Leaving Merlin's living room, rather than aiming for my brother's outer door, Newton began to follow me to my side of the house. Curiously, I looked at my twin.
"We need to talk in private, Jack," he said in a low voice. "Shall we go to your front room?"
"No. Cecile's in there with some of her Cake Club friends. We can't use the dining room as Beverley’s in there. She wanted the table to paint her watercolours. Is the kitchen okay? And whatever do you want to discuss outside the Brothermeet?"
"I'll say when we get to the kitchen."
I shrugged and we walked through the house. Once in the kitchen, he didn't speak immediately. Maybe he was considering his words but in the end he shook his head, pulled back a chair and came to the point.
"How much does Merlin know? He seemed comfortable rattling off terms like portals and speed-tunnels..."
"I told him most of it. No, don't look at me like that. With all the drama with Orton's parents, he and Eliza deserved to know. But they know to keep it to themselves"
A sigh. "Okay, you're probably right. But who else knows?"
"Cecile, of course. Chris - don't frown. He's like a brother and Tara has been living in his house alongside Nigel. My absence back then (* see Routes of Sylvania) needed explaining and it seemed safer to give him the facts rather than pick up bits elsewhere. Oh, and obviously I've told Darcy."
"Darcy Fielding? A newspaper mouse? What were you thinking?"
"I'm thinking that you provided the technology for him - and me - to write a blog for humans. That alone shows he can keep a secret from Mellowdene's villagers."
Newton seemed mollified. "You know about that."
"Of course I do. You don't have to worry about anyone I've told. Besides, others already know some aspects."
"Who?"
"Mulder Honey-Fox has quite a file on wild energies. Also, what about the team Xenophon Treefellow assembled to help penetrate Tall Tree Forest? Rolf, Delvin, Bruin, Feargal will know some aspects. Ricardo will, of course. Even Cecil Walnut and his Skyrider were involved when we were disabling portals."
"That many?"
"They are responsible crittizens. Xenophon will have directed them accordingly. "
"So you don't think I have anything to worry about."
"No. But as far as Merlin's concerned, you know he will continue to research all he can find about the Woodzeez. Who knows what he may unearth? Which reminds me - you mentioned Honeysuckle Hollow. When I was in Chunglewood that was something Roy Kingsberry mentioned in passing. What is it?"
Again I detected some reticence. I know his job at the Sylvanian Research Group tends to require him to keep secrets. Clearly my discoveries had put him in an awkward position.
"Ah. Very well. Briefly - there was a valley in the Woodzeez realm that was covered in a deep growth of honeysuckle. At night it apparently had a faint blue glow and came to be considered a spiritual place. It was the original Honeysuckle Hollow and numerous villages were named after it."
"Blue glow? Are we talking about wild energies here?"
I had a crazy thought. "And you said this was before Mellowdene was founded."
"I did."
"The unusual stone - could it have been part of the Dreamstone?"
"As in Dreamstones and Beastie Hunts? Now we are getting into the realms of fantasy."
"And yet Xenophon Treefellow wears a pendant bearing a sliver that he confirmed was part of the Dreamstone. It helped activate the proto crystals in Tall Tree Forest. And Mellowdene has its own special piece. "
"What are you talking about?"
"You mean you don't know? The founders of Mellowdene found a chunk of Dreamstone when they were diverting the waters from Sweetwater Lake. It exists. Darcy has seen it. Cecile has seen it."
"This is beyond belief. Mellowdenians have seen it? Where is it?" He looked almost annoyed.
"It's beneath the chapel. Ask Kelvin."
"I will. I can't believe the SRG didn't know about it."
"Could it be that our Dreamstone is the one hidden by the Woodzeez activist?"
"I've no idea. I need to process what you've told me."
"Surely it's too far from Tall Tree Forest to have created the route the Chunglewoodians took..."
"Jackson! Put your imagination on hold. I need to think. And no, I think the portal to Chunglewood is unlikely to have been affected by anything in Mellowdene. "
"Why not?"
"Because in the past there have been other brief breaches elsewhere in Sylvania. There. I've said enough. I'm going. 'Bye, brother."
With that, he started to leave.
o 0 O 0 o
I caught up with him in the hallway.
"Wait, Newton. Other breaches?"
"I'm not going into details. Suffice to say, once the original Woodzeez breach had closed, there were echoes in other parts of Sylvania. Decades apart. The one that led to Chunglewood is likely to have been the most recent and longer lasting."
"But these other breaches..."
"Leave it, Jack. By all indications the Chunglewood route was the last. It's all stable now. Furthermore, it won't help the Woodzeez there to learn of the earlier ones. And I'm going. 'Bye Jack."
"No, wait," I said, a little concerned at his behaviour. "Have I done something to offend you? You seem a little... tetchy."
My twin stopped, sighed and leaned against the wall heater. "No Jack. I'm sorry. It's nothing personal. It's just that I've thought through something you have said and I've realised it puts me in a bind."
"A bind? Sorry about that - but what did I say?"
"You said there was proof the Dreamstone existed and that the owls know about it. You know Aristotle Treefellow helped educate me through upper school and he said nothing. And you say Xenophon wears a small piece?"
"Well, Cecile spotted it and pointed it out. He may not have mentioned it otherwise."
"That's not really the point and it's not the main issue anyway. The real point is that I've worked for the Sylvanian Research Group for years and I have quite a responsible position. To the best of my knowledge, they consider the Dreamstone to be a fairy tale. Do you realise what that means?"
"Not really."
"It either means they're keeping secrets within the Group - ones to which I'm not privy - or that the Owl Collective haven't mentioned it to them throughout their long association." He shook his head. "Where does that leave me? What do I say to my work colleagues?"
I hadn’t seen Newton this way since we were children and he'd discovered that one of our teachers was mistaken in some random subject matter. I'd recommended that he speak to the teacher privately. I wasn't sure that similar advice was appropriate for the current situation but I had to say something.
"You need to consider what the Sylvanian Research Group would do if they discovered there was a piece of Dreamstone under the chapel. Both Cecile and Darcy say it gave them visions of the Snow Queen. Would they try and take it away for research?"
"Visions? It gets worse!"
"Calm down, Newton. I've not been to see it. I wouldn't want visions no matter how comforting that may be. But the stone is important to Mellowdene. Not just its spiritual history. Village history. It is an artefact discovered by our founders. If there's a chance it may be taken away... even if they think it could be used to help recreate the original Woodzeez path..."
"Stop, stop!" Newton exclaimed and then he looked towards the door to my living room. He moderated his tone in case it summoned Cecile and her friends. "You're probably right. I won't say anything. At least until I've considered all the consequences."
He sighed, attempting to calm down and then he smiled. "When did you become the logician, Jack? Adventurer, manipulator of wild energies and now a mind like a trap? I'm used to you being a songwriter and a boy who made up stories for the classroom."
"It surprises me too."
He squeezed my shoulder then moved towards the door, speaking over his shoulder.
"Brothermeets, eh? I'm glad you're my twin, Jack."
I watched him go down the garden path and until he left my sight.
Why is it, when one thinks one has found answers, other questions bubble to the surface?
o 0 O 0 o