Mary slapped a hand against her forehead. “I knew the name Aunt Nancy sounded familiar!”
Ayiyi chuckled. “Yes, I fooled you longer than I thought, but then, you’ve been distracted, haven’t you, Mary?”
“I guess,” Mary admitted.
“Distracted,” Buzz repeated. “Why?”
“Eh, brother,” Ayiyi said. “You’re a slow learner, but it’s all part of your story.” The spider shook his head. “She’s worried about . . . about how you’ve changed.”
“How you’re still changing,” Mary corrected.
“I haven’t changed!” Buzz protested.
The spider waved away the words with a flick of one of his legs. “Save it.” He scuttled over to Buzz and stared at him with all twelve of his eyes. “I met you on the wisdom path because I needed to know that you were worthy of my help.”
“You did it because you are a trickster,” Buzz retorted. “You did it because you could, and because you thought it would make a good story.”
“You’re wrong,” Ayiyi said. “I tested you because this quest will test you. I want you to be strong enough to succeed, and you could be, but only if you take the help of others.”
“Fine,” Buzz said with a sigh. “Can we just—”
Ayiyi tutted. “You are not listening, Buzz. The Book of Wonders tells me what is to come as well as what has been. Your battle will be close, too close to call. You are lucky to have Mary by your side. She could tip the scales.”
Buzz glanced at Mary, expecting to see a gloating expression, but she refused to look at him.
Whatever, Buzz thought. This part of our quest is finished. That’s the important thing.
“Understood, Ayiyi,” Buzz said. “I’ll take that on. I promise. Now we really need to get going.”
“Yes, you do.” The spider gently stood the Book of Wonders up on the floor and stepped backward. “There you go,” he said.
“There you go?” Mary repeated.
“Come, come, Mary. What do you do with a book?”
Mary looked sheepish. “You open it.” She stepped forward to do just that, but then stopped and looked over her shoulder. “Unless you want to do it, Buzz? I don’t want to take over or anything.”
Buzz was pretty sure she was being sarcastic, but he ignored her, and kneeling down, he yanked open the book. It shook furiously in response, and the pages began to flap wildly, cutting at his hands.
“Ouch.” Buzz watched the blood seep from the paper cut on his finger. It was so dark it was almost black. He sucked on his finger, tasting iron.
He heard a sound like leather stretching, and he saw that the book was growing, shooting up in height and broadening in width. Soon it was taller than Buzz and had quadrupled in width. And still it grew.
Mary was looking up at the book as it towered above them, her face filled with wonder, and it made Buzz smile. It’s like all her Christmases have come at once, he thought. All she needed was a giant book. The pages of the book suddenly stopped flapping. It had come to rest on a blank page.
Ayiyi offered Buzz the inkwell and quill from the table. “Tell it where you want to go.”
Buzz took the quill. It felt strangely fragile in his hand.
He tried to scratch out Sam’s name on the expanse of white paper in front of him, but blobs of ink just splattered on the page. His hands felt awkward and heavy in the armlets. He couldn’t even form a letter.
“How do I write with this thing?” he complained.
Mary took the quill from his hand. “I’ll help you.” In a smooth, flowing script, she wrote Sam’s name.
“Perhaps we should do his full name,” Buzz said. “Just so we’re absolutely clear.”
Mary nodded. “Yeah, you can never be too sure when it comes to magic.”
She penned his full name, Samraj Matharu. “What else shall we put on here?” she asked, quill ready.
“Write ‘Jade Pavilion’ down,” Buzz said.
Mary quickly inked the words, the quill scratching loudly against the paper. She took a step back, and the words began to move around the page. They circled one another on the paper like a cat stalking its prey, and then the words ran into each other, blurring into one dark blot of ink.
The ink shimmered there, a lake of black on the page.
“Dive in, then,” Ayiyi said with a wink. “A new realm awaits. Good luck.”
Buzz and Mary looked at each other and then stepped into the darkness.
PART III
CHOICES
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The Jade Pavilion
Buzz coughed and the taste of ink filled his mouth. He spat to his right and then rolled onto his back with a groan. His eyes were closed, but he could hear the patter of rain on a hard roof, and he felt humid dampness all around him. He opened his eyes, but everything was still black. He reached out, but it was so dark he couldn’t even see his hand. His fingers touched smooth, cold stone.
“Mary,” Buzz called out. “Mary! Where are you?” His voice echoed back at him. It sounded small and worried.
“I’m right here.” Mary’s voice was soothing, and soon light filled the room. She sat just a little ways to his left, holding her watch aloft.
“Oh,” Buzz replied, feeling a bit silly. “Sorry I shouted.”
“It’s all right. I think you’ve damaged one of my ears, but I have another one.” Mary got to her feet. “You sounded scared.”
Buzz shrugged. “Just wanted to make sure you’d kept up.”
Mary snorted. “Yeah, sure.”
Buzz ignored her comment. “Come on, let’s go find Sam.”
“All right, but first we need to work out how we get out of here.” Mary’s flashlight flared even more brightly and revealed a room made of shiny green bricks. “I can’t see a door.”
Buzz quickly scanned his surroundings. Mary was right. He began feeling the walls, searching for some nook or cranny that might reveal how they could escape the room.
“What is this stuff?” he asked, touching the smooth, cool greenness of the wall.
“Jade, I think.” Mary was busy methodically illuminating each of the bricks in turn. “Ha! There you are,” she said with satisfaction.
“What’d you find?” Buzz asked.
“See this brick here?” Mary pointed with her flashlight. “It’s a bit shinier and smoother than the others.”
“Like it’s been rubbed at,” Buzz said.
“Exactly!”
They scooted over to the brick, and Mary and Buzz stretched out their fingers at the same time and rubbed at it.
The brick shuddered and then pushed outward so that it stood out from the rest of the wall like a handle. Green light trickled from the raised brick and then raced up the wall, etching the outline of a door.
Mary grinned. “That’s more like it.”
They both began to pull on the brick, but the door did not budge. “It’s no good,” Mary panted.
“Let me do it,” Buzz said. “I’ll use the armlets.”
Mary frowned. “Every time you use them, Buzz, you get worse.”
“Stop it, will you?” Buzz pleaded. “The armlets aren’t changing me.”
“Fine, don’t listen to me.” She stepped back and did a gallant bow. “The door is all yours.”
“Thank you.” Buzz mimicked her movements. Mary wasn’t the only one who could bow sarcastically. He closed his eyes and called for the strength in his armlets. He braced himself for the surge of heat. The pain in his wrists. But nothing happened. No heat. No pain. No strength. He tried again. Still nothing.
“They’re not working,” Buzz said.
“Really?” Mary questioned. “Are you doing it right?”
“Of course I’m doing it right.” A knot had formed in Buzz’s throat. The idea of not having the power of the armlets made him feel sick.
“Maybe you’ve just overused them,” Mary said. “Let me try the belt. Maybe I can shake the door open.”
She
put her fingers to her belt and screwed up her face in concentration.
Buzz thought she looked a bit like she had wind, and he laughed despite himself.
“What’s funny?” Mary demanded.
“You look constipated.”
“I’m trying to get this belt to work.” Mary put her hands on her hips. “And can I just say, you don’t look so great either when you’re trying to get the armlets to do their thing.”
Buzz rolled his eyes. There’s no way I pull a face like Mary’s.
Mary unhooked her belt and dangled it from a finger.
“Why have you taken it off?” Buzz asked. “Try again. I won’t take the mick out of you, I promise.”
“There’s no point,” Mary said. “It won’t work, and neither will your armlets.”
She slumped down against the door.
“What are you talking about?”
“Gu told us. Remember?”
Buzz shook his head.
“He told us that these gifts were to help us in the realm of the Forsaken Territories. Well, we’re not there anymore, are we? The Jade Pavilion is a different place entirely.”
“So that’s it. They’re useless.”
“Pretty much.” Mary placed her belt on the floor. “They’ve played their part in our story.”
Buzz twisted at the armlet on his right arm and it released with a sticky, squelchy sound. The skin beneath it looked red and mottled. He pulled the armlet off his other wrist and saw that the skin there was the same.
He dropped the armlets to the floor with a clatter and slumped against the door next to Mary. His back grazed the bricks as he slid to the ground.
There was a creak and then a grinding sound as the door behind them gave way and swung outward. Buzz and Mary nearly toppled over.
Buzz began to laugh, and it felt good. He realized he hadn’t laughed properly in a long time. “The door was a push, not a pull. We tried everything but that.”
Mary was laughing as well. “Not our brightest moment, admittedly. Let’s not tell anyone about this.”
“Too late for that,” a familiar voice said. “You’d better come in.”
“Sam!” Buzz and Mary said at the same time.
They raced through the entrance, and as Buzz’s eyes adjusted to the dimly lit room, he could see that they were in a great banquet hall.
Up ahead on a platform was a long table, heavy with food and drink. The table was vast and ran along the middle of the room. It was surrounded by individuals who could only be gods and goddesses. A large worm lay curled on one of the chairs, its sightless head bobbing from side to side. Another figure that looked just like a scarecrow stood stiff and tall, his face a mask of deep thought. A man dressed all in black except for a crown of poppies muttered words into a silver goblet while a beautiful lady the color of ocean spray and covered in scales was talking to a moody-looking teenage girl who wore a necklace with a familiar-looking planet hanging from it. At the head of the table sat Sam. His dark hair was pulled back off his forehead and held in place by a circlet made of jade.
There was a small and odd-looking creature perched on Sam’s shoulder, and as Buzz got closer, he could see more clearly what it was. The top part of the creature was an old man’s head with a wizened face, a long beard, and pointed ears and nose. The bottom half was squidlike, and its tentacles draped over Sam’s neck, chest, and shoulders. One tentacle was even wrapped around his friend’s ear. The tentacles writhed and curled. They looked like they might strangle Sam at any moment.
“It’s rude to stare,” the creature snapped.
“It’s rude to climb on someone’s shoulders and strangle them,” Buzz snapped back. “So you’d better get off him.”
The creature smiled. “Make me,” he wheezed.
Sam patted one of the tentacles. “Amin is not strangling me, Buzz. He’s my teacher. My friend.”
“We’re your friends,” Buzz shot back.
Sam looked at them balefully. “Is that why you’re here? Is that why you came all the way to the Jade Pavilion? To tell me that?”
Mary was looking around at the other gods and goddesses with suspicion. “We’d prefer not to say what we’re doing here at this precise moment. It’s rather crowded.”
Sam laughed. “Mate, if you want privacy, you just need to say.” He rose to his feet, and a ball of fire appeared at his fingertips. Those around the table gave a collective gasp of appreciation.
“Who wants a bit of Samster magic?” he called out.
All the gods who had hands put them up. Their eyes were large and pleading. Even without eyes, the worm did a good job of looking keen.
“If you can catch it, it’s yours.” Sam blew on the orb and it hurtled toward one of the closed windows and tore a hole through the jade-green shutters. Each god bowed deeply to Sam before they sped off after it, exiting the banquet hall.
In a moment, only Sam, Amin, Mary, and Buzz remained.
“He needs to go as well,” Buzz said, pointing to the squidman thing.
Sam shook his head. “No, Amin stays with me.” He looked Buzz up and down. “Wow, you’re looking pretty rough, mate. Try not to make too much of a mess.” Buzz looked at his filthy clothes and resisted the urge to brush himself down.
“You’re looking pretty different yourself,” Mary commented. “Some interesting accessories.” Her gaze fixed on Amin. “We came to save you, but it doesn’t look like you need saving.”
“Well, I am a god,” Sam said. “I really need to update my profile page, don’t I?”
“This isn’t a joke, Sam,” Buzz said. “The last time we saw you was at the Ash Arch, and you were scared. We couldn’t save you then, but we’ll do better this time.”
Sam held up a hand. “I’m glad you didn’t save me, or I would never have met Amin.” Sam’s voice was steady. “I would have never learned what I am truly capable of. What it means to be a god.”
“So you want to stay here.” Buzz let the statement hang. “You want to leave Berchta in Crowmarsh so that she can turn everyone into believers? You want the forgotten gods to take over the world?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Sam snapped. “Of course Berchta can’t be allowed to do that.”
Amin was shaking his head. “We must stop her. We will stop her.”
Buzz felt some of the tightness in his chest go. Sam was different for sure. And I have no idea what this Amin guy is all about, but at least we’re all on the same side.
Mary studied Sam for a moment and then leaped forward and gripped his arm.
“Hey!” Sam tried to pull himself free. “You’re hurting me.”
“What is your greatest fear?” she asked.
“Get off me.” Sam tried to yank his arm away again. “I could blast you into smithereens, you know. Just need to click my fingers.”
“Mary, let him go,” Buzz pleaded.
“Answer the question,” Mary demanded.
“Answer the question,” Amin urged.
“Fine,” Sam said. “It used to be trifle.” He shook his head. “I feel like you knew that. But now it’s the thought that we won’t stop Berchta and the Pantheon. That they’ll take over the world. That good enough for you?”
“Good. You’re telling the truth.” Mary released his arm. “I wasn’t sure, what with the new hairdo and all, but I would have known if you were lying to me.”
“Your very own magic power,” Sam said. “You’ll have to tell me all about it sometime. Buzz never could be bothered to tell me the full story.”
“Oh, don’t start that again,” Buzz said.
Sam held up a hand. “It doesn’t matter. I just want to get back to Crowmarsh, but even with all my powers, it’s impossible for me to cross into that realm. We’ve tried.”
“There’s no way. No way,” Amin repeated.
“We can sort that.” Buzz took out the twigs Ratatosk had given him. “Get us to an ash tree and we’ll be able to use these to open a portal.”
“How?” Amin asked. His wheezy voice sounded more breathless than usual.
“Don’t know, really. Ratatosk just told me that Mary and I are the only ones who can work them.”
“Sounds promising,” Sam said. “But before we use the portal, there is something we need to collect first. It will get rid of Berchta and the Pantheon once and for all.”
Buzz and Mary shared a look. “That’s great, but we kinda have a plan as well,” Buzz explained.
Sam laughed. “But I’m a god, Buzz. My plan trumps yours. Surely you see that?”
“Trump me!” Buzz couldn’t believe how arrogant Sam sounded. “We’re not playing cards.”
Amin tapped Sam with one of his tentacles. “Let them tell us their plan first,” he wheezed. “Always better to have all the information when making a decision.”
Sam pursed his lips. It looked like he’d just finished sucking a lemon, but he nodded.
“You better sit down,” Mary said. “We have a lot to tell you if our plan is going to make any sense.”
So Buzz and Mary told Sam and Amin all about their quest to find the Runes of Valhalla—how the runes held the key to awakening the sleeping Norse gods, and how they had been stolen by El Tunchi.
Sam looked thoughtful. “So you want me to stop El Tunchi and get the runes back? That’s the plan?”
Buzz nodded. “Then we’ll be able to stop Berchta.”
Sam spread his hands on the banquet table. “Listen. I’m awesome. Fact. I mean, other gods are literally full of awe when they see what I can do, and I’m still learning. But who is this El Tunchi? How do we know for sure I can stop him?”
“It’s a risk for sure,” Amin said. “I know of El Tunchi—he’s a restless spirit, and they’re the worst kind because they’re empty. Lacking.” Amin’s eyes became sly. “He’ll be searching for something to fill that void.” Amin began to cackle wildly. “Probably you, Buzz. Spirits like him often claim the firstborn son in a family.”
“What is that about?” Sam asked. “That’s always happening in stories. Remember issue eighteen of Captain Phantom, Buzz?”
Buzz nodded, but he was thinking of his mother. The fear in her eyes when she had held his face and begged him not to leave the house. The desperation in his father’s note. Amin was right. El Tunchi was in Crowmarsh for him. He was sure if it.
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