The Necropolis

by PJ Hoover

  “Safe where?” Benjamin persisted.

  Helios held up his hand. “We can’t risk his mission by talking about it, Selene. You know that.”

  Selene nodded. “Yes, I know that. But I think Benjamin has a right to know his twin, though on a mission of the utmost importance, is nonetheless safe.”

  Benjamin decided to give it one last try. “Can you at least tell me what continent he’s on?”

  Helios shook his head. “We can’t risk talking about it, Benjamin. I’m sure you understand.”

  Benjamin sighed. He didn’t understand. “It’s not like I’m going to tell anyone.”

  Helios silenced Selene before she could respond. “With telepathy as a standard weapon, even promises and secrets cannot be trusted,” he said.

  By the time all of Benjamin’s questions had been answered—okay, by the time all his questions had been asked and some of them answered—ten o’clock had rolled around. Benjamin and Jack said goodbye to the Deimos twins and headed back to the school.

  Andy still wasn’t home. And Gary snored from the other side of the room, so Benjamin decided to go right to bed. He’d have to get serious about finding his other brother tomorrow.

  CHAPTER 5

  Protoplasm Imprints

  Andy slept in and didn’t look like he was going to wake up anytime soon, so Benjamin and Gary headed out to the city. Benjamin didn’t feel like bringing up Heidi or the double date, and Gary was smart enough not to mention it.

  Benjamin told Gary he didn’t care what they did, but he regretted it the second it was out of his mouth; he was sure they’d end up at the library or something. But by some stroke of luck, Gary suggested a visit to The Silver Touch.

  The store owner Morpheus Midas greeted them when the entry bell chimed—which it didn’t always do. “Called back to Lemuria for good, I hear.”

  Benjamin laughed. “I’m not sure about for good, but at least for a while.” And then he realized Morpheus probably knew more about it then he did. “So what gives?”

  Morpheus looked over his shoulder toward the back of the store before turning back around and answering. “It has to do with the teleporter problems,” Morpheus whispered.

  “Yeah, so I’ve heard.” And then Benjamin remembered something which had been nagging at his mind since the summer. Something from Benjamin’s visit to Lemuria a thousand years in the past. “So what’s Walker Pan been up to these days?”

  Morpheus reached down and picked up a black knight from the Ammolite chess board. “You know, to tell you the truth, since Gary here beat him and made him lose the chess set, I haven’t seen or heard from him.”

  Benjamin threw up a mind block around the three of them. “What exactly does a teleportation scrambler do?”

  Morpheus actually dropped the knight, but Benjamin had been expecting this and caught it mid-air with telekinesis.

  “How do you know about those?” Morpheus asked. “They’re illegal, not to mention not even manufactured anymore.” He looked back toward his basement again.

  “I’m not trying to buy one,” Benjamin said. “And don’t worry. I don’t care if you have any in the basement.”

  “I only have one,” Morpheus said quickly. “And it’s tiny—hardly able to stop the teleportation of a marble.”

  “So how about a large scale one?” Gary asked, obviously catching on to Benjamin’s line of thinking. “What could it do, and how would someone go about getting one?”

  Morpheus set both of his hands on the chess board, steadying himself. “A large scale teleportation scrambler would cause world-wide teleportation problems.”

  “Exactly like Lemuria is seeing now,” Benjamin finished.

  “Yes,” Morpheus said. “Exactly like all of the Earth is seeing now.”

  Gary shoved his glasses farther up on his nose. “Where does someone get one?”

  Morpheus shook his head. “Teleportation scramblers of that magnitude haven’t been manufactured in Lemuria for a thousand years. Getting one today would be nearly impossible.”

  But not getting one in the past just like Benjamin had seen Walker Pan do one thousand years ago. He knew Walker Pan wasn’t on the level. It didn’t even take an illegal teleportation scrambler to solidify the thought in Benjamin’s brain. He’d known it since they first learned he cheated at the Bangkok Chess Open.

  “Bingo,” Benjamin said silently to only Gary. “Walker must be behind the teleportation failures.”

  “I could have told you that last summer,” Gary said. “The guy’s a snake.”

  But it still made no sense. Why would Walker Pan mess with teleportation systems worldwide? But, come to think of it, why would his son, Magic Pan, mess with the school menu system?

  They left the Silver Touch after Gary ogled the chess board just a little bit longer. Benjamin basically had to pull Gary away, and then only after Morpheus had promised Gary a weekly game. Benjamin felt pretty sure Morpheus wanted someone to play with as much as Gary wanted to play, so all in all, it was a win-win situation.

  It was only after they’d made it halfway down Mu Way that Heidi finally contacted them.

  “Hey,” she said.

  Benjamin jumped when he heard her voice in his head.

  “Hey what?” He hoped he sounded cool.

  “Where are you guys?” she asked. “I thought we were all gonna do something today.”

  “We are,” Benjamin replied. “It’s just that our today already started a couple hours ago.”

  Telepathically she giggled. “Yeah, I guess Iva and I overslept a little bit.” And then she must have caught herself. “Anyway, Andy just got here, so we’ll come meet you guys.”

  “Yeah, whatever,” Benjamin said. “We’re meeting Aurora at the Crags.”

  It’s not like Benjamin was jealous of Josh. And he certainly only thought of Heidi as a friend. But she just acted so stupid whenever Josh was around. And then there was seeing Andy and Iva together constantly. Talk about feeling like a total outcast. And all Gary wanted to do was spend time in some boring science lab. Benjamin decided he’d just have to make a point of excluding them all some in the future.

  “That sounds so pathetic,” Jack said, teleporting to the top of the Crag where Benjamin sat.

  Benjamin jumped up at the intrusion and attempted to step on the Nogical. Jack teleported out of the way.

  “Watch where you’re stepping,” Jack said.

  “Keep your mind reading to yourself,” Benjamin said. “You’re worse than Heidi.”

  “Work on your telejamming some more,” Jack replied. “Then you’d be able to keep me out of your mind. Until then, deal with it.” Without waiting for a reply, Jack teleported away, leaving Benjamin alone to watch the waves crash over and over on the shore below.

  Benjamin rolled his eyes but sat back down, glancing at Gary and Aurora on the next Crag. Jack was right. It did sound pathetic. Exclude his friends intentionally. What was happening to his brain?

  The wind blew through the Crags, making Benjamin appreciate the fact that he could control his body’s sensitivity to the winter. Nonetheless, he pulled his sleeves down.

  “Maybe you should have brought a coat,” Andy said.

  Benjamin turned at the new interruption. Andy, Heidi, and Iva had just crested the top of the large eagle’s head.

  “My coat teleported away in the moving truck. I have no clue where it went.” And his mom still hadn’t gotten around to sending him half his stuff. She’d claimed she was too busy with the twins and Becca—which actually made a lot of sense given the trouble the twins could get into.

  “Hey,” Heidi said, walking over toward Benjamin. “Are you hungry?”

  Had she heard his stomach growling or just read his mind? “Starving.” Benjamin had skipped the cabbage soup and oatmeal this morning.

  Heidi smiled at him. “We stopped by the Deimos Diner for donuts.” She handed one over to him. “It’s your favorite kind.”

  Man, Heidi really had a ni
ce smile. Not that Benjamin noticed. But there was just something about it that made his insides feel kind of squishy and warm.

  He reached out to take the donut, but was so busy thinking about her smile, he dropped it. Heidi moved to catch it but lost her balance.

  “Heidi!” Iva cried.

  And then Benjamin wasn’t quite sure what happened next. All he knew was that he ended up standing down by the tail of the Crag with Heidi in his arms. She was grabbing hold of him for dear life.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, setting her down.

  “Yeah,” she said. “I think so. Good thing you caught me.”

  But she was shaking like she was totally not okay. And come to think of it, so was he.

  “Stay there,” Andy called over the side. “We’ll be right down.”

  By the time Andy and Iva teleported down, Gary and Aurora had joined them, too. And Benjamin had almost gotten his shaking under control.

  “Whoa,” Aurora said. “That was amazing, Benjamin.”

  “What?” Benjamin asked.

  “What?” Gary said. “Are you kidding, dude? That was about the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.”

  “I just caught Heidi,” Benjamin replied. Why were they looking at him like he was some superhero? Not that anything was wrong with that.

  “Just caught Heidi?” Aurora said. “One second she fell to her death, and another second later, and voilà, you teleported down here and caught her.”

  “Yeah,” Andy said. “I have to admit it. Those were some quick reflexes.” And for once Benjamin didn’t detect any jealousy from Andy when he said it.

  “I teleported?” Benjamin asked. He looked at Heidi who gave him a weak smile in return.

  “And it’s a good thing too,” Heidi said. “Since I can’t levitate worth a darn.”

  He smiled and noticed her hair had turned gray. “You look seriously old.”

  She pulled a piece around and looked at it. “Yikes!” And it shifted to blond. And Benjamin went back to thinking about her smile.

  “Hey, did you guys see this?” Iva brushed off the side of the Crag’s tail. “It’s some kind of plaque.”

  “It’s a monument to the dead,” Aurora said as if that were the most normal thing in the world. Of course she did grow up in Lemuria. Maybe it was an everyday occurrence.

  “The dead?” Andy asked.

  “Yeah,” Aurora replied. “Remember I told you about it? The battle where every telegen who lived in this city was slaughtered? It was like a gazillion years ago or something.”

  Okay, Benjamin hoped that didn’t happen all the time.

  “How?” Heidi leaned over to look at the plaque. “I can’t read this.”

  “It’s in Ancient Lemurian,” Gary replied, walking over.

  “Which you know,” Andy added under his breath.

  “The plaque talks about the massacre,” Gary read. “Hundreds of thousands dead.”

  Iva shuddered. “I can feel their spirits. It’s like they’re still crying out for help.”

  “How did they die?” Benjamin asked.

  “Well, first they were forced into the tunnels, and then the entrances were sealed off,” Aurora said. “Then, fires were teleported inside, which of course burned the telegens alive.”

  “Why didn’t they just teleport out?” Andy asked.

  “Telejammers kept them from doing anything,” Aurora said. “The Crag Massacre is known as the bloodiest in Lemurian history. And Lemuria has a pretty long history.”

  Iva walked away from the Crag, heading toward the cliff walls. She held her arms around herself and continued shivering.

  Benjamin started over to her, but then he thought about it. Tunnels. Guardians.

  “That’s it!” he said.

  “What’s it?” Andy asked.

  “The answer to the riddle,” Benjamin replied. “Remember the words:

  Ghosts tell the tale of times gone by

  When guardians watched til the final cry.

  Their city fell as the end grew nigh.

  And tunnels hid them as they all did die.”

  By this time, Iva had turned back around, and everyone stared at him.

  “It’s the Crags,” Benjamin said. “The answer to the riddle is the Crags.”

  “Of course,” Iva said. “The ghosts are the telegens who died in the massacre.”

  Andy looked at her and laughed. She cast him her signature ice-cooling glare.

  “But ghosts aren’t real.” Andy held up his hands in defense.

  “Of course they are,” Gary replied. “It’s just a buildup of concentrated protoplasmic energy.”

  Andy looked at Gary like he’d just told them the sun had teleported out of the sky. The glasses might make Gary look smarter, but they didn’t make him any easier to understand.

  “Listen,” Gary sighed. “If a telegen, or a human for that matter, dies suddenly, all the protoplasm doesn’t have enough time to disperse which leaves behind a solid protoplasmic imprint of the person who used to be there. Like a ghostly fingerprint.”

  Okay, Benjamin had to admit it. At least Gary was trying to explain this ghost thing in simple terms. Even though it still didn’t make a lick of sense.

  “I’m willing to bet almost every single one of those telegens left an imprint inside those tunnels.” Gary nodded his head toward the tunnel entrances, high up in the cliff walls.

  They stared at him, and Benjamin had no idea how to respond, or even if it was time to respond.

  Gary threw up his arms. “There are ghosts in those tunnels! How much clearer can I be?”

  Andy was just about to open his mouth to reply when Heidi cut him off.

  “So what are we waiting for?” she said. “I’ll go first.”

  CHAPTER 6

  Benjamin Visits Ghosts

  They levitated to one of the elevated platforms outside of the tunnels. With the cold air whipping around, Benjamin figured anything would be better than standing outside. But still, images of ghosts didn’t bring out the most warming of thoughts. Benjamin gave one last glance to the stone guardians on the beach, took a deep breath, and started inside.

  “How far in do you think we have to go?” He tried telepathy but got no response.

  “How far in do you think we have to go?” he said audibly. It was so dark, he felt compelled to whisper. And even then his voice echoed.

  “I’m not sure,” Heidi said. “I can already sense spirits, but they aren’t interested in us.”

  “At least not in talking to us,” Aurora added.

  They walked in silence. Benjamin didn’t dare to breathe. It just felt kind of icky to be walking somewhere where you knew lots and lots of people had been slaughtered. He didn’t want to breathe in the protoplasm stuff Gary had mentioned. And then he felt something brush at his shoulder.

  “What was that?” he asked, wiping at it.

  “What was what?” Andy asked.

  “Something just touched me,” Benjamin replied.

  “You’re just imagining things,” Andy said.

  Andy was probably right. This place was eerie; who wouldn’t imagine things in here?

  They kept walking, but the farther they went, the darker it got. Even with incomparable telegen eyesight, Benjamin couldn’t see more than two feet in front of his face. He reached out to touch Aurora who’d been ahead of him, but his hand came up empty. Aurora was gone.

  Benjamin stopped walking and whipped around. Heidi bumped into him.

  “Why’d you stop?” she asked.

  “We’re lost,” Benjamin replied.

  “Lost?”

  “Yeah, lost.” With the black closing in around him, the word sounded hopeless to Benjamin.

  “Iva?” Heidi called out. “Andy?”

  No answer.

  “Gary?” Benjamin called. “Aurora?”

  Still no answer.

  “Try telepathy,” Benjamin said. Like she wouldn’t have thought of that.

  “I already d
id,” Heidi replied. “It’s useless. This place has so many telejammers, it makes my head ache.”

  Benjamin let out a small, nervous laugh that sounded a tad on the hysterical side. “Good. I thought it was just me.”

  “What do we do now?” Heidi asked, and her voice quivered when she spoke. “Should we turn back and try to find where we left the others?”

  Benjamin shook his head, though he wasn’t sure why he bothered. Heidi couldn’t possibly see him in the dark. “No. We should go on. With your empathic abilities, we probably have a better chance than them anyway.”

  “Okay,” Heidi replied. “But hold my hand so we don’t get separated.”

  No arguments there.

  They walked on in silence. Benjamin was afraid if he said anything, it would distract her. And being this far in an underground tunnel with only one way out left him feeling edgy.

  The wall, which seemed to be made of dirt and stone, curved left. And so they curved left, at least until Heidi stopped. “Do you feel that?” she asked.

  Benjamin did. It was like an outpouring of terror coming at him from all directions. “It must be pretty strong for me to pick up on it.” He stood still for a minute, listening, and with the darkness and the utter silence, Benjamin thought his heart was going to jump out of his chest. He could feel Heidi’s pulse beating as he held her hand and realized she was as nervous as he was.

  “They want us to walk forward,” he said. “They’re calling my name.”

  “I know,” Heidi said. “I can hear it. What do we do?”

  Benjamin shrugged, trying to act braver than he felt. “I think we walk forward. Slowly.”

  They started forward, side by side, still holding hands. Heidi’s grip tightened, not that Benjamin minded. It probably masked him doing the same to her. The empathic voices had become audible, creating a song of the dead. They blended together, a chorus of tethered spirits. Crying. Wailing. And saying his name. Benjamin Holt. He felt vaguely aware that it might be odd for ghosts tens of thousands of years old to know his name.

  And then a single voice in his mind took the lead, leaving the others to fill the background. “Come forward, Benjamin Holt.”