54
G
eneva and Will sat huddled together on a log, trying to keep each other warm. They stared at the time travel computer, hoping that the bright screen would keep the wild animals away.
“At least they’re safe for now,” Geneva said.
“Until the fire goes out,” Will added, “or until they run out of oxygen.”
“Oh my, I hadn’t thought of that. Okay, back to the code.” She opened the source code window. “I’ve just got to get them out of the cave—any way I can. Frederick has changed the code here, and I’m not sure how to fix it. But maybe there’s another way out. I just don’t want to make things worse.”
“Yeah, whatever you do, don’t put out the fire. Those spiders…”
“I know.”
55
T
he rat spiders formed a circle around Conroe and Crane, whose only protection was the heat of the fire. The carnivorous little beasts seemed to fear it. Or perhaps they were simply waiting until Conroe and Crane were toasted to delicious perfection.
“If we don’t get out of this alive…I’m sorry,” Conroe said.
“I was going to die anyway, if you hadn’t come for me,” Crane replied. “I’m the one who should be apologizing. You risked your life for me. Tonight you would have been crowned Queen of Ampla.”
“If I had never seen you, never watched you and heard you sing your love songs…but once I did, I knew you were the one. I had to have you.”
“You are the most stubborn person I’ve ever met,” he said.
“Mother tells me that every day.”
Crane smiled. “It’s one of the things I love about you. Hey—we never had our honeymoon.”
Conroe leaned in and kissed him.
He put his arms around her. “I can’t believe I just met you a week ago. It seems like I’ve known you for a long, long time.”
“I have a confession.”
“
Another
one?” he asked.
“Yeah. About a year ago, while you were living in that foster home, I came into your bedroom one night.”
“
What?
”
“I have been observing you on the time travel computer at different ages in your life—like when you were four and your parents died—that was so sad, and then when you were in that abusive foster home when you were twelve. Then they sent you back to the orphanage. After that you were in several other foster homes.”
“You’re kidding? You saw all that stuff?”
“Yeah, so I finally just had to see you up close—in person. You were fifteen, I think. I stood over you, watching you sleep, and then—I couldn’t resist—I leaned in and kissed you, and you woke up, so I left.”
“Oh, my gosh…you’re the girl in my song, ‘Dream Girl.’”
“That song was about me?” She grinned.
“Yes. I had this amazing dream, and it felt so real—especially the kiss. And you were my Dream Girl, the perfect girl of my dreams. No wonder I thought I’d seen you somewhere. Why didn’t you tell me this before?”
“I wasn’t sure how you’d react.”
“So you waited until after we were
married?
”
They laughed.
“I love you, baby,” she said.
They kissed as though it would be their last.
Something sizzled.
“What was that?” she asked.
“Something in the fire, I think.”
It happened again. And again.
“It’s water—dripping from the ceiling,” she said, pointing.
“And it keeps dripping faster.”
A small spot on the ceiling became increasingly translucent.
Conroe was perplexed. “What’s happening up there?”
“Looks like it’s…melting.”
“How could that be? The cave is rock.”
“Are you sure?” he asked. “How do we know that? If the ceiling keeps melting, maybe we’ll be able to get out that way.”
The dripping accelerated into a steady flow. The spot on the ceiling grew larger and lighter in color. The stream of water continued to increase in diameter and was beginning to dampen the fire.
“I really think it’s gonna open up for us,” he said. “Maybe Geneva is doing this.”
“Or it could still be Frederick’s programming. Look at the spiders.”
As the fire weakened, the rat spiders inched closer.
“Do you think Frederick’s mother has been helping him?”
“The way Geneva helps me?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Doesn’t somebody have to be sitting at the time travel computer to push some keys and bring you back?”
“Not if you use the auto-return mode. You can set a specific day and time that you want to go back.”
“Oh.”
“But I couldn’t do that since I wasn’t sure exactly when I would want to go back—especially for the times I was bringing you with me.”
“Oh, right.” He looked up. “We may soon have an escape route if we can figure out a way to reach it before…the spiders get to us.”
“This does sound like Frederick’s handiwork.”
A chunk of ice fell out of the large white spot on the ceiling, and water began to gush into the fire hole and all over the floor. The spiders ran away from the water, climbing up the walls to escape the flood.
“They’re afraid of the water,” Crane said. “I’ll bet they can’t swim with those big fat bodies and those skinny legs. Do you know how to dog paddle?”
“Yes. But I’m not sure how long I can do it. I guess our only hope is that if the water rises fast enough and we can stay afloat, we’ll eventually reach the opening.”
The fire went out as the water roared down from the opening in the ceiling. They stepped back. Soon they were waist deep in water.
When the water level reached Conroe’s chin, they both began to dog paddle.
The rat spiders climbed farther up the walls, and some of them began to lose their grip and fall into the water.
Crane had been correct about the spiders not being good swimmers. But he quickly realized that they
were
good
floaters
. Their skinny little legs must have been working like crazy under water, as they slowly moved toward Conroe and Crane.
One of them got within three feet of Crane and he splashed water at it, which pushed it back a couple of feet. It continued its trajectory toward him.
Conroe swatted and kicked at three of the little devils.
More and more spiders dropped into the rising water, until Conroe and Crane were surrounded by them.
Crane motioned for Conroe to move closer to the gushing water. If they got too close, it might pull them under, but at just the right proximity, perhaps it would keep the spiders away. It would at least restrict them to one side.
Conroe seemed to understand what Crane was thinking. She moved in closer to the four-foot shaft of water.
Together, they fended off their attackers with the thundering torrent of water at their backs.
Crane pointed up and smiled. They were within five feet of the ceiling.
Conroe nodded. Then she disappeared.
Had she made it out? Had Geneva been able to rescue her? Crane wondered if he too would transport out at any moment. Then he realized that Conroe had not vanished—she had gone down! She had apparently gotten too close to the powerful stream and been sucked under. He paddled in closer and held his breath, and then he was pulled under.
The water burned his eyes as he searched for Conroe. He spotted her near the floor, flailing about, as though she had lost her bearings and didn’t know which way was up. Crane’s lungs began to tighten. He would need to get to the surface soon, and he was afraid Conroe might already be swallowing water. He swam down to her, wrapped his arm around her waist, sank to the floor, and then pushed off with all his might, sending them up like a jet.
When they reached the top, they both gasped for breath. Their heads were nearly touching the ceiling. Spiders surrounded their heads, ready to attack. The water continued to roar. There was no way out.
He motioned for her to take a deep breath and go under.
They did it together.
Crane didn’t have a plan. All he had left was hope—hope that something miraculous would happen. But it had better happen soon, or they were going to be out of breath and out of luck.
Conroe put her arms around him.
They looked into each other’s eyes through the dirty water. Their love would go on forever.
Crane’s chest burned. He knew that once he gasped for breath and sucked in water, he was a goner. He would force himself to hold on. He couldn’t give up before Conroe did. He couldn’t bear to let her down. He felt as though his eyes were about to burst. For the first time, he saw desperation in Conroe’s eyes. He would have given his life to save hers—but that wasn’t an option. They would both die today.
A loud rumble and vibration was followed by an enormous cracking sound. The top blew off the cave, and Conroe and Crane were spewed out like volcanic lava, sliding and twisting and rolling down the exterior of the cave…into blinding light.
56
“
C
onroe?”
“Crane, I’m here.”
“Where are we? I can’t see anything but white. Is this Heaven?”
“No. I think we made it out,” she said.
“Wait—my eyes are adjusting. Now I’m starting to see something.”
“What do you see?”
“It’s…,” he smiled, “my beautiful wife.”
She leaned in and kissed him.
“My ‘Dream Girl,’” he said.
“My dream
boy
.” She kissed him again.
“I wonder what time it is,” he pondered.
They heard horses approaching.
“They made it!” Geneva yelled from her horse, laughing in delight.
“Well done, Geneva,” Will said from atop his horse.
“You are
amazing
, girl!” Conroe jumped to her feet.
Geneva dismounted, ran to Conroe, and hugged her. “I was so worried about you.”
“And me too, right?” Crane teased.
“Oh, sure, Crane,” Geneva replied. “You too, of course.”
“It’s nearly four o’clock,” Will said.
“How did it get so late?” Conroe asked. “We left at around two a.m., and we couldn’t have been gone for two or three hours.”
Crane agreed.
“When Frederick reprogrammed his time travel computer, he added in some kind of time shifting algorithm,” Geneva explained, “and I wasn’t sure how to fix it.”
“
Algorithm?
” Conroe asked.
“It’s computer talk,” Will said. “Just take her word for it.”
“It seemed like Frederick intended to trap you inside the computer—until his battery ran out,” Geneva asserted.
“But Geneva reprogrammed his code to give you a way out of the cave,” Will revealed.
“It took me forever to figure it out,” Geneva said.
“But you did it,” Conroe boasted. “I’m so proud of you.”
“Thanks,” Geneva replied. “Now you need to get back to the castle and get ready for your coronation.”
“Oh my!” Conroe exclaimed. “What about Mother and Daddy? They must be worried sick.”
“Yes, they are,” confirmed Geneva, “but Will rode in and talked to them first thing this morning and explained what was going on.”
“I told them that everything was going to work out fine and that you would definitely be home in plenty of time for the ceremony tonight,” Will said. “I’m sure glad I turned out to be right.”
“Me too,” Crane agreed, laughing.
“Let’s go,” said Conroe.
57
C
onroe and Crane ran into the castle and up the stairs to the second floor.
Wally stood at the top of the stairs. As they flew past him, he said, “Oh, thank God, you made it. Are you okay? You two look like you’ve been rolling around in the mud.”
“We’re fine, Daddy,” replied Conroe, without slowing down. “Love you. See you at the church.”
They ran into her bedroom and shut the door.
“I’ll bathe first,” she suggested, “since I need to get over to the church early.” She opened the linen closet and pulled out a sheet. “Drape this over the chair to protect it so you can sit down while you wait. You’ll wear your tux from last night.”
“Was that just last night that we got married?” he asked. “Seems like a week ago.”
“Yeah, I know.” Conroe opened a drawer and took out some undergarments. “We’ve been through a lot since then, honey.” She gave him a quick kiss and zipped into the bathroom.
He spread the sheet over the chair and sat down.
After a few minutes, there was a knock at the door and Geneva walked in carrying her dress and shoes. She stopped when she saw Crane sitting in the chair. “Oh. I guess I’m going to have to stop barging in like that. Sorry, Crane.”
He smiled. “Thanks again, Geneva, for all you did.”
“You’re welcome. And thank
you
for what
you
did. If you hadn’t knocked Frederick out and then let me send you to the past, knowing full well how dangerous it was, I don’t know what would have happened to Conroe. She’s my dearest friend. I don’t know what I would do without her.”
“Remind me to hug you after I get cleaned up,” he said.
She smiled.
“What about you and Will?” Crane asked. “I got the feeling that something was going on between you two.”
Geneva smiled bashfully. “I think so. I
hope
so.”
“You two make a great-looking couple.”
“Thanks,” she said. “We’ll see where it goes.”
Conroe burst out of the bathroom. “Okay, Crane, your turn.”
Crane covered his eyes. “You know you’re half naked, right?”
“Honey, we’re
married
,” Conroe replied.
“Yeah, but…Geneva’s here, so it’s kind of weird,” he said. “Plus, I’ve never seen you naked before.”
“Sorry.” She slipped into her bra. “You can open your eyes now. And let me get you a fresh pair of underwear and socks.” She opened a drawer full of men’s underwear. “Here you go.”
“Where did you get all of that?” he asked.
“I picked them up for you yesterday with the tux and the shoes,” Geneva answered.
“Thanks.” He started toward the bathroom.
“Oh, wait,” Conroe said. “One more thing.” She opened a jewelry box and took out a diamond-encrusted gold cross on a chain. “This necklace belonged to the king—my grandfather. It was passed on to him by his father, Harry. I want you to have it, Crane.”
He held it in his hands. “Wow, this is beautiful.”
“I’d like you to wear it tonight,” Conroe said. “You know—under your shirt.”
“But why wear it if nobody can see it?” he asked.
“
I’ll
know it’s there,” she replied. “Just do it for me.”
“I’ll be honored to wear it, sweetie. Will I be up at the altar with you during the ceremony?”
“No, you’ll be sitting in the front pew, and then I will call you up to stand with me at the end of the ceremony.”
“This is all so amazing,” Crane said.
“I know. Now go take your bath—you’re smelling up the place.” She grinned.
“Yes, I guess I am.” He laid the necklace on top of the dresser and went into the bathroom.
Conroe turned to Geneva. “Could you help me with my hair?”
“Of course,” Geneva replied.
Conroe sat down at the dresser, and Geneva stood behind her, brushing her hair.
“So,” Conroe began, “it sounds like Will was a big help to you and Crane last night.”
Her eyes lit up. “He was wonderful. He went to the OutCastle with us, and he and I nearly got caught by Opal. Then we barely escaped from the dogs.”
“You had quite an adventure of your own,” Conroe said.
“Yes, and then we spent all night and half the day at the big tree stump.”
“That’s where you took Frederick’s time travel computer and reprogrammed it?”
“Yes. And Will gave me great moral support—
and
he kept me
warm
.” She grinned. “He’s going to sit with me at the ceremony.”
“Oh, Geneva, I’m so happy for you.”