Juniper Berry (13 page)

He looked at her with warmth, with admiration. His eyes calmed, but when he spoke, it was with urgency. “We can't let anyone ever come down here again, can we?” he said. “Not ever. We have to make sure we're the last.” He looked back to the stairway. “We have to end this.”

Juniper knew what he was thinking, and it made her want to hug him and never let go. “I won't be far behind,” she said. “A minute. That's all.”

“What if you need me?”

“You have to get started. We're near the end now.” She put her shoulder against the carved door and pushed. Giles called out to her, but she pulled the balloons gently through the opening and walked inside.

The moment she stepped into the room, thousands of sparks flew past her, into the hall and toward the noises of the beasts.

At the table, dressed in the same suit with his hat still sitting and randomly jumping beneath the table on the floor, Theodore looked up from his work. “Juniper. What's going on?” He saw the balloons filling the room in two big bursts. “Are those . . . ? Did you . . . ?”

Juniper nodded.

“No, no, no. This is foolish. You must get to safety.”

“I've come for you.”

But Theodore didn't budge. He pointed to the shackles. “These chains will not break, whatever you do.” He gave them a sharp tug as if to prove the point. “Did you find a use for that balloon I gave you?”

Again, Juniper nodded.

“You are a brave girl indeed. The world needs people like you. That is why you must leave. Now.”

“There has to be a way to get you free.”

“These chains open for no key. They were created by dark hands, by something we couldn't possibly understand. Perhaps one day a smart girl like yourself will figure it out. But, I assure you, I cannot be saved today.”

“But—”

“No. Juniper. He'll find you. They'll find you. You must run. You must escape now.”

“Theodore, I—”

“Now!”

Just then the door swung open, and in the frame stood a hobbled Skeksyl. His body was even more grotesque now, his skin riddled with boils and lumps. “My balloons!” he screamed.

Juniper backed toward the tree, terrified to the core. The balloons knocked precariously against the branches, making their sad music. If he came at her, they might tangle around the tree limbs, they might pop.

“You could have gotten away like your weak friend. The one who pathetically abandoned you. But you had to come back. And for what? Him?” He pointed a blistered finger at Theodore. “You are playing with destinies far greater than your own, girl. Now give me my balloons.” He reached out for her, to finish her, and that was when Theodore reached for his hat.

From beneath it came dozens of flying sparks. They shot across the room and toward the tree in an arc of light. In unison, they latched on to Skeksyl's leg. He let out a nightmarish wail as his flesh burned. The room filled with smoke and stink as he smashed whatever sparks he could.

“Go!” Theodore called out to Juniper. “Run!”

Juniper gave him one last look and the old man nodded. “It's okay,” he said. “It's okay.”

Still grasping the balloons, with Skeksyl writhing in pain beneath the tree, crushing sparks to death in his fists, she opened the door, squeezed through with her rescued souls, and ran for the stairway. It was so close now.

From behind her she could hear the screech of Neptune in pursuit. She didn't even need to glance back to see how far off he was. Wings flapping frenetically, the raven was upon her in no time at all.

But, strangely, it didn't strike at her. She couldn't even see it. Where did it go?

Then she heard the noise.
Pop!

Juniper swung her arms wildly at the bird, but it was too high for her to reach.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
it pecked, and three more souls were lost.

She bunched all the strings into one hand and once again reached into her pocket. Desperate, she grabbed the monocular and extended it with a quick snap of her wrist. Then, gripping it like a club, she swung.

She connected solidly; there was a crunch, and the raven flew all the way down the hall like a batted ball, landing limply in Skeksyl's hands.

His leg sizzled and steamed. It was destroyed. He leaned against his staff for support, staring at the dead bird in his mutilated hands.

For what seemed like minutes, nobody moved. Juniper was almost sure her heartbeat was audible. It filled her ears with its throbs. She placed a hand to her chest. It was then she realized the noise was coming from somewhere else, somewhere above her. Inside, she smiled. Giles.

Skeksyl dropped Neptune to the floor. In a shattered voice of delirious pain and limitless anger, he spoke. “Those are my balloons. My souls. And I want them back! I! Want! Them! Back!” He came for her. He limped, far faster than Juniper had thought possible. “You're miiiinnnnee!” he howled.

At first she couldn't move. The sight stunned her in its horror. He filled the hall with his frightening figure. He was on the hunt; the ghoul wanted blood.

Juniper turned and began to race up the stairs. But the space was small and the balloons slowed her greatly as they cluttered against the ceiling. She could hear the wounded Skeksyl gaining on her, panting and grunting. It was impossible to look back, for the balloons blocked her view, but she swore she could feel something swiping at her ankles.

The noise from above, from the outside, continued and grew louder. She was getting closer.

“There's no escape, Juniper!” Skeksyl yelled, and the words might as well have been screamed directly into her ear. He would have her in his clutches in mere seconds. The end was near.

Juniper climbed on, her muscles burning. Tears filled her eyes but she refused to let them fall.
Be strong
, she thought.
Be brave
.

Then, finally, she saw light. The night was over. The sun had begun to rise.

“Giles!” she called.

“June! Hurry!” he yelled back.

His voice filled her with hope. She pushed on. She climbed higher and higher. Just a few more steps, just a few more and . . .

She was out; she made it, the sunlight beaming down upon her in powerful bursts. To her right, balloons were tied to a tree. To her left was Giles and, incredibly, in his hands was Betsy. Not only did he lift it with ease, the tree was nearly chopped down. It was almost over.

But that was when she felt the hand grab her ankle. She fell onto her back.

“Mine!” she heard from beneath the tree. “I'm going to keep you alive forever, Juniper! I'm going to keep you alive so that you can wish for death!”

“No!” Giles screamed, dropping the ax and racing over. He grabbed Juniper by the wrists and began to pull. But he made no difference. Skeksyl pulled them both closer.

“Giles! The balloons!” she yelled. “Save the balloons!”

Quickly, Giles grabbed the two sets and ran to a nearby tree. His hands blurred with speed as he tied them securely to a branch.

Juniper tried to break free from Skeksyl's grip but it wouldn't give. He had her. He pulled her closer still.

She tried to plant her feet, but it was no use. Her hands clawed helplessly at the dirt.

Closer to the hole she came, closer to him. He pulled her all the way back to the ice-cold steps.

Giles dashed for her, arms outstretched.

“No! Finish the tree!” Juniper called.

Torn, Giles hesitated.

“It's our only chance!” she screamed.

With amazing strength and speed, Giles picked up the ax and chopped furiously at the twisted trunk. One swipe, two swipes, three . . . Soon the tree began to creak.

Juniper's mind raced.
If it falls with me down there
 . . . but she pushed the thought away. She had to.

“Yes! Yes! Come to me, Juniper! You're mine!”

Juniper looked back and, in the faint light, she could see Skeksyl. More than that, however, she could see his face. His hood was down and she saw him fully for the first time. It was the most disturbing and sickening image she would see for the rest of her life. It wasn't even a face. It was the remains of a face, the remains of a man, one with no soul of his own.

Still, she glared directly at him. “I'm not going anywhere. Not any part of me.” And with her free leg she kicked him as hard as she could right between what were supposed to be his eyes. His head snapped far back and she fell backward, free.

Giles struck the tree one more time and the loudest crack of all echoed. Skeksyl looked up just in time to see the tree come falling down upon him.

The hole was covered in a mass of debris and, with the tree no longer standing, the stairway collapsed, each step crumbling and dissolving as if it had never existed at all. With an inhuman wail, Skeksyl was lost beneath the shifting earth. His arm, still grasping for Juniper's ankle, breaking ground like an oversize root, was all that was left. Then that, too, vanished, disintegrating into dust and carried away by a strong wind.

It was over.

Chapter 16

M
ORNING HAD COME, AND SUNSHINE STRUCK
the balloons in magnificent blasts. The dust from the fallen tree rose up and danced in the yellow rays pulsing through the overhead leaves. Bouncing together in the breeze, the balloons were a bubbling wind chime eliciting a welcome sense of peace. They sat aglow among the branches, as if the sparks were tending them still. Below them, eyes closed, Juniper and Giles embraced for some time. They didn't say anything; they didn't need to.

When they finally came apart, they knew there was one final step they had to take, the most important step, the most terrifying step, because, if it didn't work, their families would be gone for good. All would have been for naught.

They went through the balloons one by one, searching for their parents' signatures. Juniper came across one, her mother's, and weighed it in her hands. The balloon felt like nothing, like a handful of fog. She handled it delicately, caressing the orange latex. It seemed even more vulnerable now. Only the thinnest of layers kept her mother's soul from mixing with the morning air. Juniper gently tied the balloon to her wrist for safekeeping. Beneath the orange shell was precious cargo indeed.

In the end, there were twenty balloons in all—five for each parent. If there had been more, they were now long gone.

Giles and Juniper nodded at each other, and then he turned and ran for home, the ten balloons trailing behind him, rainbow drops against a blue sky. Juniper looked up to her parents' bedroom window. She took a deep breath and hoped it wasn't too late.

She entered the house to find Kitty waiting for her. Yipping, her dog jumped as high as her chest. “I'm okay, I'm okay,” Juniper said, calming Kitty. “But we need to hurry.” As she stared at her feline dog, her voice cracked: “It's going to work, isn't it? It has to.” Kitty released a soft whine and rubbed against her leg. “I hope so, too. Here goes everything.” Together, they made their way to her parents' bedroom.

Juniper pushed the door open. Inside, her father was still sprawled on the floor, while her mother remained collapsed awkwardly against the table. Their eyes were open and blank. The sun burst through the immense windows, illuminating the broken bodies.

Falling to her knees, Juniper undid one of the balloons and, hands trembling, placed it to her father's lips. It reminded her of when she was a child and her parents lovingly fed her with a spoon they flew through the air like a plane. Now, much too soon, it was her turn to care for them. She emptied the balloon's contents down her father's throat, making sure not a single breath escaped. Then she did the same for her mother.

Finished, she stood back, waiting for something to happen. Only nothing did. Her parents were completely still.

“No, no, no. Please,” she cried. Desperate, she shook them, slapped their chests, kissed them. Still nothing.

With the fear of forever losing her parents taking strong hold of her emotions, she quickly undid a second balloon each and squeezed the air back into their lungs. “Come on,” she begged. “Come on. Work.”

Anxiously, she waited for the souls to settle. Her parents had to come back to her; they just had to. Face wet with tears, she gazed at them, wishing them back into existence. “I need you. I need you both so much.”

Just then, there was a flicker in their eyes, a twitch of life in their hands and legs. They uttered soft moans as if waking up from a long sleep riddled with nightmares.

More balloons
. Juniper sprang to her feet and grabbed two more. Kitty watched closely as the third and fourth balloons were carefully issued back to Mr. and Mrs. Berry.

Impatient and achingly nervous, Juniper repeatedly slammed her palms against her thighs. “Hurry. Work. Help them,” she pleaded. “Help them.” She grabbed Kitty for comfort, squeezing her tight.

With tear-filled eyes, clutching Kitty close to her chest, she watched as life flowed back into her parents. She saw their skin glow, their chests heave. Their once-vacant eyes suddenly reflected a previously forgotten past. Slowly, they both sat up, shaking their heads clear of a powerful daze.

Still groggy, her parents settled their eyes on Juniper. For some time they stared at her, unable to speak.

Please, let it work
, Juniper silently hoped.
Please be my mom and dad again
.

More silence. Then . . .

“Juniper? Juniper? Oh, thank goodness! Juniper!” Mrs. Berry leaped forward and grabbed her daughter, hugging her as tightly as she could. She planted kisses all across her face, refusing to stop even as the excitable Kitty barked and nipped at their legs.

“My girl!” Mr. Berry cried as he joined them. “You did it! Oh, my little girl, you did it!”

It was the moment Juniper had waited so long for. It was the same hopeful thought that had pushed her through this nightmare, the image she wished for each night as she went to bed. They were back. Her parents were finally back.

Once Mr. and Mrs. Berry calmed down—they couldn't stop kissing each other, couldn't stop kissing Juniper, even Kitty—Juniper went on to explain everything that had happened since she first spied them entering the underworld beneath the tree. She told them about Giles and Dmitri and Skeksyl and Neptune. She told them about the black room of dreams, about Theodore and the sparks and the chopping down of the tree. She told them how she missed them so very much.

Then, most important of all, she told them that she had the last of their balloons, one more each. They could reclaim the contents as well, but they all knew this meant they would have to give up everything they had gained in their deals with Skeksyl.

“I don't know if you'll be able to accomplish so easily everything you once did,” she told them. “There are no guarantees. Dad, I don't know if your characters' voices will come.”

Mr. Berry grabbed her hand. “The words will come. Only they'll be mine now, no one else's. It may not be what everyone wants, but that's okay. I'll be doing what feels right to me, and I'll have you and your mother. That's what I should have known from the beginning.”

“We were so lost,” Mrs. Berry said. “We had everything, and yet, nothing. This is what matters most, the three of us like this. We've missed out on so much. You missed out on so much, Juniper. We're so, so sorry.” She looked at her husband, then back at Juniper. “Sweetheart, get us those balloons.”

The balloons were happily returned, and Mr. and Mrs. Berry were whole once more.

“What's the first thing you want to do, Juniper?” her father asked, grinning a forgotten grin, his complete self for the first time in ages. He put her face in his hands, caressing her cheeks with his thumbs, wiping away her tears. “Anything you want. What shall we do?”

Juniper didn't have to think. “I want to have a party.”

Mr. Berry laughed and pulled her close. “A party it is!” And he kissed her on her forehead.

Mrs. Berry grabbed Juniper and twirled her in her arms, a long-delayed dance. Mr. Berry joined the embrace and Juniper closed her eyes.

“My beautiful family,” Mrs. Berry said. “We're back together. Everything is right again.”

Juniper couldn't agree more.