The House in the Cerulean Sea(37)

“A Pomeranian, if we’re being specific.”

“And you say this has been the longest he’s been in one place?”

“Indeed.”

“There are children who aren’t classified who aren’t that different from him. I met a child who could shift into a deer. Why is he here?”

Mr. Parnassus eyed him warily. “Because he can pass on his shift with a bite.”

Linus felt the air whoosh out of his lungs. “Truly?”

He nodded. “Yes. There was an … incident. At one of his previous orphanages. He was struck by a woman who worked in the kitchens for trying to take an apple. He retaliated in the only way he knew how. She underwent the change the following week.”

Linus thought the room was spinning. “I’ve never … I didn’t know that was possible. I thought it was genetic.”

“I think you’ll find the impossible is more accessible here than you were led to believe.”

“And Talia?”

“One of my first. Her family was killed rather tragically when their garden burned. Some thought it was set ablaze on purpose, though no one seemed to care much about that.”

Linus winced. He remembered the signs hanging from the buses telling everyone to SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING. “You speak Gnomish.”

“I speak many languages, Mr. Baker. I like learning new things. And it helps bring me closer to my charges.”

“And why is she classified?”

“Have you ever met a female gnome, Mr. Baker?”

No. He hadn’t. Which was odd, seeing as how he’d never even thought about it before. Linus scribbled on his notepad quickly. “And then there’s Phee.”

Mr. Parnassus chuckled. “Fiercely independent, she is. She’s here because there has never been a sprite so young with so much power. When they tried to rescue her from a most … dire situation, she managed to turn three men into trees. Another, much older sprite was able to turn them back. Eventually. Fortunately for me, Ms. Chapelwhite assists her in ways I cannot. She’s taken her under her wing, both figuratively and literally. She’s blossomed quite beautifully under Ms. Chapelwhite’s tutelage. We’re very lucky she offered to assist us.”

“And why did she?” Linus asked. “This is her island. Sprites are fiercely territorial. Why did she allow you here at all?”

Mr. Parnassus shrugged again. “The greater good, I suppose.”

He spoke just like a sprite, in vague little circles. Linus didn’t appreciate it. “And what would that be?”

“To see children who aren’t wanted by anyone be allowed to prosper. You know as well as I do that the term orphanage is a misnomer, Mr. Baker. No one comes here looking to adopt.”

No, he supposed they didn’t, seeing as how the Marsyas Orphanage was hidden from most everyone. But did that really matter? Had he known any of the children in an orphanage such as this to be adopted? He couldn’t think of a single instance. How had he never noticed that before? “Theodore?”

“Isn’t this all in your files, Mr. Baker?”

No. It wasn’t. In fact, Linus thought Mr. Parnassus had been correct when he’d said they were nothing but bones. “It’s best I hear it directly from the source. Nuances can be missed when they are merely words on paper.”

“He’s not just an animal,” Mr. Parnassus said.

“I never said he was.”

He sighed. “No, I don’t suppose you did. Forgive me. I’ve dealt with people like you before. I forget that you’re not all the same, even though I don’t know quite what to make of you yet.”

Linus felt strangely bare. “What you see is what you get with me. This is all I am.”

“Oh, I doubt that immensely,” he said. “Theodore is … special. I know you know just how rare someone like him is.”

“Yes.”

“He’s still a juvenile, though his precise age is unknown. He … thinks differently than the rest of us, and though we understand each other, it’s more in abstract thought rather than specifics. Does that make sense?”

“Not in the slightest,” Linus admitted.

“You’ll see,” Mr. Parnassus said. “You’re here for an entire month, after all. And I believe that leaves one child left, though I think you did that on purpose. Ms. Chapelwhite says she found you fainted dead away at the mere thought.”

Linus flushed as he cleared his throat. “It was … unexpected.”

“That’s a good word to use to describe Lucy, I’m sure.”

“Is he…” Linus hesitated. Then, “Is it true? Is he the actual Anti—I mean, the son of the Devil?”

“I believe he is,” Mr. Parnassus said, and Linus’s breath caught in his throat. “Though the notion of what someone like him is supposed to be is more fiction than fact.”

“If that’s true, then he’s supposed to bring about the End of Days!” Linus exclaimed.

“He’s six years old.”

“He proclaimed himself to be hellfire and darkness when he threatened me!”

Mr. Parnassus chuckled. “It was his way of saying hello. He’s got a morbid sense of humor for one so young. It’s endearing once you get used to it.”