Emily's House: Book 1 of the Akasha Chronicles

Chapter 15: Puzzles

Chapter 15: Puzzles 

I was never good at puzzles. It infuriated me that the freaky little creature left me with so many unanswered questions.

“What the ... ” said Fanny.

“I know,” I said. “‘Listen to the hawk’. What the heck is that supposed to mean?”

“That little nub left us without a clue as to where to go or what to do,” grumped Fanny.

“Actually, he gave us quite a few clues,” said Jake.

Fanny and I both glared hard at him. Fanny looked like she was going to throttle him.

“Okay, tell us where we’re going,” said Fanny.

“Well, obviously we have to go to Ireland. ‘Fair Érie’,” retorted Jake.

“Yeah, sure, we’ll just whisk ourselves off to Ireland. Assuming we somehow find a way to get there, it’s not like Ireland is a tiny country. We have no idea where to go or what to do once there,” I said.

“I know all that, but Hindergog did leave us some clues. We can figure this out. He told us to go past the Slieve na something-or-other hills. And he said a Christian church. It has to be one that was there during Saorla’s time, so one that goes back at least a thousand years. There can only be so many of those, right?” Jake asked.

I started to perk up a little bit. Thank goodness for Jake. He’s always so clear headed like that.

“So we could come up with a list anyway, huh, to get started,” Fanny said.

“Yeah, and it may take a few days,” said Jake.

“Or a few months!” I groaned.

“But traveling by bus or train, it won’t be too bad. And we’re sure to find other clues if we keep our eyes open,” said Jake.

“Okay, but first things first. I’ve got to get past Muriel, and we have to find a way out of here without money, or plane tickets. And the passport situation,” I said.

“Well we’ve got money covered,” offered Fanny.

“How’s that?” asked Jake. “You know I’m broke.”

Jake was right. His dad had cut out on his mom, Jake and his two younger siblings. His mom worked extra shifts at her nursing job to make ends meet while Jake helped take care of his sibs, but it was really tight for his family.

“Two words. Bat Mitzvah,” said Fanny.

“You still have all your Bat Mit cash?” I asked.

“Yep, about eight large, rolled up and hidden in my secret money place,” said Fanny.

“You have eight thousand dollars just hanging around your house?” asked Jake.

“Yeah, well I don’t trust my money in banks.”

“I can’t believe your mom and dad let you keep your money at your house,” I said.

“They don’t know.”

“Okay, well eight grand should be enough to at least get us to Ireland. What about passports?” I asked.

“Fanny, you’ve been to Europe before. You still have your passport?” asked Jake.

“Yeah, my picture was from when I was like ten, but it’s still good,” she answered.

“And Emily, your dad got you a passport to go to Canada last year, didn’t he?” asked Jake.

“That’s right. I almost forgot because we ended up not going,” I said. Zombie Man couldn’t tear himself away from work long enough to go on a vacation with his only daughter.

“But Jake, what about you? You’ve never been ... well, never been out of the country,” said Fan.

“Yeah, that’s true. But Fanny, your whole family went on that trip, right?” asked Jake.

“Yeah.”

“Well, with hair dye and some luck, I should be able to use your brother Rob’s passport, see? Problem solved,” Jake answered. He was practically beaming.

“Holy crap, Jake,” said Fanny. “Squeaky clean little Jake. I can’t believe you’re going to do that. Faking a passport is like a federal crime you know. Probably a felony even.”

“Yeah, I know. But desperate times call for desperate measure. Besides, Emily needs us,” he said.

“Okay,” I said. “We’ll go in, grab my passport and some clothes and junk. I’ll grab my small stash of cash and then we have to get past Muriel.”

We all crawled back across that tree branch and shimmied into my room through the window. It was getting dark, and we still had to get past Muriel. I rummaged through my junk in a small box under my bed for my passport.

“Man, I look like such a goob,” I said. My hair had been particularly frizzy that day and it was a messy halo of orangey-red around my face. I had a big, red zit on the end of my nose and a sheen of grease on my forehead.

Jake looked over my shoulder at the picture. “Nah, you don’t,” he said.

“Who cares now anyway,” said Fan. “Just grab some junk and let’s get going.”

I stuffed the passport into my back pocket, grabbed my backpack and jammed it full of clothes. I was just about to turn out of there and face Muriel when Jake said, “Hey, you should write a note to your dad.”

“Are you crazy? I can’t let him know what we’re doing,” I said.

“Em, he’ll be worried about you. You don’t have to tell him where we’re going or what we’re doing, but just let him know you’re not running away,” Jake replied.

The thing was, I couldn’t say I wasn’t running away because maybe I was. That’s exactly what I thought I was doing. I Finally have a chance to escape. I may have been a nerd, a loser, and a smart-mouth. I may have been failing math. But I wasn’t a liar and I couldn’t bring myself to lie to my dad, even if he was a zombie.

Jake was right though. Just in case my dad got pulled out of zombie mode long enough to notice that I was missing, I needed to tell him something. I sat down and wrote a quick note. Even though my dad was a zombie, I still loved him. That love forced a tear to my eye as I wrote my note. This may be the last thing I ever get to say to him.

As I finished the letter, I looked up and saw the picture of my dad, my mom and me together. In the picture, we were at the lake, laughing and having a good time. It was probably taken a few months before she died. I quickly grabbed it and threw it into my bag. I turned the note over and finished it on the backside.

“Let’s go,” I said. I turned and left my room, maybe forever.