D. MacHale - Black Water

He tossed the ring at Kasha, who caught it awkwardly. She still didn’t know what was happening. But I did.

“Show her,” I shouted at the old klee. “Don’t just tell her, show her.”

“As you wish,” the cat responded. He took a step back from us as his body transformed. I had seen this before, but that didn’t make it any easier to take. Yorn stood up on his back legs as his body went liquid. First his legs, then his chest, and then his arms became human. He grew to his full seven-foot height. I saw that he still wore the familiar, black suit. Then his head transformed. You guys told me his face had changed, but nothing prepared me for this. He no longer had shoulder length gray hair and cold blue eyes. He was now completely bald, with angry red scars running across his dome, from front to back, that looked like lightning bolts. But what I couldn’t stop looking at was his eyes. They were nearly white. I felt as if they were burning holes in me.

Saint Dane was back.

Kasha stood frozen with wide, stunned eyes.

“Thank you, both, so much,” Saint Dane said. “I’ve been trying to discover the location of Black Water for so long; it was so kind of you to show me the way.”

“It’s too late, Saint Dane,” Gunny seethed. “They’re ready to call the gars home. Getting rid of Edict Forty-six won’t do a thing.”

Saint Dane laughed. I know I’ve said this before, but Ihateit when Saint Dane laughs. It means he still knows more than he’s telling.

“Oh, you simple Travelers,” Saint Dane chuckled. “You haven’t even begun to understand my plan. Ask your friends Mark and Courtney. Perhaps they should be the Travelers from the Earth territories, they are so much more clever than you.”

“Leave them alone!” I shouted.

“What they do is their decision,” Saint Dane said innocently. “The same as all of you. Don’t blame me for the choices they make.”

Gunny took a step backward and touched one of the crystals on the control panel. Instantly a sharp horn sounded.

“What’s that?” Kasha asked in surprise.

“That alarm will lock down the Center,” Gunny answered. “In two minutes there’ll be an army of gars in here.”

“Give them my best, won’t you?” Saint Dane said, and ran out the door.

Kasha looked at Gunny and me with wide, wild eyes, saying, “He’s trapped in here, right?”

“You can’t trap Saint Dane,” I said.

“We can try!” Kasha said, and leaped for the door.-Gunny and I followed her into the corridor. A quick look showed the door to the greenhouse slamming shut. We all ran for the door, threw it open, and jumped in. A dark shadow swooped past our heads. We ducked as the shadow barely missed us and flew up toward the glass ceiling. It was a bird. A huge, black bird. I had seen that bird before, so had Gunny. It was outside the Manhattan Tower Hotel on First Earth, right after Saint Dane had leaped off the penthouse balcony. “What is that?” gasped Kasha. “That,” I said, “is why we’re here.”

“There’s no way out,” Gunny said.

As if in response, the giant bird shot straight for the ceiling. It hit the glass right above our heads and smashed through, sending a storm of shards raining down on us. Gunny pushed us out of the way as the glass crashed to the floor. The three of us looked back at the ceiling to see the hole that Saint Dane had made, and escaped through.

“What do you think he’ll do?” Gunny asked.

“I don’t know” was my answer. “But whatever it is, it’s got to do with Black Water. He’s been desperate to find it…and we led him here.”

“What do Mark and Courtney have to do with this?” Gunny asked.

“I don’t know that, either. I’ve got to go back to Second Earth. Saint Dane keeps pointing me toward them. We’ve gotta find out why.”

Kasha held Yorn’s ring in her furry hand. She stared at it, as if the stolen ring could give her some answers. “Let me have it, Pendragon,” she said, all business.

“Let you have what?” I asked.

Kasha looked me right in the eye. I saw an intensity there that made me shiver.

“My ring,” she said. “I’d like it now, please.”

I reached to my neck and pulled the cord over my head. Dangling on it were two Traveler rings-mine and Seegen’s. I took mine off and put it on my finger where it belonged.

“No more pretending,” I said, and held the necklace out to Kasha.

She looked closely at the ring she had so callously tossed aside. Her father’s ring. Her ring. Kasha took the necklace reverently, threaded Yorn’s ring onto it and put it over her head. She would wear them both.

Once again, there was a Traveler from Eelong.

That’s where I’m going to stop writing, guys. I finished this journal back at Gunny’s hut. Tomorrow we’re going to go to the flume, and I’m going to meet you guys on Second Earth. I don’t know why Saint Dane keeps pointing me toward you, but it’s time to find out. I hate that he’s dragging you into this. It’s my fault. If I never sent you journals, you wouldn’t be in danger right now. Seems as if a lot of things are my fault lately. I have no idea what day it is at home, or if you’re in school, or if you’re even in Stony Brook. But I’ll find you. You may not believe this after seeing what a dope I can be, but I swear I’m going to figure out a way to keep you guys safe.

Be looking for me. I’m coming home.

END OF JOURNAL #18

Bobby Pendragon never made it home.

He and Gunny and Kasha left Black Water, made the long journey back toward Leeandra and got as far as the tree that held the flume. They entered the small tunnel at its base, crawled through the vines, descended the root stairs toward the underground cavern, stepped over the pile of gar bones, and came face-to-face… with Mark, Courtney, Spader, and Boon.

Bobby stood there in stunned silence, not fully understanding what he was seeing. There was a long, tense moment where everyone stared at one another. It was Mark who broke the ice first.

“S-Surprise,” he said meekly.

“What are you guys doing here?” Bobby said with dismay. “I told you not to use the flume!”

“We didn’t have a choice,” Courtney said.

“Why not?” Bobby shouted. “Did Saint Dane pick you up and throw you in?”

“Don’t be angry, mate,” Spader said. “Listen to what they have to say.”

Bobby focused on Spader. Seeing him was almost as surprising as seeing Mark and Courtney. “Spader! Did you bring them here?”

“Yes,” Spader said. “But-“

“There’s no buts!” Bobby shouted. “This is wrong! The territories aren’t supposed to be mixed. Get them out of here before-“

“Seegen died on Second Earth,” Courtney said calmly. “We were there.”

That got Bobby’s attention.

“You saw my father die?” Kasha asked. “What happened?”

Courtney and Mark explained everything they had been through, from getting the note to go to the flume, to Seegen’s death, to their fearing it was the poison from Cloral that killed him. Spader explained how Mark and Courtney came to Cloral with a sample of Seegen’s fur. They tested it and confirmed it was the Cloral poison. No mistake. Finally Spader said that ten tanks of the deadly poison were missing.

“Seegen was fine when he left for the flume,” Boon announced. “But he went with Yorn, and since Yorn was really Saint Dane, that means-“

“Saint Dane poisoned my father,” Kasha said as if spitting it out.

“And the poison is here on Eelong,” Courtney added.

“How bad is this poison, Spader?” Gunny asked.

“It’s a nasty-do,” Spader answered. “It works on living things, turning them deadly. Eat something infected and you’ll be dead before you know you’re in trouble.” He looked to Kasha and said, “It’s how my father died, too.”