D. MacHale - The Quillan Games

“Mr. Kayto,” I said. “The trustee. He’s the one who brought you here?”

“He came to Veelox in search of talent to resurrect the gaming business here on Quillan,” she answered. “And found us. Veelox is in shambles, in case you didn’t know. Lifelight is failing. There is no one left who cares. Everyone has chosen to stay in their own fantasies… and they are dying there. People are starving. Power plants are failing. There is no food. Even the gloid plants are shuttered. It’s a nightmare. When Mr. Kayto offered us an alternative, we jumped at it, so to speak.”

“What about Aja?” I asked.

“She’s fighting a losing battle,” Veego said. “She’s very noble, trying to keep those poor souls alive. But it’s impossible. Which is why I’m here talking to you.”

That was it. That was the connection. Saint Dane went to Veelox in the form of Mr. Kayto. Veego and LaBerge didn’t know his true identity. That’s how Saint Dane got the invitation to send to me. Everything was felling into place… and falling apart.

Veego continued, “Now, I’ve told you what I’m doing here, what are you doing here?”

How could I answer that question simply? This woman had no clue about Travelers and Halla and what Saint Dane’s true goal was. I didn’t think for a second it would do any good to try to explain it to her. Not her. Not to someone who used people as pawns to serve her own selfish purposes.

“I–I think I’m here to compete in the Grand X,” I said. That was the honest truth.

“You think?” she asked.

“Yeah, I think. That’s the best I can do for you. Sorry.” I suddenly felt very tired.

“I don’t know who you really are, Pendragon, or where you’re from or what Travelers are, but I did see what you tried to do on Veelox. You wanted to destroy Lifelight, and you almost succeeded. For all I know, that may have been a good thing. I don’t care anymore. All I care about are my games and my life here on Quillan. LaBerge and I plan on being here a good long time, and we will not let you destroy something that is so perfect.”

“What are you going to do?” I asked. “Cancel the games? Pull me out? You saw how popular I am. Blok would get rid of you so fast your brother wouldn’t have time to pack up his little clown dolls.”

For the first time since I’d met her, Veego looked unsure of herself. She bit her lip.

“No,” she finally said. “You will compete. I don’t care if you win or you lose. I don’t care if you die or become the greatest challenger of all time. All I care about is that you compete.”

“Then we’re on the same page,” I said. “That’s all I want too. I want to compete and I want to win. You have my word on that.”

Veego looked at me and nodded. “We’ll take it one step at a time. After the Grand X, if you’re still alive, we’ll decide what to do from there.”

“Agreed,” I said.

Veego stood up straight. The cool, calm woman was back. She walked to the door, saying, “Get a good night’s sleep. Challenger Red. The Grand X is tomorrow.” She yanked the door open, walked through, and slammed it shut.

I sat there for a good long time, trying to make sense of what she’d told me. She and LaBerge were from Veelox. I believed that. There was no other way she could know those things. But they weren’t Travelers, which opened up a whole new, scary chapter in this already twisted story. Ordinary people could travel safely, so long as they were with a Traveler. They had no idea that Mr. Kayto was really a demon named Saint Dane, which meant they had no clue as to his plans for the destruction of Halla.

The thought of what this all meant was horrifying. The Travelers weren’t supposed to mix the territories. I was told that again and again by Uncle Press. I’d learned it myself more times than I could count. Territories had to play out their own destinies, without contamination from other worlds and cultures and times. Travelers were able to intercede, but they always had to work within the defined ways of a territory. That was the way it had to work. The Travelers had always tried to abide by that rule.

And now Saint Dane was flaunting it. He had tried to tip the natural balance of every territory he’d visited. He’d found the turning point on each territory and worked his evil to push events the wrong way. Now it seemed as if he were taking the next step by deliberately intermingling worlds. Was this his ultimate plan? Was he going to create chaos by having cultures and people collide? Was this how he intended to crush Halla? I didn’t pretend to understand the natural balance of all existence, and what might happen when that’s thrown off, but Saint Dane seemed to.

I’d thought that for Saint Dane, Quillan was about setting me up to get beaten. I learned there was a whole lot more to it when I met the revivers and saw their plans to take back the territory. But now it looked like Saint Dane had shifted into another gear. He was trying to blow Quillan apart by bringing in ordinary people and unique ideas from other territories. I couldn’t even begin to guess what that would lead to, for Quillan and Halla.

My head was exploding. I needed to talk to Nevva. She had to work her influence with the trustees to get rid of Veego and LaBerge. The games had to be shut down. We needed to get those two back to Veelox where they belonged. Quillan needed to be put back on its natural course. This had gotten bigger than Blok. This was about the future of Halla. I ran to the door. It was locked. My door was never locked. I threw my shoulder against it. It didn’t budge. I was a prisoner. A second later the door flew open. Standing there were three security dados.

“Is there something we can get for you?” one asked.

I slammed the door. I was trapped. Veego was going to keep a very close watch on Challenger Red.

Challenger Red. That’s right. The realization hit me. There was no way out of it. Tomorrow was the Grand X. I had to put these conflicting thoughts out of my head and focus. If I didn’t, I feared it might truly be the beginning of the end… not for just Quillan, but for Halla.

The only thing left for me to do was win.

(CONTINUED)

Compared to the excitement of the day before, the Grand X was kind of a letdown, at least as a spectacle. This wasn’t like a big sporting event with cheering crowds and cheerleaders and bands playing and whatnot. It was actually the reverse of what I was used to. With most sports you practice day after day with your team and your coaches, alone. Nobody watches. Nobody cheers. The payoff comes on game day when the crowds come out, everybody gets ramped up, and the excitement kicks in. With the Grand X, all the excitement was the day before with the parade through Rune and the rally at the Blok building. For the actual event nobody was there to watch and cheer. There were a bunch of dados keeping an eye on things, Veego and LaBerge, who told us what to do. Challenger Green, and me. That was it.

Of course I knew there were cameras everywhere that saw our every move and sent the images all over Quillan to be watched by millions. I had seen the crowds in the streets, their gazes riveted on the be watching and cheering, probably in numbers greater than ever before. But I didn’t see any of that. It was just me. Challenger Green, and the future of all existence. Did I have butterflies? Oh yeah.

Fourteen came to my room as soon as the sun was up. I was dressed and ready.

“Is there anything I can do for you before the competition begins?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said. “Tell Miss Winter that I need to speak with her as soon as possible.”

If anything happened to me, Nevva needed to know what was going on with Veego and LaBerge. She needed to know that Saint Dane had brought them from Veelox and that they were importing items and ideas from other territories. As dramatic as everything else was that was happening on Quillan, Veego and LaBerge’s operation spelled the biggest trouble for all of Halla.