either Patrick or I knew. The city was destroyed. As we walked north toward the Bronx, we passed block after block of forlorn shells that used to be buildings. It reminded me of pictures I’d seen of Europe after the bombings during World War II. Compared to this new New York of Third Earth, Rubic City on Ibara was a vacation spot.
We walked like a couple of zombies, numbed by the sight of the carnage that surrounded us. There were no people. None. Not even creepy ratlike Flighters living in squalor. The city was dead. Of course that raised the question of what the polar bear had been eating to stay alive. I didn’t want to think about that.
“It’s like a bomb fell,” I finally whispered. “Or a thousand.”
“Maybe that’s what happened,” Patrick replied. “This is far worse than the New York I left.”
“I wonder what year this is. I mean, did Third Earth change again, or did this happen after your time?”
Neither of us had the answer, and it wasn’t like we could grab a newspaper to find the date. All we could do was keep moving north. As we trudged through the rubble, the air began to clear. I kind of wished it hadn’t, because it gave us a better view of the destruction. At one point I glanced at Patrick and saw tears in his eyes. He noticed that I was looking at him and quickly wiped them away.
“Sorry,” he said, embarrassed. “It’s kind of a lot to handle, you know?”
I nodded, though I wasn’t sure if he was talking about the destruction of his city, or about all the truths that had been revealed to us. Probably both.
“I guess it’s finally my turn,” he said with an ironic chuckle.
“For what?” I asked.
“Third Earth. My territory. Last but not least.”
“Yeah, home sweet home,” I said, trying to make light.
Patrick smiled, but his heart wasn’t in it. Another tear fell. He wiped it away quickly. “I don’t know if I can do this,” he finally uttered.
“Yeah, you can,” I said with confidence. “You’ve already proved that.”
“I’m a teacher, Pendragon. I’m not a warrior like Loor or Alder… or you.”
“You’re a Traveler,” I said quickly. “Don’t think of yourself as ‘Patrick Mac the teacher.’ Think of yourself as someone who has the power of Solara at your command.”
He looked at me sideways. “That’s just odd.”
I had to laugh. “Yeah, tell me about it. It sounded good though, didn’t it?”
Patrick shrugged and laughed. Neither of us had gotten over the shock of all that we had learned in Solara. I was still Bobby Pendragon from Second Earth, and he was still Patrick Mac from Third Earth.
“You know something,” I said. “I think this is the way we’re supposed to feel. I mean, we’re handling this like normal people from Halla, right? That was the whole point. The only thing that can stop Saint Dane is the spirit of mankind. Real, physical mankind. Flaws and all. If the spirits, or whatever they are, from Solara could have stopped him, they would have. But they didn’t. That’s why we’re here. They made us into real people. I think we’re supposed to be scared. And unsure. And angry. And indignant. And freaked out and all the things that real people feel. It’s like we represent mankind. And if mankind can’t save itself, then maybe it can’t be saved.”
Patrick nodded thoughtfully. “Nice speech,” he finally said. “But it doesn’t make me feel any better.”
I laughed. “Really. This is freaking scary.”
For the first time Patrick seemed to brighten. “But hearing you say that does make me feel better. If you’re scared, at least it means I’m not the only one who feels out of his league.”
I was scared all right. About a lot of things. But there was one fear I didn’t want to share with Patrick. It went beyond the battle that lay ahead. I was afraid of what would happen to us once the war was finally over. No matter which way it came out. In some ways, losing to Saint Dane would be easier. Seriously. If that happened, I had no doubt that we would cease to exist. I don’t know if that could be considered “dying” or not, but if the final positive spirit of mankind was snuffed out, I felt certain that the Travelers would be snuffed right along with it. As frightening as that was, I understood it. What I didn’t understand was what would happen to us if we won. What would life become? Would we turn into spirits and float around someplace called Solara to guide mankind? What the heck would that be like? It didn’t stop me from wanting to beat Saint Dane, but still. Yikes.
Patrick stopped. He stared ahead with wide eyes. I looked too, but didn’t see anything unusual.
“What?” was my obvious question.
“What is that?” he asked.
I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. The swirling dust and fog in the air had gotten thick again. As it moved, I caught glimpses of something solid. At first it looked like a group of vertical pillars floating in the air. Barren trees? Light poles? I couldn’t tell. It took a weak gust of wind to blow away some of the dust to give us a better view. In seconds the structure had substance. It was a bridge. Or at least what was left of a bridge. It was one other touchstone that I remembered about New York. We had reached the water that surrounded the island of Manhattan. I figured the structure ahead was the railroad bridge that spanned the distance between Manhattan and the Bronx. We were getting closer to the conclave.
“We’ll have to walk over that wreck,” I said.
Patrick shook his head nervously. He didn’t want to go.
“I think it’s the only way,” I added.
“That’s not what I’m worried about,” he croaked without taking his eyes away.
I wasn’t sure why the bridge didn’t bother him. It worried me plenty. At one time the metal span had to withstand the pounding from hundreds of trains that rumbled over it every day. Now it didn’t look strong enough to withstand the pounding of our feet. The steel structure swayed and squealed in the wind. It was more wreck than bridge. It looked as if one good sneeze would send it crashing into the river.
“No problem,” I said, trying to sound sure of myself. “We’ll make it across.”
Patrick swallowed and said, “What are we going to do about that when we get there?”
He continued to stare ahead. I was definitely missing something. I looked again, trying to see anything that would scare him like that. All I saw was a white wall of fog on the other side of the bridge… That wasn’t fog. “Yeow” was all I could say-On the far side of the river, set back a few hundred yards from the bank, was a wall. A huge wall. No, an immense wall. It was so gigantic that I thought it was a bank of fog. I had never seen anything so vast. It must have been twenty stories high. It spread out before us for what seemed like miles to either side, like a gargantuan dam. It was a monster.
“I’m guessing that wasn’t on Third Earth when you were here,” I muttered weakly.
Patrick shook his head without taking his eyes off the structure.
Whoosh. Whoosh.
Two helicopters flew by above us. They were coming from the south, headed for the wall. They were traveling fairly low, which meant they had to quickly gain altitude or they would smash into the flat, smooth surface. The dark vehicles lifted higher and cleared the top of the structure with expert ease. Once over, they dropped down out of sight. It looked as if they were headed in for a landing on the other side.
“Any guesses?” I asked, numb. I was officially as stunned as Patrick.
“It looks like a fortress,” he said. “No telling how big it is, but I’m thinking it covers the spot where the Conclave of Ravinia is. Or was.”
I took a deep breath and said, “We could stand here forever wondering. There’s only one way to find out what that big boy’s all about.”
Patrick finally broke his gaze from the wall and looked at me. “How are we supposed to get over that bridge? It’s a wreck.”
Turned out he was nervous about the bridge after all.
I started walking toward the structure. “I don’t know. But we won’t figure it out standing here staring at it.”
I led Patrick toward the decrepit bridge. We soon found that we were walking on the remains of railroad tracks that hadn’t seen a train in a very long time. Most of the ties were missing, and every few yards there were rusted gaps in the rails. When we reached the twisted structure of bridge itself, my heart sank. Up close it looked even flimsier than from a distance. And believe me, it looked pretty bad from back there.
“If this crashes, it’s over,” Patrick pointed out.
“Yeah,” I said. “Good thing we can’t die.”
“Our bodies can die, Pendragon. Trust me. I’ve been there. It isn’t pleasant.”
“Sorry,” I said quickly. I’d forgotten that he had been killed on the old Third Earth. Could life get any
