29
WE WONDER WHAT CELIA’S UP TO
SOME OF THE MEN around Sir Edmund wore the robes of Buddhist monks, others were in the black robes of priests, and some wore business suits. There was even a man in blue jeans and a T-shirt, with a baseball cap pulled low over his face. They all wore medallions around their necks with the image of a scroll locked in chains.
The abbot stepped back, mouthing another apology at the twins. He didn’t wear a watch, but he tapped his wrist and ran right out of that great room like he was late for an appointment. Two very large Tibetan guards wearing swords on their backs blocked the doorway after he left, so that the twins could not escape.
“I am impressed,” Sir Edmund said. “I did not expect you to survive this long on your own, nor did I believe you would make it here. I had expected someone else to walk through those doors.”
“Lama Norbu’s not even a lama,” Oliver said.
“No?” Sir Edmund laughed. “So you figured that one out, eh? The great Frank Pfeffer couldn’t even hide himself from Oliver and Celia Navel? Pathetic.”
“We know you were in cahoots with him,” Celia said defiantly. She’d heard the word cahoots on Animal Detectives. She thought it sounded like the kind of word that explained what criminals did. “We know you threw us out of the airplane and sent that yeti after us and got the Poison Witches to take our father!”
Some of the other members of the Council shifted uncomfortably.
The man in the T-shirt and baseball cap shouted “Aha!” and started typing a text message into his cell phone. Sir Edmund glared at him and he stopped texting.
“Well,” Sir Edmund said. “You are much more clever than I had thought. I am guilty as charged. The plan with the witches was to poison you and force your father to lead us here. The witches’ foolishness changed those plans, but you have done admirably in your father’s place. Though I must tell you that I didn’t have anything to do with throwing you out of the airplane.”
“You didn’t throw us from the plane?” Oliver muttered, confused. “If you didn’t get us thrown from the airplane, then who did?”
“I don’t think you want to know,” Sir Edmund said, and the entire Council chuckled.
“Where’s our father?” Celia demanded.
“He is safe for now. For one more day, at least.”
“Where is he?!” she yelled.
“My, oh, my. No need to shout, child. You really want to know?” Sir Edmund waved to one of the guards, who pushed aside the curtain over the room’s only window. In the distance, there was a jagged mountain peak, even higher than the mountain peak they were now on. “He is camping with the witches on top of the sacred mountain. Mortals fear to trespass on its slopes, so I promise you they will not be disturbed. In fact, I’ve placed plenty of guards around the mountain to make sure of it. And your old friend the yeti is up there too. She’s looking for her child, the baby yeti I captured, I imagine. I think that has put her in a bad mood. So if you have any ideas about rescuing your father, I would quickly forget them.”
“What do you want from us?” Oliver said. “There are no Lost Tablets.”
“I know there are no Lost Tablets, boy,” Sir Edmund snapped. “I destroyed them myself!” He shook his head and looked a Celia. “Was your brother dropped on his head as a child? Too much music television maybe?”
“We don’t have music television,” Oliver objected. “We don’t even have cable.”
“Children,” Sir Edmund sighed. “You aren’t making this very easy for me.”
“Let our father go,” Celia said, “and then we’ll do whatever you want. We’ll tell you what our mother’s note means. We’ll tell you everything we know.”
“You will?” Sir Edmund said.
“We will?” Oliver whispered at his sister.
Celia didn’t even look at her brother. She was trying her best to stare down Sir Edmund and hoping he wouldn’t notice that she was lying through her teeth.
