The Mapmaker and the Ghost(37)

“It’s not all like that,” Toe Jam mumbled. He paused and looked up at his grandmother as if expecting her to cut him off. But she just looked back like she wanted him to continue. “He’s not that bad sometimes. He gave some of us a home who didn’t have one …”

Goldenrod was stunned. She had never, ever thought she would feel sorry for Brains and Lint and all the rest of them. But suddenly, there was a tiny little tugging near her rib cage. “You knew about this?” she finally breathed to the old lady.

Cassandra sighed. “Not all of it. I knew that there were some kids who hung out in there a lot. And I knew that my grandson had started joining them. But I didn’t know everything until Randall just told me. The truth is, we come from a long line of explorers, of great men and women who discovered and learned because they were allowed to find their own way out of things. But I let it get too far with Randall.”

“So you are related to Meriwether Lewis!” Goldenrod exclaimed.

“Yes,” Cassandra said. “He would have been my great-great-great-great-great-great-uncle. Our family’s crest is—”

“The woodpecker that he discovered and that was named after him,” Goldenrod said breathlessly. “I know.”

Cassandra looked at Goldenrod with a surprised smile playing at the corners of her lips. “Yes, that’s exactly right,” she said.

“You know,” Goldenrod started, “I was wondering, Mrs. Lewis, if maybe you have any more of those muffins?” She gave the old lady what she hoped was a knowing look.

“Oh, yes, certainly. Would you like to help me get them?” Cassandra stood up at once.

Goldenrod nodded and eagerly followed her to her kitchen. Cassandra made sure to close the door behind them.

“Goldenrod,” she said excitedly. “Did you find—”

“The rose?” Goldenrod asked. “I found it … but I don’t have it. Yet.”

Goldenrod explained to her what had happened with Snotshot in the woods. “It was my only bargaining chip,” she pleaded when she was done.

Unlike Meriwether, the old lady seemed to have no problem accepting this. “Of course it was. Very few things in the world could be more important than your brother.”

Goldenrod was glad at least that Cassandra wasn’t going to make her feel guilty. After a moment, she said quietly, “Meriwether told me how important the rose is too.” Immediately, she looked up to see the old lady’s reaction.

At first Cassandra’s expression was hard to read and then, suddenly, she broke out into a giant grin, her crooked teeth leaning every which way. “So you did meet him?”

Goldenrod let out a sigh of relief because, after all, this was the first acknowledgment that the ghost wasn’t a complete figment of her own imagination. “Yes,” she said. “You have too, right?” Again, she carefully examined Cassandra to see if she could pick up on any reaction that might prove or disprove her whole witch theory.

Cassandra kept smiling, but shook her head rather sadly. “I’ve always wanted to. Especially since he’s family and all. But only the person on the quest for the rose can see him, you know. It’s part of the family legend.”

Her expression was so open and genuine that Goldenrod couldn’t help but believe her. So Cassandra wasn’t the reason that Meriwether was stuck in the forest after all. “How come you never went on the quest, then?” was her next logical question.

Cassandra sighed. “Well, I missed my chance fifty years ago when I was a young girl. I was in college, and my grandmother was the one who told me about the quest. Foolishly, I didn’t quite believe her, and I went off on a tour of Europe with my shot-put/a cappella group instead. A youthful mistake.”

“But why couldn’t you have just gone later? Why couldn’t you go now?” Goldenrod asked. Clearly, after seeing all of the displays of the old lady’s athletic prowess, she could no longer believe that a thing like arthritis would keep her from doing anything.

“My time has passed,” Cassandra said. “Since I refused the quest when it was first offered to me, I would never have been able to find that rosebush again, no matter how many extraordinary maps or compasses or directions I followed. It is simply the way of the quest.”

Cassandra cleared her throat. “When you came my way a few weeks ago, I just knew you were the one I was supposed to send on that quest. When Randall was younger, I had wondered if it could be him. But the truth is, he never would have been able to complete it. He would have been like me and deemed it unimportant. But you, you immediately understood just how important it was. You rose to the occasion, Goldenrod, and I’m proud of you.” The old lady gave a mischievous smile.

Goldenrod beamed.

“All that being said,” the old lady continued, “it’s possible that I may owe you an apology.”

“An apology?” Goldenrod asked.

“Yes. Even if I knew that you were the right person, I still should have considered the consequences. I guess maybe I’ve gotten a little too old to remember that there often isn’t adventure without danger.”

Goldenrod chewed on that for a moment. “Don’t apologize,” she finally said. “That’s what I wanted … adventure.” She looked up at the old woman defiantly. “Now I just have to come up with a way to get the rose back.”