Chapter Two: More Questions, No Answers
When breakfast was done Meggie headed off to school. When Meggie got to school that morning she went right over to her best friends seats, Bridget and Emma, to tell them about the hottie that was at her house.
"He's, like, really hott," she kept repeating.
"We get it," Emma said after about the fifteenth time. "Why don't we meet this 'hottie' then?" she challenged.
"Yea," Bridget agreed. "By the way, what did you write for your science homework, Meggie? I didn't get it."
Meggie started to pull out her book and flipped over to the page, but there was no work there. Instead, she had written, "Dustfinger is hott " all over the page with little hearts everywhere.
Emma raised her eyebrows. "I don't think Mrs. Lee will approve of that," she commented. "No matter how 'hott' this guy really is."
Meggie gulped. Mrs. Lee was the meanest teacher at Lilywood School.
When science came around Meggie had the perfect excuse. When Mrs. Lee called on Meggie she was ready.
"Well Mrs. Lee I really wanted to do my homework but my dad was really sick and he needed me by his side. But now my dad is much better now that I helped him. I am willingly to do it at my free period right after lunch," Meggie said with a smile so sweet anybody could fall for it.
"Well, then you can do that and extra credit over the weekend." Mrs. Lee's usual gravelly voice growled in reply, but Meggie could tell that she had succeeded in softening it a bit. "And I hope your father gets better." She looked away when she said it, like she didn't like admitting that she cared.
"Thank you." Meggie bounded over to Emma and Bridget, greeting them with a smile.
"Obviously things went well," Emma guessed. "So Mrs. Lee is taking to this 'hottie' of yours?"
"No!" Meggie snapped at her. "I made up an excuse." She sat down and began fiddling with her pencil.
"Oh." Emma and Bridget looked at each other.
"Can we come to your house after school?" Bridget asked Meggie, gathering her books as they departed for their next class. "Just so we can see your crush?" She smirked, and Meggie scowled at her.
"Stop that!" Meggie dug her elbow into Bridget's ribs and her friend started laughing uncontrollably.
"Sorry," she gasped. "But this is just too funny."
Meggie glared at her. "I wish you guys would understand."
"Aw, we do," Emma comforted her. "She was only teasing."
"Yea, you know that, Meggie," Bridget added. "C'mon; I think we're dismissed from school."
"I thought we had Language Arts?" Emma stared at Bridget, confused.
Bridget shook her head. "That's tomorrow, you goof." She smiled. "Today we get out early, remember?"
Meggie nodded and pulled out her schedule. "Yes, she's right."
Together, the three girls walked home from school, carrying their heavy book bags on their backs.
"Ugh, I think I have a body in here!" Bridget complained, shifting her book bag around uncomfortably on her shoulders. Emma giggled at her.
"C'mon, just a bit further," Meggie urged. "My house is on this street." They rounded the next corner and the three girls faced Meggie's small quant home. Surprisingly, the sky was getting a bit dark–it was only about 3 o' clock–and the girls hurried inside.
When the girls entered the house Dustfinger and Mo were no where to be found.
"So where is Mr. Hotty-totty?" asked Emma.
"I don't know but he is still here. Look his backpack is right there," Meggie said. But at that same moment Mo and Dustfinger entered the room from Mo's office. Mo was carrying a book in his arms that he immediately hid from Meggie's sight. Gwin was clambering around Dustfinger's shoulders and chattering crossly. Sunshine was hissing at him from the floor, and Meggie scooped her ferret up in her arms and stroked his soft gray fur.
"Meggie aren't you going to introduce us to your guest?" asked Bridget.
"Oh, right. Emma, Bridget this is Dustfinger. Dustfinger this is Emma and Bridget." Meggie said.
"Nice to meet you, Dustfinger," Bridget and Emma replied at the same time.
"The pleasure is all mine, ladies," Dustfinger said.
"Bridget, Emma, and Meggie why don't you go into Meggie's room while Dustfinger and I talk?" asked Mo.
"Yes, Mo," all three girls said. And with that went into Meggie's room.
They got up to Meggie's room and Meggie flopped down on her bed with a sigh.
"He's hott," Emma told her with a matter-of-fact nod, as if she didn't know what he looked like.
Bridget had to bite back her laughter while Meggie rolled her eyes at. Emma "Well, of course!" she snapped. She turned to Bridget.
"Um..." Bridget shrugged. "He's nice. He's got a weird name, though."
Emma nodded in agreement with Bridget. "Yea, his name is really weird. I mean who names their kid 'Dustfinger'? It is really strange."
"So? He is hott I mean come on he is like so hott. Who could not think of him as hott?" said Meggie.
"Yea I guess you guys are right. He is kinda hott," said Bridget
"Well, duh he's hott I mean if he wasn't do you think I would have asked you to come over to see him?" replied Meggie.
"Probably," Emma muttered under her breath, and Meggie glared at her but said nothing.
"So...?" Emma looked around. "What do you guys want to do?"
Meggie shrugged.
"Eavesdrop?" Bridget suggested hopefully. "Mo was hiding a book from us, remember?"
"It could have the slightest thing to do with how he knows Dustfinger," Meggie added.
"So let's go!" said Emma, herding her friends toward the door. "Eavesdropping, here we come!" They marched out of the room.
So with that the three girls headed toward Mo's office. When they got to his room Bridget ran into the kitchen grabbed three glass cups and ran to join the two other girls at the door.
Putting the glasses to their ears, the girls leaned against the door and listened for what secrets might lay on the other side of the wooden plank.
"But he's as dangerous as ever now!" they heard Dustfinger yell. "And I'm sure he won't exactly welcome me back with open arms after I escaped!" He lowered his voice a bit, trying to avoid overhearing. "Do you know how many days I spent in his dreadful cow sheds?"
"No." That was Mo's voice now. "I don't, and I don't expect you to come with us. But maybe, just maybe, if we give him the book–"
"Are you insane?" Dustfinger interrupted him. "Just give him the book? Simple as that?" They heard him sigh. Then Dustfinger lowered his voice even more. "Silvertongue, he'll kill you once he's done. If he gets a hold of Meggie–which if you give him your whereabouts he will–he might kill her first."
Meggie shuddered.
"Capricorn will not harm Meggie as long as I live," Mo vowed.
Dustfinger sighed. "Exactly; as long as you live. But this is Capricorn we're talking about. You think he hasn't killed a man before? I mean, I'm sure Basta and Flatnose take more a part in that than he, but I'm sure he knows a great deal about it."
Basta? Flatnose? Capricorn? Meggie's mind was whirling with unanswered questions. She looked at her friends and saw the same questions in their eyes, too. After that they went back to Meggie's room so they wouldn't have to hear the dreadful conversation. When they got back in to Meggie's room Meggie said, "Do you really think he would kill me?"
"Of course not," replied Bridget. She sat down on Meggie's bed. "This Capricorn guy doesn't even know you."
"Well I don't know if he would kill you but these people have some really strange names. I mean there's Dustfinger and now Basta and this Capernorn guy–I mean isn't that a zodiac sign? And Flatnose what the heck is going on here? Are we having a weird name convention here?" said Emma, confused. "Are we?"
"No, but that's not what we're talking about!" Meggie snapped at her.
"Yea Meggie's life is on the line here!" Bridget added. "And by the way, it's Capricorn, not Capernorn."
"Whatever." Emma strolled over to Meggie's dressers. "In the meantime I'm bored," she complained, fiddling with some necklaces.
"This is serious!" Meggie and Bridget said in unison.
"Sorry, but I'm just so bored. I mean let's stop talking about dying and have fun. I mean this Capricorn dude has no clue where you live so just chill," Emma replied. She looked at the two girls and burst out laughing.
"What is so funny? I mean Meggie's life is in serious danger, Emma!" shouted Bridget. She and Meggie both glared at Emma with disgrace, and she made a face at them.
"I was trying to lighten things up," she said. "I mean, everyone's talking about dying here. Maybe instead we should have some laughs."
"We might not have time for laughs!" Meggie snapped at her.
Emma glanced at her watch. "You're right; I have to go home. Bye!" And with that, she disappeared out of Meggie's room.
"I gotta go, too," said Bridget. "See ya, Meggie. Don't die on us!" She hugged her friend and followed Emma out of the door. But as they were walking down the street they suddenly disappeared around the corner. They hadn't even made it around; just in the blink of an eye vanished. At first Meggie thought her eyes were playing a joke on her eyes but then they never came back or turned the corner.
Meggie's jaw dropped. She blinked and rubbed her eyes, but her friends still were not there. "B-Bridget?" she stammered. "E-Emma?" She almost expected to see her friends reappear beside her. "Where are you?" she whispered into the air, and she almost thought she heard someone answer her; and she cried out into the wind.
---
Meggie was left to stare at the place where her friends had vanished for a moment. Then she ran out of her room and zoomed to the front door. She was about to open it when she noticed how quiet the house was. Turning around she strained her ears for any kind of whisper or any movement.
Nothing.
Shuddering, Meggie went to Mo's office door. Listening, she heard nothing at first, but then came a soft whisper, a cold, rasping whisper.
"C'mon, Silvertongue. We know you have it," the voice said. "Or shall we ask your daughter where it is?" She heard a chuckle, and it made her shudder and flinch away from the door. "We already have her friends, here."
Meggie almost gasped, but held herself. Bridget! she cried in her mind. Emma!
"You will not harm my daughter." That was Mo's voice, coming back colder than Meggie knew her father could be. "Let her friends go; they and her know nothing, Basta."
Basta? Meggie thought. Wasn't that the name she had heard Dustfinger mention before?
The rasping voice again, "Or course they don't; just like you and your fire-eating friend don't." Meggie heard laughs; not from one person, but two.
Fire-eating? Now Meggie was more confused than ever. Who's that? Does he mean Dustfinger?"They know nothing," Mo was insisting. "Why would they? I never told Meggie."
Hot rage flooded through Meggie. Exactly; he didn't tell me, she thought angrily. But there's no time for that now, she tried to reason with herself. Now let's concentrate on not getting caught by Basto or whoever."Flatnose," Basta growled. "Cockerell. What should we do with these useless girls? Do you believe they really know nothing?"
A chuckle, and then another voice that sounded nasally, more than Mo was the other day. "Take them to the boss," the voice growled, and another person grunted in agreement.
"Won't Capricorn be pleased with this bunch? We have everyone besides the girl and the fire-eater. That's all we need for now, right?"
"I suppose," Basta's voice rasped. "Only for now. I'll take him to the boss. You two stay."
Meggie was hearing all of the dreaded names from before, only now they sounded even more haunting.
"Oh, come on Basta." It was the nasally voice again. "Do you need both of us to stay?"
"There are two people we need," came a simple reply.
"Basta's right." Another voice, this one with an accent. Meggie heard a thud of someone limping on the floorboards. "Maybe we should look for them now."
Before Meggie could move, the door swung open, and she was faced with three large men, armed with revolvers and knives. The man who had swung the door open reached for Meggie, and she jumped away. She saw Mo, staring at her sadly, with Bridget and Emma standing behind the three men. Screaming, Meggie took off down the hall.
Her house wasn't all that big, but Meggie knew some good hiding spots. She heard footsteps behind her; the three men were all running after her, screaming, "It's her! Get her!" and she caught a glimpse of Mo sneaking out of his office, Bridget and Emma behind him.
The men were gaining. The first one was carrying a knife and trying to throw it at her. Meggie had never been so scared in her life. She ran upstairs with greater agility than she thought she had, and zoomed into her room, locking the door and running into her huge box-filled closet.
A thud on the door. More thuds. BANG! BANG! BANG! Meggie's door would give way soon, she was sure of it.
Something burst through, and she heard heavy footsteps coming toward her. Shaking, Meggie tried to crouch back; and knocked over a few boxes behind her, creating noise.
"I see," came a growl. "So our little troublemaker is in the closet, is she?" She heard a laugh, a cold one that made Meggie shudder. Her blood chilled as footsteps came nearer, nearer...
Meggie clamped her eyes shut as she heard the door swing open and did her best to crouch down behind some boxes, but it was no use.
"Ah, so there she is." The voice belonged to the man Meggie believed to be called Basta. She braced herself from anything that may happen, not wanting to open her eyes for fear that it would make her more visible if she did.
Suddenly, a scream sounded. Meggie shuddered. Basta was screaming. Her eyes shot open; and immediately her vision was clouded with smoke. Coughing, she peered through the smoke, to see Basta's arm on fire.
"Fire!" he was screaming. "Do something, you fools!" The two other men, Flatnose and Cockerell, came rushing over with towels from Meggie's bathroom. The flames licked at Basta's white shirt hungrily as they climbed higher and higher into the air.
The smoke alarm went off. Meggie closed her eyes for a moment, hoping that everything and everyone would just disappear, but when she opened them again they continued to reveal the truth to her. She tried to get farther away from the entrance of the closet and stuffed a nearby sweater to her face, trying to get clean air amidst all of the smoke. She closed her eyes and clamped her hands over her ears and prayed that neither the fire or the men would get her, hot tears spilling into the sweater and her muffled sobs lost in the roaring of the flames and the screaming of the men. Please, she thought desperately, feeling light-headed. Disappear! Go away!
She breathed in a mouthful of smoke and coughed. Pain filled her lungs and brain, and she felt like she was spinning, spinning forever and eternally, and a jolt of bright colors filled her vision.
Just go away...
And everything went black.