D. MacHale - The Reality Bug

“Okay,” I said. “But if we don’t find the surface right away, we’re coming right back.”

Loor nodded. She tied the other end of the vine around the railing of the stairs. With a quick tug, she made sure it was secure. The rest of the vine she placed in a coil on one of the stairs. Loor then stood behind me, and wrapped her arms around my waist. I could feel the strength in those arms. I sure hoped she didn’t get too scared, or she’d break me in half.

“If you start running out of breath, give me two quick squeezes,” I instructed. “I’ll turn us around and get right back here.”

“I understand,” she said.

Loor was focused, battling her fear. There was no way I was going to let anything happen to her. We stood together with my head just below the water.

“Take some deep breatlis,” I said. “You’ll be able to hold your breath longer.”

We both took three deep breaths, holding the third. With a quick nod, we both walked up into the water.

We had to move fast. Every second counted. It was a strange feeling. A second before, we were standing on stairs with gravity pulling us down. Now the water took over, and we were pulled the other way, up. I started doing the breast-stroke, spearing my hands up, then pulling a downward stroke with as much power as I had. Loor held tight and her weight was a huge drag. It didn’t matter. All I could focus on was getting to the surface as fast as possible. There was no way of knowing how far it was. After about five strokes, I started thinking about turning back, because it was going to be a lot harder to swim down than up. I made a quick decision. Five more strokes and we’d turn around.

That’s when I heard a strange sound. It was high-pitched, like an engine. Of course, it was hard to know where it was coming from because we were underwater. But there was one thing for sure: Whatever it was, it was getting louder. That meant it was getting closer.

I took a quick look straight ahead and saw lights in the distance. There were five of them at our level, underwater. They looked like flashlight beams, headed our way. Fast. Whatever they were, they were definitely making the whining sound.

I didn’t know what to do. Were these lights a threat? Should I turn around and get us back down to the hole? Should I pull even harder and hope we would reach the surface? Should we stay where we were and defend ourselves?

I didn’t have time to decide because in seconds they were on us. All five lights dipped down and passed underneath us so fast that I couldn’t get a good look at what they were. They didn’t hit us, but as soon as they shot beneath, I felt a hard tug that forced me to stop swimming. I knew instantly what had happened. A quick look down confirmed it.

Whatever those speeding lights were, they severed the vine that was our lifeline to the bottom. The cut end drifted up next to me. We were floating free.

That’s when Loor gave me two quick squeezes. She was running out of air.

We were trapped in a watery limbo.

(CONTINUED)

I had to keep swimming for the surface.

We were too far away from the hole at the bottom to get back down. Besides, without the vine to guide us there was no guarantee I would even find it. No, the choice was clear. Swim up like crazy, or drown.

I kept doing the breaststroke as hard as I could. I really wished I could have kicked my legs, too, but Loor was wrapped around my lower body. My lungs were starting to ache. I think I was swimming so hard that it burned up whatever oxygen I had left.

An idea hit me: Press the button on my control bracelet and end the jump. If we didn’t reach the surface in a few seconds it would be our only hope. But it was the last resort and there was no guarantee it would even work. Keep swimming.

A few agonizing seconds passed and we were still underwater. I was starting to black out. We had to get air, now. Time to abort. I reached for my control bracelet, but at the exact moment before I bailed us out, something splashed down into the water only a few yards away. Whatever it was, it was pretty big and moving fast because it made a dramatic boom when it hit the water. But I didn’t care what it was. All I knew was that if something made a splash like that, we had to be near the surface. So I didn’t hit the button, and made two more desperate strokes for air.

A moment later I broke the surface, followed right behind by Loor, both gasping for air. We had made it! But there wasn’t time to celebrate because we now faced another danger. Loor couldn’t swim. I had to change gears fast, and take care of her. She was already starting to flail in the water. If she clocked me by accident, I’d be out cold, and we’d both be sunk. Literally.

“Relax,” I commanded. “Float on your back, Loor. I got you.”

Loor rolled onto her back. She was breathing hard and her eyes were wild, but she tried to relax. I held her head above the surface and started to tread water.

“We’re okay,” I said, trying to sound soothing. “Let’s just catch our breath and we’ll get out of here.”

I took the chance to look around to get my bearings. The cavernous space we were floating in was pitch black, and like the jungle below, I couldn’t see the far walls of this incredible fantasy building. Again the ceiling disappeared into black. But there was something odd in the air above us. Floating midair all over this huge space were colorful, brightly lit globes. They looked to be about two feet in diartieter, with each glowing a different neon color. Orange, red, green, yellow. There must have been a hundred of them, all floating in the air above us at different levels.

“They are like colorful stars,” Loor said. “What could they be?”

This was good. She was calming down.

“I have no idea,” I said. “They don’t look dangerous-“

Suddenly there was an eruption in the water a few feet from us. Exploding up from below came the lights that had severed our line. But now we saw them for what they really were. They were vehicles.

All five shot up from underwater and flew into the air. They looked to me like bright, colorful motorcycles without wheels. Each had a rider wearing a helmet. They were crouched down low like jockeys behind a conelike windshield. They were hauling, too. The vehicles flew out of the water and continued up toward the floating globes. These things not only traveled underwater, they could fly! All five riders charged in a pack toward a bright orange globe. They sped past it, turned sharply around it, and shot ahead toward the next one.

“They’re racing!” I exclaimed. “Those globes mark the racecourse!”

The five racers flew away from us, speeding from globe to globe. They all then turned together and dove back toward the water. A second later all five hit the surface and disappeared below like a pack of hungry seagulls hunting for fish.

“How cool is that!” I exclaimed. “This is a racecourse!”

“Pendragon,” Loor said calmly, “I still can’t swim.”

Oh, right. We had to get out of the water. I took another look around and was relieved to see another spiral staircase rising out of the water only a few yards away. A few quick strokes and I had towed Loor to the stairs. We both clung to them, happy to have solid footing again. While we sat catching our breaths, we watched as the racers erupted from the water once again, shot into the sky, and charged far off into the distance. Whoever these racers were, they were good, and they had the coolest vehicles I had ever seen.

“Are you okay?” I asked Loor.

Loor nodded and said, “We must continue up.”

I gazed up the staircase to see that it disappeared into blackness.

“Man,” I said. “This guy Zetlin is a piece of work.”