“No!” Albert shouted. “Birdie!” The Pegasus’s screech pierced Albert’s ears. He saw a slash of red on its white side as it soared past, carrying itself and Birdie to safety.
Spyro reared, his hooves pawing the air. He let out a bellowing neigh, that of a leader pressing his team onward.
The Trolls arrived, angry and ugly and ready to destroy the world.
But Hydra wouldn’t let them.
Albert reached backward, and Hoyt placed the purple vial into his palm.
“It’s go time,” Albert said. Thanks, Petra. You’re a lifesaver.
He tapped his heels. Spyro turned to face the Trolls, and Albert pulled forth the Tile symbol that seemed like it was invented for this moment.
Aimtrue.
CHAPTER 24
The End, End
Last term, in Ponderay, Albert had used his sense of aim to help save the day on top of the Ten Pillars.
This term, it wouldn’t be quite so easy. Because while the Pillars moved, they stayed on a relatively predictable path. Circles could only rotate in one direction or the other.
Trolls were a different story, capable of thinking for themselves.
Hydra flew together like an army, a solid line of Balance Keepers and Pegasi. The winged horses had their ears flat back on their heads, ready to move like the wind.
“Ready?” Albert called out, using Amplify to make his voice seem as if it were coming through the MegaHorn.
“READY!” his teammates called back in unison. The Trolls were bounding toward the mountain range.
“Let’s go!” The Pegasi shot forward in formation. They were eighty yards from the mountain.
Seventy.
Sixty.
Fifty. They closed in with every flap of the Pegasi’s wings.
The Trolls’ eyes widened, their massive tree-trunk-sized fingertips stretching to grab ahold of the team.
“Albert, now!” Hoyt shouted in his ear.
Albert squeezed Spyro’s sides, two fast pumps, and the Pegasus shot ahead, using the strength and speed that only a leader could have. But it wasn’t fast enough.
They had to be a rocket, or they’d get caught in the Troll’s fist.
They had to be a blur of black in the sky.
Albert closed his eyes, pulling on the strength of his Master Tile. He’d done this before, in Calderon, and today, with Leroy. But Spyro was massive.
I can do this, Albert thought. I have to be able to do this.
He pictured the Merge symbol, imagined Hoyt’s Speed Tile alongside it, and as Albert’s hands gripped Spyro’s mane so hard his fingers went white, he felt the power surge from him into the Pegasus. It was like Albert and Spyro were one.
A blast of wind, a beat of the Pegasus’s wings, and they rocketed ahead, leaving Birdie and Leroy behind with their vials clutched in their fists.
One shot, Albert thought. We get one shot.
They were so close now.
Albert was about to tell Spyro what to do, but the Pegasus seemed to sense it. His entire body tensed, and suddenly he was flying straight toward the first Troll’s feet. Then, using the speed from Albert’s Tile, Spyro ran up the Troll’s body, over his pudgy stomach, up toward his face.
His hooves went pound pound pound, and the Troll opened his mouth, fury and pain raging out.
Then came the roar.
It was explosive. Albert wanted to close his ears and hide away, but he looked back, past Hoyt’s shoulder, and shouted “NOW!”
Birdie came in like a Guildacker, all fire and fury. Her Pegasus swept upward, using a fresh draft of wind to lay on the speed.
“FOR BELLTROLL!” Birdie shouted.
It was a beautiful sight, Birdie uncorking the vial with her teeth and spitting the cork into the wind. Her Pegasus soared right over the open mouth of the roaring Troll, and she launched the vial right into the Troll’s screaming mouth.
It was a perfect shot.
Down it went, disappearing in a flash. Birdie’s Pegasus sped into the clouds, soaring to safety.
The effect was nearly instantaneous. The Troll swallowed, let out a massive, stinking belch, and then dropped like a swatted fly and landed on the ground facedown. The grass swayed around it, and then, for a moment, time seemed to freeze.
It worked, Albert thought. It actually worked!
Then Leroy was shouting, “Go, go, go!” and everything suddenly sped up again.
“One down!” Hoyt shouted. “Two to go! Let’s move, boys!”
Spyro responded to the sound of victory, and again, Albert lent his Pegasus the Speed of his Master Tile.
Spyro sprint-flew up the side of the second Troll, and as soon as it was angry enough to release an air-bending roar, Leroy arrived.
He was like a cowboy out of the old West, his dark hair waving in the wind. He uncorked the vial, and as his Pegasus soared close, Leroy shouted, “SAYONARA, DUDE!” and let the vial fly.
“SCORE!” Hoyt pumped both fists in the air.
Leroy soared away, and then they were faced with the final Troll.
The biggest Troll.
And by the looks of his dark leaf-green skin, he was the angriest.
Albert’s head was pounding, his body exhausted from all the Tile symbols he was using. He thanked the adrenaline coursing through his body—it was the only thing keeping him alert right now.
Still, everything was going according to plan. The Trolls were going down. They would find the other two strikers and get this Imbalance fixed before it was too late. They’d been this close to the splitting point before, in both Calderon and Ponderay. They could do it in Belltroll, too, and come out on top, traitor or not.
“Let’s ride!” Albert shouted. Hoyt let out an exuberant cry.
Albert engaged the Speed Tile and Spyro began sprint-flying up the front of the Troll. The giant beast’s roar came out even louder than the other two. They’d sprint-fly up and over the Troll’s head in just a few moments. They had agreed to toss the vial when they were at the very top of the Troll’s head and it was almost time.
“You ready?” Hoyt shouted. He leaned past Albert and placed the vial into his hands. “You do it! I’m not going to screw this up like last term!”
“You sure?” Albert shouted back.
Hoyt nodded.
Albert’s mind pulsed, buzzed, and he was starting to see spots in his vision. Spyro was still moving incredibly fast; he wasn’t sure he’d be able to toss the vial correctly at this speed. But he had to do this, use one last Tile to bring down this Troll.
Two at once took practice.
But Albert wasn’t sure if three at once could be done.
He pulled forth the symbol for Aimtrue, like a perfect crosshair target.
He focused on seeing the Speed symbol, Aimtrue, and Merge as one image, all of them mixing together. His mind screamed with the effort, but Albert held on. He had to be stronger than this. He had to win.
Spyro carried them up and over, but as Albert got ready to throw, Hoyt suddenly cried out.
The Troll wasn’t as stupid as it looked, because suddenly it lifted a fist. And swung.
There was a horrible screech from Spyro, and Albert saw a flash of long black feathers float past his eyes. The Troll had clipped Spyro’s wing!
They were going down, spiraling toward the ground too fast.
“THROW IT!” Hoyt shouted to Albert. But Aimtrue slipped away as another Tile symbol took its place.
Float.
Albert latched onto it with every ounce of strength he had, crying out as his head pulsed like a dagger was ripping through his skull. Spyro floated, keeping them in the air thanks to Albert’s Master Tile.
“NOW!” Hoyt shouted.
Albert lifted one arm while the other held on to Spyro for dear life. The Pegasus flapped with one good wing, dipping them sideways over the Troll’s open mouth.
Albert launched the vial and it tumbled down, down, down.
It slipped between the Troll’s
teeth . . . and landed on its outstretched tongue.
Hoyt screamed “YES!” as the Troll fell to the ground.
Albert’s vision dimmed. He felt Spyro spiraling toward the ground and then a hard thump as they landed in a heap. His vision came back into focus as the Tile symbols faded from his mind.
Birdie and Leroy landed beside them, cheering.
But something was wrong. Albert’s Counter was blinking bright red.
THIRTY SECONDS.
“No,” Albert whispered. “No, it . . . WHAT?!”
“What is it, Albert?” Birdie asked.
Leroy started dismounting, but Albert said, “Stay on your Pegasus!”
“What’s wrong?” Hoyt asked, behind Albert.
He lifted his wrist. The seconds on the Counter ticked down.
“That’s not right,” Birdie said. Her voice rose in pitch. “We had . . . we had over a day! I saw it! Right, Leroy?”
Leroy was staring at Troll Mountain. It was spinning faster than before, just a blur. The ground began to shake so badly that the Pegasi screeched and leaped into the sky.
Spyro fought to stay afloat and Albert wished so desperately that he could concentrate to help Spyro out, but he was confused. The Counter had to be wrong, didn’t it?
Albert’s heart stopped cold in his chest as Troll Mountain itself roared in fury. Then, in one swift motion, over half of it sunk into the ground. A giant CRACK! rang out.
The Counter hit zero.
A fault line crept out from the base of the mountain. Trees cracked in half as the Realm literally opened up and split in two. A giant dark gap was spreading toward Hydra.
“Fly!” Hoyt shouted. “Everyone, FLY!”
The sky seemed to split and Albert could hardly believe what he saw—a funnel of darkness was spiraling up into the surface world. Maybe his eyes were still playing tricks on him.
Albert barely had enough strength to hold on as Spyro carried him back toward the Core. There was one thought in Albert’s mind as the Realm of Belltroll sunk into chaos.
They had failed.
The world was going to die.
CHAPTER 25
The Fight for the Core
The tunnel was as dark as the traitor’s soul.
Hydra stood just inside, watching the Realm tear itself apart. The Pegasus herd stood with them, stamping their hooves in the tunnel, crying out as their home slowly fell to pieces. Albert knew they should be on their way back to the Core—they had done all they could here—but he couldn’t look away from the destruction in front of them.
“We tried,” Birdie whispered as she grabbed Albert’s hand.
He held on like it was an anchor.
“We tried, yes,” Albert said. “But we failed.” He stared at the Counter on his wrist. “You all saw it, right? You all saw we had time.”
Was he going crazy?
Everyone looked at Leroy. He rubbed his forehead. “We had thirty-nine hours, bro,” Leroy said. “I know we did. My Tile doesn’t lie.”
“But someone does,” Hoyt said, finally speaking up. He was just a shadow in the darkness, leaning back against Spyro’s muscular side. “Lucinda. She gave you the Counter. She did something to it, to make us think we had enough time, and probably to the countdown clock in the Main Chamber, too.”
Birdie gasped. “He’s right!” Her hand squeezed Albert’s so hard he almost cried out. “Last term in Ponderay, the Counter was perfect, down to the last second of time. Same with the countdown clock in the Main Chamber.”
Leroy nodded. “What if Lucinda bewitched it, or something like that, using her Book of Bad Tiles? If she’s the traitor, there’s no telling how much power she has with both Master Tiles and that book!”
“But what about Bigglesby?” Hoyt said. “He’s the one who gave us the map. He probably hoped it would confuse us and make us think we were still safe. He’s the one who knew we’d be out in the middle of the Realm trying to find the strikers. We almost died! Maybe Lucinda and Bigglesby are working together. With his fake injury, it gives him plenty of time to be in the Core with her, plotting our deaths, without people suspecting him.”
“And your dad doesn’t trust the dwarf, so why should we?” Leroy said.
“He’s always staring at my Tile,” Albert added. “It’s like he’s hungry for it, and I can’t explain it, guys, but I just have this awful feeling that it’s him. Yesterday, after my dad gave me the CoreSword, Bigglesby said something really weird to me. Every time he’s around, it just feels like . . . we can’t trust him.”
“He helped us with the fake strikers, though,” Birdie said. “Maybe we’re wrong.”
Leroy wasn’t buying it. “He helped us with those so he could lead us in the direction he wanted us to go. He knew putting in those fake strikers would cause the Trolls to wake up and go all psycho on us.”
Albert covered his face, unable to look at the Realm anymore. Unwilling to accept the failure before them. The Counter felt heavy on his wrist. He wanted to rip it off and throw it back into Belltroll. But he couldn’t, he realized. It was evidence.
He turned and stared into the darkness of the tunnel. There was no telling what would be happening in the Core when they arrived.
“It’s time to go back,” Albert said. “We’re going to find Professor Bigglesby and Lucinda and stop them. They won’t get away with this.”
“Which one’s the traitor?” Birdie asked.
“It doesn’t matter,” Albert said. “They both have to be stopped.”
Nobody said a word. The Pegasus herd stood there, staring out at their Realm with sadness in their big, dark eyes.
“I’m sorry,” Albert heard Birdie tell them.
He turned away, a horrible sadness ripping through him as he left the crumbling Realm behind.
His hands lingered on the top of the CoreSword at his hip. It reminded him that this Imbalance wasn’t the only issue. Soon, he would use it to cut the two Master Tiles from the traitor’s cord.
And when it comes to that, Albert thought, I’ll do what I didn’t do here.
I’ll win.
By the time they reached the halfway point in the tunnel, Albert’s boots were soaked through. The stream was tiny, but it did not belong.
“This isn’t good,” Leroy said as he waded through the water behind Albert.
The closer they got to the Core, the deeper the water became. It rose past the soles of their boots, soaking through their socks. Up past their knees, heading toward their waists.
And suddenly, it was an effort to keep moving forward. It was a river, flowing in the darkness.
“What’s it from?” Birdie asked.
Albert was about to answer when a light shone from up ahead, cutting through the darkness like a sword.
And with the light, there were shouts.
Screams.
“It’s coming from the Core!” Hoyt shouted from behind.
They waded through the water as fast as they could, their thighs burning from the effort. Albert stopped cold the second he saw the entrance to the Core. Birdie, Leroy, and Hoyt all slammed up against his back, pressed together like an accordion.
The door to Belltroll was blown from its hinges, and the stream of water that normally stopped at Belltroll’s door poured through like a waterfall, heavy and angry.
But that was nothing compared to the scene on the other side.
The Main Chamber was full of Core creatures, and not the companion kind.
Hexabons swung from the giant copper chandelier, screeching and pounding their six arms against their hairy chests. Core workers were dodging flying poison spit by Hissengores slithering across the floor. Albert could see flashes of Lightning Rays’ electric skin glowing beneath the water, too. Poison Toads burped and flicked their tongues as other Balance Keepers sprinted past.
He hoped his fellow Balance Keepers knew enough to stay out of the creatures’ way. From the looks of it, nobody in the Core knew quite what to do.
&nb
sp; Leroy came up beside Albert. “Dude,” he said. “We screwed up bad.”
As they watched their Professors and Apprentices, Balance Keepers and Core workers fight against an army of angry creatures from every Realm, Albert knew Leroy was right.
There was nothing to do but press on into the fight.
CHAPTER 26
Petra’s Secret
It was a massacre. Albert should have rushed in, but his feet seemed frozen in place.
“How did this happen?” Birdie screamed. There was so much noise her voice hardly broke through it all.
“The Imbalance!” Leroy shouted, water dripping from his face, as he’d just dodged an angry Lightning Ray that should not have been in the Core.
Suddenly there was a flash of dark blue in the water, and Hoyt shouted, “HAMMERFIN!”
It was enough to get Albert moving. They all scrambled to the dry edge of the river as a Hammerfin swam past, its tail thrashing and its hammer-shaped nose ready to bash anything in its path. Suddenly the CoreFish came out of nowhere and slammed into the Hammerfin. A huge wave erupted, soaking Hydra.
Albert turned in circles, dread forming a tight knot in his throat. The door to Calderon wasn’t just open. It had been blasted apart, by fire.
By a creature he’d faced before.
“King Firefly!” Birdie shouted.
Sure enough, two of them came buzzing through the smoldering doorway, shooting fire like giant spitwads as Balance Keepers dashed about trying to avoid the flames. Slink and Mo were in the group, shouting commands to others, trying to help them gain some sort of upper hand. But everything was happening too quickly.
Albert whirled around and saw that the door that led to Ponderay was blasted apart, too, just barely hanging on its hinges.
A Jackalope hopped past, leaping over the stream, its strong back legs using the door to get a higher bounce. What was left of the poor hinges snapped, and the door was swept away into the current, disappearing into the darkness of the tunnel.
“It’s all of them,” Albert said, horrified. “All the doorways are open!”
He looked for Professor Bigglesby or Lucinda in the crowd, but didn’t find them. They were probably hiding somewhere, laughing as the Core tore itself apart.