-8-

In your own words, retell the myth of Daedalus and Icarus; 

in a separate paragraph, explain the main point of the myth.

Penny had probably read the question at least four times before she actually started to write. She normally sailed through Lit tests, but her thoughts were elsewhere today. After school, she and Eric were taking the key back to the house. They had each packed their backpacks with extra food, water, flashlights, and a couple small kitchen knives. Just in case, Eric had said, although Penny doubted that knives would do much against whatever was in the house. Or elsewhere. The thought made her shiver. Mrs. Scholtz’s suggestion that all the lost people were still living or existing somewhere other made her heart leap into her throat.

She scribbled a few more lines about Dedalus and his wax wings, then glanced at the clock in the back of the room. She still had a full page of short essay questions and only ten minutes left in class. She hunched over the desk and wrote furiously, determined to not let thoughts of haunted houses, keys, and lost souls keep her from getting at least a B. She might be a total failure as a daughter and as a friend, she might be poor and chubby, but she sure as heck wasn’t going to get bad grades. That was probably going to be her only path out of this stupid town someday.

That is, if she didn’t get sucked into some otherworldly vortex of misery and torment.

The tip of her pencil snapped, and she realized she was very close to growling out loud. Not a good way to improve her social standing. She raised her hand for a new pencil, then managed to finish the last of the questions without growling, breaking her pencil lead, or improperly placing a comma. She sighed as she packed up her bag, then set the finished test on the podium. Only five more periods to go. And lunch. Her favorite.

Penny managed to survive history, computers and was most of the way through her pasta with red sauce and mystery meat when Madelynne, Sophie, Lisa and Tyler--all part of Eric’s posse--passed her on their way to empty their trays in the trash. She avoided eye contact and hoped they would just pass her by, but then she felt something narrowly miss her head. A piece of garlic bread was spinning on the table a few inches from her tray.

“Whoa, sorry,” Tyler gasped in mock horror. “I was totally aiming for the trash. I’ll try to do better next time.” Just wait for it, Penny thought to herself, sighing. A carrot stick--still sticky with dressing--landed right in the middle of her pasta. She attempted to tune out the bubbly laughter from the girls.

“Yes!” Tyler pumped his fists. “Made it!’

“Dude, just-- It’s just not funny.” Another voice cut into the girls’ giggles and Tyler’s self-congratulations, this one dry and bored. Penny’s head snapped up in surprise. Eric didn’t look at her, but stared at Tyler, clearly annoyed. Penny felt like she must have heard him wrong. Tyler clearly did too. Madelynne, Sophie and Lisa just looked confused.

“Uh, Eric, it’s hilarious. I said I was throwing it in the trash, and I threw it at her plate. Cuz, you know, she’s trash?” Tyler didn’t seem to understand that explaining a joke never made it funnier. Eric rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, Ty, I get it.” The bored expression was back. “But it’s stupid. Find some new material or just give up. I don’t care.”

Tyler started to turn red. “What’s your deal, Martinez? You suddenly into fat girls now?” Penny felt her face heat up and her throat tighten, and she gritted her teeth against the fury that seemed to well up inside her.

“Yeah, I’m totally into her,” Eric said sarcastically. “Seriously, Ty. I don’t have to be into someone to see that you’re being an idiot.”

“What the--” Tyler spluttered. He glanced at the girls, who had stopped looking confused, and were now whispering to each other and gazing adoringly at Eric. “Fine.” He spun on his heel, and shot a dark look at Penny before slamming his tray onto the table and stalking off in the direction of the lockers.

Eric glanced briefly at Penny, something unreadable flickering in his eyes, before directing his attention to the girls who were still whispering and giggling. “Aren’t you all in Miss Callahan’s class with me?” he asked casually. The girls giggled again, and they all turned and walked out of the lunch room, Madelynne gushing about how sweet it was for Eric to stick up for social outcasts. He must think we’re going to die tonight, Penny thought incredulously. There was no other reason for him to intervene. Although. She glanced at Eric, surrounded by pretty girls who seemed to fawn over his every move--maybe it hadn’t been such a big risk after all.

Penny spent the rest of the afternoon trying not to count the minutes until the last bell . She managed to avoid interacting with Tyler and the rest of the guys in Earth Science, although Mrs. Scholtz kept looking at her with a slightly tragic expression on her face, which only added to Penny’s growing sense of nervousness. Then Pre-Algebra, PE, and band. Although it had seemed to drag on interminably, the school day was finally done. Her stomach seemed to be full of fluttering wings, and her heart was racing. She grabbed her backpack from her locker, and then raced out the door before Tina could find her and tag along.

The Other Place. Penny tried to imagine what it would be like, if they were actually able to get past the guardians and use the key. Would it mirror this world? Or be a darker shadow of it? Would time pass the same way? Would they be able to find the way out? She plunged her hand into her pocket and felt around for the brass key Mrs. Scholtz had entrusted to her. She gripped it tightly in her palm, feeling the teeth biting into her skin. She tried to remember the instructions Mrs. Scholtz had given to them before thrusting the key at Penny.

“The man you saw--” Mrs. Scholtz had begun.

“You mean the zombie,” Eric interrupted.

“No,” Penny countered. “He was more like a mummy, all dried out and nasty.”

Mrs. Scholtz shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter what you call him. His name is Randolph.”
Penny shuddered at that. Not “was.” “Is.”

Mrs. Scholtz eased herself into the reclining chair behind her desk. “He was the first one the house took. Well, not really the house,” she corrected herself. “The house is inhabited by...something. As far as I’ve been able to learn, the workers uncovered some old human remains when the house was being built originally, and I think that they must have disturbed it then, but we’ll never know for sure. The bones are long since gone.”

“Anyway, Archie and Randolph were brothers--they’d built the house together after making their money in coal. They had a sister, Agatha--she was the mother of the twins--who died in a automobile accident back in upstate New York. The girls were shipped to Archie and lived with him till, well, you know.”

“But what about Randolph?” Penny pressed. “You said he was the first, but I saw him in that picture online.”

“Well, I know the picture you mean. And that was taken not long before he just up and disappeared one day, probably about ten years before Agatha died. Folks never saw him again. Archie always said he’d moved out to Washington or California or some such nonsense.” She snorted. “Poor Archie. He was never a very good liar.” Her sharp eyes fixed on Penny’s. “That’s why the people around here knew he could’ve never murdered those girls. The shock of finding them almost did him in, and police could never find any evidence linking him to the murders.”

“Anyway, all that to say that Randolph was the first. And so he’s a guardian now. As are the girls. The house apparently didn’t need any more after them, so the rest of the people it takes get sent...somewhere else. I almost saw where, the time I was in there, But it spat me out and left me with this key. I couldn’t ever get in again, and I never saw the guardians again either, no matter how many times I tried.” Her voiced grew soft. “Since then, It’s only ever been an empty house to me.”

“So what does the key open?” Eric pressed.

“I’m not sure,” Mrs. Scholtz admitted. “I think there must be a fourth door. The guardians--you’ve got to get past them--and then maybe it will be revealed or something similar. I saw lights shining, heard my sister’s voice.” She trailed off for a moment, and Penny knew she was playing the sound over again in her head. Penny understood what that was like. Mrs. Scholtz pressed her lips together and then continued. “I know there’s something beyond, and I think that key must be the ticket in."

“But once we get in,” Penny tried to keep her voice even, “how do we get out?”

“Beats me. No one has ever gone in by choice--always taken. My guess is that whatever it is will let you know what it wants, and you’ll have to either stay or do what it asks.” Mrs. Scholtz grimaced. “You sure you still want this key?” Penny took a deep breath and glanced at Eric. His face was set.

“Yeah. I’m sure.” The key had felt cold and heavy in her hand, and it was as if something had settled in Penny, a chain that linked her to Eric, to Mrs. Scholtz, and the house itself.

Penny snapped out of her reverie and found herself standing on the sidewalk two blocks north of the O’Hallaran House, her hand still wrapped tightly around the key. She spotted Eric a block behind her and decided to wait for him.

“Well, if it isn’t my knight in shining armor,” she said snarkily, as he drew nearer. “Thanks for rescuing me at lunch today.”

“No problem,” Eric said breezily. “You looked like you needed it.”

“Seriously? That’s all you’re going to say?” Penny threw her hands up. “You are impossible.”

“Look,” Eric’s voice became serious. “I--I felt bad. After what you said yesterday.” Penny could hardly believe her ears. “I told you I would say something. And I did.”

She rolled her eyes. “I just can’t believe you told off Tyler, and you still walked away with Madelynne and the rest of them looking at you like some movie star.” Penny shook her head and snorted. “Only you. It’s not fair.”

Eric grinned widely. “I can’t help if the girls love me.”

“Not this girl,” Penny muttered, trying to ignore the fact that Eric Martinez was smiling at her. Not just smiling, but acting like her friend. Forget the O’Hallaran House. She was already in the Twilight Zone.

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Eric said dismissively. “But--” and he broke off awkwardly and cleared his throat. “Uh, just know that I don’t--er--think you’re fat or that weird or--”

Penny put a hand up. “Just stop. You’re freaking me out. And we’re about to head into a house that eats people, so--”

Eric laughed. “Good point.” He hefted his backpack higher on his shoulder. “You ready to do this?” The house stood just ahead of them, and Penny felt the little hairs on her arms lift as she stared at the empty windows.

“No, but if we don’t do it now, it will probably take someone else.” As soon as she said
she knew it was true. The house would take another kid, and Penny couldn’t live with any more accidents on her hands. She squared her shoulders, glanced up at Eric, and pulled out the key.

“Let’s go.”