Oracles of Delphi Keep (30 page)

The professor waved at them from the top step as the five set off, and the group made their way along the busy streets back toward the train station. The afternoon traffic had picked up and there were no hackney cabs available, so Ian, Theo, and Carl took the opportunity to lag behind their schoolmasters and discuss their day.

“No offense,” Carl began, “but I think that old man should be called Professor Nutty. He didn’t seem quite right up here. Know what I mean?” he said, tapping his head.

“He meant well,” Theo chided, but Ian noticed the smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. “Besides, he’s just been sacked. Don’t you think that’d make anyone a bit irritable?”

“What I don’t understand,” Carl went on, “is how a map that Ian drew could be pulled out of a box from ancient Greece. I mean, how is that even possible?”

“Don’t bring your map with you when you come next time, Ian,” said Theo.

“What?” he asked, giving her a quizzical look. “Of course I’m going to bring it! I mean, how else is the professor, or anyone else for that matter, going to believe me?”

Theo shook her head vehemently. “You mustn’t!” she insisted.

“Why not?” Ian asked, confused.

“Because something tells me that it would mean the destruction of one of those maps.”

“What do you mean?” asked Carl.

Theo sighed heavily. “I mean that I believe that Ian’s map at the keep is the same as the one that the professor pulled from the box. As no two things of identical nature can exist in the same place at the same time, I believe that one of them would have to dissolve into nothingness.”

Ian scowled as he considered that, and before he could reply, Carl said, “She’s got a point, you know.”

“Well, thank you,” Theo said drolly “I’m
so
glad you believe me capable of making a good point.”

“Oh, come off it,” whined Carl. “I didn’t mean it like that!”

Theo gave a small
humph
and quickened her pace, leaving Carl and Ian to stare at her back. “She’s a bit sensitive, don’t you think?” Carl whispered.

“She’s all right,” Ian said with a chuckle. “And she’s been right about everything else so far, so I expect that I’ll have to trust her on this as well.”

The two boys walked silently for a bit before Carl asked, “What do you think the scroll’s about?”

“‘Gobbledygook,’” quoted Ian in a voice that was a perfect imitation of the professor’s.

Carl laughed. “Yeah, but the thing of it is, Ian, when I was looking at it, I swear it almost made sense. I mean, I really felt like some of those letters were in English along with those funny Greek symbols. I swear it’s a mixture of the two. Plus I think he was reading it wrong. I mean, who reads from right to left, anyway?”

“Well, I’m sure we’ll figure it out soon,” said Theo over her shoulder. She’d obviously been listening to the boys.

“How can you be so sure?” Ian asked her.

“I just am, Ian,” she said confidently. “I just am.”

I
an and the four others returning to the keep from London were greeted with bubbling excitement. All the orphans were eager to hear of their adventure, and Carl became the unofficial spokesman for the group as he stood in front of the children and retold what had happened at Lady Arbuthnot’s home. Many in the group looked on in wonder, but Madam Scargill, like Perry, expressed some deeply held skepticism. “The earl most likely rang her up,” she sniffed. “I’m sure he’s getting quite a laugh out of pulling the wool over your eyes,” she added.

Madam Dimbleby frowned. “I’ve never known the earl to go to such elaborate lengths to play a joke, Gertrude. Especially to involve his elder aunt. No, I think there might be a little something to the woman’s keen abilities.”

Perry let out a small cough and Ian caught Thatcher scowling at his brother. Carl continued with the story of Professor Nutley’s messy house. “There was paper and books everywhere!” he said, using his hands to indicate the piles. “And Ian showed him the box he’d found in the tunnel, and
the professor, well, he figured out how to open it and out came Ian’s map!”

Ian started at the mention of his map. He hadn’t thought Carl was going to bring up something he’d crafted in secret, so he quickly cleared his throat and gave Carl a warning glance. He didn’t want it becoming common knowledge that he had a map of a place he’d been strictly forbidden to explore. And sure enough, as if ferreting out trouble, Madam Scargill asked, “And what map is this?”

“Er …,” said Carl as he caught Ian’s eye. “It’s the map of … of …”

“The map I was making of the coastline, Madam,” Ian said, thinking quickly. “The map that fell out of the box slightly resembled my map.”

Madam Scargill’s nose twitched as if she were sniffing the air for a lie. “That’s an interesting coincidence, Ian,” she said.

“Very,” said Ian, working hard to appear calm under her squinty-eyed scrutiny. “But I believe it’s to be expected when someone puts a box from ancient Greece into an underground cavern. The map might be an indication that someone from a distant land brought it here.”

“Someone from ancient Greece?” asked Winifred Simonds, a plump little girl a year younger than Ian.

“Highly unlikely,” said Perry. “There is no evidence that the ancient Greeks visited our shores.”

“But what of the writing on the wall?” asked Carl. “I thought the professor said that was written in ancient Greek.”

Ian focused on his schoolmaster, very interested in
hearing his theory on who might have scrawled his name on the walls of the tunnel, but Perry shrugged and stuck with the professor’s conclusion. “It is possible that the box was deposited in the cavern by a thief who stole it from either the Greek archives or a personal collection and the writing on the wall indicates that this is all some sort of elaborate hoax.”

Theo scowled. “It isn’t a hoax,” she said quietly, but only Ian heard her.

“Is the box valuable?” asked Maxwell Kromby, a sickly little boy of about eight who had been at the orphanage since he was only a few days old. “If Ian found it, perhaps he can sell it and get some money for it.”

Perry and Thatcher looked slightly uncomfortable with the question, and Ian felt his heart beat faster. Maxwell had unwittingly spoken Ian’s secret plans for the box out loud, and as he saw the doubt form on his schoolmasters’ faces, he knew he wasn’t going to like their answer.

Thatcher said, “I expect that there should be an effort to find out the origin of the box first. If it was stolen, then it should be returned to its rightful owner, and only after an extensive search would I say it would be allowable for Ian to keep it and do with it what he wishes.”

Ian’s hopes sank, but Theo tried to cheer him by saying, “Not to worry, Ian. That box belongs with you, and I’ve a strong feeling you’ll get it back before long.”

This made Ian feel better, and he nudged Theo with his shoulder. “We’ll split the profits, of course,” he said to her, which made her beam.

The group chattered on for several more minutes before
Ian saw Madam Dimbleby glance at the clock and get to her feet. “All right, then,” she said with a clap of her hands to get everyone’s attention. “It’s getting late and we have church services in the morning. Everyone to bed.”

The children dispersed with only mild protest as they headed off to their rooms. Ian said good night to Theo and he and Carl walked up the stairs to their room.

As he entered his dormitory, he suddenly remembered that he’d wanted to check on his map, so he hurried to his bed and felt under his pillow. His map was exactly where he’d left it. But before taking it out, he glanced around at the boys in the room, who were busy getting into their night-clothes. No one seemed interested in what he was fiddling with under his pillow, so he pulled it out and unfolded the creases.

It was exactly as he’d last seen it. No additional markings, and yet it seemed almost a mirror image of the one that had come out of the silver box, save for the age of the parchment. Ian studied the markings, baffled, when he heard Carl exclaim, “Blimey,
that’s
the map from the box!” over his left shoulder.

Ian jumped and, turning quickly, hissed, “Shhh!”

“But, Ian,” Carl said in a hushed tone, “that
is
the map from the box!”

“I know,” said Ian as he folded the paper up quickly and looked behind him to see if any of the other boys had noticed. “I just don’t understand how it could be in two places at once.”

“This whole thing’s a bit barmy!” Carl said moodily,
sitting down next to Ian. “I mean, we’ve got wild beasts and lost tunnels and ancient Phoenician boxes filled with scrolls that aren’t written in Greek and your map in two places at once, not to mention your name in Greek on that wall. What’s that about?”

Ian shook his head. “I don’t know, Carl,” he admitted, thinking that his friend was right to call all the recent events madness. “But I do know there is something you and I need to investigate tomorrow after church.”

“What’s that?” asked Carl, his interest suddenly piqued.

Ian unfolded a small section of the map. “Remember that tunnel that was added to the map from the box?”

“The one labeled ‘Portal’ or something?”

“Yes,” said Ian. “That’s the one. I think we need to try to find it.”

Carl’s eyebrows lowered skeptically. “Don’t you usually go exploring with Theo?”

Ian smiled. He detected that Carl was just a bit jealous of his close friendship with Theo. “I do,” he admitted. “But she’s been through a lot in the last few weeks, and taking her on another exploration right now might rattle her. I figure it’s a better job for you and me.”

Carl slapped his kneecap. “That’s brilliant!” he said just a little too loudly.

“What’s brilliant?” called James from two cots over.

“Nothing!” both Ian and Carl said as Ian quickly put his map away before anyone became too curious. “We’ll talk more in the morning,” he whispered to Carl as the boys hurried to get into bed.

* * *

The next day, after they’d been released from morning services, Ian and Carl were easily able to slip away from the grounds. Ian had told Theo that he and Carl were running an errand for Madam Dimbleby, which wasn’t exactly a lie. Madam
had
asked Ian if he would go to the bakery and pick up a few extra loaves of bread for supper. He in turn had asked her if Carl could come along to help carry the bread, and although she’d given him a look that said, “I know you’re up to something, but I’m not sure what,” she allowed Carl to go along.

Ian led the way as the boys sprinted out from the grounds of the keep and ran as fast as their legs would carry them toward the cliffs. He reasoned that no one would be too alarmed if they arrived back at the keep a little later than it would take to go to the bakery and back; however, if they took too long, they ran the risk of having the alarm sounded and a search party come looking for them—especially since the beast was still at large. As if to emphasize this, two men out on patrol along the roads, each with a hunting rifle over his shoulder, passed them. “Any sign of the beast?” Ian asked the second man.

The scrawny-looking man with several days’ stubble on his chin scowled as if he was irritated with his assignment. “No sign a’tall,” he said. “All’s been quiet for weeks now.”

Ian and Carl both smiled at him as they dashed past and cut off the road to run along the hilly terrain, dodging around rocks and traveling along well-worn paths, moving closer to Castle Dover’s south end, until Ian finally held up
his hand and stopped on a slope just beyond the castle’s large back wall.

Ian wasted no time as he pulled his map out from his back pocket and unfolded it.

“How … are … we … going to … find the … tunnel?” Carl asked, wheezing, as he glanced up from his bent-over position.

Ian waited to catch his own breath before answering. “I’ve got to rely mostly on the memory of the map at Professor Nutley’s. And I remember it being drawn somewhere near this tunnel,” he said, pointing to the south westernmost tunnel on his map.

“And where’s that one located?” Carl asked, standing tall again.

“Right underneath our feet,” said Ian with a smile.

Ian turned the map around in a circle, studying it closely as he periodically glanced at the horizon to gauge the direction and pinpoint his location. After thinking it through, he said, “Come on, I think it’s this way.”

Carl followed him as the boys crept up to some woods that bordered the outer wall of Castle Dover. Carl looked at them skeptically. “You want to go in
there
?” he asked, and Ian knew he was nervous about the beast.

“It’s just a small patch of woods, mate,” Ian said easily. “Besides, you heard the patrolman. There’s been no sign of the beast for weeks. And the earl’s had his hounds out patrolling the grounds daily. If there was any chance the beast was nearby, don’t you think they would have sniffed her out by now?”

Carl still looked uncertain but shrugged and said, “I guess.”

“Come on, then,” Ian said, plunging forward into the dense scrub. “If we find anything at all that suggests the beast is about, we’ll have just a short run up to the earl’s garden path and through the gate.”

“All right,” said Carl grudgingly, and he followed Ian.

After a bit, Ian stopped and squinted at his map again. “It’s got to be near here,” he said, lowering the map to look at the terrain. “I remember the tunnel was marked by some steps.”

“Really?” said Carl, glancing over Ian’s shoulder at the paper in his hands. “I don’t remember any stairs.”

“Oh, trust me,” said Ian, holding the map up for Carl to see. “They’re there. See this symbol on this tunnel closer to the cliffs?”

Carl peered at the paper. “That zigzag?” he asked.

“Yes, that’s my symbol for stairs. One end of the Portal tunnel was marked with that zigzag.”

“You’ve got a better memory than me,” said Carl as he looked around nervously at their surroundings. “Can’t really see much of anything among these trees, though.”

“Well, it’s got to be here somewhere,” said Ian, glancing around at the dense patch of woods.

Carl gulped but seemed to gather his courage as he asked, “Where shall we begin looking, then?”