David Baldacci - The Keeper

I led Delph toward the emerald light, which he drew back from until I walked through it and beckoned him to follow. As we approached the cottage, Astrea gazed up at my tall friend. “So you’re Daniel Delphia, are you?”

“I am,” he said, shooting me a quizzical look. “Friends call me Delph.”

“And you’re traveling with this one?” she said, hooking a thumb at me.

“I am,” Delph said again.

Astrea turned and headed into the cottage without another word.

When she had gone into the cottage with Seamus, I screamed, once more jumped into Delph’s arms and squeezed him so tightly I thought either he might burst or my arms would fall off.

I gushed as I felt tears rise to my eyes, “You’re all right, Delph. I... I was so scared. That bloody cloud. You just disappeared.”

He hugged me back and then slowly set me down on the ground.

“I don’t know what happened, Vega, to tell the truth. I was talking to you one sliver and then the next thing I know, I’m in the middle of some trees with no idea how I got there. It was weird-like. What happened to you?”

“After you vanished, I met a hob named Seamus. He took me to Astrea’s cottage.”

“And how’d I get back here?”

“I’ll explain everything, but it’s going to take a while. So be patient.”

“Well, let me eat first and then I’ll be more patient.”

We held hands all the way to the cottage. Part of me didn’t want to ever let go of Delph. I would rather die than lose him again. I had lost my parents and my brother. I could not lose Delph. I just couldn’t.

With him I knew I could face anything.

Together.

I led him into the kitchen, where Seamus was already seated in a chair by the stove, on which the pots and skillets were still bubbling and sizzling, respectively.

“So who’s the little bloke?” Delph asked as he sat down.

“Seamus, the hob I mentioned.”

“Hob?”

“Remember, in Quentin’s book. A hob!”

“Oh, right. Helpful blokes.”

“Well, actually, he isn’t really all that helpful,” I whispered.

Astrea had swept off her cloak and hung it on a wall peg and now was once more overseeing the stove. She called out, “Vega, please set the table.”

This puzzled me for a moment before I figured what I needed to do. “Plates, cups, goblets, forks, knives and napkins. Please,” I tacked on at the end.

Delph nearly fell out of his chair when all these things came plummeting from the ceiling to land softly on the table all lined up proper-like.

“What the—” he began.

“And bowls,” added Astrea. “And spoons.”

The bowls and spoons alighted next to the plates, making Delph jump again.

I put a calming hand on his arm. “Patience, remember?”

I noted that on the floor a pan of water had appeared in front of Harry Two, along with a bowl of food. He looked at me as though waiting for permission to begin. I smiled and nodded at him and he started to gobble and slurp.

“ ’Tis ready,” announced Astrea.

She swept a hand across the pots and skillets and then pointed at the table. What was on the stove was thus transferred to our plates and bowls. We looked down and saw fried eggs and bacon and ham and brown toast and sausages and kippers, and porridge in our bowls as well. Jams, butter and honey pots also appeared in front of us. Our goblets were filled with milk. Our cups nearly brimmed over with hot tea.

I looked at Astrea inquiringly. “Aren’t you eating too?”

“I’ve not much of an appetite. You two eat. We’ll talk later.”

She walked out of the room. Seamus followed.

As we ate, I told Delph everything that had happened to me. As I did so, his jaw dropped so low it was almost resting in his pile of smoked kippers.

“Are you telling me that all that happened in the course of one bleedin’ night?”

I finished a bit of bacon. “Well, that doesn’t count the time I was asleep.”

“Bloody Hel,” he said, cramming two fried eggs and a kipper into his mouth. He drank down his milk, and his features turned somber.

“What is it, Delph? Do you want some more food? I’m sure—”

“It’s not that, though I could go for a few more eggs and maybe a half dozen bits of bacon and another kipper or two and I wouldn’t turn down a few more fried biscuits and another cuppa tea, I can tell you that.”

He again nearly leapt out of his chair when this exact amount of food and drink appeared on his plate and in his cup. When he’d righted himself and begun to eat once more, I said, “So what’s on your mind?”

“It’s all rubbish, ain’t it? All we’ve known. Bloody lies!”

He was right. They were lies. But there was truth out there. And we would find it.

After we finished eating, Astrea led us into the room located off the library. She sat behind her old desk, staring at us and drumming her fingertips on the wood.

“I want to be sure that I understand your true and sincere intent,” she said.

Delph and I glanced at each other.

I spoke up. “I thought I made that clear enough. We mean to get through the Quag. The three of us, including Harry Two of course,” I added, scratching his ear.

She looked at Delph. “And you?”

“Like Vega Jane said. We want the truth. Done with all the lies, ain’t we?”

Astrea nodded and drew out the sticklike thing she had used to bring Delph here. I could now see that it wasn’t clear. It was actually made of crystal.

“What is that?” I asked.

“My wand. It is a necessary element to perform magic.”

I said slowly, “I did magic sort of back in Wormwood, but I had no wand.”

“You mean with the Elemental or the chain,” she said.

“No, I made a window that Morrigone destroyed put itself back together.”

“Indeed?” said Astrea, looking quite interested by this.

“Why would I be able to do that?” I asked.

“If power runs down the line, it touches all in that line.”

“My parents couldn’t perform magic,” I said emphatically.

“And how do you know they couldn’t?” she asked.

“Well, they never did.”

“That is not the same thing as being unable to.”

“If my parents were powerful, why would they have been in the Care?”

“Maybe the fact that they were powerful caused them to end up in the Care.”

My brows knitted together as I thought over this strange possibility. “Are you saying their power made them sick?”

“No, I’m saying that their power made them dangerous to others.”

As the meaning of her words sunk in, I rose on quivering legs, my face flushed, my chest swelling with fierce emotions. “Are you...?” I faltered. I made another attempt. “Do you mean to say...?” Again, I could not finish. Delph reached over and put a supportive hand on my shoulder.

Astrea said, “That they were cursed to prevent them from escaping Wormwood? Yes, that is exactly what I mean.”

My eyes flashed. “ Morrigone! She’s the only one that could have done it.”

“I agree,” she said so casually that my suspicions soared.

“And you knew about it!” I yelled.

“Of course I knew about it,” she replied so calmly that I wanted to hit her. “Our goal was to stop anyone from leaving Wormwood.”

“So you had Morrigone curse my parents into... into... what they became?”

“I saw what she did.”

“You could have stopped it, then,” I pointed out heatedly.

“But I did not want your parents to use their power to escape.”

Now I pounced. It was stupid, but I couldn’t help myself. “So then, why are you helping us to escape the Quag?” I demanded.