D. MacHale - The Merchant of Death

“Yes.”

“Does that work both ways? Forward and back?” I asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, if I left right now, would my friends be waiting for me already? Even though I just sent the list a minute ago?”

“I think so,” she answered.

“Then let’s go!”

Loor led me back into the large cavern and then into a tunnel on the far side. This was an ancient tunnel, more so than the others. There were some loose rocks scattered over the ore-car tracks, which told me there hadn’t been any miners through here in a long time. The walls also looked to be a bit rougher than the others, as if they hadn’t quite perfected their digging techniques when this tunnel was gouged out of the earth.

We had walked for quite a while when I asked, “How do you know we’re going the right way?”

Loor answered by raising up her hand. She was wearing a ring that was identical to mine. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t noticed it before. I guess when you’re in the Traveler Club, everybody gets the special ring. But the thing was, the gray stone was letting off a very slight glow.

“My mother showed me this gate a few days ago,” she explained. “She also showed me how to tell if a gate is nearby. The stone will tell you.”

Sure enough, I looked at my own ring and saw that the gray stone was starting to glow. Then as we rounded one more bend, I saw it. Embedded in the rock was a wooden door.

Several yards farther down the tunnel was another opening. There was a pile of stones in front of that, as if it had just recently been dug out. Beyond this opening was an old ore car on the tracks. The thing probably hadn’t been moved in decades.

“How do you know it’s this tunnel and not that one?” I asked.

Loor pointed to the wooden door. There was a star symbol carved in it, just like the door in the subway back in the Bronx. We walked inside and I saw the familiar tunnel that led to nowhere and everywhere. I took a few steps toward it and then turned back to Loor.

“What do I do?” I asked.

“I think you know,” she answered.

Yeah, I did. I walked a few steps farther into the mouth of the tunnel when Loor called to me, “Pendragon?” I turned back and she said, “Your uncle is a good man. I want to rescue him too.”

I thought that was pretty cool. I nodded to her, then turned to face the darkness and said, “Second Earth!”

You know what happened next.

Denduron

Ididn’t want to leave you guys. When I took the flume back to that subway station, my thoughts were all about Uncle Press and the mission ahead. But once I got there and saw you both, I remembered how much I missed my real life. The small time I had spent on Denduron put my head in an entirely different place, but when I saw you two I suddenly felt like I had never left home. There was a moment where the idea of stepping into that flume and jumping back to Denduron was impossible. You were right, Courtney; it would have been easy. All I had to do was walk away.

But then I remembered Uncle Press and I knew what I had to do. I had to come back. Maybe it would have been better if I had stayed with you because I’ve made things worse than they were. Good intentions aren’t always enough. You have to be smart and sometimes I think that I’m not that smart. I’ll tell you what happened and you be the judge.

When I took the flume back to Denduron, I was greeted by Loor. The first thing she said was, “I was not sure if you would return.”

I got all indignant and said, “Hey, give me a little credit, would you?” Of course she was absolutely right. I almost stayed on Second Earth, but I didn’t want her to know that. I wanted her to think that I was confident in our mission.

She said, “We are both tired. We must get some sleep before we begin.”

“Do we have enough time?” I asked. I knew that Uncle Press was to be executed at “the equinox,” whatever that was. It could have been in ten minutes for all I knew.

“The equinox is at midday tomorrow,” she explained. “When the three suns are one in the sky. We have enough time for a short rest.”

Now I understood. The equinox was noon. Loor and I walked back to the small room in the mine. She didn’t ask me about what was in the backpack and I wasn’t about to start explaining. That would come later. But there was one item I wanted, so I took it out. It was my digital watch. I had no idea what time it was, but if we were going to sleep, I didn’t want to end up sacking out for ten hours and waking up too late. I set the alarm to go off in two hours. That’s just a long nap, and my tank was empty. Still, a few hours of sleep was better than nothing.

Loor watched me curiously as I set the watch alarm. She even jumped back with surprise when it beeped. I assumed they didn’t have watches where she came from. It made me feel like I had one up on her for a change. But more important, her surprise at the beep meant my guess was right. To the people of Denduron, the simple things I could pull out of this pack would seem like huge magic. Throwing someone off balance, even for a short time, might mean the difference between success and failure. Or between life and death.

When I dug the watch out of my pack, I also found the extra surprise you put in there, Mark. You are the best. You know how much I love Milky Ways and the one you stuck in that pack was the most delicious treat in the history of treats. Thanks. I even offered a piece to Loor. I thought that was pretty nice of me, since I didn’t have much hope of finding another Milky Way around these parts. She took the bite-sized piece, popped it cautiously into her mouth and instantly spit it out. What a waste! I guess they don’t have candy bars on her territory either.

“Next time you wish to feed me poison, warn me first,” she demanded.

“What are you talking about? Where I come from this is a major treat,” I said, still laughing.

“Then you come from a strange place, Pendragon,” she said while taking a swig of water to wash the taste out of her mouth. It was like I had given her a brussel sprout or something.

This was the first time Loor and I weren’t totally tense around each other. We were like two normal people doing normal things. Believe me, it wasn’t like we were suddenly buds or anything, but it gave me the courage to ask her a question.

“What else did your mother tell you about being a Traveler?” I asked. I figured the more information I had, the better chance I had of getting out of here alive.

Loor didn’t answer and busied herself arranging the animal pelts on her side of the cell floor. I knew she heard me, so I didn’t ask again. I had just about given up on her when she said, “You may not like what I have to say.”

Oh, great. More good news.

“If it’s important,” I said, “I should hear it whether I like it or not.”

Loor sat down on the pelts and leaned her back against the wall. In spite of what I had just said, I wasn’t so sure I wanted to hear this. But I had to.

“I have only known for a short time that I am a Traveler,” she began. “I do not know much more than you do. But there is something my mother told me that is important. Maybe more important than saving Press and helping the Milago.”

This sounded big. She had my full attention.

“I know you want to know why we are Travelers, but I do not know. That is the truth. My mother said that I would understand someday, but for now it was not important. What she did tell me though, is that we must understand our mission.”

“Mission? You mean there’s more to this than helping the Milago?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said. “My mother explained that there are many territories, and they are all about to reach an important time. A ‘turning point’ she called it. It is a time when the outcome will either send the territory toward peace and prosperity, or plunge its people into chaos and destruction.”