D. MacHale - The Merchant of Death

“We’re not gonna make it!” Courtney shouted. “Press against the wall!”

Mark pulled off his pack and flattened his back against the wall. The train was only a few yards away. The two held hands tightly. Mark closed his eyes. Courtney pressed against the wall and slid her hand out in one last desperate attempt to find the door. She leaned forward a few more inches…and her hand found something.

“I got it!” she shouted.

The train was right there. Its horn blasted. Courtney held on tight to Mark’s hand and dove for what she hoped was the gate. She pushed against the dark recess and it gave way. Courtney and Mark tumbled inside just as the train flashed by. In seconds it was gone and all was as quiet as it had been only a few moments before. Courtney and Mark lay on the ground, totally out of breath. It took a minute for them to get their heads back together, and when they did they both looked up and saw it at the same time.

“Whoa,” was all Mark could say in awe.

It was the rocky gray tunnel. With their eyes fixed on the craggy portal, they both stood up. Courtney then hurried back to the wooden door they had just come through and poked her head outside.

“It’s here,” she announced. “The star, just like Bobby said.”

She came back inside to join Mark, who kept staring into the tunnel.

“This is it,” he said with growing excitement. “It’s all true. Everything Bobby wrote is true.”

This was as far as Bobby’s instructions took them. In his letter, he wrote for them to come to the gate and wait. But wait for what? They stood there for a few minutes, not exactly sure of what to do next. Finally Courtney looked at Mark with a mischievous smile and said, “I’m gonna try it.”

She took a step toward the mouth of the gray tunnel, but Mark pulled her back.

“Don’t!” he yelled nervously.

“Why not? If Bobby can do it, I can do it,” was her typical Courtney-esque response. She shook Mark off and stepped into the mouth of the flume. Mark backed away and watched nervously as Courtney faced the depths of the endless, dark tunnel. She stood up straight, gave a quick glance to Mark, then turned back toward the darkness and said, “Denduron!”

Nothing happened. Zero. They could hear the word echo back from the tunnel, but besides that, nothing.

“It’s gotta be the same as the ring,” said Mark. “If you’re not a Traveler, you don’t have the power.”

Courtney backed out of the tunnel with a look of definite disappointment. She was psyched to take the magic carpet ride of light that Bobby had described, but it was not meant to be. “So why is it that Bobby has the power?” she asked, a little bit peeved. “What makes him so special that-”

“Shhh!” Mark held his hand up to quiet Courtney.

“What?” asked Courtney.

“Do you hear that?”

Courtney listened and then said, “It must be another train coming.”

“No,” said Mark as he strained to listen harder. “It’s not a train. It sounds like…like…music.”

Courtney listened harder, and soon she heard it too. Itwas music. Far off music. But it wasn’t a tune. It was more like a jumble of sweet, high notes.

“I’ve heard that before,” exclaimed Mark. “When the ring opens up.” He glanced down at the ring on his finger, but the gray stone wasn’t glowing. No, this music wasn’t coming from the ring. Courtney looked into the tunnel, and what she saw made her jaw drop open in surprise.

“Uh, Mark,” she said numbly. “You looking at this?”

Mark was also looking down the tunnel and what he saw made his jaw fall open as well, for there was something coming toward them. It was a pin spot of light, like the headlight on the front of a far-off train. As it drew closer, the light grew larger and the sweet music grew louder.

“D-Do we want to run?” asked Mark with a shaky voice.

“Yeah,” answered Courtney. “But we can’t.”

As the light came nearer, they saw that the gray walls of the tunnel were beginning to change. It was like they were disappearing. The gray, craggy rock walls were transforming into clear crystal, just as the gray stone of the ring had done. Beyond the clear walls was a vast star field. The light grew so bright that Mark and Courtney had to shield their eyes. The music grew louder as well. Without thinking, the two backed away until they hit the far wall. They were trapped. It was too late to find the door and get out of there. All they could do was cover their eyes, crouch down, and hope that it would soon end.

With one final burst of light, the room fell dark and the music stopped. All was quiet and calm. Slowly Mark and Courtney lowered their arms from their faces to see what had happened. What they saw seemed more impossible than anything they had seen so far. Yet there he was, plain as can be.

It was Bobby. He stood at the mouth of the tunnel looking a little dazed. He glanced around to get his bearings, then saw Mark and Courtney cowering against the far wall. Nobody knew what to say. They all just stared at each other for a good long time. Finally Bobby let out a simple, calm, “Yo.”

That broke the ice. Mark and Courtney jumped up, ran to him and all three threw themselves into a tight group hug. They didn’t need to say anything. This one unplanned action said it all. It was a release from all the fear, uncertainty, and sadness that had been building up in them since the adventure began. They stayed this way for some time, until Bobby finally said, “Okay, I’m choking here.”

Reluctantly they all let go and took a step back from each other. They waited a second and then all three ran at each other again for another hug. This time they all started to laugh.

“You guys are the best,” said Bobby, but then something dawned on him and he pulled away from the group. He looked right at Courtney and said, “Wait, what are you doing here?”

“I showed her the journals,” admitted Mark. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t deal on my own.”

Bobby had to think about this. He thought that he was writing to Mark and Mark alone. But it was a big responsibility that he threw at his friend and Bobby realized that maybe sharing it was a good idea. If there was anybody who could help him deal, it was Courtney. So he smiled reassuringly at his friend and said, “It’s cool, Mark. I’m glad you did. Does anybody else know?”

Courtney answered, “No, just us.”

“That’s good,” said Bobby. “At first I was thinking everybody should know, but now I’m not so sure. This is all pretty heavy.”

“That’s what we thought,” said Mark.

Bobby added, “There’s gonna be a time when everybody should know, but not yet, okay?”

Courtney and Mark nodded. There were all on the same page.

“Are my parents freaking out?” Bobby asked.

There it was. The question they didn’t want to answer. Mark and Courtney gave each other a quick glance. They had already decided it wouldn’t be a good idea to tell Bobby that his family had disappeared. He had enough to worry about as it was. But they didn’t want to lie to him. Mark didn’t know what to say, so Courtney jumped in, saying, “Everybody’s real worried about you.”

It wasn’t a lie; people were definitely worried about him. It just wasn’t the whole truth. But it was the right thing to say because Bobby then said, “I hate to keep them in the dark, but I think they’d be more worried if they knew what was really going down. So don’t tell ’em anything, okay?”

Both Courtney and Mark nodded quickly. Whew. They just dodged a bullet. Bobby then spotted the L.L. Bean pack that Mark and Courtney brought.

“Did you get everything?” he asked as he quickly poked through the contents.

“Every bit,” answered Mark.