The Pillars of Ponderay

  Then the pillars started spinning. It started soft and gentle, like yesterday’s slightly demented merry-go-round, but in seconds, they increased to breakneck speeds. Albert felt like he was on the top of a race car spinning out of control. He crouched low, just like he’d done yesterday, and pictured the Balance symbol in his mind.

  Don’t fall, he told himself. If you fall in the Realm, you won’t get a second chance.

  “Albert!” Birdie screamed from below.

  “Yeah!” Albert screamed back, excited she was cheering him on. But then she screamed again, and he realized her voice wasn’t excited at all.

  She was warning him.

  Albert looked around. There was Hoyt, a few pillars away, mirroring Albert in a crouch position. Hoyt grabbed a Tile for himself. And then Mo, right after, gaining Argon another point. Leroy was nowhere to be seen, probably lost in the mess of pillars.

  A flash of color appeared in the water below, something thrashing back and forth. “What in the heck is that?” Albert had time to say.

  Then something big and blue leaped out at him, soaring through the air so fast that Albert didn’t have a chance to move.

  “HAMMERFIN!” Hoyt shouted.

  The shark was enormous, twice the size of the ones Albert had seen before in aquariums, and had a head shaped like a giant hammer. The Hammerfin smashed into Albert’s pillar just as Albert leaped.

  As he fell, he heard the shattering impact. BOOM!

  Albert splashed into the water and came up sputtering for air. Where the pillar had been was only empty space. Or maybe not . . .

  The pillar began to reform, rising out of the waves like a stretching hand.

  “In Balance, the Hammerfins regularly destroy pillars in Ponderay as a way to keep the ecosystem in check. But out of Balance, they’ll apparently try to destroy you, too,” Tussy said. Albert glanced at Tussy and realized she was probably speaking from experience.

  Something grabbed onto Albert’s shoulders and spun him around. He screamed, expecting to see the open jaws of a Hammerfin. But it was only Birdie.

  “Are you okay?” she asked.

  Albert shook water from his eyes. “Just a little shocked is all. Sharks, Birdie. There are sharks in the Pit.”

  “We should get out of the water.” Birdie nodded. “There’s also other things. Like giant stingray things.” She lifted up a swollen, red hand. “It shocked me like a jellyfish. I can’t feel a thing.”

  “I think that’s what got my ankle earlier,” Albert said. He could still feel a little bit of numbness there. “I’ve got to move. Climb with me?”

  “Let’s go!” Birdie said, and together they swam, reaching the spinning pillars side by side. It took some work, swimming as fast as they could to grab hold of a pillar, but finally Albert and Birdie made contact with one.

  They started climbing just as Leroy crashed into the water beside them. He was wrestling with one of the giant sharks. It snapped and gnashed its jaws, and for a moment, Albert was terrified for his friend’s life.

  “Leroy! You’re insane!” Birdie shouted.

  But Albert thought it was awesome.

  Higher and higher he climbed. The wind whipped Albert in the face, making his eyes burn and his cheeks feel numb. Birdie fell, careening into the water. Overhead, Professor Flynn was shouting Albert’s name, cheering him on. He was exhausted, and freezing cold, and there were so many things going on that it was hard to focus on any Tile symbols.

  He reached the top of his pillar and grabbed a Tile, then put all the strength he had into hauling himself on top. The bell clanged, signaling another point. But then there were two more right after, for Argon.

  How are they doing so well? Albert wondered, just as Hoyt grabbed the sixth Tile for Argon. Which could only mean one thing. Tussy blew her whistle, and Albert knew they’d lost.

  “No way,” Albert groaned.

  The pillars slowed to a stop, and Tussy announced Argon as the winner of Round One.

  Albert climbed down from his pillar and joined Birdie and Leroy in the waves. They were both out of breath and looking just as dejected as Albert felt. Across the Pit, Hoyt and his teammates were busy celebrating. It made Albert’s heart clench and his stomach feel like it was twisted with thorns. How could Hydra lose like this, twice in two days?

  “Round Two is similar to Round One,” Tussy said into the MegaHorn. “But instead of collecting Tiles, you’ll be putting them back into the slots.”

  “Why’d we take them out in the first place then?” Hoyt shouted. “Seems like a waste of time to take them out just to put them back in.”

  Tussy gave him a look that could kill, but if he was being honest, Albert was wondering the same thing. Hoyt might be happy to have won the first round, but he looked as tired as Albert felt, and if Albert could be done now, he’d much prefer that.

  “Because, Mr. Jackson,” Tussy shot back, “while we don’t yet know the system behind the Tiles in the Ten Pillars, we’re assuming that each Tile belongs to only one Pillar, and that somehow the Tiles have been switched around—that that’s what’s causing the Imbalance.”

  Albert could only think of one explanation for that. The traitor had to have switched the Tiles around by hand. Who was it? And how did they get inside the Realm undetected?

  “Seems like a lot of effort based on a guess,” Hoyt mumbled under his breath.

  “Do you have any better ideas for what might be causing the Imbalance, Mr. Jackson?” If it was possible for Tussy to look meaner than she already did, she has managed it in this moment. It seemed to scare Hoyt enough. He just shook his head.

  “Good.” Tussy continued. “For Round Two, you’ll each have five Tiles.”

  She tossed two black bags into the Pit—one to Hydra, and one to Argon on the opposite side. Albert waded forward in the water and grabbed the bag before it sank. Inside were five large blue rectangular Tiles. Albert saw, across the Pit, that Argon’s Tiles were orange.

  “The first team to get all five of their Tiles into the slots will win,” Tussy said. “Move fast, work as a team, and don’t forget to watch your backs. You never know when the creatures will attack!”

  She blew her whistle, and the Pit sprang to life. Argon reacted instantly, the three teammates separating in the waves.

  Birdie grabbed four Tiles from the bag. “We should climb pillars and plug in these Tiles, one right after the other.”

  “Sounds good to me.” Leroy nodded.

  “Let’s move!” Albert tucked two Tiles into his waistband. Birdie took one, Leroy took the last one, and Hydra dove into the waves.

  With a little help from the Water symbol, Albert made it to a pillar in record time. He grabbed ahold of the slippery side and started to climb. In just a few minutes, he reached the top. He got onto his knees, struggling to combat the wind, but a quick thought of the Balance symbol and he was able to stay upright.

  He plugged his Tile into the slot, and the bell went CLANG!

  Seconds after, it clanged again. Albert saw Mo leap back into the waves.

  “One point for Hydra and one point for Argon!” Tussy shouted into the MegaHorn. “The competition is neck and neck!”

  Suddenly, the pillars began to spin faster. How is this even possible? Albert thought. He squatted on his pillar, clutching the sides for dear life.

  All around him, Balance Keepers were toppling overboard and crashing into the waves below.

  Except for Hoyt. He was racing across the tops of the pillars, using his Speed Tile—he ran and leaped just as fast as they spun. When he made it to a Tile-less pillar, he plugged in a Tile. The bell clanged.

  Albert felt a fire ignite inside of him. “Two can play at this game!”

  He focused on the Speed symbol. There was the familiar buzzing in his legs. Albert stood, took a deep breath, and leaped.

  He landed on the next pillar. There was already a Tile plugged into this one.

  “Go, Albert!” Petra shouted from the stands, and
Farnsworth barked along with him.

  A Hammerfin shot out of the water, nearly crashing into Albert, but he was quick. He leaped to another pillar, then glanced back to confirm his suspicion. The Hammerfin had destroyed the pillar he’d just left. It crumbled into the water below, only to immediately rise up again, Tile still in place. But there was no time to waste. He cleared his thoughts and leaped again.

  His mind was silent. He was all body, moving in a blur as fast as Hoyt was.

  Finally Albert landed on an empty pillar. He plugged his second Tile into the slot and whooped as the bell clanged.

  “Two points for Hydra!” Tussy shouted.

  The bell kept clanging as Balance Keepers plugged Tiles into slots. Birdie got one, and Mo right after her. Hoyt got another, and the score was 4–3, in Argon’s favor.

  If I can get to Leroy or Birdie and get another Tile, I can speed this up, Albert thought. He saw Leroy on a pillar across the Pit, and aimed for him, leaping and leaping across the spinning circle.

  Just when Albert felt like he couldn’t go any longer, something smacked into him in midair.

  “I don’t think so, Flynn!” Hoyt shouted.

  They were balanced together on top of a pillar. Albert pushed, and Hoyt shoved, both of them trying to knock the other overboard.

  “Look out!” Mo shouted.

  Neither Albert nor Hoyt had time to react. A Hammerfin smashed into them from above.

  Albert felt an explosion of pain in his skull, and his ears were clanging like a bell. He saw his dad’s face in the crowd before he crashed into the cold water, Hoyt landing on top of him.

  Water filled his lungs.

  Everything started to go black, when an image popped into Albert’s mind. He clung to it: a water droplet, just like Birdie’s Tile.

  In seconds, Albert felt better. He didn’t need air, not while his Master Tile was harnessing this power. From here, he could see Hoyt sinking to the bottom of the Pit.

  Had the Hammerfin knocked him out?

  I could go back up now and win this, Albert thought.

  But something tugged at his mind. It was a voice that reminded him of his mother’s, telling Albert to do the right thing no matter what. With the image of the Water Tile still in his head, Albert swam down and wrapped his arms around Hoyt’s torso.

  Once he had a good grip, Albert kicked hard on the ground, and shot out of the water, carting Hoyt and himself upward.

  Noise erupted into his ears the second Albert surfaced.

  He pumped his legs, trying to keep himself and an unconscious Hoyt afloat. Albert was so tired he couldn’t even find his voice to shout for help, but it turned out he didn’t need to try for long.

  The bell went CLANG! Albert heard Tussy’s voice in the MegaHorn.

  “Argon wins this round!”

  “YEAH!” Slink and Mo shouted from across the Pit.

  The pillars sank into the floor. The water receded into holes in the ground. When it was gone, the creatures were nowhere to be seen. There was just the soft, springy ground that Albert set Hoyt down on. The orange platforms appeared, ready to hoist the Balance Keepers out of the Pit.

  “Guys, over here!” Albert called to Argon. Hoyt was just coming to, and he didn’t look happy to see Albert.

  “Wh-what happened?” Hoyt groaned.

  “You were knocked out by a Hammerfin,” Albert told him. “You’ll be okay.”

  It was only then that Slink and Mo noticed their teammate. They ran over and helped load Hoyt onto the orange platform.

  Birdie and Leroy joined Albert on their own platform. As it started to rise, Albert looked into the crowd. Professor Flynn stood up to leave, and the two of them locked eyes. Professor Flynn nodded once. There was pride in his eyes for what his son had done. Albert nodded back, and Professor Flynn disappeared into the crowd.

  Albert turned to his teammates. “I’m sorry, guys. We would have won if I hadn’t dove down for Hoyt.”

  Leroy clapped him on the back. “You made the right choice, dude.”

  Birdie nodded. “I’m not so sure he would’ve done the same for you, Albert. What you did was really something.”

  Their platform reached the top, and Hydra stepped off.

  “We should go to the Library and win some rounds of Tiles,” Leroy said as he wrung out his baseball cap. “That will cheer us all up.”

  Slink and Mo helped carry Hoyt away. Tussy went with them, and the crowd followed. Even almost conscious, Hoyt was the celebrity of the Pit. Albert half wondered if the guy was faking it. Still, Albert had to admit to himself that jerk or not, Hoyt was solid competition this term.

  He had started to follow his friends out of the Pit when a hand closed over his shoulder, pulling him to a stop.

  He whirled around, eyes wide. It was Trey. Albert thought he’d left with Professor Flynn.

  “A quick word, Albert?” Trey raised a brow.

  “Uh, sure.” Albert motioned for his friends to go on without him. Birdie didn’t look like she wanted to leave, but Leroy whined about playing Tiles and pulled her along.

  Albert turned back to Trey.

  Trey rubbed his chin, a strange look in his dark eyes. Almost like he was in pain. And wow, he looked exhausted. He pulled Albert deeper into the shadows of the Pit room. “I shouldn’t be doing this. Your father would have to fire me as an Apprentice if he knew, but technically, since I’m no longer training you . . .”

  Albert was dying to know what Trey was so worked up about. Maybe he would explain what was going on with him lately, why he seemed so frazzled.

  Trey sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I overhead Tussy talking during lunch the other day. She said Professor Asante is pretty much assuming at this point that Argon will become Ponderay First Unit.”

  Argon was already way ahead, with twenty-three points to Hydra’s sixteen. It wasn’t looking good.

  “So you’re saying me and my team have to up our game if we stand a chance of regaining Asante’s confidence,” Albert whispered.

  Trey nodded. “You’ve now got less than six days to pull ahead.”

  Albert gulped. “We’re doing our best.”

  “Try harder,” Trey said. He turned to leave, but seemed to think better of it, and stopped. “A hint, Albert, if you want to get ahead? Professor Asante’s study is often empty at night. The key isn’t hard to find, if one looks high enough.”

  With that, Trey turned on his heel and marched away, carrying with him the scent of something strangely familiar, spicy and sweet all at once. But Albert was too curious about what Trey had said to take much notice.

  CHAPTER 11

  The Happiest Place on Earth

  After lunch, Albert, Birdie, and Leroy went down to the hospital wing to check on Hoyt.

  “I don’t see why we’re wasting our time,” Birdie grumbled as they signed their names on the check-in sheet for visitors. “He’s not going to say thanks to you or anything, Albert.”

  Albert laughed. “I wasn’t expecting that. And besides, I might have been hoping to catch a glimpse of the news on the surface while we’re down here.”

  “Oh, that makes sense,” Leroy said. He scribbled his name onto the sheet. “I was wondering if you’d gotten a concussion, too.”

  They all laughed, but with a glare from the cyclops nurse, Albert and his friends quieted down.

  The hospital was emptier than it had been last term. Albert guessed the Pures training for other Realms weren’t being worked as hard as they were for Ponderay. The Pit was always dangerous, and Albert was thankful that he hadn’t yet ended up in one of these beds.

  One girl on the left was having her arm stitched up. A boy to her right held an ice pack to his face. He smiled and waved as Albert and his friends passed.

  The very last bed on the right was occupied, and the curtains were drawn.

  “That must be him,” Birdie whispered.

  Albert peeked around the curtains. Sure enough, Hoyt was inside, sound asleep. H
e was surrounded by piles of plush white pillows, and there was a get-well-soon balloon beside his bed. He looks all right, Albert thought. Hoyt suddenly opened his eyes and sat up. Albert ducked away just in time.

  “Nurse!” Hoyt shouted from behind the curtains. “I need another blanket! And bring me something to eat!”

  The cyclops nurse rushed past Albert and his friends, grumbling about Hoyt being perfectly fine.

  “He’s totally milking it,” Birdie said.

  “Milking what?” Leroy asked.

  “It’s an expression, Leroy,” Birdie said, and the two of them began to banter.

  Albert tuned them out. His attention was on the tiny, old-fashioned television in the corner of the room. He motioned for his friends to follow, and they all sat down in front of the TV.

  Leroy positioned the bunny-ear antennas and started it up. He flicked through channel after channel, trying to find something besides black-and-white fuzz. Albert remembered being in here last term, when Birdie had been injured in the Pit. The three of them had settled down in front of this very screen to watch piles of ash cover up New York City.

  Today, Albert’s stomach filled with lead as the screen flickered to life, and the news report on California began.

  There was a woman on screen, huddled beneath an umbrella that had seen better days. It was upturned so the wires stuck out all over the place like a dead bug’s legs.

  “Turn it up,” Albert said, and Leroy cranked the dial so they could hear the woman’s voice.

  “I’m standing an hour from the coast in Los Angeles, in front of the entrance to Disneyland,” the woman shouted into a soaking wet microphone. “What is normally the happiest place on earth is now a ghost town. Vacationers have fled the park in fear of the oncoming hurricane.”

  “Hurricane?” Albert said. “My dad was right. It’s getting worse by the second.”

  “Maybe you should try and call your mom,” Birdie suggested.

  The screen showed a glimpse of Disneyland. The rides were shut down, and the main street with all the shops was closed. The cobblestones were covered in at least six inches of water. It ran like a river down the middle of the road.