Eleazar Goodenough
and the Mystery of the Scrying Inkwell

by Jerry Grimes

Chapter 6 - Inkspot Revelations

"That was a lot of fun!" said Jolly as the boys waved good-bye to the vanishing Sky Spirit. "Who would have ever thought kachinas are real?"

"The Hopi, perhaps," said Eleazar. "The kachinas are just like the fairies of Britain and the elves of northern Europe, only in Native American appearance. You notice he spoke perfect English. Anyway, here we are on the roof and I'd better get the pendulum to work."

Eleazar pulled out the little pendulum and soon it was swinging back and forth. "It could be to the east or to the west," said Eleazar. "You go west and I'll go east."

Jolly nodded and started West into the setting sun. The glare of the sunset was so bright, he almost missed seeing the dark stains on the roof at his feet. But when he did, he shouted to Eleazar that he had found a clue.

"Good work!" said Eleazar, when he spotted the dark stains that Jolly had seen. "That's some spilled ink from my missing inkwell. When ink spills from a stolen magic inkwell, it often forms clues. What does that inkspot look like to you?"

Jolly squinted and walked around the spot to view it from all sides. "It looks like a dragon to me," he concluded.

"Where have you seen that dragon before?" asked Eleazar.

"It does look familiar, now that you mention it," said Jolly. "Only I can't remember where I've seen it before."

"Remember the train conductor's ticket punching dragon?" asked Eleazar.

"Of course!" said Jolly. "You don't think the conductor stole your inkwell, do you?"

"No, but someone who had his pants chewed up by it might have reason to steal something of mine," said Eleazar.

"The bully boys on the train!" exclaimed Jolly. "But which one?"

"More importantly, if it was one or all of them, how did they know who I was and where to find my trunk?" said Eleazar. "That trunk had a spell on it that only I was supposed to be able to use to open it. Even the Grand Wizard had to wait for me to open the trunk to find out what was missing."

Eleazar held out the pendulum and once again it began swinging east and west. "A little further west I think," said Eleazar.

Then they both saw the missing inkwell at the same time... or what was left of it... sparkling in the last rays of the setting sun.

"Smashed to bits!" said Jolly.

The little glass shards sparkled like diamonds surrounding a large black stain on the roof, where the last of the ink had soaked in. Jolly again walked around the ink stain to examine it closely from all angles.

"I hate to say this, but that stain looks exactly like..."

"Professor Spellbinder!" they said together.

Eleazar was silent for a long time. Then he said, "I can't believe Professor Spellbinder did this. He seemed so nice to us."

"If he did it, he must be a more powerful wizard than even the Grand Wizard to be able to break through your trunk spell," said Jolly.

"Don't say anything about this to anyone," said Eleazar. "We'll just tell them we found the inkwell and it was broken. Say nothing at all about the two clues."

"How about Sky Spirit?" asked Jolly.

"I think we'd better keep that a secret, too," said Eleazar. "We may need Sky Spirit's help someday."

"How do we get down from here?" asked Jolly, looking around the roof.

"Through the trap door, of course," said Eleazar, pointing it out to him. "That's how the roofers and the chimney sweeps get up and down from here."

By the time they descended the many staircases that led down to the second floor dormitory, they were both ready for a rest. They peeped out of the hidden staircase door, saw no one in the hall and headed down the hall to their room. On the far side of the stairs, they saw Carmen waving frantically at them.

"Oh, no!" said Jolly. "I just want to lie down for a nap, not hang out with her!"

"She's our friend," said Eleazar. "At least let's tell her what we can about our adventure."

Carmen put her finger on her lips as they walked across the stairwell opening towards her. Then she opened her door and motioned them to come inside. Once she had closed the door behind them she said, "Where have you two been? You missed supper and everyone was worried about you!"

"Supper?" said Jolly. "Oh, no! And I'm hungry enough to even eat spinach, which I hate!"

"Never mind about that," said Carmen. "I saved you something." She removed a napkin from a plate piled high with the delicious feast they had missed.

"Carmen, you're a life-saver!" said Eleazar.

"So where were you all this time?" she asked.

"Hunting for my missing inkwell," said Eleazar between bites. He and Jolly had sat right down at Carmen's desk and were sharing the plate of food between them.

"We found it, too!" said Jolly.

"Only it was broken," added Eleazar.

"Smashed to bits," said Jolly. "This is good!"

"Who would do a thing like that?" asked Carmen.

"It was the only way the thief could keep from being discovered," said Eleazar. "If I had found the inkwell unbroken with ink left in it, I could have used it to scry what had happened. I would know who the thief was and how he broke into my trunk. By smashing it to small bits, I only have a few small clues to work from. Whoever the thief was, he knew the power in a scrying inkwell and made sure I couldn't use it again."

"What clues do you have?" asked Carmen.

Eleazar and Jolly looked at one another, then Eleazar nodded. "Carmen is our friend," he said. "We can trust her. The first clue was an inkspot image of that little dragon ticket punch we saw on the train."

"The dragon who chewed up the pants of those mean boys?" said Carmen. "Do you think they were smart enough to do this?"

"I don't know what the clue means," said Eleazar. "I'm just telling you what we found. The second clue was an inkspot that looked very much like Professor Spellbinder."

"Oh, no!" said Carmen. "He seemed like such a nice wizard!"

"It's just a clue," said Eleazar. "It doesn't mean that he did it. We have to figure out what the clues mean before we'll find the thief."

"Say, where is your roommate, Carmen?" asked Jolly, as he finished eating and started looking around her room.

"I don't have a roommate," said Carmen, sullenly. "None of the other girls wanted to room with me."

"I can't imagine why not," said Eleazar.

"Anyway, you're lucky to have this room all to yourself," said Jolly. "We can have secret meetings here."

"Just let me know if you're going on any more exploring trips," said Carmen.

"We will," said Eleazar, waving his wand over the food plate, leaving it sparkling clean. "And thanks for saving us dinner."

The two boys peeked out the door to make sure no one was about, then quietly went back to their room on the boys' side of the hall.

"Do you mind if I open the window?" asked Eleazar. "It's kind of stuffy in here."

"Go right ahead," said Jolly. "I'm going to wash up." He went into the spacious bathroom and whistled, then had to whistle again just to hear the echo. "This is unbelievable!" he called out to Eleazar.

Eleazar struggled with the window latch a minute, then got his wand, waved it at the latch and said "Expositus!" The latch opened up and the window swung open much wider than Eleazar had intended. Just then something flew in the open window. It looked like a bat.

Eleazar waved his wand and said "Termino!" and the window began to close. Just then something huge smashed up against the window, knocking Eleazar to the floor and slamming the window shut with a crash.

"Dragon's Breath! What was that?" said Jolly, running into the room from the bathroom. They looked at the window and saw a great eagle beating its wings against the glass, trying to get inside.

"Exitus!" shouted Eleazar as he waved his wand towards the eagle. Giving a great squawk, the eagle peeled itself off the window, dropped down a few feet and then they saw it flapping back the way it had come.

"What was it after?" said Jolly, helping Eleazar to his feet.

"That," said Eleazar, pointing his wand towards the tiny creature that had flown inside their room for safety.

Cowering in the corner, making tiny whimpering sounds, was the tiny ticket-punch dragon they had seen first on the train and then in the inkspot design on the roof of the castle.

To Chapter 7

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