Kali's Regress

by Mark Boliek

  Chapter 18

  “Hello there, people.” A voice boomed out in the chaos. From the churning weather, emerged the king of the land, the dark complexioned man JT remembered from the courtroom, and the same man who stole Kali.

  JT charged back into the room towards the man, Arthur and Jenny on his heels. The man blew with a powerful breath on his three would-be attackers, freezing their feet to the floor. Their feet stuck, but momentum caused them to fall forward. JT and Jenny caught themselves with their arms, but Arthur only got one arm up in time. He turned his head, but still smacked his cheek on the floor with a loud thud.

  “Yes, that is what I am talking about!” the king laughed.

  “Who are you? What do you want?” JT struggled to get to his feet. He tried to shake his feet out of his shoes, but he could not.

  “I see that you have found your way into the Egleese. We would like to have it a little more modern than this medieval heap of stone, but your girlfriend just had to have it her way.” The king smiled.

  JT, Arthur, and Jenny struggled to break free and grab the king, but he stood and laughed at them. Then he leaped about, shaking his body in a victory dance, waving his arms in the air.

  Taking the king completely by surprise, Michael burst into the room and jumped on him from behind. Without hesitation, he tried to pull him toward the wooden floor. The king tried to wrestle Michael off of his back. JT felt a surge of adrenaline shoot through him as his friend fought for him.

  Before long, the king regained his bearings and found strength enough to throw Michael across the room in a single motion. Michael yelled out, flying through the air and crashing into the stone wall with a distinct snapping sound. He crumpled to the floor and made no sound.

  “No!” JT yelled. “No!”

  The king raised a staff topped with a golden diamond, circled it in the air, and formed a funnel of snow around himself. He narrowed his eyes as they turned a bright blue, projecting the anger and hate that rushed through his veins.

  “I thought this might be a little fun,” he growled in his menacing voice. “No time for that now.” He raised his arms and the cyclone grew stronger with each passing turn. Just as the king dropped his arms to direct the cyclone toward JT, an enormous bang sounded.

  The glass on the front of the Egleese shattered and the specter of Kali appeared. With a powerful gulp, she inhaled the cyclone of snow that the king had created to destroy JT and his companions. In the room, suddenly silent and still, Kali's presence stared at the king with blazing eyes. She mouthed some words as she floated between JT and the king.

  “You can say that if you want,” the king lashed back. “But no matter what you do or attempt, you are still at my beck and call; you must obey me in the flesh.'

  Kali's aura flowed gently to and fro, as though she were pacing. She bowed her head, but then she looked up, eyeing the king. With her eyes as black as coal and her gentle face twisted into a snarl, she wrapped her hand around the king's throat.

  Startled, he collapsed to his knees choking. He thrashed about, fighting to break her hold and gain his breath. His voice shallow and choppy, he gasped, “You…know you…can't do—” He coughed. “—this forever… We will be with…you soon—” Another cough wracked his body. “—enough… Your power…”

  Kali released her grip. The king fell, supporting himself on his arms as he gulped air in deep breaths. He reached toward JT, but Kali twitched her hand toward the king as if to choke him again and he relented.

  He turned to the shattered glass and snickered, first at Kali and then at JT.

  “This is not over, young ones. You know this little scene is not over—not by a long shot! Jato will never be beaten!” he announced as he disappeared into the weather outside.

  The ice that clamped them to the floor melted quickly as the warmth returned to the room. When JT, Jenny, and Arthur's feet released from the floor, Jenny ran to Michael.

  “He's hurt. He's hurt bad. Michael—talk to me. Talk to me, Michael.” Jenny tried to remain calm as she panicked inside. Her arms and hands shook as she tried wake Michael without hurting him anymore.

  JT hovered over Jenny and Michael. With no idea what to say or do, he closed his eyes. His mind raced. If only Billy had just shown up in time to stop this from happening.

  Homer walked through the entrance to the Egleese. He scanned the room, noticing the phantom of Kali's fourteen-year-old body bobbing in the air next to her father, like a boat on the water. Arthur watched her, still waiting for her to say something, anything, but her words remained silent as she mouthed them. Arthur could only guess what she said, but her expressions poured out all her feelings even though he could not hear.

  Homer kneeled beside Michael and gently released Jenny's hand from the unconscious man in a boy's body. He lifted Michael, gently and silently carrying him out of the room to lay him on a bed in a back room. Jenny followed. “Is there anything you can do for him?” Jenny begged, her voice hurried and soft.

  “I am not sure. He appears pretty damaged.” In stark contrast to his words, Homer's voice was calm, not quite indifferent, but revealed none of what he felt. “He needs rest.”

  JT slowly walked over to Kali and her father, still standing in the main room of the Egleese staring at each other. Arthur's eyes welled up as he tried in vain to clutch her hand and understand what she mouthed.

  “Where are you?” Arthur asked. “I need you.”

  Kali's mouth moved oddly, like a ghostly wave. They could see that she was forming words, but still she made no sound. Her eyes were dark and longing.

  JT stood just in front of father and daughter not knowing what to say. This time he, and not Michael, had put them in a dangerous predicament. He reached for Kali and, like her father's, his hand passed right through hers. He could not hold her. He could not touch her.

  Despite her sad eyes, the expression upon her face convinced JT that she was okay—at least, the best she could be under the circumstances. She seemed to say that she understood what they must be feeling not reaching her, but she wanted them not to be frightened for her.

  Suddenly she moved erratically, thrusting her neck back and forth, searching high and low, and then she spun about to face the other way. She let out a terrible scream. JT and Arthur could hear the sound as it ripped through the Egleese.

  “Kali!” Arthur yelled.

  Kali's body jerked back around. JT and Arthur watched, horrified, as her face melted. Arthur reached for Kali, but her face morphed into the Munch's. When the monster's head had fully manifested on top of Kali's body, it grinned broadly and laughed a full, deep, penetrating laugh.

  JT and Arthur snatched their hands back, but somehow the Munch used Kali's ghostly body to hold onto their arms and pull them close.

  JT's heart pounded; he felt a fear he thought he would never feel again. This was not the thrilling fear of ride a roller coaster for the first time, but the paralyzing fear of losing his life. He began to hyperventilate.

  Arthur's temper, however, exploded into every nerve of his body. He punched at the head on Kali's body. The Munch dodged the swing and laughed. Then he froze his own head in place, allowing Arthur's fist to pass right through it. The harder Arthur swung, the louder the Munch's laughter echoed through the Egleese.

  When Arthur could punch no more, the monster spoke, his voice as clear as day. “I have the girl. And you'll never have her back.”

  JT's stomach twisted. This fear—fear for Kali—was far worse than fear for himself. He tried to keep his passion at bay, but he could only hear the Munch laugh and say, “I have the girl. I have the girl.”

  JT snapped, he sprang to his feet and swung as hard as he could at the Munch's head, still atop Kali's body. His fist made contact on the arrogant specter. Wham!

  The laughing stopped. The Munch's face showed shock, his jaw dropping. For the first time, JT saw something in the Munch, something that JT had felt since the monster grabbed his hand—fear.

 
; JT cocked his fist back and hurled it toward the Munch's face a second time, but right before his knuckles made contact, the phantom vanished. JT's arm and body twisted through the empty space; the force of his punch threw him to the floor.

  The frigid air from the broken glass in the Egleese penetrated JT's clothes; his skin tensed, but he lay still. The warmth was gone again. He wanted to scream.

  Helpless and empty, Arthur cried tears of desperate suffering. For the first time in a long while, he could express his feelings for his daughter, but a strange man in a strange land controlled his every move.

  JT carefully rolled onto his back and felt something hard beneath him. As he sat up and reached behind him on the floor, he realized it was his grandfather's journal. There's much more in there than you think, JT heard Homer’s voice echo through his mind.

  “He has my daughter and I can't do anything about it, JT.” Arthur trembled. “I couldn't do anything then and I can't do anything now. What am I doing wrong?”

  JT clutched the journal. “What happened back then?' JT asked. “What happened at the trial?”

  “That's right. You can't remember anything, can you? You have no idea how lucky you are.” Arthur tried to gain some composure.

  “People keep telling me that,” JT mumbled.

  “I believed that I had a good defense for Michael. I didn't believe most of what you all told me about what happened to Charlie and this magic land, but I see I was wrong now. I mean, all of this?” Arthur waved his arms about, then shrugged. “The only thing that saved Michael was that there was no body and no real motive. I mean, the DA argued that Michael’s motive was hate, but kids that age hate everybody they come in contact with, it seems to me, so that argument held water for all of about ten seconds.”

  “Why were you shunned, though? Why did you and Kali have to leave Athens Eden?” JT asked.

  “I didn't toe the line. I didn't bow down to the wishes of my office. You see, I quit being a prosecutor and defended Michael instead.” Arthur clenched his fists.

  His reaction to his own words left JT thinking that maybe Arthur regretted defending Michael. Maybe he thought of it as the worst he had ever made.

  “Anybody could have won that case and gotten Michael off. The only problem was that no one would take his case, considering that the police wanted someone to take the fall for Charlie's death.”

  “But why?” JT asked. “It seems that whoever charged Michael with Charlie's death wanted to take him down. But why Michael? Michael was only—what, thirteen or fourteen? Why a fourteen-year-old kid?”

  “Not Michael, JT.” Arthur took a deep breath. “The office wanted to take down your grandfather's property so they could sell it for development.”

  JT was taken aback. Was his family really that loathed? Why would the government want to take someone's private land just to make money? Everyone town still hated him because of that trial. “I don't get it,” JT started. “I just don't get it.”

  “Money, JT. Money is all it is. Your grandfather's house stands on prime real estate that would bring development, tourists, and money to the area.” Arthur paused. “I just couldn't let that happen.”

  “Why? We were kids,” JT answered. “I am sure we would've gotten over it.”

  “Well, maybe you would've gotten over it.” Arthur reached into his pocket and pulled out a picture. “But I sure wouldn't have.”

  JT gazed at the picture for a moment, then his eyes became huge and bright.

  Jenny burst into the room. “JT, come quick—it's Michael!”

  JT rushed from the room and reached Michael's side in a flash, still clutching his grandfather's journal.

  “I can still help you, JT,” Michael whispered, his voice thin.

  “Are you okay?” JT asked. “I'm sorry I got you into this.”

  “No. We need to get Kali.” Michael tried to lift his head, but Jenny placed it back onto the pillow. “The journal. Your grandfather's journal has all that you need. I know it tells a cool story, but in between the lines… You have to read carefully. Read what the words are telling you. You will figure out what you need to do then.”

  JT gazed at the journal, now shiny and new. “Why didn't you read between the lines when you had control of Godwin?” JT asked.

  Although he was skeptical, he knew that Michael, in his condition, would not leave him astray. When real pain invades a body, it opens the heart to the truth.

  “I didn't—no, wait—I don't have the same heart as you. I am not as brave as you are, JT.” Michael grabbed JT's arm. “You are a much better person than I am.”

  “Don't be so sure of that, Michael. I don't have a clue about what I'm doing. To tell you the truth, I feel like it would be better if I was nowhere near here, hurting everyone around me.” JT hung his head and shook it.

  “Don't say that, JT. Read the journal. You'll understand.” Michael shut his eyes. JT began to understand the severity of his friend’s injuries.

  “Is he going to be okay?” JT asked.

  “I think he will.” Homer's voice boomed from behind him. “He really took a beating from that monster.”

  “Why didn't you do anything to stop him?” JT asked. His instinct still told him that Homer was the Essence, Billy, in disguise.

  “What would you have had me do, JT? Kill him? Lay siege to his castle? Splatter his insides around the wall?” Homer began organizing the cabinets in the room.

  “I don't know.” JT paused a second. “Yes?” His voice was weak.

  “What would that have really solved? Do you think that that would have been the end? Do you think that his followers would not come after you?” Homer took a deep breath. “JT, I don't pick sides.”

  “What do you mean, you don't pick sides? You picked our side in Bruinduer.”

  “I don't know what you are talking about JT. I am a man of peace.”

  “I thought you were God!” JT's voice became louder.

  “God? Me? You must have mistaken me for someone or something else. But, even if I were God, you would still have one question to answer.” Homer walked away from JT. As he reached the door, he looked back. “Why is a raven like a writing desk?”

  “What? I don't know and I don't care. Why is everyone so cryptic?” JT was exhausted. “I just want an answer and to be with Kali.”

  “Well, then. My advice to you is to be prepared. You won't like what you see when you find her, I promise, but remember Kwaida is with you.” Homer disappeared into the halls of the church.

  Michael called for JT restlessly. “JT?” He reached for Ol’ Captain Luke's journal. “The book, read the book.”

  JT's heart raced; his palms were wet with sweat and his breath came faster. “I can't breathe.”

  He heaved in great gasps of air, clutching his chest. His face flushed, then lost any sign of color. He could feel his lips tremble.

  The room began to spin and he couldn't think what to do next, he felt so lost. He clutched his grandfather's journal, running out of the Egleese and into the cold air. His feet sank into the foot of snow on the ground and streets, but the cold did not bother him. Numb to his surroundings, he ran as hard as he could, the vapor of his breath trailing him.

  Soon his wits caught up with him, the cold chomped at his skin, and the elements overcame him. He huddled beneath a tree in the snow, holding the journal to his chest. Before he knew it, he began to fall asleep. He could not control it and didn’t want to. He welcomed the dark. He was safe inside of his own mind.

  His thoughts swirled into a dream. He pictured himself back on the Shorts' farm. The sun rose over the big oak tree over the Ol' 22 and the warmth of its beams struck his cheeks. Was he back at the farm? Had this all been a dream?

  The wind kissed his nose, comforting him. Even though he did not know the story of his childhood, he knew that the Shorts' farm was his home, the only home he did know. What do all creatures have to have to live? The question echoed in his mind. He felt the dirt under his feet, then a
strong grip on his shoulder. He whirled around; to his surprise, it was Gregory.

  “Hello, boy,” the man's voice rumbled.

  “Are you real?” JT asked.

  “It all depends on what you think is real. Some of us believe that what happens in the mind when one dreams is just as real as anything that happens as we are awake.” Gregory smiled.

  “Yeah, you might be real, but you're not Gregory.” JT crossed his arms.

  Gregory laughed and, with each laugh, his voice morphed deeper and deeper.

  He knew he was caught, so Gregory's body quickly morphed into Billy’s.

  “Figured,” JT said, calm, but not enthused. He remembered feeling comforted by the Essence in Bruinduer, when fighting Charlie got tough, but now he felt a sense of drudgery. He was not angry like before, but tired of being put in situations that he could not understand, especially with Kali's life in danger.

  “I don't understand why you just don't stop all of this. Why don't you just save everyone?”

  “I can. But I won't.” Billy sighed. “I know you are frustrated. As you will learn, I do not take sides.”

  “Cryptic,” JT responded, emotionally exhausted. He held nothing back. “So if you don't take sides, are you meeting with that madman, the Munch, in his dreams, playing like you care for him, like you are me right now?”

  Billy was silent for a moment. “You can never understand. I wish you could, but you will just have to trust me. Let whatever happens, happen.” Billy smiled. His once cracked teeth were bright.

  “Who are you, anyway?” JT asked.

  “How is a raven like a writing desk?” Billy asked.

  “Jeez. Just tell me. I wish you would just tell me.” JT's mind was in a tunnel.

  “You are about to embark on a task that will not be easy. Horrible things will happen. And you will see things that you never imagined. Your journey will be difficult, and you will want to give up.” Billy began to fade.

  The warm air in JT's vision moved across the stalks of corn. JT reached for Billy. “Then why do it?”

  “Despite the pain, despite the hardship, it is worth it for you.” Billy vanished in a blink.

  JT felt his body shake from the cold and his eyes popped open. He woke up with a mouth full of snow.

  “I can't run away,” JT mumbled to himself. He brushed the snow from his clothes and made his way back to the Egleese. “Kali needs me. I promised her.” He reached back into his thoughts and remembered the many times he told her that he would protect her no matter the cost.

  As soon as JT felt the warmth of the Egleese on his face, Jenny ran from the back room where Michael still lay injured. “He's gone!” she yelled. “He snapped. We tried to stop him, but he just left.”

  “Calm down. Michael's gone?”

  “No,” Jenny explained. “Arthur. He's gone. He told us he had to get to his daughter; he had been too weak for her and he had to go to her now. We tried to stop him, but he pushed Homer to the ground and left.” Jenny hugged JT. “Are you okay? This is just getting way out of control. I'm scared.”

  JT held Jenny tight. “I know. I am. too, but we need to get to Kali. We may be too late to help Arthur.”

  JT struggled to the back room, the stress of the situation weighing heavily on his shoulders. He sat nervously on the bed beside Michael. Michael lay quietly, his breath wispier with every exhale. JT was there for a moment before Michael opened his eyes.

  “I knew you'd be back.” Michael sounded tired.

  JT's heart pounded. He could barely get the words out, but knew he had to do what needed to be done. “I'm scared Michael.” The back of his throat tightened. “I need your help.'

  Michael took a deep breath. Anxiety emptied from his body; he had earned JT's trust again.

  “You need to get the journal, JT, and I'll teach you how to read it.” Michael labored to sit up in his bed. “I'll teach you more of the secrets I have Iearned from it.”

  JT picked up the journal. Though it appeared new in Bruinduer, he felt the history between its pages when he opened it. He smelled the leather and paper as the cover fell open, and he was reminded of the Shorts' farm. He also caught a fleeting memory. A vision flashed before his eyes. For a reason he could not explain, he remembered a man, one that he recognized but did not know, who opened the book in front of him. Wake up sleeper, he heard in the back of his mind.

  JT took a deep breath, “I'm ready.”

  “Your grandfather wrote his stories as he experienced them, but I am not sure he knew what he was giving away while he was writing,” Michael started. “You see, in each of the stories there is a meaning that ties everything together, a larger story. It is a road map to what Bruinduer is all about.”

  “What's that?” JT asked.

  “You'll find out.” Michael coughed. “Turn to the story where your grandfather wrote on March 13.”

  JT turned to the beginning. “I read this before. I can't believe what that madman started.”

  “Right, JT, the madman. But if you read it in a larger context, your grandfather is talking about all of us. He explains that not only is the Munch capable of doing these acts, but, if they are not vigilant, other men are also capable of them—even ourselves. Humans, not just one isolated man in an isolated country, have the uncanny ability to commit atrocities. Your grandfather writes that, if he looks deep into himself, he will be able to hunt the creature down.”

  “So you are saying that my grandfather is built the same as the Munch?” JT asked.

  “Exactly,” Michael confirmed. “But your grandfather also alluded to what would help him in his quest.”

  “God?”

  “Yes, JT. God,” Michael answered. “God is the one thing the Munch does not rely on, that your grandfather did. He knew that he could gaze inside at his evil side to catch the Munch, but he also knew that the Munch did not care about God.”

  “This sounds familiar,” JT observed.

  “Yes. It is very familiar,” Michael responded.

  “When you met Charlie in Bruinduer, you identified with the Munch more than Billy. You used that to turn from Billy. You found out about—“

  “You are right, JT,” Michael interrupted, sighing. “We thought we could control it. We thought we could do better than the Munch and better than Billy. We didn't think he was real. I know better now.”

  “So Billy is—?”

  The room's door was flung open, revealing Homer. “There is someone here to see you. Tread carefully; he is only a messenger.”

  JT entered the large hall of the Egleese. A young man stood just outside the hole in the glass, in the blistering wind and snow, with a basket of fruit. He was no more than eleven years old, one of the few children JT had seen in Bruinduer, besides himself and his traveling companions.

  “I bring you peace,” the young boy began. JT identified his light accent as Caribbean, possibly Haitian.

  “What do you want? Why are you here?” JT kept the questions civil but firm.

  “You are invited to the Balance.” The young boy held out the fruit.

  JT snapped and threw the fruit to the ground. He jerked the boy by his collar, but the boy did not flinch. He went limp into JT hands.

  JT wanted to scream and beat Kali’s location out of him, but he could not. He looked over the boy, who probably had no idea why JT was acting like he was, then gently let him go.

  “Where and what is this Balance I am invited to?” JT asked, trying to soften his voice.

  The boy looked confused, as though JT should know the answer.

  “Tell me what the Balance is.” JT's voice grew louder.

  “Please.” JT heard Homer's voice from behind. “Run along, young man. Tell your master that he will be there.”

  The young boy glanced at Homer, shaking with fright, then turned and darted off into the blinding snow and wind.

  Homer placed his hand on JT's shoulder. He could feel the uneasiness in his stance. His back was rigid, but his shoulders
were slumped. He buried his chin into his chest.

  “I really need help.” JT did not turn around, but he took comfort from Homer’s touch. Homer had to be Billy.

  “You have help, JT. You are not alone. I know it feels that way. It feels like the world is crumbling in on you and there is no one there to help, but that is not true.” Homer's voice was gentle. A sweet smell hovered over his robe.

  “Michael is injured. Arthur—who knows where he went, and you… I know you'll only tell me that I have to find out this and that on my own. I'm sunk.” JT’s voice wavered and cracked.

  “Turn around and you will see your helper. It is usually the unexpected ones around us who actually have already helped and are willing to do more. As I think I heard somewhere before, all you have to do is ask.”

  JT felt Homer pull his shoulder to turn him around. His heart almost bounced through his shirt. Homer was Billy, so now, when he turned around, JT hoped he would see the giant monster that blew up his grandfather's door or a gallant knight on a horse, ready to cut through his enemies.

  Without hesitation, he whirled around. Homer had vanished. JT saw Jenny coming out of the room where Michael lay injured.

  “You?” JT asked, his voice trailing off at the end. He felt as though he had lost a bet.

  “Me?” Jenny responded.

  “You're going to help me get all of this straight?” JT asked sarcastically. He couldn't believe that Billy would give him Jenny to help.

  “Of course I'll help you, JT.” Jenny's voice cracked. “That's why I came here with you, right?”

  Jenny had helped him save his grandfather's house, but JT had no idea what lay before them and what obstacles they'd find.

  As Kali had once said, Billy was playing one of his games. JT still could not remember much, but now he knew what she meant by the statement. If his grandfather was right and Billy was anything like God, then what was the deal? Why not just have Billy figure everything out and fix it, like JT had asked so many times before?

  “Homer gave me this piece of paper with where we need to go.” Jenny walked over to JT and gently gave him the letter.

  My dearest JT,

  As I told you, what lies before you is riddled with danger and pain, but, because the emotion I know you feel for Kali, I feel you are willing to see this through.

  You must return to the castle when the moon rises over the tree line. If I am right, that will be about two hours from now. Within the walls of the palace, there is a square. In that square, you will find what you are looking for, but be warned, you will not like what you see. You will want to act, but I beg you not to. The time will not be right. Listen.

  How is a writing desk like a raven?

  Homer

  P.S. Wake up, sleeper!

  JT's knees hit the ground. The amber haze he had seen before, the amber haze he had sought along this journey, pleasantly flooded his brain. The time, his time, ran backwards.

  Flashes of his life passed before him. He flashed back to the courtroom with Jenny. Time ran back to when he, Michael, and Kali stood in front of the mahogany door before their first trip to Bruinduer. It ran back further and the wind blew as he stood in the cold outside of Warhead Dale. He felt Billy's breath singe his cheek. The time ran back as he and Michael drove away from the Shorts' farm. The time rewound as Michael drove up the dirt service road right before he met him for the first time. Present day JT had a flash of a thought: that had been the exact moment his life changed.

  Time rewound faster and faster. He remembered time he spent washing George and Gracie. He remembered times he spent with Louise and Gregory on the porch of the farmhouse in the summer or admiring a rare winter's snow. He remembered plowing the Ol’ 22 with Gregory and Gregory’s lessons about life and how to be a man. The clock rewound more and he remembered Louise driving him out to the farm, while he gripped his cane tightly, feeling nervous about barely remembering who he was or where he came from. He remembered his doctor talking with him and telling him that his mother had died in a terrible car crash. He remembered a blond boy visiting with him one night he could not have remembered before. He remembered lying on his back staring at the roof of an ambulance racing down the street, the paramedic telling him to hang on and keep breathing, just a little longer.

  The scene slowed down as he felt a sharp pain shoot through his head and his knee, then he rose out of a wooden porch and his eyes forced themselves upward. He heard a terrible noise. A sound of metal crunching, bending, and ripping tore through his ears. Then, as he looked forward, the time loop stopped and began to play forward in slow motion.

  He could see it right before him. He thought hard and believed he could actually touch the scene if he reached far enough. He saw a truck, a large water truck, just feet from his mother's car as she finished backing out into the street. His arm stretched out in front of him. He could feel the regret gorge his body.

  Then he wanted time to rewind further. He wanted to remember before the accident, but the time slowed to a halt.

  Just like that, the time moved forward and flashed before him in what seemed like a few seconds. A flash of light burst in his mind and he heard a loud scream. JT woke up in Jenny's arms.

  She sure is beautiful, he thought.

  She had wrapped JT in furs. “Are you okay?” Jenny asked. Her eyes twinkled in the cold and she smelled fresh, her breath still had a tint of mint.

  “Yeah,” JT answered. “You found me.”

  He felt warm in her arms. Then he flashed back to the sands of Bruinduer, where he and Kali lay in the debris field of the Bridge of Common explosion. He knew he had to get to her.

  Jenny turned over the piece of paper Homer left, and they found a small map that led to a secret passage to the castle. JT fumbled around, gathered himself, and rose to his feet. He shook some warmth into his body, then he and Jenny disappeared in the frigid twilight.