D. MacHale - The Pilgrims of Rayne

Courtney grabbed my shoulder and yanked me around until we were nose to nose. “I don’t believe that,” she said with passion. “Neither do you. You’re just feeling sorry for yourself. We’ve come too far and gone through too much to give up now.”

She was right, of course. We had no choice. The battle would continue. But I was discouraged. Was this going to be a never-ending struggle, with Saint Dane jumping through time, turning events on a whim, twisting the territories, and creating new turning points until Halla finally cracked?

“Are you with me, Bobby?” Courtney asked.

“You know I am.” I didn’t have the heart to tell her about the serious doubts I was having.

Patrick dropped us off at the green kiosk in the Bronx that led down to the subway city and the flume. He said to Courtney, “I’ve only known you a short while, but I can see why Pendragon wants you with him.”

“I should have been with him from the start,” she said. Classic Courtney. “We’re going to make things right, don’t worry.”

Patrick told me, “If I find out anything more about Mark Dimond, I’ll send a note to your acolyte.”

Courtney wiggled her finger bearing her Traveler ring. “That would be me.”

There was an awkward moment. Nobody knew how to say good-bye. It was Patrick who put the situation into perspective.

“It’s started,” he said. “Whatever the Convergence is, it feels like Saint Dane is pulling the pieces together by orchestrating events here on Earth.”

“Pulling the pieces together?” Courtney asked. “Or ripping them apart?”

I added, “Saint Dane told me a long time ago that all he had to do was tip over one territory and the rest would fall like dominos. He said the first was Denduron. It wasn’t. With the territories being mixed and history changing, I’m beginning to feel as if those dominos are finally lining up.”

We exchanged dark looks. Courtney broke the tension by declaring, “This isn’t over.”

We said our good-byes and made our way to the flume. After making sure we weren’t being watched, we quickly slipped down onto the tracks and ran for the star that marked the gate. Our timing was just right, for when we reached it, the light of an oncoming monorail train appeared in the distance. I pushed on the star and the door instantly opened. Courtney and I ducked inside and closed the door with plenty of time to spare before the train sped by. We stood together and gazed into the mouth of the flume.

“Should we put our Second Earth clothes back on?” she asked.

“Nah, we’ll only have to change again on the other side.” Courtney nodded. “Hey, the quig is gone,” she exclaimed.

Sure enough, the vicious dog she had blasted into dreamland was nowhere to be seen.

I drew no conclusions, but was thankful we didn’t have to deal with that snarling monster.

Courtney pulled the silver weapon from her pocket. “I should leave this here. It doesn’t belong on First Earth.”

I looked at the silver cylinder. It didn’t belong on Second or Third Earth either. Not really. It was a weapon that was developed on Quillan.

“Bring it,” I said with finality. “I’m tired of playing by the rules.”

“You sure?” Courtney asked cautiously.

“No, but if First Earth is back in play, there might be quigs there. If you see one, nail it.”

Courtney nodded and slipped the cylinder back into her pocket. She reached out and took my hand. “I don’t know if we’re doing the right thing, but it’s the only thing.”

Together we stepped into the mouth of the flume.

“First Earth!” I shouted. The flume sprang to life. The giant rock tube began to writhe. Far in the distance a light appeared that quickly grew brighter as it came to carry us away. The dark walls melted into crystal, revealing the sparkling stars beyond them. The jumble of sweet musical notes grew louder. I felt the slight tug of energy pulling us into the void… and we were off.

We didn’t talk much on our journey back through time. I think we both made up our minds that we were going to stop guessing at what we might find, and wait until we actually found it. That didn’t stop me from thinking, though. And worrying about Mark. How did Saint Dane convince him to change the course of history? What had happened? The computer said he was last seen in November of 1937. What happened to him after that? Did he go to another territory? My only hope was that we would arrive with enough time to track him down and stop him from introducing his Forge technology to the world. No, that’s not true. That wasn’t my only hope. I also hoped we wouldn’t be faced with another turning point on First Earth.

I couldn’t bring myself to look out at the star field. I knew what was there. Beyond the crystal walls of the flume were images from all the territories, floating together in the giant celestial sea. With each trip through the flume, more random images were appearing. It was getting crowded. I didn’t know if the images were real, or spirits, or some kind of symbols, but their presence was all too clear. The walls between territories were breaking down. I was failing.

The journey lasted only a few minutes. The musical notes grew louder and more frantic. Soon we were on our feet, back in the rocky cavern room. It looked exactly like the same rocky cavern from Second and Third Earths because, well, it was. The difference lay beyond the wooden door.

I’m happy to say we weren’t pounced on by any snarling quigs.

“There!” I said, pointing to a pile of clothes stacked neatly near the mouth of the flume.

I found the same clothes from my last trip to First Earth all neatly cleaned and folded. There was the starched white shirt, light gray pants with the darker gray jacket, and leather shoes. There were even those long-legged white grandpa boxers I learned to get used to.

“No way!” Courtney said, disgusted. “I’m not wearing this.” She picked up a pretty dress with a pattern of tiny blue flowers. She also held up a pair of big white underpants that looked like the waist would come up to her armpits. “And what the hell is this?” she added, holding up a white bra that looked like twin, white waffle cones with a wide white strap holding them together. “You gotta be kidding!”

“Keep your own underwear,” I said, laughing. “I don’t think we have to worry about anybody seeing your sports bra.”

“How do you know I wear a sports bra?” she said, squinting suspiciously.

“Just a guess,” I said quickly. “But you gotta wear the dress.”

I took my clothes to the other side of the cavern to get out of the embarrassing situation, and for modesty. Because I had grown a few inches and packed on several more pounds of muscle, I worried that the clothes wouldn’t fit me anymore. But they did. Strange. They seemed to be the same clothes that I had worn a few years earlier, but they weren’t the same size anymore. I figured I should stop stressing over the details and just go with it.

“I hate dresses,” Courtney complained from across the cavern.

Courtney may have hated dresses, but dresses didn’t hate Courtney. She looked awesome. Unlike the clothes on Third Earth, this dress was perfect. It was fitted on top, with a loose skirt that moved when she did. It came down to just below her knees. The blue flowers were bright, like spring. The sleeves were short, and she kept the top few buttons open. She even put on a pair of low, leather shoes that looked practical, if not very comfortable.

“People actually dressed like this?” she said with disgust. “It’s just… queer.”

“C’mon!” I cajoled. “You look really good. Like a girl and everything.”

“Give me a break,” she snarled. “How come you get to b comfortable and I have to look like some dorky schoolmarm?”