Chase Tinker & The House of Magic by Malia Ann Haberman Read Free Book Online

slipping and nearly falling on the shiny floor.
    Running down a long hallway, he darted
through an arched doorway into a formal sitting room with glossy
wood floors, old-fashioned high-backed chairs, sofas and throw
rugs. One whole wall was a brown-stone fireplace that had a
cheerful fire burning in it.
    Chase blinked and shook his head when he saw
a feather-duster dusting the furnishings and a frisky broom
sweeping the floor. He dropped to his hands and knees and peered
under a sofa. "All right you, ah, whatever you are. I know you're
here somewhere. Give me back my socks!"
    "Talking to yourself?" said a voice above
him.
    Chase hurried to scramble to his feet and
whacked his head on the coffee table he was now halfway under.
Rubbing the spot he was sure would become a big lump, he turned to
face the newcomer. It was a girl around his own age. She had
shoulder-length, dark-brown hair and chocolate-colored eyes. Like
Chase, she wore blue-jeans and a baggy t-shirt. She was also
bare-foot and her toenails were painted bright-purple.
    "Who the heck are you?" he demanded.
    "Janie," said Grandfather, as he and Andy
came into the room. "I see you've met your cousin Chase. And this
is his brother, Andy. Janie Marler is Clair's daughter."
    "Grandfather, I'm so happy you're home!"
exclaimed the girl. She ran across the room and hugged their
grandparent. "You're right on time for lunch. Mrs. Periwinkle has
everything ready. Hi, Andy and Chase. It's great to meet you."
    "Hi, Janie," said Andy.
    "What about my socks?" said Chase. "Some
crazy animal stole them!"
    Janie giggled. "You must mean Maxwell. He
loves socks."
    "Maxwell?"
    "My pet ferret. He steals everyone's stuff.
Don't worry; we'll get them back for you. Now come on," she said,
pulling on Grandfather's hand. "Mrs. Periwinkle made the
yummiest-smelling chicken casserole and I'm starving."
    "Shouldn't it be almost dinnertime instead?"
asked Andy.
    "Remember, we're three hours earlier than New
York," said Grandfather, tapping his watch.
    "Oh, yeah, I forgot."
    Chase poked his brother's arm. "It's like
we've gone back in time," he whispered. "Weird, huh?"
    "It's all way too weird," Andy said as he
watched the feather-duster and broom glide eerily from the
room.
    "But really cool," said Chase as he and Andy
hurried after Grandfather and Janie.
    They zigzagged down several more hallways,
through a pair of double doors and into a room that looked big
enough to fit the boys' whole apartment building. Chase had the
urge to throw back his head and yell just to see how long the
echoes would last.
    Balconies encircled the room on all sides and
a spiraling staircase, which looked as if it went up forever, stood
in the middle. Plus, the room had so many doorways leading from it,
Chase wondered how anyone remembered which way to go.
    Part of the white and black checkerboard
floor-tiling was dotted with soccer ball-size, red and black
checkers that looked like puffy marshmallows. The checker pieces
were busy bouncing across the floor, playing a game by
themselves.
    In the next room, the tables, the sofas and
chairs, and even the rhinoceros-size, glowing candelabra were
drifting lazily around the room.
    "Come along, everyone," said Grandfather.
"The best way to cross this room is to swim. I always look forward
to doing my superb backstroke. I was on the swim team back at
Oxford, you know."
    They watched him dive into the room and
backstroke to a door on the far side. Janie leaped right in and
frog-stroked her way across. Chase jumped in next. He floated
straight to the ceiling and stuck there like a gigantic insect.
    "Swim, Chase! You need to pretend as though
you're swimming!" called Grandfather. "And watch out for that
painting, it was your grandmother's favorite."
    Chase shoved away from the ceiling and
careened across the room. "Yikes!" he yelled as he bounced off a
couch, flipped over a chair and almost burned his butt on the
candelabra. Flapping his arms and legs, he at last got