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 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.
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.”
&nbs
p; “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 breatlis,” 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 breast-stroke, 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.
(CONTINUED)
VEELOX
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 control 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 diartieter, 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.
“They are like colorful stars,” Loor said. “What could they be?”
This was good. She was calming down.
“I have no idea,” I said. “They don’t look dangerous-“
Suddenly there was an eruption in the water a few feet from us. Exploding up from below came the lights that had severed our line. But now we saw them for what they really were. They were vehicles.
All five shot up from underwater and flew into the air. They looked to me like bright, colorful motorcycles without wheels. Each had a rider wearing a helmet. They were crouched down low like jockeys behind a conelike windshield. They were hauling, too. The vehicles flew out of the water and continued up toward the floating globes. These things not only traveled underwater, they could fly! All five riders charged in a pack toward a bright orange globe. They sped past it, turned sharply around it, and shot ahead toward the next one.
“They’re racing!” I exclaimed. “Those globes mark the racecourse!”
The five racers flew away from us, speeding from globe to globe. They all then turned together and dove back toward the water. A second later all five hit the surface and disappeared below like a pack of hungry seagulls hunting for fish.
“How cool is that!” I exclaimed. “This is a racecourse!”
“Pendragon,” Loor said calmly, “I still can’t swim.”
Oh, right. We had to get out of the water. I took another look around and was relieved to see another spiral staircase rising out of the water only a few yards away. A few quick strokes and I had towed Loor to the stairs. We both clung to them, happy to have solid footing again. While we sat catching our breaths, we watched as the racers erupted from the water once again, shot into the sky, and charged far off into the distance. Whoever these racers were, they were good, and they had the coolest vehicles I had ever seen.
“Are you okay?” I asked Loor.
Loor nodded and said, “We must continue up.”
I gazed up the staircase to see that it disappeared into blackness.
“Man,” I said. “This guy Zetlin is a piece of work.”
T
his time I took the lead and hurried up the stairs. As we rose up, we kept watching the racers zip around the globes, plunge into the water, then fly up again and back onto the airborne course. It looked like a lot of fun.
When we arrived at the ceiling, I was relieved to see this next opening wasn’t water. Instead, the staircase rose up through a large, white circle.
Loor said, “How can this be? We are no longer wet.”
Sure enough, our jumpsuits and our hair were completely dry. I was beyond questioning anything that happened. If we were suddenly, magically dry, so be it. Whatever. As it turned out, it was a good thing because when I reached out to the edge of the circle to touch the white band, I was surprised to feel that it was cold.
“It’s snow!” I announced.
Sure enough, I was able to dig my hand into the white edge of the circle and come back with a handful of ice crystals. “Now what?” was all I could say.
I continued up the last few steps and arrived at a small, snow cave. It was like standing up inside an igloo. It was chilly, too. Good thing we were dry.
“I guess that’s the way,” I said, pointing to the opening to the cave.
Neither of us had any idea what to expect outside, but we had to brave it. So the two of us walked toward the light and out of the cave. The small cavern took a turn, and as soon as we both rounded it, we were blinded by an incredibly intense, white light. After having been in the dark of the jungle and the watery racecourse, all we could do was cover our eyes and wait until they adjusted to this new environment. It took a few seconds, but when we lowered our hands, we were met with yet another incredible sight. It looked like Antarctica.
Not that I’ve ever been to Antarctica, but if I had, I’m sure it would look like this. Everything was white, which explained why we were having trouble seeing. The sky was bright white too. Again, we may have been inside a building, but this time we were enveloped in such blindingly bright light that we couldn’t see walls or a ceiling.
As my eyes grew more accustomed to the light, I began to make out more detail. It seemed like we were standing on a vast field of ice. It wasn’t all flat, though. There were huge mounds of craggy ice that formed hills and valleys all around us.
The Reality Bug tpa-4 Page 23