Tad Williams - The Secrets of Ordinary Farm

Mrs. Needle laughed. “As you say, Simos-peace. For now. Come along, Colin.”

Colin Needle had been about to give up the Continuascope to save his mother, but now he didn’t even want to go with her. His prize was still hidden in the backpack, still his secret, safe from all others. He would hide it again, even from his mother. What else did he have that was truly his?

“Colin, I’m waiting.”

He didn’t want to follow his mother, but he did, because that was what he had always done. But after today how could anything ever be the same? He needed to think about that, Colin realized as he trudged up the stairs. He needed to think about that very, very carefully.

“O kay, I admit it,” said Tyler as the horse pulled the wagon up the long driveway toward the Carrillos’ house. “I don’t get exactly what happened yesterday. Did we win or did we lose?”

Ragnar snorted. “He is changing his will for you. It is happening, and that is very fortunate for you.”

“I know, I know. But didn’t Mrs. Needle just get away with it again? Am I stupid or something? She’s a witch! I thought that the bad guys were supposed to get punished.”

“It’s not that simple, Tyler… ” Lucinda began, although she had been worrying too. After yesterday’s weird events in the Snake Parlor, the evening had been long and quiet, more like the gathering after a funeral than the festive time they had shared with the Ordinary Farm folk before their departure the previous year.

“But in one way your brother is right,” said Ragnar. His expression reminded Lucinda of the thunderclouds of last week. “We have failed to dislodge that woman from Gideon’s hearth. In that way, she has won.”

“Because she poisoned Gideon,” Lucinda said bitterly. “Because she’s blackmailing everyone.”

“Yes, but she is like a serpent-she strikes best from cover,” Ragnar told her. “Now, she must come out where all can see her. Don’t fear, you two-Simos and I will no longer be silent. We will make sure the Needle woman never has so much power on the farm again, or so much freedom. Yes, from now on the fight will be in the open and Gideon will not be able to hide his eyes behind his hand to avoid it.”

That made Lucinda feel a little better, but another thought occurred to her as the door of the Carrillo’s house swung open and Steve, Alma, and Carmen all crashed out into the front yard. “But what if she tries to hurt you guys? Tyler and I won’t be here! We won’t even be able to help…!”

Ragnar’s big hand patted her back. “I was a king and Simos was counselor to several kings in his day.” He grinned. “We may smell like farmers, but there is more to both of us. Don’t fear, child-we will not be caught by surprise again so easily.”

“Time to go,” Ragnar said after what seemed far too short a time at the Carrillos’ house.

“No, don’t!” said Carmen. “Just a little longer…!”

“The train will be at the station in an hour and the road is slow and muddy after all the rain,” the big man said. “You children know I am right.”

“Are Mr. and Mrs. Carrillo still mad at Uncle Gideon?” Lucinda asked.

Ragnar shrugged. “Gideon is himself again and understands he cannot ignore this matter any longer. I told them he has promised he will come here in a few days, when he is strong enough. Together they will work out something-Gideon does not want to lose such good neighbors.” His smile was gentle this time. “You have too many fears, young Lucinda. Things are not perfect, but they will be better now.” He gently shook the reins and Culpepper clip-clopped toward the main road.

Even Ragnar the Viking, big as he was, shrank quickly into the distance and vanished as the train pulled out of Standard Valley station, but there was time for Lucinda to climb up on the seat and shout one last thing out the window at him.

“Don’t make us wait until next summer to come back! We get holidays off school, you know!”

“Whoa!” said Tyler, plugging into his GameBoss. “Everybody’s staring, Luce. Maybe you should sort of chill out a little.”

To her embarrassment, he was right. Half the people in the passenger car had turned to look. She saw a conductor coming toward her and quickly slid down to a sitting position once more. The man in uniform frowned but continued past.

Tyler was already deep into something called “HAMSTROMANCY.” Lucinda couldn’t understand how he could just do that, disappear into some game as if he didn’t have a care in the world. She settled back and closed her eyes, trying to calm herself enough to read or look at the scenery, but thoughts were swirling in her head like startled birds and they wouldn’t stop. What was going to happen? If they were going to be the heirs of Ordinary Farm, wouldn’t their mom have to know sooner or later? Would she come to the farm with them? What if Mom totally freaked out?

But what was bothering her most of all, Lucinda realized, was the strong feeling of unfinished business. There were still so many questions!

“You’re not the only one who doesn’t get it,” she said to her brother.

She must have spoken louder than she meant to, because Tyler heard her even through his earbuds. “Get what?” he asked without looking up from his hamstering.

“I don’t know. Take those off, will you?” She waited. He grunted and turned off his game. “A lot of stuff,” she said. “What was that witch really trying to do to Gideon with that fungus? And why didn’t I turn into a zombie too-was it just because I didn’t get as much of that spore-stuff as he did…?”

Tyler looked at her, all innocence. “I think you meant to say, ‘Why didn’t I turn into more of a zombie than I already am?’ ”

She gave him a good hard shot on the leg to focus his thoughts. “Cut it out. We know from the letter that the fungus thing came from near Madagascar. Didn’t you tell me Octavio said something about Madagascar, too?”

“Yeah, he told me it’s on the opposite side of the earth from the Fault Line here. That’s what I think he said, anyway. That the two places were like the North and South poles. But it was pretty scientific.” He shook his head. “Okay, giant Madagascar Fault Line fungus. I have a question, too-how did Gideon get away from it? Why was he wandering around on the Fourth of July?”

“I have a guess.” Lucinda put a piece of tissue in her book to mark her place, then slid it into her backpack. “When I was at the greenhouse that day I got… spored, I guess, some of the metal of the greenhouse was melted. I think it must have got hit by lightning in that first storm.”

“So?”

“So that’s almost for sure where Mrs. Needle was keeping Gideon, and then the lightning hit the place and then… ” she shrugged, “then somehow it freaked out the fungus or something. Anyway, I think that’s when he got out, because there was that storm, remember, and then the next day was the Fourth when we went to the Carillos and Gideon suddenly showed up.”

Tyler nodded. “Okay. Sort of makes sense. But what about the other stuff? I know Colin’s got the Continuascope. What if he starts messing with the Fault Line?”

She shrugged. “There’s nothing we can do about it right now. You warned Ragnar and Mr. Walkwell. They’ll keep their eyes open. They said they’d find it if they could, or at least keep him out of the Fault Line.”

He scowled. “That guy is such a creep.”

For once Lucinda didn’t bother arguing. “And the mirror, the washstand mirror. They said Gideon was going to take that back from Mrs. Needle, so that’s good too, right?”

“I guess. But how come Octavio didn’t know anything about it? How could it be sitting right there in his house and the guy who knew everything didn’t know?”