Raven Rise

by D. J. MacHale

  “But the computers no longer exist!”

  “Then research the old-fashioned way, with books and newspapers.”

  “I do not believe they exist either.”

  “Find them,” I snapped. “There have to be more people around like that Richard guy. You might come up with the one piece of information we’ll need to derail this whole thing.”

  Patrick frowned.

  “What’s the matter?” I asked, maybe a little too impatiently.

  “It’s unnerving on Third Earth” was his answer. “It’s like, every time I close my eyes, the entire world changes.”

  “I know. Chances are it’ll happen again. No, it better happen again.”

  “Excuse me?” Patrick exclaimed, horrified.

  “It’s the whole point. Once we start causing trouble on Second Earth, it should change things on Third Earth. For the better.”

  Patrick wasn’t happy.

  “I’m sorry, man,” I added with sympathy. “It’s where you can be the most help.”

  Patrick nodded. He knew. He didn’t like it, but he knew. He looked me right in the eye and said, “Promise me one thing. When it’s getting near the end, call for me. I don’t want to be watching from the sidelines anymore.”

  I had to smile. Patrick may have been a neurotic intellectual, but he was a Traveler. The good kind. He wanted to stop Saint Dane as badly as any of us. Alder and I each hugged him good-bye and watched as he stepped into the flume for his journey home.

  “Third Earth,” he called out, and waited for the flume to take him. Before the light enveloped him, he looked back and said, “Remember. I want to be there at the end.”

  I nodded. Though the truth was, I had no idea if I’d be able to call for him. I had no idea what to expect at home. I had no idea about anything. But I made him a promise. If I could, I would get him into the game. A moment later he was gone.

  “We should get out of these bloody clothes,” Alder suggested.

  I looked down at my filthy leather and fur clothes that were spattered with quig blood. Actually, it was more like they were drenched in quig blood.

  “Nah, I think we should show up like this.”

  “They will think we are savages.”

  “Maybe they’re right,” I said slyly. “Let’s go make a house call.”

  I clutched my blood-encrusted dado weapon, stepped into the flume, and called out “Second Earth.”

  Alder stepped next to me as the flume went hot. “I have never been to your territory,” he said. “What can I expect?”

  “I wish to heck I knew,” I said, and we were off.

  The trip through the flume was jarring. The ride itself was the same as always, but the images of Halla floating in space were so dense, it was hard to make out any one vision. The truth was obvious. Halla was in chaos. Faces jumbled on top of animals on top of buildings on top of armies. It was frightening. The destinies of the territories had been mixed, that much was clear. The question was, would we be able to do damage control? As I looked out onto that horrifying show, to say that I had doubts would be a huge understatement. I didn’t think we stood any chance at all.

  Thankfully, the trip was over quickly. I didn’t know how much more of that insanity I could stand. Before we landed, I realized that I didn’t know which gate we would show up at. Would it be in the basement of the Sherwood house? Or the temple that had been built around the flume in New York City? Either way, we had to be ready to deal with the security team of the guy called “Alexander Naymeer.” The guy who thought he was the Traveler from Second Earth. I wanted to meet that guy.

  I really wanted to meet that guy.

  The instant my feet touched ground, I knew where we were. It was dark. From what Patrick told me of the cathedral that had been built around the flume in New York, it was wide open and full of light. We were at a gate that was anything but wide open. We were in the root cellar of the Sherwood house. Naymeer’s home.

  Before I had a chance to focus, I felt a jolt of something blow through my body like an electric shock. My body went rigid. My head spun. My hands went limp and I dropped the dado weapon. I was aware of activity swirling around me, but I was too stunned to react. I sensed a jumble of arms and legs and men barking orders. I tried to stand and got hit with another jolt that made me see stars. It was so violent that I was thrown off my feet. I was vaguely aware that I was being dragged along, but I couldn’t tell where, that’s how out of it I was. Most of what I’m describing now I have to think back and try to piece together. At the time I was too stunned to think. My arms were held tight. I felt myself being carried up stairs. I knew they were stairs because my feet trailed behind and banged into each step as we climbed higher. At the top a door was pushed open, and I was dragged farther along. I tried to look around, but couldn’t focus. The place looked familiar, but I was too loopy to put it together. It wasn’t until I was thrown down on the floor that I saw something that made sense.

  “Bobby!” Courtney yelled, and ran over to me.

  It was like a dream. I’m not sure whether it was a good dream or a nightmare. Seeing Courtney was good. She sat down next to me and threw her arms around me. Looking around at the red-shirt guards who were standing over us was bad. They each carried short metal prods. I knew then what had hit me. They were carrying Tasers.

  “Are you okay? We haven’t heard from you in forever! We never thought you’d leave Ibara. And…and…” Courtney pulled back in disgust. “And you’re covered with blood. Yuck.”

  I tried to force the room to stop from turning sideways. It wasn’t easy. My arms weren’t being cooperative either. I tried to lift up, but it was next to impossible. It was the effects of the Taser. I realized that Alder was lying next to me in the same incoherent state. He had a dazed, faraway look in his eyes. So far I didn’t think he was a big fan of Second Earth.

  “Mark?” I mumbled to Courtney through lips that would barely move.

  “I’m here, Bobby.”

  I heard his voice from across the room. It was a voice I feared I would never hear again. It was lower than I remembered. We had grown up. The last time I saw him, he was diving into the crumbling flume on Eelong. How long ago was that? Years? So much had happened since then. I moved my wobbly head around to see Mark sitting in a chair on the far side of the room. I wondered why he didn’t come over to talk to me, but there were more things to worry about than etiquette. If he wanted to sit in that chair, that was okay. I didn’t particularly want to be sitting on the floor, but I didn’t have a choice.

  “You must be Bobby Pendragon,” a man said as he walked toward us.

  I slowly raised my head to see a slick-looking old guy. He was exactly as Patrick described him. The first thing I noticed was his perfect silver hair. It was like a helmet. Or robot hair. Why the heck did I notice something as dumb as that? He wore a suit like a business guy, but I knew we weren’t in an office. We were in the Sherwood house in Stony Brook. Patrick wasn’t kidding. This guy had set up housekeeping on top of the flume.

  He also claimed to be the Traveler from Second Earth.

  I felt some control returning. It’s amazing what’ll happen when your blood starts to boil.

  “Alexander Naymeer,” I gurgled.

  The guy looked shocked. I swear, it was like I had slapped him.

  “And how would you know that?” he asked, as if it were the best-kept secret of all time.

  I looked to Courtney. She was staring at me with a mix of curiosity and pride. It took every bit of concentration I had, but I winked at her. It was worth it. Courtney beamed. My strength was coming back. The effects of the Taser were wearing off. I didn’t want to let anybody know. I looked to Alder. He gave me a small wink. He was nearing okay too. I wasn’t sure if he was “fighting okay,” but I wasn’t planning on starting anything. Not yet, anyway. I looked at Naymeer and gave him the most confident smile I could manage with my numb lips and said, “I’ve been doing this a lot longer than you, Al.”
<
br />   I saw blood rush to his face. Naymeer was flustered. I’d only known the guy for a grand total of eight seconds, and I could already tell that he was used to being in charge and didn’t like being treated as an equal. The fact that I had just dropped in from another territory and knew who he was, threw him. Thank you, Patrick.

  “You have come at a perfect time,” Naymeer bellowed, pretending that I hadn’t thrown him. “Your friend Mark Dimond and I were discussing the glorious future we are going to share.”

  “You were?” Courtney said sarcastically.

  I knew exactly what the score was from Courtney’s reaction. Naymeer wanted something from Mark. Mark didn’t want to give it. I knew my friends.

  “Yes,” Naymeer said as he strode toward a big-old fancy desk. “Certainly you weren’t planning on choosing the other option, were you, Mark? Especially not now, when we have both your friends here. Along with this other…person. Who exactly are you?”

  “My name is Alder,” the knight answered. “I am the Traveler from the territory of Denduron.”

  “Denduron!” Naymeer bellowed. “I understand that events are moving along quite briskly there. How exciting it must be.”

  Even though I was a few feet away from him, I could feel Alder tense up. Naymeer had no idea how close he was to being clocked.

  “Now. Mark,” Naymeer continued. “We were discussing the future of KEM.”

  KEM. The company that made the dados. Things were starting to fold in on themselves again. Of course, I didn’t know the details, but I could tell that Naymeer had threatened Mark. It seemed as if Alder and I had dropped in at a critical moment. Yes, the flume had once again put us where we needed to be, when we needed to be there.

  Mark stayed seated. When he spoke, it was with a calm, assured voice. “We’re leaving, Naymeer. All of us.”

  Naymeer seemed taken aback, as if Mark had spoken in Swahili.

  “Apparently you do not appreciate the gravity of your situation,” Naymeer said with a puzzled look. “I am not giving you a choice. If you do not sign over your piece of KEM, I will have you killed. I will kill the girl. Now it appears as if I will also have to end the lives of two more Travelers. Is that the choice you are making?”

  I was feeling stronger by the second. A quick scan of the room told me there were two guards with Tasers. Two on two. That wouldn’t be fair. At least, not once Alder and I got back up to speed. The ball was definitely in Mark’s court. I hoped he knew what to do with it.

  He stood up and said, “We’re leaving, and you’re going to give us one of your cars.”

  Naymeer sat back in his chair, stunned. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. I wasn’t so sure I believed it either. I didn’t know much of anything at that point.

  Naymeer looked at his two guards as if they might have an answer. They didn’t. Guards never did. He finally asked with dismay, “What makes you think I would allow that?”

  I wanted to hear this. I think we all did, no matter what side we were on.

  Mark didn’t hesitate. He didn’t stutter. “You are an important person, Naymeer. Heads of governments look to you. Heads of religions look to you. You are about to go before the United Nations General Assembly to try to convince the entire planet that they should follow you.”

  “And?” Naymeer said, intrigued.

  “How would it look if someone in authority were to walk in here right now and find us? Two young people you kidnapped and a couple of bloodied knights from another territory? How do you think that would go over at the UN?”

  A quick look of doubt crossed Naymeer’s face as he surveyed the room and the odd group of people assembled.

  “Why on Earth do you think I would let anyone come in here?” Naymeer asked.

  Mark smiled. He really smiled. I’d never seen him so confident. My buddy Mark Dimond had changed.

  “You’re a smart guy, Naymeer. Just not smart enough to keep an eye on us while your guardians wrestled with my friends here.”

  “What are you saying?” Naymeer asked with growing impatience.

  Mark stepped aside to reveal a table next to the chair where he was sitting. I realized why he hadn’t gotten up when Alder and I were thrown into the room. Sitting on the table…was a telephone.

  Naymeer saw the phone and let out a small gasp.

  “You didn’t have the chance to call anyone,” he said with confidence, though the hitch in his voice proved that he wasn’t entirely sure.

  “Three words,” Mark said. “Numbers actually. Nine-one-one. I’m guessing in about five minutes the Stony Brook police are going to be knocking on your door, wondering why you called.”

  “Oh yeah!” Courtney shouted, then looked to Naymeer. “In your face!”

  “Take them to the basement!” Naymeer commanded to his guards.

  One guard made a move toward me, raising his Taser. Bad move. He thought I was still stunned. I wasn’t. I deflected his move and jammed the heel of my palm into his chest. I actually felt the air leaving his lungs as he collapsed. A quick look over my shoulder showed me that Alder had the other guard under his foot. Two guards down. Two Travelers up. It was good to be back home.

  “Whoa,” said Courtney. “That was…interesting.”

  “Get us the car,” Mark said calmly.

  I thought Naymeer’s head was going to explode from all the blood that had rushed to it. His eyes flashed with anger. He started to say something, but Mark cut him off.

  “We’ll probably hear the sirens any second.”

  Naymeer grabbed his own phone and barked, “Bring a car round front. Open the gates. Now.”

  The guy was barely holding it together. Like I said before, he was somebody who was used to being in control. And just then, he wasn’t.

  “Take the weapon,” I said to Alder.

  We each grabbed the Tasers from the red shirts. I really wanted to zap the guy who had zapped me. Instead, I stepped over him and walked up to Naymeer. I looked the guy up and down. “You have to know,” I said cockily, “this isn’t over.”

  Naymeer took a breath. He was already getting himself back under control. The guy was good. I could see why so many followed him.

  “Perhaps not,” he admitted. “But soon.”

  Something was off. Maybe it was the confident way he spoke, or the evil he represented. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but a red flag was raised. I turned to Courtney with a questioning look. She knew exactly what I was thinking.

  “No,” she answered. “He’s not Saint Dane.”

  I looked back to Naymeer. He was smiling. “I’m flattered.”

  “Don’t be,” I shot back.

  “We’d better go,” Mark cautioned. “It wouldn’t be good for us to be found here.”

  I turned and strode for the door. Alder, Courtney, and Mark followed. Before leaving, I turned back to Naymeer and said, “By the way, Al, I unquit.”

  “It’s too late for that,” Naymeer sneered.

  “Keep telling yourself that” was my answer.

  I strode out the door, followed by the others. In the foyer of the mansion, Naymeer’s red shirts surrounded us. One made a move, but Alder held the Taser out and the guy backed off.

  “Let them go,” Naymeer commanded. He was standing in the doorway to his office.

  The guards backed off and we went out the door. I didn’t even stop to think about how odd it was that the deserted, empty Sherwood house was no longer deserted. There would be time to catch up later. We had to be gone. The large, wrought-iron gates in front of the mansion swung open to reveal a dark car waiting in front, its engine running.

  “Pendragon!” Naymeer called.

  I looked back.

  “Welcome home.”

  I really didn’t like him. Just as well. It would make taking him that much easier.

  “I’ll drive,” Courtney announced and got in the driver’s seat.

  I opened the rear passenger door and motioned for Alder to get inside. He had never bee
n in a car before. He had no idea what was going on. I climbed in back with him; Mark jumped in the shotgun seat. Courtney sat with her hands on the wheel.

  “The police will be here any second,” I said.

  “They would be,” Mark answered, “if I had actually made the call.”

  He looked at me and smiled. “We’ve got a lot to catch up on.”

  It had been a bluff. This definitely wasn’t the same old Mark. I liked this guy even more.

  Mark asked Courtney, “When did you learn how to drive?”

  “Long time ago,” she answered casually, putting the car in gear.

  “How long?”

  “About three seconds.”

  She hit the gas and the car lurched forward. With a squeal of tires on asphalt, we were off. Before we cleared the opening of the stone wall in front of the place, I took a quick look back to see two of Naymeer’s guards running toward a pair of motorcycles.

  I hoped that Courtney had learned a lot about driving in those three seconds.

  JOURNAL #36

  (CONTINUED)

  SECOND EARTH

  Look out!” Mark yelled.

  “You think?” Courtney said calmly as she spun the wheel, barely missing a dog that had foolishly gone for a stroll around the time that a crazy girl with three seconds of driving experience was gunning the gas behind the wheel of a huge car while making a desperate escape. The dog yelped and jumped off the road. Safe but scared.

  Alder pushed himself back into his seat. He had never been in a car before, let alone one driven by someone whose only experience was in driver’s ed class. At least, I hoped Courtney had taken driver’s ed. The way we were lurching from side to side, I wasn’t so sure. Poor Alder. He was thrown into a terrifying situation in an alien world. Poor all of us.

  “That would be a stop sign,” Mark said, trying to be calm as we flew past one without stopping.

  “I saw it,” Courtney snapped.

  None of us asked the obvious question as to why she didn’t actually do what the sign said.

  “I can drive,” Mark said calmly.