Black Water tpa-5

by D. J. MacHale

  And I hope that by the next time I write, I’ll have some news about Gunny. Until then, think about me, and please be careful.

  END OF JOURNAL #16

  SECOND EARTH

  “… think about me, and please be careful.”

  Courtney Chetwynde read the last few words of Bobby’s journal out loud and then dropped the crunchy, brown pages onto the table in front of the couch where Mark Dimond sat. They were in the basement of Courtney’s house, in her father’s dusty workshop. It was the one place they knew they could read Bobby’s journals and not be disturbed. Courtney’s dad never used the workshop. They called it the “tool museum.”

  “That sucks,” Courtney said with disgust.

  “What do you mean?” Mark asked.

  “We finally have the chance to help Bobby, for real, and he won’t let us.”

  Mark sat up straight. He hadn’t expected this reaction from her.

  “Whoa, you were the one who wasn’t sure about being an acolyte. Now you’re upset because you can’t jump into the flume?”

  Courtney picked up a hammer from the workbench and pounded it into her open hand, a move that clearly said to Mark that she was upset. She didn’t say anything right away and Mark didn’t press her. Whatever was on her mind, he knew it had to come out on her terms. Finally, after slamming her hand so many times Mark felt sure she’d break bones, she opened up.

  “We’re in trouble,” she began. “All of us. You, me, our families, Stony Brook, Second Earth, Halla…everybody! Upuntil now it’s all been like some bizarro dream. But seeing Saint Dane in the flesh, man, that made it real.” She threw the hammer down onto the workbench. The loud clatter echoed through the basement. Mark had never seen Courtney like this. She was focused, like when she played sports. But there was something more. Something different. The only thing Mark could figure was that Courtney seemed…older. He sensed an odd mix of emotions: intensity, anger, and fear.

  “We know what’s going on,” she continued. “As much as Bobby does. How can we sit around and do nothing but wait for the mail to come in?”

  “Because that’s what Bobby asked us to do,” Mark answered meekly, hoping not to redirect Courtney’s anger to him.

  “Bull!” Courtney shouted. “Bobby’s guessing. He doesn’t know for a fact it would be bad if we used the flumes. And I’ll tell you something else, has Saint Dane ever told the truth? Things never turn out the way they first appear-that’s how he manipulates people. He gives you just enough information to think you know what’s going on, then when you jump at his bait, he twists things. You know what I think? It’s possible he’s messing with Bobby’s head again. Maybe Saint Dane isafraidfor us to travel? Huh? What about that? Maybe he doesn’t want more enemies on his butt. Did you think about that?”

  Mark let this theory sink in. This was serious stuff. “Okay,” he said calmly. “I’m not sure if you’re right, but s-suppose you are. What do you th-think we should do?”

  Courtney deflated. Mark saw it. The wind went right out of her sails, and she plunked herself down on the couch, sending up a cloud of dust that made Mark cough.

  “It’s only a theory,” she said in defeat. “I didn’t say I had answers.”

  Mark let out a relieved breath. For a second he was afraid that Courtney was going to suggest they go to Eelong. Not only would that be exactly what Bobby asked themnotto do, the idea of running into one of those tang creatures wasn’t exactly a pleasant one. Not to mention the gar quigs… or the klees, who were on the verge of legalizing the killing of humans for food. No, Mark figured that going to Eelong would be an aggressively bad idea.

  Courtney sat on the couch stiffly, her jaw muscles working. Mark was beginning to think her anger had a lot to do with the trouble she was having at school, and at sports. Courtney wasn’t used to failing, and right now she was failing big-time. It occurred to Mark that Courtney’s sudden desire to enter the fight against Saint Dane might be her way of proving something to herself. But he wasn’t about to share that theory with her. No way. He didn’t want to risk her picking up that hammer again and going to work on his head.

  “I want to help,” Mark said softly. “But we’ve got to be smart about it.”

  “I know,” Courtney said. “You told me once you hoped the battle with Saint Dane would come to Second Earth so we could be part of it. Remember?”

  “Yeah, I remember.”

  “Well, you got your wish. Saint Dane showed up. He knows who we are. How does that make you feel?”

  Mark thought for a second and said, “Scared.”

  “Yeah, me too,” Courtney admitted. “I’m not a total idiot.”

  “The thing is,” Mark continued, “there’s nothing we can do. We’re not going to go to Eelong because we’d just get in the way, or get eaten. Bobby’s barely able to take care of himself. He doesn’t need us to worry about.”

  Courtney nodded.

  “And we can’t get around the fact that Bobby thinks we shouldn’t use the flumes. He might be wrong, but we just don’t know.”

  “So what doyouthink we should do?” Courtney asked.

  “I hate to say it but… nothing. Until something else happens that makes things a little clearer, we have to wait.”

  “It’s torture,” Courtney said between clenched teeth. “Do you know how hard it is to go to school and do homework and take tests and deal with your parents while the universe is crumbling?”

  “Well… yeah, I do,” Mark answered.

  Courtney smiled, backing down. “I know you do, Mark,” she said sheepishly.

  Mark reached for the journal papers and rolled them up. “I gotta get home,” he said. “I’ll bring this to the bank in the morning. Maybe after school we should get together again and talk about what might be-“

  Mark stopped talking. His face went blank.

  “What’s the matter?” Courtney asked.

  Mark dropped the journal and lifted his hand. His ring was activating again.

  “Another journal?” Courtney asked. “Already?”

  “N-No,” Mark answered. They both saw that the dark stone in the center of the ring hadn’t changed. Instead one of the symbols that circled the gray stone wasglowing. Each of these ten symbols represented one of the ten territories of Halla. The symbol that was now glowing looked like three wavy lines.

  “We’re getting a message from an acolyte,” Mark said, stunned.

  When Tom Dorney told them about being acolytes, he explained that the acolytes were able to communicate with one another through the rings. Mark and Courtney had already seen it work when they got a message from the Veelox acolyte, Evangeline. Mark took off the ring and placed it on the table. It quickly grew, opening up a path between the territories. They heard the usual musical notes and saw the sparkling lights. As strange and magical as the event was, it had become familiar. They shielded their eyes from the harsh light, and in a few seconds it was over. The ring had returned to normal. The delivery had been made. Sitting on the table next to the ring was another roll of parchment paper.

  “It looks like Bobby’s journal,” Courtney observed. “But it’s short.”

  Mark picked up the paper and unrolled it to discover a single page.

  “Well?” Courtney asked impatiently.

  Mark said soberly, “I think we just got our first job as acolytes.” He handed the page to Courtney. She read:”You must come to the flume.”

  “That’s it?” she asked. “Who’s it from?”

  Mark took the paper back and rolled it up.

  “No clue,” he said. “Ready?”

  “You want to go now?” Courtney asked, surprised. “It’s almost dinnertime.”

  Mark shot her a “you’ve got to be kidding” look.

  Courtney smiled, realizing her priorities were slightly confused.

  “Forget I said that,” she said quickly. “I’ll tell my parents I’m going to the library. Call your mom and tell her the same thing.”

  “
Okay,” Mark agreed.

  The two sat for a second, letting the reality of what was happening sink in. Finally Mark said, “I’m, uh, I’m kinda nervous. What if Saint Dane shows up again?”

  Courtney jumped to her feet and said, “Then we deal. This is what we wanted, right?”

  Fifteen minutes later Mark and Courtney found themselves back in the basement of the abandoned Sherwood house. They had made the appropriate excuses to their parents as to why they had to go to the library and promised to grab something to eat at McDonald’s. Neither liked fibbing, but both figured it was justified in that they were helping to save the universe.

  “How come the quigs aren’t here?” Courtney asked as they made their way through the dark, empty basement. “Not that I’m complaining.”

  “I don’t know,” Mark answered. “But from what Bobby said, they only show up when Saint Dane is around.”

  “Good,” Courtney said. “No quigs, no Saint Dane. So far I’m liking this mission.”

  The two approached the wooden door with the star symbol that marked it as a gate to the flume. It was night. The basement was dark, but their eyes had adjusted enough so they could find their way. Mark had his backpack and dropped it just outside the door. With a quick look at each other, they entered the root cellar that held the tunnel to infinity. They walked up to the huge mouth of the flume, but stopped before setting foot inside. Both gazed into the endless void.

  “Tempting, isn’t it?” Courtney asked playfully.

  Mark nodded. He shot a sideways glance at her, worried that she might leap inside.

  “How will they know we’re here?” she asked. “Whoevertheyare.”

  “I don’t think they have to know” was Mark’s answer. “The flumes put the Travelers where they need to be, when they need to be there. So if somebody needs to see us, it doesn’t matter when they enter the flume, they’ll be here when we’re here.”

  “That makes no sense,” Courtney said, shaking her head.

  “I know,” Mark agreed. “But so far it’s worked out that way, right?”

  Before Courtney could answer, a light appeared in the depths of the flume. “I guess you’re right,” she announced. “Here we go.”

  The two backed away as far across the root cellar as they could go, which wasn’t far. They clung to each other for support. Both were thinking the same thing: The last time this happened, Saint Dane showed up. Gulp. The light inside the flume grew closer, brightening the dank root cellar. The musical notes grew louder and the gray rock walls of the tunnel melted into glorious crystal.

  “It’s okay,” Mark whispered with an oddly confident voice. “I think this is the way it was meant to be.”

  An instant later the light flashed and disappeared as quickly as it had arrived, taking the music with it. When Mark and Courtney’s eyes adjusted back to the dark of the cellar, they looked into the flume to see who had arrived. Both gasped in surprise. It wasn’t Saint Dane. It wasn’t Bobby. It wasn’t any of the Travelers they had met or read about.

  It was a huge jungle cat.

  Mark and Courtney didn’t let go of each other. Though they had read about the klees of Eelong being intelligent, it was totally unnerving to be standing a few feet away from one. This was a beast that could rip them in half and eat them for lunch.

  The big cat was on all fours, staring back at them. Its coat was gray-and-white spotted, like a leopard’s. The only thing that gave Mark and Courtney a glimmer of hope that they wouldn’t be devoured was the fact that the cat wore a tunic, like the ones Bobby described.

  “Are you the acolytes from Second Earth?” the big cat said with a firm, male voice.

  Neither Mark nor Courtney could speak. They stood dumbly, with their mouths hanging open.

  “I said,” the cat repeated more forcefully, “are you the acolytes?”

  Mark and Courtney nodded.

  “Good,” the cat said. “My name is Seegen. I am the Traveler from Eelong.”

  Courtney shot Mark a surprised look.

  “W-We got a message to come here,” Mark said weakly.

  “Yes,” Seegen replied. “Sent by my acolyte.”

  “Your acolyte knows about us?” Courtney asked, surprised.

  “The acolytes know of many things,” Seegen answered.

  Courtney said, “Really? We’re acolytes and we’re clueless.”

  “I must see Pendragon, the lead Traveler,” Seegen continued. “I have vital information for him. He must come to Eelong.”

  “Well, I guess your acolyte doesn’t know everything,” Courtney said. “Because Bobby’s already there.”

  If it were possible for a cat to look surprised, Seegen did. His head wavered, as if he were dizzy. He sat down on his haunches.

  “You feeling all right?” Courtney asked.

  “You don’t look so hot,” Mark added.

  “Pendragon doesn’t know what he’s stepped into,” Seegen said weakly. “I must find him.”

  “Tell us,” Courtney said.

  “I believe I’ve discovered how Saint Dane plans to decimate Eelong,” Seegen said. “He’s going to poison the territory.”

  “Poison?” Mark said. “The whole territory?”

  “I’ve already seen the signs. Tangs have been dying, by the hundreds. I believe they ate crops that were infected by this poison. Pendragon needs to know!”

  “How do you know Saint Dane poisoned the tangs?” Courtney asked.

  “Because nothing like this has ever happened on Eelong,” Seegen answered. “Mass deaths? It’s unnatural. It can only be the work of Saint Dane. No one else but Pendragon will understand that. I must tell him before-“

  Seegen didn’t finish his sentence. He didn’t move. The big cat sat there like a freeze-frame, his cat eyes staring forward.

  “Before what?” Courtney asked.

  No response.

  “Hey, a-are you okay?” Mark asked.

  “Seegen?” Courtney called out. “Hel-lo?”

  The cat didn’t answer. Courtney took a step toward the Traveler. Mark followed close behind.

  “Maybe you should go back to Eelong,” Courtney told the cat nervously. “Bobby is there looking for you. You can tell him all about the poison.”

  Still, Seegen didn’t move. Courtney reached out to touch him, but Mark grabbed her arm and screamed, “Stop!”

  “What’s the matter?” Courtney asked.

  “Look,” Mark said. He was pointing to Seegen’s mouth. A thin line of bright green liquid had dribbled out and trickled down his fur. Mark cautiously held his open palm in front of the cat’s nose. He held it there for a moment, then declared, “He’s not breathing.”

  Courtney took a surprised step back. “Whoa, no way!”

  Mark waved his hand in front of the cat’s glassy eyes. They remained fixed. Staring. Unseeing.

  “He can’t be dead!” Courtney yelled in a panic. “He was fine a second ago. You don’t just…stop living!”

  Indeed, Seegen didn’t look any different in death than he had in life. Nothing had changed, except that life had left his body. Mark turned away from the big cat and looked to the ground, his mind lost in thought.

  “Mark!” Courtney called. “What are we going to do? This is… this is…bad!”

  “It’s worse than bad,” Mark answered.

  “How’s that?”

  “I know Bobby’s journals inside out,” Mark explained. “I’ve reread each one a dozen times. I remember everything. Every event. Every detail.”

  “Yeah, so?” Courtney said anxiously.

  “We’ve read about this,” Mark continued. “Think. Seegen suddenly died, with no warning, and there’s green liquid dribbling from his mouth and-“

  “And there’s a deadly poison on Eelong!” Courtney interrupted, realizing where Mark was going. “Like nothing they’ve ever seen. It infects crops and makes them poisonous. You don’t think-“

  “Yeah, I do,” Mark said solemnly. “Saint Dane said the wa
lls between the territories were crumbling.”

  “Cloral,” Courtney said with finality.

  “Yeah, Cloral,” Mark echoed. “I don’t know how, I don’t know why, but somehow the poison that Saint Dane tried to destroy Cloral with is still active, and it found its way to Eelong.”

  “And a Traveler is dead,” Courtney added. “What if he’s the only one who knew the truth?”

  “He isn’t,” Mark said.”Weknow.”

  SECOND EARTH

  (CONTINUED)

  Courtney grabbed Mark’s arm, pulling him out of the root cellar and back into the big, empty basement of the Sherwood house. Once outside, he yanked his arm back. “What’s the matter with you?” he demanded.

  “I couldn’t stay in there with a dead, a dead-“

  “Klee,” Mark snapped. “He’s called a klee. And he was the Traveler from Eelong.”

  “Whatever, it was…creepy.”

  “Creepy is the least of our problems,” Mark said.

  “What are we going to do, Mark?” Courtney asked quickly, her normally calm exterior showing signs of cracking. “Saint Dane has brought that poison from Cloral to Eelong, and we’re the only ones who know it.”

  Mark paced. His mind was full of possibilities. None of them were good.

  “It’s wrong,” he muttered nervously. “He’s not supposed to mix things from the territories.”

  “Saint Dane’s not supposed to do a lot of things,” Courtney said. “But that hasn’t stopped him. Bobby’s gotta know!”

  “And I know how to tell him,” Mark exclaimed.” We can send a note to Boon, the acolyte from Eelong. Dorney showed us how to do that!”

  “Good idea, except for one thing,” Courtney said. “What?”

  “Boon’s not the acolyte. Not yet, anyway. I thought you remembered every detail?”