The others laughed and cheered, thrilled by Xavier’s discovery.
“It’s amazing!” said Brianna.
“Cool,” said Levi.
“Kind of like Minecraft,” said Manuel. Being the scientist, he had to know how this worked. He picked up a large pebble and knelt down at the edge of the cliff. “Maybe the steps are there, we just can’t see them.” He tossed the pebble out onto the space where Xavier’s first step had appeared. But the pebble didn’t hit anything. It just dropped all the way down to the ravine below.
“Whoa!” said Evan, watching. “The step just disappeared!”
Xavier took another step, creating yet another stone under his foot. “Come on, guys!”
“Let’s do this!” Brianna said. “We have to hurry before any bad guys see us.”
“I don’t think so,” Manuel said. “I’m sort of afraid of heights—”
“This will cure you!” Brianna stepped up to the cliff edge and focused her gaze on the light shining on the other side. Staring at the light made her feel calmer. She repeated the words in her head: Fix your eyes on what lies before you. She took a deep breath and stuck one foot into the air. For a heart-stopping moment she thought she might tumble all the way down to the rocky stream below, but then her foot stopped on something solid. She glanced down quickly and saw a stone under her boot. She shrieked with delight.
“It’s working!”
Levi went next, followed quickly by Evan. They also whooped victoriously as the steps appeared under their boots, allowing them to walk up the stairway, right over the top of the chasm.
“Don’t look down!” Xavier called out. “Just keep looking at that light!”
“Come on Manuel,” Levi said, beckoning him. “You can do it!”
Manuel stood on the edge and wrung his hands nervously. “Maybe I’ll just wait here,” he mumbled.
“Come on, Manuel! It’s fun!” said Brianna, jumping one-footed from one step to the next like she was playing hopscotch. The others laughed. They seemed to forget about the deadly rocks far below them and the enemy territory ahead of them, as they delighted in the newfound power of their boots.
They were almost to the center when Xavier remembered how the bridge had looked different on the other side. Would the steps now change to metal beams, making them slip and fall? He began to wonder if there were spies of the enemy on the other side, watching them, setting a trap. Other than the light, it was impossible to see anything in the fog. He thought he heard something—a fluttering noise, there and gone again.
“Hey, guys, quiet!” he hissed at the other kids. They stopped talking and laughing. “Listen.”
For a moment there was no sound but a mournful wind. The kids followed Xavier’s gaze, looking straight ahead at the light shining out of the fog bank. Xavier took a long breath.
“Okay, maybe it was nothing,” he said. “But let’s be quiet, okay? We don’t need to call attention to ourselves.”
Xavier took another step—but before his boot could create another stone, the fog bank burst into motion, as if it had come alive. He knew instantly what it was.
“Ents!” he shouted to the others. He stood still as the deadly horde advanced. The collective sound was a high-pitched wail that chilled him to his very bones. He raised his hands as if in readiness for their attack. “Don’t look away from the light!” he commanded, but he doubted the others could even hear his voice.
“Ahhh!” shrieked Brianna, ducking, her hands flying over her face as the Ents swarmed over them, turning the very air above them into a sea of gray, beating wings.
“Bean!” Levi shouted. He was behind her and could see her stone already fading because she was no longer looking at the light. He batted away the horrible butterflies, struggling to keep his focus, at the same time reaching forward to grab Brianna before her stone disappeared.
“Bean! Look ahead!”
Brianna opened her eyes and tried to focus on the light. She teetered a bit before regaining her balance, her step reappearing. Levi took a breath of relief. But then he heard a cry behind him—Evan was so distracted by the Ents that when he tried to take a step, there was no stone under his foot at all. He started falling and screamed in terror, lurching forward and clutching at one of Levi’s boots. He managed to hang on with one arm, his body dangling helplessly. Levi reached down to grab Evan’s arm as it clutched his boot, still trying to stay focused on the light.
“Evan!” shouted Levi. “Hang on!” Evan threw his other arm around Levi’s boot, swinging his legs up to catch the stone. But he couldn’t get a foothold.
“Help!” Evan cried.
Brianna reached back to grab Levi’s belt, to give him more leverage, flailing at the Ents with her free arm. “Go away!” she yelled. She took her eyes off the light as she fought the Ents, and her step began to fade. She cried out, wobbling dangerously.
Xavier stole a glance behind him and saw Brianna about to fall. He reached back to steady her.
“Look up!” he shouted. Then he took a step backward—to the step Brianna was on. It began to solidify. Brianna righted herself, gasping. “Don’t look at the Ents, and don’t look down, whatever you do,” he told her. She nodded, refocusing, steadying her breathing. She took a step forward to the next stone.
Xavier knew Evan was in trouble. And he would have to turn his back on the light in order to help him. “Hang on, Van!” he shouted. He took a breath, then spun around and crouched low, reaching out his hand to Evan, whose arms had begun to slip from Levi’s boots.
“Take my hand!” Xavier shouted to his brother. “Hurry!”
“I—can’t—” Evan sputtered, shaking his head and shutting his eyes.
“Take my hand!” Xavier shouted again. “Now!”
Evan gulped down air. If he let go of Levi’s boot he was more than likely to lose his grip altogether and fall straight down onto the rocks below. He stared at Xavier’s outstretched arm hovering a foot away. He saw Xavier’s stone fading rapidly. In another moment the stone would disappear and he would fall . . .
It was now or never.
Evan let go of the boot and grabbed onto Xavier’s hand. Xavier, with a strength born of pure desperation, dragged Evan up and across Levi’s step to his own, at the same time spinning them both around to face the light.
“Look up!” Xavier said. Evan raised his head, focusing on the light, trying to ignore the dive-bombing Ents. The step began to strengthen again, solid enough for them both to stand on.
Levi slumped forward, exhaling air he’d been holding far too long.
“You okay?” Xavier asked. Evan regained his balance, sucking in breaths, his face very pale.
“Thanks,” he said, his voice cracking.
Xavier put a hand on his shoulder, reassuring him. “Keep going,” he said. “Stay focused. The Ents can’t hurt you, as long as you fix your eyes on the light.”
Evan nodded and took another step, a new stone appearing under his foot. Xavier watched him, breathing deep, forcing air deep into his lungs. His chest felt curiously tight.
“Levi?” he said.
“Yeah, I’m good,” Levi said, his voice breathless but sure. “But Manuel is still on the other side.”
Xavier sighed. “You go with Evan,” he said. “I’ll go back for him.” He waited until Levi had passed him and was headed over the bridge. Then he steadied himself and called out: “Manuel?”
“I’m here!” said a frail voice. Xavier took a quick glance behind him and saw Manuel back on the cliff. “I think I’ll just wait here until you guys get back. I can be the lookout.”
“Manuel! You need to stay with us!” Xavier said, exasperated. “Come on! Just keep your eyes on the light on the other side and you’ll be fine.”
“No thank you! I’m really sorry. But I can’t do it.”
Xavier stood a m
oment, pondering what to do. Should he leave Manuel behind? He was tempted. Manuel probably wouldn’t be much help on this mission, and he might even be a big liability. Maybe it would be better if he just stayed at the bridge and waited.
But Manuel had received the same instructions as the rest of them. He had to come. There must be a reason. Xavier didn’t know what it was, but he knew he had to get Manuel to cross the chasm.
Xavier could see the other kids moving forward steadily, doing their best to ignore the swooping Ents. They would be okay. He sighed. Keeping his focus on the light, he began backing up slowly, trusting that the steps he needed to stand on would be there. Ents flew at him, their red eyes flaring, taunting him. But they didn’t shoot darts. They were just trying to distract him from the light. He tried not to think about the rushing water and boulders below.
Fix your eyes . . .
By the time he made it back to where Manuel stood, the others were nearly all the way to the other side. That was a relief anyway.
“Manuel,” Xavier said, standing on the first step of the bridge. “Come on. I’ll help you. The Ents can’t hurt you, so long as you keep your eyes on the light.”
“How do you know that?”
“I just do,” said Xavier. “Look, it’s just like before, when you jumped. You were fine, right?”
“I . . . suppose so . . .”
“Just do it again. Your boots will carry you. But you have to do the walking.” Xavier took another step up, a stone appearing under his foot. “Fix your eyes.”
Manuel strained to gaze at the light on the other side. He found that once he did that, he didn’t really notice the horrid, flapping bugs quite so much. He took a deep breath and adjusted his glasses. And took a step.
One . . .
And then another.
Two . . .
He counted as he walked behind Xavier up the steps to the middle, where they started to descend to the other side.
Twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven . . .
He counted, focused on the light. Ents flew around his head, but he continued to ignore them. Xavier was right—they couldn’t hurt him as long as he didn’t look at them. He smiled to himself, straightening his shoulders, quickening his step. He counted all the way to forty-seven before he realized he’d made it. The other kids began to cheer (quietly) as he stepped off the last stone and onto the solid ground.
“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” said Levi, patting him on the back.
“I guess not,” Manuel said, grinning broadly now. He turned to Xavier. “Thank you. For helping me.”
Xavier shrugged, grinning back. Then he turned to examine the surroundings. He couldn’t see anything except fog.
“Skot’os is pretty foggy,” said Evan, mostly to himself.
“The light,” Brianna said, “the one we followed—where is it?” The kids searched through the compact gray blanket for a glimmer of light—and of hope.
The light was gone. The fog was so enveloping they could not even see the chasm or the Ents anymore. They felt it thickening, closing in on them, as if seeping into their skin. They started to turn in different directions, panic overtaking them as they realized they had lost all sense of direction. One wrong move and they might end up falling into the chasm.
“What do we do?” Manuel said, voicing the fear they were all feeling but didn’t want to admit.
Xavier took a breath, trying to think.
Chaos. Confusion. Ruwach had described them as the trademarks of Ponéros. The enemy wanted them to be confused. That’s what this fog was about.
But they had the armor. The breastplate. He remembered standing in the sandstorm, waiting for the breastplate to tell him what to do. Sometimes it took awhile—they had to be patient.
“Just hang on, everyone,” Xavier said. “Stay calm. Just—wait.”
He looked down at his own breastplate, waiting, breathing. The others did as well.
After what seemed like an eternity, their breastplates flickered with a gentle light. Xavier let out a breath he’d been holding and began turning until the light became steady. The others did the same. Unlike the last time they were together, their breastplates all pointed in the same direction.
“Levi, you have that scroll?” Xavier asked.
“Yeah,” Levi said. He pulled the scroll out of his pocket. “I got it.”
“Good,” Xavier said. “Follow me. Be as quiet as possible.” No one argued with him, not even Evan. He’d gotten them over the bridge. Without anyone saying it out loud, they’d made him their leader.
“If you see anyone,” Levi said, “don’t talk to them. And don’t even look at them. Especially . . .” he looked down momentarily, “if they look—familiar.”
Xavier nodded to him. “Right.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Chaós
They walked quietly through the fog, in single file, not speaking at all. They could make out no features of the landscape. The only sound was the occasional whine and flutter of the Ents, which seemed to be tracking them from above, invisible.
Xavier stayed focused on the breastplate guiding him, whispering encouragements to the others from time to time. Evan stayed close behind him, followed by Brianna, then Levi, then Manuel. None of them spoke, concentrating on the person in front of them, making sure the light of their breastplates remained steady. The ground beneath their feet was soft and sticky, like thick mud. But at least it felt somewhat solid and they weren’t sinking.
Gradually the fog began to lighten, and weird objects came into view: colorful, odd-shaped flowers with clownlike faces that sprouted and withered randomly, and black trees whose bare limbs twisted around each other in crazy patterns, entangling in the branches of others. Xavier stopped when a large, red-and-green animal darted across their path. It looked like a robotic version of a dog, with big red buttons for eyes, a tin can for a snout, and a long, segmented tail.
“What was that thing?” asked Evan, gazing into the fog where the “dog” had disappeared.
Xavier had no idea. Confusion. This was a world of confusion, where nothing made any sense.
Large, lumpy objects began to appear along the path as they walked. They were like rocks, but different too—spongy, not hard. Brianna tripped over one and it caught her boot, sucking it in. She gasped, yanking her foot away quickly.
“That rock!” she said, panting. “It tried to grab me!”
“Don’t go near them, stay on the path,” Xavier said. Above them the Ents wheeled in relentless circles below a red-purple sky.
The ground dipped down into a narrow ravine, but instead of water at the bottom, the kids saw a thick green substance jiggling like Jell-O. They stopped, watching. Evan bent to put a finger in it, to see if it really was Jell-O.
“Don’t!” Xavier said sharply. “Jump over it. Don’t touch it.” He knew that nothing in this land could be trusted. He crouched down and jumped with both feet, his boots taking him safely over the Jell-O stream to the mucky ground on the other side. The other kids followed his lead, all landing safely.
“Makes me hungry,” Evan mumbled. The other kids looked at him. He shrugged. “What? I like Jell-O!”
They climbed up out of the ravine and then stopped again, confronted by a complicated web of steel girders blocking their path. The ground itself seemed to have disappeared, replaced by metal beams crisscrossing in random patterns, suspended in space. Xavier hesitated, his breastplate blinking a warning.
“What is it?” asked Levi.
None of them knew. They were surrounded by a complex maze of steel girders, like the inside of a roller coaster or an unfinished skyscraper. Remnants of the angry sky shone through here and there, as did the shadow of a huge skypod that loomed overhead.
“I think this might be the entrance to the fortress,” said Xavier. Then, under his
breath: “Chaós.”
He looked down as his breastplate began to glow steadily, pointing straight ahead. “Okay, we’re going in.”
“In there?” said Manuel, his voice shaky.
Xavier nodded. “Follow in my footsteps. Stay close.”
Xavier picked his way carefully through the warren of girders, stopping often to make sure the others were following. The breastplate changed directions frequently and unexpectedly. Sometimes they walked along a beam, balancing like tightrope walkers, and other times they jumped from one beam to the next, trying to avoid looking down at the black void below them. At one point Xavier paused and looked up again—the maze of girders was growing taller, the girders lengthening, twisting, and turning around each other, reaching into the red, bruised sky.
Soon the web of girders blocked out all available light. The kids were enveloped in darkness, seeking their way with nothing but the breastplates to guide them. They huddled closer together, inching along at a snail’s pace, uncertain of what lay ahead.
“I’m not crazy about this,” Brianna mumbled uneasily.
“Me neither,” said Xavier. “But we need to keep—”
He froze when he heard a new noise, the sound of rhythmic, pounding footsteps. He held up a hand and the kids stopped. Something was moving directly in front of them. He waited, holding his breath, his heartbeat loud in his own ears.
A shadow passed by, attached to a large, slow-moving creature made entirely of metal with red, glowing orbs for eyes.
Forger.
It looked much like the creature that had trapped Levi but larger, its massive body encased in rusty metal plates of various colors riveted together. Its helmet-like head was small in comparison to the rest of its body, but the eyes shone like lasers, piercing the darkness.
Xavier stood perfectly still, willing the others to do the same. The Forger’s gaze swept slowly in both directions. After an agonizing moment it began moving again, its steps slow but heavy, making the girders around it shiver. Xavier waited until the Forger passed them by, its echoing steps receding. He let out a long breath. It hadn’t seen them.
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