Balance Keepers #1: The Fires of Calderon

  CHAPTER 9

  Cedarfell and Treefare

  Farnsworth was waiting when they left the Waterfall of Fate. As soon as he saw them, he turned and led the way, the light from his blue eyes flickering against the dark walls.

  “That little dog likes to play follow-the-leader,” Trey said. “And he’s always the leader.”

  “I think he’s cute,” Birdie said.

  Farnsworth wagged his tail as if he understood he was being talked about.

  He led them across the Main Chamber of the Core, over the triangle bridge, and through a winding route of tunnels that Albert wasn’t sure he’d be able to remember. “Down that tunnel is the Library. That’s the place to be. Loads of action, and if you find the need to get in touch with home, you can always use the Phone Booth.”

  Albert smiled at that. He’d be able to check in on his mom at some point.

  A group of men in hard hats passed by them, holding blueprints on long, copper scrolls.

  “Maintenance men,” Trey noted. “There are lots of odd jobs in the Core: cleanup duty, the cooking staff, the nurses in the Infirmary. Loads more. We all work together to run this place.”

  The tunnels twisted and turned, this way and that way, until Albert felt like his brain had just gone on a roller-coaster ride. “I’m definitely going to get lost in this place.”

  Leroy grinned and slapped Albert on the back. “Two left turns, a right turn, duck and walk for thirty-seven seconds, stand up, and go right past the giant statue of some old wart-faced dude.”

  “I’m sticking with you from now on,” Albert said to Leroy. “That Synapse Tile is really working.”

  “Yeah, just don’t do something embarrassing around Leroy,” Birdie said. “He’ll never let you forget it!” Birdie punched Leroy in the shoulder and suddenly they were all hitting one another playfully as they made their way down the hallway.

  There were torches everywhere, casting a pale blue glow throughout the Core as they walked. Every so often, the tunnels would open wide into mouths of space, as if they were yawning. There were statues of strange creatures—a rabbit with four antlers on its head, a monkey with six arms. The strangest of these statues had the body of a round man and the face of a toad.

  “Frog man makes me nervous,” Leroy said as they passed by.

  “Wait until you meet him in person,” Trey replied, staring up at the strange statue. “He’s a crafty one. Hard to predict.”

  “You mean that thing is for real?” Albert asked, glancing around as if a living, croaking version of the statue might jump out from a hiding place in the shadows.

  Trey didn’t answer as they moved on, passing a room full of long rows of tables. A man no taller than Albert’s thigh stood near an old oak desk at the front, polishing a glowing, silver sword.

  “That’s Professor Bigglesby.” Trey nodded into the room. “A dwarf born and raised in the Core over one hundred fifty years ago. He’s still an exceptional fighter. One day you’ll learn a lot from him.”

  The old Professor turned in their direction and locked his eyes on Albert’s black Tile. His head tilted sideways briefly, but he belied no emotion as Albert slipped past the open door.

  The encounter gave Albert pause—somehow he didn’t think he should trust Professor Bigglesby.

  Trey led them up a steep incline in one of the tunnels, where a glowing, purple moss clung to the low ceiling, flickering like fire. “You’d be smart not to touch that,” he warned as Leroy reached out. It was too late. Leroy’s hand glided along the softness as if it was doing him no harm, but then he pulled his hand away. His fingers expanded like balloons.

  “Whoa,” Leroy said. His face turned a sickly shade of green.

  “That can’t be good,” Birdie added, staring at his fingers as they swelled to the size of tennis balls.

  Trey kept walking through the maze of tunnels, but called over his shoulder, “Give it a good shake; usually does the trick.”

  Birdie snorted as Leroy shook his hand and his fingers deflated as fast as they had inflated.

  They all laughed and rounded a corner, coming upon an old wooden door. It had the same glowing-hand imprint as the one that had let Albert into the Path Hider’s domain.

  “Albert and Leroy, you’ll stay here,” Trey said as he leaned against the door. “In Cedarfell.”

  “What’s inside?” Albert asked.

  “So many questions.” Trey sighed. “New recruits are exhausting.”

  They stood, looking at the door to Cedarfell, and a new voice broke the silence.

  “I see Miss Howell has arrived.”

  They turned to see who the strange, musical voice belonged to. It was a very tall woman, so tall she had to stoop in order to fit inside the tunnel. Her eyes were a cool blue, and her pale arms were covered in tattoos of Tile symbols. Looking down, Albert saw she wore sandals and that she only had four toes on each foot.

  “Um, yes, that’s me,” Birdie said, taking a step back so she could get a better look at the strange woman. “I’m Birdie Howell.”

  “This is Professor Asante,” Trey said. “She will escort you to where you’ll sleep.”

  “Not that you’ll have much time for lounging around Treefare,” Professor Asante said.

  “Treefare?” Birdie asked, but the professor said nothing.

  Trey turned back to Albert and Leroy.

  “Classes start tomorrow morning at the sixth chime. Follow everyone else; they’ll show you the way.”

  Trey turned and headed back down the steep tunnel.

  “Should we carry on, then, Birdie?” Professor Asante asked.

  Birdie looked at Albert and Leroy. “Meet me by the rivers tomorrow?”

  “Of course,” Albert called after her, as she followed Professor Asante down the tunnel. “Good luck!”

  “Well, here we go,” Albert said.

  Albert turned and placed his hand into the imprint on the door. It swung open without a sound. Farnsworth scurried between his ankles and disappeared inside.

  At first glance, Albert thought that maybe Trey had led them to the wrong place. This couldn’t be a dormitory. It looked like the forest outside of Herman, except there were strange, bright red birds flying overhead, their color changing to orange and back every so often, and when he looked at the ceiling, there were brass pipes spitting steam. Something crashed in front of his feet and he jumped back.

  It was an acorn the size of his head.

  “Holy mega acorn!” Leroy screamed.

  “Careful with those; they’ll knock you out cold if they hit you just right,” a voice said to Albert’s left. He turned, and through the trees came the same boy he’d seen earlier, the one with the light-blond hair. On closer inspection, he was wearing a long-sleeve gray T-shirt with the word Fury on it. “First day’s always the strangest. I saw you with your Apprentice earlier. You’re the Flynn boy, aren’t you? Got the same freckles as your dad.”

  “Uh, yeah,” Albert said. “Is this the dormitory?”

  “It’s way better than the girls’ dorms, if you ask me,” the boy said. “I’m Jack. Second Term Balance Keeper, at your service. Come on, I’ll show you guys the tents.”

  They followed Jack through the maze of trees until they came upon a campsite. But it was way cooler than any place Albert had ever camped. Big, white tents sat on the forest floor in between the trees. Some of the larger tents actually stood with trees poking right out of their middle, like the tents were built around the trees.

  “So, I guess you two will be roomies,” Jack said. He stopped before one of the tents.

  Albert poked his head inside. “This is how camping should be. Leroy, look at this place!”

  A lantern lit the inside, shedding light on two wooden beds that looked so comfortable Albert wanted to dive right in and burrow beneath the covers. Farnsworth was sitting right on top of one of the pillows, his blue eyes blinding. Beside him, a blue, long-sleeved shirt was folded neatly on top of the covers. Albert
stepped inside and scooped up the shirt. It had the word Hydra on it. Albert slipped out of his old T-shirt and pulled the Hydra one over his head.

  “Team Hydra,” Leroy said, smiling at Albert. “It’s a pretty sweet name. Has something to do with water, I think.”

  “Come on out, guys,” Jack said from the door. “You can settle in later. Right now we’re breaking open acorns!”

  There were so many other boys in Cedarfell; Albert couldn’t keep up as Jack introduced Leroy and Albert to all of them:

  There was Peter, who wore a silver Fury team shirt like Jack’s. Jack and Peter had another teammate, Venzee, a girl who dormed in Treefare with Birdie. They were Second Term Balance Keepers.

  Then there was Stan, who wore a green Sapphire shirt. His teammates were Robin and Henna, who also dormed in Treefare. Stan walked around like he owned Cedarfell, but then again, he was a Third Term Balance Keeper, so Albert supposed he had a right to act like he’d been there longer than most.

  Heffe and Philip both wore red Terra team shirts. Winter was also their teammate. They were in their third term, too.

  There was a boy with a big oil stain smudged across his face who worked in some place called the Steam Room. An older boy sat beside him, a big, fat, golden key around his neck. He worked in the Mailroom, the sort of place Albert definitely didn’t want any part of.

  Lastly, Jack pointed out a cluster of three boys, sharing an acorn together. Slink, Mo, and Hoyt wore orange Argon team shirts. They were tossing acorn shells across the dorm, seeing who could throw the farthest. They apparently didn’t care that throwing the farthest sometimes meant throwing into someone else’s tent.

  Albert elbowed Jack. “Those guys third terms?”

  “Nah,” Jack replied. “Second terms, but they act like they own the place.”

  As they sat around a campfire someone had made, a large rabbit with antlers—like the statue they had seen—hopped by. It looked at them inquisitively, and then hopped away.

  “Big antlers on that Jackalope,” Jack said.

  Leroy and Albert looked at each other and shrugged. They were getting used to seeing oddities like very large rabbits with antlers.

  Someone smashed open a giant acorn, and they passed it around, drinking a strange, milky liquid that tasted like fizzy cream soda.

  “You’re the Flynn kid, right?” Albert turned and saw that it was one of the Argon boys—Hoyt, he thought.

  He looked Albert up and down, a big fat sneer on his face.

  “That’s right,” Albert said, feeling suddenly uncomfortable being the center of attention. My dad must have been telling people about my arrival. I’ve never been noticed this much before! I’m not sure how I feel about this. . . .

  Hoyt paused a moment, looking at Albert as though he might be a threat.

  “You’re not so special.”

  “Whatever you say,” Albert said, trying to keep his cool.

  “What’s up with this guy?” Leroy whispered into Albert’s ear.

  “I grew up here, and I’ve never seen a Tile like yours,” Hoyt said, wiping milky fizz from his face as he passed the Acorn to Slink. “Your professor dad give it to you? Some kind of advantage?”

  “My dad treats me like everyone else,” Albert said, feeling the heat rise in his neck. “I picked this Tile myself, just like you picked yours.”

  “What’s your power?”

  Albert shifted in his seat nervously.

  “I don’t know. But I’m going to find out.” Albert looked down at his black Tile and felt ashamed to have it hanging from his neck.

  “You hear that, boys?” Hoyt said to the others. “Flynn’s a dud!”

  Some of them laughed nervously; a couple smiled. Slink and Mo nodded encouragingly at Hoyt. Obviously, they were a gang of three everyone else feared.

  “Don’t worry about Hoyt,” Jack leaned in and whispered. “He’s just jealous your Tile looks cooler than his does. And he’s a Pure. They always have attitude.”

  Albert could guess what a Pure was without having to ask: someone who was born in the Core and had never seen the outside world.

  “You got something to say, Jack?” Hoyt asked. “’Cause you know my Tile gives me some extra speed. You won’t be able to outrun me if you start mouthing off.”

  “Nope, nothing at all, Hoyt. Just welcoming our new recruits.”

  Hoyt shook his head.

  “Flameouts, more like it.”

  This produced a new round of awkward smiles from everyone but Slink and Mo.

  Leroy stood up unexpectedly and crossed the expanse between him and Hoyt.

  “We don’t mess around in Texas, and my buddy Albert here is from New York City. I think you’ll find we can carry ourselves just fine.”

  After he got over his shock at Leroy’s sudden bravado, Albert felt a wave of pride and joined him. Hoyt, Slink, and Mo got up, and suddenly Albert and Leroy were toe-to-toe with the three bullies.

  “We’ll see how confident you are when you start basic training,” Hoyt said with a sneer on his face. “Only the best make it into the Realms, boys. And somehow, I’m not feeling too worried.”

  Leroy and Albert slowly backed up, returning to their seats. They both understood there would be nothing to gain from having a brawl on the first day. Albert didn’t know what skills a Second Term Balance Keeper had, but if Hoyt was born here, surely he’d be some serious competition. Albert clutched his Tile and promised to himself that he’d figure it out, and soon.

  “Thanks for standing up to that jerk,” Albert said to Leroy when things quieted down.

  “We’re teammates.” Leroy shrugged. “We’ve gotta stick together.”

  “I guess we do,” said Albert. He could tell Leroy really meant it.

  They sat at the fireside for the next hour, learning as much about the Core as they could. Classes would start the next day, as well as real training, which would be a chance for Albert to figure out what his power was. Jack told them that the professors were the greatest and strongest of all Balance Keepers. There was a woman the size of a small tree who’d teach them about Core creatures.

  “We met her in the tunnels,” Albert said. “Professor Asante, right?”

  “That’s her!” Peter said. “And Professor Hagglesworth’s eyes change color depending on his mood. It’s pretty cool, but a little scary.”

  As the fire grew warmer, Albert very nearly fell asleep. The strange birds overhead had begun to sing a slow song, which reminded him of a soft summer day. His eyelids were just about to slip closed when the room around him erupted into noise. Ten chimes, so loud they rumbled his bones.

  “Lights out, boys!” Stan yelled. He had a crooked tooth and a strange, deep voice.

  “Finally.” Leroy yawned as everyone headed for their tents. “I’m going to pass out the second my head hits the pillow.”

  Albert nodded as they slipped through the flap of their tent. He turned, ready to tie the flaps together with the leather cords that dangled from each side.

  Across the trees, he could see Hoyt and his two pals looking in his direction, but Albert still felt a huge smile spread across his face. He had a friend, maybe more than one, for the first time in his life, and a magical dog that was waiting for him to crawl into bed. He was someplace miles under the surface of the earth, and down here, his dad was a really cool, powerful dude.

  He couldn’t wait to see what else the Core had in store for him.

  CHAPTER 10

  The Training Pit

  When he awoke the next morning, Albert didn’t hear any honking cars or the blaring of the TV. There was no little sister batting his face with her stuffed unicorn; no Mom telling him to get busy with homework or chores. Instead Albert heard the sound of birds in the trees, and watched as whatever light source Cedarfell was lit by grew brighter against the ceiling of the cloth tent.

  “Man, I thought you’d never wake up,” Leroy said, poking his head through the entry of the tent. Farnsworth followed h
im in, a big rib bone dangling from his tiny mouth.

  Leroy had a plate so full of food it reminded Albert of the piles of mail in the dead letter office.

  “How big is your stomach?” Albert asked, seeing the mounds of pancakes covered in powdered sugar, scrambled eggs, and some delicious-looking sausage that was making Albert’s mouth water.

  “Enormous, I guess.” Leroy shrugged. “This is my second plate.” He folded a whole pancake in half and shoved it into his mouth.

  Albert laughed and slipped outside the tent, where he found a long wooden table completely covered in piles of food. He rushed forward, filled a plate almost as full as Leroy’s, and stuffed his face like he was a homeless dog that hadn’t eaten in days.

  By the time all the boys had eaten, the table was only half-empty. Hoyt and his cronies stood by their tent, looking surly and secretive as ever. When Hoyt noticed Albert watching, he pointed at his blue shirt.

  “Ready for the Competitions today, Flynn? You and your team are up against mine. I hope you’re prepared for pain!”

  Albert’s heart sank.

  “No worries,” Leroy said, slapping Albert on the back. “We got this. And besides, we have Birdie on our team. Her confidence sort of scares me.”

  There was still powdered sugar caked on Leroy’s face, so it was a little hard to take him seriously as he added: “I bet your Tile gives you superstrength or something. You’ll see.”

  Overhead, the chimes started to sound. Six times, loud enough to shake the floor beneath Albert’s feet. An acorn plummeted from a nearby tree and broke open beside Leroy. He scooped it up and chugged down the sweet liquid pouring out.

  “You ready, Hydra?” Jack asked, motioning for Albert and Leroy to follow. “First day’s always the hardest, but you’ll get the hang of it. You’ll go to the Simulator every day. The classroom hours are only a few times a week, but don’t worry, they’re not as boring as they sound.”

  They left Cedarfell behind and set out into the halls of the Core. It seemed as if the tunnels they took were twisting different directions than they had the previous night, and before Leroy and Albert knew what had happened, all the other boys had scattered down different tunnels. Albert reached into his pocket and pulled out his Core Compass.