the frenzy of wild horses back in the blacksmith barn, times about a hundred because the animals were terrified by the fire that shot flames and smoke out of the rooms on either side of the hallway. Loor took the lead, pulling me behind her, pushing her way through the terrified mass of horses. She actually shoved some of the big animals out of our way. Good thing she was here. I probably would have been trampled.
We made our way back to the front door, but it was engulfed in flames. No way we were getting out that way. “Upstairs!” I shouted.
We ran up the wide, carpeted stairway to the second floor. I figured that with any luck, we could make our way to the back of the house and get out of a window before being burned or shot or trampled.
“How could this happen?” Loor shouted as we ran up the stairs.
“You’re asking me like I know?” I shouted back. “I’m just as freaked as you are!”
We got to the top of the stairs and ran down the hallway, headed for a window on the far end. We were just about to throw it open, when the window shattered. Loor and I both fell to the ground as bits of glass rained down on us. Saint Dane’s desperados were outside, waiting for us.
We were trapped.
Another gunshot was heard that smashed a picture hanging right next to my head. We both spun toward the stairs to see a ghastly sight. Saint Dane was standing on the top stair, backed by the burning flames from down below. He was like a demonic shadow standing there, with two six-guns drawn.
“Time is running out, children,” he chuckled. “What’s your next move?”
I pushed Loor into a bedroom off the hallway and slammed the door shut. This wouldn’t get us out, but at least it would buy us a few more seconds to think.
“How can this be?” Loor demanded to know.
My shock was wearing off now, and my brain was beginning to function. An idea was forming. It started when we first saw those cowpokes seated around Evangeline’s table. With each new disaster, my theory became more real.
“There can only be one explanation for all this,” I said. I then lifted my arm, and pulled back the sleeve of my jumpsuit to see… I was right.
I was still wearing a silver control bracelet. Loor lifted her arm to see she was still wearing one as well.
“But we removed these,” she said, totally confused.
“We thought we did,” I answered. “But that’s because we didn’t know the truth.”
“And what is the truth?”
“We’re still in the jump,” I said. “This is still part of the fantasy.” Crack!
A bullet tore through the door. Saint Dane had come a-knocking. I pulled Loor across the room and we huddled down behind the bed.
“Why did we not see these before?” she asked.
“Because we thought we were out of the jump,” I answered. “That’s how it works, if you give yourself over to the fantasy, you won’t see the bracelets. But as soon as I realized we were still in the jump, they appeared.”
Crack! Crack!
Two more bullets splintered the wood of the door.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are!” came Saint Dane’s singsong voice from the hallway.
“So then none of this is real?” Loor asked.
“Real enough,” I said. “But it’s time to get out.”
I lifted my arm to look at the control bracelet and the three buttons. The one to the far right was supposed to end the jump, but obviously that didn’t work. The one in the middle was supposed to change the jump, but the last time I tried using that, we almost got eaten by quigs. The button to the far left was my only choice, so I hit it.
The button glowed white for a moment, and then… “It’s about time!”
Loor and I looked up to see Aja standing there. “I thought you’d never figure it out!” “Aja, what happened?” I asked.
“You never went into Zetlin’s jump,” she answered. “It must have been the Reality Bug. I realized it the second I inserted you, but couldn’t do anything about it until you realized it for yourself and called for me.”
“Are you really here?” I asked.
“No,” was the answer. “It’s just my image. I’m still in the Alpha Core.”
Suddenly a closet door blew open and flames licked out. The fire had reached the second floor. We were about to cook.
“Getting warm in there?” Saint Dane taunted from the hallway.
“Get us out of here!” I shouted to Aja. “It’s too risky,” Aja answered.
“Risky?” I shouted back. “How can it get any riskier than this?”
“If I pull you out now, I may not be able to get you back in,” she answered. “The Reality Bug is fighting to take over Zetlin’s jump. I don’t know how much longer I can keep it back, and we’ve still got to find Zetlin!”
“Aja,” Loor said calmly. “If we do not get out of here, we will not live long enough to find anybody.”
“I know,” Aja said. “Pendragon, push the middle button.”
“What?” I shouted. “The last time-“
“I know what happened the last time,” Aja interrupted. “But while you were playing cowboy, I programmed a link.”
“A link?” I asked.
242 250 Suddenly, with a crash, the door to the bedroom flew open and Saint Dane strode in.
“Time for the last roundup, buckaroos!” Saint Dane said. He raised his six-guns, ready to fire.
“Push the button, Pendragon!” Aja screamed.
I did.
Saint Dane let loose with both guns, blasting us. I heard the sharp cracks, I saw the fire come from the muzzles, but I didn’t feel a thing, because a nanosecond later, everything went black.
(CONTINUED)
VEELOX
I thought I was standing inside a giant colander. You know, one of those big silver bowls with all the holes in it for draining spaghetti. Everywhere I looked, I saw tiny, round dots. For a second I feared I was in some giant, fantasy kitchen, and a pile of boiling linguini was about to get dumped on me.
But that didn’t make sense. Still, there were far too many of these holes to have been made by Saint Dane’s six-shooter. So where was I?
I looked closer to see the dots weren’t holes after all. They were little globes of water about the size of peas. There were millions, no, billions of them all frozen in space, everywhere. I lifted my hand and moved it slowly in front of my face. As I passed through the suspended drops of water, my hand got wet. Stranger still, my hand cleared a path through the drops. It was like what happens when you wipe a steamy window. Wherever I moved my hand, I cleared a trail.
“Where are we, Pendragon?” Loor was standing next to me, doing the exact same thing. She took a step forward, clearing a body-size path through the dots of water. As she moved, her green jumpsuit got wetter and wetter.
Yes, we were both still wearing our jumpsuits.
“I don’t know” was my answer. I was tired of giving that answer. I looked around to get my bearings, but couldn’t see much. It was like we were in a misty white cloud. The ground we stood on was pavement, but I couldn’t see much more than a few feet in any direction.
“What is that?” Loor said, pointing at something.
I looked to see a faint, dark form not too far from us. It wasn’t moving, and didn’t seem to be a threat, so I cautiously walked toward it. It was strange feeling the water cling to my jumpsuit as I walked, making it wet. As I got closer to the dark form, it began to take shape. After one more step, the mist cleared enough for me to see what it was, and I caught my breath.
It was a man wearing a green jumpsuit, just like ours. He was a normal-looking guy about my father’s age.
