The Winter War, epub

by Priscilla Shirer

CHAPTER 27

  Mary

  Day 32

  Mary sat at her desk in the Cedar Creek Recreation Center, staring at the book.

  It had been four days since Manuel had given it to her, but she hadn’t yet had the nerve to open it. She knew it was silly, but she half-worried that something might pop out, like a dragon or a snake or . . . Viktor. She still shuddered whenever she thought of that malevolent boy who turned out not to be a boy at all.

  She took a courage-enhancing sip of her chai latte and set down the cup. The Crest—the funny-shaped symbol that looked like an N—seemed to shimmer on the cover. She gripped the edge and pulled it open.

  Nothing happened. She let out a breath. But as she stared at the first page, she was astonished to see a single word engraved in the center.

  Mary.

  She gasped to herself, wondering how her name had gotten into Manuel’s book. But then again, Mary was a common name. Maybe the original owner had been named Mary, and she had written her own name in the book, long ago. But in such a beautiful script? Well, that was how people wrote stuff in the old days.

  Still, it was unnerving. She shut the book quickly, too nervous to turn another page. But as she stared at the shimmering Crest, it seemed to rise up from the book and hover in the air right before her eyes. Wow, this was some crazy book. She blinked, wondering if she was imagining things.

  She was suddenly overcome with the urge to touch it. Just to see if it was really there. It floated so enticingly before her eyes, rotating slowly, so real and solid and yet . . . unreal too. She lifted her hand, reaching toward it . . .

  “Miss Stanton!”

  Her hand slammed back down on the desk. The Crest disappeared. Mary looked up at the girl in the doorway of her office, covered in paint.

  “What happened?” she asked, alarmed.

  “Joey squirted paint all over me!” The little girl started to cry.

  “Oh dear. Don’t worry; I’ll help you clean up!”

  Once Mary had washed the paint off the girl’s clothes as best she could, called Joey’s parents to inform them of his infraction, and gotten everything else settled down again, it was nearly time for the rec center to close. Mary waited until the last child had gone home before she gathered her things and headed out the door.

  That’s when she remembered the book. She went back into her office to retrieve it. Maybe she’d look at it again at home, figure out what that crest was all about.

  It lay there on her desk. The Crest glowed brilliantly in the darkened office. As she watched, it rose up to a vertical position, as it had earlier, growing larger and more solid. She sensed, though she wasn’t sure how, that the Crest was demanding something of her.

  “Oh, sorry,” she said to the Crest. “I can’t do this now. Whatever this is. I’ve got a date tonight. Maybe tomorrow. Okay?”

  The Crest continued to grow, filling the office, touching the walls. It was so bright it blinded her so she couldn’t even find the door to get out.

  “Okay, okay!” she said. The Crest was inches from her face now. She reached out with one hand, putting her palm against it. Her palm went right through.

  As did the rest of her.

  * * *

  “Hello?”

  Mary Stanton turned in a slow circle, staring. Nothing but moss-covered rocks as far as she could see. She had felt as though she’d been pulled through a suction tunnel, but the sensation had been so brief it was over almost before it had started. Now she stood alone on a barren field of rocks. The sky above her was inky black. It was as if she had landed on the moon.

  “Hello? Anybody?” She was scared. She wondered what had happened. Maybe she had slipped in her office and hit her head. Maybe this is what it felt like to be unconscious, trapped in your own mind, an infinite field of nothing. “Help me!” She started to panic. “Please! Help me!”

  And then she saw something. A black dot on the horizon, growing larger. A big lumpy thing. Like a boulder. Rolling right toward her.

  She moved away, out of its path, though it was difficult to walk on the moss-covered rocks. When she looked up again, she was astonished to see that the boulder, too, had changed direction. It was still heading for her. She turned and started to run away from it, her feet slipping and sliding on the rocks. She fell and got up again and kept trying to run. But the more she ran, the slower she seemed to get.

  Then she saw to her horror that another boulder was rolling toward her from the front as well. She stopped, panting.

  “What’s going on?” she demanded. The boulders didn’t answer; they just kept rolling. They were huge, as big as buildings. She would be crushed under them.

  Desperate, she tried a third direction. Maybe the two boulders would slam into each other. But once again, the rolling boulders changed direction and continued to roll straight at her. In despair, she dropped to her knees, out of breath, out of hope. The rumble of the boulders was loud in her ears. In a few seconds, it would be over. She would be dead. Flat as a pancake. She started to cry.

  Then she heard another sound, the sound a bathtub makes when it starts to drain. She opened her eyes and saw to her amazement that bubbles were coming up from the rocky ground in front of her. Suddenly, the bubbles turned into a geyser, knocking her backward and soaking her completely. She gasped, wondering if this could get any worse. But when she managed to look behind her, the boulders had stopped moving, remaining just at the edge of the pool of water the geyser had created.

  The geyser suddenly stopped shooting, but the pool of water remained. And there, on the surface of the murky water, Mary saw the Crest, rippling slightly, as if it floated just underneath. Before she could even wonder what all this was about, the pool began to dry up, sinking back into the rocky ground.

  “No, don’t leave me!” she said to the water, sensing that if the water went away, the boulders would start moving again. “Come back!” She flung herself at the rapidly disappearing pool. It was deeper than she thought, for she felt her whole body sink all the way in.

  The next thing she knew, she was standing in a dark cave, perfectly dry, wearing a plain white shirt and smooth, leatherlike pants. Rock formations glowed blue all around her, and tiny flickering puffs like snowflakes floated in the air.

  “This is a really bad dream,” she said aloud. “Will someone wake me up?”

  Then she heard a voice, deep and resonant, that might have been inside her own head.

  “Welcome to Ahoratos.”

  CHAPTER 28

  Rescue Mission

  Brianna had just gotten through the Water and landed in the Cave when she found herself staring into the eyes of someone she would never have expected to see.

  “Miss Stanton?” Brianna blinked several times to make sure it was really her. Mary Stanton stood proudly next to Ruwach. She was wearing armor: a breastplate, belt, and boots. She smiled broadly and waved.

  “Hi Brianna! Fancy meeting you here.”

  “What are you doing here?” Brianna asked. She saw Ruwach raise an arm toward her and added: “I mean . . . wow. You came to Ahoratos. That’s . . . amazing.”

  “I saw the Crest and just grabbed it,” said Mary with a little laugh.

  “The Crest?”

  “From the book. Manuel’s book. He gave me that book about the Prince Warrior to look at.” She paused. “That is quite a book.”

  “Yeah, it is.” Brianna smiled, relaxing. “So, what do you think, so far?”

  “This is really different,” Mary said. “I wasn’t too sure about the outfit, but I can’t wait to try it out.”

  “Great,” said Brianna. She looked around, hoping the others would be showing up soon. “Is anyone else coming?”

  “No,” Ruwach said. “Just you.”

  “Just me?” Brianna looked confused. “But usually there’s a bunch of us.
”

  “Did you bring your gift with you?” Ruwach asked.

  “Oh, yeah.” Brianna pulled the root from her pocket. “Are you going to tell me what it’s for?”

  “You will see soon enough.” Ruwach’s hood nodded, and Brianna had the impression he was smiling, even though she couldn’t see his face.

  “So what’s the mission?” Brianna asked.

  “This is a rescue mission,” Ruwach replied.

  “A rescue? You mean, a prisoner?”

  “Not exactly.”

  “Then who?”

  “You will see.”

  “Can’t you tell us, just this once? After all, Miss Stanton is new here, and I’m not so sure I can handle a rescue mission without the others—”

  “Remember, you have everything you need.” Ruwach turned and glided away.

  “Wow. Does he always do that?” asked Mary.

  “Kind of,” said Brianna with a sigh.

  “So, how do we get out of here?” Mary looked around. “Should we take one of these tunnels?”

  “Probably.” Brianna turned in a slow circle, watching her breastplate, which began to blink slowly. Finally, it stopped blinking and beamed steadily. “This one.” Brianna headed toward the tunnel directly in front of her. She stopped and turned to Mary. “Are you coming?”

  “Oh, okay,” said Mary, hopping a little before following.

  As soon as the girls passed into the tunnel, the Cave itself disappeared. They found themselves in a snowy landscape under a stormy sky.

  “Where are we now?” said Mary. She sounded exasperated, as if she were getting tired of the scenery changing every five minutes.

  “Somewhere in Ahoratos,” Brianna said. “But I don’t recognize it. It’s all so snowy.” All she could see were huge mounds of snow everywhere she looked. There was no sign of the Mountain of Rhema or the enemy fortress. She wondered where this prisoner they were supposed to rescue could be.

  “It’s so cold here,” said Mary. “I always thought Ahoratos would be warmer.”

  “It used to be warm,” said Brianna. “But it’s winter here now.”

  “Winter? Yuck. I’ve had enough of winter already. Couldn’t that little guy Ruwach have given us some fur coats or something?”

  “We always have everything we need,” Brianna said. “I guess we’ll have to figure out who needs rescuing on our own. Let’s go.”

  “Go where?”

  “Not sure. We’ll just follow the breastplates and see where they lead.”

  “Oh.” Mary looked around worriedly. “I don’t like this. I don’t really think I want to do this after all.”

  Brianna could see Mary was scared. She felt a little sorry for her. “It’ll be okay. Promise.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I just do. You came through the Water, right?”

  “Oh, yes. That was awful.”

  “Yeah, I remember the first time. I almost got eaten by a sand grobel.”

  “A what?”

  “You don’t want to know. But if you got this far, well, you can go the rest of the way. Trust me.”

  “If you say so.”

  Brianna led Mary through the snow, around the huge snow piles. She made sure her breastplate wasn’t blinking, which would indicate she’d taken a wrong turn. But still she saw nothing new. Nothing resembling an enemy stronghold with prisoners. Just more snow piles.

  After a while, they both began to get tired.

  “This seems pretty pointless,” said Mary. She was panting. “I think we should go back.”

  “We can’t go back,” Brianna said. “The breastplates point this way.”

  “We’re walking in circles!” Mary was starting to panic. “We’ll never get out of here! This was a terrible mistake!”

  “Just stay calm, Miss Stanton—”

  “But I can’t!” Mary yelled. “I wish I’d never come here. I want to go home!” Mary spun around and headed back the way she’d come.

  “Don’t do it!” Brianna said. Before she had even finished saying the words, Mary let out a little scream and . . . disappeared.

  It was as if she just vanished into the snow.

  Brianna stood still, not knowing what to do. Then she saw a hand shoot up from the snow, Mary’s hand, fingers outstretched, reaching for something. She realized that Mary was under the snow, and she was really stuck. She wouldn’t be able to get out on her own. But Brianna couldn’t move from where she was. If she went backward, she would probably fall into the snow trap as well.

  The hand clenched and unclenched, fingers splayed. Mary was running out of air. Brianna had to act fast.

  She extended her sword and reached out with it toward the hand, leaning over as far as she could. But her sword wasn’t long enough. She still couldn’t reach. She pulled it back.

  Maybe the belt, she thought. It might reach Mary. She was about to take off her belt when she remembered the root in her pocket.

  She took it out, staring at it. A rescue mission, Ruwach had said. It suddenly occurred to her that the person she was supposed to rescue was . . . Mary Stanton.

  She gripped the root in one hand and extended her arm out as far as it would go toward Mary’s hand. To her amazement, the root started to grow, new shoots appearing and lengthening, some of them digging down into the snow around Brianna’s feet and others reaching toward Mary’s hand. The shoots coiled around Mary’s wrist several times. Brianna tugged on the root with both hands, feeling the shoots around her feet hold her steady, giving her more strength than she knew she had. She kept pulling, drawing the buried root slowly from the ground. Soon Mary’s arm appeared, and then her shoulder, then her head. Mary’s mouth opened in a wail.

  “Stay calm, Miss Stanton!” Brianna cried out to her. “I’ve got you! I promise!”

  Finally, the rest of Mary emerged from the snow. Brianna didn’t stop pulling until she had gotten Mary all the way to safety at her side. Then she bent over and helped the frightened woman to her feet, brushing the snow off her. The root untangled itself and then retracted itself back into the small, ordinary root it had been in the first place.

  “I almost died!” Mary exclaimed when she could speak actual words. “That snow was trying to kill me!”

  “Now you know why I was serious about staying on course,” Brianna said.

  “Brianna, you saved me.” Mary’s wide eyes rested on Brianna in amazement.

  Brianna realized it was true. She had done something she never could have done in her own strength. It was the root, Ruwach’s gift, that had enabled her to help Mary get out of the snow. Brianna reached into her pocket to make sure it was still there.

  “We’d better keep going,” Brianna said. “Don’t worry, Miss Stanton. Everything is going to be okay.”

  Before the words were even out of her mouth, a tremendous noise erupted from somewhere beyond the snowbank in front of them.

  “What is that?” Mary said. “Sounds like a truck with no muffler.”

  Just then an Askalon came into view, headed straight for them.

  “What is that thing?” Mary screamed.

  “It saw us! Over here! Quick!” Brianna dashed behind one of the snow piles nearby. Mary didn’t move a muscle. Brianna grabbed her arm and pulled her into the hiding place.

  “Shhh. Stay still. Don’t make a sound.”

  The Askalon drove directly toward them and stopped. Its engine rumbled and then went quiet. Brianna held her breath and peeked around the snow pile. Suddenly, the top hatch of the Askalon opened, and a huge, helmeted figure climbed out. Its heavy armor seemed to be made of knife blades, and it had thick spikes sticking up from its helmet. But the eyeholes were completely blank. Like there was nothing inside.

  Brianna felt her throat close.

  It was Thayne.

&nb
sp; He carried a giant hammer with a red-hot tip in one massive fist. He took a few steps and stopped. The helmet turned in a complete rotation, surveying the landscape.

  Brianna ducked back behind the snow pile as Thayne started to walk in their direction. He must have seen them. Now he would find them hiding, take them prisoner perhaps. Or even kill them. Thayne was so close, she could hear the creaking of his metal arm as he raised and lowered the hammer.

  Maybe they could run. Thayne didn’t look like he would be a very fast runner. Too much armor. But the Askalon would catch them. It would roll over the snow piles easily. They had no choice but to stay still.

  Brianna waited, holding her breath. Mary was so paralyzed with fear she couldn’t breathe either.

  After an agonizing moment, the crunching, creaking sound of Thayne’s heavy footsteps receded. Brianna peeked out again to see the massive armored enemy climb into the hatch. It closed shut over him. The Askalon roared to life. It started to plow toward them, but instead of rolling over the snow pile, it swerved around it, continuing its search. Brianna waited until the Askalon had disappeared from view before daring to let out a breath.

  “I’m ready to go home now, if you don’t mind,” Mary said in a trembling voice.

  “Me too,” said Brianna. “Hopefully the breastplates will lead us back to the Cave.”

  “Is this what you usually do? Just traipse around looking for trouble?”

  Brianna almost laughed. “No. We don’t have to look for it. It always finds us.”

  CHAPTER 29

  Turn for the Worse

  Day 39

  Levi was in math class, listening to Mrs. Brayburn’s monotonous commentary on the isosceles triangle, when the principal, Mrs. Loomis, appeared in the doorway.

  Everyone stopped what they were doing and sat straight up in their chairs. The principal had that sort of effect on kids. Her towering height, her severe hairdo, and her thick glasses that masked her eyes made even the toughest bully quiver. They all wondered which of them had done something to incur her wrath today.

  “I’m sorry to interrupt,” Mrs. Loomis said to the math teacher in a tone that didn’t convey any sort of sorry-ness. Then the principal turned her attention to the classroom.