The Search for the Red Dragon - James A. Owen [86]
“I think if he can live for thousands of years,” John replied, motioning to Daedalus, “and also Hugh and William, then others from that time may have survived as well. And we know of one trained to use the pipes, who had no issue with compelling children against their will.
“Orpheus. I think our adversary is Orpheus.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Shadows of History
At Daedalus’s su estion, the companions and the Lost Boys left the orchard and returned to the more secure confines of Haven proper. The crenellated towers extended all around the orchard and gardens as well, but all of them felt an easing of tension at the idea of being within more closely built walls.
Jack had continued to evince further changes as a result of his transformation. It was as if he had forgotten being an adult, except when a point in the conversation required some arcane bit of knowledge that only he possessed. Then he rattled off details that made him seem exactly what he was: an Oxford professor in a ten-year-old boy’s body.
On the walk up the path, they again passed by Echo’s Well, where Daedalus asked John and Charles if they wouldn’t like to reconsider, now that they’d seen that no harm had come to Jack.
“Thank you, no,” said John. “I think one of us having the perspective of a child is enough.”
“But as you can clearly see,” Daedalus persisted, “he’s lost none of his ability to reason, and none of his education. It’s simply being filtered through a more youthful point of view.”
The crenellated towers extended all around the orchard and gardens…
“Sorry,” John said again, exchanging a puzzled glance with a slightly concerned Bert. “I think I can keep my focus better as an, ah, Longbeard.”
“Same here,” Charles answered when the inventor posed the question to him. “I might like to return sometime, once the crisis has passed, and give it a go—but not this time around, I’m afraid.”
“As you wish,” Daedalus said, with the faintest of tension in his jaw. “I only thought it might help. There are still many questions to be answered.”
“Agreed,” said John. “Foremost among them is this: Why weren’t all the children taken?”
Daedalus stopped and turned to him. “What do you mean?”
John indicated the children skipping around them in odd, loopy circles. “Pelvis Parsley. Meggie Tree-and-Leaf. Fred the Goat. All the children here. Why weren’t they taken with the others?”
“Perhaps they had beeswax in their ears, like Laura Glue,” Charles suggested.
“No,” said Bert. “She told us the Clockwork Men came for them, remember? The beeswax would have protected them from the panpipes, but not from Clockworks.”
“Oh,” said Charles, crestfallen.
“Is there anything special about the children who were left here?” John asked Daedalus. “In the Archipelago, none were left. They were all taken. So for these children to have been left behind, there had to be something setting them apart.”
Daedalus considered that a moment. “I cannot say. Perhaps the enemy had what they came for—Peter.”
“That doesn’t fit,” argued Aven. “It isn’t consistent with everything else we’ve seen.”
“I agree,” John said. “We…” He stopped and turned around. “Charles?” John asked. “What is it?”
The lanky editor had stopped walking and was standing about twenty feet back on the path. He was staring at the playing children with an odd look on his face.
“Charles?” said Bert. “What’s wrong?”
“Oh, I don’t think anything’s wrong,” said Charles, not taking his eyes from the children. “But has anyone noticed,” he continued in a trembling voice, “that Jack is sporting an extra shadow?”
The others stared. Charles was right. When Jack darted around a large stone bench, playing Monster and the Frogs with the other children, his shadow followed as a shadow should—and a second shadow followed an instant later.
John craned his head around to look for another light source. “There’s probably a very simple explanation, Charles,” he said with the beginnings of a smile. “In our last outing together, Jack was the one who gave up his shadow. I hardly think he’d overcompensate by adding a new one this