Nobody, not even Mallory, had anything to say after that.
Grappling with feeling guilty for snapping at everyone, he tried again, and this time got about two-thirds of the way through creating the shape of the key in his mind before he had to stop and start again. He began right away, not giving anyone else the chance to even think about a snarky comment.
He stared at the strange shape and then launched into the third time, tracing faster than he had before with his mind. In about a minute, he completed the pattern, and a gleaming chunk of irregular crystal materialized in his hand. Behind him, somebody let out a "Yeah!" Rich turned and saw Angela clapping her hands over her mouth. "Sorry," she muttered. “Don’t throw anything at me.”
Rich gave her a tired grin. "No, it’s all right. I got it. At least, I think so. And thanks for figuring out that eclipse thing. That was awesome."
Her cheeks took on a little bit more color. "Yeah, it was nothing. Well, I guess it was something, but it really was just paying attention in school and all the time I spent at astronomy club. Who’d have thought that would pay off?"
"Try the key already," Jezreel said. “And don't even think about throwing anything in my face."
Rich couldn't help thinking about it, but he decided against actually doing it. He drew a deep breath and fitted the shape into the hole. It clicked into place and a cheer went up from everyone, including the dark knights. The door slid open, and they all rushed through.
Unfortunately, on the other side was another room like the previous three. Rich remembered that his grandparents said there were five parts to the door. They’d had the keys for the first two, he’d figured out the third, and so there would be two more.
Rich’s heart sank as he took in the next door. The entire thing was covered with a pattern that looked like an interlocking locking series of vines. At first, he thought the pattern was symmetrical, which would have made things much easier, but on closer inspection, he saw that there were tiny differences, making it ridiculously difficult to copy.
He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “You all might want to get comfortable. This is going to take a minute."
Everyone else sat against the walls, some of them bringing out food.
Rich knew he had to tackle this one like a complex system. He remembered the gears that he’d imagined as part of the system. But to tackle this like a complex system, he’d have to figure out how the system worked. With the gears, it had been easy to see how everything fit together so he could imagine the system as one object. Here, he didn't immediately see the pattern and spent a long while staring at it, studying how the different strands of this strange fabric fit together.
After a while, his eyes started to glaze over. Maybe what he needed was another set of eyes. He turned around and found his mother, who stood in one corner with his father. "Mom, I need your opinion. And you too, Jezreel. Come and look at this with me."
He knew they were both bishops, one light and one dark, and so they were masters of chaos and order. Maybe they would be able to see a pattern where he wasn't able to.
Rich turned to his mother first. "Can you use your power to change this at all? To make it more orderly?”
She shrugged and reached out a hand to lay a few fingers on the surface of the door. "I don't know, but I'll try.”
She closed her eyes, and a look of strain came across her face. She stepped back after a few seconds, shaking her head. "No, that doesn't work. Whatever it is, the substance won't let me make it any more ordered than it already is. There’s some sort of pattern there, but it's difficult to see.”
Without being asked, Jezreel jumped forward and touched the door. "I agree. It also isn't susceptible to chaos power. We won't get around it that way.”
Rich felt his temper boiling up, and whirled on her. She was going to ruin everything he’d been working on! “Did I ask you to make it more chaotic? That's the last thing I need! I didn't—”
Without a word, Jezreel shot out her hand and pushed Rich to the floor. Maria had a sword out in front of Jezreel before she could do anything else. The dark knight grinned.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought I just told you not to throw anything in my face. That includes insolent words."
Rich looked at the door and was ready to jump back up and put some action behind his "insolent words" when he noticed something. For what seemed like hours, he'd been looking at the door from one perspective only. From down here, he saw it in a new way. He’d been trying to figure out how the different lines of the door fit together, but he hadn't asked himself where the pattern might start. From here, he could see that if he looked at the markings as though they started at the bottom corner of the door, they actually formed a larger pattern that he would only have seen from this angle.
"Thanks," Rich said. "I needed that."
Jezreel started. "What?"
He stood up and touched the door. "The change in perspective, not the push. I’ll let that slide because it really was helpful."
Jezreel glared at him. "What you talking about? You paladins—"
Rich shot up a hand. "Not now—I’ve got to think. Go back and hang out with your …" He paused. "You know, that's been bothering me. You and Mallory look like you're related. What is she to you?"
"My niece. Her mother is far too busy to keep an eye on Mallory herself."
Mallory stepped in, yanking her aunt away. "Don't talk about my mother,” she said through clenched teeth.
It looked like they might come to blows, but the storm quieted as they stepped back, and the room became somewhat calm again. Rich closed his eyes and put the others out of his mind. He started with the outline of the door in his head and then continued at the bottom and painted the image on his mind as though he was using a large brush dipped in black paint.
He realized after a few failures that he wished Jan were there, helping him along. Instead of simply wishing it, he conjured up a projection, using his intense feelings of sadness, loss, and profound gratitude to make him look like Jan.
It took him a few times to get used to keeping the projection solid, which he’d managed to make with only four of his five spheres and thinking of the pattern at the same time. In his excitement, he started going too fast with trying to form the door pattern in his mind. But when he opened his eyes for a second, studied the door, and tried again, the projection placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. Each time, tracing the path felt a little bit easier until in one magnificent stroke, he completed the pattern.
His projection of Jan cheered, and Rich turned to give him a high five. Then Rich turned back just in time to catch the huge piece of crystal he’d created. Working together with his servant, he fit it into the door, something he never could have done alone. The door instantly became a single smooth piece of crystal.
The nearly transparent Jan flashed him a thumbs-up sign and vanished.
Rich’s stomach clenched as he imagined what the next room was going to be like. He pictured the entire wall being covered with crazy patterns like some sort of crazy Swiss cheese.
The next room, however, didn't look anything like he expected. Instead of the simple box format, it was much larger and rectangular with two other rectangular passageways stretching out from it, separated by a thick crystal wall.
Each of the hallways took different paths to a much larger door that filled up most of the wall like a hangar or a garage door. There appeared to be keyholes in both sections of the door. Maybe they’d have to be turned at the same time.
Though the passageways looked completely clear at first, when they reached a certain point, like an invisible line, they changed drastically. The one on the left became a thunderstorm in a box with swirling c
louds, wind, hail, and lightning.
The other side sprouted a miniature maze of crystal stalactites and stalagmites, looking like there wasn't even space for any of them to crawl through.
Maria walked to the front of the group, rubbing her chin. "One is path is controlled by chaos and the other is controlled by order. One can only be traversed by a strong paladin and the other by a strong nemesis. It seems there are more reasons than one why we were required to make this journey together."
"But how does that work?” Mallory asked. “We need two keys, right?"
Jezreel stretched out her hand, palm upward. "Give me one of your conjuring spheres. I'll go through one side with your sphere and reach the end, where you can turn that sphere into a key. Then give another sphere to someone else who can do the same for the other side. Assuming we can both get through, we’ll be able to turn the keys at the same time."
Rich looked dubiously at the two sides. As things were right then, he couldn't see through at all. "I'll take the other one, Rich," his mother said. "I can use my power to get through the storm, and then I can use my message ability to let you know when we're on the other side and even tell you about the shape. Do you think that would work?"
"What? A little twig like you going in there? You’ll be cut to ribbons, you will," Bruno said.
Maria accepted one of the conjuring spheres from Rich. "It's not about size, Bruno. Our bishop abilities make us the best people for the job. There’s so much chaos in there, you probably wouldn’t last more than a few seconds either.”
Each of them took their place in front of their side, Maria in front of the storm and Jezreel in front of the cave. Phillip briefly embraced and kissed his wife and stepped back. In unison, each knight paused and then launched themselves forward onto their uncertain paths.
CHAPTER 18: TWO PATHS
Nadia stared at where Rich’s mother had vanished into the storm, a sinking feeling in her stomach. It was like a hurricane, a blizzard, and a tornado all mixed into one. She counted off the seconds in her head as a minute passed, and then two. What was taking them so long?
Both Rich and Phillip paced back and forth, their steps growing faster as the time drew on. Bruno simply stood and stared into the storm and Angela stayed close to Nadia, her foot tapping rapidly.
"You know, I keep a pretty good journal," she said to Nadia. "But I don't even know where to start writing down all of this. Might have to go into novel writing.”
"Let's wait and see if this has a happy ending first. How do we know if they're in trouble and need help? Maybe someone should go in after them."
Bruno shook his head. "And get lost in there too? You must be mental. It just seems like a long time, but I’m not ready to start panicking yet."
Rich caught his father by the arm as he suddenly broke from his pacing to charge for the storm. "No, son. I should never have let her go in there alone."
"But you're a rook, Dad. You can't castle through because there's no one in danger on the other side. I guess you could turn to stone for a second, but that wouldn’t help you move forward."
His father stopped struggling and lowered his arms. "The voice of reason, as usual. I can't stand waiting here, knowing she might be in trouble.”
Several more minutes passed, and everyone looked like they were about ready to explode. What would they do if the others didn’t come back? Would anyone have the courage to try again? She wasn’t sure even she would want to risk it.
Just then, a mailbox made completely out of crystal shot up in the middle of the floor. The flag was up.
Rich and his father stumbled over each other trying to get the mailbox first. Phillip won, opened the lid, and extracted a piece of paper from inside. He read aloud.
That was not fun. Don't know how else to describe it. It’s taking all I have to send the message. I don’t see Jezreel yet. But I traced the outline of the key for you.
Love, Maria
Under the note was a drawing of what looked like a pentagon on the top of the shaft of a traditional-looking key.
"That I can do," Rich said.
Bruno crossed his arms over his chest, looking surly. "Won’t do you a lot a lot of good if Jezreel doesn't get through. And if she doesn't, Maria’s stuck on the other side. This whole business has gone rather pear-shaped. We’re gonna be stuck here forever."
The comment seemed to make everybody slump down a bit. She knew next to nothing about Bruno's past, but whatever it was, something made him the king of pessimists.
"Don't be so glum, Bruno,” Mallory said. “If Rich’s mom can do it, Jezreel’s a shoo-in.”
Phillip shot Mallory a disapproving look, but she shrugged it off.
This time when the flag shot up, Rich was faster. He grabbed the note and read it in a loud voice.
Jezreel just came through. She’s all scratched up and bleeding, but she's here. I've been looking at her keyhole and it looks pretty similar except the shape on top has seven sides instead of five. Pretty strange-looking. Here’s the drawing.
Love, Maria
The drawing showed the seven-sided figure on top of a traditional key shaft. Rich concentrated for a moment, picking up the shape in his mind, and then opened his eyes. "There. That should do it. I created the keys."
Nadia held her breath, waiting for some sign. She jumped forward a second later when the mailbox arm shot up again and reached the letter first.
Jezreel says hers isn’t the right size. Mine went in just fine, but hers looks a little bit too big. Make it like half an inch smaller. Mom.
Rich tried again and held his breath. Bruno pushed everyone out of the way and stood in front of the mailbox. "I figure it's my turn," he said when he saw the glares everyone was giving him.
It didn't take long. The flag shot back up, and Bruno took out the letter.
That did the trick. The door’s opening. I hope it clears the path for you as well. We'll see you soon. Mom
Even as Bruno was finishing the letter, the storm died, and the crystal spikes retreated into the floor and ceiling. It happened slowly so they couldn't see the other side for some time.
All of the others who hadn’t crossed through the passageway stood on the very edge, ready to dash across as soon as things were clear.
The flag on the mailbox rose again, and Nadia handed the letter inside to Angela. "Sorry you didn’t get a turn," Nadia said. "Try this one.”
Angela snatched the note and unfolded it. Nadia could see the single line of text. Never trust a nemesis.
The words sank in, and Nadia knew right away what they meant. Now that they'd opened the final door, the dark knights had no incentive to play nice. She cupped her hands over her mouth and yelled, "Rich, your mom’s in trouble! Go, go, go!"
The other knights rushed through the clearing storm, though the wind whipped around them and lightning still struck. Angela ran forward too, but Nadia held her back. "We need to wait. Slow down."
After about thirty more seconds, the storm had disappeared completely. Nadia and Angela ran through to find Phillip and Rich huddled over Maria. Mallory and Bruno stood off in a corner, swords in hand. Nadia could see the same dark claw-like marks across the midsection of Maria's armor that she had seen on the control panels right before they’d burst in the third section of the maze. But the effect was unlike anything that had happened to the panels. Maria was in bad shape. She did look like she was breathing, but wasn't responding.
"How could I have been so stupid?" Rich said. "We should never let those two be alone. I knew she had it out for Mom, but I didn't think …"
"Don't talk like that, son," Phillip said. "Jezreel’s already through the door, and we sho
uld get through as well. There might be someone on the other side who could help us. There are supposed to be all sorts of powerful knights there."
Together, they hefted Maria onto Phillip’s back. Nadia felt rage bubble up within her again. She couldn't trust a nemesis. They’d made her a dark knight, but that wasn't truly who she was. She stepped aside to let Bruno and Mallory pass. “After the two of you," Nadia said, layering her voice thick with sarcasm. "I don't trust you not to stab us in the back."
Surprisingly, Mallory and Bruno complied. "No problem," Mallory said. “We know you don't have the guts to betray us."
Rich dashed behind them, and Nadia went with Angela. "Are you ready for this?" Nadia asked.
“I don't know," Angela said, hesitating before the entrance. “Whatever is in there, I'm glad I'm on your side.”
They stepped through the door into a blinding light that immediately overwhelmed them. A second later, a whole new terrain came into view. They were outside with fresh air, sunny skies, and clouds in a massive open-air coliseum that spread out in front of them. It stretched out longer than a football field with rows upon rows of seats, all filled with people in robes or armor.
Loud, raucous cheers filled the air from one side of the stadium to the other, and in the middle stood creatures as tall as skyscrapers. One looked to be made out of white stone in the form of a man with the head of a white knight piece. The other looked identical, but was made out of jagged black stone and had a black knight piece as its head.
"You're just in time for a good match," came a voice from ahead. Nadia looked toward the voice and saw a knight in gray armor lumbering up to them. She recognized that voice. It was the one who had spoken to them at the entrance to the maze.
The Gray Knight stepped forward, raising his visor so he could more easily be heard. "I see that your numbers are few, Rich. That's actually fortunate for you. Seating is limited, you know?" He laughed as though he’d just made a great joke. "Of course, when you put paladins and nemeses together, they can’t help but kill each other off a bit, right?"
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