by Jeff Rosen
While she was thinking about all this, the ceiling started to splinter apart.
“We have to get of here!” cried Kip.
Caley tried to stand, but her body was useless. Kip slung her arm over his shoulder and tried to haul her from the ballroom.
“You weigh a ton in this gown,” he grunted.
Lucas grabbed Caley’s other arm, but before they could take a single step, the floor disintegrated beneath them. Caley went hurtling through space. The ground reappeared and she lay there, the wind knocked out of her. A moment later, Lucas landed heavily beside her.
“Where are we?” Lucas slowly got to his feet and stared around.
“Under the castle,” said Caley.
They were in the cavern where she and Kip had battled the queen venowasp. The castle’s colossal taproots, glowing blue, squirmed around alarmingly.
“I think I’d rather be back in the ballroom.” Lucas shivered.
“Where’s Kip?” asked Caley, peering around the gloom.
They heard a sick cough and turned toward the sound, surprised by what they saw. It was Doctor Lemenecky. He was drinking from a vial of glowing blue liquid, and his beard was attaching itself to one of the castle’s roots.
“Doctor Lemenecky,” Lucas called out, “can you save the castle?”
Lemenecky coughed again loudly, lowering the vial.
“Save it? No, foolish boy, I am killing it. Conceivably …”
“But … why would you do that?” asked Caley.
“Because it is a murderer,” replied Lemenecky calmly. “For a nen to become a great castle, a genocide must occur. As it grows … stealing the light … drinking the water … eating the soil … it destroys every other nen in its path. I alone escaped to avenge this evil.” Lemenecky had a violent coughing fit, then continued in a rasping voice. “A nen like this has many defenses against its enemies. But it would never suspect its own kind. Each night I attach myself to its roots and poison it … carefully, slowly, over time. This …” he held up the vial, “is the final blow of the woodsman’s ax.”
A vine streaked out and snatched the vial from Lemenecky and transformed back into Lucas.
“Give that to me.”
A familiar voice rumbled across the cavern. Caley and Lucas turned to see General Roon emerge from a tunnel.
Lucas handed Roon the vial and pointed to Lemenecky. “He’s poisoning the castle.”
“And we must let him finish his work,” said Roon, returning the vial to Lemenecky.
“You’re helping him?” asked Caley.
“He required only a little encouragement from me.” Roon stared down at Lemenecky. “My men found him like this in the forest when they were building my wall—a pathetic little stump clinging to life. I merely set him free to go about his revenge.”
A bark rang out, and a bloodhound bounded into the cavern, his jaws snapping for the vial. Roon seized the dog by his studded collar and threw him with surprising strength clear across the cavern. The dog rolled several times with a sharp whimper and transformed into Kip, groaning in a heap.
Caley looked on helplessly as Lemenecky downed the remainder of the vial. He began to crumble like a rotten log, and the blue glow from his beard spread into the castle’s roots, which also began to crumble. There was a deep, terrible moaning from high above the cavern, and the roots began to disintegrate, raining down on everyone’s heads.
Caley noticed one of Roon’s leather gloves had been torn off during Kip’s attack. The color drained from her face as she saw what it concealed.
A mechanical arm.
“You’re the metal-winged crow.” Caley gasped.
“And you have something my master seeks.”
Roon grabbed Caley and began to drag her from the collapsing cavern.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
A Perfect Monster
Roon shoved Caley roughly to the ground as they emerged from the tunnels beneath the castle. A stinging sleet pounded down like nails. There was a sound like the bones of some gigantic beast breaking. Above them, the ancient castle collapsed, smashing apart like a thousand ships on a rocky shore. The inhabitants fled for their lives from the wooden wave crashing around them. The mechanical wolves Caley had seen in the Wandering Woods surrounded her and roared—a feral, frightening sound.
“Aren’t they beautiful?” said Roon.
Caley stared in horror at the machine-beasts, bristling with metal claws and jaws, their empty yellow eyes fixed on her.
“Baestwraiths,” said Roon. “A new army for a new age: a man age … a machine age … a shadow age.”
There was another sound, faint at first, like cats circling for a fight, then rising as if all the hate in the world were a sound and the sound was seeking Caley. Roon knelt, and the baestwraiths parted for a hooded figure, materializing from the storm.
Olpheist.
Caley was on her feet, stumbling on leaden legs through the churning rubble of the castle. She fell heavily and lay facedown, unable to will herself to move, rigid with fear. The hateful wailing faded. The only sound was her ragged, panicked breath. She forced herself to stand. She was outside a windswept cottage on the edge of the ocean. The screen door swung open, and her mother was standing there, her green eyes smiling, red hair caught in the wind.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” said her mother. “Isn’t this what you always dreamed of?”
The sight of her mother brought hot tears to Caley’s eyes. More than anything, it was what she had always dreamed of, so deeply and so desperately and so hopelessly.
Her mother held her hands out to her.
“Give me the Hadeon Drop, and I will give you this dream. Forever.”
Caley reached for her mother’s perfect embrace.
“Caley …”
Someone was calling her.
“CALEY!”
It was Kip’s voice.
A single black tear rolled down her mother’s cheek. Caley slowly shook her head.
“I can’t go home.”
As she spoke the words, the sky split apart and black rain began to fall, vaporizing everything: the cottage, her mother … that beautiful world melting away from her. She was back outside the castle again. Olpheist stood before her.
Kip ran toward Caley, swiping rain and dirt from his eyes.
“Whatever he’s doing, don’t listen to him! It’s a trick!”
Without a glance at Kip, Olpheist drew a silver sword hilt and flicked it in the air like swatting a fly. It spat a rope of wind, lassoing Kip into the air by his neck. Olpheist took a step toward Caley. He was so close now, she could feel the tomblike chill coming from him.
“You can escape your dreams, but there is no escaping your destiny. The Hadeon Drop was meant to come to you. And you were meant to come to me. Together, we will be immortal.”
Caley was frozen before Olpheist, his words tightening around her like a noose. She could feel her amulet thrumming against her chest.
“Do not fear me. I am your only companion in the darkness. And I alone know who you truly are: A monster. A perfect monster.”
Caley wrenched her eyes over to Kip, still held in the grip of Olpheist’s sword, fighting for his last breath.
“You have … no idea,” Caley managed to gasp.
The instant she said this, her body atomized as the annihilating bomb inside her sent out a shock wave. Its force slammed into Olpheist, incinerating him where he stood. In his place, another shock wave spread, answering the call of the first. Two athrucruths met like galaxies colliding. There was no pain, no thought, only immeasurable, unstoppable fury—all the pain and darkness from Caley’s life, ripping into her enemy. Red … everything was blood red and burning as the athru-cruths attacked each other again and again, locked in a death spiral until Caley’s rage was finally spent.
Caley knelt in the cold mud, human again. Olpheist lay there beside her, his face writhing with half-formed shadow creatures, like maggots on some dead thing. She rea
ched for his fallen sword with shaking hands. But she felt the sword’s weight, and it slipped from her fingers. Caley had hurled all her anger at Olpheist, and with it, the last of her strength. Her head slumped. Then she felt a red-hot stab of pain. She stared down at the burning sword stuck in her chest—then up at Olpheist, who held it, rising to his knees to face her.
“You could have joined me. Now you will be alone forever.” Caley could only find enough breath to make the sound of a gasp as Olpheist reached for the amulet around her neck.
Then everything was still and black as eternity.
Until … a light … the faintest light, like a lone star in an empty heaven. It grew brighter. The face of Caley’s mother came into focus, bending over her. She placed her hand on Caley’s heart. A great warmth surrounded her. For an instant, another figure appeared in the distance behind her mother. Then blackness again.
Caley’s eyes blinked open. Her wound was gone. She felt for the amulet.
Gone too.
Kip came stumbling across the burnt crater the athru-cruths had left, wiping metallic ash off himself with a dazed look.
“What happened?”
“I think … I died,” said Caley.
“Oh …” Kip nodded. “Anything else?”
A vine wriggled out of the rubble and transformed into Lucas.
There was a terrible cry, like an animal tearing itself from a trap. Great roots wrenched from the hill where the castle had stood, fusing with its ruined rooms and halls to form a colossal wooden creature, its head scraping the storming sky.
“The nen …” said Lucas, awestruck.
A fire-sword suddenly sunk into the nen’s foot. Flames leapt up its leg with frightening speed. The nen thrashed blindly at Roon, holding a fire-sword, ant-sized beneath him.
A sharp caw cracked the air, and a hawk swooped from the storm, its powerful talons scratching at Roon’s eyes. Roon transformed into a crow, his metal wing slashing murderously at the hawk before flying off in a blind retreat. The hawk landed and transformed into Duchess Odeli, smoothing her feathery dress and watching the crow disappear.
“There is no need for unpleasantness.”
The sky was lit by a tremendous glow, and the nen—all in flames—staggered off into the forest, quaking the earth with its steps.
Hungry snarls made everyone turn. The baestwraiths came swarming toward Caley.
“Despite the etiquette I have been attempting to instill in you,” the duchess said, “I suggest it might be wise, at this point, to run!”
It was all Caley could do to stand. Kip and Lucas each took one of her arms and began to pull her away from the things, but Caley knew they wouldn’t outrun them with her.
“Let me go!”
But Kip and Lucas only tightened their grip on her arms.
There was a chest-thumping blast as a rocket burst above them, creating a colossal blazing bazkûl. It dove, melting the baestwraiths with a single burning breath.
Everyone turned to see Major Fogg, his hand on a plunger, give a cheery thumbs-up.
“I promised fireworks for the ball. Sorry it took so long. Had a bit of bother getting the bazkûl sorted out …”
The bazkûl did a loop, dove again, and spat out a volley of baby bazkûls. One of them latched onto Major Fogg and carried him off into the exploding sky.
“Or a bit bigger than a bit … !”
The beating of wings made everyone look up to see Neive landing Fearfew, with Arrow and Dream behind her. Neive grabbed Caley’s hand and hauled her up on Fearfew as Kip and Lucas swung up onto their orocs. In a heartbeat, they were soaring above the shattered earth where the nen castle had stood.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Home
The orocs set down outside the little toadstool cottage in the woods. The storm had stopped, and a few stars began to poke through the clouds. The evening was suddenly calm and quiet. It felt to Caley as if she had been in one of Lucas’s epic tapestry adventures and he had fallen asleep and the world had nodded off along with him.
The nearby trees parted, and everyone turned to a huge figure lumbering toward them. When they saw who it was, they froze.
The Scabbard.
Part of his head looked like a melted candle from the slugdevil attack, and his one good eye resembled a fried egg.
Lucas hid behind Kip, who tried to hide behind Lucas, who began to turn into an ivy again.
“Good evening!”
Master Pim was hurrying toward them.
“No need to be alarmed.” Pim pointed his staff toward the Scabbard. “He is a friend. Shall we go inside?”
Everyone quickly followed Pim into his cottage, craning nervously back at the Scabbard.
“I’ll put on some tea,” said Pim. “There are blankets by the fire. Warm yourselves.”
Everyone huddled by the fire as Pim began to set out tea and biscuits, which Kip began to gobble almost before he could put down the plate.
“I’m sorry I was unable to attend your ball,” Pim told Caley, “but after Miss Olander informed me Olpheist had discovered the whereabouts of the Hadeon Drop, I went straight away for help.” He glanced out the window at the Scabbard, who was standing watch. “I found him, half-alive, in Doctor Lemenecky’s laboratory.”
“Slugdevil.” Kip coughed guiltily.
“He will heal. That is his curse. The Scabbard was General Roon’s first experiment. He bears no love for his creator. And now you have seen the general’s latest ghastly invention—nature twisted into the machinery of domination and destruction.” Pim turned back to the others. “But tell me, how was the ball?”
“Olpheist returned,” Caley began.
“Caley died,” said Kip.
“Not sure if the nen will survive,” added Lucas. “Doctor Lemenecky was poisoning it.”
“Like I said all along.” Kip nodded.
Neive gave him a look.
Pim settled into his rocking chair next to the others. “I sent the Scabbard to determine the cause of the nen’s distress, and he confirmed what you told me: Doctor Lemenecky was indeed attempting to kill it.”
“That’s why Lucas’s termites went after him in Animals and Botanicals class!” Kip smacked his forehead with exasperation. “I should have figured it out. They were meant to attack the most rotten parts of the castle first. Which I guess was … Doctor Lemenecky.”
“Poor fellow.” Pim shook his head. “And most unlike his kind. Nens are the noblest of beings. Once a nen castle has taken root, the other nens willingly sacrifice themselves to become part of it, for only one castle can grow at a time. Squirrels plant them, by the way … did you know that? Though how they decide when and where is beyond my understanding.”
Caley and Neive exchanged quick, amazed looks.
“I’m certain General Roon led Lemenecky into believing the castle was somehow his enemy. Perhaps it helped salve the guilt he must have felt for surviving when the other nens did not. At any rate, I do not believe h e would have carried out his mad scheme if not for the general’s insidious influence. These are dark times, and everyone is at the mercy of their worst instincts.” Pim gazed around at the solemn faces staring back at him. “And the music?”
“Music?” repeated Caley.
“At the ball. Fanfares and waltzes and such, I presume?”
“We never got around to dancing.”
“No, no, no, no, nooooo! That won’t do. We shall have our own ball.” Pim sprang up and put on a record. The cottage filled with music. “Have you heard of the Beatles?”
“Does he want us to … dance?” Lucas glanced nervously at the others.
“I can’t dance in this.” Caley stared down at her dented disco ball atrocity.
“I’ve got something you could wear …”
Kip reached into the pocket of his tuxedo and handed Caley a small wooden box.
She opened it. Inside was the clothes-rose Kip’s mother had grown for her.
“You saved it,” said Ca
ley, delighted.
“In case you changed your mind,” replied Kip.
Caley stood up and blew on the rose. It sparkled, and the sparkles spread over her disco ball, which mercifully vanished. In its place was a gown made of delicate green strands, soft as a cloud, with Field-of-Dreams flowers blossoming throughout it. Caley did a twirl and the gown spun with her, filling the little cottage with the heavenly scent of a summer garden.
“Well, go on.” Neive nodded to Kip. “Princess Caley has to have the first dance.”
Kip walked woodenly up to Caley.
Pim’s fox nose furrowed. “We need a little atmosphere …” He tapped his staff on the floor, and the walls and ceiling vanished. In their place, stars appeared, blazing with constellations.
Caley and Kip put their arms around each other and danced in awkward silence a moment.
“You’re definitely not ‘Scarcely So’ anymore,” Kip finally said.
“You mean … my anagram?”
“I’ll have to come up with a new one because, you know, you defeated Olpheist and saved the universe or wherever. You’re not scarcely anything.”
Caley grinned and tightened her grip on Kip.
“C’mon, Lucas …”
Neive was holding out her hand for Lucas to dance. Lucas looked like he wanted to turn into a vine again, but Neive pulled him onto the floor.
“Hold on!” Kip called.
He pulled another box from his pocket and handed it to Neive. She regarded it, puzzled, and opened it. It was another clothes-rose.
“I couldn’t find you before the ball to give it to you,” said Kip.
Neive regarded Kip with her usual look (disbelief), but this time, she was smiling. She blew on the clothes-rose, and a warmly glowing pearl-gray ball gown materialized around her.
“It’s beautiful,” said Neive. “And it matches my hair.”
“Moon Meadow,” noted Kip. “And mom used some Butterfly’s Breath so it’d be nice and soft.”