“We knew that was going to be a problem when we left,” Mark countered.
“Yeah, but that was before we kicked Saint Dane’s butt!” Courtney shot back. “If it weren’t for us, Eelong would be a giant litter box. The war is just starting. Bobby needs us. Right, Bobby?”
Bobby didn’t answer. Courtney didn’t like that. “You do want us to help, don’t you?”
“You’ve been helping since day one, “ Bobby said calmly.
“We’ve been librarians!” Courtney shouted, jumping to her feet. “We can’t go back to that now that we’ve had a taste of the action!”
“But you have to,” Bobby said with no emotion.
This stunned Courtney. “What? Why?”
“Because I need you to,” Bobby said. “You’re right; you saved Eelong. If it weren’t for you guys, I don’t know what would have happened. You were amazing. But I don’t know what I’m going to find next and—”
“And what? You don’t think we can hack it?” Courtney said, insulted.
“I don’t even know if I can hack it!” Bobby barked so quickly that it made both Mark and Courtney jump.
“Something’s been bugging you, Bobby,” Mark said. “What is it?”
Bobby tried to put his thoughts together before answering. “Something’s not right,” he finally said. “Eelong is safe. I believe that. But still, I’ve got this horrible feeling that I’ve missed something. I know that everything you guys have done was to help, and I’ll never be able to thank you enough. But I’m still trying to figure out the rules here, and if they’re really changing, and what the hell I’m even doing here in the first place!”
By the time he finished the sentence, he was shouting. Courtney sat back down, surprised by Bobby’s outburst. They hadn’t realized he was such a raw nerve. He hadn’t shared his worries with anyone since Black Water was saved. He never even told anyone about seeing Saint Dane in the form of the little blond girl. But it had been weighing on him, and now he was letting the emotion spill out.
“Please don’t give me a hard time about this,” he continued. “I’m barely keeping my head above water here. I can’t watch my butt and yours too. So please, go home. I’ll take you to the flume tomorrow.”
Bobby stormed out of the hut, leaving Courtney and Mark stunned. Neither said anything right away; they had to let Bobby’s tirade settle in.
“Well,” Courtney finally said. “That’s pretty ungrateful. We nearly get killed about twenty times over and all he says is ‘thanks’ and then sends us on our jolly way? That’s bull—”
“It’s not,” Mark said forcefully. “He’s right. We’re not Travelers, Courtney. We don’t belong here.”
“Who says?” Courtney argued.
“Well, Bobby’s uncle Press,” Mark answered.
“Press is gone!” Courtney shot back.
“Yeah, but I think Bobby is still hanging on to him. Press was the guy Bobby trusted above everybody. He was the one who brought him up to be a Traveler, and the only one who knew what it all meant.”
“Yeah, I guess,” Courtney said grudgingly.
“Think about all Bobby’s been through. I couldn’t have done it. And I’m sorry if this is an insult, but I don’t think you could have either. Bobby is a special guy, but he’s just a guy. I think when things get scary for him, he thinks back to what Press taught him about being a Traveler. And us coming to Eelong and bringing the antidote doesn’t fit.”
“But if we hadn’t come, Saint Dane would have won,” Courtney countered.
“It seems like that, but who knows for sure?”
“I do,” Courtney said quickly. “There was no other way. And you know what else? Spader wants us to stay.”
“Does he?” Mark asked. “Or does he just want you to stay?”
Courtney snapped Mark a surprised look.
Mark added, “I’m not an idiot. He likes you.”
Courtney didn’t argue.
Mark stood up and said, “But it doesn’t matter. Spader isn’t in charge. Neither is Gunny or Kasha or you or me. Bobby’s the guy. And you know what? As much as I want to go home, if Bobby asked me to stay, I would. But he wants us to go, so I’m going. And you should too.”
• • •
When Bobby left Mark and Courtney, he walked onto the balcony of Seegen’s house to calm down and breathe some air. He jumped back when he saw a dark shape climbing up to the platform, but relaxed when he realized it was Kasha.
“I’m glad you’re here,” Kasha said. “Please, come with me.”
Kasha led Bobby to the far side of the balcony, where a ladder stretched farther up into the tree. Bobby followed the klee higher and higher until they emerged onto a small platform that was so high it swayed with the breeze. Though it was a frightening perch, it offered a spectacular view of Leeandra.
“It’s beautiful,” Bobby said as he looked down on the night lights of the city.
“This was my father’s favorite place,” Kasha said. “He often slept here. He used to say that from up here he felt like he could reach out and hold Leeandra in his hands.”
The two looked out over the beautiful city.
“I’m not good with change,” Kasha finally said. “I like things orderly and logical. I thought my father did too. He was a brilliant klee. A visionary. But more than that, he could get things done. I wanted nothing more than to be like him. But when he started telling me about Travelers and Saint Dane, I couldn’t accept it. Nothing he said fit with anything I knew about Eelong, or about him. I thought he had gone crazy. But now I realize he hadn’t changed at all. He was the same dedicated, concerned klee he always was. He had simply adapted to what life threw at him, where I couldn’t.”
“But you did,” Bobby said. “It just took a little longer.”
“Yes, too late,” Kasha said with sorrow. “I turned my back on him. He died thinking I had lost respect for him, and it couldn’t have been further from the truth.”
The two stood in silence for a moment, then Bobby said, “When my uncle Press died, he promised me that we would see each other again. I really can’t say what he meant by that, or how it would happen, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned about being a Traveler, it’s that just when you think you’ve got it all figured out . . . you don’t. When things get tough, I think about those last words of his. If what he said is true, and I believe it is, then you’ll see your father again.”
Kasha said, “I want to believe that too.”
“Then do,” Bobby said. “It sure makes things easier.”
Kasha said, “I don’t know what other territories are out there, or what more a klee Traveler can do, but I’m with you, Pendragon. Not just for my father. For you.”
Bobby smiled and nodded in thanks. He noticed that Kasha held a small, wooden box. “What’s that?”
Kasha said, “I’ve been waiting for the right moment to do this. My father’s life was about Leeandra. He’d be proud of the changes that are happening. I want him to be a part of it, forever.”
She opened the box and tossed its contents into the air. Carried away on the breeze were Seegen’s ashes. They quickly spread and were taken away to settle over the jungle village.
“He would have liked you, Pendragon,” Kasha said. “I’m glad you were here to share this moment.”
• • •
Early the next morning the team of Travelers and acolytes made one final journey together. They walked across the sky bridges of Eelong, back to the huge tree that held the flume. There was a feeling of finality to this trip. They had saved Eelong. They had defeated Saint Dane. And now, they were splitting up.
“This is tough,” Bobby said to the group as he stood in the center of the underground cavern, outside the flume. “We’ve beaten Saint Dane. All of us played a huge part. I wish this were the end, but it isn’t. I know I’ve said this before, but no single one of us has a chance against him. It’s only the strength we have together that gives us hope. If you need pro
of of that, remember what happened here on Eelong.”
“So that means we’re staying together?” Spader asked.
“Yes,” Bobby answered.
“Hobey! That’s what I like to hear!”
Bobby added, “But not you, Kasha, I’m sorry to say. You wouldn’t exactly go unnoticed on other territories.”
“I understand,” the klee Traveler said. “We’ve plenty to do here on Eelong. But you know if you ever need me . . .”
She didn’t finish the sentence. Bobby knew.
“Where to, shorty?” Gunny asked.
“I think it’s time to pay Loor a visit,” Bobby said.
“Zadaa!” Spader announced happily. “That Loor’s a handful, she is.”
Bobby turned to Mark and Courtney. Neither looked happy, especially Courtney. Bobby pulled them aside so they could have a private moment between friends.
“I’m sorry about last night, guys,” Bobby said. “I was way out of line.”
“It’s cool, Bobby,” Mark said. “We get it.”
“But?” Courtney asked.
“But I still want you to go home.”
Mark nodded. Courtney looked away, peeved.
“Can I still count on you guys to take care of my journals?” Bobby asked.
“Are you kidding?” Mark said quickly. “Bring ’em on.”
“I need to know something else,” Bobby said. “This isn’t over. If I ever get to understand things a little more, will you guys come back?”
Courtney’s face lit up. “So you’re not closing the door entirely?” she asked.
“How can I do that?” Bobby said. “I’m winging this. I’ve got to keep every option open.”
Courtney threw her arms around Bobby and hugged him tight. “We’ll be waiting,” Courtney whispered into his ear.
Bobby looked to Mark over Courtney’s shoulder. Mark said, “Just say the word.”
Courtney pulled away from Bobby. Bobby gave Mark a hug. “Thank you, guys. I don’t know what else to say.”
“That’s enough,” Mark said, nearly in tears.
Mark and Courtney made their good-byes all around. When Courtney hugged Spader good-bye, she said, “So you think Loor is a handful, aye? Isn’t that what you said about me?”
Spader backpedaled, saying, “Oh, well, in a different way. I mean, she’s a warrior, trained and all, and you’re, uh, you’re really smart and—”
Bobby burst out laughing. “Spader, this is the first time I’ve seen you nervous.”
“It’s the first time I’ve ever been nervous,” Spader said with an uncomfortable chuckle.
“We’ll see each other again,” Courtney said. “And then we’ll see who’s a handful.”
Gunny gave them both a big hug, then they made their goodbyes to the klees.
“Thank you for everything,” Kasha said.
“Absolutely,” Boon added.
“Hey, it goes with the job,” Mark said cockily.
Courtney gave him a playful shove. “Yeah, right. Let’s go.”
Bobby walked the two of them through the curtain of vines and stood with them in the mouth of the flume. “What are you going to tell your parents?” he asked.
“Good question,” Mark said.
“Any suggestions?” Courtney asked.
“Yeah,” Bobby answered. “Lie.”
The three joined in one last hug, then Mark and Courtney backed into the flume. “Write soon,” Mark said.
“You know it,” Bobby answered.
“See ya, Bobby,” Courtney said, then she and Mark turned to face the tunnel to infinity.
“Ready?” Mark asked.
“There’s no place like home,” Courtney replied.
“Second Earth!” Mark called out.
And things were never the same.
The flume began to collapse.
The light appeared in the distance, along with the usual musical notes, but the stone structure of the flume was crumbling.
“Wh-What happened?” Mark shouted.
The stone flume writhed and shuddered. The sound was deafening. Giant chunks of rock fell from overhead. The whole tunnel shifted. Mark was knocked off his feet. The light grew brighter. Bobby ran in and helped Mark to his feet. All around them, the rock lining of the flume came tumbling down.
“Run in!” Bobby shouted over the roar. “Meet the light!”
He gave them both a shove, sending them running into the flume. A crack appeared between Bobby’s feet, opening up a deep chasm beneath. The flume was breaking apart. Bobby dove to his right, hitting the floor of the tunnel with his shoulder. Above him, another rock broke loose and fell. Bobby rolled out of the way, and right to the edge of the crack that was now a chasm. He glanced back into the flume to see that Mark and Courtney were nothing more than silhouettes running into the light. Above him, rocks continued to break loose and rain down, crashing all around him. He crawled away from the edge of the chasm in a desperate attempt to get out of the flume, when the floor beneath him crumbled.
An instant later Mark and Courtney were gone.
SECOND EARTH
The light from the flume blasted into the root cellar of the abandoned Sherwood house, along with the jumble of musical notes. A second later Mark and Courtney came running out of the tunnel, safe. They turned around quickly to examine the flume.
“It’s still in one piece!” Mark announced.
The light and music quickly receded, leaving the tunnel dark and quiet. Courtney felt the stone at the mouth of the tunnel.
“Solid,” she proclaimed. “Mark, what happened?”
“I-I don’t know! It was like an earthquake.”
“What should we do?” Courtney said, frantic. “Should we go back?”
“No!” Mark yelled. “We b-barely got out of there. Why would we go back?”
“But what about Bobby and the others?”
Mark didn’t have an answer. “Let’s just . . . relax. And think. We can’t go back. All we can do is wait. That’s what Bobby said, right?”
“But Bobby didn’t know the flume was going to collapse!”
“I know, I know! But, what can we do?”
Courtney deflated. “Nothing. This is going to be torture.”
The two changed out of the Cloral swimskins they had been wearing, back into the Second Earth clothes they brought to the flume so long ago. Courtney didn’t even make fun of Mark for wearing the bright yellow sweatshirt with the “Cool Dude” logo. They left the basement not even worrying if they’d run into a quig-dog. When they stepped outside the abandoned mansion, they discovered that it was nighttime in Stony Brook. They were able to scale the wall surrounding the mansion and get back to the quiet, suburban street without being seen. As soon as they hit the ground, their thoughts turned from what had happened on Eelong, to what was about to happen on Second Earth. By their estimation they had left for Cloral over a month before. Neither could begin to imagine how frantic their families were.
“Now what?” Courtney asked, as they walked. “You realize we’re about to catch hell.”
“I know,” Mark said. “I’ve got a plan. We’ve got to be together on this or it’ll never work.”
“I’m listening.”
“Let’s tell everybody we ran away together, you know, to go on an adventure.”
“Well, we did.”
“I’m not saying we tell the truth! Give me a break. I’m saying we tell everybody we got sick of having to be the good kids all the time and school was too intense and we were being pressured by peers into doing stuff we didn’t want to do and, I don’t know, all those things they say on TV talk shows make kids go crazy. We’ll say we needed a break before we did something really stupid, so we ran away to go to, I don’t know, to California. To surf!”
“That’s ridiculous,” Courtney said.
“Why? Kids run away all the time.”
“I know, but nobody will believe you and I did it together.”
Mark sto
pped walking and gave Courtney a sour look.
“I’m kidding,” she said. “It’s a good idea, but it’ll get us in huge trouble.”
“Maybe. Or maybe our parents will feel sorry for us because we’re troubled youths.”
“Yeah, right.”
“Whatever. We’re in huge trouble no matter what we do. At least this way we might have a chance of sliding by without having to talk about flumes and territories and Travelers—”
“And get locked up,” Courtney said, finishing the thought.
“Exactly.”
“It’s a plan.”
They decided to go to Courtney’s house first, since it was closer and Courtney was already having big arguments with her parents. They figured her parents would buy it quicker than Mark’s, since Mark had never done anything remotely spontaneous in his life. At least as far as his parents knew. On the way to her house, they fabricated an incredible story of how they put enough money together to take the bus to California, then spent a few weeks on a beach just north of Mexico trying to learn how to surf and pretend like they weren’t who they were. They worked in every detail they could think of—the towns they went through, the food they ate, the people they met. Everything. It didn’t take long for them to feel confident enough with the bare bones of a story to run it by Courtney’s parents. Finally they made the long walk up the path to Courtney’s house.
“Let’s ring the bell,” Courtney said. “I don’t want to barge in and give them a heart attack.”
“Good luck,” Mark whispered.
She rang the bell. A few seconds later Courtney’s door opened. Mr. Chetwynde stood there, staring at them, as if he couldn’t believe he was actually seeing them. Mark and Courtney weren’t sure how to begin, so they didn’t say anything. They had already figured that it was better to react than to offer any info. They stood that way for a good thirty seconds, when Courtney’s father finally spoke.
“What happened?” was all he asked.
“It’s a long story, Dad,” Courtney said, trying to sound tired and remorseful.
“Very long,” Mark added.
“Was the library closed?” Mr. Chetywnde asked.