“He’s quick even without his Tile!” Birdie shouted from behind Albert.
They both watched as Hoyt zipped left, hopping over a smaller boulder, then landed on his feet and zipped right.
Albert laid on the speed, doing his best to pull ahead. He could see flashes of his friends behind him, and hear everyone breathing heavily as they began to tire, but he wanted to win. Even though Hoyt was acting fine this term, Albert still didn’t think he could stomach a loss to the guy.
They weren’t even halfway up the hill when Albert decided to change tactics and hop along the tops of the boulders like stepping-stones. The first boulder his feet hit was no problem, and Albert leaped hard, aiming for a second that would put him ahead of Hoyt.
But when his boots hit the second boulder, it began to move. It was a strange sort of feeling, as if the boulder were alive. Albert leaped off—there must be another quake going on.
But then his eyes saw something incredibly strange. Something that couldn’t possibly be real.
The strange lumps on the boulder began to unfurl. There were hundreds of them, slowly rising up out of the surface of the boulder.
“Spikes,” Albert heard himself say.
He stumbled backward as what he’d thought was a boulder turned into a beast. Four short, stubby legs appeared beneath the main body of the boulder. Then a head, with mouselike ears, and a weasellike nose.
The beast turned, its large dark eyes set on Albert. There were spikes spread out across its back and sides, almost like a giant hedgehog . . . if hedgehogs were the size of ponies.
“It’s a Trundlespike!” Hoyt said as he came up beside Albert, forgetting the race. “Oh, man, these things are super rare! I’ve only heard about them in stories! I wonder if there’s more of—”
He didn’t have a chance to finish his sentence. The Trundlespike suddenly let out a screech that had Albert clapping his hands to his ears.
The other boulders around the hillside began to move.
There were popping and hissing noises all around, and suddenly all the boulders had uncurled themselves. There had to be at least fifteen Trundlespikes, all of them with their spikes out, their big eyes shifting left and right.
“Awww,” Birdie said. Albert agreed that they were kind of cute—giant and cute—but something in the back of his head was also shouting No way, not good in an Imbalanced Realm! But before he could say anything, Birdie rushed forward, hand held out to touch one.
“Birdie, don’t!” Leroy shouted.
It was too late.
There was an earsplitting screech, and the Trundlespikes curled back up into their boulder-like shapes.
“What are they doing?” Leroy asked. Albert was wondering the same thing. Two seconds ago he thought Birdie would come away with a bloody hand. Albert wasn’t looking forward to that. But this made him uneasy, too.
“We scared the poor things,” Birdie said.
“Nuh-uh,” Hoyt said. “We need to run.” He said it casually, but when none of them moved, he turned to Albert, Leroy, and Birdie, his eyes wide with fear. “You guys, this isn’t a drill! RUN!”
Leroy took off after Hoyt, but Birdie looked like she wasn’t so sure.
“Let’s go!” Albert shouted, grabbing her hand.
They turned and sprinted down the hill as a line of Trundlespikes tumbled down the hillside, headed straight for Hydra.
CHAPTER 15
The Greatest Surprise, Like, Ever
If there was any time in Albert’s life to be grateful for having trained in the art of staying alive, it was now.
All four Balance Keepers sprinted down the hill, desperate to escape.
The Trundlespikes gained speed.
It was like that story Albert’s mom used to tell him about the tortoise and the hare. But in this case, slow and steady did not win the race.
Giant and spiky and angry did, and Hydra was about to be smashed.
Hoyt, who had used his Speed Tile, was standing at the bottom of the hill, screaming, “RUN FASTER! RUN FASTER!”
“We’re trying!” Leroy yelped as his feet nearly slipped out from under him.
To Albert’s left, Birdie was slowing down.
Albert knew if he didn’t act fast, his team would be annihilated. Desperation took a hold, and the need to survive had Albert begging his Tile to give him the power of Leroy’s Synapse Tile.
All it took was the image of Leroy’s symbol, an outspread tree, and it was as if Albert’s mind expanded. A perfect mental image of the Black Book appeared. One symbol stood out in bold, clear as day: it looked like a tornado, a big spiraling gust of wind. He’d seen it only once, but with Leroy’s memory powers, the image was perfectly there.
I need the power of the wind, Albert thought, harnessing the Tile symbol. Time seemed to slow as he felt the magic of his Tile wash through him, and suddenly he was soaring.
Not flying, but spinning. It was as if Albert himself had become a human tornado, powerful and faster than a strike of lightning. He was on the far right side of the group and as he spun to the left, his body gained momentum. With a force that only a storm could bring, he knocked into Birdie and Leroy and swept them off the ground.
All the air in Albert’s lungs rushed out as they landed in a heap, nearly twenty feet away. Not a second later, the Trundlespikes rolled past, barely missing Birdie’s left foot with their spikes. The ground thundered beneath their power, and Albert’s hair blew back from his face as they zipped by.
The Trundlespikes continued on, up over the next hill, before fading into the distance.
That was too close for comfort, Albert thought.
His chest throbbed, and for a few moments, he felt as if he could hardly breathe.
“Dude,” Leroy said, when he finally caught his breath, too. There was grass covering his vest and stuck in his hair. His hat was nowhere to be found. “First of all, my hat’s gone. Second of all, you are a freaking beast.”
Birdie spat out a mouthful of grass. “Albert, I’ve seen you do amazing things, but . . . what symbol even was that?”
Hoyt stood there, openmouthed, staring at Albert like he’d just seen a ghost.
“It was Gale Force,” Albert said. “The power of the wind, I guess.” It was like he had stopped being Albert for a moment and had become the wind. Albert knew his Master Tile had immense power, but this was something else entirely. If he could become the wind, what could the traitor become with double the power Albert had? The very thought made Albert’s heart jump into his throat.
But it didn’t help to think of that now. Albert stood up, brushed off his pants, and turned to his friends. “We should get moving. No telling if those guys are going to be back.”
“Hold on,” Birdie said as she stared across the Realm, the wind blowing her curls from her face. “The map. Who put it in my bag?”
Albert didn’t answer. Neither did Leroy or Hoyt.
“It led us across the Realm, right to the Trundlespikes, and I’m starting to feel seriously afraid.”
“How come?” Hoyt said.
Birdie’s hands trembled a little, and she tucked them into her front pockets. “Because, I thought one of you put it in there, or maybe Petra, though I don’t know when he would have done it. But if it wasn’t from you guys, and it wasn’t from Professor Bigglesby . . .”
“The traitor,” Albert said. He looked over his shoulder, afraid that someone was watching them even now. “They must be closer than we thought.”
“I’m so sorry,” Birdie whispered. “We almost got killed because of my mistake.”
Leroy patted her on the back. “Hey, it’s not a big deal. Albert’s crazy wind-ninja move saved us.”
“We have to be more careful,” Birdie said. “We can’t trust anything or anyone but each other.” Her eyes softened when she looked at Hoyt. “Thanks for the heads-up. You saved us back there.”
“We’re a team,” Hoyt said with a shrug.
They gathered themselves and he
aded up the hillside. They left the map behind, crumpled in a ball that blew away with the breeze.
The Realm spread out before Hydra, three massive mountains towering high into the sky. They were tall enough, even, to make Calderon Peak and the Ten Pillars of Ponderay look pathetic by comparison. In the very center was Troll Mountain. Its peak was serrated and brutal, full of rocky crags. Troll Mountain, when Albert watched carefully enough, was spinning.
It was steady and methodical, like a merry-go-round in super-slow motion.
And Albert could just barely hear the sound of the mountain grinding into the Realm, deeper with every second that went by. Like metal grinding against metal, the sound made chills run up and down his spine.
Beneath that sound was something else. A constant, slow rumble.
“Is that snoring?” Birdie asked.
“It must be the Trolls,” Hoyt said.
“They are totally in hibernation mode,” Leroy added.
As they listened to the Trolls snoring from their caves, the Realm began to shake.
“It’s coming!” Hoyt called out.
They all dropped to their stomachs, lying flat on the hillside. Albert’s teeth chattered, and he felt like his brain was knocking around inside of his skull.
He counted the seconds. Thirty.
Thirty-five.
Forty-five.
At fifty-seven, the quake finally ended.
Albert stood up and looked around. “Everyone in one piece?”
Hoyt nodded, and Leroy readjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose.
“You’re keeping track of these, right, Leroy?” Birdie asked.
Leroy tapped his head. “Got it on lockdown.”
“Let’s move, then,” Albert suggested, “before another quake hits.”
They set off down the hill, into the wide, emerald valley that led into the mountain range.
The walk was quick and, thankfully, uneventful, until they came to the trees.
It was a small, forested area, just before the mountains rose into the sky. But it was darker here, the canopy overhead blocking out the Realm’s strange, sunless source of light. Albert felt like he was in the woods in Herman . . . if those woods also possibly contained a dangerous traitor who could jump out from behind a tree at any minute. He paused to consider the best way to proceed.
Birdie stopped next to him. “I don’t like it here,” she whispered.
“It’s the perfect place for a traitor to hide,” Leroy said.
Hoyt balled his hands into fists, as if he were looking for a fight with whoever might pop out of the trees.
Albert looked into the darkness. It wasn’t Herman, but he could pretend it was.
“We have to keep going,” he said. “The mountains are just ahead, and if we don’t get a chance to look around before nightfall, we’ll be way behind. We have to summit those mountains and get a look at the Bells.”
They walked through the trees for a few moments when Leroy froze several feet in front of the rest of them.
He lifted a fist, like a soldier leading a battalion. Albert, Birdie, and Hoyt froze.
Leroy cocked his head and pointed ahead of them, where the trees thickened.
There was a noise coming from the shadows. A crunch, crunch.
Albert held his fists before him like a martial artist.
Please, he thought. Don’t let it be the traitor. I don’t think I’m ready for this yet. Not now. Not so soon.
Fear struck through him, but he forced it down. “Stay here,” he whispered. He took a few steps forward.
“If you die, I might as well go down with you,” Leroy said. He reached up to turn his hat backward like he always did, but his shoulders drooped when he remembered he’d lost it in the Trundlespike attack.
Birdie joined Albert and Leroy, and Hoyt, surprisingly, stepped up without any hesitation.
“Let’s get them,” Hoyt said, with a determined grin.
As one, with Albert in the lead, Hydra went forward to face the traitor of Belltroll.
CHAPTER 16
The Pegasus Message
Birdie was going to scream, Albert knew it.
But it wouldn’t be from fear.
She’d scream from excitement, because what was waiting for them beyond the trees wasn’t the traitor.
It was, without a doubt, truly incredible.
The trees died away, and a small, grassy pasture sat at the very bottom of the mountain range. Standing in the center of the pasture, straight out of a storybook, was a herd of horses.
Not just any regular horses, either. These were winged horses.
“A Pegasus herd,” Albert whispered, testing out the word on his tongue. “I thought they were extinct.”
Albert stared. There were only four of them, but they were sleek and beautiful. Two of them were black and shimmery like the night sky, the others as pure white as untouched, fresh-fallen snow. Their wings were made of thick, shiny birdlike feathers, some of them longer than Albert’s legs. They were tucked into the horses’ sides, but Albert knew when they spread them wide, they’d look magnificent in the light.
The crunching noise wasn’t a traitor at all. It was the herd of Pegasi, happily munching away on fresh grass.
“Whoa. Birdie’s going to lose it, bro,” Leroy said to Albert, a huge grin lighting up his face.
“Oh yeah,” Albert said. “Totally.”
The Guildacker from Calderon was amazing. The Jackalopes from Ponderay were a close second, and Farnsworth was pretty cool, too. But a Pegasus? A whole herd of them? Albert’s mom used to read him stories about them, and he’d seen them in movies and TV shows. Back in New York, his little half sister’s room was full of winged horse dolls and stuffed animals.
Pegasi existed here. And that alone made today totally worth it.
Leroy and Albert turned to watch as Birdie and Hoyt came through the trees.
Birdie froze.
Her mouth opened and closed like a fish. Her eyes widened. Then she blinked a few times, and then, finally, Albert, Leroy, and Hoyt covered their ears as Birdie squealed like a newborn pig.
“Omigosh,” she said, over and over. “Omifreakingosh!”
The Pegasi jumped, startled, and Albert gasped as they spread their wings. They spanned at least eight feet on each side.
“If only Slink were here,” Hoyt said, glancing at Albert. “He could talk to them, and see if they could give us a ride.”
Albert smiled even bigger. “I can take care of that.”
He didn’t know much about horses, but Leroy did.
“Move slow,” Leroy said. “Keep your arms at your sides, and don’t make any sudden movements. Let them come to you.”
Albert nodded. Birdie almost let out another squeal, and Albert wondered if she was literally going to spontaneously combust from the excitement.
He mustered up the image of Slink’s Creature Speak Tile.
Then, slowly, he stepped into the pasture.
The Pegasi watched him with their soft, dark eyes. They didn’t look evil. That was unusual in an Imbalanced Realm. One of the black horses stamped his hooves and blew air out his nostrils. He was the tallest and by far the most muscular of the herd. He pranced a little closer, and Albert could see that he even had little feathers lining his legs, just above his giant hooves.
Albert focused on the power of the Tile symbol.
We aren’t here to harm you, he said. But it wasn’t exactly words he said. His voice came out as a whinny. Albert almost laughed at how silly he sounded.
He thought the words, and the whinny came out. We’re Balance Keepers, from the Core, here to protect the Realm. We need to get to the top of the mountains.
The black horse walked forward, his wings held high above his back. You are small ones. Perhaps you are lost?
Somehow Albert understood the Pegasus, as the power of his Master Tile did its work. He thought for a second on how to explain to the Pegasi what they needed.
The Realm is in danger, Albert said. We need to get to the mountaintops to check on the Bells.
The Pegasi do not work for free, their leader said with a huff. Especially Spyro. He bowed in a show of pride.
Albert turned and released the Creature Speak power. “They don’t work for free,” he told his friends.
They were all staring at him like he’d just sprouted a second pair of eyes on his forehead. Leroy reached into his pocket and pulled out an old, broken peppermint. “How ’bout this?”
Albert nodded. “Sure.” Then he focused on the Creature Speak Tile again.
We have . . . this mint. As payment. And we can bring you more later, if you want, if you’ll give us a ride to the Bells.
For one strange second, Albert thought, I’m talking to a horse with wings. This isn’t weird at all.
It took a while for Spyro to come forward, huffing and sniffing. His soft muzzle landed in Leroy’s outstretched palm. He sniffed the peppermint, and then, in one second, slurped it off of Leroy’s palm and devoured it in two big, crunchy bites.
Birdie giggled as Spyro began to bounce his head up and down like he was listening to rock music, his mane tossing in the wind.
MORE! Spyro shouted. NEED . . . MORE . . . MINTS!
All the Pegasi began to whinny and stamp their hooves.
We’ll bring you more peppermints, Albert promised. Spyro nodded in agreement and called the other three horses over.
The Pegasi lined up side by side, and before they knew it, each member of Hydra was picking out their own flying horse to ride.
Birdie and Leroy approached white ones, and Birdie danced with delight as her Pegasus knelt down so she could climb on. Spyro, who was still shouting MORE MINTS, knelt down for Hoyt to climb on.
That left the other black horse for Albert.
He’d never ridden a horse before, but with Leroy’s coaching, Albert was ready to climb on.
But every time he approached his Pegasus, it pranced away, tossing its head in the air, flaring its nostrils.
Your blood! the Pegasus complained. It wouldn’t let Albert get close to its side, fear in its big, widened eyes. Your blood smells like the last one who came this way! Evil!
The Traitor of Belltroll Page 10