picture. You know, ‘I just spent the day rolling in oil from a thousand rotting cars. How can I ever get the spots out?’ Otherwise, I think we should go back home so we can get some clean clothes.”
Shawn turned to Steele and gave him an apologetic shrug. “Some people just don’t understand how rich people live.”
“It does take some adjustment,” Steele said.
“Gus, I’m sure if we stay here, Shepler can have our clothes cleaned before eight o’clock tomorrow,” Shawn said. “Isn’t that right, Shep?”
Gus hadn’t noticed that sometime in the conversation Shepler had caught up with them.
“Of course my staff will have your clothes cleaned,” Steele said. “You’ll find robes in the rooms. Just put your stuff in a bag outside the door, and you’ll have everything back cleaned and pressed in plenty of time.”
“Excellent,” Shawn said.
“But-”
“I won’t hear any buts, Gus,” Shepler said. “If there’s anything at all you need, we can provide it for you.”
“What if we have tickets to a ball game tonight?” Gus snatched at one last straw. “Remember, you were going to take Tara?”
“Dude, when have we ever had tickets to a ball game?”
“When have the Pumas ever had an unbroken win streak?”
“The Pumas? Really?” Shawn said. “The Santa Barbara Middle School Pumas?”
“I like to support our alma mater,” Gus said. “And with the new coach and their winning season, Puma soft-ball is the hottest ticket in Santa Barbara.”
“They don’t even have tickets,” Shawn said. “They ripped out the bleachers after Vice Principal Provenza found out Mary Lombardi was selling peeks at her bra for fifty cents under them.”
“Lawn seating is extremely competitive,” Gus said. “You have to line up early to get a good spot.”
A crack of thunder boomed somewhere above them. At the end of the corridor, sheets of rain pounded down into the open atrium, turning the tranquil surface of the reflecting pond into the kind of surf that capsized lobster boats.
“I don’t think the championship is going to be settled tonight,” Steele said. “And now I really have to insist that you stay. You don’t want to ask Shepler to drive down and up the mountain in this kind of weather, do you?”
Gus wanted to say that he didn’t care what Shepler had to do. He was getting the creeps here, and he wanted to get away from this place. But it didn’t look like that was going to happen easily, and the goofy grin on Shawn’s face suggested that he wasn’t going to help Gus out.
“Of course not,” Gus said. “Besides, who could resist the north tower?”
After they’d been walking for what felt like an hour, the slick marble of the walls gave way to rough, unfinished stone blocks. The floor, too, was paved with uneven flagstones.
Gus pulled Shawn aside and whispered in his ear, “Something’s wrong here.”
“I agree,” Shawn said. “We seem to be going back in time. But Roman is actually older than German. So which way is the Wayback Machine going?”
“Not with the house, with Steele,” Gus said. “I think he’s setting us up for something.”
“Of course he is,” Shawn said. “Didn’t it ever occur to you that this whole thing was too good to be true?”
For a moment, Gus was speechless. In his entire life he’d never been able to accept a gift without wondering about the motivation behind it. But he had welcomed Steele’s attention without question, lunged at the opportunity he offered with no qualms. Because he wanted it so badly. “You’ve known all along?”
“I figured he must be up to something,” Shawn said.
“Then why did you let us go along with it?”
“Couldn’t think of a better way to find out what it was,” Shawn said.
“So what is it?”
“No idea,” Shawn said. “But I figure we’ll find out in the morning. So we might as well have a good time at Steele’s expense tonight.”
Steele stopped in front of a massive wooden door. “These are the stairs to the north tower. I wish I could provide you with an elevator, but I’m afraid Mr. Adler was a stickler for authenticity, and if King Ludwig didn’t have an elevator in his tower, then Eagle’s View wouldn’t either.”
“How did King Ludwig feel about cable?” Shawn said.
Steele laughed again. “If there’s anything you need, just let Shepler know.” He glanced at his watch. “I was hoping to join you two for dinner, but I’ve got an international conference call that’s going to go late, so if you wouldn’t mind eating in the dining room up there, I’ll make sure you’re well taken care of.”
“Sweet,” Shawn said.
Dallas lifted a wrought-iron hoop the size of a hubcap and used it to pull open the door. In the gloom beyond, a tight spiral of stairs loomed upward roughly to eternity.
“Well, I guess I’ll see you in the morning,” Steele said. “Shepler will bring you down to the auditorium for the press conference.”
Shepler stepped through the doorway and started up the spiral staircase, and Shawn was right behind him. Gus wasn’t quite ready to follow.
“Dal?”
Steele was already halfway through dialing a call on his BlackBerry, but he slipped it back into his pocket at the sound of Gus’ voice. “I was just going to make sure that the Pumas game really was canceled. Sometimes we get a storm up here, and by the time it gets down to the coast, it’s just a little drizzle.”
“That’s okay,” Gus said. “I just have a question about something you said before.”
“What’s that?”
Gus knew he could stop now. Let Dallas go without answering and try to enjoy the night ahead like Shawn. But Gus wasn’t like Shawn, and he knew he could never enjoy the night. He’d spend it lying awake, worrying about what would come tomorrow.
“When we first got here you took us to the celebration room,” Gus said. “You said it seemed appropriate.”
“I did say that.” Something in Steele’s voice suggested that he was happy Gus had asked the question.
“Because we were celebrating,” Shawn said. He and Shepler were standing on the steps just before they curved out of sight. “Let’s go. Those stairs aren’t going to climb themselves, you know.”
“But there were never actually celebrations in the celebration room,” Gus said.“As you pointed out, the whole thing was a fraud. Even the room itself was a fraud, just a big door hanging in front of a broom closet.”
“That’s true.”
“So why was it appropriate that we celebrate there?” Gus said.
Steele’s laugh boomed past Gus’ ear on its way up to Shawn. “Whatever you do, Shawn, never lose this guy. He’s one of the sharpest minds I’ve ever met.”
The dark fears in Gus’ mind suddenly grew large enough to split off into separate camps. One of them immediately set out and established a colony in his stomach. “So what is the answer?” he said, increasingly certain that he might never be as happy again as he was right now.
“I was going to let that be a surprise,” Dallas said, mulling it over. “Hold this little thing back and spring it on you at the press conference. Let the whole world see your faces when you found out what any sentient beings would have known before they came up here.”
Having completely conquered his stomach, the suspicions opened a new frontier in Gus’ knees, leaving him reaching for the wall to steady himself. “Umm, Shawn, I think you want to come down for this,” Gus called up the stairs.
“I’m already five stairs up,” Shawn said. “Why don’t you come here?”
“Shawn!” Gus didn’t glance back over his shoulder to see if Shawn was coming, but the heavy sighs and heavier footsteps told him the story. “There’s something Dallas wants to tell us before the press conference.”
“I promise I won’t bring up the whole shoelace thing, if that’s what this is about,” Shawn said.
