House of Secrets

Chapter 13

Trees with trunks as thick as houses reached up so high that Jonathan and Nellie couldn’t see the tops no matter how they craned their necks. Beams of dappled light broke on giant ferns spread like green fans over mossy logs. It looked like the painted background in a dinosaur exhibit, still and calm and even a bit fake. Trees marched into the distance, blending into a uniform brown-and-green curtain.

“Where are we?” gasped Nellie.

Jonathan opened the window. Sounds swept in: caws, chirps, and rustlings in the air.

Downstairs, Alyssa noticed that her siblings were unusually quiet, so she went back into the attic to see what was going on. “Hello?” she said, stepping to the window. “Whoa.”

The trees started just a few feet from the house. Smaller trees stood below them, where the honey-hued light broke through. A thin haze lay at eye level, listing up and down. They could make out the sound of a brook babbling in the distance and, behind the caws and chirps, a loud, grating buzz. The haze entered the attic, carrying a tang of dirt and pine and a balm of sweet flowers and sap.

“Where’s our street?” whispered Nellie.

“Maybe the Wind Witch moved our house somewhere,” Alyssa said.

“Jurassic Park?” asked Nellie.

“Humboldt County.”

“Does Humboldt County have those?” Jonathan pointed to one of the towering trees in the distance. Circling it was the source of the buzzing—a monstrous dragonfly with the wingspan of a condor.

The dragonfly’s body was dull green, its wings clear mesh. It drifted up and down as it circled around the trunk, disappearing and reappearing, its purple eyes as big as dinner plates. It was so huge that the Walters children could see its complicated mouth parts twitching.

“Close the window!” Alyssa yelled.

Jonathan leaned forward. “It can’t hurt us. It’s . . . what’s the word? Vegan?”

“Herbivorous. Seriously, Jon, close it.”

Jonathan had another idea: He stuck his second and third fingers between his lips and whistled. It was one of those skills he was proud of that his sisters hated.

“Jon!”

“I just want to see if he’ll come closer!”

The sound aggravated the bat in the rafters. It dove for the window. Alyssa shrieked as it flew past her and darted outside. The Walters kids watched it zigzag through the mist, threading the trees—and then the dragonfly whipped out a long tongue and nabbed it.

Nellie screamed as the dragonfly drew the bat into its mouth and started grinding it into digestible mush. The giant insect buzzed toward the house as it ate, its purple eyes focused on the Walters like they were next.

Jonathan slammed the window shut and they all ran from the attic, not stopping until they got to the kitchen with its comforting (if damaged) stainless steel appliances. Alyssa promptly opened all the shutters, locked all the windows, and turned to Jonathan.

“Not exactly herbivorous,” said Alyssa.

“Where are we?” Nellie asked. “Bugs aren’t supposed to eat bats! It’s the other way round!”

“Obviously it was different in dinosaur times,” said Jonathan. “I think we were sent back to the prehistoric era.” He was reminded of those books Alyssa used to read to him when he was five—the ones with the tree house that traveled through time.

“I don’t know if dragonflies ever got that big,” Alyssa said. “I’m not sure where we are. . . .”

She stopped, noticing a black plastic corner peeking from under the fridge. Her cell. She pulled it out; it was scuffed but intact. It sprang to electronic life.

“Does it work?” Jonathan asked.

Alyssa closed her eyes and made a wish, but when she opened them she saw what she expected. “No bars.”

“Let me see!” Nellie grabbed the phone and tried Mom, but got CALL FAILED.

Jonathan sighed. “That’s what you get for not having four-G.”

“Maybe the landline works,” Alyssa suggested. Jonathan took the cordless white receiver off the wall. He looked at his sisters. They looked like they were about to crack, like they needed some good news. Jonathan briefly considered faking a call to 911, so he could give them some hope, but before he could decide if that was a good idea, all the lights in the house went out.