“…probably won’t remember…”
“…not going to pretend any more…”
“…had to know this was coming…”
They still hadn’t gotten to the end of the trail. They still needed to finish the trip and find out what was waiting at the end. Then they would drag him home later out of duty and be done with him.
Silently, Logan inched back away from the voices, trying not to even breathe. He was determined that they wouldn’t find him. He may have screwed everything up completely, but he wasn’t going to be carted home like a misbehaving child. If they didn’t want him, fine. He would stay out of their way.
“Logan.”
Logan froze. That whisper came from behind him.
“Logan, crawl this way and they won’t see you.”
He didn’t recognize the voice, but it sounded like a woman.
“They can’t attack you again if they can’t find you. This way.”
In a daze, Logan crept toward the new voice. Did she just say…?
After a minute, a hand rested lightly on his shoulder. The voice was in his ear now. “I can’t explain more now. They’ll hear. The place you want to go is not far. I can show you the path.”
He could still go? He could still get answers? The path was close by. But still he lay there, trying to breathe normally. “Did you say that they…” He couldn’t force out the last words. Finding out that his friends didn’t like him that much was bad enough. It wasn’t even that surprising. But it was impossible to believe that they would actually hit him, would knock him out and leave him in a field. That was just crazy.
“I’m sure they didn’t mean to hurt you so badly,” came the whisper in his ear. A hand squeezed his shoulder. “They just didn’t know what to do with you. I’ve listened to them talk for a while. They are going to come back for you. But they are still trying to figure out where to go. If we leave now, you can get there first.”
“Who are you?” asked Logan.
“A friend.” The hand was removed. “There’s no time, Logan. Are you coming?”
He had no choice. His friends didn’t want him. This was all he had left. He nodded his head.
“We have to crawl so they don’t see us.” The hand was back, picking up his hand and putting it on something warm. “Hold on to my ankle and follow me.”
Trying to make as little noise as possible, Logan crawled in darkness after the stranger. He tried to make sense of everything he had just heard, but thoughts kept bouncing around randomly in his head. None of them came together. It was easier to focus on the crawling. His knees were starting to hurt.
Suddenly they stopped. The ankle was pulled out of his grasp, and the voice was back in his ear. “This is the path. It goes pretty much straight there, and it’s not far. There might be things in the way, but I know you can get through. They’ll be coming behind you soon, so move as quickly as you can.”
“Wait.” Logan’s whisper was loud. “Aren’t you coming with me? I can’t see.”
“I can’t. You have to arrive alone, or you can’t get in. You can do it. The path is straight. I’ve seen how brave you are. I will see you later.”
“You’ll come back?”
There was no answer. Logan reached out his hands and felt nothing. Whoever it was, was gone.
Logan stood up. Face reality, he told himself. He ran down what he knew. He was blind. This wouldn’t be easy. At the end, though, someone was waiting with answers. He needed those answers. Now more than ever. If the others caught up with him, he was finished, so he would have to hurry. Enough reality. Time to move.
Waving his arms in front of him and stepping with exaggerated caution, he moved up the path, which did prove to be straight and flat though not exactly smooth. Tree roots grew across the path in several places. Logan discovered these by catching his foot on them and falling onto his hands and knees over and over again. Each time he tensed up on the ground listening hard for sounds behind him, but he heard nothing. Each time he reminded himself that they could be coming any minute and he dragged himself to his feet and set off again.
Distance and time had no meaning, just reaching, stepping, feeling, falling, listening. Reaching forward with his hands, Logan was constantly reaching back with his ears, but all that they discovered was silence. This didn’t make him feel more relaxed.
The longer he went without hearing any sounds of pursuit, the more worried Logan felt. They could see. They had lights. They should be moving much faster than he was. Why weren’t they coming? Had something happened to them? Or did they find out he had gotten away? Were they planning something right now? Were they circling around him in the trees? He thought he would hear them coming from any direction. Where were they? Was he really on the right path? Who was that who led him here?
Logan’s head was pounding, more from the constantly circling questions than from the lump where he had been hit. He tried to ignore it and just keep moving. He reminded himself that he was about to discover something important. He tried to focus his thoughts on what it might be, but he couldn’t seem to remember what questions he wanted answers to. He strained back, listening again. Where were they?
With his attention focused behind him, Logan crashed face first into the stone in front of him. Instinctively, he gripped the stone to keep from falling down while the whole world spun around him. He had smashed his nose, and tears were pouring out of his eyes.
As soon as the ground beneath his feet stopped rocking, he reached up one hand and felt his face. Blood was gushing out of his nose. It stung like fury, but it didn’t feel broken. Logan fumbled in his bag for a spare shirt to stop the bleeding. It only took a minute or two, but even those minutes seemed too long to him.
Taking deep breaths, Logan felt along the stone. It wasn’t a wall. It was smooth in places but not flat. It seemed to be some kind of statue, something that was around the same height as Logan. When he reached up he could feel the top. It was standing right in the middle of the path, but it wasn’t big enough to completely block the way. Without his eyes, he couldn’t figure out what it was, but it was fairly easy to feel his way and circle around it.
After that he went more carefully, feeling his way with hands and feet both. Two more times he came across stone statues on the path, one only about knee high and the other so tall he couldn’t find the top, but both times he was able to climb over or around and keep going. He thought he must be close. Excitement and nervousness battled inside his stomach.
When he reached the stone circle, he didn’t need his eyes or even his hands to know it. There was a crackling feeling in the air that stopped him even before he reached out and felt the smooth rock walls stretching away on either side of the path. It was like the whole place had an electrical charge. Logan almost expected the stone beneath his hands to give him a shock, but it was only smooth and cold. Logan took another step forward, feeling with his hands the neatly carved opening in the wall. Reaching up, he could tell that the opening arched over his head.
Now that he was here, Logan felt a sudden reluctance to go through that arch. He had made it all this way even without being able to see. He ought to feel triumphant. But just at this moment, all he felt was scared.
Standing there with the air pulsing around him, he wondered what was waiting inside that circle. The answers, the map had said. He wanted answers. But suddenly all the questions he hadn’t asked before crowded into his mind. Who (or what) had the answers to the kind of things that had been happening to him? Why were they all the way up here? Why did he need to come alone?
Against his will, his imagination began to supply images of the inside of that circle. Of traps. Of monsters. Of devices that created electrical charge.
“It’s okay, Logan,” came a voice from up ahead. “You’ve made it. You’ve done so well.”
Logan’s heart pounded at triple speed. It was a woman’s voice, the same who had been whispering to him before. At least, he thought so.
“I
s that you?”
“Yes, Logan.”
“Who are you?”
But the woman went on as if she hadn’t heard him. “We hoped you would be the one. We’ve been watching you, and we saw your potential.”
There was something familiar about her voice, but she was speaking softly, and Logan couldn’t quite place it. He stepped forward another couple of paces. He was under the arch now, and the air was crackling around him but there was no electric shock and no monster, unless it was a monster who spoke with a gentle woman’s voice. That last thought stopped him with a shiver.
“You must be so tired, Logan,” the woman soothed. “It was such a long journey, and there were those who did not want you to make it. You have done the impossible. You should be proud. Now come. Rest. The answers you need are all right here. You deserve your reward.”
Logan wanted to believe her. He wanted to believe he could rest and have his answers and have something to show for this horrible night, but something held him back. “I can’t see,” he said. “I can’t see you.”
“I know,” said the voice. “You have suffered so much tonight, and you’ve been so brave.”
“How long were you were watching me?”
“A while. But I could only help the littlest bit. This was a journey you had to make on your own. And you did. You are here. And now you can be healed.”
“You can make me see again?”
“We can give you better sight than you had before. But you must come in.”
“What is this place?”
“All your questions will be answered soon. Come. I have a place for you to rest. Come.”
But Logan’s doubts held him in place. She was offering him everything he wanted, the perfect end to this horrible day. But Logan never got to have perfect things. Only just now he had found out that the best thing that had ever happened to him had been a lie. What if this was a lie, too?
“Come, Logan. There isn’t much time.” Her voice was still soothing, but there was a little note of urgency to it now.
“I can’t see where I’m going.”
“Come toward my voice. Once you are in the circle, I am permitted to guide you.”
Still Logan hesitated. He couldn’t say exactly what he was afraid of, but his heart was hammering with fear.
“Your friends are close behind, Logan. Don’t let this all be for nothing.”
Logan sucked in his breath. “They aren’t my friends,” he said, and he stepped forward.
After two steps, the rock walls disappeared from either side of him. Cautiously he moved a few more paces, and then he felt her take his arm. Her voice was right in his ear, still soothing, though her grip was uncomfortably tight.
“Good, Logan. Good. Just a few more steps and you can sit and rest. There we are. Don’t worry about anything. You’ve made it.”
She stopped him. “Here is a chair. Here you will find your answers.”
Even as she spoke, she pressed him gently but forcefully onto the seat. It felt like it was made out of stone, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. Logan felt arm rests on either side and a high back like a throne. It was vibrating slightly, as if it, too were charged with electrical power, but instead of feeling alarmed, Logan found it relaxing. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, feeling the throbbing in his head ease a bit.
“It’s time, Logan.” The woman’s voice was still right above him.
“Time for what?”
“Time for what you came for.”
“I have so many questions.”
“I know. And now…”
Several things happened at once. There was a loud cracking noise, and a blinding flash of light burst through Logan’s blindness and then disappeared, leaving him in the dark again. He could hear voices shouting, and the woman above him cursed loudly. Suddenly Logan knew exactly where he had heard that voice.
Before he could even wonder at her being here, the chair beneath him began to vibrate harder than ever. Logan could feel it pulsing up through him, making him a little nauseous. He tried to stand up, and found that he couldn’t move. It was like he was glued to the stone seat. He couldn’t even lift his arms. Panic came over him, and he struggled to free himself.
There was another deafening CRACK, and then everything went still. The stone seat was no longer vibrating. The air was no longer crackling. There was total silence all around. His eyes still useless, Logan felt cut off from the world. He could see nothing, hear nothing, feel nothing.
Then someone standing near him began to laugh.
18
Many Small Things
For a minute, Alex’s heart was thudding so hard it hurt her ribs and sent black spots dancing in front of her eyes. Her friends drew close around her, and she had the impression that they were saying something, probably demanding to know who the strange man was, but she couldn’t hear through the rushing in her ears.
So far, the stranger was just standing calmly on the path, making no move toward them. His face was lost in shadows, but his hands were visible, both held with palms forward and fingers extended as if showing them that his hands were empty. Alex forced herself to breath slowly while her vision cleared and the blood stopped pounding in her eardrums.
“…to startle you,” the man was saying, “but there was no helping it. There was no way to warn you, and I don’t think we have much time.”
“Who are you?” demanded Adam.
“What did you do to Logan?” blazed Eve at the same time.
“I didn’t do anything to Logan. He came here alone. But I don’t think he’s alone now, Eve, and he needs our help.”
“How do you know my name?” Eve’s voice was trembling. “Who are you?”
“My name is Ben. We’ve met before.”
The man took a step forward into the light, and Alex sucked in a breath. She would know his face anywhere, young but lined like a much older man’s with warm brown eyes and a fierce tangle of blonde hair. This was the man who had delivered the Book of Sight to her last year.
“You…”
“Hello, Alex. Good to see you again, though maybe we could both wish we were meeting someplace better.”
Adam was shaking his head, but he was smiling. Eve was laughing.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“Trying to help you. It really is good to see you all again, but as I said, we don’t have much time.”
“You’re right,” cut in Dominic, and he was not smiling. “We don’t have much time, and you are slowing us down. Obviously you guys have met, but you still haven’t explained how you found us here or how you know what happened to Logan.”
“Dom, this is the guy who gave us the Book of Sight,” said Alex. “I don’t think he’s…”
“It’s okay, Alex. You’re Dominic, right? Benjamin Ryder.” He held out his hand, but Dominic didn’t take it. “Dominic is right. You need answers, but there isn’t time. Here’s the short version. I left town after I delivered your books. I always do. They are always hunting me, and I can’t risk letting them find new readers before they’ve even had a chance to see. But I wasn’t far away when I heard about the explosion. I saw the pictures on the news. There were Red Spots everywhere, though obviously the news reporters couldn’t see them. I knew you all were in danger. Somehow you already drew their attention. If they are ready to use Red Spots in your town, there’s pretty much no way for me to make it worse by being seen with you. So I came back. I had to be careful. I watched you for a while, and tried to gather some information. They’ve set traps for me before. Anyway, it was pretty clear that you guys already have a circle. I saw that Dominic was with you now. I had just decided to come talk to you yesterday when…well, obviously, you weren’t there. I talked to Logan’s sister. She said that Logan had left and you all went after him, but she wouldn’t tell me anything more. She didn’t have to. I could see who was living next door.”
“You know her?” broke in Eve.
“Is it a woma
n?” Ben asked, then muttered, “Of course it would be a woman. No, I don’t know her, but I could see that a Breaker lived there. The signs were everywhere.”
“What signs?” said Adam.
“There’s no time to explain them all. Later. Later you’ll need to learn a lot of things. Right now let’s just say that Logan leaving alone was the biggest sign. I broke into the Breaker’s house. She was gone, of course, but there were some papers, some stones. I knew there was a forming circle up here somewhere, but I didn’t know exactly where. I wandered for quite a while. Fortunately, you all started yelling very loudly. So here I am. I know we’re close, I ran across a guardian statue back there a ways. How did you find this place?”
“We have a map,” Alex said. “That woman, Candace. We think she gave it to Logan, but we have it now.”
“Perfect. Let’s go then. We can talk more as we walk.” He was already heading back up the path as he spoke. Adam fell into step behind him and handed him the map. Eve stepped by Alex, the brief flash of light showing her face worried but intent.
Alex turned to Dominic. He was looking at her questioningly, not moving. Alex gave a little nod before hurrying to follow the others. She could hear Dominic right behind her and felt grateful for his trust. This had to be hard for him.
Up ahead, Ben was saying, “We have to assume that they’re already inside the circle, which means it won’t be easy for us to get in. Those stones put off an incredible amount of energy. Luckily, like I said, I saw some Guardians around here, so we should be able to use those, if we work together.”
“What’s a --?” Eve broke off with a scream.
Alex immediately saw why. A giant had loomed up on the path ahead of them. Two powerful arms gripped a club in front of a massive chest. His head was so high, it was lost in shadows. Dominic grabbed Alex’s shoulder and pulled her back behind him in one swift motion.
“It’s okay,” said Ben. “It’s okay. It’s the answer to your question.” He walked up to the giant and slapped him on the leg. Alex let out her breath. The giant was a statue.
“What is that thing?” asked Adam shakily.
The Broken Circle (The Book of Sight 2) Page 21