The Key

by Marianne Curley

  ‘Quickly, we have to get out of here! This is a death trap!’

  We attempt to make our way back when an explosion sends us spinning and thrashing against the walls. And now the water is full of muck, while the remaining air is smoke-filled and dusty. But worse are the walls near the entrance. Weakened from being stripped of the machinery within, they collapse, blocking our exit.

  We swim over and try to push our way out, shoving bricks aside. But after the first few it becomes obvious that the rest won’t move. They’re jammed tight! And then we hear the sound of another wave coming. In seconds this cavity will be completely flooded with no means to escape.

  We lunge to the ceiling and grab our last mouthfuls of air. ‘You have to use your wings, Ethan. You have no choice now.’

  ‘There’s always a choice,’ he says. ‘And I choose no.’

  ‘Ethan, for god’s sake! What about the key?’

  ‘They’ll find it,’ he says softly.

  It takes a moment for his meaning to become clear. ‘No! You can’t do this! Ethan, listen: don’t throw your life away. What would be the point?’

  The thunder increases to a deafening crescendo as a fateful wave surges towards us.

  ‘I’m not leaving,’ Ethan says. ‘I won’t let you die alone.’

  I stare at him in disbelief. He can’t be serious! But his eyes, the controlled calm I see there, tell me that he is.

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Matt

  By the time I get to Arkarian’s chambers the sense of disaster is so prominent my hands are shaking. Arkarian appears before me, his clothes torn to shreds, bruises and red welts across the side of his face. I grab his shoulders. ‘What’s going on?’

  ‘The wren are everywhere! They’re tearing the walls apart!’

  A creaking sound draws my eyes to the door that hides the shaft into the city. It opens suddenly and Isabel, Dillon and Shaun come stumbling out, all in as bad a shape as Arkarian. Shaun is holding his arm, blood oozing out from between his fingers.

  ‘We can’t go back down there!’ Isabel practically screams as she peels away Shaun’s fingers and starts healing him straightaway. ‘The water is too high and filling up fast. The wren are dying by their hundreds.’

  ‘The city has been flooded?’ I ask in astonishment. This was always to be a last resort.

  Arkarian’s heaving starts to slow. ‘It was the only way.’

  ‘And the key?’

  All eyes start looking around the room, searching. But it’s not the key specifically they’re looking for.

  ‘Who’s missing?’

  ‘Jimmy’s on his way out and I wasn’t able to get word to Marcus, so he must still be at the school,’ Arkarian says.

  ‘Where are Ethan and Rochelle?’

  Arkarian looks straight into my eyes. ‘They went for the key.’

  I don’t wait for any more explanations. The situation is clear. I have to go in there and find them. But the city is vast. I’ll have to locate them first. I close my eyes and search. It’s dark, with only a few torches in the higher levels that are not underwater yet. I take my mind down the passageways, into empty annexes and corridors. But there are just so many! I try again, this time looking deeper into the flooded areas. Wren are floating everywhere. Some soldiers too. I project my mind down deeper. Where could they be? I come across a shattered wall, surrounded by murky water that looks as if it has only recently collapsed. It attracts my attention. I look around and find a small opening and project my mind through it. Then I see them, peeling away bricks from the other side, but getting nowhere fast and growing weaker with every brick they manage to work free.

  ‘Hell!’

  ‘What did you see?’ Arkarian asks. ‘Tell us!’

  But I don’t have time to explain. I can’t wait one more second. I suck in a huge breath and disappear, re-forming directly outside the collapsed wall trapping Ethan and Rochelle inside. The water is cold around me, making me shiver. Quickly adjusting my body temperature, I control my thoughts and summon the power of strength to my hands. I go to work on the bricks, flinging them aside like ping-pong balls caught in a wind. In seconds the passageway is clear, revealing a room that is dark and completely flooded. Adjusting to this darkness I see their forms. They’re both still alive, but starting to drift off with their struggle to stay conscious. And we’re so far down, there’s no way they’ll make it out of here without help.

  They realise I’m beside them and turn and look. Their eyes have that wide, staring quality of only just hanging on. I spin around, releasing a few bubbles to ease the pressure growing in my own lungs. I have to do something fast! I start feeling the walls with my hands. My touch reveals only more bricks. What was it Arkarian told me about this place? It’s full of passageways and secret compartments. Quickly I close my hands and punch both fists into the ceiling above. Fragments of rock and mud swirl in our faces. I punch again, and again. Rotted timber breaks away and at last a small cavity of air is revealed. It provides much-needed oxygen.

  With just our faces above the water-line Ethan and Rochelle gasp and suck in huge gulps of stagnant, but life-giving air.

  ‘That was close,’ Ethan says between puffs.

  ‘You have the key.’ It’s a statement. This close, I can feel it.

  ‘Yeah, no thanks to Marduke. He knew the key was in the city. So what now?’

  ‘Now you’re going to use your wings and get out of here,’ I tell him.

  ‘But –’

  ‘Go, Ethan! I’ll make sure Rochelle gets out safely.’

  He hesitates and looks as if he’s going to argue with me.

  ‘Go now!’

  He nods and disappears.

  Rochelle sighs and looks relieved. ‘You can go now too.’

  I just shake my head at her. We both know this little pocket of air is not going to last longer than the next surge of water, but what does she think, that I’m going to leave her here to die?

  ‘In a second I’m going to turn around,’ I explain. ‘When I call out, I want you to take a big breath and get on my back. You got that?’

  She peers at me with narrowed eyes and a deep frown, but her head is nodding.

  A roaring sound warns us that another surge of water is coming quickly. ‘OK, let’s do this.’

  She nods again. I turn around and focus. ‘Now!’

  She gulps and secures her arms around my shoulders. Quickly, as a surge of water thrashes through the opening I made earlier, I reshape my body into that of a dolphin and take off.

  I swim fast, swishing around sinking debris and drowning wren. When we make it to the top of the city, I take my human form again and help Rochelle on to a dry platform. Ethan is waiting and guides us both into the shaft. As soon as the doors close and the shaft begins to shift us upwards, they collapse against the wall and slide down to the floor. Both are shivering.

  ‘Blankets!’ Isabel calls out as soon as she sees us.

  Arkarian produces three, throwing one to me. I use it to dry my face. As I do, Jimmy comes running out of a side door. ‘The city is completely flooded.’

  The sight of Jimmy suddenly appearing triggers the question of how Marduke knew where the key was hidden. Other than Arkarian, Jimmy was the only other person aware of the secret compartment.

  Arkarian hears my thoughts and grips my arm, tightly. ‘What are you doing?’

  I suspect Jimmy could be –

  No! You’re wrong!

  But Arkarian, how can you be so sure? Jimmy is the one who handles the security. He was the only other person who knew where the key was.

  It’s not that simple. Maybe Marduke had Ethan and Rochelle watched from the moment they entered the city. He would then assume that if the key was hidden in the city they would lead him to it.

  While Arkarian is right, I still can’t shake these questions nagging at my brain. But how did Marduke know it was possible to enter the city from beneath the lake?

  There was a tunnel from N
eriah’s house that led there. After the house was attacked, we blocked it, but Marduke may already have known where it led.

  ‘What’s going on?’ Jimmy asks.

  ‘I’m trying to figure out how Marduke got through your defences.’

  He shrugs, looking bewildered. ‘I wish I could tell you, Matt.’

  ‘Maybe you can, but you don’t want to.’

  He peers at me closely. ‘What are you saying?’ He sighs defeatedly. ‘Matt, tell me you don’t suspect I’m the traitor. For pity’s sake, you can’t –’

  And suddenly I recall the look of trust and adoration in my father’s face at the mere mention of Jimmy’s name, and I know I’ve made a mistake. ‘No,’ I try to assure him. ‘I don’t suspect anything about you.’

  ‘But I see it in your eyes. Matt, I live in your house. I protect your mother and your sister. I even protect Neriah now. You have to trust me.’

  He’s right. Jimmy is the last person I should be doubting. Where did I ever get the idea that he could be the traitor?

  The room falls silent and Jimmy’s eyes drift to Rochelle. He goes over to her and pulls on her arm. ‘Rochelle, put your hand on me. Tell them I’m not the traitor. Come on, girl.’

  But Rochelle is still huddled within her blanket on the floor and stares up at him with vacant eyes. ‘Huh?’

  Jimmy throws himself down on his knees in front of her. ‘Give me your hand! I couldn’t stand it if anyone suspected me. I couldn’t stand it!’

  I pull on Jimmy’s shoulder. Dragging him up in one go I make him face me. ‘I don’t suspect you, Jimmy.’ I run a hand through my hair as I try again to recall just how this ridiculous idea of Jimmy being a traitor came into my head in the first place. And then I recall Lady Arabella’s words. ‘I’m not sure if there’s anything he can’t do, or hasn’t had a hand in making around here. He’s very talented. And his timing is impeccable. Whether you need him or not, he always seems to be there, one step ahead of you.’

  With the help of Arkarian’s hand resting lightly on his back, Jimmy calms down. ‘It’s been a long day. Why don’t you all go home,’ Arkarian suggests.

  Jimmy nods and releases a long sigh, then his eyes drift back to Ethan and Rochelle still huddled in their blankets on the floor. ‘Are you two all right?’

  Rochelle’s head lifts and her eyes start to lose their vacant stare. ‘Yeah, I think so. We almost ….’ Her words drift off as she turns her head first to Ethan and then up to me. Slowly, she says, ‘I didn’t die.’

  Heads nod and grin. There is such relief in her voice, it’s hard not to smile, and after the last awkward scene with Jimmy, Rochelle’s words trigger a release of tension in the room.

  Ethan reaches into his shirt, then holds up the golden box. The sight of it sets off a round of clapping and cheering.

  But everyone’s attention is soon drawn back to Rochelle. Her recent ordeal has started sinking in. ‘I didn’t die!’ She staggers to her feet and looks around as if seeing everyone and everything in the room for the first time. She starts to move around, touching things, and the blanket drops to the floor. Water sprays off her hair as she twirls around. ‘I didn’t drown down there!’

  No one is used to Rochelle showing so much emotion. It’s a rare sight. Ethan gets up and stares at her, completely mesmerised. Rochelle keeps dancing around, oblivious. ‘Look at me, I’m still alive!’ She throws her head back and starts punching the air. ‘Yes! I did it! I did it!’ And then she adds, ‘The Prophecy was wrong!’

  Jimmy and Shaun force themselves to keep smiling. Dillon pats her back and Isabel gives her a hug. But what can any of us say? Apart from Ethan, and of course Rochelle, the rest of us in this room know the truth. Rochelle suddenly turns to me for some sort of confirmation. I have a hard time controlling my thoughts. I do not want her to hear them right now.

  I reach out and pull her into my arms. ‘You did good.’

  She pulls back. ‘Matt, you were right. You told me I wasn’t going to die.’

  She turns to Arkarian. His emotions are a mess. And even though he’s an expert at keeping his thoughts screened, right now he’s struggling, and the best he can do is to project them in a scrambled jumble. He holds her, and while her back is to the rest of us, he glances up at me. He doesn’t have to say anything. As usual, Arkarian’s eyes speak more than words. Whatever this was today, it wasn’t what Isabel foresaw. The vision does not predict Rochelle’s death by drowning.

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Matt

  Arkarian sends everyone on their way. Everyone except me. Isabel is the last to leave, and only after she gives Arkarian a long kiss. I glance away. I’m not going to bring the subject of their relationship up again. I know I have a tendency to overreact where Isabel is concerned. I have to accept that she’s old enough to make her own decisions.

  The secret door closes and for a long moment there is silence.

  ‘I’ve spoken to Isabel,’ Arkarian says. ‘She’s going to stick by Rochelle’s side as much as possible.’

  ‘Good.’ Suddenly I feel weary and look for one of Arkarian’s ancient stools. He produces two and I sit on one. ‘Do you know if Neriah got back all right?’

  He nods as he sits on the other stool, gripping the front with both hands. ‘She’s tired, but safe and well.’ He continues to look at me, knowing there’s something else on my mind.

  ‘I have to go to Athens,’ I explain. ‘I know who the traitor is.’

  He leans forward and looks at me with disbelief. ‘And who is it this time, Matt? Last week it was our King. Five minutes ago you thought it was Jimmy. You can’t make accusations without proof. This is not a game we play.’

  ‘Shift us to the palace in Athens right now and I’ll show you all the proof you need.’

  His eyes narrow as he peers at me. ‘All right, but I can’t stay long.’

  ‘This won’t take long. Believe me.’

  One second I’m sitting on the stool in Arkarian’s chambers, the next I’m stumbling to find my footing in the palace courtyard in Athens. Just as I do, a whooshing sound from behind has me spinning around. They know we’re here already!

  ‘Father.’ Arkarian acknowledges Lorian’s presence with a bowed head.

  ‘My lord,’ I say.

  ‘Arkarian, Matt. What brings you here unannounced? I fear the news is grave.’

  ‘There is a lot to tell you, Father, but first, Matt has some business to attend to.’

  Arkarian’s eyes slide to me, and suddenly I’m full of doubt. But the mournful sound of bitter-sweet singing starts up behind me and I get a surge of inner strength. I turn and walk towards the cage. The birds become frantic. They start singing wildly, melodies without rhythm, flapping their wings and throwing their chests up against the mesh. But they tire quickly, and I notice their golden feathers no longer glisten, while their diamond eyes look dull.

  Lady Arabella appears and immediately starts making soothing sounds. She sees me and stops, her head turning in my direction. ‘Matt, what’s wrong?’

  I point to the cage. ‘This is what’s wrong, my lady. These birds, this cage, is proof that you are the traitor.’

  She gasps, and a delicate hand sweeps up to her open mouth.

  ‘Explain!’ Lorian commands menacingly.

  I take a deep breath. ‘Release the birds and all will be explained.’

  ‘But they’re not ready!’ Lady Arabella protests.

  I run a finger along the top of the cage. Dust sweeps into the air and the birds fall silent.

  Lady Arabella sighs. ‘I’ve tried to get rid of it, Matt, but it flies in on the north wind through the night.’

  I look around the spotlessly clean courtyard. ‘Strange how the benches and paving remain clean, while this cage is constantly covered in dust.’ I tug on a nearby olive branch, its deep green foliage smooth and clean. I scrape my hand along the top of the cage to make my point. ‘This is the same dust the vultons tried to off-load over Angel Falls today.
It was cultivated in Marduke’s garden. It is poison. And the wind that blows in at night comes straight from the underworld.’

  ‘Is this true?’ Lorian demands Lady Arabella. ‘Are you working with Marduke?’

  ‘Of course I’m not working with Marduke! If this is poisonous dust, then I did not know it.’

  Around us, others have started to gather. Lord Penbarin comes over. ‘More evidence is needed, Matt. This is a serious accusation.’

  ‘Earlier today I was on the verge of accusing Jimmy of being the traitor.’

  Several of the gathered Tribunal members gasp at this notion. As they should. ‘And then I remembered who put the suspicious thought into my head.’ I turn to look at Lady Arabella.

  ‘A notion is hardly proof, Matt,’ Lord Penbarin argues. Lorian agrees. ‘What else have you?’

  I look to the cage. ‘Release the birds and I will show you.’

  Lorian lifts a hand. ‘Open it.’

  ‘I would, my lord,’ Lady Arabella says softly, ‘but the birds are not well enough to fly yet.’

  Lorian sighs, and the weary sound coming from this powerful immortal is unnerving. If he’s rattled and exhausted by all that’s happened lately, what hope do the rest of us have? ‘We will settle this matter right now, my lady. Open the cage.’

  ‘But, Lorian,’ Lady Arabella pleads, holding her hands up to the cage. ‘Look at them. They are so weak –’

  ‘They are weak because they are too far from home,’ I explain.

  ‘They are weak because of their love.’

  ‘What do you mean, Arabella?’ Lord Penbarin asks.

  ‘They are lovebirds. They need to be together. They’re stronger when they’re together. That’s how lovers survive, nurturing each other’s needs …’

  The Tribunal members look around at one another uncomfortably. No one is quite sure what Lady Arabella is talking about.