by Gloria Gage
“You’re doing great,” Josh encouraged her. “Just stop and hold on tight when a wind gust comes along, okay? And listen, we’re at the top of the arch. I’m going to turn around, and back down the other side. I think it will be easier to balance that way.”
I had caught up now too, and paused right behind Chris. She grinned back at me. “Sure glad I’m wearing my good sneakers. This metal is really getting slippery.”
“Yeah, you’re right. Try and keep one arm wrapped around the rung ahead, in case your hand slips again, okay?”
Now at the highest point, Josh locked both arms tightly around the bar above, then moved his feet cautiously up a brace at a time twisting his body around to the other side to start down moving backwards. Chris and I did the same as we reached the center, but soon discovered that our descent was blind and even more treacherous. But the wind seemed a bit calmer, which helped to make our progress a little easier.
As we drew close to the pillars on the other side, only yards from the brick support, a sudden huge gust of wind hit us. Josh’s foot slipped from the rung, just as his hand also lost its hold. He slid downward but caught himself on the lower section of the struts, where he hung dangling dangerously, only his left arm clinched desperately to a rung and preventing him from falling. His glasses tumbled off his face and bounced against the metal slats of the bridge, then finally caught against one where they swung back and forth balancing tentatively.
Chapter Seventeen
Without pausing an instant, Chris climbed further down, stretched out on the metal rungs and reached out, struggling to grab Josh’s free hand.
She stretched as far as she could until finally she was able to get a tight grip on his right wrist. “I’ve got you, Josh!” she assured him.
It took several tries, but at last he was able to swing one foot back across the beam. With Chris pulling on his arm, and then his shoulder, he was able to scramble back onto the crossbar. They both lay still for a minute, panting as they tried to catch their breaths.
I had started down to help too, then saw that my friends were safe. “Good job, guys! Chris, that was quick thinking.” I heaved a sigh of relief and realized that we hadn’t even had time to think about our new powers. Chris had done it all on her own!
She managed a little smile even though our hearts were still pounding a thousand beats a minute. Then we all gasped as we stared helplessly below and watched Josh’s glasses slip from the crossbar and tumble through the air to land just a few feet from the guard’s shack.
Josh hurried on and had just reached the brick pillar, only another ten feet from the ground, and was helping Chris along, when we heard shouts from the guards. “Oh, no! They’ve spotted us,” I yelled. “We’ll have to jump and swim for it!” Josh looked up at Chris in alarm, and then pushing off with his feet, leaped into the river below. Chris held her breath and followed. I grabbed the keys hanging around my neck and held them tightly in my fist, as I leaped feet first right behind my friends.
When the guards spotted us and saw we were trying to escape, they ran around the pillars and fired several warning shots. I was grateful that the current swept us down river so quickly that they didn’t have time to take a proper aim. We kept a close watch but didn’t see any sign of a crocodile around.
We had no choice but to let the current sweep us on, bobbing up and down in the icy water. Finally, I spotted a mass of limbs and brush trapped against the rocks that extended out from the shore, and called to the others to swim toward it. Chris and I emerged first from the water shivering and helped Josh up the bank where we all collapsed against a tree, cold and exhausted. Josh had lost his glasses, while I was missing a shoe, and had scraped my arm against a rock climbing out of the river. Otherwise, we were undamaged and felt lucky to have escaped first the guards and then the rushing waters.
The window in the air above us was now cloudy and bristling with static. “Amy?” I called out. “Can you hear us?” There was no reply.
“Oh no! We’ve lost our connection!” Josh said. “The river must have taken us too far off course. We’ll have to find a way to get back and quickly.”
“I’m so cold,” Chris said, shivering. We huddled together against the tree, our teeth chattering from the chill of the water and our narrow escape.
“Maybe I can help,” a deep voice spoke, making us jump to our feet.
I looked around, confused. “Who said that?” I asked. “Who’s there?”
“It’s me,” the voice spoke again. A very hot wind suddenly blew against us, drying our hair and clothes within seconds. Then just as suddenly, it stopped.
We held onto each other in shock for a minute, until we noticed a hawk sitting on a limb of the tree across from us. When he began to speak, we scrambled away a few steps and stared in astonishment.
“That’s much better now, isn’t it?” The hawk was actually talking and gesturing with its wings. “Now, just where is it you need to get back to?”
“I…we…that is… I guess we’re just not used to birds that talk,” Josh answered.
“Oh my! Well, of course, I guess that could be a bit surprising. But you’ll find many unexpected things here. In fact, almost nothing is what it seems.” The beautiful bird twisted his head right then left and appeared to smile. Then he suddenly flew down and brushed his wings against Chris’s hair like a comb. She cringed just a bit, but tried not to move. “There! That’s much better,” the hawk said, returning to his perch.
“Ah…thank you,” Chris responded politely.
“As to that rather nasty scrape on your arm, young man, feel free to borrow a few leaves from our friend here. They have great healing powers.”
A shower of leaves suddenly floated down on us. Not knowing exactly what was expected, I caught a few and held them against my arm. “That does feel much better,” I said. And truly the pain did disappear, and when I looked, the scrape was gone! “That’s amazing!” I said.
“Now,” the hawk continued, “we must get you back on your journey. If you follow the pathway through the woods, you’ll come to a park and the way will become clear again. Just remember, your integrity has brought you here, and HONOR will help you find your way back home!”
Chapter Eighteen
“Thank you for your help,” Chris stammered. She took a moment to stuff a few of the leaves into her pocket, thinking we might need them later. But when we looked up again into the leafy branches above us, the hawk had flown away and the tree now appeared perfectly still and normal. We looked at each other rather shyly and wondered if we might have just imagined a talking hawk. But we were nevertheless grateful to be dry and warm again.
Once again, I unfolded the map from my pocket. “I think it survived okay,” I said. “I’m glad it’s in waterproof plastic!” And sure enough a path did appear now on the map, leading through a brief wood and ending in what looked like a park.
“Guess we better get started,” Josh said.
We all felt somewhat embarrassed to have been conversing with a bird, which was now nowhere in sight, and to have been showered with healing leaves from a magical tree. But as we started down the path, I took a final glance back and thought for just a second that the tree winked at me.
“I guess anything is possible in a game like this. But this certainly is a weird galaxy.”
“Yeah,” Josh agreed, “but I wonder what’s ahead. We still have quite a ways to go and there’s no telling what we’ll run into next!”
Meanwhile, Amy was on the verge of panic in the clubhouse, staring at the computer screen with nothing but snowy static on it. “Logan?” she called out. “Josh? Chris? Where are you guys?” She kept pressing ‘Ctrl Five’, and getting more and more frightened. It was twelve o’clock. She felt so alone and didn’t know what to do. She decided to give us ten more minutes, and if she didn’t hear from us, she’d go get my dad.
Amy wished there was something else she could do to help. While she waited, she tried every keystroke she
could think of that might prove helpful. She did discover how she could look beyond our location and maybe help prepare us for what was ahead.
She also discovered a way to communicate with Marty. She stumbled onto it but was delighted to find that by pressing the Control and the Page Down keys, she could see Marty locked in a room at the Rats’ Castle.
“Marty! Are you okay?” she called to him.
“Hi, Amy,” he answered hesitantly. “I’m okay, I guess. But I want to go home now. I don’t like these men—they’re not nice! I think they should go to jail.”
“You’re right, Marty. But don’t worry, because Logan is on his way to get you. You’ll be home very soon!”
“Okay, Amy,” he answered. “Tell him to hurry. I’m hungry. Dinner is at six o’clock. Mom says we have to be home for dinner at six o’clock.”
“Don’t worry, Marty. They’ll be there soon.” She was glad to see that Marty was munching on a chocolate bar he’d found tucked in his pocket, and was also a little distracted with one of the small puzzle books he usually carried as well. She knew that would keep him busy for a while. She decided to check in on Marty every hour or so to reassure him that Logan and his friends would be there soon to bring him home. Amy often looked after her own six-year-old brother when her parents were away. She understood Marty’s special problems and could only imagine how frightened and confused he must be.
At that moment, the screen interrupted her thoughts as the static began to clear. But instead of her friends—the Rats Gang appeared on the screen. “Hello, Amy! How are things in the clubhouse? Getting lonely, I imagine. I’m Gniktar.”
One of the largest and most wicked looking of the men was speaking. His beady eyes and threatening grin made her shiver. “Your friends are in real trouble now, you know,” he continued. “It’s a shame you’re not here to help them… Oh, but, of course, you could be. Just press the right keys and you can join them. Wait, I think I hear something…”
Amy could only see the sneering gang, but then she began to hear something else. It was Chris’s voice… “Amy? Where are you? We’re lost!”
And then, Logan’s voice, “Amy? We need you! Can you hear us?”
Amy didn’t know what to do. Her fingers were shaking as they hovered above the keyboard. “That’s right,” Gniktar went on. “Just press the keys and join your friends.”
Chapter Nineteen
She hesitated, not sure what to do. “NO!” she shouted suddenly. “It’s just a trick. They need me here! And I’m not listening to you!”
A moment later, the gang disappeared, and Amy could see her friends once again. “Logan! Chris! Josh! I’m here!” she shouted.
“Man, are we glad to see you, Amy!” I exclaimed. “We thought we were lost for sure.”
“I’m right here, and I’m not going anywhere until you’re all back safe and sound!” She sounded very relieved, but even more determined as she told us about Gniktar and his gang and how they had tried to trick her into leaving her post.
“You were very brave!” Chris said. “We’d never be able to get back if you’d listened to them, Amy.”
Once she assured us that we were going in the right direction and that no one was following us, we continued along the path through the trees. (Well, actually, I limped along on one shoe, groaning at every pebble and branch that I stepped on with my other sock-covered foot.) Eventually, we came out into a beautiful park where we found a small pond with fish leaping out of the water as if trying to fly. And there were plants five feet tall with blossoms the size of Frisbees blooming in well-tended beds.
On the far side of the park, we discovered a huge circular arena where children were racing on scooters.
“Look! Can you believe that?” Chris exclaimed.
“What? What is it?” Josh couldn’t see too clearly without his glasses, so we moved a little closer, until he suddenly exclaimed, “Wow! Look at them go!”
What was so shocking was that the scooters were flying about three feet above the surface of the arena. Boys and girls no older than eight or nine flew past at startling speeds.
“Boy! We sure could have used those to cross the river,” Josh said wistfully. “I wish we had time to try them. They look like fun.”
“How much further do we have to go, Logan?” Chris asked. “Maybe we could use some scooters like that—it would sure save time.”
“Yeah!” Josh agreed. “We could get there twice as fast with those.”
I took the map from my pocket again, and we sat down on a bench to see exactly how far it was to the next key. “We have to follow this Beachwood Road,” I said, pointing to the map, “through a neighborhood. And then it looks like maybe half a mile into the countryside beyond. The next keys are first near a fountain, then in a cave. Then it’s on to the Rats’ Castle hideout.”
Josh jumped up and pointed, “Hey, check it out! I think those kids are renting a scooter from a shop right over there.”
Chapter Twenty
“What do we use for money?” I asked.
Chris suggested, “Maybe if we tell them we’re trying to save your brother, they’ll want to help.”
“Aw, they probably use some weird galactic money here anyway!” Josh said.
“I hate to bring this up, but I’m starving,” Chris complained.
“Me too!” Josh agreed.
I felt really doubtful, “Do you think they have real food in this weird game world? They’re eating something over there.” Sure enough, a couple of boys ahead of us were munching on something from a bag that looked a little like popcorn.
“That must be a food stand, just outside the arena. Let’s go see,” Chris encouraged.
We walked up to a counter where a friendly woman smiled and said, “Hello, Logan! I’m Mrs. Bathelwaite. You’ve come a long way and must be very hungry. What would you like?”
“Ah… Hello. Yes, we are very hungry, but we may not have enough money,” I said hesitantly.
“Oh, we don’t use money here. We share everything we have. We use a scanner merely as a way of assuring that no one person receives more than another. Hold out your wrist,” she said, smiling. She passed a scanner over each of our wrists.
I noticed that the menu printed on a board mounted above the counter looked very much like the ones at home. I asked for a burger and fries. Chris requested chicken fingers, and Josh decided on pizza, but we each received an identical blue sack filled with small white wafers.
Mrs. Bathelwaite reached out and tapped me on the shoulder as we turned to leave, “Young man, I think maybe you could use these too.” She handed me a new pair of sneakers, in exactly the right size. “And I understand Josh could use some spectacles. Let’s see if these will do the trick.” She handed Josh a pair of eyeglasses with tortoise shell frames.
“Thank you,” he said in amazement as he tried them on and found he could see perfectly. “But, how did you happen to have just the right prescription?”
“Oh, things are more simple here. It was a very happy place until ‘they’ came,” she whispered.
“You mean the Rats Gang?” Chris asked.
“Sh!” she said quickly. “You never know who’s listening. I also have a piece of advice. You must always seek WISDOM along your journey. And you’ll find it just when you need it—as long as you’re looking in the ‘right’ direction! Good luck, dear children!” she said softly.
“Thank you, Mrs. Bath–er, thank you, ma’am,” I stuttered as we turned away.
We stopped at a park bench so I could put on my new shoes. And Josh popped one of the white wafers into his mouth. “What the heck is this stuff?” he asked.
“Wow,” I said, trying one myself. “They do sort of taste like a burger and fries—but without the ketchup!”
“Mine tastes like pizza, but it’s sure not as good as ‘Johnny’s Pizza’ back home!” Josh agreed.
Chris was very unsure about her meal, “These have a chicken flavor, but there’s no crunch, and they
just sort of melt on your tongue. This is just too weird! But I guess it’s better than nothing.”
“Hey, guys,” Amy’s voice disrupted our complaints. “I hate to interrupt your lunch, especially since I’m all alone and starving back here all by myself. I ate some of the cookies a while ago. But I think there’s a message coming in from the Rats.”
We looked up and saw Amy’s face floating in the wavy window above us.
“What’s happening, Amy?” I asked her.
“The screen is flashing ‘Ctrl 2’. I’m going to try pressing it,” Amy said.
Chapter Twenty-One
Suddenly, Marty’s face appeared in the window. Two men, both very muscular with slick black hair and long mustaches, were holding him tightly. On both their arms, we could clearly see the thin tattooed tail of a black rat curling around their wrists.
Before I could stop myself, I exploded with anger, “If you hurt my brother, you creeps! I’ll…”
“Calm down, the kid’s fine,” one of the crooks said. “Just wanted to remind you that time is running out. Your appointment is for three o’clock. And it’s after twelve already. You better hurry if you want your brother back in one piece!”
“We’ll be there,” I shouted. “You just make sure you hold up your part… Marty, we’re coming, bud. Don’t worry! We’ll be there by three o’clock, okay?”
“Okay, three o’clock,” Marty spoke softly. “But hurry! I’m hungry. And I want to play with Tabs! I want to play with Tabs right now, okay?”
“We’re on our way,” Josh added, but the picture quickly faded, and a worried Amy took its place.
“Logan, you still have a long way to go,” Amy told us. “Are you sure you can make it by three o’clock?”