The Secrets of Ordinary Farm of-2 Read online

  The Secrets of Ordinary Farm

  ( Ordinary farm - 2 )

  Tad Williams

  Deborah Beale

  The Secrets of Ordinary Farm

  Tad Williams

  Deborah Beale

  Prologue

  “Hurry! Make faster magic, boy.” Mr. Walkwell sounded grumpy, but that was no surprise: Mr. Walkwell didn’t like Colin much and made that clear to him nearly every day. “The children will be here in a few hours and Gideon wants everything to be ready.”

  Colin Needle made a face but didn’t say anything, only bent closer over his laptop. Thunder rumbled above the distant hills. The sky felt hot, heavy, and close. The children this, the children that -he was so sick of hearing about them! Everybody at Ordinary Farm except Colin and his mother seemed to think Lucinda and Tyler Jenkins were something wonderful, but really the two were nothing but troublemakers. In just a few weeks last summer the Jenkins kids had managed to ruin all of Colin’s careful plans to improve Ordinary Farm, and now they were coming back for another summer’s stay. Lucinda and Tyler, Tyler and Lucinda-he was tired of hearing their names and tired of everyone on the farm making such a big show out of their return visit.

  The sky growled again. A single fat drop of rain fell on Colin’s screen. The weather had been strange all spring and didn’t show any sign of changing, the days as hot as they always were at this time of the year but also damp, overcast, and even sometimes stormy. Colin Needle had never been to a tropical country but he imagined it might be a little like the weather around this part of California lately.

  The huge Norseman Ragnar had finished installing the complicated new gate on the adobe barn, and now he wandered over, wiping either sweat or rain off his forehead with his wide forearm. “Why aren’t you finished, Needle?” Ragnar demanded. “We have done all the hard part, boy! Just cast your spells so we can go and get ourselves something cold to drink.”

  “It’s not magic and they’re not spells,” Colin said through clenched teeth. “I’m trying to hook the new security gates and fences up to a computer network so we can do everything from a distance. I already explained it all several times.”

  “You told me your flat box makes things work by invisible lightning that flies through the air,” said Ragnar. “What is that if it is not magic?”

  Colin scowled. Nobody else at Ordinary Farm knew anything much about electricity or computers, let alone wireless networks-most of them had been born centuries before such things existed. Even his mother, who had learned enough to use the internet and keep her experimental and household records on a computer, still could not come close to what Colin himself could do. Some day Gideon would be gone and Colin Needle would be in charge. Lucinda and Tyler Jenkins would have to do exactly what he said, then-if he even allowed them to visit the farm.

  Even Colin’s own mother, frightening as she might be, would have to do what he wanted…

  A deep, rasping snarl from the far side of the barn made Colin Needle jump in fear. Ragnar laughed and slapped his thigh; he had made it very clear that he didn’t like Colin any more than Mr. Walkwell did. “Don’t jump out of your skin, boy! It’s just the manties saying they are tired of their cage. They want to come out and play with you!”

  “Very funny,” Colin said, but he was shivering. “Those things are killers.”

  “And who made Gideon think so much about protecting the farm?” Mr. Walkwell gestured to the sliding electric gate they were struggling to finish. “Who was it who brought Gideon’s enemies here onto our land?”

  “Leave me alone, will you? I said I was sorry! I’ve said it a thousand times!”

  In truth, Colin thought Gideon’s new obsession with security was the most intelligent idea the old man had come up with in years, but that didn’t make him want to spend any more time around these imprisoned monsters than he absolutely had to. There was something about their orange eyes-something so cold and knowing… “You said their cage is secure, right?” he asked the two men. “Right? Then get out the way and let me try this.” Colin clicked the OPEN button on his screen. A few yards away the motor whined for a moment, then the heavy metal barn gate rattled as it began to slide to one side on its small wheels. It really was a little bit like magic, Colin Needle thought proudly. The manties heard the noise and began grunting and barking inside the barn. Colin was very grateful the savage things were caged behind heavy steel bars: their long yellow teeth, clawed fingers, and curiously intelligent but emotionless eyes had haunted more than a few of his nightmares lately.

  A brief flurry of rain spotted the dust and splashed warmly on Colin’s neck. He opened and closed the gates a few more times to make certain he had set everything correctly, then shut down the program while Ragnar and Mr. Walkwell finished with the last details.

  Simos Walkwell whistled to him, a sound that made Colin bristle-calling him like he was a dog! “Needle,” he said, “take the end of this metal rope and hold it as I roll the rest up.” Mr. Walkwell didn’t seem to sweat even in the most sweltering weather, but he pulled off his hat and ran his fingers through his hair as he examined the loop of plastic-covered wire cable in his hands. He hadn’t sanded down his horns in several days and they looked like tiny tree stumps growing just above his temples.

  “It’s not a metal rope,” said Colin, “it’s wire. The word is wire .”

  The old Greek barked a humorless laugh. “You knew what I meant. Now make yourself useful, boy. Hold the metal rope and close your mouth. Both things will help.”

  Colin swallowed a bitter response. You’ll see, he thought. I really will be in charge of this farm one day, no matter what you or those stuck-up Jenkins kids think. And when that happens, everything’s going to be different. Very, very different.

  The summer storm had already drifted off to the other side of the valley as its last damp traces vanished into the dirt. As the thunder died away Colin could finally hear the sounds coming from the barn on the other side of the new gate-the restless noises of large, hungry creatures waiting to be released.

  Chapter 1

  Cold War Farm

  “I can’t believe you came to pick us up, Uncle Gideon!” Fourteen year old Lucinda Jenkins turned to her younger brother. “Isn’t this great? We’re back!”

  For once, even Tyler wasn’t trying to pretend he was too cool for everything. “Yeah,” he said, grinning. “It’s definitely great.” It was amusing to see his sister so thrilled-this from a girl who thought even Planetoid, the best video game in history, was “mega-boring.” In fact, Tyler was feeling pretty happy himself; even the unusually damp weather seemed exciting.

  Uncle Gideon looked happy to see them too, which made a nice change from long stretches of last summer when he had acted as though he regretted inviting them to his very special farm. Gideon Goldring looked healthier than he had last year as well-he was even wearing something other than his normal working costume of pajamas and a bathrobe. His white hair was uncombed as usual of course, but very clean, and his skin was tan as though he had been spending time out in the sun.

  “And it’s good to have you two here!” their great-uncle said, laughing. “Now, hurry, children! We have a long drive ahead of us and everyone’s waiting to see you.”

  Simos Walkwell, Gideon’s right-hand man-or at least with his hat and boots on he looked like a man, though Tyler and his sister knew better-nodded and might have even smiled a little, but broad emotional displays were not his style. He tossed both big suitcases up onto the wagon bed as if they were no heavier than sofa cushions, then hopped back onto the driver’s bench. Lucinda scrambled up into the bed of the cart, Tyler right behind her.<
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  Lucinda was so excited she couldn’t stay quiet. “Wow, it’s great to be here! How is everybody-and how are the animals? Ooh, how’s the baby dragon? Your last letter said she was big now!” Uncle Gideon’s last letter had also been months ago. Lucinda had been driving her brother crazy since then. “Is she all right?”

  Gideon chuckled. “Yes, child, yes, all the animals are fine. All the people, too!”

  Mr. Walkwell swung back up onto the bench and clucked his tongue. Culpepper the cart horse snorted, then pulled the wagon into a broad turn across the main road. A few townsfolk on the opposite sidewalk looked up and one or two even waved. It was clearly another slow Saturday in downtown Standard Valley.

  Gideon lowered his voice. “You didn’t tell anybody at home anything, did you? About the farm?”

  “No, Uncle Gideon!” both children cried at the same time, and Tyler added, “We wouldn’t do that. We promised.”

  “Darn right.” Gideon settled back on the bench. “Because that is the first rule. In fact, that’s almost the only rule I have!”

  Not quite true, Tyler thought, amused. You’ve got a few of them. Don’t ask too many questions about the animals. Don’t ask questions about the Fault Line, where the animals come from. Don’t ask about what happened to your wife, Grace. And definitely don’t ask why you have a witch for a housekeeper…! But of course Tyler didn’t say any of that. He had made it through an entire amazing, wonderful, incredibly dangerous summer at Ordinary Farm last year and the one thing he had learned for certain was that when Gideon Goldring was in a good mood it was better just to keep your mouth shut and enjoy it.

  And their great-uncle really was in a good mood, as though he had missed the children almost as much as they had missed Ordinary Farm. Tyler hadn’t spent his school year counting the seconds until they could return in quite the way his sister had, but he had definitely been looking forward to this. He had been worrying about it, too. So many secrets-so many crazy, dangerous secrets!

  And now it all starts again, he thought. Ten whole weeks. Anything could happen!

  “Wow. We’re really back.” Lucinda stared down the sloping road to the valley floor. “It was so hard to wait!”

  “Does it look the same?” asked Gideon. “As you remember it?”

  “Better. When can I see the dragons?” Tyler knew she was dying to talk to them, as she had found out she could do at the end of last summer-she had talked about little else all the way down on the train today. “Can I stop in and see them now, Uncle Gideon? Before we go to the house? The Reptile Barn’s just over there, and we’re so close

  …!”

  Mr. Walkwell grunted in disapproval, but Gideon was still in a good mood. “I suppose so, just for a minute- if you promise to stay out of trouble…!”

  “I will, I will! Oh, thank you, Uncle Gideon!”

  The old man was smiling. “Just don’t tell Mrs. Needle. She doesn’t like me changing the schedule.”

  “She doesn’t like anything with a pulse,” Tyler said under his breath, but he knew that at this moment Lucinda wouldn’t have cared even if Patience Needle were riding toward them on a broom.

  After they had descended from the hill road they crossed a wooden bridge over Kumish Creek, then followed the line of the new and impressively tall wire fence that ran around the outside of the property. Tyler also couldn’t help noticing the signs reading

  DANGER-ELECTRIC FENCE.

  “Is it really electric?” he asked.

  “Not enough to kill anyone,” said Gideon. “Just to keep unwanted visitors from climbing over. And if they try it some other way, well

  … ” He pointed to a small dome-shaped object on the top of a fence post. “We’ve got cameras-they work at night, too!” Gideon chortled. “Much less work for Mr. Walkwell to guard the property now, isn’t that right, Simos?”

  “I didn’t ask for this.” Mr. Walkwell sounded unhappy. “My ears and my nose are still better than any seeing-box.”

  “Yes, but even you can’t keep track of what’s going on across the whole valley at the same time.” Gideon seemed amused by the overseer’s grumpiness. “This will be good for you, Simos. You’re not getting any younger.”

  “Pericles said that to me, too.” Mr. Walkwell turned back to watching the road as it ran along beside the fence. They were approaching a large timber gate that was definitely another new addition.

  “He never knew Pericles,” said Gideon in a stage-whisper. “Pure exaggeration.”

  Since Tyler didn’t know the guy either, he could only shrug. “So that’s the new gate?”

  “One of them, yes.”

  “But why?” Lucinda sounded alarmed and Tyler couldn’t entirely blame her. The hills and the valley hadn’t changed at all, but here was something that definitely had, a ten-foot tall gate of steel and heavy timbers. Tyler thought it looked like the entrance to a fortress

  … or a prison.

  “I told you in the letter I sent over the Christmas holidays,” Gideon said. “Told you we couldn’t have you visit until now because we were making some changes. Well, this is one of them. We’ve got new fences and gates for the whole farm-in fact, we’ve got a whole new security system!”

  “Kind of weird,” said Lucinda. “It looks like… like…!”

  “East Berlin,” said Tyler, who had just finished the Cold War in his American history class.

  Gideon shook his head emphatically, happy mood now gone. “Don’t be stupid! The Berlin Wall was meant to keep people in. I am protecting myself against people who want to creep onto my property and steal my secrets. Not the same at all!” He glared at the children. “Or have you forgotten what happened last summer?”

  Tyler decided it might be a good time to stop talking about the gate. “No, Uncle Gideon.”

  “Of course not, Uncle Gideon,” said Lucinda. “We get it.”

  Tyler looked along the fence, which stretched as far as he could see in either direction. “It… umm… looks very secure.”

  Gideon laughed harshly. “It had better! Do you know how much it cost to build fences and mount cameras around 10, 000 acres? It took most of the money that Ed Stillman tried to use to bribe Simos! And that was quite a lot of dough!”

  Except that money hadn’t really been a bribe, Tyler knew. Billionaire Ed had brought it to purchase a dragon egg from Colin Needle, a crime against Ordinary Farm that Tyler and Lucinda had helped prevent, then also helped to hide from their great-uncle.

  Now Gideon climbed down from the cart and punched some numbers into a keypad beside the fence. The lock clicked open and the heavy gate rolled to one side on little wheels. After they had driven through it slid closed again by itself.

  “That’s to make sure no one leaves it open by mistake,” Gideon said. “Wonderful improvement-and there are others you haven’t seen yet! We’re really set now. Just let Stillman’s mob try to sneak in here without us knowing about it!”

  Even Lucinda had finally fallen silent. As they turned toward the Reptile Barn, the tall shadow of the gate stretched a long way down the road in front of them.

  Chapter 2

  A Flaming Loogie

  As they pulled up in front of the Reptile Barn, Lucinda thought she heard someone calling them. Mr. Walkwell must have heard it too, because he turned to look off in the direction of the farmhouse. A strange object was approaching them, something odd and upright trailing a cloud of dust.

  “Oh, crud,” said Tyler. “Him.”

  Colin Needle rode unevenly toward them across the dirt, jouncing up and down on the seat of a plain, old-fashioned black bicycle.

  Tyler laughed. “Hey, nice ride, Needle! Is that your mom’s bike?”

  “Oh, it’s good to see you, too, Jenkins,” said Colin with a tight and completely unconvincing smile as he bumped to a halt beside them. “Hi, Lucinda,” he said to her. “Welcome back to the farm.” He sounded like he actually meant that part.

  Lucinda thought Colin was taller and th
inner than the previous summer. He was also dressed up in an old, ill-fitting coat and matching slacks; with his hair mussed by his riding he looked like some kind of wheeled scarecrow. “Hi, Colin,” she said. “You look nice in your suit.” It wasn’t entirely true, but Lucinda wanted to start the summer being friendly this time-she was convinced that Colin Needle wasn’t all bad. Tyler snorted, but Colin and Lucinda both ignored him.

  “Thanks.” Colin quickly turned to Gideon, as if he was embarrassed now to meet Lucinda’s eye. “My mother saw you heading over here and she wanted me to remind you that Sarah’s worked all day making us all a hot meal but it won’t stay hot for long.”

  “Saw us? She must have been watching through my binoculars!” Gideon turned to Tyler and Lucinda. “Meaning we had best hurry up, I suppose.” He sounded as pleased as a small boy to be bending the rules. “Before Patience loses her patience!”

  Even Lucinda on her best behavior couldn’t pretend that was a great joke, but she chuckled as best she could. “Come with me, Colin,” she said. “I’m just going in to see the dragons. Come along! I’ll be quick.”

  Colin, who was beginning to get off his bike, suddenly stopped. “Ummm… no, thanks. You go ahead in. I’ll wait here.”

  “Don’t be silly! You can tell me what you’ve been doing since last summer.” Lucinda almost took his arm, but thought better of it. She wanted to be nicer to the tall, awkward boy this year, but she didn’t want to give him any ideas. “Come on!”

  Colin reluctantly- very reluctantly-joined the small group as Mr. Walkwell pushed open the heavy door.

  The air was at least as hot inside the massive barn as it was outside, but it was also full of the musky smell of wild beasts. Lucinda did her best to not to let the stink bother her-after all, this was what she had been wanting for months, the way a little kid wanted a special doll for Christmas.