by Travis Hall
“Sorry,” Katie mouthed to Marcus as she left the room.
“Now what?” Dax asked.
“Well, this girl has a May Day court engagement to attend,” Katie said, running her hand through Allora’s dark-brown hair. They made their way toward the football field, while Katie tried fruitlessly to get the knots out of Allora’s hair. “Seriously, we need to get a brush because this hair is not ready for a parade.”
“I could care less about this thing,” Allora said as they got to the stairway down to the field. “We need to find the cyclops. He may know where the last jade cube is located.”
“You’re sounding more like a soldier than the girl I used to know,” Tanner added.
“Maybe it’s just time for me to grow up and realize that I’m not the person I used to be.”
“Well, I hope that I still get to see the old Allora every once in a while,” Tanner said with a wink.
As they walked up, people started to leave in a hurry. Their bracelets began to vibrate all at once.
“Why do I have a feeling that something bad is about to happen?” Dax asked.
Allora saw Milly running down toward the field, motioning them aggressively with her hand. They ran over as she got into her van.
“We need to go,” Milly said, from the driver’s side window.
“What’s going on?” Allora asked as they all climbed in.
“We just got word from Shangri-La that one of our bases is under attack,” Milly said, flooring the gas and peeling out onto the back roads.
“What base?” Allora asked.
“It’s the base at Mt. Olympus in Greece,” Milly said, speeding down the road. She pulled into their driveway and slammed on the brakes. After getting into the house, Milly went to her room. Allora, Tanner, Dax, and Katie followed.
“Can we come with you?”
“No. It’s too dangerous,” she said, going to the wall and sparking it while rotating her palm. The wall turned to liquid, and she pulled out a large chest. She lowered the chest onto the ground, opened it, and pulled out what looked like a black plate. She placed the plate onto her chest and sparked the material. Then she spread her arms out wide as the material expanded throughout her upper body and covered it. She pulled out thigh plates and repeated. Her whole body was covered in a black suit of armor.
“It’s a material called kamachi,” she said. “It’s the bodysuit we wear for battle.” Milly grabbed her daughter’s shoulders and looked her in the eye. “I need you and the others to go to Sas’s cave and remain there until I get back. Please promise me that you won’t go anywhere else but there.” Allora just stared back. “Allora, promise me.”
“All right, I promise.”
Then Milly left the room. Sas was waiting in the backyard.
“They have infiltrated the eastern wing of the compound somehow,” he said. Sas had a sash across his chest, with a sword sheathed on his back. He looked stern, and angry. “We need to go now.”
“Sas, I need you to sit this one out,” Milly said.
“But—”
“Sas, you know why,” she replied before he could answer. “This is not up for a debate. I can’t have you compromising the counterattack due to your emotional connection to this.”
Milly whispered something in his ear, and then she went out the back. Aunt May gently grabbed Sas’s arm without saying a word and then followed Milly.
“I need you four to follow me to my cave,” Sas said in a tone that was low and depressed.
“What’s going on?” Allora asked as they hiked up the familiar forest path toward Sas’s cave.
“We be under attack.”
“Yeah, I got that part,” Allora said. “Does this have something to do with the cyclops?”
Sas stopped abruptly and spun around quickly. “How do you know about the cyclops?” he asked. Sas looked scary, his eyes glaring as if he was about to attack. This was completely new. It was as if he’d been possessed. There was much more to this attack, but Allora was hesitant to prod him further. He looked as though he would crack at any minute. Tanner could see the anger in his body language and placed himself in between the two. Sas noticed the gesture and stepped back, ashamed at his actions. “I’m sorry. I….” Sas cut himself off and took off up the hill.
They followed him, moving quickly into the cave, through the liquid wall, and down the walkway to the waterfall pool. Sas had taken off and was nowhere to be seen. Allora took the path down to the secret passage at the back of the large waterfall and into the circular room with the thirteen doorways. Tanner, Dax, and Katie came in after her.
“Where did he go?” Katie asked.
Allora ran her hand along the drawn-in doorways, but nothing felt out of the ordinary. Then she had an idea. She grabbed some of the dust and sand that had accumulated on the ground and began throwing it at the doorways. None of them asked questions. They just mimicked her actions and began throwing sand at the doorways.
“Let me know if anything weird happens,” Allora said.
After a few minutes, Tanner yelled at the others. Allora went over and watched as Tanner threw the sand against one of the doorways. It ricocheted off the wall, blasting back at them.
Allora smiled. “Mrs. Ferris said that the residual energy of a portal will cause a sort of negative magnetic effect. Pretty cool, huh?” Allora sparked the doorway, pulling in the hadrons and doing the motions against the wall like she had been taught. The wall began to swirl inward and then became liquid.
“Are you sure about this?” Dax asked.
“We need to find out what that cyclops knows,” Allora said. “He may be the key to finding the last piece. I think that it’s somewhere in Mt. Olympus, and Hades is trying to get there first.”
With that she went through the portal with reckless determination.
chapter
TWENTY-ONE
Mt. Olympus
The night was misty and cold. Large droplets of rain pelted them as they trudged through the muddy mountainside. Without much tree cover, they had to move slowly. Through the fog, the crescent moon shone on a large cliff. It looked like the fin of a shark, jutting out of the mountain peak. Up ahead Sas was congregating with the other guardians. Hearing the slopping of footsteps in the thick mud, the guardians turned.
“Oh, hi!” Yeti said, running and giving the four a large, furry hug.
“What are you four doing here?” Sas asked.
“We’re here to help,” Allora said, stopping in front of the hairy creatures. Their eyes glistened in the moonlight, furiously focused on their mission.
“You guys shouldn’t be here,” Sas said. “This is going to be dangerous.”
“Sas is right,” Abe added. “This is no place for children.”
“Well, then don’t slow us down, you big ugly ape,” Dax said, patting him on the back.
Allora crossed her arms and took a determined stance, giving no room for negotiation. The other three mimicked her, knowing that Allora had her mother’s gift of overwhelmingly stubborn persuasion.
“All right, but you are staying with me the entire time. Got it?”
“Got it,” they said.
“Like I was saying, there is a back entrance that we can take. It should lead us into the main level of the fortress. It’s a pretty good bet that no one is guarding it, since they probably don’t know about it.”
They began hiking up the steep incline, unable to port because of the inhibitor capabilities inside Mt. Olympus. The cold wind bit the tips of Allora’s fingers like metal daggers. Sudden gusts sprayed the cold rain against their faces, the moisture soaking their clothes. Nature was questioning their every step. Allora stared at the flat mountain to her left as if expecting a sudden flurry of activity, but it remained still. When everyone arrived at the top, Sas placed his palm on a round rock. Sas’s palm turned yellow, and he began an intricate combination of turns with his hand. Once complete, Sas disappeared into the rock wall.
“Time t
o go,” Yeti said, following Sas into the rock.
Allora went through next, arriving in a chamber of obsidian, marble, and steel. It was like stepping into both the past and the future. The interior of Mt. Olympus was a mix of an ancient cavern city and the interior of a spaceship. Steel and metal covered the wall, next to perfectly polished rock. Along the corridor were the remnants of the ancient city. Walking slowly in the darkness, they drew weapons in preparation for whatever came through the black corridor. Nothing stirred in the darkness. Sas stopped suddenly. He turned his head slightly and put up his hand. He stood still with his right ear fixed forward.
“Something’s wrong,” Sas whispered. “We should have already seen the main chamber.”
“That is because you walked into a trap,” a voice said. The room erupted in light. The main chamber was a long assembly room hundreds of feet high, with long balconies on either side. Upon the balconies were hundreds of drow elves with arrows fixed on the small group that stood in a circle with their backs to each other. On the bottom level, they were surrounded by hooded royal guards brandishing their swords.
“I know that voice,” Sas said with a low growl.
Parting the line of royal guards, a figure emerged. An obvious warlock strutted into view, proud at his triumph. The creature was tall, with dark-brown fur, a brown sash crossing his chest, a sword on his belt, and a smirk of eagerness.
“Barmanu,” Sas said.
“Hello, big brother,” Barmanu said. “I have been looking forward to this day for a very long time.”
He paced in front of them, admiring his army. He held his chin high and walked with his arms behind his back.
“I should have known you be behind this,” Sas said, taking a step forward. The sudden motion caused the drow elves to pull their bows taught. The familiar sound of stretching string echoed in the chamber.
“Ah, ah,” Barmanu said. “You should be careful, brother. We wouldn’t want my elves getting angry.”
“Brother?” Allora said.
Barmanu’s sinister laughing made Sas shake with anger.
“I see you haven’t mentioned me to your little friends here,” Barmanu said. “Is the rebellion so desperate that they would resort to using kids to fight their battles?”
“He be no brother of mine,” Sas said.
“Oh, come on,” Barmanu said, arrogantly striding in front of them. “You see, kiddies, I was kicked out of the family.”
“You arrogant fool!” Sas said. “You be the one who massacred those dryads.”
Barmanu turned, his face becoming fierce. “Those dryads were responsible for Father’s death! I was avenging him!”
“It was never proven to be them,” Sas said defiantly.
Allora could tell Barmanu was becoming more agitated.
“Give me your balloon glue,” she whispered to the other three.
“Why?” Tanner asked.
“Just do it,” she replied.
They handed the balls of balloon glue over behind their backs, and Allora took them in her palm, waiting for the right moment.
“You disgraced our family,” Sas said. “You deserved much worse than being banished to the southern jungles.”
“Enough!” Barmanu yelled. His deep, angry voice reverberated against the steel walls. He stomped in front of Sas, staring at him from a safe distance, knowing his brother’s skill. “Take them prisoner.”
“But, sir,” one of the older-looking drow elves said. “We should kill them now.”
“No. They are hostages and leverage against any guardians who dare to try to retake the base.”
Allora spun around as a few elves marched forward. She lit the balls of glue in purple hadrons and smashed them into the ground at the base of their feet. The balloon glue exploded just as Allora shot a large hadron burst into the group of elves. The force of the burst pushed the large ball of glue down the sloping chamber floor. A flurry of arrows pierced the top of the purple balloon ball but couldn’t go much farther than a few inches. The ball looked like a porcupine with arrow shafts sticking out all over it. As it rolled, the wooden arrow shafts split and broke. The slight downgrade of the main chamber allowed the four plus Sas, Yeti, and Abe to pick up speed, rolling down the long, narrow hall.
“Get them!” Barmanu yelled.
A horde of elves ran after the rolling ball of glue, but it was going too fast for the elves to catch up. Within the balloon glue, the seven of them held their breath, unable to get air within the enclosure. They began rolling faster, escaping the pursuing horde. Allora wiggled her hands, pushing them outward against the sticky substance that imprisoned them. She again focused hadrons into her palms and performed the necessary motions that Mrs. Ferris had taught her in order to condense the balloon glue. One last spark, and the seven erupted from the ball and crashed into the ground, sliding and tumbling down the declining chamber floor. They skidded to a stop and moaned from the harsh landing.
Allora looked back at their pursuers and felt a rush of adrenaline surge through her.
“We gotta go,” she said, pulling Katie up by her arm.
“Couldn’t you have thought of a more elegant way of getting us out of there?” Katie said, rubbing her backside. “I’m going to be bruised all over.”
“Better bruised and dizzy than dead,” Tanner said.
“Good point.”
They ran down the chamber and took a right into a long hallway that spiraled down.
“Where are we going?” Dax asked.
“We have to find Polyphemus,” Sas said. “He is the only one who will know what happened here. I need to know how Barmanu got in here.”
“Why is that so important?” Allora asked.
“Because all of our defenses on Earth rely on complete secrecy. If they’ve infiltrated Mt. Olympus, the king’s army could penetrate our other outposts and even Shangri-La itself.”
“If we lose Shangri-La, we may lose Earth,” Abe added.
The spiraling ramp straightened out. On either side of them, twenty-foot cannons pointed out square windows. It was like running through the belly of a pirate ship. Two large coils were situated on either side of the base, with tubes running in a spiral along the long barrel.
When they got to the end of the long corridor, Sas motioned the other two warlocks over to the last cannon. Reading his body language, they knew exactly what he had in mind. Getting on either side, they lifted the cannon, spinning it counterclockwise and pointing it down the corridor they came from. The sound of footsteps and steel blew through. Sas pulled open a screen. A strange glowing ball appeared. It was a hologram. Sas put his fingers into the image. The ball of light turned with his motions, which caused the long barrel to lower toward the ramp.
Yeti grabbed the four, and they backed up to an arching doorway. Behind them, the floor gave way into what seemed to be a slide.
“I’d cover your ears if I were you,” Yeti said.
Everyone complied just as twenty drow elves appeared in the distance. Sas slammed down on a button to the right of the glowing ball. The pursuing guard stopped running, but the others pushed forward, unaware of what was going on. Yellow light at the base of the coils spun around, quickly flowing into the spiraling tubes. The cannon fired, sending a ball of yellow energy down the corridor. The ramp exit exploded, collapsing the roof and burying their pursuers.
“That should give us a little more time,” Sas said.
They all jumped down the slide, coming out into a dark chamber filled with prison bars. The room smelled of salt and blood. Behind the bars, heads began to pop up. Slowly, the prisoners got to their feet, laboring with every motion. The faces of those imprisoned were sullen, defeated, and sad. A few remained lying down. Allora looked closely, seeing the white faces and distant looks of the dead.
Abe and Yeti took off to find the central panel that controlled the prison doors. Sas searched the cells in hopes of finding someone specific. Finally reaching the end of the row of cells, Sas swung t
he door open.
“There you be,” he said.
The small gnome got to his feet. He was covered in bruises and cuts. Sas knelt by the old gnome and gently placed his furry hand on his shoulder.
“Gimnock,” Sas said. “You all right?”
“I’ve been better,” he said.
“What happened?”
Gimnock coughed and spit blood onto the cold rock floor. “No one knows,” he said. “They came at us in all directions without any alarm or warning.”
“How can that be?” Sas said. “Mt. Olympus has never been compromised.” Gimnock shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. “Where is Polyphemus?”
Gimnock pointed toward a large steel door at the end of the prison cells. Sas went to the door, opened it, and walked into the large room with no windows. In the middle was a very large man, strung up and stretched out by his arms. His head was slumped down, and his feet dangled with bent knees. Sas ran to the contraption that imprisoned the large man and pulled the steel braces from the posts. The shackles crashed to the ground, and Sas eased the oversized man down. Reluctantly, Allora walked closer. The man had very muscular arms and a huge head, and in the middle of his forehead was one closed eye.
“Polyphemus,” Sas said, gently shaking the cyclops. He pressed his ear onto its chest, listening for signs of life.
“Abe. Yeti. Come quick!”
They stopped short of the cyclops, their faces giving away their sadness.
“We have to get him out of here.”
“Sas, I want to save him as much as you, but we can’t just port out of here,” Abe said.
“I know that, but we aren’t just going to leave him here,” Sas replied.
“Abe’s right, Sas,” Yeti said.
“No!” Sas yelled. Allora stepped back. His anger burst out. The incident with his older brother had had an obvious effect on the warlock. Sas breathed in deeply, forcing himself to calm down. His determined stare gave Allora chills. Every muscle in his body was tense.
“All right, Sas. We got him,” Abe said.
They pulled the cyclops’s tree trunk–sized arms over their shoulders and dragged him through the steel doorway. Sas closed his eyes, trying in vain to regain his composure. Allora gently placed a hand on his back. He looked at her with the saddest eyes she had ever seen.