She could see that the dark knights’ stronghold was on an island in the middle of a stormy sea somewhere. She turned her body and pointed directly at the light.
She had flown for less than a minute when she heard a terrifying sound behind them, like crackling flames and the roar of a predator. She looked back over her shoulder to see three coiling lines of fire and smoke following them. She realized with a sinking feeling that they had to let her escape, but there was no reason why they couldn't take out Aaron or any of the other of the knights in the process. In fact, that was exactly what they had in mind.
She flew close to Aaron and gestured over her shoulder. "Something’s coming. Could you claymore those things in the face or something?"
He shook his head. "Not while I'm flying," he said. "Besides, if I drop my sword, Minerva will kill me again."
Nadia didn't know what to make of that comment. "Can't we go faster?”
"Like I said, this is the beginners’ model. It does whatever it likes."
Nadia groaned. From the sound of it, the creatures were getting closer, and she didn't have any weapons except her grandfather's sword, still disguised as a tube of lipstick. Just the thought of touching that thing again made her feel sick, but then again, what else could she do? She decided to try using it only if she had no other choice.
Unfortunately for her, she ran up against that wall pretty quickly. The curling smoke and fire creatures surrounded them, cutting off their path as the portal shimmered about the length of a football field away. So much for trying to outrun them. Now she could see that the creatures each came with a dark knight, all with their swords out. Without a word, they rushed directly at Aaron. He shot out his hands, and a bright shield like a glowing glass bubble appeared around him. The dark knights bounced off it, though the shield looked noticeably dimmer afterward.
Nadia looked back to see if any of the other knights were coming, but saw no one.
One of the creatures charged her, turning away at the very last second so a blistering wave of heat and smoke washed over her. Nadia coughed violently and started to sink, her wings beating erratically.
She looked at Aaron and saw that he had taken a couple of smaller swords out and was dueling one of the knights, constantly changing direction as the smoke creature whirled around him.
This wasn't a fair fight, but what could she do about it? If Mallory was really watching, could she prevent Nadia from helping Aaron?
She hadn't gone through the portal yet though. They still needed her to do that. She was going to try, no matter what happened afterward. Wincing, she took out her grandfather’s sword. Just thinking about it made her feel dark inside, but also much more powerful. Her nervousness and fear lessened and her mind cleared, ready to strike.
After taking a moment to steady her wings, she shot forward at the knight attacking Aaron with her sword held out in front of her. It was like she’d become a human dart. The instant the tip of her blade touched the smoke creature, it exploded in all directions, sending its rider tumbling to the churning seas below.
Aaron yelped and put up a shield again, probably thinking he was under attack too. She turned around to look for the others, but they retreated from her, having seen what happened to the first one. This left a small gap in their lines. It wasn't much, but it would be enough to get through. "Aaron, follow me!"
Aaron flew with her in tight formation, bringing up a shield that covered them both.
She readied her sword and flew directly at the portal. All of the dark creatures followed, keeping a safe distance, but not letting them fly unhindered. They were only feet from the portal when the creatures all pounced at once, probably figuring that they might lose a few, but would also take out Aaron in the process. Because of Aaron, they’d have to rebuild a dozen walls in the Stronghold.
Nadia screamed and swung the sword all around her head for all she was worth. Other screams joined inside her mind, and the pressure that built up felt like it was going to crush her. Smoke and fire tumbled all about her, and she couldn't see where she was going.
Suddenly, the world around her changed, all the heat vanishing. She lay on a cool stone floor, her wings still flapping, but getting slower by the second.
She turned around and saw the portal, a dimly glowing circle now. Part of her felt immensely relieved to be away, but the other part realized what she had just done. She'd sabotaged the portal for the dark knights, and she wouldn't be able to tell anyone about it. If it were only her life on the line, she might have resisted, but they still held all those hostages.
She started the portal intently now, hoping that any second, Aaron would sail through.
One minute passed, and her heart ached. Had he survived that final attack? She had barely known the guy, but he’d shown so much bravery and ingenuity that she thought he was someone she would like to know better. She was about to give him a moment of silence when the portal flared with light.
A few knights stumbled through, still trailing flame and smoke. They picked themselves up and faced the portal, swords ready as one of the dark creatures started making its way through. It dissipated before it could totally materialize. Nadia got to her feet, joining the defense as more and more of the shadow creatures entered at once. She fell into a terrible rhythm, attacking, retreating, and striking again. The portal grew smaller and smaller, and a few other knights joined them.
"Are we missing anyone?" called an old knight who wore a large red cross draped across his armor.
"Only Aaron," replied a red-haired knight with a beard. “Has anyone seen—?”
A figure tumbled head over heels through the portal, which wasn't easy to do with a massive claymore claymore strapped to his back. Aaron hit the floor, but then bounced up right away. The portal immediately collapsed. In the last few seconds, it appeared Angela had fallen through as well.
Nadia dropped her dark sword, feeling instantly better, and ran to take Angela in a tight hug. Though Angela looked dazed, she hugged back, both of them letting their tears flow.
"I want to go home," Angela sobbed. "I never want to think about any of this again."
Nadia patted her back, holding the smaller girl’s head to her shoulder. "I'm sorry, Angela. We don't have homes anymore."
CHAPTER 7: THE PROJECTION CONNECTION
From the Quest Log of Heinrich Wulfrich Witz
I had to wake up to make my attempt, but it wasn't a problem. As soon as my eyes opened, I tackled my challenge again with my new direction of using feelings rather than exact blueprints.
At first, I thought about trying to use my parents as a template, but then I realized that my feelings about them are pretty confused right now. I needed something a little more solid. I went through a bunch of people I knew and finally settled on Nadia. I know how I feel about her more than most anyone else—I have a lot of really strong feelings about her, both good and bad.
I started with a basic mental picture of what she looks like dressed in casual clothes like she would be when going to volunteer at the community center. My mind wandered for a second when I thought about the community center, wondering if that little girl with Down syndrome, Bianca, was okay. Man, I hoped so.
My concentration started to fade, so I started thinking about how I felt about Nadia again. First, I imagined all the times she had bullied me, including the famous water balloon incident when she’d ambushed Angela and me. Then I thought about times when we were competing, and how it was kind of exciting to have a worthy opponent, and about the time during the spelling bee when she'd won on the word “labyrinth.”
Then I remembered the first time she'd actually seemed vulnerable and let me see her softer side, when she’d lost her inhaler and I’d found it a
nd returned it, though I was tempted not to.
Finally, I thought of the moments, few as they were, when she really opened up to me. I remember her picking me up from the mud after I'd fallen on the obstacle course, that night at the gazebo at her house after eating the meal she’d helped make, and finally, the night of the Hawaiian dance when she taught me how to swing dance.
With all these things, the picture of her in my mind became clearer. I realized that my problem with the Viking was that I made him perfect. He didn’t have any scars or battle wounds, no weird moles or strange freckles. The Nadia I was forming my mind was much more of a real person—not perfect, but I liked it that way.
To top it all off, I channeled how much I missed her and was worried about her, wherever she was. I funneled the intensity of those feelings into my work and suddenly, I felt something click.
I opened my eyes, and Nadia stood in front of me. She didn't look completely real—more like she was a hologram or something.
Jan clapped his hands together and gave a bellowing laugh. "That is remarkable!" he cried. “I've known those who practice for years and end up with a much weaker projection. I must know, what did you do differently this time?"
I explained to him about my dream, and detailed each of the things I had thought in order to give her definition.
When I finished explaining, Jan crossed his arms over his chest and nodded. “You truly have a gift, Sir Rich. Now that you have created this projection once, it will be much easier to do the next time. Your mind creates little shortcuts for you, kind of like training a muscle. Eventually, you should be able to call this projection up at a moment’s notice. Be careful, though. It will use up all five objects to create a projection like this, so make sure you're not imagining anything else when you try."
I felt my temperature rising as keeping the projection going made me start to feel lightheaded. “What do I need to do with this projection thing? How do I open the next door?"
Jan walked to the wall and chuckled, pounding his fist against a certain spot. The door swung open. "Oh, nothing special about this one. I just needed to make sure you could do it."
I rolled my eyes. If only it were that easy. “But the projection’s not doing anything. How do I get to move?"
Jan pointed to the side of his head. "You just think it. Give it mental commands by imagining what you want it to do. Remember that it's drawing energy from you, so whatever it does, it takes from you. It can tire you out very quickly. Try having it do something simple and then dismiss it."
I couldn’t think of much, so I went for a high five. It wasn't as easy as it looked. I had to think of putting my hand forward and swinging her hand at just the right angle to get them to connect at the right time. I missed on my first two tries, but then finally slapped hands with the projection. Though she looked a little ghostlike, her hand felt completely solid.
Starting to feel like I was running a fever, I released the projection, and she vanished immediately. "That's going to be useful! Mark my words, Sir Rich! Well done!"
I was about to slump down against the wall when the rook piece around my neck started to vibrate violently. Someone was trying to contact me. I snatched the piece out of the cage and immediately heard my grandmother's voice. "Heinrich, oh, Heinrich," she said, her voice excited. "Aaron and the others have returned. They’ve rescued Nadia and Angela!"
I felt like doing a victory dance right then and there, but as Jan couldn't hear the conversation, I thought it might look a little weird. Then I realized what she hadn't said. "What about Aunt Laura and the girls?"
When my grandma paused before answering, I knew the news couldn't be good. "I'm so sorry, Heinrich. The knights I sent looked all over, but they couldn't find them. They weren't being held in the same place. It's possible that the dark knights might have transferred them somewhere else. I promise to keep looking."
I didn't think my legs could support me anymore, so I sat down cross-legged, resting my head on one hand.
“Heinrich, I know this must come as a shock, but I need you all to come back immediately. I'm sorry to take you away from this important training, but it cannot wait. Tell Jan that he is under orders to come with you. You’ll have to complete the remainder of your training in the field."
I liked the sound of getting back out in the fight, but the urgency in my grandmother’s voice scared me. "Oma, did my father tell you what happened to him inside the maze?”
"Yes, Rich," she said, her voice full of sympathy. “But you must remember that you can't blame yourself or your mother. I'm sure most of us would've done the same thing in his circumstances. It’s the fault of the Corridor itself and who created it. That’s why we’ve decided that it’s time to destroy it. The Corridor must be no more."
I have to admit, that idea sent my mind spinning. How would you destroy something with so much magic in it? In my mind, I saw myself piloting a fighter jet, dodging rock formations in underground tunnels before locking on the Corridor and blasting it away with a nuclear missile.
“I'm all for that," I said. “Everything about the place is wrong. It took my family from me, and now I’m not sure I'm gonna get them back.”
"It's even worse than you know," Minerva said. "It's been taken over by the one who used to guard the door when he was the Gray Knight. The entire nature of the Corridor has changed. It’s wilder, unpredictable...well, I’ll tell you more when you arrive. I’ll be speaking to your parents to give them directions about how to return. It will be so good to see you, Rich.”
The rook piece stopped vibrating, and I looked over to Jan, who was clutching his own rook piece and nodding. When he opened his hand again, I could see that his piece had additional gems and symbols on the side. Maybe they were like medals that military people wore on their uniforms. That, or he just liked shiny things.
It didn’t take long for my parents to find me, and we all left together. We had hidden the ship in a part of the cave so you couldn’t see it until you were almost right on top of it. Luckily, the boat was big enough for all of us, though that wasn’t what I was really worried about. If the dark knights had attacked us on the way in, what was stopping them from launching another attack on our way out?
I kept watch the whole boat ride back. Jan kept me company. To pass the time, he and I practiced what we had been working on in his cave. He would think up intricate things and I would try to create them. For fun, we tried some movie stars and other celebrities, but I just couldn't make anything but a cartoon out of them. I didn't have enough complex feelings about any of them to paint a good picture.
Finally, we stopped at the little fishing village that contained the portal we needed to take back. I wrote the last few words of this quest while everyone else was taking a bathroom break in the pub. I guess this quest, as short as it was, is over. I'm happy to say that I’m a little bit better at using my powers than I was before, but I'm really nervous about what the future holds. Things aren't exactly looking up right now, but at least I know Nadia and Angela are safe. I don't know what I’d do if something had happened to them.
CHAPTER 8: REUNION
Back at the Sanctuary, Rich wasn't sure who deserved the first bear hug. He settled on Aaron so he didn't have to choose between the two girls. Aaron had a long sword attached to his back, which made things a little bit tough, but Rich still managed it. “Thank you so much," he said. "You're gonna to have to tell me all about it. Wish I could've helped."
Aaron nodded and stepped back. "Me too. That place is seriously like a boss level on one of your video games. But it's a lot harder to find an extra life around here."
That comment made Rich laugh, which felt pretty good. He hadn’t been doing too much of that lately.
He approached Ange
la next, noticing that she looked pretty good, if not a little tired. "It seems there’s more to you than meets the eye, Mr. Witz," she said in a voice that sounded a lot like their school principal. “I'd like to present you with a get-out-of-detention free card."
This made Rich laugh even more. It was good to be around his friends. “Are you all okay?" he asked, looking her over to see if they’d treated her roughly.
"Honestly,” Angela said. “I don't remember a lot of what happened. It's probably a good thing. I'll see it again in my nightmares, though."
Rich clenched his fists, thinking about Mallory. She had so much to answer for, he didn't even know where to start.
"Don't worry—these are good people here. They’ll take care of you until we can figure something out."
She nodded just as Nadia stepped up beside her. Rich met Nadia’s gaze, and it shocked him how much sadness he saw there. There was something about her that looked completely different.
She’d always walked around with a little bit of a smug look on her face, like she was about to say something really sarcastic and funny at the same time. He didn't even see a little of that now.
“Hi, Rich," she said, stepping toward him. Something was definitely off here. He wasn't sure he wanted to know all of the details yet. He didn't think he could deal with the feelings of shame knowing would bring. They’d been captured because of him, and he had to be the one to make it right.
“Knights," his grandfather said, and all the heads turned. "Please take a seat. We have much to discuss.”
Aaron pulled up a couple of additional chairs beside Rich’s chair and showed Angela and Nadia into them. Then he took his own seat and kept his eyes fixed on Rich’s grandfather.
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