Kara stood up. “You blew it?” she barked. “How did I know you would mess this up?”
Bezeal bowed halfway and said, “The judge was unjust; he was not fair. Though Archer was guilty, he just didn’t care. He wanted Bezeal on trial . . . something I just could not bear.”
For ten minutes, Kara continued to interrogate Bezeal. In his rhyming, roundabout way, he communicated several frustrating pieces of information:
Master Gabriel had not been in the court to represent Archer.
Archer had defended himself by turning the court against Bezeal.
And Bezeal had just barely escaped being incarcerated himself.
Kara threw up her hands. “I can’t believe it. We had the evidence stacked so high against Archer that you could see it from Kansas. Do you know how hard I worked to set this all in motion?”
“Clearly, your design was from beginning to end. Your plan was profound, I must defend. But, alas, not all comes about as we intend.”
“So what’s up with Archer?” Kara asked. “Did the judge just let him go?”
“I do not know. I could not stay to see. In fear for my life, I had to flee. But I expect, yes, young Archer is free.”
“You couldn’t even keep him locked up for six days?”
Bezeal shook his head.
“Six days, Bezeal?” Kara raged. “That’s all we needed. Six days. Couldn’t you have just delayed the trial six days? I thought . . . I thought that’s what you intended to do.”
Bezeal did not answer, but his eyes shrank to pinpricks of light.
“What are we going to do—?”
Kara stopped mid-sentence and stared at her windows. The interior seam of all her penthouse windows glowed bright red. “Something’s wrong. Somebody’s coming.” She glared at Bezeal. “This is your fault. It’s probably Keaton banging on the Dream Tower’s front door.”
“So what if it’s him?” Bezeal queried, his voice low and wispy. “Why act so grim? You’ve beat him before. You’ll do it again.”
Kara ran to her security console, hit the touch screen, and flew through a dozen different interface windows. “The Harlequin Veil is still fully operational,” she muttered. “Pole stations are clear. No, no, it’s definitely here, definitely the Dream Tower. They are inside!” She turned and sent a flurry of hate darts screaming toward Bezeal. Only with Kara, these weren’t figurative hate darts. They were real.
Bezeal deflected them all with a flick of his hand, and the darts buried themselves in the penthouse ceiling.
Kara went back to the touch screen. “I’m going to scan with EMF.” After a few finger taps and one finger slide, she hissed. “I’m getting four signals, Bezeal. Four! Three of them are approaching Tesla strength and . . .” Kara went very still. “And one of them is close to Halbach level. That’ll be Kaylie. I can’t believe this! How did they get in? And, wait, who else? Archer, Nick, Kaylie . . . and who else?”
Bezeal joined her by the security console and said, “I do not know why there are four, but this time, Kara, it’s time to make sure. We must usher them all through death’s door.”
Kara caught her breath. Kill the Dreamtreaders? For a moment, it seemed the wickedest thing she could imagine. But, somehow, with Bezeal by her side, it didn’t seem such an unusual conclusion. Everything she’d worked so hard to do, the beautiful new world she’d provided for people to enjoy, these—intruders—were coming to tear it down. They were guilty of trespassing and sabotage . . . and worse. They needed to be stopped. They needed to be ended. Kara turned to the merchant. “For once, Bezeal, I totally agree with you.”
THIRTY-ONE
IMMOVABLE OBJECT
“WELL, WELL,” RIGBY SAID, STEPPING FROM THE ELEVATOR. “Fancy meeting you two ’ere.”
“Really, mate?” Nick quipped. “Could you be any more clichéd? Wait, wait. Could you twirl a black mustache and finish with a fiendish laugh?”
Rigby raised an eyebrow and scratched at his sideburns. “What are two Dreamtreaders doing here?”
“We were wondering the same thing about you,” Kaylie said. “I thought Kara had you captive—” Kaylie froze. “Doctor Scoville?”
“Yes,” he said. “I am ’ere too, though, I imagine you wish I were not.”
Kaylie frowned, remembering the doctor’s attempts to enslave her with gort. She remembered the things he’d asked her to do while trapped in the Dream. “I’m stronger now,” Kaylie said. “A lot stronger.”
Doc Scoville swallowed. “No need for that,” he said. “I’ve changed, heh-heh. But we might pick a better place to chat, hmm?”
“Right,” Kaylie said. “Let’s get out of here.”
“What?” Rigby gawked. “We’re not leaving. We’re ’ere to take care of Kara and stop all this.”
“Stop it all?” Nick blurted. “But you helped cause this whole thing. I ought to chuck a Jackie at ya.”
Rigby tilted his head comically. “What?”
Nick clarified, “Hit you in the jaw.”
“Look,” Rigby said. “To say we screwed up is a light-year from ’ard enough. We’ve made a royal mess of things. Now we’re trying to make amends. We want to set things right.”
Kaylie eyed them both suspiciously. “Well,” she said, “if that’s true, you won’t find Kara down here.”
“But this is Research and Development,” Doc Scoville said. “She’s got to be here.”
“We’ve been over every inch of the labs,” Nick said. “She’s not here.”
“She talked about a penthouse apartment,” Rigby said. “Bet she’s there.” He slipped back into the elevator. “Get in.”
The slim elevator car was a little more than cozy with all four of them in there. The door shut. Rigby went to reach for the elevator buttons.
“We’re not going after Kara,” Nick said, blocking Rigby’s hand. “Not yet.”
“What?” Rigby objected.
“We’ve got to,” Doc Scoville said. “Time is ticking.”
“What does that mean?” Kaylie asked.
Rigby raised his voice, saying, “It means that if we don’t get this thing turned around soon . . .”
“We won’t ever repair the Rift,” Doc Scoville finished.
Rigby reached for the highest button, but again Nick blocked him. “Look, mate, if there’s something you know, you better tell us.”
“We don’t know exactly,” Rigby said. “We know that time is running out, and we don’t know ’ow much time is left. That’s what’s so frightening. And Kara’s running this ’arlequin Veil . . . and it’s all gone wrong.”
“Harlequin Veil?” Kaylie asked.
“Long story,” Rigby said. “But, look, we’re going with or without you.” He slammed the highest button.
“We saw things in the lab,” Kaylie blurted out. She tunneled around the legs of the much taller men, and then slammed the button for the ground floor. “We’ve got to think this through. And, honestly, I think we need Archer.”
“Oh, come now,” Rigby sighed. “We’ll be just fine without—”
“Wait!” Nick shouted. “Shush it. The elevator’s not moving.”
“We crossed it up,” Rigby said, “smacking the two buttons.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” Kaylie said. “You’re supposed to be smart.”
“Watch it, half-pint!”
Then the elevator did begin to move. But it was going down.
“How can it go down?” Nick asked. “There’s nothing below this floor.”
“Hit the emergency stop!” Doc Scoville shouted.
Nick reached around the others and slammed the emergency stop button. “Nothing,” he said. “We’re still going down.”
Rigby didn’t move. The ferocity of his expression melted away to an angry smirk. He looked like a chess master whose brilliant move had just been countered.
“I’ll stop us,” Kaylie said. She called up her will and created a powerful updraft beneath the elevator car.
; But still the elevator went down.
Kaylie frowned and intensified her will, putting a physical barrier beneath the elevator car. “Oh!” she gasped.
“What?” Nick asked, kneeling to her level. “What’s going on?”
“There’s something down there,” Kaylie said. “Something stronger than I.”
Nick frowned. “But nothing’s stronger than you.”
Doc Scoville asked, “What’s down there, Rigby?”
Rigby blinked. “Kara’s down there,” he said. “Kara and the Scath, and, apparently, she wants us to join ’er.”
“We’re not ready for this,” Kaylie said. “I told you.”
“Whether we are or we aren’t,” Rigby said, “we’ve not much choice now.”
“All together,” Doc Scoville said. “Focus your will on the door. No telling what that minx will throw at us.”
The elevator drifted down for a few more seconds before coming to a startling rest.
“Whoa!” Kaylie gasped. “That was strange.”
“I felt it too,” Nick said. “We passed through something. Felt like a layer of skin just got pulled off, fair Dinkum.”
“The Veil,” Rigby muttered. “It doesn’t extend down to this sub-basement.”
Kaylie asked, “That’s the second time you’ve mentioned a Veil. What’s going on?”
“No time to explain,” Rigby said.
Doc Scoville barked, “The doors aren’t opening!”
That’s when the lights went out.
Kaylie didn’t scream, but she did react. “I’m not waiting,” she muttered, focusing her will on the front left corner of the elevator car. Fire, lightning, thunder, smoke, and wind flew from her hands, burst through the metal and plastic, opening a nine-foot gash in the elevator and the stone shaft beyond. “We can fly out. Follow me!”
Nick darted out behind her with Rigby right behind. Doc Scoville was last, muttering, “I can’t believe I’m following this half-pint.”
The four of them skidded to an awkward halt as a slate-gray fog bank rolled toward them. As it neared, it began to undulate. Shreds of darkness peeled away from the mass and streaked in all directions.
“Scath!” Rigby yelled, but he wasn’t in a panic. He was angry. Kaylie couldn’t help but stare as a top hat appeared in Rigby’s hand. With a f lourish, he rotated the hat up smoothly onto his head. His eyes began to crackle with red electricity as he thrust out both hands, and then hurled a wide chain mail net at the oncoming horde. The second it left Rigby’s hands, the net glowed white-hot as if it had just been taken from a forge. It scooped up a squirming knot of Scath and carried them to the wall on the far side of the cavern, where it seemed to adhere to the stone. Kaylie felt a sharp pain in her shoulder. She spun just in time to see a vision of shadow and teeth streak away. “Oh, no, you don’t!” she cried, reaching over her shoulder for her crossbow. She winced at the pain, took aim, and fired. The projectile wasn’t an arrow or dart, but rather a bolt of violet light. It flashed across the cavern, struck the Scath in midair, and reduced the creature to a swirling eddy of ash.
“Hooroooo!” Nick cried out as he sailed over Kaylie’s head, his chain flashing to and fro like a whip. He was deadly accurate with those thrashing links, each snap reducing a Scath to ashes . . . at least until Nick dropped to the ground, rolled, and then bashed into a stone wall that hadn’t been there a moment ago. The Dreamtreader slumped to the ground with his chain piling up on his back.
“Nick!” Kaylie cried, but Doc Scoville was already racing across the chamber. He knelt at Nick’s side, only to be struck so hard by some unseen force that he was bodily launched thirty yards backward.
Rigby cried out, “Uncle!” He loped across the chamber and dove toward Doc Scoville’s body.
Kaylie hesitated, not knowing whether to help Doc Scoville or go the longer distance to Nick. She never got to make a choice. There came a sudden vacuum of sound, something like the heart-pounding moment right after a nearby lightning strike. A supernova of brilliant white light filled the cavern. Kaylie dropped to a knee and shielded her eyes with her arms. But the light was a tangible thing. She could feel it on her wrists and palms at first; it was an unnerving fizz that intensified to heat . . . and then it burned.
In the midst of the white light, Kara Windchil appeared. Arms outstretched, silken white-blonde hair flailing violently, she descended, but her scalding brilliance kept Kaylie from watching for too long.
“Hear me!” Kara demanded, her words heavy and impossibly resonant. “Dreamtreaders, bow to your knees! It is your due penance before you die!”
Kara drew her arms in toward her body and seemed to be taking a deep breath. Her brilliance flickered, dimmed, and then surged into her body, giving her the appearance of some figurine lit from within. Her eyes flickered with red lightning. A moment later, she threw her hands forward and screamed.
THIRTY-TWO
WALKING WOUNDED
FORCE.
That is what Kara Windchil wielded like a hammer. When she unleashed her will into the chamber, Kaylie didn’t see it coming. She felt it. Waves of irresistible power crashed into her, knocked her off her feet, and sent her cartwheeling violently along the chamber floor.
The pain of the initial impact was immediately eclipsed by the turbulence of being thrown about like a doll. Kaylie lost her crossbow and nearly lost Patches as she tumbled with the force waves. Then something took hold of her arm. The grip was iron-tight. It yanked her sideways out of the power tide and drew her down to a heavenly motionlessness.
Kaylie didn’t even realize she was crying until she looked at her rescuer and said his name. “Rigby.”
“Don’t get used to it,” he said with his usual smirk.
They were huddled behind a ridge of stone so black it might have been obsidian. It was shelter from Kara’s force wave, but Kaylie knew it wasn’t going to last. Doc Scoville lay on his side groaning and holding his ribs. “Your uncle?” she mumbled. “He’ll be okay?”
“Uncle Scovy’s tough as an old tree root,” Rigby said. “You’ll see.”
“Right, then,” Kaylie said through her sniffles. She wiped away the last of her tears. “I’m going after Nick.” She stood up, using her will to deflect Kara’s force wave, like a stone dividing a river current.
“What are you doing?” Rigby whispered urgently. “Get down.”
Doc Scoville cried out, “No, Kaylie!”
But Kaylie was already moving toward Kara. “Why are you doing this?” Kaylie screamed, no hint of fear or sadness, only fierce indignation. “What’s wrong with you, Kara?”
Kara drew back her arms, descended to the ground, and strode toward Kaylie. Her tide dissipated in an instant. “There is nothing wrong,” Kara said, her voice simmering. “Look at me.”
Kara’s form was suddenly surrounded by green fire. Her aura grew to a blinding flame, and then faded to reveal Kara in a breathtaking gown. Sapphires, onyxes, and other dark stones glistened along her sleeves, at her neckline, and in clusters upon her full-length skirt. She moved with languid grace, confidence, and purpose. “You see?” Kara asked. “I’m perfect.”
“But you used to be so nice,” Kaylie muttered.
There was a slight hitch in Kara’s step.
“Archer had a crush on you,” Kaylie said. “Did you know that?”
Kara stopped. “Where is your brother? Why wouldn’t he join you here?”
Kaylie didn’t answer. “You’ve got to stop this, Kara,” she said. “It’s bad. It’s really bad. People are dying out there.”
“I am sorry, Kaylie,” Kara said, clenching her fists. “But this is for the best.” She was about fifty feet from Kaylie when she unleashed another blast of force.
Kaylie was ready this time. She pushed up a massive amount of will as a shield and tossed Patches to the side. The doll pinwheeled through the air and started to grow. Patches landed on his feet, doubled and redoubled his size, and then rammed into Kara from the side. She l
anded in a jumbled heap. When she pushed herself up from the floor and looked up through mussed hair, her eyes crackled with red electricity. “You little snot!” Kara rasped. “You might be strong for your age, but you’re no match for me!”
Kara levitated back to her feet. Shimmering steel armor replaced her black dress, and she drew a wickedly curved dagger in each hand. She flung a dagger at Patches, stabbing deep into the oversized doll’s back. Patches staggered to one knee, and then exploded in a ball of red light.
Kaylie covered her eyes, and when she looked again there was nothing left of Patches but piles of singed fluff.
“Playtime is over,” Kara hissed. “My turn—”
A blur. Something moving very fast barreled into Kara, knocking her sideways.
“Pick on someone your own size!” Rigby snarled. He adjusted his top hat, and then held out his hands, each palm full of red lightning.
Kara flopped over and rolled to one knee. Her eyes became huge and haunted. Her mouth hung agape. “Rigby . . . it can’t be. Y—you’re dead.”
“Come now, Kara,” Rigby teased. “You’re smarter than that, aren’t you? It was a ruse. A little trickery, you know.”
“I saw your body,” Kara muttered. “You weren’t breathing.”
“How ’ard do you think that was to fake? Never would ’ave worked, though, if the Scath ’adn’t ’elped. You enjoy their Something Really Scary game?”
“The Scath wouldn’t allow this,” Kara muttered. “They are loyal to me.”
“Let’s just say I appealed to their fundamental nature.” Rigby suddenly turned away from Kara for a moment. Perplexed, Kaylie watched him put one hand up to his mouth as if he might shout. But he didn’t make a sound. A silvery bubble appeared at his lips. It looked very much the same as a bubble made with chewing gum, only shimmering with a metallic sheen. Rigby seemed to release a strong breath, and the bubble sailed across the cavern, whirling and bobbing like some will-o’-the-wisp. It even managed to hop over the stone that hid Kaylie and Doc Scoville.
When the bubble popped, Kaylie distinctly heard Rigby’s voice say, “Uncle Scovy, you and Kaylie get out of ’ere. I’ll keep Kara busy so you can escape. I’ll do my best to get Nick out too. Run! Run now and don’t stop ’til you’re free of this place!”
The War for the Waking World Page 15