Felix and the Sword of Sefu

By Catherine Mesick

Can Felix save his little brother and stop an evil wizard?

 

Twelve-year-old Felix Snow has just moved with his family to a strange new town with bizarre weather, peculiar animals—and a few jerks—and the whole place is really weirding him out.

 

And to top it all off, he's just started hearing voices in his head.

 

When a freak storm whisks Felix and his siblings, Sadie and Ethan, to the faraway land of Kimaji, Felix finds more magic—and danger—than he ever imagined. For shortly after their arrival, Ethan is kidnapped by a troll. And it soon transpires that the troll may be the evil sorcerer Silk in disguise. Silk is a master of illusion and has been holding the country ransom for a legendary sword—the sword of King Sefu.

 

Armed only with an enchanted bag of coins and an ancient riddle that points to the location of Sefu's sword, Felix sets out with Sadie to find the sword and use it to fight the sorcerer for the return of his little brother. If he doesn't succeed in finding the sword and defeating Silk, he, Sadie, and Ethan may be lost forever.

 

Felix and the Sword of Sefu is a fantasy adventure tale set in a mysterious, magical land. If you like haunted castles, riddles, swords, and death-defying action, then you'll love this page-turning book by Catherine Mesick.

 

Pick up Felix and the Sword of Sefu to start an exciting new adventure today!

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Scofflaw Publishing
• Release date: Mar 12, 2010
• ISBN: 9781393836919

Catherine Mesick

Catherine Mesick is the author of Pure, Firebird, Dangerous Creatures, and Ghost Girl. She is a graduate of Pace University and Susquehanna University. She lives in Maryland. Visit the author’s website at catherinemesick.com and her Facebook page at facebook.com/PureBookSeries. You can also connect with her on Twitter at twitter.com/CatherineMesick.

Book preview

Felix and the Sword of Sefu

By Catherine Mesick

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Copyright 2010 Catherine Mesick

All rights reserved. Published by Scofflaw Publishing.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Midnight in Magnolia

Chapter 2. Breakfast with the Snows

Chapter 3. The Fortune Tellers

Chapter 4. Lightning

Chapter 5. The Kingdom of Kimaji

Chapter 6. The Octagon Vault

Chapter 7. Mr. Lombard’s Toy Shop

Chapter 8. The Djinn

Chapter 9. Silk the Sorcerer

Chapter 10. The Howling

Chapter 11. Constantine

Chapter 12. Planning and Gathering

Chapter 13. Chef Aparicio

Chapter 14. The Market of Questionable Moral Character

Chapter 15. The Well

Chapter 16. Aunt Casilda

Chapter 17. Lady Verity

Chapter 18. Sophia

Chapter 19. A Night-Dark Horse

Chapter 20. Chimera Castle

Chapter 21. The Flying Carpet Travel Agency

Chapter 22. The Road to Angra

Chapter 23. Guardian

Chapter 24. Aftermath

Chapter 1. Midnight in Magnolia

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Magnolia was a brand-new town, built on the site of the recently drained Glower swamp.

Everything in Magnolia was shiny and newfangled, so the attics had no ghosts, the closets had no skeletons, and the streets had never slept without the benefit of cheerful electric lights. The town was so new and so normal that nothing mysterious should have been able to come near it. Yet there were those who whispered that the old swamp had had its secrets, and that shining and new as it was, Magnolia had its secrets, too.

Felix Snow knew nothing of the reputation of the old swamp, yet he had felt on edge ever since he and his family had moved into Magnolia during the summer. Felix’s father, a scientist for a research company named Dramco, had been transferred to Magnolia to study the bizarre localized weather. But Magnolia had other oddities in addition to the weather—peculiar animals and eerie lights that bounced through the night before disappearing. And shortly after the Snows had moved into their house at 302 Tornado Lane, Felix had begun to hear the voice.

I will find you.

The voice hissed those words in his head like an angry ghost—distorted, faint—and threatening. He didn’t hear the voice every day, but when it did come, it was accompanied by a fierce itching in his right ear. The itching was a horrible feeling, like something was crawling around deep in his ear canal.

Felix had told his parents about the voice and the itching, and they had taken him to the doctor repeatedly. Nothing was ever found.

Feeling foolish after his last visit with the doctor, Felix had stopped mentioning the voice to anyone aside from his older sister, Sadie, so as not to cause worry. But the voice didn’t go away, and Felix began to fear that someone he couldn’t see or touch was after him.

I will find you, was all the voice ever said.

When he told his sister he feared he was being stalked, Sadie had said in her usual calm way that no one was after him.

The only trouble was, Sadie was wrong.

Very late one Friday night, three weeks into September, and three months after Felix had first heard the voice, he was sleeping fitfully when the old familiar itching started up in his right ear. It was just like little legs crawling along inside his head in a place where no little legs should ever be.

Felix stirred uneasily, caught between waking and sleeping, and lifted a hand to rub at his ear. No amount of scratching, no matter how thorough, ever relieved the itch.

I have the artifact now, hissed the spectral voice. I only have to leave it in the fire.

Felix struggled through the fog of sleep to hear the words. He realized groggily that the voice was saying something new.

Tomorrow morning, hissed the voice. I will find you.

The itching in Felix’s ear intensified horribly. His eyes flew open.

Tomorrow morning, the voice had said.

What could that mean?

Staring into the darkness, Felix strained to listen. But the eerie voice faded away and so did the itching. As it had so many times before, the voice came to nothing.

Felix waited anxiously, but the voice didn’t return. He felt his muscles relax. His blankets were warm, and the peace and quiet in his head was nice. He began to drift off to sleep again.

A loud CRACK! split the silence, and Felix sat straight up in bed, his heart hammering.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

It sounded as if someone was trying to break into his room.

Felix wondered frantically if the owner of the mysterious voice had finally found him. He froze, scarcely daring to breathe, trying to figure out where in the darkness the noise was coming from—it didn’t seem to be his door. His eyes began to adjust to the low light, and another CRACK! drew his attention to the window.

Someone was throwing rocks at it.

Felix drew in a deep breath and let it out heavily. The ghostly voice had no need to throw rocks—it could get his attention whenever it wanted, right inside his own head. This time, it was his other problem that had returned to haunt him—something much more ordinary than the voice, but equally relentless.

Without even looking, Felix had a pretty good idea who was outside. It was most likely Chester Spinkley, continuing the trouble he had started on Friday afternoon.

These days it was always Chester Spinkley.

Chester hated Felix and had had it in for him ever since the day Felix had arrived in Magnolia.

Felix glanced at his bedside alarm clock. The clock’s bright red numbers glared back at him in the gloom.

It was midnight.

There was yet another CRACK! at the window, and Felix threw back his covers angrily and got out of bed.

He pushed the window open with a grunt and leaned out.

The air was warm—Magnolia was quite warm in the fall—and the sky was a deep black studded with stars. Felix caught the scent of damp leaves, and he figured it had just been raining.

A large drop of water shot right up his nose, and he realized that the rain wasn’t quite over yet.

The rain in Magnolia didn’t fall down from the sky. Instead, it came up from the ground—it was one of the things that his father had come to study. When Felix was prepared for the rain, it wasn’t usually a problem. But this time it had caught him off guard.

He drew back, snorting.

Felix heard a shout of laughter below him, and he squinted into the front yard, keeping his nose safely inside his room and out of the path of the rain.

In the dim light, Felix could see a very tan boy with sun-streaked hair standing just under his window, holding a can of some sort. The boy held his hand under his nose to protect it, but he was otherwise unaffected by the light rain.

Felix ground his teeth. He’d been right.

It was Chester Spinkley.

Felix felt his blood begin to simmer.

In the shadows behind Chester was a taller figure. Felix couldn’t see who it was, but he could hear muffled giggles.

Hey, loser! Chester yelled. His voice was loud and sneering, and it echoed sharply on the night air. Come on out! There’s something down here you should see. That is, unless you’re too scared!

Feeling his face grow hot, Felix leaned out again, heedless of the rain. Go home, Chester! It’s way past your bedtime!

Chester gave a loud, throaty laugh that rasped at Felix in a spot that was already sore. Felix had heard that same laugh over and over on Friday afternoon.

Are you afraid to come out here and face me, Snow? I’d be afraid too if I’d put on a chicken performance like you did at tryouts!

Chester leered and began to cluck and flap his arms.

The laughter in the shadows grew louder.

Felix felt a shot of adrenaline surge through his body. You stay right where you are, Chester! I’m coming out!

Felix yanked his head in and slammed the window shut. Turning to face his cluttered room, he took a step forward, tripped over his wastebasket, and fell to the floor.

Ow! Felix yelled. Ow!

He was so angry he could barely think straight. He was going to go outside and pound the smile off of Chester’s face.

Felix rummaged around on the floor and pulled on a pair of socks and shoes. Chester was much bigger than Felix, but Felix had a lot of fight in him, even if he didn’t look like it.

Felix knew that anyone who saw him wouldn’t have found him very impressive: He had brown hair and brown eyes, he was a little on the stocky side, and he was short for twelve. He certainly wasn’t the fastest or most athletic kid on the playground, but he wasn’t usually one to back down when challenged.

Felix felt a sharp pang of embarrassment—except for Friday afternoon at the middle-school basketball tryouts.

He shook his head to clear it. He didn’t want to think about that.

The break in his thoughts gave him a moment to consider what he was about to do. Someone was outside with Chester, and Chester and his unknown crony were probably setting a trap for him.

They were no doubt expecting him to go out the front door.

He would go out the side door instead and surprise them.

He hurried to his bedroom door and flung it open, nearly colliding with the person who was standing on the other side of it.

His sister stood on the threshold in her bathrobe, one hand raised as if to knock, her strawberry blond hair tousled from sleep and her green eyes blinking at the light in the hallway.

She was frowning heavily.

Felix took a step back in surprise. Sadie? What are you doing up?

Sadie glared at her brother. Felix, there’s a lot of screaming and crashing coming from your room. What’s going on?

Sadie’s room was directly across the hall from his, and he could see her door standing open. Their little brother, Ethan, had the room next to hers, but he always slept like a log. Their parents’ bedroom was all the way at the end of the hall. If anyone was going to hear Felix making noise, it was Sadie.

Felix was annoyed to see her, but he tried not to let it show. Sadie was a year older than he was, and she could be more than a little bossy. He wanted to go outside and settle things with Chester without any hassle from her.

I just tripped, Felix said. That’s all. You know how messy my room is.

Sadie narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. "Also, somebody was throwing stones at my window and woke me up. When I looked out, whoever it was ran away. Was it you?"

Felix snorted. What? No. I’ve been in my room all night. I’m just going out now.

He slipped past Sadie into the hall and ran down the stairs.

Felix, stop! Sadie ordered. Where are you going?

Felix could hear her bare feet pattering on the steps behind him.

He rushed on, wishing fervently that Sadie would go away.

Chester Spinkley is outside throwing rocks at my window. He must have hit your window while he was looking for mine.

What! Sadie squeaked, outraged. Why is he throwing rocks at you?

Felix was really exasperated now. Keep it down. I’ll tell you later.

Felix, stop! Sadie commanded.

Felix felt a flash of anger at her and ran faster. He hurried to the side door by the laundry room with Sadie on his heels. He reached for the top bolt and was surprised to find that the door was already unlocked and unbolted.

He decided to worry about why the door was unlocked later.

Mindful of his earlier run-in with the rain, Felix leaned out cautiously and looked around for a moment. He noticed with relief that the rain had stopped completely.

A brief flicker of light below him caught his eye, and he looked down.

Felix was horrified to see that the step outside the door was covered with tiny red frogs.

He drew back, reluctant to walk out amongst them. He knew that the little amphibians were one of the unusual animals that were found only in Magnolia.

The frogs were fire-breathers.

But fire-breathers or not, Felix had business with Chester, so he took a deep breath and stepped out. As he settled his feet carefully on the concrete, he noticed that there was a small, clear box on the ground next to the step. Imprisoned within the box’s walls was one of the little red frogs.

Felix recognized the box as a portable aquarium that belonged to Ethan.

Felix, get back in the house! Sadie commanded.

Felix ignored her.

Sadie slipped out onto the step, too, sighing in a way that Felix found to be excessive. She closed the door behind her—no doubt a precaution lest the frogs hop into the house.

A number of the frogs scattered on finding humans standing in their midst, but most of them remained stubbornly in place, opening their mouths and shooting little jets of flame in Felix and Sadie’s direction.

Felix recoiled. The fire wasn’t any stronger than a lit match, but he still wanted to avoid it. The little frogs had once set his socks on fire.

Suddenly he heard a shout.

I’m telling you for the last time to get out of our yard!

The high-pitched yet imperious voice was unmistakably Ethan’s. Felix felt a surge of anger.

Chester must be bullying Ethan.

Felix was going to pound Chester good.

He jumped off the step and ran around the house toward the front yard. He could hear Sadie hurrying after him.

He reached the garage, and by the light over the door, Felix could see three boys standing on the paved driveway in the front.

His seven-year-old brother, Ethan, stood defiantly in his frog-print pajamas, with his blond hair sticking up in several places. Ethan was looking up at Chester Spinkley, who was holding a can of spray paint. Just behind Chester stood a taller, dark-haired boy, who was holding his hands clasped over his mouth as he giggled.

Felix recognized the giggler as Andrew Edge.

Chester smirked and took a purposeful step toward Ethan. Are you going to make me leave, little boy?

Felix felt his blood boil.

Shut up, Chester! Felix yelled, running up to stand beside Ethan.

Sadie rushed over to stand on Ethan’s other side.

Chester snorted, and Andrew yelped and ran to hide behind a tree.

Felix’s hands clenched into fists. Like my brother said, get out of our yard!

I’m not going anywhere, Chester said with a spiteful smile. "We both know I won’t get in any trouble, Snow. I never do. But you will if you lay so much as a finger on me. I’ll tell my dad. And your dad will get fired."

Felix had a sinking feeling that Chester was right. Chester was the son of Dramco’s CEO, and he most definitely had the power to fire Felix’s father. Besides, Chester had been vandalizing Magnolia at night for months now without any consequences. No one could touch him.

From behind his tree, Andrew snickered.

Don’t think I can’t see you over there, Andrew, Felix shouted to him. Then he glared at Chester. What do you two idiots want?

I thought I’d help you out, Snow, Chester sneered. I figured I’d get you up early so you could practice your jump shots. You know, in the dark, where no one can see you.

Andrew spluttered with laughter.

Felix felt a hot flush creep up his face. He knew exactly what Chester was getting at.

The corners of Chester’s mouth tipped up scornfully. He knew he’d hit his mark. And I thought I’d paint a little sign on your house for you, so everybody would know what kind of a person you are.

Chester gestured with the spray can to the garage.

Felix turned to look.

The light over the garage cast a bright, harsh glare over the wide door. The word CHICKEN had been scrawled on the door in big red spray-painted letters right under Felix’s basketball hoop. Under the word was a clumsy spray-paint drawing of a chicken. Felix felt his face get even hotter.

Chester, Sadie said in a stern voice. Go HOME!

Chester snorted again.

Felix could feel the blood pounding in his ears, and he whirled to face Chester. Chester, you—

Aaaaaarrrrgggghhhh!

Andrew gave a panicked yelp from over by his tree, cutting Felix off, and ran to stand by Chester. Andrew clutched Chester’s arm.

Screeeeee!

A high, piercing sound split the night, and everyone turned. The strange noise came from the direction of the tree Andrew had just left.

Andrew gave another yelp.

Felix scanned the yard but couldn’t see what had caused the noise. He’d never heard a sound quite like it before—it was unnerving.

Chester pushed Andrew away in disgust. What’s wrong with you?

There’s something creepy and weird with orange eyes over by that tree, Andrew said plaintively. "It has fangs. Let’s get out of here."

Felix felt a surge of anger at the ridiculous show Chester and Andrew were putting on. Weird noise or no weird noise, he didn’t believe for one second that there was a fanged creature in his yard.

He wasn’t going to fall into their trap.

Felix’s hands balled into fists.

Get off our property! he thundered.

Chester turned white and took a step back.

Then he smirked and regained his composure. We’re going now, Snow, but only because we’re bored with what a bunch of losers you all are.

With a frantic glance over his shoulder, Andrew tugged on Chester’s arm, and he and Chester ran off.

There was another screeeeee! noise—this time moving away from the yard. Felix squinted into the darkness, but once again he couldn’t see anything.

The strange sound really was unsettling.

Did you guys all hear that weird noise? Felix asked. In Magnolia, it was sometimes hard to tell who could hear what.

He suddenly remembered that another person in town was hearing a sound that no one else could hear—not a voice—but something smaller, more ordinary. He wished he could remember who the person was.

I definitely heard it, Sadie replied, looking in the direction Chester and Andrew had disappeared in. She wrapped her arms around her waist and shivered, though the night wasn’t cold.

I heard it, too, Ethan said. His eyes had grown big and round. What do you think it was?

I don’t know, Felix replied.

What do you think Andrew saw? Ethan asked.

Felix shook his head. He suddenly realized how tired he was. I don’t think he saw anything. I think he was just trying to trick us into acting stupid.

Ethan’s eyebrows drew together, and he looked at Felix skeptically. You don’t think that the noise we heard was made by Andrew’s creature?

No, Felix said shortly. The less they talked about Chester and Andrew’s nonsense, the better.

Ethan stuck his lower lip out stubbornly as if he was about to argue the point.

Whatever it was, Sadie interjected, it seems to be gone.

The three of them were silent for a moment as they all listened for the sound again.

The night was still.

Sadie looked down at Ethan. Are you okay?

Yeah, I’m fine, Ethan said, drawing himself up. Those guys are lucky they left when they did. I was about to take them out.

Sadie frowned. What were you doing outside at this time of night?

Ethan puffed up with pride. It was raining, so I knew the frogs would be out. I came out to catch one, and I did. I’m going to study it. And you know what else? I can reach the bolt on the side door now.

Well, that’s a disturbing development, Sadie said. You really shouldn’t be out here. She held a hand out to Ethan. Come on, let’s get you back in the house.

Can I still take my frog in? Ethan asked anxiously. Even if I wasn’t supposed to be outside?

Of course. Sadie smiled and began to lead Ethan back toward the side of the house. What are you going to name your new frog?

Specimen Number Three, Ethan replied in a superior tone. I only use scientific names.

Felix turned to go after them but stopped when he heard shouting, followed by a distant cackle. It was coming from the direction that Chester and Andrew had run off to.

Felix felt a wave of revulsion wash over him.

Idiots, he muttered.

Sadie stopped and looked back at Felix. Chester was pretty disparaging about your basketball skills tonight. Was all of this about the tryouts?

Yeah. Embarrassment stabbed Felix in the stomach. He walked over to join Sadie and Ethan.

What happened? Sadie asked sympathetically. You went straight to your room after school and didn’t come out. Mom was really worried. She said you wouldn’t tell her anything.

Felix didn’t answer for a moment. Instead, the three of them walked around the side of the house in silence.

The events of the afternoon came rushing back to him.

Once again, Felix pictured the basketball hoop over his head and Chester Spinkley and his friends laughing and pointing.

Once again, he felt the nervousness that had flooded through his body.

His face reddened at the memory.

Nothing good happened, Felix said at last.

He decided he might as well tell them. They would find out on Monday anyway. Chester and his goons were sure to spread the tale—and embellish it.

Felix began slowly.

Tryouts were open, so anybody could come and watch. Chester heard I was going out for the team, so he made a point of showing up to jeer. He sat in the bleachers with his friends, and before tryouts even started, they all began chanting my name—you know, in a sneering way, like crowds sometimes do with the pro players.

Felix paused to take a deep breath and pushed on. "When it was my turn, Coach called me to go out on the court, and that’s when the real heckling started—with Chester leading the way. I tried to ignore it, but it got to me. I got the ball, and then I froze. Completely. Coach came over and told me not to be nervous. That unfroze me a bit, and I started dribbling down the court, but I heard more hooting and catcalls, and I lost the dribble off my foot. And things just got worse from there. I missed every shot I took. Every time I touched the ball, people started laughing. I really choked. And I definitely did not make the team."

Felix felt his scalp prickling and his mouth going dry just as they had that same afternoon. He also felt again that curious sensation that had come over him for one terrible moment—the one of both sight and sound being far away. The laughter had sounded like the roar of a great crowd that was watching him from a distance.

He shook his head to clear it.

Felix, Sadie said kindly, that was just nerves. You really are a good basketball player.

Yeah, Ethan said. They were all standing at the side door now, and he scooped up his aquarium and climbed onto the frog-infested step. The little red frogs sat where they were stubbornly, shooting out tiny jets of flame and refusing to move an inch. Those guys were jerks. And you’re a much better basketball player than Chester. Everybody knows that. He’s just jealous. You’ll show them next time.

Felix simply nodded.

The three of them went into the house, treading carefully around the frogs, and Sadie and Ethan paused just inside the door and looked at one another.

Should I go get it now? Ethan asked.

Sadie glanced at Felix and smiled. I think now is the perfect time.

Felix looked at his brother and sister. They were clearly up to something.

What are you guys talking about?

You’ll see, Sadie said mysteriously.

She steered Felix toward the kitchen and then to the kitchen table. Felix craned his head over his shoulder and watched Ethan reaching for the refrigerator door. When he opened it, Sachi, their little black dog, and Avalanche, their fluffy white cat, came running in.

The dog and the cat always magically appeared whenever they heard the refrigerator door open.

Sadie pulled out a chair for Felix, and he sat down, still wondering what was going on. Ethan carried a large plastic container to the table. Sachi and Avalanche trailed behind him.

Ethan placed the container on the table in front of Felix with a flourish.

We made this for you while you were at tryouts, Sadie said. Since you went straight to your room when you got home, we didn’t get a chance to give it to you.

It was my idea to make the icing green, Ethan said. I knew it was your favorite color. Same as mine.

He carefully pried the lid off the container and pushed it closer to Felix.

Felix leaned forward.

Inside the container was a large, rectangular cake frosted with light green icing. The letters MVP were spelled out in the center in a darker green icing.

Felix was puzzled. He looked up at Sadie and Ethan. Most Valuable Player? But you didn’t even know if I’d made the team.

We didn’t need to, Sadie said.

Felix felt an unexpected wave of warmth wash over him. He couldn’t help grinning. Thanks, guys.

He reached into the container. Mom wouldn’t like this, but I’m going to do it anyway. He broke off a corner of the cake for each of them with his hands and gave the pieces out.

Ethan seemed delighted.

And even Sadie didn’t object.

Felix took a bite of the cake. This is really good. Especially the icing.

As the three of them sat in the kitchen eating cake with their fingers, Felix found that all the bad feelings of Friday afternoon were fading away.

He felt like the MVP of the most important game in the world.

Chapter 2. Breakfast with the Snows

––––––––

Quickly, my wicked one! Separate them from their parents. Bring them to me!

Felix awoke with a start. A voice had just screamed in his ear—loud and brash.

He’d expected to see a face leaning close to his and was shocked to find no one there. He froze, scanning the still-dark room for any sign of movement.

Whoever had screamed was surely still close to him.

Felix heard a muffled crash from somewhere nearby, and he jumped out of bed, startled, and switched on the light.

He stood, breathing hard as he surveyed the jumble in his room. Despite the clutter, there weren’t really many places for someone to hide.

He was alone.

Felix ran his hands over his face and tried to figure out what was going on. After he’d eaten his cake, he’d gone up to bed, and he’d been sleeping soundly until someone had screamed at him—someone who now appeared to have vanished. He felt the old familiar itching in his ear subside, and he realized that no one had been shouting at him in the flesh; he’d just been hearing a voice in his head again.

The revelation gave him little comfort.

Something was wrong.

It suddenly dawned on Felix why he hadn’t known that the voice was in his head this time.

It was a different voice.

The forceful, booming voice that had just drilled into his eardrum was definitely not the same as the distant, ghostly murmur that had plagued Felix ever since he’d moved into Magnolia.

He now had a second voice to add to the first one.

What else could go wrong in this crazy town his parents had brought him to?

Felix suddenly remembered what he’d been trying to recall earlier, out in the yard—he remembered the other person who was hearing sounds no one else could hear. It was Sage Cassel, the older sister of Sadie’s best friend, Melody.

Though Sage didn’t hear voices, she had recently begun hearing a soft, squelching sound. She had also been complaining that a menacing gray figure had been following her.

According to Sage, the squelching sound was the only warning she ever had that the gray figure was nearby.

Few people believed her about the figure or the noise.

Felix, for one, didn’t doubt her.

Last week, Sage had nearly drowned in an accident at Magnolia’s man-made Cranberry Lake, and she said she’d seen the gray figure hovering nearby.

Sage was convinced the figure had caused the accident.

A prickling ran across Felix’s scalp and down the back of his neck.

He suddenly remembered something else.

He went to his bed and bent down to rummage through a pile of papers that lay under it.

He came up with an important piece of paper: a list of all the times he had heard the voice in his head.

Felix sat down on the floor. Though he knew the list well, he searched for the first date and ran his finger under it. June 12. On the night of June the twelfth, he had heard the voice in his head for the first time.

And earlier on that same day, he had gone swimming for the first time at Cranberry Lake.

Both he and Sage had Cranberry Lake in common.

Was it possible there was a connection?

While Felix’s thoughts churned, he scrambled on the floor for a pencil. He found one that had cracked in half, but hadn’t completely broken off, and wrote a new date at the bottom of the list, while the top of the broken pencil bobbed against his hand.

Next to his latest entry he wrote heard new voice.

Felix shoved the paper back into the pile under the bed, feeling secure that his mother would never find it, and dropped the pencil back on the floor.

Felix stood up.

Separate them from their parents, the new voice had said. Bring them to me.

Them. Was this new voice after not only him but also Sadie and Ethan? What if the three of them were all being stalked like Sage was?

There was another muffled crash, and the noise jolted Felix out of his reverie.

He realized that the crash had come from downstairs and that he’d heard crashes like it before. The source of the crashes on those other occasions was nothing sinister or supernatural.

All of a sudden, Felix felt very foolish.

He took a deep breath. If he was being truly realistic, then he had to admit that the crash from downstairs was more likely to have been caused by Sachi or Avalanche than by some unknown, threatening figure.

The dog and the cat had caused plenty of nocturnal noise in the years that they’d been Felix’s pets.

There was certainly nothing new about that.

Felix looked around at the heaps of clothes, school papers, and other objects that littered his room. The familiar muddle was reassuringly normal.

It was true that he heard things and that Magnolia was weird, and yet nothing had really happened. His room was empty of other people, Sage Cassel hadn’t drowned, and none of the talking in his head had ever amounted to anything.

Felix pushed his apprehension away and turned out the lights.

He climbed back into bed. Just as he was drifting off, there was another muffled crash from downstairs.

Felix glanced at the clock. It was five a.m.

He pulled the covers up over his head. The early morning had been far too eventful. At this rate, he would never get any sleep.

A little after eight, Felix was awakened by the smell of pancakes. He was feeling refreshed, and his stomach growled loudly, so he got out of bed and hurried down the hall to take a shower.

On the way, he stepped on a bunch of small, slightly squishy objects. He stopped, and his nerves tingled as he wondered what new weirdness Magnolia had sent to plague him. He lifted his foot, picked up one of the objects, and turned it over.

It was a raisin.

Felix stared at it for a moment, but it was hard to read anything too ominous into a raisin.

He continued on to the bathroom and threw it away. A mild breeze brushed his face, and Felix noticed with some annoyance that the window was wide open.

He shut it.

He showered quickly, dressed, and ran downstairs. As he neared the kitchen, he saw a bright red apple lying on the floor in front of his mother’s art room.

He walked over and picked the apple up.

One of his mother’s painting knives was sticking out of it, and its rosy flesh was heavily scored with marks.

Felix felt his nerves tingling again.

The marks looked like they had been made by some very sharp teeth.

Felix took the apple with him into the kitchen.

His mother, Petal, sat at the table, her long dark hair caught up in a smooth swirl that was held in place by silver sticks. She was bobbing a tea bag in a cup of water, and the ring she always wore on her pinkie caught the light.

Sadie sat across from her, talking excitedly.

I was thinking of constructing a diorama. Pint-size milk cartons would make really good houses for the first settlement near the old swamp.

Sadie broke off when she saw Felix.

She gave him a meaningful look.

He knew that she wanted to tell him something, but she didn’t want to talk in front of their mother.

Petal turned to look at her son, her big earrings jangling softly. Good morning, honey. She took in a breath to speak further but glanced at Sadie and decided against it. Instead, she reached out to the setting next to hers to straighten the placemat and line up the silverware. Then she moved a bowl of fruit just a fraction of an inch.

You should try some of this cantaloupe, Petal said to Felix. It’s just perfect. I was able to get a nice symmetrical cut on it.

Thanks, Mom. I will. Felix walked closer and held out the apple with the knife in it. Isn’t this one of your painting knives?

Sadie looked on curiously as Petal took the apple and examined it.

Yes, this is one of my knives, Petal said, frowning. And I think this is one of the apples from the still life I had set up, Her frown deepened. I had to look through a lot of apples to find ones that were as perfectly spherical as I wanted them to be. And I hope this knife isn’t ruined—they’re really quite delicate. Did you know that both Titian and Rembrandt used painting knives in their work? she added in a murmur.

Petal was a painter whose balanced, orderly works were much prized by law firms and accountants. She had a small studio down the hall from the kitchen, right next to the laundry room.

She stood and patted Felix on the shoulder. Please sit, honey. I’m going to have a look in my art room.

Petal left with the apple, and Felix sat down at the table.

He speared several lumpy-looking pancakes and some bacon and dropped it all on his plate. Then he drizzled everything with syrup and sawed off a big forkful.

His mother favored turkey bacon, which was lower in fat than regular bacon and was chewy rather than crispy. Felix enjoyed the taste, though, and he finished his first bite, which was both savory and sweet.

He quickly sawed off another.

So, what’s going on? Felix asked through a mouthful of bacon and pancakes. I can see you’re dying to say something.

Sadie eyed Felix’s chewing with exasperation but seemed to decide against bringing it up. Instead, she just answered his question with a furtive glance toward the hall where their mother had disappeared.

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