“Levi Arthur, can you come to the office, please? Bring your things with you.”
Levi felt his heart drop into his stomach. All the other kids turned to stare at him, some with sympathy in their eyes, others with relief. He stuffed his math book in his backpack, got up, and walked slowly to the front of the room until he was within a few feet of Mrs. Loomis. Without really looking at him, Mrs. Loomis turned and walked out of the classroom. Levi followed.
She stayed in front of him for the long and terrifying walk to the office. All the while, Levi wondered what he had done to deserve this.
Mrs. Loomis was probably the most unfriendly principal of any school in the universe. Levi wondered why she had even gone into a career in education in the first place, because she really seemed to dislike kids. She was always making announcements on the public address system, denouncing the students’ behavior, and imposing new and stricter rules. Her latest was to make everyone, even seventh and eighth graders, walk in single file on the “brown line” to the cafeteria, like a bunch of kindergarteners. She’d even had a brown line painted on the floor, and she instructed the hall monitors to send anyone who veered from the line to her office for detention. In fact, you could get detention for even the smallest infraction, like being thirty seconds late for class or failing to turn in homework on time. Levi had been late a few times, and lately he had not been able to finish all his homework. Was that why Mrs. Loomis had called him out of class?
Mrs. Loomis opened the main office door and waited for Levi to go in first. He could feel her eyes following him as he did. Then she breezed past the secretaries and led him into her private office. She shut the door behind him.
Levi took a quick look around. The office was dominated by a large desk that was swept clean of everything except a computer and a can of pencils. There were two chairs in front of the desk and one on the other side. A large fern, half-dead, sat in a planter by the window. Beside it was a goldfish bowl with the biggest, ugliest goldfish Levi had ever seen swimming around inside. A bookcase covered one wall, filled with books but with no family pictures like most people’s offices. Levi suspected Mrs. Loomis didn’t have a family at all. Maybe she ate them.
“Sit down, Levi,” she said. Levi went to sit in one of the two chairs. To his surprise, instead of going to the other side of the desk, Mrs. Loomis sat down right next to him. Levi flinched slightly at her being so near. He kept his backpack on his lap, as if in defense.
“Your mother is coming to pick you up. I’m afraid your father has had a setback and had to be taken back to the hospital.”
“What?” Levi thought he might faint; the room seemed to spin. Mrs. Loomis took off her glasses, which were attached to a chain around her neck. Levi was surprised to see that her eyes were brown and almost . . . kind.
“I’m very sorry, Levi. I’ve notified the attendance office that you might need some time off in the next few weeks. They will help you keep up with your schoolwork.” She paused. “If there is anything I can do to help, please let me know.”
Levi nodded. “Thank you,” he said.
“You should probably go and get your coat from your locker. Your mom will be here soon. And Levi, I am really very sorry.”
Levi nodded and did as he was told. Mrs. Loomis was waiting for him at the front counter when he returned. She’d put her glasses back on.
“I’ll walk you out,” she said in a gentle voice.
Levi walked beside the principal to the outside door. Before he went out, he turned to the principal. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Levi raced down the steps to his mom’s car. As soon as he opened the door, he knew she’d been crying. He got in the passenger seat and closed the door, trying to quell the rising panic in his chest. “What happened?”
“I had to call an ambulance. Your father was . . . unresponsive when I tried to wake him up this morning.”
“Unre—what? But I thought he was getting better!”
“Me too. Levi, they had to put him on a respirator.”
“A what?”
“It’s a machine that helps him breathe.”
Levi’s mom drove like a NASCAR racer to the hospital. Mr. J. Ar was still in the emergency room when they got there. Levi approached his dad’s bed, noticing that a tube had been put in his mouth; his face was taped up, and a big machine was next to him. The breathing machine, he thought. Levi wanted to cry and scream and throw himself on the floor. He was so angry, though he didn’t know who to be angry with. His mom went to talk to the nurse. Levi put his hand on his father’s chest, feeling it rising and falling rhythmically with the machine.
“Wake up,” he whispered. Don’t leave me. I need you.
Mr. J. Ar didn’t respond. Didn’t open his eyes.
Help me, Ruwach, Levi pleaded silently. Help him. Make him well again.
He waited for an answer. For his father to wake up. Nothing happened.
He glanced through the curtains and saw that a man in a white coat had joined his mother and the nurse. His expression was grim. Levi heard snatches of their words, including the word coma.
Coma. Another word Levi didn’t like. He turned back to his father and bent close to his ear.
“I won’t leave you,” he whispered. “I’ll be right here until you wake up.”
Dr. Arthur returned to the bedside. “They’re going to move him to the ICU,” she told Levi. “That’s the intensive care unit.”
“I can go too, can’t I?”
“Sure, Levi.” His mom went over to him and hugged him. Levi saw that her eyes were wet with tears.
Orderlies came to move his dad to the ICU. Levi stayed at his side. A nurse brought chairs for him and his mom. Levi stared at his father, wanting to be there the moment he woke up. He even refused to go to the cafeteria for supper. His mom brought him a sandwich from a vending machine.
Levi was eventually lulled to sleep by the rhythmic gasps of the respirator and the beeping monitors. He dreamt he was in Ahoratos, climbing that mountain with Xavier again, only this time neither one of them could keep their footing, and with every step they slid farther and farther down the mountain and then fell into a dark, cold, bottomless river.
The sensation of sinking into that river jolted him awake. It was the middle of the night. The ICU was dark, the only light coming from the machines and monitors around the patient beds. His mom was asleep in the chair on the other side.
Levi got up and went over to his father’s side, putting his hand over his father’s hand. The hand was warm. He stared at the closed eyes of Mr. J. Ar, willing them to open, to look at him, to assure him he was all right.
Then he felt a warmth on the back of his neck and turned. There, hovering in the air before him, was the Crest, glowing golden as a star.
No. He shook his head. I’m not leaving my dad. Go away.
He turned back to his father. But the Crest appeared in front of him. “Go away!” he said aloud. The Crest continued to hover, growing larger, so that he couldn’t avoid it no matter which way he looked.
“Ugh. Okay. Fine.” He took his father’s hand and held it between his own. “I’ll be back soon. Wait for me.” Then he reached out and touched the Crest.
CHAPTER 30
The Nameless King
Levi found himself back in the same barren field filled with square yellow buildings, just like the last time he had come to Ahoratos. That was weird. He couldn’t remember ever having returned to the same place twice. Ahoratos always had new surprises for him, new challenges. But since he’d been here before, he knew that all he had to do was walk to the other side and kneel before the dry lake bed and the Water would appear.
Levi started walking straight down the first row. But then he stopped, remembering the one building that had been open, and the voice that had spoken to him. He wonder
ed if that voice was still there. He went to the door and tried the knob. It turned, unlocked.
I shouldn’t go in, he thought to himself. I should just get to the Water. But his curiosity got the better of him—he wanted to know who—or what—that voice really was. If it was still there.
He opened the door. It was as dark as it had been the last time, the light from outside failing to penetrate it. He stepped inside, keeping one hand on the doorknob, in case he had to leave quickly. The smell of dead worms filled his nostrils.
“Hello?” he said into the blackness. “Anyone there?”
“You’re back,” said the voice. It sounded amused.
“Yeah.” Levi paused, at a loss for what to say next.
“Why are you here, Levi?” said the voice.
“You know my name?”
“Of course.”
“I want . . . to know who you are.”
“No, you don’t.”
Levi took a deep breath. “I want to see you. I want to see . . . your face.”
“Close the door.”
Levi hesitated. Then he slowly closed the door. To his surprise, the room brightened, a pale light rising up from the dusty floor. Levi gasped at what he saw.
The building was littered with what appeared to be broken toys: deflated balls, dolls with no heads or arms, stuffed animals—lions, bears, dogs—with the stuffing bursting from their sides, toy train cars and pieces of track thrown into tall piles. It was like a Christmas morning nightmare.
In the center of the room, sitting on a very large pile of broken toys, was a small, aged figure with a gaunt, yellowish face and wisps of white hair that sprouted from the top of his head. His deep-set, droopy eyes were pure white with no irises. Levi realized that the man must be blind. He was dressed in a tattered robe that looked as though it had once been the royal garment of a king. The velvet lining was worn off, the fur trim matted and clumped.
The oddest thing was that even though the man was small, he cast a very long shadow that reached all the way to the corner of the room. Levi couldn’t see any light source that would have created such a shadow. He wondered how that was possible.
Lying on the floor at the bottom of the junk pile was a crown. It was large and appeared to have been magnificent once, but now it was discolored and bent, and all the jewels were missing.
The man opened his mouth, which contained no teeth. “Now you see me.”
“Who are you?” Levi asked.
“I was once a king. But now I am here.”
“Did Ruwach put you here?”
The man nodded slowly.
“Why? What did you do?”
“I didn’t do. I simply was. And still am. Though I am not.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“Not to you, I suppose.”
“Do you have a name?”
“I once had a name. But no more. You can call me Nameless.”
“Nameless. So . . . you just sit here, all the time?”
“Not always. I get out once in a while.” The strange man smiled a toothless smile. “I’ve been out quite a bit lately. Because it is Winter.”
“Did you bring the Winter?” Levi asked.
“No. The Winter brought me.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Yes. That is for the best. It was nice of you to stop by, Levi. I don’t get many visitors.” Nameless let out a long sigh. “Most who come through here don’t even try to open the doors. They don’t want to know what’s behind them.”
“Why not? Are they afraid?”
“I suppose they are. With good reason.”
“Are you dangerous?”
“To some, I am. But not to you.” Nameless paused. “Or your father.”
“My father? You know about my father?”
“Of course.”
“Are you the one who . . .”
Levi didn’t finish. He studied the withered face of the person before him, feeling as though all the questions in his mind were coming together, falling into place like pieces of a puzzle. He suddenly knew exactly who this worn-out king really was. “You can’t have him,” he said, his voice rising in fury. “I won’t let you take my dad!”
“That is not for you or me to decide,” said the old king wearily. “You should go now. The dark is soon to come. You do not want to be caught here in the dark.”
Nameless rose slowly and stepped down from his throne of broken things. He unfolded his arms from his robe and reached down with crooked fingers to the crown lying on the floor. He put it on his head, but it was too big and fell over his blank, unseeing eyes and rested on his nose. He opened his mouth and laughed. It started as a wheeze but grew into something shrill and terrifying, like a maniacal clown.
Levi rushed for the door, threw it open, and ran outside, slamming it hard after him. He paused, breathing hard, his heart racing. He could feel the shadow coming as it had before, rushing over the rooftops toward him. He ran with all he had to the dry lake bed and dropped to his knees. Instantly the lake bed filled with water—the Water. He held his breath and dove in without looking back, disappearing as the water began to turn red and close in around him.
CHAPTER 31
Back in the Cave
Levi was still shaking when he “landed” in the Cave. His friends were already there—Xavier with his tall staff, Evan, Manuel, Brianna, Ivy, and Finn. They all had on the white clothes and armor, as he did. Many other Prince Warriors were present too, but not nearly as many as the first time they had gathered in the Cave that Winter.
“There you are,” said Brianna. “We were getting worried about you. Is everything okay?”
Levi swallowed hard. “My dad . . . my dad is back in the hospital. They hooked him up to a machine that breathes for him. And I heard the doctor say the word coma.”
“What?” Brianna gasped. “When did that happen?”
“Just before I came here. They aren’t sure what happened. He seemed to be doing fine, and then he just . . .” For the first time since his father had become sick, Levi fell to his knees, put his hands to his face, and cried.
The others just stared, not knowing what to do. Then Brianna moved toward him and, kneeling beside him, carefully put her hand on his shoulder. She closed her eyes, blinking away tears. Following her lead, Ivy knelt and put her hands on both their shoulders. Manuel, Xavier, and Evan followed suit, linking them all together. Then Finn, whose arms were long enough to wrap around all of them. They knelt together in the midst of the great gathering of Warriors, holding on to each other and their friend in pain.
“Warriors.”
The kids looked up to see Ruwach standing before them. But no one else in the Cave seemed able to see him; they continued to shuffle about and talk to each other as if nothing were happening. Ruwach was surrounded in Sparks, so he shone very brightly, as he had that day in the rec center when confronting Viktor. The sounds of chatter in the Cave had dimmed as well, as if someone had hit a mute button.
Ruwach glided toward Levi, the others moving out of the way. Then Ruwach, too, placed his glowing hand on Levi’s shoulder. Levi felt his whole body grow warm and light, as if he could float up into the air. As if he could fly. His tears dried, leaving no trails on his cheeks. He glanced around and saw that his friends had experienced the same thing, as they were all connected to each other—it was as if Ruwach had placed himself inside their hearts, taking up all the empty spaces, crowding out even the memory of their present sadness.
“There is a time for everything,” Ruwach said, in the softest voice they had ever heard him use. “A time for laughter. A time for tears. A time for peace. A time . . . for war.”
Levi rose to his feet, as did the others. He stood straight, his eyes steady on Ruwach, and he bowed.
“I’m ready,” he said.
“But my father . . .”
“You will see him again,” said Ruwach. Levi sucked in a breath at this news. He managed a small smile.
Ruwach then turned to Xavier. “You must lead the Warriors today,” he said.
“Me?” said Xavier. “But I . . .” He paused, knowing the others were staring at him, either in shock or dismay. “Why me?”
“Because I gave you the Staff,” said Ruwach, pointing one glowing hand at Xavier’s stick.
Xavier nodded, swallowing hard.
“You have the armor,” Ruwach said, addressing all of them. “Use it. And use every gift I have given you, and every word I have spoken. You will need them this day.”
The mute button went off, and the sounds of many Warriors in the Cave filled their ears again. Ruwach was no longer standing before them. He reappeared in the air high above all their heads, surrounded by Sparks, who created a nimbus of light around him.
“Warriors!” Ruwach spoke, his voice once again like music, but not a gentle trill—this time it was a crashing symphony. “You have been given a task. To defeat the renegade general Thayne and take back the Mountain of Rhema. This will not be an easy day. You are likely to see and hear things you don’t understand at first. You are likely to be afraid. Remember your mission. Know I will be with you. You need only to do your part. And remember this above all: you have everything you need.”
The Warriors cheered wildly, raising their arms high in the air as music burst over them like a tidal wave, drowning out the walls of the Cave, so that everything was light and sound. The Warriors hushed, thrown for a moment into a blinding radiance, and then in a flash it was gone again.
CHAPTER 32
Hiding Out
When the light subsided, the Warriors found themselves at the edge of the bleak forest, near the bottom of the Mountain of Rhema. The mountain was covered in ice, with a dark cloud rimming the summit, obscuring the view of the fortress itself. Skypods hovered all around the mountain. The sky was stormy, and icy snow fell, clinging to their cheeks. The wind howled forlornly through the barren trees.
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