Walter and Karen disappeared into the hallway, and the door slammed with a loud clap. The professor eyed Dr. Conner and allowed the sword’s beam to diminish, though its fiery glow continued to drape the blade like a shining scabbard. “Dr. Conner,” the professor began, his tone crisp and matter-of-fact, “would you be so kind as to tell me the whereabouts of Billy Bannister and Bonnie Silver?”
Dr. Conner stepped back against the control panel. A shroud of fear clouded his eyes and lined his smudged face. He pointed at the candlestone. “They’re . . . they’re in there.” Wringing his hands, he continued. “Bonnie went . . . went into the candlestone, and, and she got trapped. Ashley and Billy went in, too, to . . . to try to get her out, I’m sure. I think they’re all in there now. I . . . I tried to reverse it, but it’s on automatic. Ashley changed the override password, so I can’t bring them back.” He swallowed hard and his voice strengthened. “We have to get them out, and fast!”
The professor lowered his sword. “Is there immediate danger?”
“Yes. I came in through the back tunnel. A major support wall caved in, so this mountain’s entire structure has been compromised. Another tremor could bring this whole place down on top of us.”
“What would happen if we were to simply remove the stone and leave?”
“We can’t. Ashley’s anchoring. She’s halfway in and halfway out. If we moved the stone, we’d tear her body in two. And our equipment is the only way in the world to restore them. I could never rebuild it without Ashley.”
Dr. Conner’s eyes suddenly widened. The ceiling panels rattled, and the lights flickered wildly. The floor of the cave began vibrating, the intensity building. Dr. Conner leaped toward the candlestone’s pedestal, shouting, “I have to hold the stone in place!”
Limping painfully toward the center of the chamber, the professor called through a growing din, “Walter! Karen! Come out!”
They scrambled out of the hallway, Karen pulling Derrick by the hand and Walter propelling Ashley’s grandfather in a wheelchair. The floor bucked and swayed, and they careened back and forth like sailors on the deck of a wind-tossed ship.
Pellets of sand sprinkled the floor, bouncing across the tile. Taps from above signaled pebbles dancing on the tops of the ceiling panels. The professor waved them forward. “You must evacuate immediately.”
Walter hunched over to shield Ashley’s grandfather. “You gotta be kidding me! I can’t get this wheelchair up the stairs!”
A rush of rocks and sand ripped through a ceiling tile, burying a chair near a control panel. Dr. Conner squatted next to the central pedestal, holding the candlestone in place.
“The Omega entrance,” Dr. Conner shouted. He nodded toward the door. “I cleared a path through the rubble. Try that.”
“But what about the monster?” Karen shouted.
“There’s no monster! Just go!”
Karen tugged on Walter’s coat sleeve. “I know the way!” She and Derrick seesawed their way over the teetering ground toward the Omega door.
The professor pointed toward the exit. “Walter! Go! Now!”
“But what about you?”
“Go!”
Ashley’s pull on Billy’s arm lessened. As he floated back toward the slayer, he shouted his thoughts. “What have you done with Bonnie?”
“So,” Devin said, his scratchy voice buzzing like a dentist’s drill, “you’ve learned how to speak in here. Not bad.”
Devin sprang toward Billy, but Billy backed away just in time to avoid his touch. The slayer laughed. “A little quicker now, I see. Well, you’re obviously not much smarter than when you lost your battle with me on the mountain. All it took was a lock of hair to bring you stumbling up the slopes like an idiot to rescue your stupid girlfriend. What a surprise! She wasn’t there! And now here you are again, swaggering in to fight me on my home turf. Didn’t your old man teach you any better? Oh, yes. I forgot. He’s a dragon, a stupid beast, just like all the others I’ve conquered over the years.”
Billy listened to Devin’s sarcastic tirade, ignoring a dozen clever retorts that clamored in his head. When the slayer paused, Billy said, “So is your sharp tongue your only sword now?”
Devin’s light burst into radiant crimson. “You fool! You have no idea what I’ve learned in this cursed stone!” A sphere of energy grew in the center of Devin’s body like a swarming nest of supercharged fireflies. He raised the sphere like a weapon, a cannonball of electrostatic fury. “I could have scattered you into a million lost electrons, mongrel. You’re defenseless, without a weapon or even a song.”
“A song?”
“Never mind.” Devin’s color slowly faded to white. “If you want to survive, you’d better cooperate with me. I’ll bet they didn’t tell you what happens to males when they’re restored, did they?”
“I heard, and I don’t care.” Billy’s own light changed to off-white. He couldn’t let the slayer prod him into a fit of anger . . . not now. He composed himself and continued, calmness oozing from his voice. “Just tell me where Bonnie is.”
“You’d better deal with me, kid. I’ll tell you where she is, and I’ll tell you how to save your brain if you’ll let me attach and ride out of here with you.”
“Is she alive?”
“She’s alive.”
Billy tried to sort out what to do, but his brain felt frazzled.
There’re too many options! And the system could go into reverse at any minute! There’s no time!
Ashley’s voice popped into his head. “You’re right, Billy. My guess is about seventy seconds to reversal.”
Did you hear all of the conversation, Ashley? What should I do?
“I didn’t hear much. You don’t have time to explain what’s going on. You’re on your own, and you have to act fast.”
Devin’s glow flashed, a rippling mass of humanoid light set against pure blackness. His blurry facial features gave no hint of an expression, nothing to help Billy decide how to deal with this liar. But the surrounding emptiness reminded Billy of his father’s story. Shouldn’t there be others trapped in the candlestone, Devin’s fellow conspirators? If so, where were they? If they were partners in crime, why wasn’t Devin with them now?
Hmmm. There’s more going on here than meets the eye.
“Okay,” Billy finally said. “Show me where Bonnie is first. If I see you’re telling the truth, you can go with me.”
Devin drifted away, a finger of light gesturing as his glow delved into the darkness. “Follow me.”
Give me some slack, Ashley. I have to go somewhere.
Billy felt Ashley’s release of tension, and he followed Devin’s energy trail until he stopped. Billy drew closer but kept a safe distance.
Okay, Ashley. Be ready to yank me away if I call.
“Just say the word.”
“Do you see this little fault?” Devin said, his glowing finger pointing toward the floor.
“A fault? You mean, like a crack inside the stone?”
“Yes.” He pushed his arm through, and it disappeared below the surface of the floor. “It leads to the candlestone’s exit. Bonnie went down there to try to get out.”
Ashley, did you catch that?
“All I heard was you saying something about a crack in the stone. I’ve mapped this entire matrix, and there is a crack leading from the inner core down into the exit channel. Doc told me that Devin said he couldn’t use it to escape. But he might have been lying. We don’t have much time, Billy. Less than forty seconds! Hurry!”
Got it.
Billy addressed Devin again. “Why should I believe you?”
“You have no choice. I can’t get out that way; only females can. There’s a basic difference in how genders transluminate. Pull me out, and not only will I save your worthless brain, I’ll tell you how to get her out through the exit channel. You made the deal, Bannister. I showed you where she is, now it’s your turn.”
Billy crept toward the fault. Their two masses of light stood at the edge of the narrow chasm, peering into the darkness. Down below, Billy saw the exiting river of light and radiant phantoms circling in a tight coil. “What are those?”
“Other souls like us who would like to get out. Bonnie is one of them, I’m sure.”
Ashley’s voice interrupted. “Billy! It has to be down to fifteen seconds by now! Are you ready?”
Billy kept his thoughts focused on Devin. “They look like sharks in a feeding tank, like they’re angry or something.”
“Perhaps they are. Some have been here for a very long time.”
Aha! His cronies! My hunch was right!
“Really? Longer than you?”
“Yes. Much longer.”
Ashley, can you set up your system to restore from the exit channel?
“Yes. But why?”
No time to explain. Just get ready to do it.
Billy let go of Ashley’s hand, and the release made her snap back into the darkness.
“What!” Devin yelled. “What are you doing?”
“I’m keeping my word. I only agreed that you could come with me.” Billy looked down into the chasm and then back at Devin. “You’re welcome to come along.” Billy took a long step and fell into the darkness.
Chapter 19
Ashley, still clutching the anchor tube in the lab, rode on a heart-stopping updraft as her invention sucked her out of the candlestone. Her arm and torso battled against a surging current of raging light that tried to drag her back into the stone. Her stretched-out body felt like a spaghetti noodle zipping up toward a hungry, slurping mouth. She released the anchor spurs, and her body congealed. Seconds later, she was floating in a bath of blazing light. As she tried to orient herself, a mosaic of flashing puzzle pieces came together to form the familiar laboratory.
Wrapping her arms around her restored body, she rubbed her chilled skin, bouncing impatiently while the glass cylinder rose exactly as programmed. Her vision quickly adjusted. She could see Doc holding the candlestone in place and a strange old man leaning on a crutch.
The man with the crutch is carrying a glowing sword. Who in the world could he be?
But there’s no time for questions!
Ashley jumped from the platform and lunged toward the pedestal. “I have to turn it!” She grabbed Doc’s forearm with a quick twist, forcing him to release the stone. She squatted low and lined up the candlestone’s exit beam with the tube leading to the diver’s dome, but the gem didn’t sit right. The way the bottom facet rested on the pedestal didn’t allow the beam to go into the tube at the proper angle. She glanced up at Doc. “What were you doing to it?”
“Another tremor hit, and I was holding it in place.” Doc dropped to one knee beside her. “What are you planning?”
“Shhh! I’m thinking.” Ashley stood up, her hands on her hips. She surveyed her equipment, studying the connections before nodding her head.
We’ll fix that easily enough.
She lifted the candlestone from its pedestal and tiptoed to the diver’s dome. After gently placing the flashing gem on the platform floor, she ran to the control panel. “Doc, they’re coming out the exit channel. I’ll have to shut off the anchor access tube and open the restore tube, but how am I going to get them through the restore tube so the computer can analyze them before the candlestone just sucks them back in?”
While Ashley’s hands flew across the panel, flipping switches and turning knobs, Dr. Conner hustled over to join her. “You can bring an anchor person over from the restoration dome,” he said, using his hands to clarify the process, “and have him pull exiting people through the tube.”
Ashley studied a display and whispered a calculation. “That’s fifteen point seven from neutral.” She flipped her hair back with a shake of her head. “Who could be the anchor? Karen’s gone.”
Dr. Conner raised his chin. “I’ll do it.”
“You?”
“Yes.” His voice cracked as if painful words lodged in his throat. “I’ve got to do something to fix the mess I’ve made.”
Ashley hesitated. She would probably never trust Doc again, but at this point there was no other choice. She just had to get the job done. She let out a shallow sigh. “Okay. Then let’s get going.”
Ashley barked out instructions like a rapid-fire machine gun. “Since there’s no Excalibur beam in the restoration dome, you’ll have to get in the diver’s dome with the candlestone. Remember to hang on to the tube, or you’ll get sucked into the candlestone right after you get transluminated. Once you’re a mass of light, I’ll need you to go back and forth through the recovery tube a couple of times so I can read your light structure and quarantine your data in the computer. When you see something come out of the candlestone that’s not normal light, try to grab it and escort it to the restoration dome.
“The photo analyzers in the tube will be able to read the person while it passes through, and I’ll make sure the computer blocks your data out. Leave the person in the restoration dome and then go back through the tube to the diver’s dome while I restore whoever you brought over.”
She took a deep breath and looked around at the dust and debris. “We’ll have to work fast. Another tremor would give us serious problems, and we need to be ready when the first person comes out of the stone. I don’t know how many are in there. I could only catch a few of Billy’s thoughts, but I think we might get pretty busy.”
Dr. Conner peered over her shoulder. “We didn’t plan for an army. How are the photoreceptors holding out?”
Ashley rubbed a thin layer of dust away from a meter on the panel. “Probably enough for several restorations, but I can’t be sure.”
“It’ll have to do. Our source is gone.” Dr. Conner ran toward the boys’ dorm. “I’ll get a robe.”
Gone? How is that possible?
Ashley wanted to yell her question, but it was too late. She would have to find out later. Her hands flew across the board, tweaking dials and switches, each adjustment bringing new readings to the meters. She studied the data, a million calculations clicking in her souped-up brain.
“Miss, may I be of any assistance?” The gentle voice with a distinct English accent interrupted her concentration.
Ashley spun around. An older man with wild white hair and a pain-pierced grimace hobbled toward her, the man with the crutch she had seen earlier. A fine layer of chalky dust coated his face, and he carried a glowing sword in his right hand. “Let me guess,” she said, resuming her work. “You’re the professor, right?”
The professor bowed his head. “Charles Hamilton, at your service. I inspected the rear exit. It seems that my friend, Walter, and your relation, Karen, have safely guided a young man named Derrick and your grandfather through the first part of the passage.”
Ashley breathed a heavy sigh. “Thank God!” As the professor joined her on the platform, she extended her hand. “I’m Ashley Stalworth. I read about you in Bonnie’s journal, and yes, you can help.” She flipped another series of switches and hustled toward the restoration dome. “Do you know about the candlestone?”
The professor followed her across the lab at half her speed. “I have heard of it. My students, Bonnie Silver and William Bannister, are inside if I am not mistaken.”
“Billy, Bonnie, and quite a few others, I think. If everything goes right, we’ll be restoring people in this enclosure.” She touched the glass on the cylinder, dropped to a stoop, and pressed a button on the low platform, making the shield slowly rise. “This switch raises and lowers the glass. When someone appears, I’ll give a signal when they’re completely restored. Your job is to raise the glass, get the person out, and close the cylinder again as quickly as possible. I could do it from the panel, but once people are being restored, my hands may be too busy, and I can’t help anyone get out of the dome from here anyway.”
The professor leaned on his crutch and laid Excalibur on the floor next to the restoration platform. “I believe I will be able to handle that task.” After testing the switch, he straightened his body. “I am ready.”
As soon as Ashley returned to the control panel, Dr. Conner dashed back into the lab, a white robe covering his dirty clothes. She pointed at the dome. “Go ahead, Doc. Get in position.”
Dr. Conner hurried to the center of the lab and hopped up to the diver’s platform, straddling the candlestone.
“Okay,” Ashley called. “I’m going to lower your glass and douse the lights. Let’s get those people out of there!”
The Omega door slammed against the chamber wall, and Walter burst from the corridor. “Dr. Conner! Karen’s been hurt! It’s really bad!”
Billy pulled himself off the chasm floor. Here at the bottom of the pit the background brightened to a dull gray. The floating river of light emanated a halo that muted the darkness, its aura fading to black at the chasm’s borders. The spiral of ghostly lights he had seen from above formed a tightening circle around him, and when they drew too close for comfort, he put up his hand. “Stop! Who are you?”
The radiant men slowed to a halt, coming to a point just out of Billy’s reach. A buzz of chatter surrounded him, and he caught snatches, English-sounding phrases spoken with unfamiliar accents. Finally one of the specters stepped forward, his voice strong and polite, transforming to a traditional British accent. “We are loyal knights of Arthur’s court. My name is Barlow, Lord of Hickling Manor. And what type of beast might you be?”
Billy stood his ground. “I am William, son of Jared. If you are of the king’s court, Sir Barlow, you should know Jared’s name.”
“Yes.” Barlow’s glowing fingers rubbed his chin. “I remember Jared. He was appointed the king’s adviser just before the rebellion. But that was centuries ago. How can someone who speaks the modern American tongue be the son of Jared? And you are new to the stone. Your indistinct form gives away your recent entry. Please, tell us your tale.”
Billy’s light sputtered and faded. He had guessed that these were knights from the rebellion, but he wasn’t sure yet of his second guess, that they were no longer Devin’s allies. He decided to keep his knowledge to himself, at least for a while, and stay on this guy’s good side. “Begging your pardon, Sir Barlow. I’m looking for a lost friend. Please allow me to find her, and then I will tell you my tale. And you can tell me how you know about American English and speak it so well.”
The glowing sentry didn’t move, yet his voice remained polite. “What is your hurry, William? We know of no way to safely leave this place. We have been here in Limbo for hundreds of years, and the only entertainment we have is to tell each other tales. We have long since exhausted both true stories and absurd fables, though a traveler occasionally passes through and tells us of life on the outside. That’s how we learned your language and some of your customs. We know about your sport utility vehicles, your widescreen televisions, and,” he added, rubbing his middle section, “deep-dish pepperoni pizza.”
Billy laughed in spite of his worry, but his amusement faded quickly. He glanced around for a sign of Bonnie’s light before turning back to Barlow. “You said there’s a traveler?”
“Yes, a mysterious fellow. Though we have never found a way out of this pit, he seems to come and go as he pleases and refuses to explain how. He gives no name, just a story or two.” He waved his arm with a friendly gesture. “Come now. Tell us your tale.”
Billy decided he wasn’t going to get anywhere until he talked with Barlow for a while. “Okay. Let me start with a question.” He pointed toward the cliff high above, still illuminated by Devin’s glow. “When I was up there, I saw you circling. Were you hoping Devin would fall in?”
Barlow’s light dimmed and then flashed bright green. “Do you know Devin? Because if he is your friend—” Sir Barlow was interrupted by the loud buzzing of the other lights; they turned several shades of crimson as they grumbled.
Billy held up his hands. “No, no. Devin’s no friend of mine. But weren’t you in league with Devin to overthrow the king?”
“Alas, it is true!” Barlow moaned, his aura changing briefly to pale blue before shimmering back to white. “We have had centuries to unravel the plot in our minds. It seems that Devin and his foul scribe, Palin, hatched the scheme. They convinced us, fools that we were, to believe that an imposter had deposed our great king. They claimed that Merlin craved the throne and that he used black arts to transform a dragon into Arthur’s twin. Most of the knights scoffed, but I heard a strange tale from a certain wayfarer. He fancied seeing Merlin transforming dragons into humans on Bald Top in the middle of the night. He even claimed to see a man there who looked exactly like the king! Most said the wayfarer was a madman.”
The other lights flashed as if to confirm Barlow’s explanation. He continued. “I told the wayfarer, ‘No sane human would set foot on Bald Top, and King Arthur would never go there. Yes, Merlin is powerful, but changing dragons into humans? Ridiculous!’
“But this traveler insisted on taking me to the scene. There was something in his wild eyes that spoke truth, so I went with him, his insanity taking me over, I suppose. Bald Top was a curious sight, indeed. I saw dragon tracks interspersed with human prints, a pile of discarded clothing, and Merlin’s own saddlebag. I would have sworn it was witch’s work; the human prints had no source but from whence the dragons stood. Yet with the old prophet’s saddlebag there, could it be true? In my superstitious terror, I convinced my friends that Devin’s story was the only explanation.”
“How did you finally figure out Devin was lying?”
Barlow put his glowing hand on the shoulder of one of the knights. “The six of us you see before you now are loyal.” He then extended his fingers away from the circle toward the flowing currents of light, and Billy watched the ghosts riding the eerie waves. “In conversing with those others, the traitors among us,” the knight continued, “we discovered their ruse. They could not hide their lies over all these years, and the traveler explained how the candlestone drew us all in, even as it hung around the neck of that fiend, Devin. I only wish he had fallen down here instead of you. We would have cast him into the river, and he would have ridden out of this cursed stone and into oblivion.”
Billy pointed toward the river’s exit point. “So it
is
possible to get out this way?”
“Yes,” Barlow replied. “I captured one of the conspirators, and I threw him into the river. We were able to see his body fly apart once he got out in the open. He is now a twinkle in the twilight and will never deceive anyone again.”
“That’s weird. I wonder why the candlestone didn’t just suck him back in again.”
“A good question. We wondered about that, too.” Barlow gave a heavy sigh, and his voice changed to a quiet melancholy. “So, to answer your question, William, yes, it is possible to leave, but it is better to be in here and still have hope than to die in eternal darkness, scattered into the heavens and yet separated from God forever.”
Walter gasped in time with his throbbing heart. “A boulder . . . fell . . . just before we got out of the cave! Karen . . . pushed Derrick . . . out of the way, and he . . . he and the old guy are okay, but the rock knocked her down. Her leg . . . her leg’s broken!”
Dr. Conner jumped off the diver’s platform and clutched Walter’s shoulders. “Is she bleeding? Was the bone sticking out?”