فصل 25

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Ghosts of Christmas Past

As Kate hurried with Emma through the dark hallways of the house, she couldn’t help noticing that everything was in a state of extreme disrepair: mirrors were crusted with grime, cobwebs clung to the corners, mouse-eaten rugs covered creaking, dusty floors. In short, the house looked exactly as it had before they’d gone into the past. Emma wouldn’t tell her what had happened, which was fine, actually, as Kate was still thinking about all the Countess had said, how the Dire Magnus was holding their parents prisoner, how their only hope of rescuing them was to get the other two Books. She knew she had to tell Michael and Emma. But first she wanted to talk to Dr. Pym.

They stopped at the door to the ballroom. Emma faced her.

“Are you ready?”

Without waiting for an answer, Emma turned the handles. As the doors swung open, Kate was assaulted by a blast of light and music. The ballroom was filled with people, eating, drinking, talking, and for a moment, Kate thought they had stumbled into the Countess’s ghostly St. Petersburg gala. Only this wasn’t the Countess’s gala. The music was festive. There was a huge tree in the center of the room. The walls were hung with garlands and holly. The guests, while dressed in their seasonal best, were very clearly not the cream of St. Petersburg society. And then there were the children. They ran about, weaving between the adults, chasing one another and yelping with high spirits.

“What is this?” Kate said.

Emma didn’t reply, and Kate saw that she was being noticed. One partygoer would look over, whisper to another, who would whisper to another, who would whisper to another; in just a few seconds, the entire ballroom had fallen silent and turned to stare.

“Emma, what’s going—”

She was drowned out as every person there began to cheer and clap.

“Okay,” Kate said, “this is creepy.”

“There you are! Welcome! Welcome!”

Dr. Pym, wearing the same tweed suit she’d seen him in fifteen years and not five minutes before, emerged from the applauding crowd. He was beaming. “A Merry Christmas, my dear! A Merry Merry Merry Merry Christmas!”

He bowed, folding himself nearly in half.

“Dr. Pym,” Kate said, “… who are … What’s going on?”

“Why, it’s a party!” Then he lowered his voice so only Kate could hear. “Have no fear. The Dire Magnus cannot harm you tonight. I have seen to it.”

Kate nodded dumbly. She was staring at the crush of party-goers closing in on them.

“Uh-huh, but—”

Michael stepped up behind the wizard. “It’s okay, Kate. Everything’s all right.”

And indeed, all the people seemed to want to do was shake Kate’s hand, say thank you, and wish her a Merry Christmas. They were men and women of all ages, and Kate saw that many had tears in their eyes, and they held on to her hand as if they’d been waiting for this moment for many years and were unwilling to let it pass too quickly.

“Dr. Pym,” she said as she emerged from the embrace of a round woman who’d blubbered all over her shoulder, “who are these people?”

“These are the fine people of Cambridge Falls. We host an annual Christmas party here at the house. I find it a good way to dispel bad spirits. Though I still can’t persuade Miss Sallow to clean the place properly. She really is a dismal housekeeper.”

“Don’t you see?” Emma cried. “They’re the kids! The ones we saved! All grown up!”

Just then a young couple with a baby walked up. Both the man and the child had curly red hair.

“It’s really you,” the man said. “We hardly believed it when Dr. Pym said you’d be here tonight. You don’t look at all different. Smaller, I guess, but that’s to be expected.”

Kate had the feeling she knew this man, but she couldn’t say from where or how.

The woman smiled. “They don’t recognize you, dear.”

“Right, of course. I’m Stephen McClattery. I grew up a little. And this is Annie, my wife. Do you remember her?”

“… Oh …,” Kate said, “… OH!”

“I had glasses,” Annie said.

“I remember.” Kate was thinking of how she had once held this girl, now a woman, in her arms.

“We’d like you to meet our daughter,” Annie said. “We named her Katherine. We owe everything to you. We all do. Everyone here.”

Kate looked at the baby and felt her eyes welling with tears. Choking, she was able to murmur, “She’s beautiful.”

“ ‘Ere now!” cried a hearty voice. “Lemme through! I want a crack at ‘em!”

The dwarf king Robbie McLaur was pushing his way good-naturedly through the crowd. He wore a red-and-green-checked vest, and his beard was neatly plaited into four braids, each tied with an emerald ribbon. With his vest, his braided, beribboned beard, and his general air of smartness, Kate thought he looked like nothing so much as the most prancing of all prancing ponies—that is to say, she thought he looked marvelous.

Michael exclaimed, “Your Highness! No one told me you were here!” and immediately dropped to a knee.

Emma groaned. “You are so embarrassing.”

“ ‘Ere now, none a’ that from you!” Robbie dragged Michael to his feet and clasped him in a ferocious hug. “A sight for sore eyes, lad! All three a’ you! A sight for sore eyes!”

Then Kate saw the other dwarf standing a few paces back. He wore a red-and-gold vest and was grinning broadly through his black beard.

“Wallace!” she cried, and ran forward.

Laughing, he wrapped her in his short, muscular arms, then stepped back to better take her in. “Last I saw you was in the Dead City near fifteen year ago. In fact, you mighta been wearing them exact clothes.”

“Wallace, I’m so sorry about what I did—”

“Now, now, no apologies. Things turned out right in the end.”

“Aye, that they did,” Robbie cut in. “Not least, we’ve reestablished ties with the Cambridge Falls–ians. Not a bad egg among ‘em! Oh, before I forget, Hamish sends his apologies he couldn’t make it.”

“Really?” Kate said.

“Really?” Michael said.

Robbie roared with laughter and slapped Michael’s back so hard that Michael nearly toppled over.

“Course not! I’ve got that degenerate back at the palace ‘anding out presents. I make ‘im dress up like Santa every year. Bounce ‘em young dwarfies on ‘is knee. Lord but ‘e hates it!”

Kate saw that her sister was standing on her toes, straining to peer out over the crowd. Kate’s heart sank, realizing what, or who, Emma was searching for. Kate knew that now was the time to go to her. But just then she was waylaid by another pair of grown-up children who wanted to meet her, thank her, have her kiss their child. When she turned back around, Emma was gone.

She found her sister outside, on the back patio, the same one where, fifteen years earlier, the three of them had sat with the Countess while the witch had explained the history of the Books of Beginning. That night had been warm, filled with the end of summer. It was winter now; a hard crust of snow covered the stone-flagged patio, and Kate could see her breath. She closed the doors behind her, shutting out the noise of the party, and crossed to her sister. Emma was staring at the dark line of trees, her arms wrapped tightly around herself. Kate wondered if she even felt the cold.

“I thought he’d be here,” Emma said. “I thought … I mean, everyone else is here. Those dwarves and … I just thought he’d be here too. Stupid, I guess.”

Kate put her hand on her sister’s back.

“I’m sorry.”

They stood like that for perhaps half a minute, neither moving nor speaking. Kate wondered if she should make Emma come inside. It was too cold to be out without a coat, and she wanted to tell her and Michael what she’d learned about their parents. She was about to speak when Emma let out a gasp and bolted down the stone steps and out into the snow.

“Emma! Wait! What’re you …”

Then she saw the dark shape that had separated itself from the trees and was moving toward them.

No, Kate thought. It can’t be.…

Emma was running through the knee-high drifts, shouting the name, and when she reached the figure, she threw herself into its outstretched arms.

Kate heard Emma’s muffled voice. “I knew it! I knew it.…”

Moments later, the man, still holding Emma, stepped up onto the patio. He was wearing a long bearskin coat, and snow had gathered on his shoulders and hair. The face was more lined than Kate remembered, and there were gray streaks at his temples. Emma’s face was buried in his collar.

“Hello,” Gabriel said.

Kate nodded, still dumbstruck.

“You’re cold. We should go inside.” And he stepped forward and opened the door.

“Ah,” Dr. Pym said as Gabriel approached with the two girls, Emma walking beside him now, clutching his hand, “you made it. I heard there was quite a bit of snow your side of the mountain.”

Michael stared, his expression, Kate suspected, much as hers had been a few moments earlier. “I thought he was … Wait … How …”

The wizard was smiling, enjoying the confusion and saying nothing.

“It is good to see you,” Gabriel said in his deep, serious voice.

“I’m sorry,” Kate said. “But Michael’s right. How …”

“Am I not dead?”

“Well … yes.”

“Because Gabriel’s too tough for some stupid monster!” Emma blurted. “Ain’t that right?” She wiped at her face, and Kate saw that she was crying with happiness.

“I have you to thank,” Gabriel said to Michael.

“Me?”

“Him!” Emma said. “He didn’t do anything! I’m the one who took apart those mine thingies! I’m the one who pushed you off the catwalk!”

Gabriel looked at her.

“I mean,” Emma said quickly, “found you on the catwalk. After you fell there, when you’d bounced off the first one.”

“Had it not been for your brother,” Gabriel continued, “it might not have occurred to me that the monster feared water. But that was how I finally defeated it. As the water rose, I was able to drown the hellish creature.”

“And you still escaped,” Kate marveled.

“The last thing I remember is running up the stairs as the dam fell to pieces around me. King Robbie and his dwarves found me unconscious at the edge of the gorge.”

“That we did.” The dwarf king tucked his thumbs in his vest pockets and swayed back and forth. “ ‘Ad a devil of a time trying to move ‘im. Lad weighs more’n a draft ‘orse.”

“Wow, I guess dwarves are good for stuff after all,” Emma said generously.

Then she pulled Gabriel down, and Kate saw her whisper something in his ear, and she heard Gabriel reply, “I know, me too.…”

Kate looked at Dr. Pym. “So it’s all right, then. Everyone’s okay?”

“Much more than okay. Look about you; this is all thanks to you.”

And Kate looked at the families arrayed before them and thought, We did this, whatever else happens, we did this.

“Now,” Dr. Pym said, “if you will excuse me, I’ve been eyeing that cider—”

“No! I have to tell you something—”

“Yes, my dear?”

“I …”

The old wizard was waiting. So, in fact, were Michael and Emma, Emma holding Gabriel’s hand, Michael standing with King Robbie and Wallace. Both looked happier than Kate had ever seen them.

“Yes, Katherine?”

Kate knew that the moment she told them what the Countess had said, that it was up to them to rescue their parents from the Dire Magnus, the night was over. She thought of what a long journey they’d had to get here, how far they still had to go. Michael and Emma would need tonight.

“I … just wanted to say Merry Christmas, everyone.”

And so the evening went on, and there was singing and dancing, caroling around the fire; Stephen McClattery apologized for having tried to have Michael hanged, and they told him not to worry about it; the children saw Abraham, hobbling about with a camera, and they hugged him and thanked him for everything; Wallace and King Robbie taught the children dwarf Christmas carols that seemed to have only passing mentions of Christmas and be much more about the benefits and drawbacks of various mining techniques (Michael took notes); there was a long table with the best kinds of food imaginable: roast pig with maple glaze, lamb and mint jelly, crispy golden potatoes, garlic-and-cheese mashed potatoes, steaming bowls of chowder; the desserts alone took up two tables, one of which was devoted entirely to different varieties of donuts: chocolate donuts, cinnamon donuts, chocolate-and-cinnamon donuts, powdered donuts with raspberry filling, with blackberry filling, with strawberry or blueberry filling; Michael pressed Emma to try what he promised was a delicious mushroom donut, but she told him not to be disgusting; there were apple and pear and honey ciders, steaming vats of mulled wine, great frothy mugs of hot chocolate, a keg of dwarf ale that King Robbie had brought and that seemed to be extremely popular; and adults who’d already come up and thanked the children came up a second and a third time, dragging along Abraham to take their picture; and they met children named Kate and children named Michael and children named Emma, so many that Kate wondered how when a mother called her son or daughter home in the evening, she didn’t get half the town’s children stomping through her door; and the children ate too much and drank too much, and the only person who was grumpy in the least was Miss Sallow, and that was simply the way she was.

Kate tried her best to join in, but the thoughts of all that had happened and all the Countess had said wouldn’t go away. Who was the Dire Magnus? What did it mean that she could use the Atlas without a photograph? Was there more to the prophecy than what the Countess had mentioned? And what about the other two Books? What powers and secrets did they contain? There was so much she didn’t understand.

And then there were the questions about their parents.

Thinking of what they must have gone through, what they must still be going through, made Kate dizzy with fear and sadness.

But even so, there was one thing she did know for certain.

If their parents were alive, then she and Michael and Emma were going to find them. She didn’t care how powerful the Dire Magnus was, or that to rescue their parents they would have to find a pair of magical books that had been missing for thousands of years; she and Michael and Emma were going to put their family back together and nothing was going to stop them.

“Kate!” Emma ran up, Michael just behind her, their faces bright with joy. “King Robbie’s gonna whistle ‘Deck the Halls’ through his nose! Dwarves, right? This should be hilarious!”

“Nose-whistling is an ancient dwarf tradition!” Michael protested, then added, “But it should be pretty funny.”

“Come on, Kate! You gotta come!”

“You really shouldn’t miss it.”

“Robbie’s gonna whistle Christmas carols through his nose?” Kate laughed. “What’re we waiting for?” And, smiling, she let herself be led away by her brother and sister.