Secrets of Stone and Sea, page 2
Grandma nodded, making her short, gray curls bounce. “The genuine thing.” She sounded proud. “At least five hundred years old, from Persia.”
Kai stopped and admired the knife. The metal rippled like flowing water, strange and beautiful. Under the crumbs and mayonnaise spots, of course.
Dad snatched the knife from Grandma and wiped it on a napkin. “You can’t use a five-hundred-year-old knife to cut sandwiches,” he said as he worked. He muttered something about “Beowulf” and “utterly priceless” and “show some respect.”
“Honestly, Alex,” Grandma said, snatching the knife from Dad. “How would you have me ‘respect’ these blades? Leave them to rust in a glass case? Bah. They’re weapons. Tools. They were made to be used.” She spotted Kai. “Ah, so there’s my cane.”
“Yeah, I borrowed it. I’m sorry.”
Dad turned his exasperation on Kai. “We looked everywhere for that.”
“And now we have it back.” Grandma’s eyes gleamed with mischief. “Kai, tell me. How closely did you look at it? Did you notice this?”
And with that, she slid a thin blade out from the wooden cane.
Kai’s eyes widened, and he started laughing. He should have expected it.
At first glance, Grandma Syracuse seemed like anyone’s stereotype of a “sweet, cookie-baking granny” up until she took those cookies out of the oven with a fourteenth-century gauntlet, its interior lined with hand-knitted material. She owned many knives, swords, halberds, axes, maces, shields, pieces of armor, and other assorted weaponry from every age and location, all collected during her time as a history professor. They used to be locked in the attic, but because, this summer, the boys were old enough to “know better,” Grandma had moved the weapons to cupboards in her sitting room for “easy access.”
This had started their dad off on his first rant of the summer about protecting valuable artifacts, and their grandmother on a retort about how “respect” was better than “protect.”
Kai didn’t care one way or the other. He just knew that his grandmother was the coolest old woman in the world. He’d noticed the cane as soon as they arrived at Grandma’s house, but he would never have guessed a sword lurked inside it.
Grandma turned the blade over in her hands. “It’s a Victorian dueling cane,” she explained.
“Why do you have that?” Dad asked her, sounding exhausted.
“Protection,” Grandma said simply. “Here, Kai, want to give it a swing?”
Kai reached for it, only to have Dad pull his arm away from the sword.
“Don’t even think about it,” Dad said. “It’s not safe.”
Shoulders slumped, Kai watched Grandma slide the sword back into her cane.
Peter took after Dad. They were both so cautious. Dad had totally overreacted when Kai and Peter got separated from him on their rafting trip, and since then Peter had lost his sense of adventure.
That’s why this trip to Seaspire was so wonderful. The town was magic. A cool breeze floated off the richly blue ocean, which was visible just past the gray slate roofs of the buildings in town, sun sparkling on the waves. The air smelled like salt and freshly cut grass, with a touch of caramel from the Fudge Kitchen across the street. And of course, they were staying for a month with a grandmother who owned a cupboard full of swords. Surely here Kai could remind Peter that nothing was ever gained without taking a risk or two, that adventures were all about taking a chance.
Then they could be twins again, united in more than their appearance.
Grandma had pulled over the platter she’d brought the sandwiches on. “This should be perfectly safe to look at if you want, Kai.”
The perfectly reddish-gold dish didn’t look like any platter Kai had ever seen. “Grandma,” he said, picking up the dish, “where did you get this?”
“A former student sent this to me years ago,” Grandma said, her cheeks flushed with pleasure. “No idea where it came from, but I suspect Greek, by the style.”
Dad choked. “That’s ancient Greek? And you covered it in mayonnaise?”
Grandma scoffed. “Mayonnaise keeps the metal shiny. All these years, and I’ve never had a spot of corrosion.”
Kai turned the empty platter over and traced the etchings on its domed side, some lost language. Flipped like this, it looked like a Frisbee.
The game!
“I gotta go,” Kai said. “We’re not done with our game.”
“Go play. We can ‘discus’ this later,” Dad called as Kai ran off.
Dad was an English teacher with a love of wordplay. Sometimes his puns were clever. Most of the time, not.
Kai found Peter and the others chasing the Frisbee. He waited until the game play slowed and approached Peter. “How’s it going?”
Peter shrugged. “We’re just messing around. Todd had to refill his water bottle, and we were waiting for you. What took you?”
“Grandma’s cane has a sword in it!” When Peter’s eyes bulged, Kai continued, “And she cut our sandwiches with this old knife. Like, half a millennium old.” Kai tilted his head. “Do you think that knife would make sandwiches taste like death?” Realizing what he said, Kai added, “I mean, they don’t. Taste bad. Like death. Grandma’s sandwiches taste amazing.”
Peter said, “Maybe that’s because the souls of the dead add just the right seasoning to the tuna.” He laughed, easing Kai’s tension. “What would the soul of a medieval warrior taste like?”
“Scurvy,” Kai said, grinning. “And illiteracy.”
“You’re back!” Todd, a lanky dark-skinned kid, said as he approached the twins. He glanced between them. “Which one is Kai?”
“I’m Kai,” Kai said, smiling and revealing his chipped tooth.
Sure, it got a little annoying having to reintroduce himself to people he only recently met. Being a twin had its drawbacks, but also its perks. If this was the price he had to pay for always having Peter in his corner, he’d pay it.
And Peter would come around. Kai would show him how to take action and have fun again.
“Okay,” Todd said to Kai. “We’ve already split the teams. We put you and your brother on the same team so we don’t get confused who to throw to. You get Natalie. I get Liz and Sabina.”
“Sounds perfect.”
“Don’t get too cocky,” Todd said. “My name means ‘fox,’ so get ready to be outsmarted.”
“Yeah?” Kai laughed. “Well, mine means ‘sea.’ So you’d better get ready to be swept away.”
Todd just waved it off. “And you,” he said to Peter, “don’t throw toward the graveyard anymore.” Then he went back to his own team.
Kai turned to Peter. “This will be fun.”
“Do we always have to play on the same team?” Peter asked.
Kai started. Where had this come from? “We’re better together.” Weren’t they? That had always been true. Peter had Kai’s back, and Kai had Peter’s. But since that raft trip, Peter had become distant, almost like he didn’t want anything to do with Kai.
That was unacceptable.
Kai bumped Peter’s shoulder with his own. “If you want to switch teams, go ahead. But I think we should teach Todd a lesson for blaming you for losing the Frisbee.”
Peter nodded. “Yeah, let’s get him.”
Perfect. They’d be back in sync soon.
The game began. Kai always started by rushing right up to the line with everyone else. It was where the action was, and offered the best view of the field. Kai was pretty good at analyzing each team, knowing where people would move and who could be in range to catch his throws.
But today, he was trying to encourage Peter to move forward more. Peter kept hanging back, finding places where no one passed to him or threw to him. Kai tried, over and over, to pass to Peter, but his twin was so out of the way that the Frisbee usually went wide or was intercepted.
After Kai made yet another accidental pass to Todd, the other boy called, “What’s the matter? Off your game?”
“I’m only off from school!” That had sounded a lot better in his head.
On the other team, Sabina had the Frisbee. Kai watched the field, letting the pattern fall into place.
Sabina liked to throw long and far, deep into the end zone of the other team. Kai watched Todd dash back and forth. He wasn’t worth worrying about; he couldn’t ditch Natalie covering him. Sabina wouldn’t throw to Todd.
But farther back? There was Peter, shadowing Liz. He was in the perfect place to make the interception. But would he? He’d have to run backward to be ready.
Natalie snapped off the pass. Kai saw the Frisbee float in the air, hovering like a seagull.
Just like he foresaw.
There was a pattern to everything if you knew what to look for.
And, in that pattern, Kai realized Peter wouldn’t make the play. He’d hesitated too long, scooting around in a small circle like he didn’t know what to do. Liz was moving into position. They were going to lose this round!
Move! Kai thought. Peter still didn’t fall back.
So Kai dashed for the Frisbee. The new pattern unfolded in his mind: Kai passing Peter to intercept the Frisbee and snap it back to Natalie, who would score. The play would be perfect. The others might even cheer for him!
There it was, right there. Liz was almost on him, but Kai knew she wouldn’t make it in time. The Frisbee was his.
Kai leaped for the disk. But, suddenly, so did Peter. Kai’s nose smashed into Peter’s skull, and both boys fell. The Frisbee settled peacefully in Liz’s hands.
“Time!” Todd called, running over. “You okay?”
“I’m fine,” Peter said, rubbing his head. “Kai?”
Kai touched his nose. His fingers came away red with blood.
Todd sighed. “Guess you’re out, then.”
Kai pinched his nose. “Yeah, thad’s brobably smart.”
“I’m out, too,” Peter said. “I was done, anyway.”
“Beat ub your brother and walk away. I ged it.” Kai grinned at Peter, who grinned back.
“That’s me. Mighty assassin, the Frisbee my weapon of choice. One day Grandma will be serving cookies off a plastic disk.”
The boys laughed, which made Kai’s nose bleed harder.
“Now that the game is over,” Todd said, “we can go to the haunted lighthouse.”
Kai’s ears pricked. “The whud?”
Todd grinned. “No one told you about the haunted lighthouse?” He pointed to the north of Seaspire, to a forest that rose to a craggy promontory with a blue-and-red-striped lighthouse. “It’s right there, at the Point.”
“It’s really haunted?” Peter asked.
“Maybe. The first lighthouse keeper, some guy named Roger MacHale, left, reporting headaches and nightmares about the ocean flooding the lighthouse. He also complained he heard voices in the wind. Maybe he did. Apparently, before the lighthouse was built, there was another building in that spot. Like, an ancient kind of lighthouse or guard tower. No one knows why.”
Todd leaned forward. “And not just that,” he said in a whisper. “Nothing ever grows there. Like, ever. Seaspire’s Community Cleanup Committee keeps trying to grow flowers, or gardens, or bring trees closer, but it doesn’t work.” He stepped back. “Maybe the Point is cursed. Maybe that’s why the lighthouse is really there. To protect us from it.”
Grandma was on that community committee. Kai vowed to ask her if she thought the land was cursed. “It sounds neat.”
“We’re heading up there now. Are you coming?”
Peter stepped back. “I don’t know. A condemned lighthouse…”
“Oh, it’s not condemned, just empty. And we’re not going into it. Just up to the Point. It’s safe. You get a good view of the Spire the town is named after.”
“Ah. Sounds fun.” Peter smiled, and Kai felt a surge of hope. Maybe Peter wasn’t as passive as he seemed.
Then Peter added, “We should probably deal with this first.” He gestured to Kai’s streaming nose.
Todd nodded. “If you can make it, we’ll see you later.” He and the others waved goodbye and left.
There was a small snack shack near the park, the kind of place that sold lemonade, nachos, and hot dogs. Peter pulled Kai over and shoved a handful of napkins into his hands.
Kai, grateful, held them against his nose. When the bleeding stopped, Kai checked it. Still sore, but it didn’t seem broken. Good. “What was that about, back there?”
“What was what about?”
“You were just standing there, letting the Frisbee fly over your head.”
Peter shrugged. “I wasn’t sure if it was in my range. I thought I’d wait and see if it looked like I could get it.”
This was typical Peter. Kai couldn’t count how many times Peter missed out on getting a role in the school play, or making a team, or even just going to Cedar Point with friends because he wanted to “wait and see.”
If Kai didn’t push him to take some action, now and then, he’d just sit on the couch and do nothing until he was older than Grandma. But these days …
Now, Peter was waiting again, looking at the snack shack’s menu. Kai would have to give him another push. “You hungry?”
His twin nodded, and Kai said, “Me too. Let’s get something and then head over to the lighthouse.”
“Oh, you want to see your namesake?”
“Or yours. The Spire is a big rock, after all.”
Peter scowled. Kai’s name meant “sea,” but Peter’s meant “rock.” Which led to their dad calling him “Rocky,” a nickname Peter claimed to hate but never pushed to be dropped.
Kai approached the snack shack. “A couple of roasted dachshunds.” When the teenager working the stand looked horrified, Kai rephrased. “Two hot dogs, please.” It was their usual order at places like this.
Peter stepped up. “Uh, I kind of wanted nachos today.”
There was that distance again—they were out of sync. Peter pulling away.
So Kai pulled back. “Hot dogs will be easier to carry.”
“That’s true.” Peter kicked at the sidewalk. “A hot dog’s fine.”
Kai smiled. Odd distance between them or not, he still knew his brother!
They paid for their hot dogs and headed the way the others had gone. Kai took the lead. “Let’s go past the beach, not through the forest,” he said. “To get a view of the ocean.”
“So you do want to see your namesake.”
They headed out of the park, walking through the tourist center of town past a row of shops that sold soaps and jams. When they reached the Fudge Kitchen, Kai waved at Sophie past the grinning fish-man on the window, but she was busy with a customer and didn’t see him.
On the way down to the sea they walked through a street of redbrick buildings. On the sidewalk, a couple of local girls were skipping rope. The girls chanted a rhyme Kai hadn’t heard before:
One poor sailor dressed in red,
Brought some pork and brought some bread,
Fell asleep out on the stone,
When he woke up, not alone.
Made a new friend, and then,
Had to do it over again!
Then the girls spun the rope fast and counted until the girl jumping tangled her arm in the rope.
“Creepy rhyme,” Peter said as they passed.
“Yeah,” Kai said. “Do you think it’s about anything?”
Peter pretended to duck for cover. “Careful! You don’t know when Dad might be listening. He’ll tell us the true story behind ‘Ring Around the Rosie.’”
“Again.”
“Again.” Kai checked his nose. It had clotted well. “So, where’s that ocean?”
They left the girls behind, following the cool salt breeze to the shore. As Kai ate his hot dog, which did travel more easily than nachos would have, he thought about how different the beach in Seaspire was than the ones he’d imagined when he was back home in Ohio.
He always thought beaches were hot, sunny, flat, and covered with people sunbathing. Here, though, while you did see the occasional beachcomber, the beaches were small, and jagged, broken up by huge stones that shattered roaring waves. The whole thing filled Kai with a soaring sense of excitement.
And the biggest stone was the Spire itself, poking like a huge, wicked tooth out of the sea beside the Point.
With his half-eaten hot dog, Peter gestured up the Point at a small lighthouse nestled on the edge of the tree line. “There it is.”
“Let’s go!” Kai pushed past Peter and ran as fast as he could off the beach and up through the piney forest to the lighthouse. Panting, he arrived on a barren patch of gray rock overlooking the dark, wild sea. To his left was the lighthouse, paint chipped, almost swallowed by the forest but still keeping vigil over the expanse of stone and sea in front of it.
Peter appeared a moment later, wiping sweat off his forehead with his wrist. “Could you wait a moment?”
“For this? Never.” Kai watched as a sudden huge wave crashed on the Spire, white against slate gray. “This is amazing.”
“Yeah.” The ocean wind sent Peter’s sweaty hair dancing. “Looks like Todd and the others already left before we got here.”
“Their loss. We’re awesome company.” Kai crossed the wide promontory in front of him and sat down, dangling a leg off the cliff’s ledge. Small wafts of spray hit his ankle.
“You shouldn’t do that,” Peter said.
“What, is the ocean going to reach up and pull me down?” Kai waved. “Come on. It feels nice.”
Peter frowned, but edged closer to the cliff until he could also sit and hang one leg over.
“Huh.” Peter patted the ground. “It’s true. Look back at the lighthouse. The trees are sprouting all around it, but look at the base. See that square?”
Kai did. It looked like the foundation of an old building to him, but that could have been because Todd had told them there used to be an even older tower in this place.
“Nothing’s growing there,” Peter said. “Not even weeds.”
“Weird.” Peter was right. Kind of spooky, but not exactly haunted. After all, if it was the foundation of an older building, it must be pretty rocky. Hard to grow plants in stone.
