In the Dark of the Night

I remained quiet for most of the rest of the evening, though the twins chattered practically nonstop to my dad, asking questions about ghosts, since he'd known quite a few of them when he'd lived and taught at Hogwarts. I knew that one of his students, Mel Seton was a ghostwalker, meaning she could become a ghost and command them at will. Mel was also Arista and Trish's best friend, though they hardly saw her now that she was attached to the Aurors, her job kept her too busy for any but the most casual correspondence. She did, however, owl Arista two months ago and tell her that she too was expecting, and the baby was a little girl. She also said that she wanted to know if Arista and Drake were willing to be godparents, and my sister had agreed. No surprise there. Trish and Flick were going to stand as godparents for baby Sev.

I was so concerned over what I had seen at the house on Rochester Street that I barely picked at my food. "Are you feeling okay, Gavin?" inquired Aunt Teri.

"I'm fine. I'm just not very hungry is all."

That admission brought Dad down on me like a shot. "What's wrong, Gavin? You normally eat like a horse." He rose and came around the table in the dining area of the hotel (we'd decided to eat there tonight) and felt my forehead. "No fever. Is it your stomach?"

I shook my head rapidly, even though my stomach was bothering me plenty. It was just nerves. Over what I'd seen and the pressure of keeping so many secrets. But the last thing I wanted was for him to dose me with the Anti-Nausea Potion. I know that most people don't mind the taste, but I hate peppermint and the potion tastes like peppermint ice cream. "No. I'm just not really hungry," I muttered to my plate, which was still three-quarters full of lobster newberg and rice.

I felt my father's hand under my chin, forcing me to look up at him. "Gavin, are you sure you're all right? Because if you're sick, you can tell me, you don't need to hide it. There's no need to play hero with me."

I wanted to die right there. "Dad, I'm fine!" I hissed, my face going red. God, but the twins would think I was some kind of baby, the way he fussed over me. I quickly picked up my fork and took a bite of my food. It was very good, but I had to force myself to swallow it. "Please, just sit down. People are staring."

They weren't, but I felt as if they were. Dad went back and finished his dinner, and I managed a couple more forkfuls of mine before I asked the waitress to wrap it for me. I had this thing about wasting food, I always took leftovers home if I ate out and couldn't finish what they gave me. Guess it came from being a street kid and never knowing when your next meal was going to be.

Over the pitcher of Coke, Drew caught my eye and gave me a sympathetic look, jerking his head at my dad. Grown-ups! They sure know how to embarrass a kid in two seconds flat was what the look meant. I managed a small smile in return.

On the way back to the hotel I'd carefully gone over what I'd seen in my head. My first thought was that I'd been mistaken, and had seen a girl that looked like Monkey. But I'd dismissed that notion since I knew Monkey's features and the face had matched hers exactly. So I was not seeing things.

But if it were so, why on God's green earth was she here, and with those people? I recalled the last letter I'd sent and how it had gone unanswered. Was this why? It didn't make sense. Then I had a thought that turned me cold. What if she was here as a prisoner, and not of her own free will? If that were the case, I needed to help get her out of there. I bit my lip hard.

Tonight. I would find out tonight just what was going on, I promised myself. A part of my mind hissed that what I was planning was both foolhardy and dangerous. The Brotherhood wouldn't take kindly to a kid prowling around their property in the dead of night. I should just come clean to my father and let him investigate the Monkey mystery, he was trained for this kind of thing.

The only thing I knew about infiltrating anything was from listening to him and Colin discuss old cases and stories about when Dad was a spy for the Order of the Phoenix. Well, that and from watching James Bond movies and reading mysteries.

The smart thing to do would be to just tell my father and let him handle it. He'd be angry with me, but nothing like he would be if he ever found out this latest plan of mine.

I teetered back and forth over my dilemma. Tell or not tell? What if I was wrong, and it wasn't really Monkey? Then I'd have spilled my guts for nothing and gotten in trouble for it like a dumbass. I was still pondering over it, so much that my stomach hurt, when we returned to the room.

The twins wanted to rent a movie and were arguing over it when I felt Dad lay a hand on my arm. "Gavin, is there something you'd like to tell me?"

I panicked then. Oh God, does he know? How can he? No, of course not! "About what?"

"You look like something's on your mind."

"No," I said quickly. "It's . . .nothing's wrong." My stomach clenched in terror. Unconsciously I rubbed it.

His falcon-sharp eyes caught that. "Gavin! Your stomach is bothering you, isn't it?" He frowned down at me sternly. "I want the truth now."

I ducked my head. If I looked up at him now, I'd tell him everything. "A little," I said quietly.

"Thought so. When did this start?"

I answered just before dinner, which was the truth. My stomach had been jittery ever since I'd seen Monkey's face in the window.

He led me into the bedroom I shared with the twins and sat me down on the bed. "I think you ought to go to bed early, son. Apparently you aren't fully recovered from your sun poisoning."

"I am so!" I argued.

"I beg to differ. Healthy boys eat dinner and don't complain of their stomachs hurting. Now, what kind of pain are you having? Nausea? Cramps?" He then proceeded to question me about my digestive tract just as if he was a damn doctor, which he sort of was, since he was a medic. His questions made me squirm in embarrassment, but I answered them.

"Sounds like a mild case of gas and an upset stomach. I'll give you a tablespoon of Anti-Nausea Potion, that should calm it down. Then you can have some tea and go to bed."

"No!" I cried angrily. "I don't need to take any medicine, damn it."

He shot me a look that should've flattened me. "Excuse me? Watch that tone, mister. You'll take it and no arguments. Now quit acting like a baby." He summoned the blasted potion and poured it out on a spoon. "Open."

I clamped my jaw shut.

His eyes flashed. "Mr. Snape, you have two seconds to open your mouth and take this like a normal person, or I swear I'll open your mouth for you and pour it down your throat like I'd do for a dog. One."

I took the damn stuff. I knew better than to test him, no matter how much I loathed the potion. I coughed, grimacing at the awful peppermint taste. "Water. Please."

Dad handed me a glass of water. "Honestly, son, you act like I'm trying to poison you," he reproved softly. "I'm only trying to make you feel better."

"I hate that damn potion, Dad!"

"But your stomach feels better now," he pointed out.

"Yeah," I admitted sulkily.

"Well then. Get ready for bed."

I obeyed, figuring the sooner I did what he wanted, the sooner he'd be out of my hair. I really regretted ever thinking up the idea that being sick was a perfect way to sneak around unnoticed. It was more of a pain in the ass than it was worth, I thought, putting on my pajamas and getting into bed.

Dad came back and brought me some mint tea, told me to sip it slowly and then go to sleep. "Feel better, son," he said, and patted my shoulder. "Good night." Then he was gone.

I drank my tea, mostly because now I was hungry and needed something to quiet my stomach. I found a package of cookies in my knapsack and ate them quickly. In spite of the potion, I still felt slightly ill, though I knew it wasn't from anything save guilt. At the rate I was going, the next thing you know I'd be going to church for confession, same as any other guilt-ridden Catholic. Then I settled down in bed and tried to get some sleep, because I knew when midnight came I'd be back out wandering Salem's streets, trying to solve the mystery behind the Brotherhood.

* * * * * *

"Psst! Gav, it's me. Wake up!"

I woke to feel Drew shaking my shoulder. I blinked, my eyes slowly adjusting to the softly glowing ball of light on his index finger. I sat up and whispered, "What time is it?"

"Eleven thirty, I think. I looked at Mom's alarm clock before I came back in here. They're both sleeping like the dead."

I winced at his choice of words. Then I quickly summoned my clothes to me and dressed. "Where's Nick?"

"Keeping a look out in the other room." Drew looked slightly uncomfortable, he hadn't really wanted to do this crazy thing in the first place.

I felt my conscience twinge uncomfortably. I didn't like dragging people after me into trouble. Even though I knew it'd been mostly Nick's idea, I still felt guilty. I'd picked up my sneakers and tucked them under my arm, then motioned for Drew to take off his shoes too. In socks we'd make less noise. Make that the twins would make less noise, I corrected inwardly. I knew how to move silently from my days as a thief and I made less noise than a ghost.

Once Drew had copied me, I stood and passed my hand swiftly over both of our beds. His eyes widened as the glamour appeared of all of us sleeping soundly in our beds. Then I put a finger to my lips and beckoned him out of the room.

Nick met us just inside the room where our parents slept. For a moment I debated trying to cast a sleep charm over them, but at the last minute my heart failed me. I still wasn't comfortable casting spells on people I knew, especially my father. I felt that he would regard it as a betrayal.

I did, however, cast a silencing charm on the door, so when we opened it, it wouldn't make noise. Then we exited the room quickly and quietly. It wasn't till we were almost to the lobby that I stopped and put on my sneakers.

Then Drew turned to me and asked, "Where the blazes did you learn to cast a glamour like that, Gavin? It nearly fooled me and I knew it wasn't real."

"Fireflash taught me. I can cast glamours easily, it's tied to my ability as a firecaller," I explained softly. "I can manipulate light and heat as well as fire. I figured it'd be a good idea to cast glamours over our beds, just in case my dad wakes up in the middle of the night. He used to patrol the halls at night back when he taught at Hogwarts and sometimes he still wakes up early in the morning."

"Good thinking," Nick praised. "Come on, let's get moving to the haunted house."

Once we'd reached the first haunted house, I double dared them to go inside the house and stay there for twenty minutes. "I'll wait out here and then I'll go in by myself, okay?"

"Fine. Let's do it," Nick said, then he walked up to the old house, turned the door handle and went in.

Drew shook his head and followed. "Idiot!" I heard him whisper. "Always in such a hurry to go do something dangerous or stupid. I swear, I got all the brains between us."

I hesitated a moment, then cast a small glamour over a tree in the yard, making it look as though I was leaning against it. In actuality, I was going to use this time the twins were inside the house to sneak down the street and creep onto the Shining Path property, to see if I could spy on the people within the house.

I ran swiftly yet silently down the street, ignoring the chill wind that blew about me. A chill wind is an ill wind that bodes no good, I thought then laughed softly at myself for being a superstitious idiot. Must be the town. It was steeped in centuries of superstition.

I found my way back to the Brotherhood headquarters easily, even in the dark. I was used to prowling around at night, from when I used to run with the Ravens, and the dark held no terrors for me. At least not the supernatural kind. The wind nipped at my ears, but I ignored it, examining the wrought iron gate intently. I didn't know how to perform an unlocking charm yet, so I'd have to do it the old-fashioned way, with a lockpick.

I set to work with my wire, which was a straightened bobby pin I'd palmed from Aunt Teri's hair kit in the bathroom. Some thieves will tell you that you need specially made tools to pick a lock, but I knew better. I could jimmy most locks with a bit of wire or a credit card, no sweat. It'd been over a year since I'd done anything shady, but I still had all my old skill, and the lock popped on the third try. Three seconds. Not bad, though I'd of been quicker once.

I slipped inside the grounds, carefully shutting the gate behind me and glided over the grass like a ghost. Moving silently is a skill you can be taught, but some people master it quicker than others. I was a natural, light, swift, and graceful. It had helped me survive on the streets of the Lower East Side and before that in the orphanage.

In the moonlight, the house looked even more imposing than during the day. I peered carefully about before I left the cover of a small rhododendron bush and inched my way alongside the house. I needed to find a handhold before I tried to scale the wall up to that second story window where I thought I'd seen my friend.

Luckily for me the house was old brick and mortar, slightly crumbled, and therefore easy to find chinks to fit the tips of my fingers and toes. I was fortunate that I was still small and light, for a heavier boy or a man couldn't have managed to climb all the way to the top. But I practically ran up the wall, perching on the top of the ledge that ran across the brickwork. Then I tried to peer into the window.

It was partially covered by a skimpy lace curtain, but I could make out part of the room. I saw what looked like a chair and a floor lamp with one bulb burning. I tapped softly on the pane, the old code for the Ravens. If Monkey were in that room, she'd hear it and come over.

I mentally counted off seconds in my head, freezing nearly motionless against the side of the house. Twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four. Then there was a movement inside and suddenly Monkey's dark eyes peered out at me from the window.

They widened in shock, and I put a finger to my lips.

She nodded, then put her lips to the glass and mouthed my name. Then she made the sign in thieves cant for "What are you doing here?"

Thieves cant is a secret sign language we of the streets invented to speak to each other when we were casing a place or picking a mark. It was as good as ASL (American Sign Language) and we could speak to each other fluently without anyone knowing.

"Me?" I signed with my left hand, since my right was clinging to the bricks. "How about you? What the blazes are you doing in there?"

"I'm having a party," she signed, twisting her fingers for sarcasm. "I was kidnapped, Gavin."

"Where?"

"Right across the street from our pad," she signed rapidly, angrily. "I was reading the letter you sent from the mailbox when all of a sudden these two goons in ski masks came outta nowhere and nabbed me. They pressed a cloth to my face with some kinda sleeping drug and I took a long nap. Next thing I know, I'm waking up in this damn room here."

"You okay?"

"Yeah," she answered, but something about her answer didn't jive with me.

"They hurt you?" I repeated, locking eyes with her.

This time she glanced away. "A couple of smacks," she admitted. "Nothin' I couldn't handle. They wanted info on you, Gav. They asked me all sorts of questions about the mailbox, how I knew to put letters in it, who delivered them, that sort of thing."

I felt my stomach turn over. "What did you say?"

"Not a damn thing! You think I'd rat you out?" Her dark eyes flashed. "I'm no Slick."

"You should tell them something. So they don't hurt you. Sev's spell will permit it."

She shook her head. "They're nuts, Gav. They call me witch friend and the Devil's Handmaid and say I'm going to hell unless I recant of my darkness. Screwed up mothas! One in particular, he looks a bit like you, in fact, looks at me like I'm lower than dirt. The others call him Captain Hawthorne, or just Captain. I think he's in charge."

I felt my stomach do a flip. Hawthorne. So Evelyn had been right. Her nephew was involved in this whole thing. I felt the shadows deepen about me. "Monkey, why haven;t you tried to get out?"

"Cause I can't fly when I'm hooked to a damn chair. They got me cuffed around my ankle with an iron chain, like those slaves used to wear in the Civil War flicks. I can't pick it, got no wires."

"How long have you been here?"

"Dunno. A week, maybe more."

"I'm getting you out of there. It's not you they want, Monkey, it's me. Wizards. They're witch hunters. They call themselves the Brotherhood of the Shining Path."

"I know. Hawthorne told me first day I was here. Said by associating with a warlock I was tainted." She spat angrily. "He's sick, Gavin. Thinks he's on a holy crusade. Says he going to cleanse the world of all the witches and wizards with fire and make it pure again. "I shall make of this earth a Paradise, where no unclean thing shall walk, unto Eden that was lost." He's bonkers, Wolf. But then, so are they all."

"I know. Hang tight, and I'll spring you, okay?"

But to my shock she shook her head. "No! Don't come here again, Wolf! It's too dangerous. They've got heat, lots of it. State of the art, sniper rifles and all. I saw it when the guards come in to bring me food. Stay away! Please."

"Like hell. I aint leavin' you. Ravens stick together."

"No! Gavin, please!" To my horror, I saw her eyes fill with tears. "Don't be a fool. I can take anything, so long as I know you're safe."

I felt ill. "What do you mean? Damn it, what are they doing?"

She dropped her gaze then. "Just go. Or if you want, tell Severus. Let him deal with it."

"Janie, damn it! I want to help you."

"Help me by getting lost then. Tell your dad. Don't come yourself. You don't know . . ."

"Don't know what?"

Just then I heard a sound from inside, footsteps.

Monkey jerked away from the window. "Go! Get out of here!" she signed before turning away.

I hesitated for the briefest instant, longing to smash the window and confront whoever was coming into the room.

But that was a fool's plan. I had no wish to get shot. But I'd be back, I vowed. Monkey was involved because of me, I thought with a sick feeling in my stomach. If I hadn't sent her that letter the Brotherhood would have left her alone. They'd probably been watching the mailbox and when Monkey had gone to get the letter, they'd pounced.

My friend was in danger because of me. I scurried crab-like down the side of the building and was across the lawn like a shadow fleeing the sunlight. I arrived back at the haunted house just as my cousins were emerging from it.

"Your turn, Gav," Nick challenged.

I nearly told him to shove off, I was so upset. But I stopped myself just in time. They couldn't know where I'd been, what I'd been doing for the past twenty minutes. I wasn't about to drag them into danger too. So I simply nodded and went up the stairs. "Ten minutes," I hissed.

Then I went inside. It was dark and empty, nothing moved. I sank to my knees and looked at my watch, which glowed in the dark. 12:30. The witching hour, I thought. I recalled Monkey's desperate plea-Don't come for me yourself! Tell your dad.

I knew that would be the smart thing to do. To just tell Dad everything and let him take care of it. He was the Director, he knew how to deal with this level of criminal. The Hunters could mop up the floor with these guys. Maybe. I shivered suddenly. It begins again. History repeats itself. I wished with all of my heart that I'd let my father make Monkey forget about wizards and our world, the way he'd wanted to after we'd been rescued from the Shifter. Then she wouldn't have gotten involved in the Brotherhood's insane crusade.

I conjured a ball of fire and played with it, feeling sick to my stomach. I thought about waking my dad up the minute we got back to the hotel, but my nerve failed me. I didn't want to get the twins in trouble. No, this was my problem. I'd tell my father tomorrow, soon as he woke up. And then we'd see if a Dark Hunter was a match for the Captain or whatever he called himself.

I looked at my watch and realized it was time to leave. I stood up and walked out of the door, goosebumps prickling the back of my neck.

"Well, Gav? Did you see a ghost?" asked Drew.

"No. There's no such thing. Least not in there," I said shortly. "C'mon. Before somebody sees us."

We made our way back to the hotel, slipping easily into the lobby and up the elevator. I opened the door to our room and we crept back into bed with our parents none the wiser for our little midnight ramble. I canceled the glamour and then got back into pajamas and into bed. Where I spent the rest of the night tossing and turning, dreading and hoping for the coming of dawn.

Well, they didn't get caught, but what will Gavin do now? Read the next one to find out! I really couldn't stop writing over the weekend!