by Beca Lewis
Niko gestured at Teddy to take over.
“These shields not only make you invisible and block the first burst of sound, but most importantly they reflect sound. But not all the time. You need to turn the switch on to make that part work. Find it now, but do not for any reason turn it on.”
Once we all found the switch which was easily reached with the hand holding the shield, Teddy continued. “This is why you need those extra few seconds of consciousness. You need to get to that switch.”
“Why not leave it always on?” I asked. Always the girl with questions.
“It uses the properties of a mirror,” Teddy replied.
Teddy paused and waited for me to get it. In all the time I had been in Erda I had never seen a mirror. I remembered that Beru had told me they believed that Abbadon could use a mirror to see what was on the other side.
“So that means it will be possible for Abbadon to see us as we reflect the sound and send it back to the Shrieks?”
“Exactly. So when you turn the shield on you will have to be quick. You will have to aim the shield precisely so that you reflect all the sound to the Shrieks and not somewhere else. We think that when we direct their shrieks back to them, they will become immobilized.”
“You think?” I asked, feeling the dread deep into my stomach.
“We think. I wish we could be more sure, but we obviously didn’t have any Shrieks to practice on. However, based on our sound studies and the reports we have received from our dragon and bird friends about how the Shrieks move, we have concluded that their own sounds can hurt them.”
Looking around the room, Teddy continued. “We know we aren’t giving you an absolute, but we believe that this is the right conclusion as to why the Shrieks move in a straight line, side by side, through the forest, when scattering unevenly would be more effective. Think about how a group of people move when they are searching for something. A straight line with very little space between them, that’s what they look like.
“We reason that they don’t want the sounds to hit each other. Traveling in a straight line keeps them out of the range of the sound that is being projected forward. The shrieking moves as a cone directly in front of each Shriek. Afterward, the shrieking disperses and is not as deadly.
“Not only do the Shrieks travel in a straight line, but they also move as one when they turn. If as they travel through the land something survives behind them, they all stop, swivel, shriek, and after that being is stunned or dead they swivel back and move on.”
All of us nodded. What Teddy said made sense.
“But will it be enough?” Aki asked what all of us were wondering.
“Well, we don’t see why not. We have made the mirror ultra-reflective by magnifying it at five hundred times.”
“Doesn’t that mean there is a chance that if the Shrieks have missed someone behind them, that we might be the ones that stun or kill them?” I asked.
“Yes. There is that chance. So don’t turn your shields on unless they are pointed directly at a Shriek, and there is no one behind them. It’s dangerous, but we believe that with it you will stun, or perhaps kill every Shriek you use it on.”
“What if it doesn’t kill them, just stuns them, and after a time they turn back on and start shrieking?” I asked.
“You’re right, little Princess,” Teddy said. I was beginning to like hearing Teddy say my name. In spite of the fact he was describing the horrific danger we were walking into, he looked so cuddly. Except when he smiled. Whoa, those teeth.
“We have plans for killing. You stun them first. Then you can kill them. Shatterskin will still be doing his thing, but once we get rid of his minions, we have a chance against him. It may be as simple as killing the Shrieks that bring him the power, waiting until he runs out of power, and attacking him then.”
“Assuming that’s how he operates,” James said.
“And assuming he’s killable,” his brother John added.
“Yes, assuming all that,” Niko said.
“You know how in Earth they say it takes a village to raise a child, Hannah?” Suzanne asked.
I nodded, wondering where she was going with this analogy.
“Well, that’s true. It does. It will also take a community to kill the Shrieks and Shatterskin. It‘s the one weapon we have that we know Abbadon does not have. He has nothing but himself. We have all of us, and those that wait for us topside.”
“Oh, that reminds me,” Teddy said. “You have another weapon here. Us. The Whistle Pig community will be right beneath your feet monitoring what’s happening. If we have to, we’ll drop you into one of our tunnels.”
“That puts you at risk, too, though, doesn’t it, Teddy? If we fail, Shatterskin will kill all of you.”
“If you fail, we are all dead anyway,” Pita said.
Nothing like doomsday words to cheer a girl up.
Shatterskin Thirty-Eight
The friendship bracelet that Johnny had given me before I left Earth was still on my arm as I held the shield in front of me. I loved how the bracelet helped me discern my right hand from my left hand. I often got confused which hand I was using when training with Niko and Zeid. I kept the bracelet on my left arm to remind me that was my left hand, and it reminded me of what I had left behind.
I also had the bracelet that Professor Link had given me. Even though it had felt familiar when I put it on my arm, I still didn’t know why I had it. Although it too was on my left arm, it wasn’t a reminder of what I had left behind, but of what I couldn’t remember.
Niko had us all practicing with our shields in the transport room. It was perfect for practicing. There was nothing in the space except for us and targets on the walls that the Ginete had put up. There was nothing to trip over except our own feet. Well, that was me, not necessarily anyone else.
Although the shields were lightweight, it still felt awkward swinging it around and making sure we aimed it correctly. We weren’t practicing with the real shields. Not only wasn’t there any shrieking to reflect, but we also couldn’t afford to turn on the mirrors and show Abbadon where we were. I wondered how Teddy and his crew had managed to make the shield without alerting Abbadon.
“Very carefully, Miss Kara,” Teddy said coming up beside me. He changed what he called me every time we saw each other. I wondered if it was his personality that loved the creativity of finding new names for me. It seemed reasonable considering how creative he and his team would have to be to build the shields.
The shields Teddy and his crew had provided for our practice shot out paintballs so we could see where we had aimed. At first, we were terrible. Switch on, shoot. Switch off, turn. And repeat constantly. It was hard to do, especially considering how fast we had to move.
We had live “targets” to practice with, too—willing Ginete dressed in green suits simulated attacking us. If what we were doing wasn’t so dangerous, I would have laughed at the sight.
The goal was to cover those green suits with paint. But at first, we covered each other, which scared the ziffer out of me. We would be killing ourselves while fighting the Shrieks.
After an hour of mock fighting, we took a break. The Ginete changed suits and washed off the walls. They assured us that the trees weren’t hurt, the paint was vegetable based and would soak through the ground without harm to anyone.
Each of us had a different color paint shooting from our shields. Not surprisingly, Niko’s red was rarely seen other than on a green suit, but my yellow was everywhere. I was more dangerous with my shield than the Shrieks.
During the next hour, we all got a little better, so someone turned on some loud shrieking kind of music. After that, we all got worse again. And we didn’t improve much over that next hour.
It was more than embarrassing to see yellow paint on everyone and
everything except for on the green-suited Ginete.
When we broke for lunch, I went to speak to Niko. “I can’t do this Niko. I’ll kill everyone. Give me something else to do.”
“No.”
“No? Aren’t you afraid of what I might do?” I asked.
“Absolutely terrified, Hannah. But you have to lead your people. If you don’t, there won’t be a Kingdom to rule. It will divide into factions. Communities that have existed for thousands of years will crumble because their faith will have crumbled first.
“So learn to control yourself first, and then your shield, because that’s the only way we will defeat Abbadon. The Shrieks are only his first line of attack. Get through them, and then there is Shatterskin.
“And after that … well, let’s take one at a time shall we.”
I hung my head in shame and terror. I would kill them all before Shatterskin even arrived.
“Or not,” Pris said in my ear. Niko couldn’t hear her, but he saw something gather itself inside of me. That little fire I had found had not gone out, and Pris’s words made me think that I could build it and use it. After all, where did that bolt of lightning come from anyway?
“Where did it come from, Hannah?” Niko asked. “Find the source. Let it direct you. Get rid of the ideas about yourself that you brought here. The past may teach you something, but that’s all its good for. It’s not a place to hide, or wallow.”
I stared at Niko hoping that his words would stoke the fire, and as I turned to go, he said, “Hannah, I believe in you.”
Everyone believed in me. If I couldn’t believe in myself, the least I could do was trust in the people that cared about me.
I lifted my shield, switched it on, and shot the target on the wall, dead on. Switch on, switch off, shoot. A clean shot every time.
After lunch with the room swarming with green-suited Ginete, and vibrating with the loudest noise I had ever heard, I managed to hit only green suits most of the time.
Zeid put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me close. His purple paintballs had hit every target. Only one had missed. We both knew that one was one too many, but it was a thousand times better than when we had begun that morning.
“Great job, Hannah Banana,” He said.
“Hannah Banana?”
“Teddy is not the only one who can make up interesting names,” Zeid laughed. Getting serious he said, “We both need more practice, but everyone else seems to be doing well.”
“I think we are the only ones who aren’t one-hundred percent, Zeid. But I know you will be, and I will be too. Even if I can’t shoot fireballs out of my hands all the time, at least I can get good at aim, switch, shoot, switch.” I said.
Zeid was almost at the tunnel leading to dinner when he turned, “Why can’t you Hannah? Why can’t you access the talents you already possess all the time? Lightning bolts are a small version of what you can do. What are you afraid of? And don’t tell me that it’s the Shrieks, Shatterskin, or Abbadon. This is something personal.
“Maybe it’s time for you to visit the Oracle and get a little mental adjustment. Or maybe a big one.”
“What Oracle? Will that help? Because if the answer is yes, can you take me there?”
“I’ll clear it with Niko and Aki. If they say yes I’ll take you there myself after dinner.”
Zeid waited for a beat and then said, “Come on you lazy butt. I’ll race you to dinner.”
Without waiting for my consent, he started down the hall towards the dining room. No way was I going to let him beat me, even if he did have an unfair head start.
Shatterskin Thirty-Nine
Niko and Aki gave Zeid permission to take me to the Oracle, but only after I spent another hour shooting targets with the music at full blast, and with Zeid running around distracting me. If I could shoot accurately for fifteen minutes, I had the rest of the night off. What we did with the time was up to us.
But I saw Niko’s face when Zeid asked him. I wondered if it wasn’t all a setup.
Once again, the Priscillas went somewhere without telling me where they were going. They didn’t belong to me, but it worried me a bit that they were off doing who knows what and coming back looking bedraggled. It was one of those things that I couldn’t control though.
It took me two hours of practice before I got fifteen minutes of entirely accurate shooting. I was exhausted. Everything ached. “Forget the Oracle,” I said. “I need sleep.”
“Not going to happen, Hannah,” Zeid said. The appointment has been made. You are expected.”
It was useless to argue. We stopped at the workroom to hang up our shields. Aki was waiting for us. She smiled at Zeid and said, “I’ll take it from here, Zeid.” When he didn’t immediately move, she added, “I promise, I’ll take good care of her.”
“This was planned all along, wasn’t it?” I asked Aki as soon as Zeid was out of sight. “Like getting me so tired I can barely walk. Having Zeid set it up. All planned.”
“Life is all planned, Hannah. What we do with it is what changes it.”
“Multiple outcomes?”
“All stories, Hannah. Which one do you choose to live?”
“What am I in this one, Aki?”
“Ah. That’s the question, isn’t it? Are you the poor maiden, or are you the princess who saves them all. Or maybe something in between.”
“It can’t be that simple, Aki,” I said.
“But that’s not all that simple, is it? If all of this is a story, how in depth is the story? Does it change within each dimension? Are you one thing here, and one thing there? If you make a wrong choice, does it ruin everything? These are very complicated questions,” Aki said.
“If you want to know what choices you have made so far, look at your life. Life is a mirror. It reflects back to us what we believe, what we think we deserve, and how we feel about other creatures. Most people are afraid to look in that mirror. Perhaps they fear that their personal version of the Evil One will be staring back at them. But without looking, we are prisoners of our beliefs.”
By then we had reached a door at the end of the tunnel. It reminded me of a hobbit door. Round at the top, small enough I would have to duck to get through. A knocker with the face of a wolf hung on the door. All of a sudden, I missed Cahir. I hoped he was doing well up top.
“What am I going to learn here?” I asked Aki.
The look she gave me was the answer. I would learn what I wanted to learn. As I knocked, I wondered what that was. One thing I knew for sure. I did not want to be the poor maiden in the story.
*******
The next morning I woke up again without my clothes on, a robe on the bed, and wondered if I had better find out who was undressing me.
This time, instead of the Priscillas waiting for me to wake up, it was Aki. Normal people sleep in a bed or chair, right? Aki was sleeping in the air. I remembered how she would levitate into our yoga classes back in the castle and wondered if this was the same or if I couldn’t see what was holding her up.
As my hand reached to the star around my neck, Aki opened her eyes and stared at me. For a second I felt as if I was being stared at by a snake. The moment passed, but the feeling continued as she uncurled herself and sat up.
“That star is not there for you just when you are curious, or bored. Use it cautiously. Practice getting there without touching it.” Aki slipped off of something and levitated to the bed. Yes, something was holding her up as she slept, and yes she could still levitate.
“First thing in the morning you are lecturing me,” I teased, and then realized my mistake. Aki scowled and said, “Breakfast in twenty. Be clean.” And then she was gone.
I knew that look. I grabbed the robe, the clean clothes on my chair, and rushed down the hall to the shower. It would have b
een lovely to stand under water that I could get as hot as I wanted for a long time, but I knew that Aki was serious. Being late was not an option.
It wasn’t until I began to put on my clothes that I remembered. The door, the wolf knocker, ducking into a dark room…and then nothing. After that, I remembered nothing. At all. Not good.
Once I had my tunic on, the Priscillas showed up and arranged themselves on my shoulder and fell asleep. They looked like pretty pins resting there. I resisted the temptation to pull Pris’s pigtails. Why were they so sleepy? Where were they going at night?
All these thoughts were going through my head as I ran through the halls to get to breakfast on time. Everyone was there, waiting for me. And someone else, Earl. Earl was sitting at the head of the table. No one was talking. Everyone was staring at me.
Earl. I hadn’t seen him since the castle, and then only a few times. He had met me there when we came out of the woods and had dinner with us. After that, he had stopped by once or twice, but he never stayed to have dinner. And never to wear the look on his face that he had on then.
No one had food in front of them. I had a feeling that what Earl was going to say was going to kill my appetite too. I lowered myself in the one empty chair. The one directly opposite from Earl. Zounds, something was really wrong, and I prayed that it wasn’t because of something that I had done, or not done.
It turned out that it was worse than I could have imagined. Our time was up. Our training was over. The Shrieks were only a day away. The Riff had come to us.
Shatterskin Forty
“What did you learn from the Oracle?” Zeid asked. Aki heard him ask and looked my way, so I answered them both.
“I have no ziffing idea. I can’t remember a thing.”