The Reality Bug

by D. J. MacHale

  “How can this be, Pendragon?” Loor asked.

  I turned back and saw the black door we had just entered through. We were definitely inside the strange building called the Barbican, but it sure as heck didn’t feel like we were indoors. I looked up expecting to see a ceiling, but all I saw was blackness. I half expected to see stars, but that would have been impossible. Then again, when you were inside the fantasy of a genius inventor, maybe nothing was impossible.

  “This is Zetlin’s world,” I answered. “I think we have to be ready for anything.”

  A narrow path cut through the thick foliage. It was the only way to go. Loor took the lead, pushing past me and walking boldly down the path to somewhere. It reminded me of the way she took the lead down in the dark mine tunnels of Denduron. Only this time, neither of us had any idea where we were going.

  Loor walked quickly, pushing away the leafy branches that hung over the trail. I had to hang back a few feet or I would have gotten whacked by the branches as they swung back after she passed.

  “What was that?” she asked, stopping short.

  I heard it too. It sounded as if something were scurrying around in the underbrush, but it was so dense, it was impossible to see anything. Whatever was in there, I sure hoped it was just as hard for it to see us, too. We stood there for a second, listening, but the only sound we heard was the drip of moisture falling from the large, leafy plants.

  “Keep going,” I suggested.

  Loor continued on. “What are we looking for?” she asked over her shoulder.

  “I don’t know, but I bet we’ll know it when we see it.”

  A minute later the path led us to a clearing in the jungle. It was a wide open, circular space that looked as if it had been cleared for a jungle campground. All the plant life had been neatly cut away in a circle. I could see the sliced-off ends of branches all around, as if somebody had come through with a monster weed whacker. We walked to the center of the clearing, and stopped when we both heard more rustling in the bushes. We shot each other a look. Something was definitely out there.

  “Dr. Zetlin?” I called out.

  No answer. No more rustling, either.

  “What kind of place is this, Pendragon?” Loor asked.

  “There are jungles like this on Second Earth,” I answered. “But Zetlin isn’t from Second Earth so I have no clue what to expect.”

  At that exact instant, something shot out of the bushes. It was a long vine. But it was like it had been shot from a gun, because the vine flew right for us. Loor and I ducked back and the vine barely missed us. The end flew into the bushes on the far side and attached to something so that it stretched across the clearing like a rope.

  Before we had the chance to react, another vine shot out the same way. Only this one flew behind us before attaching to a tree on the far side. Loor and I now stood between the two ropelike vines.

  “Does this happen on Second Earth?” Loor asked.

  “No, and I don’t like it. C’mon,” I said.

  We ducked under the vine and ran for the far end of the clearing, where the path continued. As we ran, more vines shot from the bushes. They were coming fast now, shooting every which way—in front of us, over our heads, behind us. In seconds Loor and I were surrounded by a tangle of taut vines. They built up quickly in front of the trail, blocking our passage. There was only one way to describe what it looked like.

  “Spiderweb,” I said.

  As if on cue, we heard more rustling in the bushes. The sound was much louder now. Whatever was making it was coming our way. Loor and I both looked back to see movement at the far edge of the clearing. There were a bunch of places where the foliage moved, making way for whatever was coming.

  I was dying to know what it was. On the other hand, I didn’t really want to die just to know what it was. If we were about to get attacked by a giant spider, I’d just as soon be someplace else. Loor didn’t waste time thinking. She lunged for the side of the clearing and grabbed a five-foot-long branch. It looked strong enough that in the right hands, it could do some damage.

  Loor had the right hands.

  “Whatever it is,” she announced, “if it charges, stay behind me.”

  I think we were both expecting to see a wild animal come out of the underbrush. Instead, what pushed its way out, slithering along the ground, looked more like a big cactus. Seriously. It was some kind of plant. It actually looked kind of pretty. It had a tubular body that was green and covered with thorns. The head was actually a violet-colored flower. The bud was pretty big too, about the size of a beach ball. It had large petals that opened and closed, like it was breathing.

  Loor and I stood and watched in wonder as more of these strange plants pushed their way into the clearing. The flower blossoms, or whatever they were, were all different colors. Bright pink, purple, deep blue, and brilliant yellow. I counted eight in all. It was like they were creeping into the clearing, taking a curious look at who their visitors were.

  “They’re kind of pretty,” I said.

  Wrong. On cue, all eight blossoms opened up and spit out vines that shot right at us! Whoa! One of the vines latched on to my arm, cutting into my jumpsuit. The thing had razor-sharp barbs on it! I quickly pulled it off, just as another wrapped around my ankle and yanked me to the ground. It then started pulling me toward it! One quick look at the plant showed me all I needed to know. Inside the blossoms were sharp, gnashing, fanglike growths. These beautiful plants were hungry, and we had wandered into their house for a bite … of us.

  “Loor!” I shouted.

  I didn’t need to. Loor had already gone to work with her whupping stick. She hacked like a lumberjack at the vine that had my leg. Two quick whacks and I was free, but the plant screamed. I swear, it actually screamed in pain. I jumped to my feet to see Loor was swinging her stick like crazy, batting away more vines that were shooting out of the plants at us.

  “The trail!” I shouted.

  I got behind her, grabbed the back of her jumpsuit and pulled her back toward the safety of the trail. As I pulled her back, she kept swinging away at the incoming missiles like she was in hyper batting-practice mode. She nailed most of them too, knocking them off course.

  I kicked at the spiderweb of vines that was blocking the path. They may have been dense, but they weren’t very strong because I could tear them down pretty easily. While I desperately tried to make an opening, Loor valiantly batted away the attacking vines. But there were too many of them. There was no way she could keep this up. I took a quick look back to see the toothy cactus plants were crawling closer, moving in for the kill.

  “Just run!” I shouted.

  Loor took one last swipe at an incoming vine, then turned with me and ran. We ducked through the opening in the web and sprinted along the narrow path. More vines zinged by our heads, trying to grab us and pull us back. As we got farther from the clearing, the vine attack tapered off. But we didn’t stop running. Still, I feared we could easily be heading toward another nest of those nasty barb-shooting cactus plants.

  After a few minutes of frantic chase, we both felt safe enough to take a rest. Good thing, too. My lungs were bursting out of my chest, that’s how hard we were running. I think being terrified had something to do with it too. I stood there with my hands on my knees, gulping for air. Loor, on the other hand, barely looked winded. She scanned the jungle for any more signs of movement.

  “There!” she announced.

  “Please don’t tell me it’s another hungry vegetable,” I gasped.

  As strange as this sounds, rising up from the middle of the jungle was a spiral staircase. It led up and out of the foliage and disappeared into the dark. At first my brain couldn’t compute why a spiral staircase would be in a dark jungle full of hungry predators. But then it hit me.

  “We’re inside a building,” I said. “That must lead up to the next floor.”

  “Do we climb?” Loor asked.

  “Do we have a choice?” I asked back.r />
  Loor took the lead and continued along the path until it brought us to the foot of the stairs. They were made of metal, and a quick tug told us they were solid enough. The whole structure was overgrown with vines, like the ones that had been shooting at us. I touched them to see if they might suddenly spring to life and start attacking, but nothing happened. I took a step back and looked up to where the stairs led, but all I saw was black.

  Loor gave me a quick look, then started to climb. I was right after her. The higher we got, the better view we had of the jungle below. The place was vast. But because it was so dense and dark, I couldn’t see all the way to the far walls of the building. At least I thought we were still in a building. None of this really made sense, but then again, if it was a fantasy, was it supposed to make sense? It probably did to Dr. Zetlin.

  After climbing for a few minutes, we found ourselves in darkness. Looking down below we saw the jungle, and to be honest, it was making my palms sweat. We were pretty high up. I was trying to figure how we would make our way back through the jungle to get out of here, when Loor stopped suddenly.

  “Trouble,” she said calmly.

  “What is it?” I asked, though I wasn’t sure I really wanted to know.

  I looked up to see we had reached the next level. The circular staircase continued up through a large round hole in the black ceiling. Loor reached her hand up through that hole, but when she pulled it back down, I felt drops of water on my head. Huh? She showed me her hand. It was wet.

  “I don’t get it,” I said, and climbed up past her. I put my hand up to the hole to find that it was actually a circle of water. As soon as I touched it, ripples spread out from my fingers, as if I were looking at an upside down pond. I had no idea how the liquid could be suspended like that and not gush down through the large opening. But it was and it didn’t.

  Loor said, “I am beginning to believe Dr. Zetlin does not like visitors.”

  “You think?” I said sarcastically. “We gotta go through this.”

  “Pendragon,” Loor said with a firm voice. “I cannot swim.”

  Oh, man, I’d forgotten. As incredible an athlete as Loor was, she was like a rock in the water. This was bad. I knew what had to happen next, and it made my stomach twist.

  “We gotta keep going,” I said, trying to sound confident. “I’ll check it out.”

  I really, really didn’t want to, but what else could I do? I could tell that Loor wanted to argue, but she knew there was no other way. So before I could chicken out, I took another step up so that my head was just below the ceiling of water. I took a couple of deep breaths to expand my lungs, then held the last breath and pushed my head up into the wet.

  The water was warm. That was one good thing. I only went in up to my shoulders and did my best to get a look around. There wasn’t a whole lot to see, but I think that was mostly because my vision was blurred by the water. What I wouldn’t have given at that moment for an air globe from Cloral! As it was, there was nothing to see when I looked around but wet blackness.

  Yet when I looked straight up, I saw light coming from above. I took a step back down and dropped out of the water. My head and shoulders were wet, but very little water spilled out from above. Unbelievable.

  “It’s a big pool,” I said. “This is the bottom, but I can’t tell how far it is to the surface.”

  Loor and I looked at each other. We both knew what had to happen next. Loor started yanking vines off the railing of the stairs.

  “I will tie one end to your ankle,” she explained.

  She was a few steps ahead of me. I was still trying to get my mind around the fact that I had to swim up into the unknown. Loor was already making sure I would get back to safety. She quickly tore off a length of vine that was plenty long enough for this adventure. If I swam upward for the full length of this vine and still hadn’t found the surface, there would be no way I’d have enough air in my lungs to make it back to the hole.

  Loor tied one end around my ankle, then stood and faced me.

  “I will hold on to your waist,” she said. “Please do not lose me.”

  “Whoa, you’re not coming!”

  “It is better that we stay together and make the trip only once,” she explained.

  She didn’t show a touch of fear, though she had to be terrified. Man, this girl was brave. I wasn’t sure which was worse, taking her with me, or risking the trip by myself and having to do it twice. I decided that as long as Loor was game, we’d go together.

  “Okay,” I said. “But if we don’t find the surface right away, we’re coming right back.”

  Loor nodded. She tied the other end of the vine around the railing of the stairs. With a quick tug, she made sure it was secure. The rest of the vine she placed in a coil on one of the stairs. Loor then stood behind me, and wrapped her arms around my waist. I could feel the strength in those arms. I sure hoped she didn’t get too scared, or she’d break me in half.

  “If you start running out of breath, give me two quick squeezes,” I instructed. “I’ll turn us around and get right back here.”

  “I understand,” she said.

  Loor was focused, battling her fear. There was no way I was going to let anything happen to her. We stood together with my head just below the water.

  “Take some deep breaths,” I said. “You’ll be able to hold your breath longer.”

  We both took three deep breaths, holding the third. With a quick nod, we both walked up into the water.

  We had to move fast. Every second counted. It was a strange feeling. A second before, we were standing on stairs with gravity pulling us down. Now the water took over, and we were pulled the other way, up. I started doing the breaststroke, spearing my hands up, then pulling a downward stroke with as much power as I had. Loor held tight and her weight was a huge drag. It didn’t matter. All I could focus on was getting to the surface as fast as possible. There was no way of knowing how far it was. After about five strokes, I started thinking about turning back, because it was going to be a lot harder to swim down than up. I made a quick decision. Five more strokes and we’d turn around.

  That’s when I heard a strange sound. It was high-pitched, like an engine. Of course, it was hard to know where it was coming from because we were underwater. But there was one thing for sure: Whatever it was, it was getting louder. That meant it was getting closer.

  I took a quick look straight ahead and saw lights in the distance. There were five of them at our level, underwater. They looked like flashlight beams, headed our way. Fast. Whatever they were, they were definitely making the whining sound.

  I didn’t know what to do. Were these lights a threat? Should I turn around and get us back down to the hole? Should I pull even harder and hope we would reach the surface? Should we stay where we were and defend ourselves?

  I didn’t have time to decide because in seconds they were on us. All five lights dipped down and passed underneath us so fast that I couldn’t get a good look at what they were. They didn’t hit us, but as soon as they shot beneath, I felt a hard tug that forced me to stop swimming. I knew instantly what had happened. A quick look down confirmed it.

  Whatever those speeding lights were, they severed the vine that was our lifeline to the bottom. The cut end drifted up next to me. We were floating free.

  That’s when Loor gave me two quick squeezes. She was running out of air.

  We were trapped in a watery limbo.

  I had to keep swimming for the surface.

  We were too far away from the hole at the bottom to get back down. Besides, without the vine to guide us there was no guarantee I would even find it. No, the choice was clear. Swim up like crazy, or drown.

  I kept doing the breaststroke as hard as I could. I really wished I could have kicked my legs, too, but Loor was wrapped around my lower body. My lungs were starting to ache. I think I was swimming so hard that it burned up whatever oxygen I had left.

  An idea hit me: Press the button on my contr
ol bracelet and end the jump. If we didn’t reach the surface in a few seconds it would be our only hope. But it was the last resort and there was no guarantee it would even work. Keep swimming.

  A few agonizing seconds passed and we were still underwater. I was starting to black out. We had to get air, now. Time to abort. I reached for my control bracelet, but at the exact moment before I bailed us out, something splashed down into the water only a few yards away. Whatever it was, it was pretty big and moving fast because it made a dramatic boom when it hit the water. But I didn’t care what it was. All I knew was that if something made a splash like that, we had to be near the surface. So I didn’t hit the button, and made two more desperate strokes for air.

  A moment later I broke the surface, followed right behind by Loor, both gasping for air. We had made it! But there wasn’t time to celebrate because we now faced another danger. Loor couldn’t swim. I had to change gears fast, and take care of her. She was already starting to flail in the water. If she clocked me by accident, I’d be out cold, and we’d both be sunk. Literally.

  “Relax,” I commanded. “Float on your back, Loor. I got you.”

  Loor rolled onto her back. She was breathing hard and her eyes were wild, but she tried to relax. I held her head above the surface and started to tread water.

  “We’re okay,” I said, trying to sound soothing. “Let’s just catch our breath and we’ll get out of here.”

  I took the chance to look around to get my bearings. The cavernous space we were floating in was pitch black, and like the jungle below, I couldn’t see the far walls of this incredible fantasy building. Again the ceiling disappeared into black. But there was something odd in the air above us. Floating midair all over this huge space were colorful, brightly lit globes. They looked to be about two feet in diameter, with each glowing a different neon color. Orange, red, green, yellow. There must have been a hundred of them, all floating in the air above us at different levels.