"I don't like the looks of that," Zack whispered in her ear.
"You were supposed to wait for me back with the others."
"I don't remember seeing that big ugly guy," he said, pointing at a particularly large
demon who was standing over Runt and waving a nasty-looking stone knife through the
flames.
"This isn't going to work," Martin whispered in Carole's other ear. "There's too many of
them."
"Did you guys leave Lilly by herself?"
"She's fine. She's got all the flowers."
"I suppose we could surprise them," Carole said. "If we run at them yelling, they might
forget about Runt in the all the confusion. Then we could link up at the bottom and leave
together as a group."
"What happens if that big guy comes at us with his knife?" Martin said.
"Whatever we do, we'd better do it soon," Lilly said. "Ugly's starting to look
serious."
"Ouch!" Carole reached into her dress and pulled out the faerie wand. "This thing's
acting up again."
"It's glowing the same color as the flowers," Lilly pointed out.
"I wonder..." Carole gripped the wand tightly in her fist. "I've got another idea, come
on," she said, scrambling back to where they'd left the blooms. She explained her idea.
"Okay, you got it? I'll count off sixty seconds. When you hear the signal, go to the top of
the hill, holding the flowers high. Lil, you stay here. Martin, you go left, Zack take the right and
I'll go to the far side. Listen for my signal in one minute. Go!"
Carole sped into the dark, counting off the seconds to herself. She quickly reached the
opposite side of the hill, and waited impatiently for the rest of the minute to be up. Finally she
reached sixty and placed the wand to her lips, feeling it buzz with energy.
Praying that the others were in place, she blew sharply into the tiny reed.
The sound wasn't at all shrill and whistle-like, but a clear, ringing tone, as if she'd just
tapped a bell. Although the tone was quiet in comparison to the demons' ruckus, it continued to
grow in volume until they must have heard. Their drumming faltered and finally ceased
altogether. Soon only the pure ringing of the whistle-wand could be heard.
Holding her flowers high, Carole marched up and over the hill. The flower-lights held
by the others illuminated the rest of the hilltop. The demons began milling uneasily about the
crater. A few snarled, a few whimpered, but all watched.
Carole blew into the wand again.
A stream of light, leapt out and shot across to Lilly's bouquet, snaked over to Martin's
bunch, careened across to Zack's and finally flashed back to Carole's.
To her utter amazement, the light didn't fade, but continued zigzagging back and forth
between the flowers, weaving a gigantic web.
Below, the demons' uneasiness increased, but in no time at all the wand had finished
creating its web of light and the creatures were cowering beneath a vibrant, pulsing trap.
Carole blew into the wand a third time. Bright sparks flared up and beaded along the
line, like liquid drops of light threatening to drip onto the mob below. "Forward!" she called, as
she stepped over the crest. As she marched, she piped short tweets, each of which shot different
bolts of color into the webbing, causing it to sparkle and glow with ever brighter pulses.
The demons began screaming and dashing madly about, but with no place to go and
with the web dropping steadily towards them, all they could do was pack themselves into a tight
ring of whimpering bodies, encircling the fire.
This wasn't what Carole had hoped for. With them bunched up that way, there was no
way she could reach Runt without having to fight her way in.
"Hold!" She stopped midway down the hill and watched to see that the others did the
same. As an experiment, she lowered and then raised her arms. A single wave rippled across the
shimmering web.
The demons hissed venomously.
She stretched her arms high and brought them down quickly.
A much larger wave caused the demons to bellow.
Again and again she pumped her arms, creating ever larger waves, which dipped closer
and closer to the now-cringing mass.
Finally one demon broke from the pack and went howling up the hill. At first she
thought it was going to attack the web, but it dove beneath and vanished into the dark. The hill
was soon alive with bodies scrambling, wriggling and worming their way under the web of
light.
Soon nothing was left in the hollow except a trussed-up Runt and the sickly fire. Even
the large brute who'd been wielding the knife had escaped.
"Hurry," Carole called. "I don't know how much longer the light's going to last."
As the four of them ran into the crater, the webbing sagged and plopped onto the
bonfire. With a sickening squelch, both fire and faerie light blinked out, plunging them into a
dreadful darkness until their eyes again grew accustomed to the weaker glow of the
blossoms.
"Quite the display, Carole." Zack jumped forward to untie the ropes holding Runt. "Hey,
I can't cut these lines. Where's that knife?"
Carole fished inside her rucksack. "Use this instead." She handed over her own
jackknife. "I don't think you'd better touch that stone thing."
Seconds later Runt was free.
"Let's get out of here before those creeps come back," Martin urged.
"Just a sec." Lilly pulled a bunch of blossoms from her bouquet and held them out to
Runt. "This time I'm making sure you get some!"
They scrambled out of the crater. Carole believed she knew exactly where to go. The
others clustered close, as if no one cared to be last in line.
She continued to follow her inner guidance, which was actually easy to do since the
limited light didn't allow for much distraction. That Runt agreed with her choice of direction was
reassuring. After a time, she heard the occasional sound in the dark. Eventually she had to admit
they weren't alone, but at least the demons seemed to be keeping their distance. However, soon
she began to notice something else.
At first she thought it was simply the jitters from fearing they were being followed, but
the feeling continued to build. It was as if the darkness itself was getting thicker, becoming
almost alive.
It's found me,
she suddenly realized.
"Something's wrong," Lilly cried. "The flowers are fading!"
"What do you mean?" Zack said. "My bunch is glowing fine."
"The light's not reaching out as far. Just a little while ago I could see over fifteen feet.
Now it's half that distance."
"Maybe we've just bunched closer together."
"No, she's right," Martin said. "The flower-light
is
getting weaker."
"What if the demons notice?" Lilly sounded really scared.
"They still smell good. Maybe that'll be enough to keep those goons away," Zack
said.
Carole picked up the pace and the others followed closely.
"Shouldn't we be there yet?" Martin said some time later. "It seems like we've been
walking forever."
"We are getting closer," Carole said, "but who can tell in this darkness."
"Oh-oh!"
"What now, Lilly?"
"One of my flowers just went out. We'd better find that tunnel soon."
Carole sensed a ripple of amusement emanating from the surrounding gloom.
One by one, the blooms continued to fade. Before long, Carole got the impression the
demons knew what was happening, for the darkness was no longer quite so quiet.
"Anytime with that tunnel would be good, Carole," Zack said. "Not trying to rush you or
anything, but our friends are definitely getting bolder."
"It can't be too much farther," Carole didn't want to admit she was having trouble
holding to her bearing. Her entire bundle suddenly went completely dull. "Maybe it's time to start
running."
The weakening light gave her even less of an idea of the terrain ahead. Runt squealed
out a warning, just in time to make them skid to a stop at the edge of a cliff.
Zack whistled. His toes were gripping the edge. "That was close. "
Martin said, "How will we find a way around
this
?"
"We won't have to go around," Carole said. "The vortex is directly in front of us."
"Where?"
"Down. What do you think, Runt? "
Runt looked extremely uncomfortable at the prospect of jumping into the dark.
"J-j-jump?" Lilly said. "Off the cliff?"
"It'll be easy," Carole said, hoping no one could see how worried she was.
The remaining light was dimming fast and the demons were crowding closer by the
second. Carole laid several of the still-lighted flowers in a line, pointing toward the edge. "It's
now or never," she said. "Go first, Runt. Show them how far out the tunnel is." Grunting to
himself, Runt gauged the distance. Picking up a glowing flower, he raced towards the cliff and
leapt. Everyone bent forward. The tiny light dropped away, before suddenly winking out.
"See, no problem. Now get going. We're almost out of time."
"Let's jump together," Lilly squeaked.
"I'm game." Martin took Lilly's hand.
"Me, too." Zack grabbed her other hand. "Ready? One, two, threeeee!"
As Carole went to follow, the demon rabble charged. She knocked the nearest one aside
before she dashed for the edge.
And sailed off... into nothing.
It wasn't exactly nothing. There was air, but the flashes of multicolored light no longer
spiraled beneath, and the raucous noise of the demon horde no longer sounded behind. Had the
vortex winked out?
Had she missed the vortex? No, even if the tunnel had vanished she would still be
falling, not just hanging in limbo.
Carole tried turning around, but there wasn't anything to push against. She twisted like a
cat. Demons, flowers, vortex, cliff, everything had simply vanished. Was it possible she'd made
another dimensional leap? That didn't seem right. She would have felt something, noticed some
sort of vertigo.
Then she did feel something, like fingers pawing her skin. She shuddered. Whatever was
touching her, it was as cold as death.
She struggled to free herself, yet there was nothing to free herself from. She was stuck in
emptiness.
She sensed a gleeful hunger. "Well?" She hoped she sounded braver than she felt. "What
do you want?"
Youuuuu!
It wasn't exactly a sound, more like an unpleasant smell, but with it came a gust of frigid
wind that burned deep into her skin. Her fingers and toes went numb and fatigue tugged at her
mind, dulling her fear, pulling her towards sleep.
"I can't sleep now!" she cried, shaking herself alert. "I have to escape. Find the
others...find the connector..."
Sleep will clear your mind...help you find that which you desire.
She fought the foreign thoughts sneaking across her mind.
Sleep will give you strength.
That did make sense, but still she hadn't the time.
Just a little nap. You deserve it. So tired...
She
was
tired. Tired of running from danger. Tired of having to look for the
connector, of having to look after the others, of trying to get back to The Hub, of having to take
care of Runt...
"Runt?" Carole jerked awake. "I don't mind looking after Runt. He's my best friend.
Owww!" Her limbs were a mass of pins and needles. She tried wriggling her fingers but that
only pushed the cold farther up her arms. "What are you doing to me?!"
The cold wasn't just freezing her. It was after something. It was probing, searching,
searching for...
For her heart? Could it be? But why? Why her heart?
An icy tendril began boring into her chest.
"No!" she screamed. "You're evil and I'll not let you get to me!"
The cold hesitated.
She tried to recall her biology lessons, to remember anything she could about her heart.
It was a pump. It pumped blood to her body through arteries and veins. Okay, so she needed it to
survive, but she needed all her other organs too. What was the big deal?
Something more, though. Something different. Something she was missing.
We are more than the sum of our parts.
Hal was always saying stuff like that.
We're not just skin and bones. We are capable of so much more.
If that was the case,
what else was her heart capable of?
Everything relied on it. Everything was connected to it. In a sense it was the center of
her body, the core, the hub of all things...
The Hub!?
Could her heart in some way be like
The Hub
?
Once again the cold crept into her chest. Out of desperation, she groped for Glistlefern's
wand. With stiff and clumsy fingers, she brought it to her lips and blew with all her might.
There came only an empty hiss of air.
Dead and useless, just like me. I'm going to let everyone down. I might as well just
give up and get it over with.
"Wait a minute!" Anger flared through Carole. "Those aren't my thoughts! I'm not
useless and I'm not dead.
"I'm a multitasker and Melodious T. Philamount said I could do it. I just need to find my
own voice...my inner voice! I can figure this out myself, like I've always done."
Hope surged, but even as it did, the enveloping evil began to squeeze her like an icy
python.
The more she resisted, the harder it squeezed. Her body felt as if it would snap in two at
any moment.
"Not like this." She grimaced, and hot tears stung her frozen cheeks. "I won't let it end
like this."
There had to be something she could do. She tried to swing her staff. Her arms no longer
worked. She tried to scream. Her voice was barely a whisper.
The answer was within and she knew that, but so what? What good was any answer, if
her body was useless and she was being crushed to death. Unless... Unless the solution really
was within! Could it be? Was the evil trying to distract her from that truth?