Chapter 48: Proper Inheritance
The city had not been as deserted as I thought. As soon as the battle had ended, ambulances and police cars could be seen parked along the edge of the field as EMTs loaded injured people onto stretchers. Although I had healed the worst of my father's wounds, he was still loaded onto a stretcher and carried into an ambulance.
Charlie and I weren't sure what to say or think about the situation. I could feel his hand wrap around mine and we watched as many people we loved and cared about were carried off. He needed me to keep him calm and it was the least I could do. "Both of you two should probably be taken into an ambulance." An officer by the name of Singh checked us out. Sometimes I swore he and his partner Officer Wood were the only police officers in the city.
"We'll be fine." Charlie said, looking over at me. I nodded in agreement. "I'm just worried about our parents. Our mom should be notified."
"I've called her already." Officer Singh smiled reassuringly.
We were taken to the hospital anyway, but we already knew we were going to be fine. Our mother was waiting for us when we got there, and nearly squeezed us half to death outside of the room where our father's remaining wounds were being dressed.
"I don't understand." I looked at her. "The postcards and foreign stamps. Charlie kept seeing a boat-"
"I am so sorry." Mom brushed the hair from my face and hugged Charlie a little tighter with her free arm. "We hated doing this to you, but we had to make sure that the Bloors never found out who the Red Knight was. Not through any of their dirty tricks. They would have done horrible things to both of you. Infinity, I couldn't let you go through that again. Not after how badly you were hurt the first time. And if it would have happened to Charlie, he wouldn't have had a chance. We needed them to believe it was someone else wearing the cloak and riding the white mare."
"They thought it was my pap." Salem's cheerful voice came from behind me. I hadn't heard him sneak up on us. "It was him on that boat the whole time, you know. He was a fantastic sailor and he survived Grimwald's storms. They're on their way back now."
"You were in on this?" I glared back at Salem.
"Since we rescued Asa." He shrugged. "Like your mom said, we couldn't tell you."
"If you ever lie to me about another thing as long as we are both alive-" I was flustered and didn't know what to say. Salem just kissed the top of my head and grinned.
"I'll never have to lie to you again, so you don't have to worry about a thing. Come on. Let's go get something to eat." He tugged at my hand and pulled me away from my family. They gave kind smiles and waved as we wandered down the hallway towards the cafeteria. We sat down in a quiet corner and he leaned close to speak to me. "Look, I'm really sorry I didn't tell you, but it would have put you in danger. I was only in the loop because Pap told me that he was going onto the sea in your father's place, but he wouldn't let me in on anything else. The night Manfred took advantage of you, I went back to the dorms and when everyone else fell asleep, I thought I could hear something in the courtyard. I went to the window and saw the Red Knight standing there beneath the tree and he spoke to me. He told me everything. That he had a plan. I guess that's what set me off so badly that next day, that you were going to sabotage everything your father was trying to do and I couldn't tell you what was going on. I got so frustrated, I snapped."
"What was the plan?"
"Your father is a smarter man than I thought. He planned out everything with such careful attention to detail that I was surprised you didn't have a hand in the plot." He grinned. "Your father needed some time alone to remember where he had placed the box that held the will. Because no one that is alive remembers where it is, I wasn't able to help and Lyell needed to remember on his own. He didn't want to ask you to help him regain his memory just in case Ezekiel tried to kidnap you again. He decided that the best way to handle this situation would be to pretend to go on a second honeymoon far away and not tell you or Charlie anything. From there, your father assumed the identity of the Red Knight and your mother went to go stay with Officer Singh's father in an academy far away from here. Kumar Singh, I knew he was special. When Charlie and Billy were hiding at the Hundred Head's dinner, he caught them and warned me that they were there so I could help them escape. After all of that was completed, there was only one loose end left to tie up. Part of Charlie's endowment allows him to work almost like the Mirror of Amoret. If he thinks hard about someone, he can find them. To keep that from happening, your father recruited Senor Alvaro to apply at the academy and work as Charlie's teacher. Senor Alvaro has the same endowment that I do and was able to alter Charlie's thoughts and throw Manfred and Eustacia on the wrong trail."
"Is there anything else that you think I should know?" I eyed him warily. I knew that he had only been lying because he thought it was the right thing to do at the time, but I still didn't like it.
"I think you're all caught up." He stood from the table and stretched his arms. "Though you should go speak with your father yourself. I'm sure there's plenty that needs to be said between the two of you."
He wasn't wrong. I had a lot of mixed feelings about everything that I had learned. When I was sure that Charlie had gotten to speak with him, I made my way to his room. When I pushed the door open, I wasn't surprised to see him with a bandage wrapped around his head and his arm was in a sling. The deep wounds that had been caused by the Enchanter's sword were gone. He stared up at me with glassy, dark eyes. The nurses were taking good care of him and he was filled with a good amount of pain killers.
"I don't even know what to say to you." He spoke before I could say a single word. My heart dropped. Was he angry with me? I hadn't gotten to spend nearly as much time with him as I should have when he had woken up from his hypnotism. He was still having a hard time piecing things together, but now, I knew that his memories were whole and I knew that he had been watching over Charlie and I the whole time. Did he know how close I had come to betraying Billy? "You have grown so much from the little girl I remembered. You were two years old when Ailwyn moved you all to Bimini. Lily wanted to just leave without letting us see you, but Ailwyn had a conscious and brought you to see us for the day. He told us he was sorry that he was taking you so far away, but he thought that it was for the best. He told us that we needed to start our lives too, that we shouldn't feel guilty about eventually starting our own family. Seeing you was always really hard on your mother and I had a hard time respecting my boundaries. I regretted it from the moment I signed the papers. I wanted you back but once you give your child up for adoption, you don't get to change your mind. You used to call me Lell. Any time we got to see you, you would climb up next to me at the piano and watch me play. When it was time for you to go home, you would always cry."
"Once you were gone, we never got to speak to you again. We never got to see pictures. We got a letter shortly after Charlie was born. It was from Ailwyn. He said that you had Yewbeam blood and Lily was terrified of you. He mentioned that some kind of witch doctor in Bimini was able to do something to help keep it hidden, but he was terrified that Lily wouldn't want you anymore. That's when you moved to California and I didn't hear anything again. A few more years passed and when you were six and Charlie was two, I met Mostyn Tolly. He had a little girl that the Bloors believed was endowed. She was Charlie's age. Two years old, the age I remembered you as. When I found out that he was going to give his daughter up, I tried to stop him. I told him that he would regret it every single day for the rest of his life if he didn't fight for her. When I got to the cathedral, it was already happening. I saw this little girl with beautiful blonde hair and I lost my temper. I shoved Ezekiel to the ground but by then, one of the twins had her. That is the last thing I remember. And here we are now, you're so grown up. You fought and killed an expert swordsman from another century. Infinity, I couldn't take my eyes off of you. You were so fast and moved so gracefully even after being hit."
"You…saw that?" I hadn't remembered the Red Knight being present during my fight with Ashkelan.
"I was ready to step in, but then I saw you on the bank so I backed off." He adjusted his arm a bit and grimaced. I wanted to do something for him, but I wasn't sure if I had the energy. "You are the most resilient person I think I have ever met and I am so proud of you. I know that Ailwyn was your father and I'll never replace him, but I promise you that I will be here for you until the day that I die. I will be the best father to you and Charlie that I can be."
"Everything that happened in the past doesn't matter anymore." I reassured him. "You don't have to beat yourself up. I have made my peace with the situation and don't harbor any resentment." I gave him a kiss on the cheek and stepped back. "Please get some rest. I'll be back tomorrow."
Slowly, things around the city were beginning to be put back together. Grandma Bone had fled number nine and went to go live with her sisters. Alice Angel was able to begin putting her old house to rights. She sold her shop in Steppingstones and was going to stay in the city. Other people began to return to the city as well, including Zelda's parents. They behaved as though they had just left for an ordinary weekend away. The fog was forgotten and no one spoke of the battle that had happened. I wondered if any of that had to do with Salem and Senor Alvaro's influence.
Instead, everyone agreed that it was going to be a beautiful Easter and spoke of planning their dinners and attending services. The thick snow that had previously closed the roads and the school was nothing but a memory now. Daffodils and irises were already blooming in the gardens and the avenues were filled with cherry blossom trees.
The wild strangers that had invaded Piminy Street disappeared as suddenly as they had arrived. The street belonged to Katya once more and she was excited that now that the darkness of the city had vanished, more amiable neighbors would arrive. Her sword hung back in its place in the blacksmith shop and Solomon was able to roam the kettles once more.
To fill the emptiness that had come with Zelda and I returned to our own homes, she offered Dagbert a place to stay, which he had joyfully accepted. He had taken a shine to watching her craft beautiful metal objects and wanted to learn himself.
Not one student had attempted to go back to Bloor's Academy on Monday. Dad and Uncle Paton had finally made full recoveries (thanks to a few sweet kitties who had decided to give me a break) and returned to us Monday afternoon. Cook moved into Grandma Bone's room temporarily. Dad and mom made plans for us to move back into the old house on Diamond Corner as soon as possible. Salem was going to return to his grandfather's cabin as soon as he returned to the city. But before anyone else made too many plans, there was still one more mystery to clear up. Maybelle's box.
When the next day came, dad decided that Charlie, Uncle Paton, Salem and I were going to go up to the cathedral where dad was still the official organist after all of these years. We walked along the wide aisles and beautifully carved walls towards the great organ. "You sly dog." Salem chuckled as dad lifted the cushioned top of the organist's seat with a mischievous smile. Dad pulled out a tiny box inlaid with pearl. He passed it to Charlie first.
"How are we supposed to open this without a key?" Uncle Paton looked over Charlie's shoulder.
"We could force the lock, but the pattern would be destroyed in the process." Dad suggested.
"Are you really worried about the pattern?" I asked.
"Hey, it's a really nice box."
Charlie carefully turned the box and studied the intricate patterns. There were tiny stars, birds, leaves and flowerers carefully carved into the sides and then filled with mother-of-pearl. As he stared into the stars, I watched his eyes glaze over as they usually did when he traveled. We all watched in stunned silence.
"Charlie?" Dad finally spoke after a few minutes. He started to shake his arm to rouse him out of his stupor.
Charlie blinked and then held up his finger. "It was a cat." He turned the box over again and began to study it. Finally, he saw what he was looking for and pressed his finger into the pearl cat. The lid of the box clicked open carefully.
"Clever." I grinned and Charlie handed the wills over to me, as if I would know how to make sense of them. I sat on the floor and began to carefully unfold them, sorting them out and reading the names on the wills out loud. "Septimus Bloor left everything to his daughter Maybelle, and Maybelle left everything to her son, Daniel Raven. Daniel Raven left everything to his daughter Ita-"
"Ita?" Dad took the will from my hands and frowned. "Who on Earth is she? I thought Daniel left everything to his son Hugh, who gave the box to Billy's father to prove that he would inherit the Bloor estate."
I felt a hand come down on my shoulder. When I turned my head, Salem was nearly hovering over me and his smile nearly split his face in two. "Paton, do you have it?"
"I do. I want you all to come look at something." He led us down to the front pew, where we all sat on either side of Uncle Paton. He drew out a folded piece of paper from his pocket and flattened it on his knee. "This is what Salem and I have discovered."
I strained to lean over Charlie, whose hedge of a head was blocking my view of what looked like a vertical line with names. "I can't see, Charlie." I murmured.
"Don't worry. I can read it out loud." Dad chuckled. "Daniel's eldest child Ita married a man named Simon Bone. They had a son named Eamon, who married Clara Lyell." Dad looked back at me. "Clara and Eamon had a son named Montague Bone… " his voice trailed off as he began to understand the true weight of the words he spoke. "My father."
"Who left everything he owned to you." Paton finished.
We all sat in silence for a moment. I could hardly believe what we had just learned. I didn't know how to think or feel about it, until finally Salem began to laugh. It was a deep, throaty and real laugh. "This is the best outcome that I could have imagined. I can't wait to see the look on Ezekiel's face when he discovers that Bloor's academy belongs to Lyell Bone."
"Yes, but we have to prove it first." Dad frowned.