“Face their fears,” Andre said. “Right? That’s what the Mastermind always says to the kids—‘Time to face your fears, my dears.’”
“Very good,” Jack said, nodding.
Andre said, “I always got nervous when the Mastermind said that. It meant it was about to get real on Clock Island. I had nightmares for months after reading The Ghost Machine when that boy was chased by that ghost that looked just like him? I mean, what the hell, Jack?”
“My editor tried to talk me out of that scene,” Jack said.
“Why?” Melanie asked.
“Because she said it would give children nightmares for months. I said it wouldn’t. I might owe her an apology.” He tapped his chin. “She won’t get it, but I do owe her one.”
“You’re really gonna make us face our fears?” Andre asked. He sounded skeptical, as if he were too old to be afraid of anything anymore.
“Ah, but that’s the most important challenge of them all,” Jack said as he set his mug aside on the fireplace mantel. “You can’t win until you face your fears. Until you face your fears, your fears are winning.”
“We’re old now,” Andre said. “I’m not scared of spiders and snakes and ghosts anymore. I’m scared of my dad dying because we can’t find a matching kidney for him. That’s my big fear, and I promise you, I am never not thinking about it. What can you do about that?”
It was a fair question. How could Jack make a group of adults face their fears? It wasn’t like they were ten anymore, afraid of the dark, afraid of telling the truth to their parents about who broke the antique vase, afraid of telling their best friend they’re sorry…How did you make adults face their fears when being an adult was nothing but waking up every morning with their fears already in their faces?
“I’m only afraid of losing my bookshop,” Melanie said. “Ever tried to keep a children’s bookshop in business in a small town? We can barely keep a grocery store. How do you make us face something we’re already facing?”
Jack replied with an enigmatic, “You’ll find out.”
Lucy shivered. She believed him. If anyone could figure out a way to make them face their fears, it was the old Mastermind.
“And, fair warning,” Jack said. “Facing your fears doesn’t earn you any points. But if you won’t do it, you don’t get to play the final game.”
Lucy took a deep breath. He’d warned them this was coming, but it had seemed so far away. She would do it, though, whatever it was. Kiss a snake. Walk a tightrope over the ocean. Anything to win.
“Now,” Jack said, “on an even more serious note, the weather service has issued a storm warning for tonight. Gale force winds and rains. If you were planning on rowing out in a dinghy, I’d suggest rescheduling that trip. Good night, kids. Sweet dreams.” Jack started to leave, but Andre stopped him with a question.
“Did you face your fears, Jack?” Andre said. His voice was polite, but there was a note of challenge in it that Lucy picked up. No fair making them face their fears if Jack had never faced his.
Jack was quiet a moment, though the house was not quiet. The wind was picking up. Tree branches knocked on windows. Wind buffeted the roof. The fire in the fireplace danced with every sudden gust.
“Here’s a riddle for you all,” Jack said. “Two men on an island—”
“Oh Lord,” Hugo said with a groan.
The room was silent again but for the wind and the crackling of the fire. Jack began again:
Two men on an island and both blame the water
For the loss of a wife and the death of a daughter
But neither ever married, and neither’s a father.
What is the secret of the girls and the water?
With one last look around, Jack said, “No points for unraveling this riddle, I’m afraid. But if you do, maybe you’ll win a different sort of prize.”
With that, Jack left them alone in the living room.
Lucy looked at Hugo. He met her eyes. “Sorry, but don’t ask me. If you guess it, I’ll tell you, but it’s not just my story.”
“But you know?” Andre asked him.
“Of course I know. I’m the other man on the island. Unfortunately.”
“You got any ideas?” Andre looked at Melanie.
“Makes no sense to me. How can you lose a daughter if you never had a kid?”
Andre looked at Lucy. “What about you?”
Lucy met Hugo’s eyes. “No idea,” she said.
But she was lying.
She had a very good idea.
Face Your Fears, My Dears
“Astrid? Max? Where are you? Astrid!”
Astrid recognized her mother’s voice. She’d know it anywhere, though it sounded strange. She realized she’d never heard her mother terrified before. Of course she was terrified. Astrid and Max had disappeared from the house last night. How did their mother know they were on Clock Island?
“What do we do?” Astrid asked the Mastermind. He stood in the shadow cast by a mighty suit of armor so that it looked like the shadow around him was his armor. She’d been on Clock Island all night, and she still hadn’t seen his face. Maybe she never would.
“If you were her, what would you want your children to do?” The Mastermind’s voice was gentle, gentler than she’d ever heard it before.
Max answered before Astrid could.
“She wants to find us,” Max said. “Maybe we should tell her where we are.”
He looked toward the shadow, but the shadow said nothing.
“We can’t. She’ll kill us,” Astrid rasped to Max.
“We can’t hide here forever,” Max said. He met her eyes. “Right?”
“Max? Astrid? Where are you?” They could see their mother on the beach, her hair and coat being whipped madly by the wind and the rain. She must be cold out there, cold and scared. “Astrid!”
It hurt to hear her voice like that, hurt to see her so scared.
“I’m scared,” Astrid said.
“Because you’ll get into trouble?” the Mastermind asked.
“Because she’ll ask us why we ran away,” she said. “Then we’ll have to tell her.”
“Tell her what?” The Mastermind had a way of asking questions that made you think he already knew the answer, even before you knew.
“Tell her we want to have Dad back, even if it means moving away,” Max said. “They decided Dad would leave for his new job, and we’d stay behind so we wouldn’t have to change schools. But if we tell her we want to be with Dad more than we want to stay…”
“Then we’ll move,” Astrid said. And that was what she was most afraid of…leaving everything behind, starting over. A new life in a new town with new friends—or maybe no friends. What was scarier than that?
Staying, she realized. Staying here without their dad. That was the only thing scarier.
Astrid grabbed Max by the hand and said, “Let’s go.”
They ran together out the front door, forgetting even to tell the Mastermind goodbye.
“Mom!” she shouted. “Mom, we’re here!”
—From The House on Clock Island, Clock Island Book One, by Jack Masterson, 1990