Black Water

by D. J. MacHale

  “Where is my father?” she demanded.

  “You tell me,” I shot back. “I haven’t met him yet.”

  “Aren’t you the leader of these so-called . . . Travelers?” she snarled, taking an aggressive step toward me. “Shouldn’t you know these things?”

  I took a step back into the flume. I couldn’t help it. I wasn’t used to having a man-eating cat make a move on me. Kasha cocked her head curiously.

  “Do I scare you?” she asked.

  I didn’t want to show her that I was weak and frightened, but the truth was, I was weak and frightened. “On Eelong, I’m a gar,” I said, trying not to let my voice crack. “But come to my home territory. It’s different there.” Truth be told, it isn’t different at all. I’d be just as scared of her on Second Earth as I was here, but I had to say something to keep a little dignity.

  Kasha took another step toward me. This time I didn’t back off, but man, I was scared. She put her nose in my face and stared me down. I tried not to blink.

  “If something happened to my father because of this silly game you all play”—she seethed intensely—“I will personally tear you apart.”

  Gulp.

  “This isn’t a game,” I told her. “And you’re insulting your father by calling it that.”

  Her eyes grew sharp and angry. I feared I had played this totally wrong and was about to get sliced. But what else could I do? She had dissed everything we Travelers were doing to save the butts of people like her. Or cats like her. Assuming cats even have butts.

  “You think this is a game?” I said. “Look at this.” I held up the dirty bag I had carried back from Second Earth that held the grisly gift from Saint Dane.

  “Hey, what’s in the bag?” came a welcome, friendly voice. It was Boon. The brown cat padded up behind Kasha and stood at her shoulder. “Did you catch up with Saint Dane?” he asked me.

  “Not exactly,” I answered. “But he gave this to my acolytes. It’s a small sample of what he’s capable of.”

  I held the bag out for Boon. He took it, reached in, and pulled out Gunny’s hand. I expected them to be all sorts of repulsed, but they looked at the hand like it was no big deal. I guess they were used to seeing dismembered body parts here on Eelong. But me? I had to turn away. The sight of Gunny’s hand made me want to cry.

  “It’s got a Traveler ring,” was all Boon said.

  “Take it off for me, please,” I asked Boon. Boon took off the ring and handed it to me. I quickly tied it around my neck, along with my own ring.

  “Is it the hand of the tall, dark gar? The one you called Gunny?” Boon asked.

  “Yes.” I looked to Kasha and said, “Still think this is a game?”

  She didn’t answer. Seeing a dismembered hand didn’t faze her. How twisted is that?

  “Will you bury it for me?” I asked Boon.

  “We have to burn it,” Boon answered. “That’s what we do here. We can’t take the chance that a tang might dig it up and . . .” He didn’t finish the sentence, but I knew what he meant. He reverently placed Gunny’s hand back in the sack.

  “Throw it away!” Kasha demanded. “It’s a gar.”

  “But he’s a Traveler,” Boon argued. “He deserves better.”

  “Thanks, Boon,” I said. I was really beginning to like this cat.

  Kasha shot me an intimidating look. I didn’t blink.

  “You’ll come with me now,” she said abruptly. “Tomorrow you’ll help find my father.”

  “Fine,” I said. “That’s exactly what I want to do.”

  Kasha turned away, annoyed. She didn’t like being stood up to by a gar.

  I asked Boon, “Why didn’t you tell me Seegen was missing?”

  “I didn’t know,” Boon said defensively. “Last I saw him he was leaving Leeandra with Yorn.”

  “Yorn? Who’s Yorn?”

  “Seegen’s acolyte. Do you think they’re okay?”

  “How should I know? I’m new here, remember?”

  “Right,” Boon corrected himself. “Sorry.”

  Before leaving the flume I grabbed another pair of raggy shoes off the clothing pile. I took my sweet time tying them on, making Kasha and Boon wait. Kasha didn’t look happy about it and that was okay by me. Hey, maybe I was being petty, but it was the only chance I had to have a little bit of control. Pathetic, I know, but I was floundering. When we got outside I saw that the zenzen horse was long gone, so we climbed up through the tree and walked the sky bridges back to Leeandra.

  “When was the last time you saw your father?” I asked Kasha as we walked.

  “Three days ago,” she answered coldly.

  “What makes you think he’s missing?”

  “Because we were supposed to meet this morning, after I got back from the forage,” she said. “He never showed up. That’s not like him.”

  Kasha’s answers were clipped. I got the feeling she didn’t like being questioned but hey, tough. This was important.

  “What’s a forage?” I asked her.

  “It’s what I do.”

  “Me too,” Boon added with a little more enthusiasm. “We travel in packs on the jungle floor to hunt or gather fruit or chop trees for building materials or anything else that’s needed in Leeandra. It’s a dangerous job, and very important.”

  I asked Kasha, “How much do you know about the Travelers?”

  It was one question too many. Kasha stopped short and turned to me, growling. I could see the anger in her eyes. “I’ll tell you what I know, gar.” She spat out the word “gar” like it was a bad taste in her mouth. “My father was a visionary who helped build cities. Now he’s become a silly old klee spinning fantasy stories of time-traveling animals battling an evil gar. He says it’s all very dangerous. You want to see danger? Come on a forage. I’d like to see you stand up to a rampaging tang. Then you can tell me you’re more afraid of a gar named Saint Dane.”

  She growled at me, her anger barely contained. I figured it would be a bad idea to argue, seeing as she’d probably bite my head off. Literally. I kept my voice totally calm and said, “If it’s all a fantasy, how do you explain me?”

  This threw her. She turned away, saying, “You’re a freak. When we find my father, I’ll prove it to him.”

  She continued walking. Boon shrugged and followed. We were getting off to a bad start. I didn’t know what to make of Kasha. If something tragic happened to Seegen, she’d be the Traveler from Eelong. I didn’t look forward to that. On top of that, she’d hold me responsible. I looked even less forward to that. All I could hope was that Seegen would turn up okay, and Kasha would only be a minor pain.

  I really, really hoped that we’d find Seegen back in Leeandra.

  JOURNAL #17

  (CONTINUED)

  EELONG

  By the time we reached the portal into Leeandra, the sunbelt had dropped below the horizon. Night had settled on Eelong. I looked up through the thick tree canopy and saw stars. Fireflies were everywhere, just like on Second Earth. The small flying bugs would light up for a few seconds, then go dark. But unlike the boring old fireflies on Second Earth, these lit up with every color you could imagine. There were reds and greens and purples and blues, and yes, even some yellows like at home. It was stunning. As I gazed out to admire the light show, Boon stepped in front of me and gave me a sheepish look. I knew where this was going. I put my hands together and held them out.

  “Thanks, Pendragon,” he said gratefully as he slipped another restraining leash around my wrists. As horrible as this was, I knew I was safer this way. Kasha barely stopped long enough for me to be hooked up. As we followed her into the city, she made a point of staying in front of us. There was no way she was going to be seen walking with a gar. We followed her across several sky bridges and took a few elevators until we reached our destination . . . Kasha’s home.

  She lived inside a huge hollow tree, but unlike the others I had been in, this home had partitions that separated the space into rooms. We f
irst stepped into the largest room that had a table and chairs for meals, low wooden benches for furniture, and even sculptures hanging on the walls that were made from twisted branches. Unbelievable. This cat had artwork! An archway led out onto a balcony where there was a large stone oven for cooking. Kasha didn’t give me a tour of the rest. I think she hated the fact that I was there at all. Maybe she was afraid I’d pee on the furniture or something.

  “Gars sleep in the pen out back,” she said coldly.

  “He’s not an ordinary gar,” Boon complained. “You can’t make him—”

  “Yes, I can!” Kasha snapped. “Unless he wants to sleep on the jungle floor with the tangs, he’ll sleep in the gar pen.”

  “No!” Boon insisted. Kasha shot him an angry look, as if she weren’t used to being disagreed with. Boon backed down, but not by much. “I’m sorry, Kasha,” he continued sheepishly. “You may not agree with your father, but Pendragon is a Traveler. He should be treated with respect. It’s what Seegen would want.”

  Kasha stood staring at me. She really hated to be civilized to an uncivilized gar.

  “Fine,” she finally said. “Prepare a meal, Boon. I’m going to clean up.” She left for another room, leaving Boon and me alone.

  “C’mon,” Boon said. “I’ll make something.”

  He took off my restraints and led me into the kitchen, where he made dinner. I’d never eaten cat food before, though I didn’t think he’d be cracking open a can of Friskies. On the other hand, I was so hungry I was pretty sure I’d eat anything, no matter how gross it was. He reached into a square container on the floor that was some kind of refrigerator. He pulled out three birds that looked pretty much like chickens, all cleaned and dressed as if they came right from the grocery store.

  “You eat meat, right?” he asked.

  “Depends,” I answered.

  “On what?”

  “On if you’re going to cook it or not.” I’m happy to report that Boon laughed at that.

  “Of course I’m going to cook it!” he said. “We’re not animals.”

  Yeah. Right.

  Boon proceeded to cook the chickens, or whatever they were called there, on a rotisserie like at Garden Poultry on the Ave. There was a bed of hot coals beneath that cooked the birds slowly, all the way around. When the smell of the cooking birds hit my nose, my mouth started to water. Man, barbequed chicken. I couldn’t wait. Too bad I couldn’t have some fries to go with it. While the birds cooked, I took the chance to grill Boon about Kasha . . . no pun intended.

  “Why is she so angry?” I asked.

  “She loves her father,” Boon explained. “He’s a hero. He helped build Leeandra from nothing, fighting off the tangs every inch of the way. Everything she learned, she learned from Seegen. So when he started talking about Travelers and intelligent gars and fluming to different territories, her whole image of him fell apart. In her eyes he had lost his mind. Then he told her that when he died, she would take his place. Well, that really set her off. She won’t even talk to him about it. The thing is, Kasha is great. She’s brave and caring and would do anything to help a friend. But she’s also pretty stubborn. If something doesn’t fit her idea of the way things should be, it’s hard to change her mind.”

  “But you believe Seegen,” I said.

  “I’ve got more of an imagination,” Boon answered. “Besides, I’m sitting here talking to you, right? Seegen said you’d come and here you are.”

  “What about her mother?” I asked.

  “She was killed in a tang raid,” Boon said softly. “I think that’s why Kasha became a forager. She likes fighting tangs. Every time she kills one, I know she’s thinking about her mother.”

  Kasha entered the kitchen and Boon fell silent. “Are we ready to eat?” she asked.

  “All set!” answered Boon. The three birds were now crackling brown and smelled delicious. Boon pulled them off the spit and brought them inside the tree, where we all sat around the table. Kasha gave me a quick, dirty look. It must have been hard for her to have a filthy gar sitting at her table, but too bad. I was starving. I sat down politely and waited for Boon to serve. He placed one bird in front of each of us. No knives. No forks. No plates, either. I was kind of hoping for a vegetable and a potato, but I wasn’t going to push my luck. The chicken would do me just fine. Kasha and Boon picked up their birds and devoured them. I pulled off a leg and took a big bite. Oh yeah. It was good. It tasted like . . . chicken. No big surprise. It could have tasted like shoes. I didn’t care. I tore into the meat and ate, but not quite as ravenously as Boon and Kasha. It took them all of thirty seconds to polish off their birds, bones and all. I had barely finished one leg when they were licking their paws and staring at my bird out of the corner of their eyes. As hungry as I was, there was no way I’d be able to finish the whole thing, so I tore off the other leg, pulled some breast meat off the bone for myself and asked, “You guys want to finish this?”

  Boon answered by grabbing the bird quickly, tearing it in two, and giving half to Kasha. These cats may have been civilized, but they sure ate like animals. The strange scene was complete when I heard an odd noise. It sounded like a low engine, but looking around, I didn’t see anything that might be making the sound. That’s when I realized it was coming from Kasha and Boon. They were purring. How freaking strange is that?

  I finished the delicious meat and looked around for a napkin to wipe my hands, but realized that was idiotic. So I followed the lead of my hosts and licked my fingers clean. Hey, why not? At home my mother would kill me for doing that, but I wasn’t home. When I finished, I saw that my plate was empty. Both my leg bones had been swooped up by the cats and devoured. Note to self: If you don’t want to go hungry around here, eat fast.

  “It’s late,” Kasha announced. “I need rest. Tomorrow we will go to my father’s home. Be ready to leave early.”

  “Where do I sleep?” I asked, really hoping she wouldn’t banish me to the dog run.

  She glanced at Boon and spat out, “Right here.” It killed her to let a beast sleep under her roof. Tough.

  Boon said, “I’ll get you a blanket.”

  “I need something to write with,” I said. I figured it was time to catch up with my journals.

  Kasha looked at me like I had just announced I was going to grow a second head.

  “You can write?” she asked, not hiding her surprise.

  “Amazing, but true,” I answered snottily. “And I can count, too. Want to hear?”

  “I’ll get what you need,” Boon interjected, trying to keep the peace. Kasha left without saying good night. Boon got me a scratchy blanket, along with some blank parchment pages and a pen. The pen actually had an ink reservoir inside. I didn’t have to dip a quill into a well. Eelong was truly a strange place. Much of what I saw was savage, but there were also hints of modern convenience.

  “I’ll be back in the morning,” Boon announced.

  “Whoa, you’re not staying? What if Kasha decides to slit my throat while I’m asleep?”

  Boon chuckled. “She won’t. She may not like to be told what to do, but she’s honorable.”

  “I’ll have to take your word for that,” I said. I planned on being a very light sleeper that night.

  “So, tomorrow we go after Saint Dane?” Boon asked hopefully, like he was asking if we were going to Disneyland.

  “One thing at a time,” I answered. “First we find Seegen and Gunny.”

  “Right!” Boon exclaimed. “Good night, Pendragon.” He got down on all fours, leaped out of the doorway, and ran off into the night.

  I sat down on a long couch that had a soft blanket for a seat. It wasn’t exactly cushy, but it was comfortable enough. I spent the next few hours writing Journal #16, the one you’ve already read by now. By the time I finished, I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I rolled up the pages, sent it through my ring to you guys, then put my head down to rest. In the few seconds before nodding out, I thought back on the incredible day I had ju
st spent. I had woken up that morning in a mansion on Veelox having slept in a comfortable bed. I ended the day sleeping on a scratchy blanket in a tree house surrounded by predator jungle cats who were getting ready to pass a law that allowed them to kill and eat humans.

  Can my life be any stranger?

  I wanted to sleep lightly, but my body wouldn’t let me. I totally conked out. The next thing I remembered, I had a dream that I was being stalked by a cat. No big surprise, right? The only thing was, the dream felt real . . . so real that it jolted me awake. There was a moment where I wasn’t sure where I was, but when I opened my eyes it all came flooding back. That’s when I realized my dream wasn’t a dream. I slowly opened my eyes to see a big, gray cat creeping across the floor toward me, hunched down, ready to spring. Zing! I went from dead asleep to wide awake in a nanosecond. I was totally defenseless and quickly realized I had only one hope.

  “Kasha!” I screamed. I rolled off the couch and scrambled underneath it, pulling the blanket down for whatever pitiful protection it might offer until Kasha came to my rescue . . . assuming she came to my rescue.

  She did. The black cat leaped into the room, ready for action. “What?” she snarled.

  The big gray cat who was stalking me stood up on its two hind legs and said, “What is this, Kasha? You’re now letting gars sleep in your home?” The cat’s voice sounded old. His fur was longer than others I’d seen and the gray was from age. This was definitely an elderly cat, but it still looked pretty dangerous.

  “Where is my father, Yorn?” Kasha growled at him.

  “Yorn?” I exclaimed. “The acolyte?”

  The old cat shot me a surprised look. I figured I had to take charge and said, “My name is Pendragon. I’m looking for Seegen.”

  “Pendragon?” the old cat gasped. “But . . . you’re not supposed to be here!”

  “Well, surprise,” I said, crawling out from under the couch. My heart was still thumping. “Where is Seegen?” I asked him.