5

Tom and Del climbed the rickety steps by themselves. Their minds and bodies told them it was late morning, but the world said it was night: the thick foliage on the bank melted together into a single vibrant breathing mass. They reached the top and stood in the pale, yellowish electrical light, looking down. Coleman Collins was standing on the beach, looking out at the lake.

'Did you know he used to be a doctor?' Tom asked.

'No. But it explains why he didn't send for one when I broke my leg that time. The whole story explains that.' Del put his hands in his pockets and grinned. 'If I started to heal wrong or anything, he would have fixed me like he did with that colored man.'

'I guess,' Tom said moodily. 'Yeah, I guess so.' He was watching Collins: the magician had extended one arm into the air, as if signaling to someone on the other side of the lake. After a moment the arm went down and Collins began to stroll along the beach in the direction of the boathouse. 'Could we really have been down there all day?'

Del nodded. 'I was sort of hoping I'd see her today. But the whole day vanished.'

'Well, that's just it,' Tom said. 'It vanished. It was ten in the morning, about an hour went by, and now it's eleven at night. He stole thirteen hours away from us.'

Del looked at him, uncertain as a puppy.

'What I mean is, what's to stop him from taking a week away from us? Or a month? What does he do, put us to sleep?'

'I don't think so,' Del said. 'I think everything just sort of speeds up around us.'

'That doesn't make sense.'

'It doesn't make sense to say that you met the Brothers Grimm, either.' Del's tone was wistful, but his face momentarily turned bitter, 'I should have.'

'Well, I never met Humphrey Bogart and Marilyn Monroe.'

'Uncle Cole said I had to watch out for your jealousy,' Del blurted out. 'I mean… he just said that once when we were alone. He said that one day it would hit you, and you would want Shadowland for yourself.'

Tom fought down the impulse to tell exactly what Collins had said about his nephew. 'That's crazy. He wants to break up our friendship.'

'No, he doesn't.' Del was adamant. 'He just said - '

'That I'd be jealous. Okay.' Tom was reflecting that Collins had after all been right: though it was not Shadowland that made him jealous, but Rose Armstrong. 'Tell you what. Do you really want to meet the Brothers Grimm?'

'Right now?' Del was suspicious.

'Right now.'

'Are you sure it's all right?'

'I'm not sure of anything. Maybe they're not even there.'

'Where?'

'You'll see.'

Del shrugged. 'Sure. I'd like to,'

'Come on, then.'

Del gave a worried look down at the beach: Collins had disappeared into the boat house. Then he followed Tom through the sliding doors into the living room.

'I guess we really ought to be in bed,' Del said a little nervously.

'You can go to bed if you want to.' Then he felt sorry for being so abrupt. 'Are you tired?'

'Not really.'

'Me neither. I think it's eleven-ten in the morning.'

This was said in defiance of all the physical evidence. All Shadowland seemed put to bed, even if the principal occupants were still out of theirs. One lamp burned beside a couch; the carpet showed the tracks of a vacuum cleaner. On the end tables, the ashtrays sparkled. Tom marched through the dim, quiet room, almost hoping to see Elena silently buffing the furniture.

'Upstairs?' Del asked.

'Nope.' Tom turned into the hall. One of the recessed lights gave a pumpkin-colored illumination.

'In the Little Theater?'

'Nope.' Tom stopped where the short hallway intersected the main hall to the theaters.

'Oh, no,' Del said. 'We can't.'

'I already did.'

'And he saw you?'

'He was waiting for me when I came out.'

'Was he mad?'

'I guess so. But nothing happened. You saw how he was today. Maybe he even forgot it. He was pretty drunk.

He wants us to see them, Del. That's why they're there.' 'Do they just sit there? Or can you talk to them?' 'They'll talk your ears off,' Tom said. 'Come on. I

want to ask them some questions.' He turned into the

short hallway and pulled open the heavy door.