This was happening too fast. Albert was dizzy with anger. The Master Tile had never felt heavier around his throat. It felt like it was choking him.
He wanted it off. He wished he’d never plucked his Tile out of the Waterfall of Fate.
“Albert,” Leroy said, stepping forward in the darkness.
Albert turned, ready to snap. No one knew how he was feeling right now, not even Leroy.
But then he saw the looks in his friends’ eyes. They were scared, all of them. A tear slid down Birdie’s cheek, and she wiped it away quickly, then crossed her arms in a show of defiance. Hoyt’s lips were pressed tightly together like a clothespin, and Leroy looked like he’d been slapped across the face.
“I’m . . .” Albert was ashamed of his outburst. “I’m sorry.”
Hoyt stepped forward. “You don’t have to apologize. We get it. We’ve all said some things we wish we wouldn’t have. . . .” He rubbed his forehead, sighing deeply.
“Hoyt’s right,” Leroy said. “It’s hard for us, too, to watch our best friend go through this. We’re scared for you. But we’re not going anywhere.”
“We’re with you in this, Albert,” Birdie said. “But right now we have to figure out what we’re going to do when we walk through that door.”
“I agree.” Hoyt nodded, looking Albert in the eye. “And really . . .” He swallowed hard, like he was afraid to say what was really on his mind, then turned to Birdie and Leroy. “This note thing could make him look guilty. It makes him look like he’s in cahoots with the traitor.”
“What?!” Birdie screeched, but Hoyt held his hands up.
“Whoa! I’m not saying Albert’s guilty,” Hoyt said. “I’m just saying, we’ve got to be smart with this. We have to make sure nobody blames him, because we all know the truth. The traitor is messing with him to get under his skin.”
Leroy agreed. “Hoyt’s right. We’ll talk to the Professors only.”
“And Petra,” Albert said. Petra was the only person who’d been on their side since day one, always cheering Hydra on, always jumping up to help at a moment’s notice.
“Petra too,” Birdie said. “Sure.”
She turned to Leroy and Hoyt, and Albert saw a look pass between the three of them, something silent and strange. Like they were afraid he’d snap again.
I’m fine, he told himself.
Albert turned and headed through the door, back into the Main Chamber.
He’d never been more grateful for the light.
CHAPTER 18
The Secret Meeting
Albert’s head throbbed the entire emergency meeting. He couldn’t look at his dad as he spoke, because he was afraid of the fear he might see in Professor Flynn’s eyes.
Albert repeated the story of the day’s events twice over, and then listened as Birdie, Leroy, and Hoyt repeated their versions of the same story, too. Professor Asante scribbled notes onto a pad, and Petra gasped at all the right places. Professor Bigglesby glared at Albert the entire time, his beady eyes as black as coal.
It went on for hours, and though Albert was grateful for the feeling of having more people on his side, he needed to stop staring at the traitor’s note and the striker, which both sat on Professor Bigglesby’s desk, a constant reminder that everything was not okay.
As the meeting bore on, Birdie brought up the map in her backpack, and Professor Bigglesby promised he had nothing to do with it. “I turned it over to your care,” he said. “You must have placed it in your bag and forgotten about it. Exhaustion does things to the mind. I’m suffering from the same forgetfulness. Why, just this morning, I forgot to take my pain medication. If it weren’t for our dear cyclops nurse, I may not be here with you today.”
He still had his head wrap on, and his arm cast . . . and Albert wasn’t buying it.
He kept that to himself, though. By the time the meeting was over, Hydra was ready to drop.
But they weren’t given the chance. The rest of the evening was spent in the Core Watchers’ Cavern as two replacement strikers were made.
Hydra sat on the rocky ground and Professor Bigglesby sat in his wheelchair across from them, assisting with the task.
“I’m with you, dude,” Hoyt said to Albert as they watched Leroy and the Watchers babbling away, talking about the measurements and dimensions that the replacements should be. Leroy’s glasses fogged up in the heat of the room, but he was so animated and full of life, despite the fact that it was well past midnight.
“He’ll be a Core Watcher someday,” Birdie said. “Don’t you think?”
Albert yawned, but nodded. He could totally see Leroy joining these strange, riddle-speaking workers in the future. Leroy would be an incredible Core Watcher and scientist.
“I think that symbol needs to be more to the left,” Leroy said, pointing at the replacement striker they were working on. Professor Bigglesby joined in, and though his voice was still weak, Albert thought he noticed the dwarf’s voice coming back at random moments to its full strength.
“Faker,” Hoyt said under his breath.
“You think so?” Albert asked, casting him a sideways glance.
Hoyt nodded. “He isn’t even acting like he’s in pain. My arm broke last year, and the second day, it was still throbbing pretty bad.”
“He’s right, you know,” Birdie said. Her hair was puffed up like a cotton ball from the steam in the Watchers’ Cavern. “I went down to the hospital wing today, just to check on some of the people who have been injured in the quakes, and I happened to pass by the medicine log.”
Albert’s eyes widened. “Birdie!”
“So I might have spent a few extra seconds looking it over.” She waved a hand as if swatting a fly and carried on. “It doesn’t fully qualify as snooping.”
Hoyt laughed and held up two thumbs. “I’m starting to think you’re pretty cool, Birdie.”
“Anyway,” Birdie continued on, the ghost of a smile lighting up her face, “I noticed there’s no medicine on there in Professor Bigglesby’s name. He’s not even prescribed anything for pain, or inflammation, or any of the things that a broken bone causes. And unless he has some magical dwarf healing powers, which he doesn’t, because I looked it up, then I’m thinking something is fishy about all of this.”
“And you’d know all this medical stuff how?” Albert asked.
Hoyt’s mouth was hanging open.
Birdie’s cheeks reddened, a rare occurrence. “I’m interested in nursing,” she said. “Well, veterinary school, actually. Maybe someday I can get a job here, caring for the Core creatures. Oh, and you, Albert, would make a great Professor, and Hoyt, based on what I’ve seen from you in the Pit, you could train newbies as a great Apprentice. . . .” Her eyes lit up as she dreamed of the future. Albert nudged her, and she came back to the present. “Anyhow, that’s beside the point. What matters is that he,” she said, nodding her head in Professor Bigglesby’s direction, “is faking it.”
Almost as if in answer to this, Professor Bigglesby reached up and scratched his ear . . . with the injured hand, the one that was covered in purple and black bruises.
“There!” Birdie said, after he’d lowered his hand again. “It’s makeup. He’s wearing makeup on his hand!”
“What do you mean?” Albert asked.
“There’s a little blue smudge on his ear where he used that hand to scratch it,” Birdie said. “Look.”
Albert squinted to better see Bigglesby’s ear, and it looked like Birdie might be right. “How can you be sure?”
“I am a girl, Albert,” Birdie said. “Geez.”
“Oh, right.”
“The bruises aren’t real?” Hoyt said.
Bigglesby was a fake! If the bruises weren’t real, then Albert was pretty positive his injury wasn’t either . . . which meant Bigglesby was perfectly fine to go into the Realm with them.
So why wasn’t he?
Hoyt stood as if he was going to march over to the dwarf and give him a piece of his mi
nd. But Birdie and Albert pulled him back. They rushed quickly into the shadows, just out of view of Professor Bigglesby and Leroy.
“If he’s faking his injury, he could be the traitor,” Albert whispered. “Maybe he even came into Belltroll after we went in yesterday, and left the note for me to find.”
“He probably removed the striker forever ago, before we ever went into Belltroll!” Birdie whispered back. “It makes perfect sense! But . . . it also doesn’t. Why him? He’s a Professor.”
“I’ve been here my whole life,” Hoyt added. “And I’ve never known Professor Bigglesby to be the type of guy who’d want to destroy the Core. But then again . . . he’s always been a strange man. I guess it’s possible.”
“Maybe he wants more power,” Albert said. “I heard him the other night, saying how much he doesn’t trust me. He voted for us to go into the Realm, though. Why would he do that, but admit he doesn’t like me when nobody else is around?”
“Because if he’s the traitor, he wants your Tile,” Birdie said. “Getting it in the Realm would be the most discreet way of doing it.”
Hoyt shook his head and tried to pull away. “It doesn’t matter why, you guys. What matters is me going over there and knocking out his teeth. I can do it so quickly he won’t even notice.”
Albert tightened his grip on Hoyt’s shoulder.
“We need to take it slow. We’re all in a rush, and that could be clouding our judgment.”
“It’s not clouding anything for me,” Hoyt said.
Birdie blew out a puff of air. “We need to be absolutely sure before we decide it’s him. And what if he has somebody helping him? We need all the facts first.”
“Plus, we need to solve this Imbalance,” Albert said.
Hoyt chewed on his lip, seeming to mull it all over in his head. “We don’t tell him anything else from here on out. Okay? Whatever we find in the Realm. We don’t tell the dwarf.”
Albert and Birdie agreed, and in that moment, the three of them shared a secret.
Albert felt the rift between them closing, little by little. They were in this together now, whether they liked it or not.
When they slipped back out into the Watchers’ Cavern, Professor Bigglesby was staring at them with his dark eyes.
Albert had the sinking feeling that the dwarf had heard every word.
There was a hand on Albert’s shoulder.
It was the traitor, coming for his Master Tile! Albert reached out, ready to defend himself, and . . .
“Bro!” Leroy’s voice woke Albert from a dead sleep. “Wake up!”
Albert’s eyelids flickered open.
Petra and Leroy were standing over him, both boys breathing hard like they’d just come sprinting over. Farnsworth raced into the tent and yipped a greeting.
“What’s going on?” Albert asked. “What time is it?”
Leroy looked at his watch. “It’s three a.m. Sorry to wake you, but you should come with us.”
“Why?” Albert asked. “What’s up?”
Petra swallowed hard. “I’ve been on the night shift lately, in the Tower, and . . . the Professors are having a secret meeting,” he said. “You’re probably going to want to hear what they’re saying.”
Albert was up in an instant. “Let’s go.”
All three boys rushed from the tent. They were almost out of Cedarfell when a dark figure emerged from the trees.
Leroy screeched like a cat and fell backward into Petra, who fell backward into Albert like they were in some slapstick comedy routine. Farnsworth wagged his tail.
“Where do you three think you’re going?” the figure asked. Hoyt stepped from the shadows. “We’re supposed to stay here in the dorm, where we’re safe from the quakes.” He crossed his arms over his chest and stepped forward, blocking their pathway.
“Look, Hoyt, we don’t really have time for a fight right now,” Leroy explained as he brushed off his pants. “So go ahead and tell on us. We know you want to.”
“Leroy, you’ve got it all wrong,” Albert said.
They had just patched things up with Hoyt—taunting him wasn’t going to help keep it that way.
Hoyt apparently felt the same because he let his arms drop to his sides. “Guys, how many times are you going to make me explain myself for my mistake in Ponderay?”
“It’s not just that,” Leroy said. He took a deep breath and looked Hoyt in the eyes. “You bullied me, our First Term. All of us, really. Don’t you remember that?”
Hoyt’s shoulders drooped. He paced back and forth for a second and kicked one of the giant acorns that Cedarfell was famous for. “Look . . . it’s always been Hydra in the light, and I’ve been here my entire life, waiting to go into a Realm and save the day. Then you newbies from the surface come, and suddenly you’re the next big thing?” He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I screwed up, bad. So many times I can’t even keep track anymore. But I’ve been sitting here, hating myself for it for the past few months while you were gone. And I’m not going to be that way again. I’m sorry . . . okay?”
Leroy scratched his head like a monkey. Petra didn’t say anything at all.
“I’m sorry,” Hoyt said again. He looked back and forth between Leroy and Albert.
Albert nodded. “It’s all good between us, Hoyt. No more apologies needed.” He glanced sideways at Leroy, who was quite pointedly staring at his toes. “Leroy?” Albert asked.
Leroy looked up at Albert.
Come on, man, Albert tried to say with his eyes.
Finally, Leroy conceded. “I forgive you, Hoyt. It’s over and done.”
Hoyt loosed a breath. “Thanks, guys.” Then he smiled, as bright as the sun. “You know . . . if you’re going out in the halls, then you should probably roll with me. Petra knows the Core pretty well, but I know how to break the rules.”
That much was true, Albert knew.
And tonight, maybe it was finally time to let Hoyt take the lead.
He was a master sneaker-outer.
He introduced the boys to side hallways that even Petra didn’t know about, tiny dark tunnels that weren’t even lit by the sickly green torches.
“How did you find these?” Petra whispered from the back of the group.
“I get bored at night,” Hoyt answered from up ahead. “Exploring cures that for me.”
The walk to the Main Chamber from Cedarfell usually took about ten minutes. But in just under three, the boys popped out in a hidden hole in the wall behind a statue. Right by the mouth of the Main Chamber.
Albert gulped as he saw the bright red numbers of the countdown clock above the door to Belltroll. Just over four days left.
Tussy, Professor Asante’s Apprentice, sat before the door with a book in her lap. Her eyes scanned the Main Chamber, searching for anyone out of bed. Or the traitor, probably. They should have been guarding this door the entire time, Albert thought. But then again, that could have meant more people disappearing.
Hoyt pulled a tiny copper bird from his pocket. It looked like an origami bird, but when Hoyt tapped it twice on the head, the bird’s wings snapped out. Then it soared off of his palm and silently flew into the Main Chamber.
“Get ready,” he whispered, and Albert, Leroy, and Petra all nodded their response.
Hoyt leaned out of the dark tunnel, slowly, so Tussy wouldn’t see. They all watched as the little copper bird flew past Tussy’s head, landing halfway across the Main Chamber near Calderon’s door.
“Any second now,” Hoyt whispered.
The little bird exploded into a flash of purple flames.
Tussy yelped and leaped up, then sprinted across the cave to investigate.
“Go, go go!” Hoyt hissed.
They all raced in a line, like thieves in the night.
The meeting was in full swing when they got to the Tower.
Leroy, Petra, and Hoyt all pressed together up against the closed door, listening in as best they could. Albert used the power of the Hearing symbo
l.
The Professors were having a heated argument. Albert’s heart sank at what he heard.
“He must stay out of the Realm!” Professor Bigglesby’s voice carried through. “He cannot be trusted!”
Leroy gasped beside Albert. They all leaned in closer, their ears touching the wooden door.
“He’s a boy,” Professor Asante said next. “He’s not an evil mastermind!”
“Why else would they leave a note for him?” Professor Bigglesby snapped back.
“Because they want his Master Tile!” Professor Asante said. “They want to lure him back inside the Realm so they can take it!”
“Albert Flynn is . . .”
“Is what?” another voice said. Albert leaned in even closer, straining to hear what his dad was saying. “My son is not working with the traitor, and he never will.”
“Festus,” Professor Bigglesby said.
Leroy turned to Albert and mouthed, Festus? Again?
“Who’s that?” Albert whispered to Petra.
“No idea,” Petra said. “I’ve been here my whole life, and I’ve never heard of that person.”
Hoyt shook his head. “I haven’t either.”
“Festus.” Professor Flynn spat out the name. “Festus is long gone. We must look elsewhere.”
“Why are you staring at me like that?” Professor Bigglesby said. “The boy is your son! Your legacy! We should all be looking at you, Bob.”
“Your injury seems to have passed,” Professor Flynn said. “I haven’t seen you around much. Perhaps you’ve been in your study composing notes for my son and his friends to find. . . .”
A fist pounded on hard wood. “THAT IS ENOUGH!” Professor Asante shouted. Her voice practically shook the closed door, and all four boys flinched, imagining her standing tall and strong and looking positively terrifying. “We must look at this with sound minds. We cannot let fear get in the way of our trust of one another!”
Albert heard Professor Bigglesby mutter something, but he couldn’t make out the words.