lose everything.”

”Not acceptable! There has to be a way to get it back. YOU have to get it back.”

Dr. Luther Kincaid knew what they were asking was impossible. If Dr. Harding did not want to be found, he would get his wish, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

”Do you remember when I found him? He was playing in the dirt at the edge of the park. Even then I knew there were risks. He was smas.h.i.+ng the ants with a rock. He knew the power of Earth.”

”What in G.o.d's name are you talking about, Luther? You're as mad as he is!”

But Luther knew this wasn't true. Even at seventy-eight years old he was in remarkably good health. Dr. Luther Kincaid knew himself well enough to know he hadn't lost his mind.

”There is yet a chance.”

”What do you mean to say?”

Luther clicked off the device and smiled vaguely, thinking of another time, another place.

CHAPTER.

12.

A TREMBLING WORLD.

Sir Emerik was a man who was always trying to figure out how he might increase his own authority and put those around him on a lower footing. Such a man has a mind full of suspicious thoughts, forever on the prowl for someone to strip of power so that he might increase his own. It was just such a thought that led him to Samuel.

That boy is sneaking around too much. He's up to no good. I shall keep an eye on him.

A few days after this thought emerged in Sir Emerik's mind, he pa.s.sed through the courtyard at night and saw the light under Samuel's door. He wondered what the boy was doing so late in the evening and, hearing nothing, he banged on the door and barged in without invitation. What a magnificent surprise it was to find Samuel in possession of a secret doc.u.ment, one that held information sure to interest Lord Phineus.

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