I nodded. Spader then backed away and glanced into the tunnel.
“Safe trip,” I said.
Spader faced the infinite black hole and shouted, “Cloral!”
The craggy tunnel rumbled to life. The far-off light appeared from deep inside, growing closer. The familiar musical notes were on their way. The bright light quickly grew intense. Spader turned to me and smiled.
“Hobey-ho, Pendragon.”
“Hobey-ho, Spader.”
A second later he was gone.
I don’t think I ever felt so lonely. Well, maybe once before. When I stood on the empty lot where my house on Second Earth used to be.
My whole life I was used to having people guide me toward the right answers. First it was my parents. Teachers were there too. So were my friends like you, Mark and Courtney. Of course Uncle Press played a huge part. I didn’t always like being told what to do, but it was good to know somebody was always looking out for me.
Now I felt like I was on a highwire without a net. If I was going to get to the other side, the only one who would get me there was me. I had two choices. I could stand here and feel sorry for myself, or move forward.
I turned away from the now quiet flume and changed back into my First Earth clothes. Before doing anything else, I had to get back and let Gunny know what had happened.
“First Earth!” I shouted into the flume.
I then closed my eyes, looking forward to the few minutes of a flume ride when I wouldn’t have to worry about anything.
(CONTINUED)
FIRST EARTH
When I walked through the front doors of the Manhattan Tower Hotel, Gunny was the first person I saw. He was at his Bell Captain post, dressed in his spiffy uniform, acting as if nothing had happened. The lobby was buzzing with people, all reading special-edition newspapers that had accounts of theHindenburgdisaster. It seemed like everybody had their own theory as to what had caused the explosion and crash.
None of them were right, of course.
Gunny and I took the elevator up to my room on the sixth floor so we could talk in private.
“Everything’s cool,” I said to Gunny as we entered the room. “Third Earth is exactly the way we left it.”
Gunny let out a relieved breath. “Where’s Spader?”
“Back home on Cloral,” I said. “He needs some time to get his head around what happened.”
“Does he understand?” Gunny asked.
“About theHindenburg, yeah,” I answered. “The big question is, can we count on him in the future?”
“And?”
“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “I hope so.” I sat down on the couch, sinking into the soft cushions. I was suddenly very tired. I think I could have fallen asleep for a week. The tension was finally gone. We had been in overdrive for a long time, and now that we were done, I was ready to crash. But my mind wouldn’t let me.
“Gunny, I’m scared,” I said.
“About what? Saint Dane?”
“I’m scared about what we had to do to stop him,” I said. I spoke slowly, trying to put my thoughts into words. “Letting theHindenburgblow up was…”
I couldn’t think of a big enough word to describe how horrible it was.
“I hear you,” Gunny said.
“And I’m scared of what might happen the next time Saint Dane tries to test me,” I added. “What if I don’t have somebody like you around to cover my back? Gunny, he didn’t care about what happened to the Earth territories. This was about proving he could control us. Control me! You know what that means? It means he won. I was going to kick over that rocket.”
“But you didn’t.”
“Only because you were there. Saint Dane proved his point. Gunny, I can’t do this.”
Gunny sat back in his chair, nodding slowly. When he finally spoke it was with a calm, sure voice that I wanted so badly to believe in.
“None of us asked for this job,” he began. “I’d just as soon live out my days here at the hotel, never knowing anybody named Saint Dane or people called Travelers. But that’s not the way things turned out.”
“Yeah, tell me about it.”
“But there’s one thing I think about that gives me a little peace of mind. Maybe it’ll help you, too.” ”Go for it,” I said. “I’ll take anything.”
“Ever since your uncle told me I was a Traveler, I’ve been wondering why I’d been chosen. Still do. Why us? We’re nothing special, just regular folks. But the more I think about it, the more I’ve got to believe there’s something bigger at play here. I think we’ve each been chosen for a reason. Like last night. I truly believe I was at theHindenburgto do what I did. This may sound silly, but thinking that way gives me a little hope that maybe we just might be the right ones to be doing this after all.”
“So, if we were chosen, who did the choosing?”
“Exactly! That’s the big question. Who is it that has the kind of vision it takes to see how things should be, and play chess with a guy like Saint Dane? I haven’t got a clue. But whoever it is, he wants Saint Dane to fail. That means he’s a good guy. And I like the idea of a powerful good guy being on our side.” Gunny smiled and said, “Maybe your back is covered a little bit more than you think.”
Could it be? Could there be some grand plan at work? Was there a guy out there who wanted to stop Saint Dane and chose us to be his soldiers? If there was, I’d sure like to know. Maybe I wouldn’t feel so alone anymore.
“You’re a smart guy, Gunny,” I said.
“I’m nothing of the sort,” he said back to me. “I’ve just been around a while. I plan on being around a good while longer, too.”
I rolled over, closed my eyes, and went to sleep. Right there on the couch. It was the first good night’s rest I’d had in a long time.
The next few days were spent finishing this journal and saying good-bye. I tried to see Jinx, but she had already checked out of the hotel. Maybe it was a good thing. I wasn’t sure what I’d say if she started asking about theHindenburg. Wherever she was, whatever the future held for her, I silently wished her luck.
I said good-bye to my friends on the hotel staff. Dewey Todd was all sorts of excited because his father had just built another hotel out in Hollywood, and he was leaving New York to run the place. Can you believe it? Dewey was going to get his own hotel. I hoped he had learned more about running a hotel than he had about running the elevator. He wished me well and said if I was ever out in Hollywood to look him up.
As soon as I finish this last journal from First Earth, I’m going to give it to Gunny to have them bound. I wish I could send them to you through my ring, but I’m afraid it’s gone for good. There’s no way I’m going looking for it. I’ve had my fill of gangsters.
Tomorrow I’m going to take the train out to Stony Brook and put the journals in a safe-deposit box at the National Bank. This way, when the calendar comes around, you’ll be able to pick them up. After that, I don’t know what I’ll do with my journals.
The next question is, where do I go from here? The logical answer would be to Veelox. Saint Dane said he was headed there. But was that to lure me into another trap? Even if it were, do I have any choice?
I began this journal by telling you guys I had reached my own turning point. Part of that was because I had seen the kind of destruction Saint Dane was trying to cause on the Earth territories. You don’t see something frightening like that and shrug it off. If I didn’t fully realize it before, I do now.
But maybe more important was the moment when I watched the fuse burning on the rocket that was about to destroy theHindenburg. In that moment I knew what I was supposed to do, but I didn’t do it.
