What was I to make of it? Putting my faith in a bunch of rocks to destroy the all-powerful Beta didn't sound like a good idea. But since when did any of my plans sound like good ideas?
Merlin and I talked into the night, but he couldn't tell me much more. Even if Stonehenge was some kind of alien Roach Motel, he didn't know exactly how it worked. "My mentor, Guinevere, used to say, 'Look to the sky, look to the sky,' but that's all I can recall. I'm sorry, Daniel."
Too bad Stonehenge was pretty much the only chance I had, once I got home.
And that was assuming I could even get back to modern times. I could try getting to Stonehenge before the present day--but I didn't think I had the luxury of picking and choosing where the wormhole would take me.
The next morning, Merlin and Arthur brought me to the lake where Beta had first warped in. Arthur had been quiet all morning and I hoped he was okay. I'd told him I was going home, but not much else.
I regretted the talk Merlin and I had given him the night before. Gosh, would the king of England go mad on account of nightmares about extraterrestrial life? Merli n h ad warned me about messing with historyBut I looke d a gain at Arthur and saw a sense of steady calm and knew that he would be fine. And a fine leader.
The sun sparkled off ripples on the lake's surface. It wasn't as bright as it had been when Beta emerged, not by a long shot. But hey, I'll take serene landscapes over homicidal time travelers any day.
"Beta ripped open a gigantic hole here the other night," said Merlin telepathically. "I'll bet my beard that time is still weak in this area. You should be able to punch right through, Daniel."
"Yeah, it'll be a breeze," I thought to him, rolling my eyes.
Arthur shook my hand and fixed his eye on me seriously. "You sure you don't want to stay a little longer, Daniel? It might be fun. We could trade off being king every other week."
"You're kidding," I said, resisting a joke about trading off being Alien Hunter every other week. I sure could use a break right about now.
He shrugged, and the corner of his mouth twitched a little like he was trying not to laugh, or maybe like he was trying not to cry.
Part of me wanted to stay, maybe take him up on his offer. A Kansas Alien in King Arthur's Court would make a great title for a memoir. But the rest of me knew it was time to go. I didn't want to leave my new friends Arthur and Merlin, but I had to.
I had a country to save--this one. England.
Chapter 70
NOW I JUST HAD TO MUSTER some really strong emotion, and open the door, on time again.
It wasn't hard to get emotional anyway. All I needed was one look at Arthur's face. The last few days had held more chaos for him than most people experience in a lifetime. He'd handled every one like a great king, and he was a good friend now, too.
Silently, the 3-D (or was that 4-D?) hole emerged from the water. Faces and galaxies and points of light flickered inside it, and Arthur's eyes widened at the sight. I could tell it was something he'd remember for the rest of his life. Merlin nodded and combed his fingers through the hair around his chin.
"I'm not good with good-byes, guys. All I can say is...
stick together. You'll go down in history, and I'm proud to have known you," I said.
"Take care, Daniel," said Arthur, and then he winked. "Oh, and--don't let the aliens bite."
I grinned. "By the way," I added, half turning. "Get used to hanging around lakes. You never know when you might find a beautiful lady in one of them."
Arthur smiled back at me. "A lady in the lake. I'll be on the lookout. Sure thing."
Then I took a running jump off the shore, right into the hole, wondering if I was about to die a horrible death.
Hey, it happens more often than you'd think.
Chapter 71
I LOOKED BACK, twisted my head around like the girl in The Exorcist movie, but Arthur and Merlin were already gone. All I could see was a castle in the distance, with pennants the color of blood flying from its towers.
Like before, I was falling, falling, falling. I just hoped I was going in the right direction. I didn't particularly want to find myself in the middle of the Crusades, the Black Plague, the Spanish Inquisition, World War I or II, or a U. S. presidential debate, something awful like that.
Then again, the last thing I'd seen before going back in time was a car being enveloped in flames, with me inside. I wasn't too keen on going back there either.
I tried to look around and get my bearings--not that it had much meaning in this whirligig of motion and loud n oise. Was that Dana's face, up above me near that odd tangle of DNA?
I craned my neck and reached out, willing my body to move toward her. It didn't seem like I had much of a choice where I went this time, though. Even in free fall, my feet felt heavy, and when I looked down at myself, I saw why.
Or actually, I didn't see why. My feet weren't there.
My legs just came together and disappeared in a single point above my ankles, the way they would have in some kind of crazy fun-house mirror. And more of me was disappearing by the second.
That strange, heavy feeling was spreading over my whole body, a tugging sensation that I could tell was impossible to fight against. I felt like water circling down the drain, fast, really fast.
I was pretty sure this time hole was about to spit me out someplace.
Oh, God, but where?
Chapter 72
UNFORTUNATELY, judging from the fact that my feet already felt as hot as metal left on a fire, I was about to arrive back in my own time, at precisely the same spot where I'd left. I'll bet Beta will be awfully glad to see me, I thought.
I strained and struggled against the forces that were ejecting me from the time stream, but it was no use. No matter how hard I tried, the car interior was gradually materializing before my eyes, or at least what was left of it. Every surface was blackened, and flames filled the entire physical space, like the air inside was on fire.
What was going on? Was I too late?
As things got clearer, the scorching heat became unbearable. I shut my eyes and threw all of my energy into twisting my body, not upward but sideways.
Then the ground knocked the wind out of me as I slammed into it at maybe 150 miles an hour. Just a guesstimate. But suddenly my mouth was full of dust. Maybe some of my bones were broken. Or maybe all of them?
One thing was clear immediately, though: I must have caused a spatial-temporal shift of some sort. I was not in the car. And I most definitely was not with Dana.
I hauled myself up shakily, using a stack of wooden flats as cover. I was still in the junkyard, and I could see the damaged hulk of Beta's spaceship outlined against the sky. A couple hundred yards away, flames cascaded skyward from the burned-out shell of the Peugeot.
Hallelujah! I wasn't returning home to the flaming jaws of death.
But--that meant--
No -- no--no!
Dana was still in the flaming jaws of death? Without me?
Chapter 73
I SPRINTED to the Peugeot. I couldn't let myself believe it. Maybe this was a different car. There were junkers all over the place. It could have been any one of them...
But the hope was futile. I knew this was the car. And then I saw the telltale faint dark figure running off. The Dark Heart. He had just devoured his prey. I was going to take him out once and for all.
And so I went sprinting after it. My eyes were blurring with rage and tears. Closer, closer, closer... I was moving at a bionic speed.
But no one was more surprised than I when I actually tackled it to the ground.
It was a human being. Or rather, an alien being, one hundred percent Alparian.
"Dana?"
"Daniel?"
We gasped the words at the same time, breathless, and then I clutched Dana tightly and quickly rolled us off into the shadows, away from obvious view.
"How did you escape?" I croaked, still in disbelief.
Dana looked equally bewildere
d. "You sucked me into a time warp or something--right?"
"Unbelievable! We mustve separated. I didn't know it was possible."
"What, you mean you didn't think it was possible for me to live without you?" she said with a wink. "Neither did I. And wait until you hear everything that's happened to me since I last saw you."
"I think I'm gonna outdo you on the outrageousness scale," I said as I grabbed her hand and pulled her up and away.
The next part was easy. We decided to boogie out of there pronto. And as we ran, I could hear Beta shouting somewhere behind me.
"Gone? How could he be GONE? NO! I want him DEAD!"
On the last word, he flared up, blowing the Peugeot's roof high into the air.
I couldn't help but smile. Thousands of years old, but he still threw a temper tantrum like some preschooler. "Typical guy my mom would say.
As I ran even faster, I imagined a scene that would take place soon, when hundreds of Beta's servants would scour the junkyard looking for me. Eventually, they would find a message I'd scrawled in charcoal on the side of a rusty cargo container.
.
HEY, SPARKY, I ENJOYED SEEING YOU GETTING SKEWERED AND FREEZE-DRIED BACK IN THE DARK AGES. REMEMBER KING ARTHUR, MERLIN, AND ME? WHY DON'T WE DO IT AGAIN SOMETIME? HOW ABOUT AT STONEHENGE TOMORROW NIGHT?
YOU BRING THE MARSHMALLOWS.
LOVE,
DANIEL X
.
Chapter 74
DANA'S STORY turned out to be rather marvelous--but a story for another place, another time, another book.
But there's one important fact about it you need to know:
She met Willy on her journey, and he was sent back to the present time well before we got there.
Which means that Willy went through a time hole all on his own (another book, too). Now give me one good explanation for how that could happen? My friends, who I thought I created and controlled, were clearly having lives of their own now.
Things are not always what they seem, Daniel, and you still have quite a lot to learn, I heard my dad saying in my head. Wait a minute--Dad was speaking, but not in my head.
I was sitting in the backseat of a minivan with the fam, watching DVDs on a tiny screen hanging from the ceiling, and it was like my dad was reading my thoughts.
I had decided I couldn't face the ninety-mile trip to Salisbury Plain, the site of Stonehenge. Not just yet. Not after everything I'd been through. Instead, I'd created my parents, and then rented a minivan. I needed a little company, some TLC, a little downtime to prepare myself for Beta and, very possibly, death by fire.
And yes, I'd even brought Brenda along for the ride. She was chronically annoying, but depending on how things went tonight... I figured it might be nice to spend some quality time with my whole imaginary family. Now my dad was driving while I read a few books on Stonehenge in the back, and Pork Chop was watching, of all things, Fantastic Four. I knew why she'd picked that particular movie: every time the Human Torch came on-screen, I would jump, and she'd laugh like the little maniac she can be.
"Brenda, don't tease your brother right now," said my mother after this had been going on for about fifteen minutes. "This is a very tense time for him, dear."
"I can watch something else," Brenda replied helpfully. "Let's see... how about Dragonheart ? Or Volcano ? Oh, I know: The Towering Inferno."
"You know, Mom is right. I could be about to die, Porker."
"Like I even care," she said, sticking her tongue out.
My dad turned around in his seat and laughed. "Hey! Do you want me to pull this car over?"
"Believe me, if I didn't have to go on this particular trip I wouldn't mind at all."
He nodded slowly, and faced forward again. "It's a shame we never got to take any trips like this when we were alive, huh?"
"Was there anything in those books that could help?" asked my mom, ever protective.
I shook my head. "Nothing I didn't already know. The stones are around four thousand years old, give or take a hundred years, and the whole thing is in ruins. No one knows anything about how the monument is supposed to work, or even what it's for. There are a thousand different academic experts with a thousand different theories about Stonehenge."
"Any of them mention aliens?" said Brenda, still staring at the video screen.
I poked her in the ribs. "Pretty much all of them."
"Don't worry," said my father. "If there's one thing you're good at, it's winging it. I don't need to remind you just how dangerous Phosphorius Beta is, though. And he is many, many times more powerful now than he was back in the Dark Ages."
My mother reached back, a little awkwardly because of the angle, and patted me on the shoulder. "But you're not so bad yourself, Daniel. So far, you're undefeated."
"Mmm-hmm." My father nodded. "Just remember, this is a single-elimination tournament."
"I get it, Dad. One strike and you're out."
Chapter 75
ONCE WE ARRIVED at Stonehenge, I sent my family away--just in case things got really horrifying. No need for them to see me die: But then, guess who showed up? Joe, Willy, Emma, and Dana.
"I guess you guys are going rogue, now, eh?" I said, secretly thrilled that they were here, but worried all the same. "I can't tell you guys to just disappear?"
"Got that right," said Dana. "Don't waste your energy trying."
They were good company, since we had a lot of time to kill. Hour after hour passed without any action from Beta.
"It's three in the morning. Maybe Beta chickened out," Emma eventually said from her lookout perch on top of a stone plinth.
"Yes, he's obviously terrified," said Joe, fingering the strings of his hooded sweatshirt. "After all, Daniel is a horrifying creature made out of fire, and Beta is small and... oh, wait, did I get that all wrong?"
"Thanks, Joe. You really know how to raise somebody's spirits," I said sarcastically.
"I try my best." But then he gave me a quick hug. "Hey, buddy, you know I believe in you."
But did I believe in myself? Against Beta? And his thousands upon thousands of minions?
There was a soft padding sound behind us. We slowly, slowly... turned... and saw Willy marching up from the ditch that surrounded the monuments. He was wearing a navy blue security guard's uniform. When he spotted us he shook his head.
"Still nothing. No Beta. No fiery demons."
I nodded at him. It was ridiculously quiet. No cars had passed in hours, and a fine mist had settled over the plain. It had made my clothes damp and my skin clammy. Dana, though, seemed as warm as ever, sitting next to me on one of the fallen sarsen stones.
"You feeling up to this?" she asked.
"Does it matter? I don't really have a choice, Dana."
"I just... don't want to see you get killed tonight. Or burned so badly that you're unrecognizable."
I didn't need to say anything to that, just nodded. A moment later, like she was afraid of the silence, Dana added, "He's made of fire, but he's not invincible. And Merlin must have sent you here for a reason. 'Look to the sky.' That has to mean something."
I knew Dana had to be right. But I'd gone over every stone in Stonehenge, and if there was some kind of hidden technology, I had yet to find it. So what had Merlin been talking about? There was no underground stream here. And these rocks couldn't shoot fireproof foam, or call down a blizzard.
"Well, whatever it is, it beats me. You guys have any ideas about the secret of Stonehenge? Maybe these stones are actually spaceships?"
"Why didn't you just ask some druids when you went back in time? I would have," said Joe. I could tell he was still sore that he'd missed out on my adventure with what he'd called "real-life dungeons and dragons."
"You know, Joe," said Emma, "this place wasn't actually built by the druids. It was around for at least a thousand years before the druids even came into existence."
"Really? I met one who says differently." Joe pulled his hood over his head and lowered his vo
ice into a ghostly moan. "EMMA... EMMMMAAAA. We druuuids created Stonehenge."
He started to climb up to where Emma was, still moaning, while she playfully kicked at him with one foot. Then suddenly she was all business.
"Okay... we got something. To the east. And it's hot."
Chapter 76
BEFORE ANY OF US could see what Emma meant, we heard the growl of dozens and dozens of engines. Odd shapes were approaching on the road, and they were moving fast.
Emma climbed down and Dana and I stood up, waiting nervously, straining to see what was coming toward us at a blistering pace.
It was a convoy of delivery trucks--like the one I'd seen at the metal foundry. There were close to fifty of them, along with six cement mixers. The whole train of vehicles must have been going at least ninety miles an hour. None of them had their headlights on.
My heart sank as I registered the massive numbers. I guess Beta had decided to show up after all. And he had brought some friends, or, I should say, some fiends.
Just before the convoy reached us, the lead truck turned its wheels sharply, effortlessly knocked down the fence at the side of the road, then skidded up onto the grass beside the monument. Barely slowing down, each truck followed until they were all stopped in rows, the cement mixers still in the middle.
For a moment or two, they just sat there, accompanied by the ominous ticking of cooling engines. Then the doors opened, and figures emerged from the cab of each truck. The drivers opened the rolling doors at the back of the vans, letting out more of Beta's faithful.
"Looks like Beta has a plan," contributed Joe.
Of course I knew what was coming next, even if I didn't want to admit it. There was a deafening whir, and fire began to pour out of the chute at the back of each truck, splashing onto the grass and splitting into flames the size of a person. Each raced along the ground in a random direction until the field had so many fires it looked like an army had pitched camp there.
The last of the flames from the three trucks came together into the tall orange blossom that I'd been expecting, and dreading. Then it leaned toward us, kind of like an old friend.