Лиза Смит - The Return - Midnight

Mrs. Flowers said, “But Mama still would have told me. Also there are no keyholes in the root cellar. At all.”

“‘No keyholes’ wouldn’t matter, I don’t think,” Elena answered. “I think he just wanted to show how clever he was, and how he could fool us into giving him Misao’s star ball.”

Before anyone else could say a word, Meredith held out her palm, with a shining key on it. The key was golden with diamonds inset and had a very familiar outline.

“That’s one of the Master Keys!” cried Elena. “It’s what we thought the Twin Fox key would look like!”

“It sort of came out of his jeans pocket when he did that flip,” Meredith said innocently.

“When you were flipping him over me, you mean,” said Elena. “I suppose you picked his pocket too.”

“So, right now, Shinichi doesn’t have a key to escape with!” Matt said excitedly.

“No key to make keyholes,” Elena agreed, dimpling.

“He can have fun changing into a mole and burrowing out of the root cellar,” Meredith said coolly. “That’s if he’s got his transforming gear or whatever with him.”

She added, with a troubled change in her voice, “I wonder…if we should have Matt tell one other person where he’s actually hidden the star ball. Just…well, just in case.”

Matt saw knitted brows all around him. But suddenly the realization hit him that he had to tell someone that he’d hidden the star ball in his closet. The group — including Stefan — had picked him to hide it because he had so stubbornly resisted when Shinichi was using Damon’s body as a puppet to torture him a month ago. Matt had proved then that he would die in hideous pain rather than endanger his friends. But if Matt were to die now, Misao’s star ball might be lost to the group forever. And only Matt knew how close he had come today to tumbling down the stairs along with Shinichi.

Far below they all heard a shout. “Hello! Is anybody home? Elena!”

“That’s my Stefan,” Elena said and then, without a shred of dignity, she ran to launch herself from the foyer into his arms. He looked startled, but managed to break her fall before they both went down on the porch.

“What’s been going on?” he said, his body vibrating infinitesimally, as with the urge to fight. “The whole house smells like kitsune!”

“It’s all right,” Elena said. “Come and see.” She led him upstairs to his room.

“We’ve got him in the root cellar,” she added.

Stefan looked confused. “You’ve got who in the root cellar?”

“With iron against the door,” Matt said triumphantly. “And herbs and amulets all over it. And, anyway, Meredith got his key.”

“His key? You’re talking about — Shinichi?” Stefan turned on Meredith, green eyes wide. “While I’ve been gone?”

“It was mostly an accident. I sort of stuck my hand in his pocket when he was upside down and off balance. And I lucked out and got the Master Key — unless this is an ordinary house key.”

Stefan stared at it. “It’s the real thing. Elena knows that. Meredith, you’re incredible!”

“Yes, it’s the right one,” Elena confirmed. “I remember the shape — pretty elaborate, yes?” She took it from Meredith’s hand.

“What are you going to—”

“Might as well test it,” Elena said with a mischievous smile. She walked to the door of the room, shut it, said, “The den downstairs,” inserted the winged key in the lock, and opened the door, stepping through and shutting the door behind her.

Before anyone could speak, she was back, with the poker from the den held aloft in triumph.

“It works!” Stefan cried.

“That’s amazing,” Matt said.

Stefan looked almost feverish. “But don’t you realize what it means? It means we can use this key. We can go anywhere we like without using Power. Even to the Dark Dimension! But first — while he’s still here — we ought to do something about Shinichi.”

“You’re in no condition to do that now, dear Stefan,” Mrs. Flowers said, shaking her head. “I’m sorry, but the truth is that we have been very, very lucky. That wicked kitsune was off guard back then. He won’t be now.”

“I still have to try,” Stefan said quietly. “Every one of you has been tormented or had to fight — whether with your fists or your minds,” he added, bowing slightly to Mrs. Flowers. “I’ve suffered but I’ve never had a chance to fight him. I have to try.”

Matt said, just as quietly, “I’ll go with you.”

Elena added, “We can all fight together. Right, Meredith?”

Meredith nodded slowly, taking Stefan’s poker from his fireplace. “Yes. It may be a low blow, but — together.”

“I say it’s a higher blow than letting him live and go on hurting people. Anyway, we’ll take care of it…together,” Elena said firmly. “Right now!”

Matt started to get up, but his motion was frozen in midair as he stared in horror.

Simultaneously, with the grace of hunting lionesses or ballet dancers the two girls closed in on Stefan, and simultaneously they swung their separate pokers; Elena hitting him in the head and Meredith hitting him squarely in the groin. Stefan reeled away from the blow to the head, but simply said, “Ow!” when Meredith hit him. Matt knocked Elena out of the way and then, turning as precisely as if he were on the football field, got Meredith out of “Stefan’s” way too.

But this imposter had obviously decided not to fight back. Stefan’s form melted.

Misao, green leaves woven into her scarlet-tipped black hair, stood before them.

To Matt’s shock, her face was pinched and pale. She was obviously very ill, although still defiant. But there was no mockery in her voice tonight.

“What have you done with my star ball? And my brother?” she demanded feebly.

“Your brother’s safely locked up,” Matt said, hardly knowing what he was telling her. Despite all the crimes Misao had committed he couldn’t help feeling sorry for her. She was clearly desperate and ill.

“I know that. I was going to say my brother will kill you all — not as a game, but in anger.” Now Misao looked wretched and frightened. “You’ve never seen him really angry.”

“You’ve never seen Stefan angry either,” Elena said. “At least not when he had all his Power.”

Misao just shook her head. A dried leaf floated from her hair. “You don’t understand!”

“I doubt we understand anything. Meredith, have we searched this girl?”

“No, but surely she wouldn’t have brought the other one—” Elena said crisply, “Matt, take a book and read it. I’ll tell you when we’re done.”

Matt was reluctant to turn his back on a kitsune, even a sick one. But when even Mrs. Flowers nodded gently he obeyed. Still, back turned or not, he could hear noises. And the noises suggested that Misao was being held tightly and searched thoroughly. At first the sounds were all negative murmurs.

“Huh-uh…huh-uh…huh-uh…huh-oops!” There was a rattle of metal on wood.

Matt only turned when Elena said, “Okay, you can look. It was in her front pocket.” She added to Misao, who was looking as if she might faint, “We didn’t want to have to hold you and search you. But this key — where in heaven’s name did you get keys like this, anyway?”

A pink spot showed on Misao’s cheeks. “Heaven is right. They’re the only two left of the Master Keys — and they belong to Shinichi and me. I figured out how to steal them from the Celestial Court. That was…a long time ago.”

At that moment they heard a car on the road — Stefan’s Porsche. In the dead silence that followed, they could also see the car through Stefan’s window as it swung into the driveway.