“Then who sent us the note?” Mark asked. “Seegen’s acolyte. That’s not Boon.”
“Well, we gotta try!” Mark exclaimed. He grabbed the backpack that he left outside the wooden door and pulled out a spiral notebook and rollerball pen. He nervously flipped through dozens of pages filled with notes from his classes (Mark loved taking notes), until he found a blank page. He spoke aloud as he wrote:
“This note is for Pendragon, the lead Traveler. Saint Dane brought the mutant poison from Cloral to Eelong. Seegen is dead. He was killed by the poison. His body is on Second Earth. What should we do? Mark and Courtney.”
Mark asked, “Anything else you can think of?”
Courtney shook her head. Mark ripped out the note and folded it in two. He took off his Traveler ring and laid it on the floor.
“Dorney said all we have to do is say the name of the acolyte we want to send it to,” Mark said, breathless. He held the note over the ring, cleared his throat and announced, “Boon.”
Nothing happened.
“Boon from Eelong,” Mark said louder. The two looked at the ring. It lay there doing absolutely nothing.
“Send this to Boon! The acolyte from Eelong!” Mark yelled.
Still nothing.
“Am I forgetting something?” Mark asked with a hint of desperation.
“Yes,” Courtney answered. “Boon isn’t the acolyte. Hello! I told you that.”
Frustrated, Mark picked up the ring and put it back on his finger. “Then I don’t know what to do.”
Courtney took the note from Mark, read it, then read it again. An idea was forming. “Mark,” she began softly. “Think about what I’m saying before telling me I’m wrong, okay?” Mark nodded.
“Saint Dane said that when the first territory falls, the rest will go over like dominos, right?”
“Yes,” Mark agreed. “And I’m getting sick of hearing that.”
“From what we’ve seen and what Bobby wrote, Saint Dane’s prediction is coming true. Veelox is doomed, and now weird things are happening. Like those images Bobby saw when he flew through the flume, and the way Saint Dane’s hair burned. I think he’s getting stronger, and if he gets another territory, there’s no telling what might happen.”
“I’m with you so far,” Mark said.
“Eelong is in big trouble,” Courtney continued. “It looks like Saint Dane’s got the klees ready to start killing off the gars.”
“Hang on,” Mark interrupted. “I think Saint Dane is wrong. Sure, if all the gars were killed off, it would throw Eelong totally out of whack, but get real. Even if they made it legal to hunt gars, they couldn’t wipe out the entire population.”
“Exactly!” Courtney agreed quickly. “That is, unless they had a weapon that was so powerful it could kill off thousands of gars at one time before they even realized what was happening.”
The weight of Courtney’s words hit Mark hard. The horrible truth was becoming all too clear.
“The Cloral poison!” he shouted. “Saint Dane brought the poison to Eelong to wipe out the gars!”
“It’s worse than that,” Courtney said with passion. “Think about it. What are the klees going to do after they kill the gars?”
The answer came fast to Mark, hitting him like a punch in the gut. “Oh my god,” he said, his panic growing. “They’re going to eat them! If some klees don’t know about the poison and eat gars who were killed by it-“
“Yes!” Courtney shouted. “They’ll be poisoned too. Then the whole food chain thing will be thrown out of whack and…Mark, with this poison Saint Dane truly has a chance of bringing down Eelong.”
Mark paced nervously. “I can’t believe this!”
“I’m not finished,” Courtney said, still calm.
“There’s more?” Mark asked, incredulous.
“Yes,” Courtney said. She took a deep breath and said, “You’re not going to like this.”
“I don’t like any of it. What?”
“Mark, we’ve got to travel.”
Mark froze. He wasn’t expecting to hear that.
“Say something,” Courtney said.
“No way!” Mark shouted. “That’s exactly what Bobby said we shouldn’t do!”
“Bobby could be wrong,” Courtney countered. “The ball just got slammed into our court. Bobby knows that Saint Dane wants to kill off the gars, but we’re the only ones who know how. The Council of Klee may have already revoked the law that forbids the killing of gars-“
“Edict Forty-six.”
“Whatever! We know the truth. How are you going to feel when we read in Bobby’s next journal that thousands of gars mysteriously died off? I don’t want to be the one to tell Bobby we knew it was coming but didn’t do anything to stop it.”
Mark walked deeper into the vast basement. All he could hear was the sound of his own footsteps, crunching on the gritty floor. The problem was, he agreed with everything Courtney had to say. But the idea of going against Bobby’s direct orders was tough to imagine. Even tougher was the idea of shooting through the flume. Sure, he had fantasized about it. But when it came right down to it, he didn’t think he had what it took to join this fight. Maybe Courtney did, but not Mark. Mark feared he was way too…Mark.
“It’s okay if you don’t want to go,” Courtney said softly. “But I do.”
Mark whipped around and saw that Courtney stood with both feet planted firmly. It was at that exact moment that Mark realized Courtney had already made up her mind. The time for discussion was over. She was going to jump into the flume.
“H-Hang on a second,” Mark said, trying to restore sanity. “Suppose I agreed with you? I’m not saying I do, but just suppose. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never had to fight a quig or a tang or any other nasty creature that might be lurking around the jungles of Eelong. Heck, my mother’s car scares me! I’ve got the scratch scars to prove it. You’re right, Bobby has to know what’s going on, but we’d be killed on Eelong before we got the chance to tell him.”
Courtney gave Mark a sly smile and said, “Who said anything about going to Eelong?”
Mark gave her a curious look. She had just logically convinced him how important it was to ignore Bobby’s wishes and flume to the rescue, only to hear that this isn’t what she was suggesting at all.
“Now you lost me,” Mark said.
Courtney took Mark’s spiral notebook and his pen and began writing another message. She spoke as she wrote:
“This note is from Courtney Chetwynde and Mark Dimond, acolytes for Bobby Pendragon from Second Earth. We believe that Saint Dane has taken the poison that threatened Cloral and brought it to the territory of Eelong. Acolytes can now travel through the flumes. We are coming to get your help to find a way to stop it.”
Courtney ripped out the page and folded it in two. “Who are you sending that to?” Mark asked, totally confused. “An acolyte,” Courtney answered. “I think her name is…Wu Yenza.”
“Wu Yenza?” Mark shouted. “But she’s from-“
“Exactly,” Courtney announced. “She’s from Cloral.” Mark stared at Courtney, stunned.
Courtney held out her hand and said, “Give me your ring.”
Mark did as he was told. He was too numb not to. Courtney took the ring and gently placed it on the basement floor. She held the note over the ring and announced in a clear voice, “Wu Yenza!”
Instantly one of the ten symbols that represented the territories sparkled to life. It was a single, squiggly line that looked like a wave. The ring quivered on the ground and grew larger, revealing the tunnel to the territories. Brilliant light shot from the ring, looking like a headlight on the front of an oncoming freight train. The familiar jumble of musical notes grew louder. Courtney looked to Mark, winked, and dropped the note through the ring. The paper disappeared and the ring shrank back down to normal size. Courtney picked it up and held it out for Mark.
“Special delivery,” she said with a smile.
Mark took
the ring and put it back on his finger.
“You’re right about Eelong,” Courtney said. “We probably wouldn’t get out of the flume tree. But even if we got lucky and found Bobby, there’s only one way to stop that poison… the antidote that saved Cloral.”
“You want to bring the antidote from Cloral to Eelong?” Mark asked.
“Exactly.”
Mark’s mouth went dry. What Courtney was suggesting went against everything they’d learned about how the territories worked. “But n-nothing is supposed to be moved between the territories,” Mark said, his voice barely above a whisper.
“Saint Dane said the rujes have changed,” Courtney countered. “And he’s certainly moving things around. I think the alternative is worse. If we don’t do something, he’s going to have his second territory.”
D. J. MacHale
Black Water
Mark felt dizzy. He actually had to spread his feet to keep his balance. He looked down at the ground, praying that he’d wake up and this would all be a nightmare.
“I wish you’d come with me,” Courtney said. “But I’ll understand if you don’t.”
“I–I’m really confused, Courtney,” Mark stammered. “Everything’s getting so, so… twisted. Did you know that Andy Mitchell does college-level scientific research?”
The surprised look on Courtney’s face was almost comical. If Mark weren’t so upset, he would have laughed.
“Mitchell? The juvi doofus?”
“Nothing is right with the world anymore” was Mark’s answer.
Courtney nodded soberly. “I hear you. Things aren’t working out the way I thought they would, either. On any level. I may be totally dumb about this, but as huge as going to Cloral may be, at least it’s something we have control over. I’m going, Mark. Will you go with me?”
Mark looked into Courtney’s gray eyes and saw the intensity and confidence that had been missing lately. The old Courtney was back and she was ready to roll.
“Can I ask you one thing?” Mark said, though his voice was shaky.
“Sure.”
“Wh-What exactly are we going to tell our parents?”
Courtney laughed. “We’re going to ride a flume to another time and territory on the other side of Halla to try and save humanity from total destruction. I don’t know about your parents, but if I told mine, they’d lock me in the basement until a team of psychiatrists turned my head inside out… or I turned forty, whichever came last.”
Mark chuckled nervously and said, “Yeah, my mom barely let me out to go to the library tonight.”
The two laughed, but it was nervous laughter.
Courtney added, “We’ll deal when we get back.”
Mark nodded. He wasn’t sure which he feared more: jumping into the flume or telling his parents why he’d disappeared. Talk about things changing! Once they took this step, there would be no turning back. Whenthey returned to Second Earth, ifthey returned, they’d have to ‘fess up about everything. They’d have to explain about Bobby, and his uncle Press. They’d have to confess to the police that they hid the truth about the Pendragons disappearing for fear of being locked away in a nuthouse. Of course, Mark figured, after revealing all that’s been happening, they’d be locked away in a nuthouse anyway. It was a scary step for all sorts of reasons, but the more Mark thought about it, the more he felt Courtney was right. There was no choice. They had to travel.
Courtney walked to the wooden door to the root cellar. She looked at the star that had been burned into the wood, marking it as a gate to the flume. She reached up and touched it, feeling the smooth, burned edges of the symbol.
“Ready?” she asked.
Mark took a deep breath and walked for the door. “Last chance to talk me out of it,” he said.
Courtney smiled, opened the door, and said, “Let’s go to Cloral.”
SECOND EARTH
(CONTINUED)
Seegen’s body sat motionlessin the mouth of the flume, his lifeless eyes staring straight ahead, seeing nothing. Mark and Courtney entered the root cellar and stood in front of this latest casualty in the war against Saint Dane. It was a grim reminder that this was no game. The stakes were high. People died.
Courtney broke the silence by saying, “I’ve never seen a dead person.”
“He’s a cat,” Mark said softly. “Does that count?”
“Close enough,” Courtney answered. “What should we do about him?”
“We should send him back to Eelong,” Mark offered. “It’s where he belongs.”
“Can we do that?” Courtney asked.
Mark shrugged and said, “We can try. But we should say something first. Out of respect.”
Courtney nodded and dropped her head. Mark did the same and said reverently, “We only know a few things about Seegen. He came from the territory of Eelong; he has a daughter named Kasha; he was a Traveler; and he died in the battle to protect
Halla from Saint Dane. For that, he was a hero. There’s nothing else we can say except that we’ll do all we can to make sure he didn’t die for nothing.”
The two kept their heads down for a moment. “That was perfect,” Courtney said.
Mark nodded. “Wait here,” he said, and ran out of the root cellar. He quickly returned with a plastic sandwich bag full of carrots from his backpack.
“You want a snack now?” Courtney asked in wonder.
“Hang on,” Mark answered, taking out the note he had written to the acolyte from Eelong. He knelt down next to Seegen and cautiously brought the paper close to the dead cat’s mouth.
“What are you doing?” Courtney asked nervously.
“We’ve got to be sure,” Mark answered. He used the paper to pull out some of the fur from around Seegen’s mouth. “There will be traces of the poison on his fur. On Cloral they can examine it to see if it really is the same plague.” Mark stood up and folded the paper several times, making sure the hairs were trapped safely inside. He dumped the carrots out of the plastic bag and put the folded paper inside, being careful to seal the bag up tight.
“That’s pretty smart,” Courtney said.
“Yeah, I’m a smart guy.” He put the bag in his pocket and said, “A really scared, smart guy. Now what?”
Courtney shrugged. “Now we see if this is going to work.” She looked into the flume, took a deep breath and shouted,”Eelong!”
The flume sprang to life.
“Oh man,” Mark said in awe. “What if it takes us, too?”
Courtney pulled Mark to the side of the flume. The two hugged each other as light filled the root cellar along with the sweet musical notes. The flume shivered slightly. Mark and Courtney felt the ground move, as if they were in a small earthquake. They shared a quick look, but didn’t think about it again. Both waited to be tugged into the flume. They weren’t. The light diminished; the music grew faint; and they were still on Second Earth. Courtney let go of Mark and peered around the mouth of the flume in time to see the light disappearing in the distance. Seegen’s body was gone.
“Good-bye, Seegen,” Mark said.
The two stood staring into the empty flume. Neither made a move for the longest time. Finally Mark said softly, “Courtney, I am really scared.”
Courtney said, “Yeah, me too.”
Neither made a move.
“It seems like so long ago,” Mark said wistfully. “And sometimes like yesterday.”
“What does?”
“The night Osa came to my bedroom and gave me the ring. I put my head back there sometimes. Back before Bobby left. Before we found out about Travelers, and territories, and Saint Dane.”
“Me too,” Courtney admitted. “I always think about the night Bobby left. It was like a whole different life.”
“Yeah, a whole different life,” Mark echoed.
The two stood in silence for a few moments, then Mark said, “Are you sure we’re doing the right thing?”
“I don’t know, Mark. I’d be lying if I said I was abso
lutely sure. But from all we know, I don’t think we have another choice.”
Mark nodded thoughtfully. “You know what I think?”
“What?”
Mark stood up straight, looked Courtney square in the eye, and said with as much confidence as he could gather, “I think we’re on the wrong territory.”
Courtney broke out in a wide grin. “Then say it,” she said.
Mark Dimond was ready for an adventure. He was about to get one. After watching Bobby for so long from the safety of the sidelines, he and Courtney were about to step onto the playing field. Mark looked into the flume, took a deep breath, and said in a strong voice,”Cloral.”
The flume woke up. The walls began to crack and groan. Mark and Courtney could actually feel it moving beneath their feet as it writhed and twisted like a sleepy snake.
“I’ve never felt it move before,” Mark said nervously.
“I don’t think it has,” Courtney replied.
The light appeared far in the distance. It was on its way in to sweep them up and bring them on a ride that had been long in coming. The jumble of musical notes were heard faintly at first, but grew steadily louder while drawing closer. Mark grabbed Courtney’s hand. They both fought the instinct to back away. In the past they would have. Not today. Today their job was to stay put and let the flume take them. They saw the gray rock walls melting into crystal. Soon thentire tunnel would become clear and they’d be off.
Thunk!
Mark and Courtney jumped back because a piece of rock the size of a basketball had cracked away from the tunnel over their heads and fallen at their feet. It was heavy, and it nearly hit them.
“That can’t be good,” Courtney said.
“Something’s wrong,” Mark said nervously.
Clunk!
Another piece of the flume cracked away from the wall and rolled past them.
“Maybe we should bail,” Courtney offered.
Too late. They both felt the tug at the same time. The powerful energy of the flume was gently pulling them in. They couldn’t back out if they wanted to. The light blasted into their faces, the sweet notes danced around them, the walls turned totally crystal…
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