D. MacHale - The Reality Bug

It wasn’t bad. It was sort of bitter, like nuts. I then tried the green color and discovered it was pretty good too, though totally different from the orange. The green was more like berries, sweet at first but with a tart aftertaste. With more confidence I dipped into the blue… and nearly puked. Blue was bad. I had to force myself not to spit it out. It was like a brus-sel sprout had gone south and got mixed in with kitty litter.

At that exact moment I looked up and saw Evangeline put a big spoonful of blue into her mouth. My stomach twisted. But I felt like I had to finish my cup o’gloid, so I used the Aja technique and mixed all three colors together. It was a good move. The orange and green mellowed out the foul blue and I was able to choke it all down.

When I finished, I was surprised to find I wasn’t hungry anymore. It wasn’t because the weird taste had shut off my appetite, either. I really felt satisfied, like I had just polished off a big meal. I had all sorts of energy, too. Whatever the stuff was, it definitely did the job. I still wished it had been a big old pepperoni pizza, but I wasn’t complaining.

“That was… delicious,” I lied. “You make great gloid.”

“Thank you,” Evangeline said with a chuckle. “Not everybody knows how to scoop gloid from a container like I do.” She winked at me. Ah, it was a joke. The gloid probably came ready-made, like ice cream. Oh well, so much for being a brownnoser.

“Gloid is pretty much the only thing we eat anymore,” Aja said. “There’s hardly anybody left to grow real food.”

“It’s a shame,” Evangeline said. She cleared the plates and Aja went to the sink to wash them.

“What can I do to help?” I asked.

“Nothing. We’ll be done in a second,” Evangeline said.

I was looking for an opening to ask Evangeline about the acolyte thing, but wasn’t sure how to bring it up without sounding stupid.

“You have no idea what an acolyte is, do you?” Aja asked with a snotty edge.

Gee, thanks, Aja. Never missed an opportunity to point out something I didn’t know. Just as well, it broke the ice.

“Uncle Press told me about them, but didn’t go into a whole lot of detail,” I answered. “I’d like to know more.”

Evangeline wiped her hands on a towel and sat back down at her place at the table. Aja kept her back to us, washing the dinner dishes.

“Everyone needs a purpose,” Evangeline said while looking me right in the eyes. “What better role could someone play than to support those who have a higher calling?”

“Higher calling?” I said.

“What else would you call it?” Evangeline said quickly. “The Travelers are concerned with the well-being of the territories. You can’t get a much higher calling than that. I, for one, am comforted by the fact that you Travelers are out there. It makes me sleep easier at night.”

Yikes. Evangeline was sleeping easier because I was keeping the territories safe? How wrong was thatl I wondered if she knew about Saint Dane. I’ll bet she wouldn’t be getting so much sleep if she knew the wicked stuff he was up to.

“I have to admit, Evangeline, I’m a little shaky on the whole Traveler thing,” I said. “Uncle Press wanted me to learn as I went along, but I don’t think I’ve learned all that much.”

Evangeline gave me a little smile. She then reached out and held my hand.

“What about Denduron?” she asked. “I heard you saved that territory from a horrible civil war.” Whoa. She knew about Denduron? “It wasn’t just me,” I said quickly.

“And Cloral would have been ravaged by a plague if you and the others hadn’t intervened,” she said.

“The people of Faar saved Cloral,” I corrected her.

“And First Earth? Saint Dane was trying to change the destiny of three territories by saving that zeppelin and altering history.”

I guess she knew about Saint Dane after all.

“You’re making it sound more dramatic than it was,” I cautioned.

“Am I?” she said quickly. “You’ve got quite a reputation, Bobby. I think you’ve learned a lot about being a Traveler.”

“How do you know so much about what I’ve been doing?” I asked.

Evangeline glanced to Aja, who turned away. She looked annoyed again. What was her problem?

“The acolytes share information,” she answered, holding up the ring on her chain. “Many of us keep the journals that the Travelers write. Aja asked me to keep hers. It was a great honor, but I wanted to do more. That’s why I became an acolyte.”

“Now that you mention it,” I said, “I have some friends who want to become acolytes too. They’re the ones I send my journals to.”

“Can you trust them?” Aja asked.

I was getting sick of Aja always challenging me. I decided to zing her back. “If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be sending them my journals, would I?”

“I’m not talking about holding on to a bunch of papers for safekeeping, Pendragon,” Aja countered. “I’m talking about being there, anytime of the day or night, no matter what the situation, whenever they get the call.”

“They’re my friends. I trust them,” I said firmly. I didn’t like the way she was questioning you guys, or me.

“I’ll take care of it, Bobby,” Evangeline stepped in, trying to be the peacemaker. “Your friend will get the chance.”

“Two friends,” I corrected her. “Mark Dimond and Courtney Chetwynde.”

“Can we deal with the real issue here?” Aja asked impatiently.

“And what is that, dear?” Evangeline asked.

“I’m trying to convince Pendragon that Veelox isn’t in danger from Saint Dane and he’s wasting my time by being here.”

That was it. Aja had pushed me over the edge. I looked to Evangeline and said, “Sorry for this.”

Evangeline nodded as if she knew exactly where my head was and said, “I understand.”

I then turned to Aja and said angrily, “Let’s cut through it, all right? You’ve been treating me like an idiot since I met you. I took it because I didn’t know how your territory worked, but now I do, and I gotta tell you, I think Saint Dane was right. He’s already won. Veelox is falling apart. You say you’ve got it under control? I don’t see it. You better start giving me some real answers or I’m going to flume out of here and come back with a whole bunch of my friends who have the same higher calling as me and-“

“And what?” Aja shouted back. “Blow up the pyramids? Destroy Lifelight? Convince everybody how they’re better off living in reality than in their fantasies? Is that what you’d come back and do?”

I was really ticked off, but the truth was, I had no idea what I would do. Still, I couldn’t let her think I was winging this. No way. I forced myself to calm down, but not lose my edge.

“You have no idea of what Saint Dane is capable of,” I said through clenched teeth. “Have you even gone to another territory?”

Aja faltered. “Well, no, I’m too busy here and-“

“Well, I have, and even after all the horrible things I’ve seen, I’m not sure I know the true depths of Saint Dane’s evil. That’s the difference between you and me. I worry about the things I don’t know. If I were you, I’d start worrying a little more.”

This seemed to tweak Aja. She turned away from me, reached into a pocket, and pulled something out.

“I don’t care what happened on the other territories, Pendragon. You can’t beat Saint Dane here with a fight. There are no bad guys to battle or zeppelins to destroy. But it’s every bit as dangerous as anything you’ve faced before. That’s because the real enemy here is perfection.”

“I get that,” I said. “The people have to be shown what’s happening to the real world.”