Eleazar Goodenough
and the Mystery of the Scrying Inkwell

by Jerry Grimes

Chapter 8 - Detective Work

"I thought we were looking for some kind of super wizard," said Jolly. "Darcy is too dumb for that. Look at all the years he has failed to make it out of his first year at the Academy!"

"Perhaps we've underestimated that young man," said Phineas.

"Suppose Darcy failed his exams on purpose," Carmen suggested softly.

"What's that?" said Phineas. "Why would he do such a thing?"

"Suppose he was waiting for someone," she answered.

"Waiting for who?" snorted Jolly. "Sometimes I just don't understand you, Carmen."

"Waiting for Eleazar," was Carmen's response.

Professor Spellbinder went over to a chair and sat down. "That's the most ridiculous theory I've ever heard," he said. "And do you know something? I think Carmen is right!"

"Why would he be waiting for me?" asked Eleazar. "And why go to the trouble of failing his first year classes year after year?"

"I think you and I had better continue this discussion in private, Professor Goodenough," said Professor Spellbinder, suddenly becoming very formal.

"Jolly and Carmen are my best friends here, besides you, of course," said Eleazar. "I trust them completely."

"Very well," said Phineas, "but what I have to say is in strictest confidence. It must not be repeated outside this room. Do I have your word on that?" He looked squarely at Jolly and Carmen giving them his 'strict Professor' look.

"Yes, sir," said Jolly and Carmen together.

"From now on we do not mention his name. We shall refer to him as 'You-Know-Who,'" said Phineas.

"Who?" asked Jolly.

"You-Know-Who!" said both Carmen and Eleazar in exasperation with Jolly, indicating with their eyes and heads the student who had just locked himself in the boys' bathroom down the hall.

"Oh, him!" said Jolly.

Professor Spellbinder rolled his eyes heavenward, and then continued. "Many years ago, I had a run-in with You-Know-Who's father at this very Academy."

"Number Two?" said Jolly. That made the others laugh.

"That was the nickname the boys gave him while he was here. It made him very angry, for some reason," said Phineas with a twinkle in his eye. "However, the reason he hates me, to this day, is because I failed him in my Spells class for ethical reasons."

"Ethical reasons?" inquired Eleazar.

"You haven't taken my class yet," said Phineas, "Or you would know that I frown on those who cast the spells we sometimes call 'Curses.' There are times when we need powerful spells for protection and defense, but they should not be used out of spite or jealousy to harm someone."

"Even someone like You-Know-Who and his father?" asked Jolly.

"Especially not!" said Professor Spellbinder sternly. "Once a wicked spell or curse is cast, it is very hard to undo and it drags the spellbinder down with it to the darkness-we-shall-not-speak-of."

"That's like saying you-know-who?" asked Jolly, and Professor Spellbinder closed his eyes and solemnly nodded.

"Remember that I told you a wizard's name is a powerful spell all by itself, and that's how I noticed you were talking about me in this room and why I decided to come down and investigate," said Professor Spellbinder.

"Is my name a powerful spell?" asked Jolly.

"Jolly is the nickname your friends gave you," said Professor Spellbinder. "But close your eyes a moment and listen."

Jolly did so, then suddenly opened his eyes with a frightened look on his face. "I heard my mother calling me!" he said. "It sounded like she was angry!"

"That was me, I must confess," laughed Professor Spellbinder. "I said your true name to myself and tried to make it sound like your mother! When you were younger, I bet you heard her call you like that whenever you got into mischief. So know you understand why we do not mention a wizard's name when we don't want him to know we are talking about him."

"I get it," said Jolly. "I can't wait to start your class, Professor. It sounds like I'm going to learn a lot of neat stuff."

"Glad to hear you say that, Jolly. Of course, in the classroom it must be Professor Spellbinder and Joliet, not Phineas and Jolly."

"I got 'cha, Professor," said Jolly.

"Well, as I was saying, You-Know-Who's father paid no attention to my discussions about the need for ethical behavior in Wizards, and he went right on researching and collecting his own curses and wicked spells of harm. But that's not why I failed him. I would never have failed him for simply accumulating knowledge. It was when he started selling his curses to the other students that I felt I had to put a stop to it. His father... Number One... put up a big fuss with Grand Wizard Winkandnod and the board of trustees of the Academy. Number One tried to get me fired and when that didn't work, he tried to get the trustees to override my failing grade and pass his son in Spells. It didn't work.

"Number Two managed to graduate with his class, but he had to take extra courses in other subjects to make up for failing Spells. I believe he took some Dark Arts courses, not surprisingly.

"Now Number Three's case is different. He seemed to be a loser right from the start. He never showed up for class on time, never did his homework, failed all his tests, yet he seemed to be a bright lad and always helped the other students with their work. He just never seemed to be able to help himself. Of course, the students he helped were the tough guys and bully boys of the Academy, if you know what I mean. He always seemed to hang around with boys who were prone to getting into trouble. When I first failed him in Spells, I expected to hear from his father, but his father seemed unconcerned. I wondered why. Then he failed it two years in a row and I thought surely we would hear from both his father and his grandfather... but not a word. Isn't that curious?

"Last year was supposed to have been You-Know-Who's last chance at the Academy... you know, three strikes and you're out. Well, he failed Spells and the other class I taught, Divination and Scrying, but he managed to squeek by in all of his other classes and got enough passing grades that Grand Wizard Winkandnod felt we should give him one last chance. That was after the Grand Wizard left a meeting with both Number One and Number Two at which there was a lot of yelling and screaming, and not from the Grand Wizard I can assure you, but we heard it all over the castle.

"So he's back again and off to another bad start making friends with the wrong sort of bullying-Wizards. But Carmen has suggested a very interesting theory. It has some holes in it to be sure..."

"What holes?" asked Jolly, speaking up for Carmen.

"Well, why should You-Know-Who have reason to go after little Hareek?" The tiny dragon perked up his large ears upon hearing his name, and sat up straight on Jolly's shoulder. "After all, You-Know-Who wasn't on the train, but already here at the castle when the train arrived. His new bully-boy friends might have made enemies of Hareek on the train, but they weren't even his friends until he met them at the train station."

"But the inkwell was stolen at the train station," said Carmen. "It had to be. And if You-Know-Who was there, he might have run into Hareek."

"Possibly," said Phineas. "Tell me, Hareek, were you guarding the trunks on the train?"

The little dragon perked up again, scratched its head with its tiny clawed hand, then nodded vigorously.

"He understands everything we say?" asked Jolly in amazement.

"Not everything," Eleazar explained. "You have to speak slowly to dragons and use simple words. He can only answer questions by nodding his head for 'yes' and shaking it for 'no.'"

"Well, he's smarter than my baby brother then," said Jolly. "I like you Hareek!"

Hareek snorted and blew a smoke ring from his nose.

"Can I finish questioning Hareek now, if you please?" said Phineas, but with a smile on his face. He held up the piece of cloth that Hareek had brought back through the whirlwind. "Did this belong to the person you saw stealing from a trunk on the train?"

Hareek again scratched his head, while he puzzled out the meaning of the question. Then he shook his head back and forth.

"That's odd," said Carmen. "Then what does he have against Dar... I mean You-Know-Who?"

"I have an idea," said Eleazar. "Hareek, was there more than one person in the baggage room you were guarding?"

Hareek nodded happily.

"Was one big and one little?"

Again Hareek nodded, and started doing a little dance on Jolly's shoulder.

"Ow!" said Jolly. "You have sharp toenails, Hareek!"

"He's just happy that he's finally being understood," said Phineas. "And I think I understand, too. Hareek, was the small person on the train the same as the person you got this from?" He held up the piece of cloth and the dragon flew around in circles while nodding his head.

"And the big person, was he the one stealing from the trunk?"

This time Hareek blew a big smoke ring from his nose and flew through it nodding happily.

"That makes sense" said Eleazar. "Only a very powerful wizard could have opened my trunk and stolen my inkwell, and I think we agree that You-Know-Who isn't very powerful...yet."

"I think it was Number Two of that family," said Carmen.

"I think so, too," said Phineas, "and I think it's time to lay a little trap for the You-Know-Which family."

To Chapter 9

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