Atherton #3: The Dark Planet (No. 3) (17 page)

the green team. "But don't get used to it. He'll be leaving along

with Vasher in... what is it, Socket? Four days?"

"Four days! Four more days and you're both shipping out. And

we'll get double our reward! Ha!"

Aggie and all the other members of her team were looking at

Edgar slack-jawed, as if they'd never seen a boy before in all

their lives. Edgar didn't look like a person born on a dying,

poisonous planet. They were completely captivated.

By nightfall they would find Edgar even more interesting than

he looked.

CHAPTER 14THE WAY OF THE

YARDS

"I can't believe we're doing this," whispered Isabel. It was very

early in the morning and the crisp, clear light of a new day was

just underway. Dr. Kincaid and Vincent were back at the edge

of Atherton searching for any sign of Edgar, which left the cave

empty when Samuel and Isabel entered.

"We're only going to take a quick look around," said Samuel.

"We don't have to go any farther than that if you don't want to."

But Isabel knew better. Samuel had packed enough food and

water to last for days. He was planning on a big adventure

whether Isabel went along or not.

"Come on," said Samuel. "Don't you want to see if the lock will

open? It's all we've talked about."

Isabel wasn't so sure. "Are you positive it leads away from the

Inferno?"

"Positive," Samuel assured her.

Isabel nodded, more enthusiastic than ever, and the two went

deeper into Dr. Kincaid's cave. The small bag at her side

containing her sling and dried figs made Isabel feel more

confident.

When they reached the back of the cave they found Dr.

Harding's bed. Edgar had woken up right there after falling into

the Flatlands, back in the days when Atherton still had cliffs. It

was the place they had laid Isabel when they'd escaped the

inside of Atherton before. She remembered waking there, the

way her head had felt like it was half filled with sloshing water.

But mostly she remembered how she'd stood at the edge of the

newly formed lake for the first time and felt her heart breaking.

"The last time I did this every thing changed," said Isabel.

"There was a village--
my
village--and the grove. When I came

out, the places I loved were all gone."

"You don't want to come back and find things changed a

second time, is that it?" asked Samuel.

That wasn't exactly right, but it was close. Isabel looked over

her shoulder at the growing light of morning seeping into the

cave.

"I
am
curious to see what we'll find inside. But I worry I'll come

out and find the new grove has been overrun by monsters or the

whole place flooded and destroyed. I think about things like that

all the time."

"Back then there were also dangerous cliffs and Cleaners

crawling every where," Samuel pointed out, walking past the

bed and reaching down toward the round yellow door that was

hidden on the floor of the cave. "You had almost no food or

water and Mr. Ratikan to deal with every day. But those things

are changed for the better now. My entire world is gone. The

Highlands are under water and I'll never see them again. There

was a lot I liked about that place, but I like the new Atherton a

lot better and I don't think it's going to change again. I think this

is the world we're going to live in from now on."

Isabel thought of Edgar and let herself imagine that he was

doing fine and that he would soon return in one piece. Her mind

began to fill with the pending adventure and she knelt down

next to the door.

"Let's get on with it," she said. "They could be back anytime and

we don't want to be caught opening this thing. Can you imagine

what they'd say if they saw us?"

Samuel's throat tightened at the thought of missing this chance

and he went straight and fast at the dials on the yellow door.

Eight of them were embedded in the center so that he could

only see half of each spinning dial. There were mil ions of

combinations, but he had the one that would open it memorized

from the wooden tablet.

T-H-E-Y-A-R-D-S

He entered the letters, each of them clicking into place on its

dial, and heard the hissing sound of the round door releasing.

Samuel took the handle in his hand and pulled.

He and Isabel drew in a sharp breath. The yellow door was

open and the inside of Atherton lay in wait. A source of light

was pulsing softly far below.

"It's a long ladder," said Samuel, his voice shaking with

excitement. "
Really
long."

"You didn't mention that before," said Isabel. She was starting

to wonder whether Samuel was cut out to lead their adventure.

"Vincent carried you on his back when we came out. You were

--"

"I was almost dead, I know," said Isabel.

Samuel took out the tablet. In the dim light of the cave he had to

hold it just right to read it.

"You see this here?" he said, reading four words next to the

etched map. "There will be light."

"So we won't need any," said Isabel. "Like we talked about."

The two had agreed that carrying a lamp or fuel to burn would

be difficult, and it appeared now they wouldn't need it. Samuel

just wanted to make sure Isabel still agreed.

"Then it's settled," he said, putting the tablet back into the pack.

"We'll go down and see for ourselves. If things turn dark we'll

come back."

Isabel got down close to the hole and took the first rung of the

ladder in her hands. She had a pack of her own and it was

awkward creeping over the edge, but she managed it and

began climbing down. Samuel followed, grabbing the inside

handle of the yellow door and pulling it down over them.

"What are you doing?" said Isabel, looking up and seeing

Samuel's feet along with the bottom of the door about to be shut

over them.

Samuel tried to hold the door upright, but it was heavy and from

where he stood, he could only hold on with one hand.

"We don't want them to find it open," said Samuel, struggling to

hold the round door. "And we have the combination now--we

can open it back up whenever we want."

"You don't know that!" cried Isabel. "Don't let it go! Push it

back!"

But it was too late. What little strength Samuel had gave out.

The door crashed down toward him as he ducked out of the

way and held on with both hands.

There was a crushing echo down the long hole as the two

listened carefully for sounds from below. What if they'd

disturbed the Nubian, or something worse?

"I don't suppose we could make our arrival any more obvious,"

said Isabel.

"It's heavier than it looks!"

"Can you see the dials?"

"I can. I'll unlock it so we know we can get out."

Isabel listened carefully, because she thought she'd heard

something familiar. It was very faint at first, but as she listened

to the clicking of the dials she heard something else growing

louder. Samuel heard it, too.

"I know that sound," said Samuel, stopping on the Y of T-H-E-YA-R-D-S and looking down toward Isabel. They both heard a

distant shriek booming through the inside of Atherton.

"The Nubian," said Isabel. "They know we're here."

Samuel turned quickly to the dials and went on through A and

the R and then D. He knew the flying beasts with black talons

and razor-sharp beaks couldn't reach him all the way up where

he stood on the ladder, but just knowing they were inside

terrified him.

"Last letter," said Samuel, clicking in the S and pushing on the

door. There was no hissing sound of opening and no clicking of

some locking mechanism letting go. Samuel pushed with all his

might.

"Get on with it, Samuel," said Isabel. "My arms are getting tired."

The sound of the Nubian grew nearer as Samuel uttered the

exact words Isabel did not want to hear.

"The yellow door won't open."

It didn't take Samuel and Isabel long to figure out that staying

where they were would do them no good. They would only

grow more tired with the weight of the packs. And the longer

they waited the greater the chances of falling as their arms grew

tired. There had been arguments about whose idea it had been

in the first place and why they hadn't told Dr. Kincaid and

Vincent, but in the end Samuel and Isabel resigned themselves

to the truth: They were stuck inside Atherton and needed to find

another way out, if such a way even existed.

They climbed down the hundred and twenty-seven rungs on the

ladder and found themselves standing on firm ground. A wide

tunnel ran off in two directions.

"Let's look at the tablet," said Isabel, listening for the Nubian. As

Samuel removed the tablet, Isabel pointed to the wider of the

two ends of the tunnel, where she was certain the horrible

sound of flying beasts was coming from.

"We're not going that way, I don't care what that map says."

The light at the bottom of the ladder was very much like the light

Edgar had encountered as he'd made his way toward the

Raven. It was a soft light, orange and yellow, and somehow

every where and nowhere all at once. They saw it radiating

through cracks and chasms in the ceiling, the walls, and the

floor, but they couldn't see its source.

"It's that way," said Samuel. He glanced down the corridor,

away from the threatening sounds. This would have pleased

them both if not for the fact that the way Samuel had pointed to

was also the darker of the two. The sound of the Nubian began

to trail off, like they'd turned a wide circle and were flying away.

"They're probably farther away than they seem," said Isabel.

"Sound really carries in here."

She glanced down the darker corridor and wondered what to

do. "Let's walk a little way and see where it leads." Isabel could

be quite brave in circumstances like these, where their choices

were few and the stakes were high.

Samuel followed behind her and they passed through a series

of wide chambers lit from deep gaps in the ceiling and walls.

After a hundred or more steps, Samuel began to wonder if they

should turn back.

"Isabel," he began, "I don't know where this leads, other than

the words at the end--
the chill of winter
--and that doesn't sound

like a way out." Samuel felt awful. He'd been so excited for the

adventure, and already it had turned deadly and frightening.

"I know," Isabel said, unsure of how to proceed.

"Maybe it's time we broke this thing open, as you suggested.

What if there's something inside that could help get us out of

here?"

Isabel took the tablet from Samuel and held it near weak light

emitting from a crack in one wall. She thought she could see the

ladder they had come down as she looked at the map. What

she saw stunned her.

"If that's the ladder, then this is a lot farther than I thought."

Isabel pointed to the obvious destination, where those words

sat cold and alone inside an etched circle--
the chill of winter.

"That's days away from here," said Isabel, looking at Samuel

with pleading eyes.

"Then it's a good thing we brought some Black and Green and

water," said Samuel, trying to be enthusiastic. "We're going to

need it."

"And you're right about something else. This map doesn't look

like a way out. All I can see for sure is that it leads far away from

where we came in."

"The yellow door," said Samuel. He thought about it a moment,

feeling a glimmer of hope as he imagined Vincent opening the

door and coming in after them. But the moment passed as he

remembered what he'd written on a note he'd left for Dr.

Kincaid.

"Why did I say we were going to the other side of the lake to

search for Edgar? Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!"

"Quiet, Samuel!" Isabel whispered. "Who knows what you'll

wake down here?"

"But they'll be searching for us along the edge--
up there
--and

no one is going to imagine what we've done."

Isabel spied a long edge of sharp rock with light creeping out

from somewhere below. She walked over, half angry and half

curious, and bashed the edge of the tablet against the rocks.

The tablet slid open.

"I hope we didn't break something," Samuel said as he came

over to her.

Isabel slid the two sides apart and drew in a breath. The

moment she set eyes on the firebugs trapped within their case

of clear glass she threw the tablets down and backed away.

"Get away from them!" yelled Isabel. Samuel was carefully

picking up the tablets, and something more.

"They'll kill you, Samuel! Don't touch them!"

But as far as Isabel could tell it was already too late. It appeared

as if Samuel had picked up the firebugs and had trained a

cluster of them to dance in his hand.

"They're trapped," said Samuel. "See?" He held the etching

instrument out toward Isabel and she jumped back.

Samuel couldn't help laughing just a little at the strange object