Jake Ransom and the Skull King's Shadow

  For the first time in a long time, Jake recognized how beautiful his sister was. He saw something beyond the usual lip gloss, eye shadow, and perfect hair (which was presently in shambles and with bits of leaves stuck in it). For just a moment, he saw who she might become. And a warm thrill of pride rushed through him. Along with a trace of sorrow. In that same brief expression of affection, he recognized one more thing: a ghost of their mother’s smile, shining from one generation to another.

  As a group, they headed back to the gateway into Calypsos. Already cautious celebrations were under way. Though no one knew the source of their last-minute salvation, the empty skies and brilliant lightning display let them know the most important thing: they were safe.

  Townspeople crept back out of fruit cellars and musty attics, where they’d holed up during the attack. Bells rang out, sounding the all clear from the castle. As Jake walked through the streets, calls and shouts echoed. But also tears and sobbing. Jake had passed only one body—and it had been a grakyl, lying broken in the street. But there were surely other casualties that struck closer to home and heart. How many had died? It might take days to discover that answer.

  It also lightened Jake’s heart to see Saddleback riders dashing around town, carrying messages, spreading the word, rallying their scattered forces. The sky was also crisscrossed with winged raz. The People of the Wind were again in the air, ready for any sign of a secondary attack.

  But Jake knew that would not come. At least not for a while.

  Ahead, the castle of Kalakryss appeared. The courtyard was in utter chaos. People and beasts crowded the space. Tents were already being erected to shelter the injured.

  Jake almost got bowled over by a large scarred fleetback that bounded up the street and through the gates behind him. It took a second glance to recognize the blind eye of the mount—and the scarecrow riding it.

  It was Pindor atop the fearsome-looking fleetback named Scar-Eye.

  “Jake! Mari! Bach’uuk!” He guided his mount to a stuttering stop and slid from the saddle as if climbing off a lounging chair. Whatever fear he’d had before was lost in his excitement. Pindor rushed over to them and hugged and pounded them and shook hands—sometimes all at once.

  “You chased them off!” Pindor announced. “You got the shield raised!”

  His shout drew many eyes to them.

  Heronidus limped forward. “Pin, is that you?” He eyed his brother up and down. He smiled, trying on an expression of pride, but it came out awkward. It was rare for Pindor to outshine his older brother.

  But the shouted words drew two others’ attention.

  Centurion Gaius pushed through the growing throng around them. Jake felt a surge of relief. The centurion had survived the attack by the grakyls in the park. But he was bloody and carried one arm in a sling. Still, he cleared the way for the man behind him.

  Elder Tiberius leaned on a staff. His leg was bandaged from ankle to midthigh. Each step clearly pained him. But his voice was as hard and firm as always. “What’s this about the shield?” he asked.

  Pindor made a move to run and hug his father, but then caught himself. He wasn’t a boy any longer. He struck his fist to his chest in a Roman salute. “Father, sir, it was Jake Ransom who was able to raise the fallen shield around the valley.”

  Tiberius turned that stern countenance upon Jake. “Is this true?”

  Jake nodded, but added. “I didn’t do it alone.” He waved to include Pindor, Marika, and Bach’uuk. “It took all of us.”

  Tiberius stared at them with an appraising eye. Then he turned and headed toward the castle. Without a word or a gesture, it was clear they were to follow him.

  “I will hear more of this in private,” he said. “The Magisters will also want to learn what was done.”

  Marika tripped a step next to Jake.

  “Clear the way!” Gaius shouted, fighting a path through for them.

  In the confusion, Marika wiggled up next to Pindor’s father and tugged at his sleeve. “Elder Tiberius, what do you mean by Magisters?” Fear trembled in her voice. “It was Magister Oswin who betrayed us.”

  Jake moved closer, growing concerned. After all that had happened, had the traitor survived?

  Tiberius nodded at Marika’s words. “We are well aware. Your father and Magister Zahur have already informed the Council of his treachery.”

  “My father…” Marika clutched Jake’s arm to keep from falling. “He’s alive?”

  Noting her relief, Tiberius slowed and reassured her. “Of course he’s alive. Oswin cast some shadowy spell upon the two other Magisters, knocked their wits to senselessness, and bound them in one of the empty cellars down below. Once awake, they were able to escape.”

  By now they had reached the timber doors of the main keep. Inside the main hall, Marika had proof of the Elder’s story.

  “Mari! Thank all the stars…”

  Balam had been standing off to the side with Zahur. Turning at the commotion by the door, he had immediately spotted his daughter and rushed to her. The relief that rang in his voice was the same as his daughter’s a moment before. He had also changed. His usual easy aplomb had gone stony. Dark circles haunted his eyes. But his face brightened and cracked, like a sun through dark clouds. He hugged Marika tightly.

  “I thought you were dead,” she mumbled into his chest.

  Jake watched their reunion with mixed feelings. Most of him rejoiced, but he could not ignore a bitter sliver of jealousy. He would do anything to have his own father back from the dead.

  “I don’t think Oswin would have killed us,” Balam consoled her. “While he had the chance, he didn’t. I think perhaps a part of him was still loyal in its own crooked way.”

  Zahur had joined them. The Egyptian had a different take on the matter. “Or maybe he just kept us alive so he could gloat.”

  Balam frowned at this assessment, clearly preferring his own. Still, it was plain to see Marika’s father had been deeply wounded and shaken by the betrayal of a close friend.

  Jake stepped away and allowed father and daughter to have their moment alone. Even the taciturn Tiberius lifted a welcoming arm and hugged his youngest son.

  Jake turned away. Though he was happy for his friends, it was also too painful to watch. Jake’s hand reached to his pocket and squeezed the gold watch.

  For now, this would have to be enough of a reward.

  But only for now….

  30

  TIME AND TIME AGAIN

  The new Council of Elders filled the two rows of the high bench. Once again, Jake and Kady were the center of attention of six pairs of eyes. Across the top sat the same three Elders as before—Tiberius, Ulfsdottir, and Wu—all bruised, bloodied, and older.

  It had been three days since Jake had raised the valley’s shield. It had been three days of questions and more questions. The townspeople had to face a hard truth. Though their valley was safe for now, such security was not permanent. They would have to be more vigilant from this time forward.

  Balam stood up from his center seat on the lower level of the bench. He was flanked by Magister Zahur on his right and a new Magister on his left.

  Balam began solemnly, “Our new Magister has requested a small private ceremony to honor the five who protected both our valley and the great temple.”

  Balam motioned to his left.

  The newest member of the Council of Elders pulled himself to his feet using his staff. The bronze bangles hanging on the wooden shaft danced in the lamplight and tinkled like wind chimes. The Ur Elder nodded to the five who gathered at the foot of the bench.

  Behind Jake and Kady stood Marika, Pindor, and Bach’uuk. They were all wearing their finest clothes and stood stiffly. Jake and Kady had donned their safari outfits, freshly laundered and pressed. It was as formal as they could manage. None of them was sure what to expect.

  The Ur Elder—named Mer’uuk—clumped out from behind the bench and crossed slowly toward the five of them. The old tribes
man was the first of the Ur to be appointed a Magister on the Council of Elders. The lofty position was a reward for the Ur’s part in saving Calypsos and a long-overdue recognition. The Ur and the townspeople could no longer afford to ignore one another. Not if they wished to survive. The Skull King would attack again, and when that happened, the entire valley needed to be united.

  Mer’uuk waved for the five of them to line up. After a bit of shuffling, the Elder started at the end farthest from Jake. He reached out and took Pindor’s left arm and bared his wrist. Then Mer’uuk lifted high a single bangle of silvery metal so all could see.

  “From the night sky, this metal fell in a blaze of fire,” the Ur Elder intoned. “It holds a rare and potent alchemy—one of binding. To bring you all together as one.”

  Stepping forward, Mer’uuk snapped the bracelet around Pindor’s wrist, then moved down the line to Bach’uuk. Another band was fastened around the Neanderthal boy’s wrist.

  Marika stood next to Jake. She watched as Mer’uuk snapped a third bracelet around Kady’s left wrist. The bands all appeared identical. A moment later, Marika fiddled with the band around her wrist.

  “Must be forged out of lodestone,” she whispered.

  Lodestone was an old-fashioned word for “magnet.” Jake guessed the bands were probably made out of magnetite, which had natural magnetic properties.

  Jake held out his arm and slipped up his sleeve. Mer’uuk pulled out a fifth band. It was open and hinged. The Elder dropped it over Jake’s wrist and snapped it closed.

  “So completes the binding,” Mer’uuk finished. “You are now one.”

  Jake studied his band. He turned the bracelet around his wrist and frowned. He could find no hinge, not even a seam where the two halves had snapped together. It was perfectly smooth, as if forged new around his wrist. Jake lifted his arm and squinted harder. He could find no breaks in the band’s perfect surface, but he did discover something else. Strange letters had been inscribed very faintly along the outer edge of the band. Jake recognized the script. It was the same language that appeared throughout the pyramid.

  Bewildered, Jake lowered his arm and looked up. Mer’uuk still stood before him and wore a ghost of a smile.

  The wizened Elder leaned closer to Jake and spoke softly in his ear. “To know the truth, you must stop living in the short time.”

  With those cryptic words, he straightened and thumped his way back to his seat on the bench.

  As they waited, Jake stared down the row. The five of them all wore matching bands. You are now one, Mer’uuk had said. What did that mean, that last whispered comment? To know the truth, you must stop living in the short time.

  Tiberius finally spoke. “Are there any last requests before we adjourn for the day?”

  The question was directed at his fellow Elders, but Jake stepped forward and lifted a hand. The Ur Elder’s words continued to echo in his head. Especially the word time. It reminded Jake of the weight of his father’s gold watch in his pocket. And where he’d found it: within the gears of the giant Mayan calendar as it slowly ticked away the days.

  Everything—all the mysteries of this place—seemed to boil down to one concept.

  Time.

  Tiberius nodded to Jake. “You wish to speak, Jacob Ransom?”

  “I would ask a favor. If I could.”

  Tiberius motioned for him to continue.

  “I would like to visit the pyramid once more,” Jake said. “To return to where I found my father’s watch.”

  Kady joined him. “As would I.”

  The two of them had already talked about it. Kady wanted to see the chamber for herself, and Jake sensed there was a clue that had escaped him during his earlier rush through the pyramid.

  Tiberius frowned at the two of them. “While I appreciate all you’ve done for Calypsos, to trespass within the temple remains forbidden. Especially now. But I will leave it to the Magisters to decide.”

  Balam lifted a hand. “On a point of order, only Magisters are allowed within the great temple. That is clear and should remain firm.”

  Jake felt hope slipping away.

  “However,” Balam continued, “there is nothing to say that the Magisters need only number three. I put it to the vote of the Council that we grant to these two, for the status of one day, the title of Junior Magisters. By a show of hands?”

  Six arms lifted into the air.

  Balam rapped a fist on the table and offered Jake a secret wink. “So it has been approved.”

  Two hours later, Jake and Kady stood at the top of the pyramid. Overhead, the stone dragon continued its silent vigil. A step ahead of them, Balam had both palms raised against the invisible shield that sealed the round opening.

  “It remains strong,” Balam said with a sigh of relief.

  Even from where Jake stood, he could feel it. A force, like a wind, tried to push against him. He shifted his pack higher on his shoulder, anxious to get inside again.

  “First, we’ll have to all hold hands,” Balam said. “So I can usher you both through.”

  Kady gripped the man’s hand, then held hers out for Jake to grab. But instead Jake turned away.

  Marika, Pindor, and Bach’uuk waited on the step below. They weren’t going to be allowed back inside, but his friends had come anyway. They knew how important this was for Jake.

  He jumped down and gripped Pindor’s forearm in Roman fashion. “Thanks for coming,” he said. “If it wasn’t for you—for all of you—I don’t know where I’d be.”

  Pindor blushed a deep red. Compliments had been rare for his friend, but Jake suspected Pindor would have to get used to them from here on.

  Jake shook Bach’uuk’s arm in the same fashion, but when he tried to shake Marika’s hand, she brushed his arm aside and hugged him instead.

  “We’ll be waiting for you out here,” she said into his ear.

  Her breath tickled his neck. Jake’s face heated up, and probably turned as red as Pindor’s. “We might be in there a while,” he mumbled as he stepped back.

  “We’ll still be here,” Pindor said. He glanced at the other two, who both nodded.

  Jake smiled, knowing it was crooked and goofy but it was real. He’d never had friends like these. Only at this moment did he recognize what had been missing in his life. For the past three years, he had been so focused on following in his parents’ footsteps that he’d forgotten that such a road was best walked with friends at your side. But like Pindor with compliments, Jake suspected he would just have to get used to it.

  “Are you coming?” Kady asked with a long, exasperated sigh.

  Jake hopped up, waved to his friends, and took his sister’s hand. With Balam leading, they stepped across the threshold. Again, a wave of tingling swept over him and the hairs all over his body danced. Then they were through and heading down into the pyramid.

  Balam spoke to Kady as they walked, but Jake barely heard them. His mind was already on the chamber with the Mayan calendar. He had missed something down there, he was sure of it…but what?

  Once they reached the heart of the pyramid, Kady took in the immense crystal sphere. It spun and churned, forming combination after combination of strange letters.

  “I can feel it beating!” Kady said with wonder.

  Jake felt it, too. That throbbing pulse of power emanated from the massive sphere. Below it, the other three crystals spun happily. The emerald sphere looked as bright as the ruby and sapphire ones.

  Balam noted Jake’s attention. “The taint of shadows caused no permanent damage. It was pure brilliance on your part to think to reflect sunlight upon it. Pure brilliance!”

  Jake dismissed the praise. “I got the idea from Mari. And from what you taught me.”

  Balam raised an eyebrow.

  Jake explained, quoting the Magister’s earliest lesson. “‘All alchemy starts with the sun.’”

  Balam laughed. “So someone does listen to me once in a while. Still, it was brilliant on your part to conco
ct such a plan.” The old man tousled Jake’s hair. It was a fatherly gesture that sent a wave of warmth through Jake’s body.

  “And I suppose,” Balam continued, “you’re anxious to continue on to the chamber below.”

  “Yes, sir. And would it be possible for Kady and me to go by ourselves?”

  Jake wanted privacy when he explored the room. If he had any questions, he could always come back up and ask.

  Balam had no problem with this plan and shooed them away. “I have plenty to do here. When you’re ready, come back up.”

  Jake forced himself not to run. He led Kady to the far opening and down a spiraling stair. The round chamber with the Mayan calendar looked exactly as he’d left it. On the floor, the two gear wheels shone in lamplight.

  Kady gasped again—but for the wrong reason. “So much gold! It must be worth a fortune.”

  “That’s not why we came here,” Jake said.

  Kady rolled her eyes at him. “I know, but that doesn’t mean I can’t look.”

  “Just don’t touch anything.”

  Jake crossed into the chamber. He wanted to take everything in again, slowly, meticulously. His father had warned him. Attention is in the details. It was the responsibility of all scientists to work painstakingly when faced with life’s mysteries.

  Jake pulled out the pocket watch.

  Here was one mystery he didn’t want to get wrong.

  “Where did you find Dad’s watch?” Kady asked.

  Jake pointed to the inner wheel. “It was lying on the floor there.”

  “Just lying there?”

  “Yes, what did I just say?”

  Kady held out her hand. “Let me see it.”

  Jake hesitated. He’d kept the watch with him, on his person. He didn’t like it out of his sight. So Kady hadn’t really had a chance to examine it herself.

  With some reluctance, Jake placed the watch in her hand. “Be careful with it.”

  She rolled her eyes again and turned away. She left Jake’s side and went to explore on her own.