Arena

by Karen Hancock

  A whisper of air caressed her cheek and memory bloomed—Alex offering her the day pack. We intend this for your benefit. . . . For the first time, the expression in his eyes registered—compassion, sadness, resignation. There was no anger in him, no malice. He had been telling the truth. He really wanted to help her.

  Setting her will, Callie dropped her gaze, clenched her fists, and plunged across the threshold.

  A man stepped into her path so suddenly she couldn’t avoid him. Blinding light flared at the impact, and an intense heat sizzled across her, something that should have birthed agony, but didn’t. For a moment she was blinded, lost in a well of shimmering whiteness, her other senses as numbed as her eyesight. Then shapes began to emerge from the light, a corridor of crystalline arches stretching before her into an infinity of brightness. The wind rushed around her, carrying the sweet ring of chimes and words that danced just beyond comprehension— though she felt if she listened closely enough, all the secrets of life would be hers.

  The corridor vanished as swiftly as it had appeared, and solid ground once more pressed against the soles of her feet. Then she was gasping and staggering in the shin-deep water, her vision throbbing with the red afterimage of lost brightness. When her eyesight cleared, she saw she had come thirty yards past the Gate in a single step.

  CHAPTER

  14

  I’ve made it, Callie marveled, blinking at her surroundings. Humps of granite sporting smiles of old ice reflected the Gate’s light, and the basin’s placid pool held its perfect mirror image, radiant against a starry sky. Who was that man she’d run into? An alien? Alex? What had happened? What did it all mean?

  A breeze stirred around her, and she realized she was soaking wet and should have been cold with evaporation in the night air but was not. It took her a moment longer to notice her hands. Where seconds ago there had been cuts and scrapes and torn nails, now lay smooth, unblemished skin shimmering with a golden iridescence. Even her cheek was soft and whole, the scab sloughed off in the passage.

  The breeze stirred again, ruffling the water and drawing her attention to a white path leading from the pond to the ridge above. Stars sprinkled the black sky beyond, bright and piercingly brilliant. In fact, everything seemed brighter, clearer, more . . . significant. As if her eyes were seeing it all in a new way.

  Pushed encouragingly by the breeze, Callie waded ashore and followed the path to the ridgetop, where she stopped again. A starlit valley lay before her—spiring evergreens, pale meadows, and a silver lake, all ringed with snowcapped peaks. On the slope directly below stood a multileveled complex of buildings that reminded her of college dormitories— except for the fortresslike tower-studded wall encircling them. Most amazing of all was how clearly she saw it. Where distant objects had previously looked like a wet-in-wet watercolor, now every window, every line, every tree stood out in sharp detail. She saw as well as if she had her glasses back, her eyes apparently fixed along with her scabs.

  The path switchbacked down the hillside to the complex in clear indication of where she was to go. And yet she felt reluctant to leave the Gate. So much had happened here that she didn’t understand, so much wonder and joy. More than ever, its power pulled at her—

  But when she turned around to gaze at it again, she found with a stab of profound dismay that it had vanished, the pool along with it. All that remained was a dry, unremarkable mountain basin. For a moment she almost cried. Then the breeze curled around her comfortingly, nudging her toward the walled complex below. “I’m supposed to go down there, huh?”

  The breeze nudged her again, almost playfully.

  “Okay,” she relented. “I’m going.”

  It was only as she descended the hill that she began to wonder why the pool had disappeared—and why her friends still hadn’t joined her. Were the two events related? Had the others been afraid to enter the cleft? Had it closed before they could? Had Mander come and stopped them?

  A clatter of rock brought her around, eyes scanning the hillside. Then a familiar voice called, “Callie! Wait up!” and she saw John bounding down the starlit switchbacks toward her, beard braids flapping around his shoulders. She climbed back toward him, giddy with relief. “What happened?” she cried as they met. “Did the doorway close? Did you need another key?”

  “I just followed you.” He looked around. “Can you believe this? After all this time? And it was so easy!”

  An echoing whoop heralded LaTeisha’s arrival. She was soon followed by Whit, Rowena, and someone who was obviously one of the climbers. Short and wiry with close-cropped brown hair, he still wore his climbing harness and bubbled with excitement.

  “When I saw the light and y’all going through, I knew I’d found the answer. My friends couldn’t see it. I had to rappel down alone and cut m’self free, but here I am! What a rush!” He turned full circle, taking in the landscape. “This is outstanding! And who was that guy in the Gate?”

  “You saw him, too?” Callie exclaimed.

  “Walked right into him,” the climber said. “Couldn’t help it!”

  “I think he was the Benefactor—the real one,” Whit said. The healing powers of the passage had not, Callie noted, replaced his lost eye.

  “I remember a corridor of endless arches,” LaTeisha said.

  “Yes!” Callie exclaimed. “But it was so bright I could hardly see.”

  “I ended up thirty yards away,” Whit said, “and I only took one step.”

  “Me too,” John said. “But I feel fantastic. All my aches and pains— they’re gone.”

  “I feel like I could climb Everest in a day,” the climber agreed. “By the way,” he added, sticking out a hand. “Gerry Felder from San An-tone. Pleased to meet y’all.”

  The next person to come through was Wendell. He stood among them in his gray robe, smiling sheepishly, as if he couldn’t quite believe it all.

  “What happened to Pierce?” Callie asked.

  “He was just standing there when I went in,” LaTeisha said.

  “Maybe he couldn’t see it,” Gerry suggested.

  “It might have scared him,” Wendell added. “My friends thought it was a trick and ran away.”

  “With Pierce, who knows?” Rowena said. “He may stand there brooding for the next ten years. Me, I’m heading home!” She started down the path.

  The rest of them followed, marveling at their good fortune. Only Callie remained, filled with a mounting sense of loss. Surely of everyone, he would see it. The way he’d looked that night in the loft, that undeniable yearning on his face—how could he not come through?

  But as the minutes crept by and he did not appear, she began to fear the pull of the Trogs had been too strong. Or that passing through the fire curtain might somehow preclude passing through the cleft. Or the Gate.

  She was turning away when movement caught her eye, and there he was, standing on the ridge. “Yes!” She shook her fist and called to the others. They waved and shouted to him, but she alone went back.

  He seemed not to see her, standing like a captain at the prow of his ship, straight and tall as if some awful burden had lifted from his shoulders. He was staring over the valley, the breeze ruffling his hair and beard, his black eye having vanished in the passage like her own injuries.

  “What kept you?” she asked, coming up beside him. “I was starting to worry.”

  He did not answer at first, the breeze hissing through the grass around them, laden with the sweet, moist scent of night. Then he turned to her. “After everything we’ve tried. . . . For it to be so simple.”

  So simple. As you have asked, so shall it be. . . . It was right there in the manual all along. But they’d been so busy looking for someone they could see, or something they could do—so busy blaming and hating their kidnapper—that they’d missed the simple truth.

  “I don’t think it was so simple for him, though,” he added softly. His gaze caught her own. “Did you hear the screaming?”

  “Screaming?
There wasn’t . . .” Wait. In that instant when the light had overtaken her, there had been something. She had been too overwhelmed by what her eyes and balance were reporting to pay much attention to her ears. There’d been singing, yes, but before that . . .

  “Why would he have screamed?” she asked. It must’ve been the man she’d run into.

  “Couldn’t stand to touch us, maybe? It’s obvious our bodies are different from theirs.”

  “Then why step in our way?”

  “I don’t know.” Pierce’s gaze swept the valley, and he sighed. “I feel as if I’ve been stumbling around with my eyes closed, and finally I can see.”

  She knew what he meant. It was as if something dead in her had come alive, a part never recognized, never named, just waiting for the right kiss of power to awaken it. It wasn’t just an increased ability to sense and appreciate the world, but an awareness of . . . something more, something wonderful just beyond what she had always known. It sparked in her a renewed yearning, not for the Gate anymore, but for the one who’d made it.

  “You two gonna stand up there all day?” John’s voice echoed up to them. “We’re not home yet, you know.”

  Pierce smiled down at him. It was the first time Callie had ever seen him smile, and the expression changed his entire face, taking her breath away.

  His eyes came back to hers, and he sobered. “I wish I’d listened to you sooner. And now I almost wish . . .” He trailed off, then sighed and turned away. “Well, John’s right. We’ve got another gate to find.”

  He left her staring after him, reeling from his smile. I’m going to miss that guy, she thought. And laughed aloud. Here I’m on the brink of victory, and I’m wishing I didn’t have to leave!

  Inside the compound they joined the others on a cypress-lined patio fronting a building marked with the familiar triple-circle symbol. They were trying the building’s locked doors when two men and a white-haired young woman, all in white jumpsuits, approached.

  “We’ve just come through the Gate,” said Rowena, gesturing up the hill.

  “Yes,” said the taller, auburn-haired man. “Welcome to Rimlight.”

  “Is this some kind of Safehaven?”

  “Sort of.” He had a boyish face, a slight paunch, and a receding hairline. “I’m Tucker,” he said. “This is Alicia. And Ian.”

  Rowena shook their hands, introducing herself and the rest of them. “I gather the exit portal isn’t here?”

  “I’m afraid not.”

  She cocked her head. “You’re kidding, right?”

  The auburn-haired man, Tucker, shook his head. “There’s a guide that’s supposed to lead us to it. We’re waiting for him now.”

  LaTeisha stepped forward. “A guide?”

  “You mean,” asked Callie, “like an alien?”

  “We don’t know. We were told to gather and wait—that someone would come to show us the way.”

  “So coming through the Gate was for nothing?” Rowena cried.

  “Oh, not for nothing. The exit will kill you unless you’ve gone through one of the Benefactor’s gates. We do know that much. Apparently our molecular resonance has to be realigned or something. Anyway, you’ve made it to the halfway point. That’s more than most do.”

  John tugged nervously on one of his braids. “How long have you been waiting for this guide?”

  “I’ve been here about two weeks. But the others—” Again Tucker glanced at his companions. The girl, Alicia, clung to Ian like a wraith, so pale of skin and hair she hardly seemed solid. She stared at something in the middle distance, ignoring them all.

  “Some longer than that,” Ian volunteered.

  “How much longer?” John asked.

  Tucker’s eyes consulted Ian again. “Morgan’s been here, what? Four months? And Evvi longer than that. Then, of course there are those who’ve already tried to cross the Inner Realm and failed. Some of them have been here a long time. Working up their nerve to try it again, I think.” Tucker nodded at the woman. “Alicia here is one of those. She went out with the Leyton party a couple years ago. They were ambushed and she was about the only survivor, the way I hear it. She won’t talk about it, though.”

  Alicia continued staring into space. Everyone shifted uncomfortably. No one seemed to know what to say. Finally Tucker exhaled. “Well, let’s get you settled in the dorms—”

  “Wait a minute,” Callie said as he turned away. “Why can’t we just follow the white roads?”

  “Because there aren’t any.”

  He left her staring after him, perplexed but not as upset as she thought she ought to be. True, they were facing yet another perilous journey without even the roads to lead them, but after unlocking the secret of the first gate and finding it so embarrassingly simple, she was confident the rest of the trip would continue in kind. So long as they followed the instructions, anyway.

  Rowena was not so confident. “No roads?” she murmured as the others moved on. Her blue eyes glittered with rising tears as she turned to Pierce. “How could they do this? After all we’ve been through!”

  “A lot of what we’ve been through was our fault,” he pointed out mildly.

  “But surely we’ve paid our dues by now.”

  “This isn’t about paying dues, Row.”

  “Then what is it about?”

  He eyed the building beside them. “Following instructions, maybe?”

  “Pierce, we’ve been here almost five years!” Her voice broke. Tears spilled down her cheeks. “We finally make it through the Gate, just to find out we have to start over?

  ” “We’ve been here five years because we didn’t do what we were told, Row. We didn’t have to struggle. We only had to ask.”

  She pushed away from him. “How can you defend them?”

  “The manual told us what to do from the very beginning.”

  “If they wanted us to ask, they should’ve put up a sign.” She dashed her tears away and gathered her composure. “They’re sadistic, is what they are. Garth’s right. The only way we’ll get out of here is by our own efforts.”

  She strode after the others, disappearing around the cypress.

  “Did we all go through the same gate?” Callie asked after a moment.

  “We must’ve.”

  “Then how can she—”

  He shook his head and shrugged. “Everyone’s different, I guess.”

  They caught up with the others on a narrow stairway at the back of the building, crossed a small green, and entered the lobby of one of the complex’s three two-story dormitories. Beside the elevators Tucker showed them a layout of hand-sized panels duplicating the building’s floor plan. He explained that pressing one’s palm against an unlit panel would program the corresponding room door to open at a touch.

  “After you’re settled, come on over to the rec hall and meet the others. The dispensaries are always open for snacks.”

  “I want to know more about this guide, first,” John said. “You say you don’t know if he’s human or alien?”

  “He’ll be human,” Alicia said softly.

  Tucker frowned at her. Ian’s dark brows arched. Again that uneasy pall settled over them. Then Pierce asked, “Do you have any manuals?”

  The others stared at him.

  Tucker waved a hand. “There’s one in every room, and a whole shelf of them in the library. But most of what we can read applies to life in the Outer Realm. The rest is still gibberish.”

  “You mean the encrypted stuff in the second part?”

  Tucker nodded. “We’ve tried to decode it. Some of us have made some headway, but it is a slow, difficult process.”

  “And we will never fully understand it,” Ian said. “Not until the Guide shows up.”

  Tucker flashed him a dubious look.

  “I don’t care what Morg says,” Ian protested. “If we could do it on our own, they wouldn’t have told us to wait for the Guide.”

  “Who’s Morg?” Rowena asked.

 
; “Our unofficial leader,” Tucker told her. “He’s the one who got the Holographic Transmission Station running.” He paused. “Maybe you all should come to the rec hall now and meet some of the others. They serve a great hot fudge brownie sundae, too.”

  That sold John, and in the end, everyone followed Tucker downhill from the dormitories to the glass-walled Recreation Hall. An indoor swimming pool and weight room occupied the ground floor, a high-ceilinged game room the one above it. Amidst the fragrance of popcorn and old grease, the complex’s inhabitants had gathered around Ping-Pong tables, pool tables, and blinking arcade games.

  Now they flocked to the newcomers as Tucker made the introductions. Soon afterward, he found a manual and challenged Whit to read a section that had been indecipherable in the Outer Realm. He still couldn’t understand it. Neither could John, nor Gerry, nor Wendell.

  Finally Rowena snatched the book away. “Why don’t you give us girls a chance?” She flipped a few pages. “Shoot, I can read this.”

  “It’s the portion at the back.” When Tucker showed her, she did no better than the others, and as she peered over Rowena’s shoulder, neither did Callie.

  As the crowd dissipated, Tucker led them through the cafeteria, which opened for breakfast at 6:00 A.M., and downstairs to The Fountain, where he and John got their sundaes. Then they crossed the yard to the library, where six blue-screened computers welcomed them in white text and informed them that they’d know the Guide when he unlocked the “hidden places of this installation.”

  “What does that mean?” Rowena demanded, pointing at the words. “Hidden places? Could the exit portal be in one of those locked buildings?”

  “I doubt it.” Tucker scraped the last of his sundae sauce from his plastic bowl. “The whole thing seems more like a training installation to me. There’s a park in the lower left quadrant with rappelling cliffs, dry stream beds, and steel cables strung between the trees. Looks for all the world like an obstacle course. You’ll see it tomorrow.”