SEARCH FOR THE LOST SOUL (7 page)

*     *     *

Hours passed
before there was a knock at the door. Dominic rose and answered the knock,
returning a moment later with a tray containing three platefuls of food. He
silently handed one to Chris before taking one himself, leaving the third,
which Chris noted contained only vegetables, bread and cheese.

As he
started to eat his eyes traveled to where Loren was standing, looking through
yet another book. How long, he wondered, could the wizard stand there and read?
Surely he would be more comfortable in the chair.

*     *     *

Chris was
dozing in his chair when Loren gently shook him awake, telling him softly that
he should retire to his bed. He sat up, rubbing his eyes. “Have you found
anything?”

Loren sighed
tiredly and sank into his chair. “Only the most ancient of the books contain
any information at all and it is a tedious process to translate the material so
that I can find what I am looking for. I am sorely tempted to call some of my
wizard friends to assist in the task.”

Chris looked
over to where Dominic was still sitting in his chair, eyes glued on him. He
found himself wondering if the apprentice did anything but stare. He turned
back to Loren, trying to ignore the brooding man. “Can Dominic help you?”

Loren sighed
again. “Unfortunately, no. He has not progressed to the point where he has
learned the languages used in the texts. No, I would have to call on older
wizards, those that I could trust.”

“Your mentor
and his mentor.”

Loren eyed
him. “You know of these wizards?”

Chris
nodded. “Leopold told me.”

Loren laughed
gently. Methinks that boy may talk too much.” There was a long silence as Loren
rubbed his tired eyes. “I must get some sleep. Some of that writing is so
ancient it is fading and difficult to see and it is the wee hours of the
morning.”

Although
Chris wasn’t sure what Loren meant by wee hours he was certain that it must
mean after midnight. He sat up. “Conrad,”

Loren placed
his hand on Chris’ knee. “Rest easy. I sent a message hours ago that you would
be delayed and for him to go to bed.”

Chris sat
back. “That’s good. I wouldn’t want to keep the boy up so late.”

Loren smiled
absently. “I like that attitude. It speaks well for you.”

Dominic
spoke suddenly, speaking in his native tongue. Chris frowned at him but Loren
simply shook his head, giving Chris no indication of what the apprentice had
said.

After
another long silence Loren patted Chris’ hand. “You may as well go to bed. I
plan to as soon as I tidy up a bit.”

Chris looked
around the study and saw the books scattered around, most open and laying one
on top of the other. “Would you like me to help you?”

“Thank you,
Christopher but that will not be necessary. I fear that you would be more of a
hindrance than a help. Dominic will help me.”

Chris nodded
as he rose. He stretched slowly; his muscles were stiff from the long hours he
had spent in the chair. He walked to the door but turned before leaving the
room. “So, will you call on your mentors for help?”

“I will make
the decision in the morning.”

“Can you
trust them?”

“I must.
After all, they trained me for many years. I think that they will see the
seriousness of the situation and agree with me that it must be kept secret.
But, my mind will be much more clear in the morning.”

Chris cast
one last glance at Dominic, thinking that the apprentice definitely didn’t like
him and probably blamed him for what had happened to Kelly. He sighed as he
turned to leave the room. Well, the apprentice couldn’t cast any more blame on
him than he was already doing to himself.

Chris slowly
made his way down the dark hallway, wishing that there were more lights. He
sighed as he realized that the only room in use in this section of the castle
was the wizard’s study. he and his apprentice probably traveled the route so
often that they were well familiar with it and didn’t need any extra light. Not
very hospitable, was Chris’ sour thought as he bumped into yet another wall as
he tried to navigate the maze.

Eventually
he reached the staircase and was relieved to see that it was well lighted. He
climbed silently, seeing no one, not that he had expected to at such a late
hour. Still, he reasoned, there were probably some servants who would remain
awake as long as the wizard was about, just in case he needed their services.

Finally he
arrived at his room and was relieved to see the fire still blazing in the
fireplace, he had grown chilled on his trip through the quiet castle. He pulled
the chair closer to the fire and settled himself comfortably to warm himself,
stretching his feet out before him.

He soon
found that his eyes kept fastening on the connecting door to Kelly’s room.
Briefly he entertained the idea of looking in on her, just to make sure that
she was safely in her bed, or so he told himself. But he ultimately abandoned
the idea; if he should inadvertently wake her she would be angrier with him
than she already was.

He sighed
unhappily; her anger was bound to grow when she discovered that his actions
were the source of her current situation. If she didn’t already hate him, she
soon would. He stared moodily into the fire as he made the decision as to what
he would do; he would help her get her soul back, he owed her that much, then
he would leave. She would probably be happy to have him go.

He sighed
again as he wondered what Loren would discover and how soon they could begin the
search, the sooner he was away from Kelly the better it would be for her. His
heart felt heavy as he realized that once he left the castle he would never see
her again. But then, what more did he deserve.

He looked
over at the bed, deciding that it did look inviting. He returned his gaze to
the fire; he wasn’t quite ready to give up its warmth just yet. He turned his
thoughts towards Loren.

Much as he
hated to admit it, even to himself, he was coming to the realization that he
had probably been wrong about the wizard. Certainly the servants all seemed to
love him. But, then, Loren might have cast some sort of spell on the servants
to make them think highly of him. He sighed yet again as he slammed into the
wall of lack of knowledge about magical things once again.

He soon
discovered that he was having trouble keeping his eyes open. Despite his desire
to stay by the fire he had to go to bed or risk spending the night in the
chair, and he was certain that if he did that he would wake with more aches
than he cared to contend with.

He sighed
one more time as he rose and slowly crossed the room to the bed. He smiled as
he spotted the folded pair of new flannel pajamas that lay atop the coverlet,
Connor had been busy. As he stepped forward to pick the pajamas up his foot
scrapped against something sticking out from under the bed. Looking down he
spied a pair of slippers that matched the pajamas. His smile broadened, he
would have to make an effort to find the boy in the morning to thank him for
his attention.

He quickly
changed into the pajamas and reached under the sheets to remove the bed warmer,
carrying it carefully to the hearth before sliding into the bed. He sighed
gratefully at the warm sheets. He turned over and fell almost immediately into
a deep sleep.

Chris wasn’t
too surprised when Loren didn’t appear for breakfast. He and Kelly shared an
almost silent meal, he couldn’t look at her without feeling guilty and she soon
grew tired of trying to engage him in conversation. But, when Loren hadn’t appeared
by the time they had finished, Chris decided to go in search of him.

It took him
some time to locate Loren’s study; somehow he had gotten himself turned around
in the maze that led to it. After trying several doors he finally knocked on
what he thought was the correct one. when several minutes passed without
response from inside, he was ready to turn away. He changed his mind when he
heard a shuffling noise from the other side of the door

Dominic
eventually answered the door, opening it only enough for him to peek out to see
who was there; he frowned at Chris but didn’t admit him to the study. Chris
heard more noises coming from inside the study so he knew that there was
someone else in there, but, from the amount of noise he was certain that there
was more than one person in the room with Dominic.

“I need to
speak to Loren.”

“He is not
here,” answered Dominic in his accented English.

Chris felt
his anger rising. “Don’t lie to me. I can hear him in there.”

“He is not
here,” Dominic insisted.

“You are not
alone in there,” Chris accused him.

Dominic was
silent for a moment before answering slowly. “True.”

“Let me in.”
he tried to push his way into the room.

“No,”
Dominic moved to bar his entrance. “Loren is not here and those who are do not
wish to speak to you.”

Chris
frowned. “When will Loren return?”

Dominic
shrugged. “Who can say? Sometimes he is gone for days when he goes on these
trips.”

Chris
couldn’t believe his ears. “You mean he took a trip while Kelly is in such
danger?”

Dominic
shrugged again. “It came to his attention that there were two girls in India
who were in grave danger after exhibiting their magic. He had no choice but to
go and rescue them. There are others here who are doing the necessary research
to retrieve Kelly’s soul.”

“Let me talk
to them.”

“No. They
may choose to leave if you should force your way in here. If you care at all
for Kelly you must leave here at once.” He shut the door in Chris’ face.

Chris stood
for a moment, staring at the closed door before walking away, fuming. He was so
irate that he literally ran into Kelly on the stair, apologizing automatically
without registering who it was. He continued up the stairs to his room with
Kelly staring after him in surprise. When he finally reached his room he
plopped down into the chair, staring irritably into the glowing embers in the
fireplace, Connor hadn’t laid the fire yet.

He was angry
both at Loren for leaving at such a critical time and at himself for feeling
this way. In his moments of clarity he had to admit that what Loren was doing
was important, he was after all, saving lives. But it couldn’t have come at a
worse time. He was seething with anxiety and could think of no cure other than
to start the search for Kelly’s soul, which he couldn’t do without Loren’s counsel.

He had no
idea how much time passed before there was a tentative knock on the door that
led to the hallway. He grunted as he rose to answer it. He really wasn’t in the
mood for conversation unless it was Loren and he doubted that the wizard would
have knocked so lightly. He pulled the door open and was surprised to find
Kelly standing there.

She smiled
uncertainly. “Are you still upset?”

Chris
silently shook his head, motioning her inside. He indicted that she should sit
in the chair, waiting until she was settled before speaking. “What can I do for
you?”

“I just
wanted to make sure that you were ok. You looked so preoccupied when I bumped
into you on the stairs.”

Chris
frowned as he wondered how he could have bumped into her without remembering.
He shook his head as he dismissed the thought. His eyes searched her face for
several minutes, incredulous that she appeared to look no different from her
normal self.

He thought
back to the times they had been together since she lost her soul, deciding that
she hadn’t acted any different from the way she had at school, at least what he
had seen and heard of her actions before their confinement in Gregory’s prison.

He shook his
head, what he couldn’t understand was why she had never made the choice to be
on the side of good. Surely her past had some merit in such a decision. Just
because she had never actually said that she would work on the side of good
shouldn’t mean that she hadn’t chosen to do so.

And what
difference did her lack of a soul make? It didn’t change who she was. As far as
he could tell she hadn’t turned evil as soon as she lost it. Why not? Logically
one would think that the loss of her soul ought to have thrown her right into
the side of evil. Yet Loren had indicated that she was still in limbo where
that question was concerned. He sighed, once again wishing that he knew more
about magic.

He suddenly
realized that Kelly was talking. Feeling embarrassed he turned his attention to
her. He waited for her to fall silent before asking her to repeat herself.

Kelly eyed
him for a moment before speaking. “I don’t think I will. It’s obvious to me
that your mind is not on what I’m saying. I don’t feel like wasting my time.”
She stalked across the room towards the connecting door to her room.

“Wait,”
Chris called. “I’m sorry. I just have a lot on my mind, that’s all. Please,
come back. I promise you that I’ll pay more attention to what you’re saying.”

She paused
keeping her back to him as she considered his words. Finally she turned and
returned to the chair. She didn’t speak until she was seated. “So, what’s going
on that’s so secret?”

Chris
couldn’t look at her. “What makes you think something’s going on?”

“Oh come on.
You spend all afternoon and night locked in Loren’s study with him and his
apprentice and today he’s off on some mysterious errand. Two strange men come
into the library where I’m reading and stare at me for several minutes without
speaking. And no one will tell me anything. Only an idiot wouldn’t think that
there was something going on.”

Chris took a
deep breath and let it out slowly. He didn’t want to lie to her but there was
no way that he was going to be the one to tell her about her soul, and
especially not alone. He decided to skip that matter entirely. Maybe if he
answered her other questions she wouldn’t notice.

“I don’t
know who the two men you saw are. I only know that when I went to Loren’s study
Dominic wouldn’t let me in. I heard noises inside and knew that he wasn’t
alone, which he did admit when I confronted him. Probably the two men that you
saw were the ones who were making the noise in the study but I don’t know for
sure.

“As for
Loren’s mysterious trip, you have it all wrong. From what I understand, he’s
gone to India, I think it was, to rescue someone who’s in danger.” He shrugged.
“I don’t know why he didn’t say anything to either one of us, for all I know he
left during the middle of the night. Dominic told me that sometimes he’s gone
for days when he goes on these trips.”

Kelly gazed
at him as she digested his information. After a long silence she asked, “So
what was going on inside the study yesterday that kept you there so long?”

“Uh, I’m not
at liberty to tell you that. I was sworn to secrecy by Loren and Dominic.”

Kelly jumped
to her feet. “Well, it’s not fair. All of you men are doing all your secret
things. What were you doing in there, watching girlie movies or something?”

Chris
laughed. “I can assure you that we weren’t watching any girlie movies, though I
wouldn’t turn them down if they were offered.”

Kelly
frowned at him. “So you refuse to tell me what you were doing.”

“I can’t,
Kelly. I’m sure that once Loren returns he’ll tell you himself.”

Kelly stared
at him for a moment before tossing her hair and flouncing from the room,
jerking the connecting door open and slamming it shut behind her. Chris gaped
after her; as far as he knew she had never acted like this before. He started
to sink into the chair but stopped himself; was this the first sign of trouble
due to her loss of soul? He hoped not, he didn’t think he could handle her if
she became more difficult than she already was.

*     *     *

Loren didn’t
return for five days. Kelly, who had apologized to Chris for her outburst, and
Chris spent most of their time together. One day Leopold took the two of them,
along with a picnic lunch, back to the cave to show Kelly the fish with no
eyes.

They spent
one day enjoying the gardens, viewing half in the morning and the second half
in the afternoon. Chris was mostly bored by the garden, he had no interest in
flowers, but he followed Kelly around the cobblestone paths as she stopped to
examine the various flowerbeds. He was happy that she seemed to thoroughly
enjoy the excursion, but he would rather have done almost anything else.

One
afternoon she took him horseback riding, an activity he had never done. They
requested that Leopold’s brother, Dwight, accompany them as Chris was afraid
that he would fall off even though the head groom, a ruddy-faced, red-haired
man named Brant had assured him that he had chosen the gentlest of mares for
Chris’ use.

After the
three-hour ride, Chris found that his legs were sore in places that he had
never even imagined he possessed. Conrad, who had laid the fire and was busily
straightening the room, noticed that he was walking in an odd manner and
inquired as to the cause. When Chris, after some prompting, explained, Conrad
nodded and disappeared, only to return a few minutes later with Dominic.

Chris
groaned at the sight of the apprentice; as if the man didn’t already have
enough to be disdainful about he now had a new source of mirth at his expense.
Dominic eyed him, his dark eyes unfathomable. After several minutes he turned
to Conrad and instructed him to see that the tub in the back vestibule was
filled with hot water.

Once Conrad
scurried off Dominic spoke to Chris for the first time. “Conrad will lead you
to the vestibule when the tub is ready. I will meet you there.” He turned on
his heel and left the room.

“You could
have said goodbye,” Chris muttered as he sank into the chair to await Conrad’s
return. He wondered if Dominic acted this way towards everyone or only towards
him. He sighed; it really didn’t make any difference.

It seemed to
take an eternity for Conrad to return but Chris supposed that it had only a few
minutes had passed since he left; he was so uncomfortable that time was
crawling by. The boy anxiously offered to assist him as he hobbled down the
stairs but Chris refused. He was already feeling humiliated; he didn’t need to
add to it.

The
vestibule turned out to be a small glass walled room located at the back of the
kitchens. It was dominated by a large ceramic tub filled with hot water,
evidenced by the steam rising slowly towards the ceiling. Conrad helped Chris
remove his clothing and climb stiffly into the tub where he settled gratefully
to await Dominic’s arrival.

More than
half an hour passed before Dominic came into the vestibule. He eyed Chris for a
moment before waving his arm through the air. Jets of water began bombarding
his body and he smiled as he leaned back, ah, a Jacuzzi. He knew from past
experience that when he finally left the tub his muscles would feel much
better.

Conrad
hovered nervously for several minutes before Chris dismissed him; he wanted to
enjoy the sensation and feared that the boy would interfere with that. He
sighed contentedly as he sank deeper into the hot water, vowing to stay where
he was until the water cooled.

He had no
idea how much time passed before Conrad returned to assist him out of the tub
and into his clothes. Although he was still slightly stiff, most of the pain
was gone. He decided that he would thank Dominic the next time he saw the
apprentice. He smiled, wondering how the man would react to the gesture.

When Loren
finally did return Chris and Kelly were in the dining room eating the evening
meal. Loren walked in followed by two young girls and a young man, all dressed
in baggy clothing. Loren took his customary place at the head of the table,
indicating that the newcomers should take the remaining empty places.

A girl in a
maid’s uniform appeared with three plates of food, all vegetables, which she
placed before the strangers. As she started to retreat from the room Loren
spoke, "Have Dominic come to me immediately.”

The girl
curtsied quickly and disappeared at a run. Only a few minutes passed before the
apprentice appeared in the doorway, he didn’t join them at the table though the
girl hovered nearby to see if she needed to bring another chair.

Chris
started to thank Dominic for the Jacuzzi but Loren didn’t give him the chance.
“Dominic, this is Nanda and her twin sister Nandita and their interpreter
Zohra. I need for you to arrange for surveillance of the house where I
retrieved the girls. Zohra reports that the girls older sisters, Rupali and
Savita both had magical powers and were killed when they displayed them. There
are two younger girls, Udaya and Vajira in the home as well as a young son,
Ajay. I understand that the mother is also pregnant again.”