basement until a team of psychiatrists turned my head inside out… or I turned forty, whichever came last.”
Mark chuckled nervously and said, “Yeah, my mom barely let me out to go to the library tonight.”
The two laughed, but it was nervous laughter.
Courtney added, “We’ll deal when we get back.”
Mark nodded. He wasn’t sure which he feared more: jumping into the flume or telling his parents why he’d disappeared. Talk about things changing! Once they took this step, there would be no turning back. Whenthey returned to Second Earth, ifthey returned, they’d have to ‘fess up about everything. They’d have to explain about Bobby, and his uncle Press. They’d have to confess to the police that they hid the truth about the Pendragons disappearing for fear of being locked away in a nuthouse. Of course, Mark figured, after revealing all that’s been happening, they’d be locked away in a nuthouse anyway. It was a scary step for all sorts of reasons, but the more Mark thought about it, the more he felt Courtney was right. There was no choice. They had to travel.
Courtney walked to the wooden door to the root cellar. She looked at the star that had been burned into the wood, marking it as a gate to the flume. She reached up and touched it, feeling the smooth, burned edges of the symbol.
“Ready?” she asked.
Mark took a deep breath and walked for the door. “Last chance to talk me out of it,” he said.
Courtney smiled, opened the door, and said, “Let’s go to Cloral.”
SECOND EARTH
(CONTINUED)
Seegen’s body sat motionlessin the mouth of the flume, his lifeless eyes staring straight ahead, seeing nothing. Mark and Courtney entered the root cellar and stood in front of this latest casualty in the war against Saint Dane. It was a grim reminder that this was no game. The stakes were high. People died.
Courtney broke the silence by saying, “I’ve never seen a dead person.”
“He’s a cat,” Mark said softly. “Does that count?”
“Close enough,” Courtney answered. “What should we do about him?”
“We should send him back to Eelong,” Mark offered. “It’s where he belongs.”
“Can we do that?” Courtney asked.
Mark shrugged and said, “We can try. But we should say something first. Out of respect.”
Courtney nodded and dropped her head. Mark did the same and said reverently, “We only know a few things about Seegen. He came from the territory of Eelong; he has a daughter named Kasha; he was a Traveler; and he died in the battle to protect
Halla from Saint Dane. For that, he was a hero. There’s nothing else we can say except that we’ll do all we can to make sure he didn’t die for nothing.”
The two kept their heads down for a moment. “That was perfect,” Courtney said.
Mark nodded. “Wait here,” he said, and ran out of the root cellar. He quickly returned with a plastic sandwich bag full of carrots from his backpack.
“You want a snack now?” Courtney asked in wonder.
“Hang on,” Mark answered, taking out the note he had written to the acolyte from Eelong. He knelt down next to Seegen and cautiously brought the paper close to the dead cat’s mouth.
“What are you doing?” Courtney asked nervously.
“We’ve got to be sure,” Mark answered. He used the paper to pull out some of the fur from around Seegen’s mouth. “There will be traces of the poison on his fur. On Cloral they can examine it to see if it really is the same plague.” Mark stood up and folded the paper several times, making sure the hairs were trapped safely inside. He dumped the carrots out of the plastic bag and put the folded paper inside, being careful to seal the bag up tight.
“That’s pretty smart,” Courtney said.
“Yeah, I’m a smart guy.” He put the bag in his pocket and said, “A really scared, smart guy. Now what?”
Courtney shrugged. “Now we see if this is going to work.” She looked into the flume, took a deep breath and shouted,”Eelong!”
The flume sprang to life.
“Oh man,” Mark said in awe. “What if it takes us, too?”
Courtney pulled Mark to the side of the flume. The two hugged each other as light filled the root cellar along with the sweet musical notes. The flume shivered slightly. Mark and Courtney felt the ground move, as if they were in a small earthquake. They shared a quick look, but didn’t think about it again. Both waited to be tugged into the flume. They weren’t. The light diminished; the music grew faint; and they were still on Second Earth. Courtney let go of Mark and peered around the mouth of the flume in time to see the light disappearing in the distance. Seegen’s body was gone.
“Good-bye, Seegen,” Mark said.
The two stood staring into the empty flume. Neither made a move for the longest time. Finally Mark said softly, “Courtney, I am really scared.”
Courtney said, “Yeah, me too.”
Neither made a move.
“It seems like so long ago,” Mark said wistfully. “And sometimes like yesterday.”
“What does?”
“The night Osa came to my bedroom and gave me the ring. I put my head back there sometimes. Back before Bobby left. Before we found out about Travelers, and territories, and Saint Dane.”
“Me too,” Courtney admitted. “I always think about the night Bobby left. It was like a whole different life.”
“Yeah, a whole different life,” Mark echoed.
The two stood in silence for a few moments, then Mark said, “Are you sure we’re doing the right thing?”
“I don’t know, Mark. I’d be lying if I said I was absolutely sure. But from all we know, I don’t think we have another choice.”
Mark nodded thoughtfully. “You know what I think?”
“What?”
Mark stood up straight, looked Courtney square in the eye, and said with as much confidence as he could gather, “I think we’re on the wrong territory.”
Courtney broke out in a wide grin. “Then say it,” she said.
Mark Dimond was ready for an adventure. He was about to get one. After watching Bobby for so long from the safety of the sidelines, he and Courtney were about to step onto the playing field. Mark looked into the flume, took a deep breath, and said in a strong voice,”Cloral.”
The flume woke up. The walls began to crack and groan. Mark and Courtney could actually feel it moving beneath their feet as it writhed and twisted like a sleepy snake.
“I’ve never felt it move before,” Mark said nervously.
“I don’t think it has,” Courtney replied.
The light appeared far in the distance. It was on its way in to sweep them up and bring them on a ride that had been long in coming. The jumble of musical notes were heard faintly at first, but grew steadily louder while drawing closer. Mark grabbed Courtney’s hand. They both fought the instinct to back away. In the past they would have. Not today. Today their job was to stay put and let the flume take them. They saw the gray rock walls melting into crystal. Soon thentire tunnel would become clear and they’d be off.
Thunk!
Mark and Courtney jumped back because a piece of rock the size of a basketball had cracked away from the tunnel over their heads and fallen at their feet. It was heavy, and it nearly hit them.
“That can’t be good,” Courtney said.
“Something’s wrong,” Mark said nervously.
Clunk!
