The Search for the Red Dragon - James A. Owen [20]
“Aven has a son?” said Jack, casting a glance at Jamie. “I…I didn’t know.”
“A strapping lad, almost nine years old now,” said Bert. “I was already preparing to come and seek you out regarding the missing Dragonships when she and Artus contacted me and told me about the prince.”
He turned and took John by the shoulders. “I know this is very sudden, John—but we need the Caretaker’s help. I don’t think we can discover the answers we need to find here. We must go back to the Archipelago.”
“I…I…of course I’ll help,” said John. “Of course.”
“I’m coming too,” put in Jack. “Charles? Are you with us?”
“My poor wife will never understand,” Charles answered, “but I am loath to let the two of you go traipsing off to the Archipelago without any adult supervision at all.”
“I beg your pardon,” Bert huffed.
“No offense, Bert,” Charles reassured him.
“I can send messages to your families,” offered Jamie. “I’ll give them an excuse about emergency business for the university.”
“Thereby ensuring that we return to find ourselves in hotter water than when we left,” said John. “Best make it attending to a friend in need. That’s closer to the truth, anyway.”
“Excellent,” said Bert. “We have a plan. Let us now put it into action.”
John and Charles quickly wrote out messages to their wives and children for Jamie to pass along, and Jack wrote a brief note to Warnie and one to his friend Paddy’s mother, a Mrs. Moore. It was also decided that given the unusual circumstances in the Archipelago, Laura Glue would be safer remaining in London under Jamie’s care. In fact, once the decision was made, she immediately set about building herself a nest—in the storage room upstairs, inside the great wardrobe.
Being able to close the doors made her feel safe, she explained, as if no one would be able to reach her there.
“And safe you will be,” Jack said gently, tucking her in amidst the furs and the blankets Jamie had provided. He also had a small electric torch, which he gave her in case she should become frightened during the night.
“Now,” he told her, “I want you to listen to me. This isn’t just an ordinary wardrobe. It’s a magic wardrobe.”
Laura Glue’s eyes widened and she gave him a lopsided grin. “For really and truly?”
“For really and truly.” Jack nodded.
She looked at Jamie, who also nodded. “More than anyone knows, my dear girl.”
“And if you need it to be,” added Jack, “it can become another world altogether. It can take you wherever you want to go, for as long as you want, and in an instant, it can bring you back, as if no time had passed at all.”
“Wowww…,” said the girl with a yawn. “How do I make it work, Jack?”
“That’s easy,” Jack told her. “Just close your eyes, and dream where you want to go, and suddenly, you’re there.”
“But I do that anyway,” Laura Glue said, leaning back and closing her eyes.
“Yes,” Jack replied as he closed the door, all but a crack, on the drowsing girl. “But here, you’ll always come home. And here, someone will be watching over you. Always.”
“All ready, Jack?” said John.
“Ready. Are we all loaded?”
“Just done,” called Charles from the window. “Jamie’s given us a few stores from his larder, and Bert is anxious to get back to start looking into this. Although,” he added, “I think he’s greatly relieved that we’re coming with.”
“Was there any doubt?” said John. “Even under these circumstances, now that the opportunity’s here, I find I can’t wait to get back.”
“Same here,” agreed Jack.
Bert’s face, upside down, appeared in the window. “All aboard, lads. It’s time to go.”
Farewells were said to Jamie, and each of them looked in quietly on the angel sleeping soundly in the wardrobe. Of them all, only Jack had noticed that before she fell asleep, Laura Glue had carefully sealed her ears with plugs of beeswax she had had tucked in her tunic.
With Jamie steadying the rope ladder from below, the companions ascended it and climbed into the carriage of the reborn Indigo Dragon.
“It sounds like she’s purring,” Charles exclaimed.
“That’s the engine driving the props,” said John,