“Dinner is not ready yet,” Ali said as she gripped Radrine’s neck and smashed the fairy’s face into the floor. Ali had no idea how strong a dark fairy was. Not wanting to take any chances, she banged Radrine’s head a few more times to soften her up. Yet she knew the queen must still be weak from her earlier injury. Her creepy translucent skull didn’t look like it would be safe in a game of football. Also, Ali didn’t want to knock the fairy out altogether. Radrine was going to be her transportation, after all. Kneeling hard on the back of the fairy’s wings, she slipped the metal hook around Radrine’s throat.
“How are we feeling now?” Ali asked brightly.
Radrine made a hissing noise. “You’re choking me!”
Ali eased up with the hook, but kept it around her neck. “You realize I can kill you at any moment?” she asked.
“You’ll never get out of here alive.”
Ali tightened her grip. “You didn’t answer my question.”
Radrine gasped. “Yes!”
Ali lightened up. “I’m glad. It’s important you understand where you stand with me. And you’re wrong, I’m going to get out of here, and you’re going to help me. You’re going to fly me back to the same cave where your pals took me prisoner.”
“Impossible.”
“Okay. Maybe you’re right and I’m wrong. I might as well kill you now.” Ali started to choke her again. Radrine twisted her head to the side.
“Stop! You can’t escape past my minions!”
“Good point. We’re going to have to go out the back way, with me on your back, so to speak. Being human and all, I can’t fly.” Ali paused. “Can we go out the top of the hive?”
“No. We’ll be seen.” Radrine coughed and spat on the floor. “We’ll have to go out below.”
“Is there another cave that leads up to the one where I was captured?”
“It’s not a cave. It’s a gorge.”
Ali was stunned. “Where my friends fell?”
Radrine was bitter. “I know nothing about your friends.”
The fairy was telling the truth, Ali realized. Of course, because time flowed in strange directions inside the mountain, her friends hadn’t fallen into the gorge yet. This minute, they were still alive. She thought if the dark fairies had favorite TV programs, they sure would have a hard time figuring out when they were on.
“All right,” Ali said, slowly standing beside the dark fairy, careful to keep the hook around Radrine’s neck. “You lead and I will follow. But if you make one move to alert your minions, I will break your scaly neck. Understood?”
Radrine turned, caught her eye. “You think you have won, Geea. You are wrong.”
“Time will tell,” she replied.
Ali grabbed her hair off the hook before they left, stuffed it in her coat pocket. She did not want to leave the dark fairies any souvenirs. She could only imagine what kind of spells they might try to cast if they had a piece of her.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
What happened next blew Ali’s mind. She followed Radrine as the fairy walked to the back of the chamber and twisted a rock on the wall. The rear wall swung open, and they entered what for all the world could have been an elevator, only it had no walls, no ceiling. Standing on the platform, Radrine moved a knob at their feet and the lift began to descend at high speed through a long black tunnel. The outside light flickered through openings in the hive like a spinning siren. Ali felt a hot wind; they could have been going down a thousand floors.
“Why do you need an elevator when you can fly?” Ali asked.
Over her shoulder, Radrine gave her a strange look. “You know why.”
Ali figured it was best to hide her ignorance.
They fell for a long time, and when the lift finally stopped Ali knew they were far below the hive. She suspected they were miles beneath the mountain itself, if they were even in the same dimension as the mountain. They stepped into a narrow corridor lit by flaming torches. Here the air was almost impossible to breathe. It was not thin like she had experienced at altitude, but the smell reminded her of a filthy oil refinery.
Ali took time to grab a torch as they walked the long corridor. Now she had her hands full. Radrine mocked her.
“Can’t see in the dark as a human?” the dark fairy asked.
“I see well enough to keep an eye on you. Where are we going?”
“To the gorge. Isn’t that what you want?”
“How are we getting there?”
“You know,” Radrine said.
Of course she had no idea. She felt fear, however. Did forgotten memories try to rise and warn her? The door at the end of the corridor opened and Ali saw the beginning and end of an ancient nightmare.
The space was gigantic, larger even than the cavern that held the fairy hive, and it was filled with fire and fumes. Yet the latter was the least of its dread. Because beyond its stark appearance was a feeling of despair, of a hopelessness so deep and lasting that no hope or prayer could touch it. Ali peered down into the abyss and thought she saw insect-shaped creatures, many miles away, flying lazily through the forsaken sky.
“What are they?” Ali gasped, not wanting the fear and ignorance to show but unable to stop it. This time Radrine nodded as she glanced back at her.
“You don’t remember, Geea,” she said. “Interesting.”
Ali hardened her voice. “You don’t know what I know.”
Radrine followed her gaze, down into that awful cauldron. The heat scorched them where they stood. But how much hotter it must be down there, Ali thought.
“Even we do not disturb them,” Radrine said softly.
“Then why do we go this way?” Ali demanded.
Radrine shrugged. “It was you who brought us here.”
Now came the tricky part, when Ali had to trust Radrine to fly her back to the cave. Fortunately the fairy’s wings attached high on her shoulders, and she was able to grip Radrine around the waist while still keeping the hook around her neck. Ali made Radrine carry the torch, and she pulled Radrine’s head close before they took off.
“Try to drop me and I snap your neck,” Ali said.
“Kill me and you die.” Radrine glanced down and added, “Or worse.”
Ali tightened her grip with the hook and the fairy gasped. “I may not remember everything since becoming a human, Radrine. But I do know that you’re a coward. Fly straight and smooth and maybe I’ll let you live.”
Radrine got the message. They took off above the pit and the fairy did nothing to shake her off. Ali was relieved because she suspected the creatures who flew below them hated humans above all creatures.
Ali was never to forget that flight. Radrine did not speak and Ali could not. Not in the face of the pain of that place. She closed her eyes but she could not close her heart. Anguish filled the void; the only sound was the occasional distant wail of a lost soul.
The despair followed her even when Radrine reached the bottom of the gorge and began to fly straight upward.
“You’re heavy,” Radrine panted.
“You’re never supposed to tell a human girl that. You might give them a complex, make them anorexic.”
“Is that a curse?”
“Something like it,” Ali said.
Slowly, the stink and heat of the pit receded as they climbed higher into the heart of the mountain. Soon all they had was the light of her torch to guide them, but that did not seem to bother Radrine. Yet it was obvious the fairy was straining to reach the cave.
Ali had to make a decision, she realized. She feared to leave Radrine alone to fly back to her minions and sound the alarm. She needed to tie up the dark fairy; she needed rope. As the bisected cave and the broken bridge came into view, Ali put her head close to Radrine’s.
“Land on the side where the bridge hangs down,” she said. That was on the far side, farther away from the fork in the caves.
Radrine was surprised. “How will you cross the gorge?”
“Let me worry about tha
t.”
Radrine did as she requested and soon they were standing on the ledge where hours before—no, in a few hours from now—her friends would fall to their deaths. Ali let go with the hook and the fairy sagged to the floor from exhaustion. Radrine looked up at her and sighed. Ali had already taken the torch back.
“Are you going to grow wings next?” Radrine asked.
“Lie facedown on the floor.”
Radrine shook her head. “I am a queen. You are not going to tie me up.”
“You’re my prisoner.” Ali put the sharp end of the hook to her neck. “If I don’t get to tie you up, I’ll have to slit your throat.”
Radrine saw she was not joking. Spreading her wings to the sides, she lay facedown on the floor. Ali cut a piece of rope from the hanging bridge and began to bind Radrine’s wings backward, at which the fairy protested.
“That hurts,” she said.
“Like I had a fun time in your hive?” Ali said.
“That was different,” Radrine said.
“How so?”
“We’re the bad guys. You’re supposed to be merciful.”
“There are times for mercy, and this is not one of them.” Ali knotted the rope behind Radrine’s neck as the fairy wobbled on the floor. She talked as she worked. “You know that I’m hiking up to the top of the mountain to get the Yanti back. I’ll be running into Lord Vak and his troops later tonight. I don’t want you or your minions showing up. You want to take this advice, Radrine. Since becoming a human, I’ve been getting back my powers slowly. But I’m a lot stronger than last night when you attacked us. If you ignore me and do try to steal the Yanti back, I’ll kill you.” Ali yanked the fairy’s wings back real far. “Do you understand?”
Radrine gasped. “Yes! Not so hard!”
Ali finished her knot and stood. “You look like a bug that’s been stepped on.”
“You sound like a human that doesn’t know what she’s walking into.”
“I know,” she replied, but there was doubt in her voice.
Ali cut off another length of rope from what was left of the bridge and attached the hook to one end. She did not have Karl’s skill when it came to lassoing, but eventually she caught hold of one of the floor hooks on the other side. Securing her rope to the floor, she groaned inwardly at the thought of taking the test of space all over again. What made it worse was that, with the torch, she would only have one free hand.
But when she was out over the gorge, she was pleasantly surprised to discover she was not afraid. Once she passed a test, she must have control over the element. To some degree, at least—she was pretty sure she did not know how to fly yet.
Ali paused when she reached the other side. She looked back at the dark fairy. She could see Radrine in the flickering light of the torch, weary and wounded from the beating she had received, but far from defeated. It made Ali wonder, about lots of things.
She checked her watch. She had plenty of time before the others reached the fork in the cave, assuming her watch was not lying to her. She called out to Radrine.
“Remember my warning,” she said.
“Remember mine, Geea,” Radrine said.
Ali turned and walked into the cave.
The big question—for which she had no answer—was what was she going to say to herself? Naturally, she would steer the group away from the red door, but then what? Would there be two Ali’s for the remainder of the adventure?
She had a sneaking suspicion that none of the above would happen. The reason was the number of buttons on her shirt. The buttons were part of the time paradox, perhaps the answer to it. She still had six buttons instead of five because even though she had already taken the red door and had had tons of adventures her friends knew nothing about, she had yet to drop the second button—as far as her friends were concerned. It was the number of buttons that connected the old self to the new her. At least that was how she saw it, but she could be wrong. Her intuition wasn’t always right. Going the wrong way had taught her that much.
“But I had to go the wrong way to learn that,” she said to herself as she hurried through the cave with her torch in hand. “I had to face the tests. So I didn’t really go the wrong way, after all.”
The return hike, to the colored doors, was hard on her. She still needed water in the worst way and her stint in Radrine’s jail cell had worn her thin. But she hoped when she reached the red door, and got on the other side, that time would start moving forward again and she could rest a bit. The upcoming meeting with herself—she didn’t know how to think of it—continued to weigh on her mind. She just hoped the new her would not be as stubborn as the old her had been.
Finally she reached the red door, and was glad to find it closed but unlocked.
Naturally, the door had been closed when they had reached it the first time.
She stepped over to the other side, and went to shut the door behind her.
But her eyes strayed downward. To the corner of the door frame.
She was shocked—but not surprised—to see her button gone.
Of course—now—she had not yet left it.
Her watch began to move forward.
Ali closed the red door and sat down to rest, her back against the stone wall.
She probably dozed; she thought she heard herself snoring.
After what seemed forever, she heard the mutter of her friends talking. Quickly, she put out her torch and hid it on the other side of the red door. Then she crept forward in the dark, using the wall for a guide. There was a yellow glow up ahead from Karl’s flashlight. Her friends were close to the doors! Her body trembled with excitement!
Her theories could be all wrong. Maybe when she met herself face to face the world would explode. She had seen a science fiction movie where that had happened once.
The gang reached the seven doors, paused to gaze at them.
Ali stepped out of the shadows to greet them.
They did not see her. Wow.
“Is it because I’m still in another time, ahead of them?” she asked.
They did not hear her.
She guessed that meant the answer was yes.
Or perhaps the reverse was true. She was behind their time.
She studied her watch, particularly the second hand. It was moving forward, quickly, and Ali took that to mean she was definitely behind them—time wise—but that she was probably catching up on them. She was not sure if the latter was true, but at least it gave her hope their time lines would synchronize at some point. Hopefully soon!
Ali watched as the gang studied the doors, found the two that opened. Standing like a ghost with her back to the wall, she listened as they questioned Farble about which way to go.
She glowed with pleasure at how great it was to see her friends alive again!
Most of all, she studied herself. It was unlike gazing in a mirror. She looked like a stranger. She did not like her hair, hardly recognized the proud expression she wore. The line of her mouth, too, it was so hard. Did she always look this way? It was a frightening thought.
The next few minutes were tricky, she told herself. She had to use the button, and at the right time. Timing was everything when dealing with a time paradox, she thought.
“We have to make a choice,” Steve said. “We have come too far to go back to the entrance.”
Ali watched herself turn to Paddy. The movement was disorientating.
Darn, she didn’t look as pretty as she thought she looked!
Ali decided to think of her new self as Alison. After all, that was the name on her birth certificate. Yet it was a name Ali had always refused to go by.
“Do you know?” Alison asked the leprechaun.
“No,” he said.
“Have you been in here before?” Alison asked.
“Missy asked that before. Paddy said no.”
Ali watched herself stop to think. She could almost hear Alison’s thoughts, as the red door called to her with the soft voice of a witch.
She saw the resolve harden her face.
“I think we should take the red door,” Alison said finally.
“Why?” Steve asked.
“I have a feeling about it,” Alison said.
Karl was annoyed. She had not noticed before how annoyed he was. “That’s not a good reason to choose it,” he said.
“It is to me,” Alison said.
“I agree with Karl,” Steve said, checking out the yellow door’s entrance. “The troll’s first choice probably has some meaning. I think I feel a faint breeze coming out of here.”
“You didn’t say that a minute ago,” Alison said.
“I didn’t feel it then,” Steve said.
“Let’s flip a coin,” Cindy said. “Got a gold one, Paddy?”
“We’re not flipping a coin,” Alison snapped. Ali was shocked at how arrogant she sounded. It was awful to watch herself act so bossy. Alison added, “I sense something about the first door—the red door. We have to check it out.”
“If you sense something in there, we should avoid it,” Karl said.
“Yeah. It might be a swarm of dark fairies,” Cindy said.
Good for you, Ali thought.
“I can handle them,” Alison said.
“I wouldn’t get overconfident. Not down here,” Karl said.
“I don’t like the red door!” Paddy suddenly shouted.
Ali watched as Alison turned on the poor leprechaun, and grilled him, and hardly listened when he tried to warn her. It was a lot to take in. Ali found it hard to believe that she did not even stop to consider what might be behind Paddy’s words. Alison just saw him as a liar, a coward. What arrogance!
Finally Alison pronounced her decision.
“Look. We can hike some distance into the first cave,” Alison said, trying to sound reasonable but determined to get her own way. “Say a mile or two. If it doesn’t look like it’s going the right way, we can come back here.”