by DM Fike
They stared at each other for several beats, his gray eyes unreadable. Avalon finally broke it off, turning herself more squarely toward the window.
“Thanks for breakfast,” she said with finality.
Kay seemed like he wanted to say more, but he kept his mouth shut. The door did not make a noise as he slid it shut with a quick flick of his wrist.
* * *
Avalon tried to concentrate on a plan of action, but she couldn’t focus. She spent the day in a stupor, staring out the window, praying for inspiration.
Nothing ever came.
Kay did not return again until dinner. He didn’t even glance her way as she sat with her knees drawn up on the bed. He paused at her untouched tray from earlier but gathered it without comment. She thought he would continue his silence until he left, but once again, he surprised her by pausing at the doorway.
“J.T. has secured a new location. You will be moved out of Emerged Falls at dawn tomorrow.”
Kay did not wait for a reply, shutting the door as the last word left his mouth.
The deadline snapped her out of her trance. They would take her away from Emerged Falls, away from Nobody, by daylight. The sky had already begun to darken. If ever there was a time to fight, this was it.
The Lightning Tower. She pushed aside her fear. She had to get down there.
Avalon crept over to the door. She grabbed the handle and heaved.
The door refused to budge. Instead, she smashed her fingers into the grooves of the wood. The door rattled in its wooden tracks.
“Are you well in there?” Kay’s voice asked on the other side.
Avalon took a few steps back. “I’m fine.”
She figured the door was a dead end but still good to confirm it. Even if she could unlock it, she had no chance of beating Kay in a fight. Avalon examined her window view, noting how high up the Wind Tower she was. She might attempt a jump, hoping she could use her wind magic to slow down her descent onto the stones below. She gulped. Going that route left very little room for mistakes.
“Why does it always have to be towers?” she complained.
Lightning magic wouldn’t be much help either. One did not zap their way out of a room, especially when the guard had more practice zapping back.
Which left her with dark magic.
She had very little practice with dark magic. She refused to use that awful black goo. She supposed she could try morphing into a raven like Nobody, but she had no idea if she could actually fly on the first try. She didn’t want to find out this far up.
The she remembered Nobody’s fight with Desert Rose.
Nobody had teleported around Desert Rose’s attacks in smoky black ink, literally popping from one location to the next. He had only gone a short distance. Maybe she could teleport directly to the Lightning Tower.
She had nothing to lose. She closed her eyes.
Avalon searched inside her core for the stirrings of magical energy. The bruise on her arm lit up in pain as she found a strong howling gale first, then sizzling sparks. Wind and lightning. Touching them caused one of her arms to emit static electricity, and a strong gust of wind knocked her food tray over.
“Avalon?” Kay called from outside. “Are you well?”
Avalon froze and the magic died down. “I’m fine!”
She waited for him to enter the room, but Kay had apparently dropped the matter.
Avalon closed her eyes again, careful to avoid the natural elements within her. Instead, she searched for that empty sensation she felt around Nobody. Dark magic. At first she could only access frustration and anxiety. She forced herself to relax, counting backward from one hundred. Ninety-nine. Ninety-eight.
She found it in the seventies. A void opened inside her, a blackness that tugged at her, threatening to suck her deeper into its depths.
Avalon gasped, losing her grip on it. She grimaced, forcing herself to relax, finding it again. She shook as it swirled inside her.
But how to use it? Avalon hesitated.
Think of a place, a voice said inside her head.
Ladybug.
Black inkiness flowed over her. Avalon focused on that creepy tower where Symphony and Colin had attacked her. Instead of fighting against her fear, she brought it into focus. She tried to remember every detail of that place. Her mind darkened as she concentrated, the room fading away into nothing.
She could no longer see out of her eyeballs.
Click. Click. Click.
Steps came toward her. Rough gauntlets grabbed her.
“Avalon?”
The picture in her mind faded. A shadow of Kay’s face hovered just above her subconscious.
Focus, the voice insisted. Step inside.
She let the dread engulf her. It would take her to the Lightning Tower. She knew it. “Avalon,” Kay shouted near her ear. “Avalon, wake up!”
She lunged forward toward the abyss.
The gauntlets were ripped from her body. She crumbled onto a new, harder floor. Her vision returned, yet she still saw nothing but complete darkness.
CHAPTER 37
AVALON FLAILED IN the empty blackness, gasping as an overbearing panic washed over her. She would have screamed if her lungs held enough air. All her instincts insisted she run. Escape. Flee.
She stumbled forward a few steps. Her head hit a solid stone wall. She fell in pain.
In terror, she released a gust of wind. It whistled all around her, cold and empty, swirling in a circular pattern around her.
A creaking noise made her heart leap in her throat. A few feet away, where her wind had blown, the faintest line of light glimmered.
Avalon crawled on her hands and knees toward it, each inch forward a small victory. A light appeared, shining on the other side of a nearly closed door. She used the doorframe to wobble upright, then pushed it open all the way, the door groaning in protest.
The light came from torches in the wall, leading downward in a steep stony stairwell. Avalon took a calming breath and stepped inside.
Once she crossed the threshold into the small enclosure, the oppressive anxiety disappeared. Frowning, Avalon stepped back into the dark hallway. The dread returned, making her heart beat faster than ever before.
She jumped back to the other side of the door, and again, the feeling subsided.
It must be the magic she’d felt outside the Lightning Tower. She’d made it. Avalon grabbed the nearest torch and wound her way down. The staircase ended at an iron door. She wriggled the handle, but it would not open.
A muffled voice called out from the other side. Avalon jumped. She couldn’t understand any words. Not knowing what to do, she knocked once. The voice replied. She knocked again.
A rattling sounded on the other side. A lock clicked and the door inched open. Avalon pressed her palm firmly on the cool metal.
“Who goes there?” a voice asked, the uniform of a Covert K knight coming into view.
Scared of being re-captured, Avalon sent forth a jolt of electricity into the door. The lightning blast struck the man’s metal gauntlet lingering on the door handle. He convulsed before crumpling into a heap on the opposite side.
Avalon bent over to make sure she hadn’t killed him. He breathed, and she did too, a sigh of relief. She then pushed his torso out of the way to squeeze past. She snagged a ring of keys on his belt, just in case.
The room itself was the intersection of three hallways: left, center, and right. Avalon glanced down each dimly lit hall, and arbitrarily chose the left one. The hallway did not stay straight for long, curving this way and that. When she entered a second intersection with another left, center, and right option, Avalon’s face flushed. Of course the dungeon would be just as confusing as the castle grounds. But she couldn’t stop now. She veered left.
No.
Avalon paused. Timidly, she set foot on the right path.
No, the voice repeated.
“Center it is.” Avalon plunged ahead.
Ladybug’
s voice guided her as she wound through the dungeon maze. The gremlin’s voice, at first strong, faded with each passing junction. She wondered if Ladybug’s strength waned due to Subject #1. Avalon shuddered at the memory of those angry ghostly eyes.
Avalon could barely hear Ladybug’s final “No.” She knew she was likely on her own when the hallway ended at another iron door.
Avalon smiled in relief. She jiggled the handle, finding it locked. It took her a few minutes to locate the correct key on the ring, but one did click into place. She pushed the heavy door open with all her strength.
Nobody’s grinning face leaped out at her.
Avalon shrieked in surprise. “Don’t do that!” she yelled at him.
Nobody continued to grin at her, not saying a word.
Avalon examined the grinning gremlin closer in the torchlight. He did not move a muscle in the closet-sized room, even though he appeared to be laughing at something. Vimp clutched his leg, also completely still, yellow eyes caught in mid-blink.
They were statues.
“You have got to be kidding me.” Avalon caressed Nobody’s cheek, relieved that he did not feel cold like the sculptures back at White Cliffs. He felt remarkably warm, as if he should spring to life at any minute. “How did they do this to you?”
Ladybug’s words in the dream came flooding back. She said Avalon had to get him out like before. She understood now. Ladybug meant before when Kay was a statue.
Avalon had to use her lightning magic.
Avalon lifted her hand into the air, gathering electricity in her arm. The charge should have pulsed through her core, but it remained a slight sizzle, refusing to grow. Her body ached wielding it. Maybe Avalon had used up a charge when she zapped the guard.
Still, she had to try. Avalon released what little energy she could muster, letting it arc through the air, hitting Nobody squarely in the chest.
Nobody did not stir.
Avalon grunted. She’d freed Kay once. She had to do it again. She lifted her arm, reaching deep, deep within herself, willing the magic to emerge.
Someone grabbed her from behind.
Avalon screamed as Kay twirled her around so that they stood face-to-face. He kept a painful grip on her.
“What in Sadus are you doing?” he demanded.
His sudden touch frightened her, and the electricity slipped out of her control. She tried to aim it toward Nobody, but Kay had more experience with lightning magic. He seemed to absorb it back into himself.
“I’m freeing Nobody!” Avalon yelled.
“You can’t do that! That gremlin is a murderer!”
Avalon snarled. “That gremlin is the only one who can get me home!”
Kay’s grip lessened. “What?”
Tears threatened to form. “I’m not from Llenwald. I’m from somewhere else. Nobody is the only one I know who can bring me home.”
Avalon waited for the questions to come. What do you mean, ‘not from Llenwald?’ How can Nobody bring you back? Who exactly are you?
Kay surprised her by letting her go. “Sadus,” he cursed.
Avalon rubbed her sore wrist. “I know it sounds crazy,” she tried to explain.
Kay glanced from her to Nobody, who seemed to be laughing at both of them. His scowled deepened. “I swear you have a leprechaun’s luck,” he muttered at the gremlin before facing Avalon. “We don’t have much time. Someone will notice you downed a Covert K knight when he doesn’t report back with his communicator.”
Avalon’s mouth dropped in shock. “What?”
Kay took her hand in his, gently. “It will take both of our lightning to re-animate him. I’ll back you up. Concentrate on creating the largest surge you can manage.”
“What?” Avalon repeated. She didn’t understand how he could accept everything so easily.
Kay removed his gauntlets and threw them on the stone floor. “Take the offer before I change my mind.”
Better not turn down a good offer. Avalon lifted her free hand toward Nobody. She convulsed as Kay’s intense lightning magic flowed through her arm, down into the pit of her stomach, mixing with hers.
“Relax,” Kay said in her ear. “Let it build.”
A steady hum gathered in her skull as if she stood between two loud bass speakers. The bruise on her arm burned as more of Kay’s magic pooled into her. She wrapped herself around it as tightly as she could, the swell like a slippery animal trying to tear itself away from her.
Just when she felt she couldn’t hold it any longer, Kay said, “Now.”
The bolt shot out of her so violently that she collapsed, dragging Kay down with her. Their heads collided.
As Avalon grabbed the throbbing spot on her forehead, a maniacal laughter filled the room. “…really think that’s going to work?” Nobody screeched.
Kay pulled Avalon to her feet. She ached from the lightning blast, and by the haggard look on Kay’s face, it had taken a toll on him as well. Nobody stumbled out of his fixed stance. The gremlin stared in confusion at Kay and Avalon. He rubbed his eyes and stared at them again. “You’re not Dairy Queen or Hot Pocket.”
“Oh yeah!” Vimp said as he fell on his tail.
Nobody kneeled down, rubbed Vimp’s eyes for him, then held him out by the armpits in front of Kay. “You’re sure you’re seeing what I’m seeing, Vimp?”
“Oh yeah!” Vimp squealed, smiling happily at Avalon. He yelped when Kay gave him a lethal glare, scrambling onto Nobody’s shoulder.
“Well, I stand corrected.” Nobody wobbled upward. Vimp squealed as they toppled over together. “Nope, not standing anymore. Tell the room to stop spinning.”
“Nobody!” Avalon cried. She tried to bypass Kay, but he blocked her path with his arm. “What happened to you?”
“Ow,” Nobody wailed. “Worst brain freeze ever.”
Avalon gasped, turning to Kay. “Help him!”
Kay walked over to Nobody. “Trust me. It will pass.”
“Easy for you to say,” Nobody moaned.
Kay hauled him to his feet. “I’ll get you out of here on one condition,” he said to Nobody.
“Oo, I love conditioner,” Nobody said.
“You swear on your life that you will not harm Avalon.”
The blood drained from Avalon’s face.
Nobody looked over his shoulder at Avalon. “So he remembers you now?” He tried to stand on his own but had to hold onto Kay for support. “I can’t keep up with this soap musical.”
“Swear it!” Kay insisted.
“Of course, I will!” Nobody shouted back.
While not exactly appeasing Kay, he did back down. “If we can make it outside, we can fly out of Emerged Falls. Better get your wits about you soon, gremlin, because I can only carry one person, and it will not be you.”
“You’re my knight in shining armor,” Nobody grumbled.
“Wait,” Avalon said. “Maybe we can teleport out of here to the outskirts of town. I got in here by teleporting.”
“You what?!” Nobody yelped.
“She teleported,” Kay said, a tick forming on his jawline. “From the top of the Wind Tower all the way to dungeons of the Lightning Tower.”
Nobody’s eyes widened comically. “And you’re still alive?”
“You did it,” Avalon said to the gremlin, “when you were fighting Desert Rose.”
“I moved a few feet out of the way to avoid getting stabbed. That’s a huge difference from teleporting yourself across a freaking castle with no line of sight.”
“Okay,” Avalon reasoned. “If you can’t do it, maybe I—”
“Nope.” Nobody shook his head. “Nope. Nope. Nope. I know what happens if you accidentally teleport inside an object. Have you ever seen a person get sliced in half by a building?” He shuddered. “No thank you, not for me.”
“You are playing with magic you don’t yet understand,” Kay agreed.
Avalon glared at both of them. “No one ever told me any of this before.”
&n
bsp; “You’ve only used your magic in dire situations before.” Kay snatched the torch off the wall. “Better keep it that way for now. Follow me, before we get caught.”
Kay knew his way through the dungeon maze, never pausing once at the many dizzying junctions. They made it back to the bottom of the stairs in record time, pausing only to wait for Nobody to catch up. Kay cast a sigh at the slumped over Covert K knight. “Sorry, friend.”
“I’m not,” Nobody said. “That guy was a jerk.”
They pounded up the stairwell, encountering no one as they hit the ground floor. Kay raced forward, straight into the anxiety-inducing zone. Avalon gritted her teeth as waves of unnatural dread washed over her in the darkened hallway. They ran for several seconds, feet rhythmic on the bare stone floor, before a voice rang out far ahead of them.
“Halt!”
A light approached them from the other end of the hallway. Kay and Avalon stopped, but Nobody surprised them by shoving Kay out of the way and charging ahead, Vimp hanging onto his neck.
“Nobody!” Kay yelled after him.
Nobody shouted down the hallway in a theatrical voice, “When you wake up, tell the Guardians that Nobody took hostages, just like last time.”
Then Nobody vanished from their limited sight. A hissing sound filled the hallway. Someone screamed. A loud clanging of metal against stone. Then silence.
Kay and Avalon ran forward to find Nobody breathing heavily with one foot on a Covert K knight, black goo evaporated from his armor. “What did you do?” Kay demanded.
“I covered your thankless butt, that’s what I did,” Nobody panted. “They’ll think I kidnapped you instead of you busting us out. Ugh,” Nobody shivered. “What’s this nastiness?”
Avalon trembled against the panic washing over her.
“Terror,” Kay said. “An enchantment on the tower to keep unwanted visitors away.”
Nobody nodded his head appreciatively. “Super creepy and effective. Nice ambiance, Shivant.”
Voices interrupted them, echoing far down the hallway. A dim torchlight flickered at the far end of the tunnel. Nobody ran to the wall, splaying his hands across the stones. “What’s on the other side of this thing? Will anyone be there?”
“It’s the outer castle wall. Fairly deserted,” Kay said.