as Travelers. Killing would certainly be one of them.”
“We made the choices we had to make,” I said defensively. “If we hadn’t broken a few rules, the turning points of many territories would have gone the wrong way.”
“Would that have been so bad?” Alder asked quickly.
Icouldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Well, yeah!” I argued. “We stopped Saint Dane most every time.”
“To what end?” Alder asked. “He is on the verge of controlling Halla in spite of our efforts. I cannot help but wonder what would have happened if we had not broken the rules. Would we be in any worse of a situation than we are right now?”
Iwas getting angry. Alder was questioning everything we had done as Travelers.
“I don’t buy that,” I shot back. “Anything we can do to stop Saint Dane is justified.”
“Iwould agree,” Alder stated calmly, “if we had stopped him. We have not.”
Iwanted to argue, but he was right. All the battles up to that point didn’t matter. Everything was happening as Saint Dane predicted. In spite of all we had done, all our victories, he was on the verge of controlling Halla.
“So what do we do? Give up?” I shouted in frustration.
“No,” Alder answered quickly. “I am saying we should use every possible method at our disposal, before once again doing something we know is wrong.”
“Of course we will!” I shouted. “You think I want to kill somebody?”
We sat silently for a few moments. I had to cool down. Alder was on my side. Arguing wouldn’t help things.
“Taking a life is a frightening step,” Alder continued. “Maybe a step too far. If we murdered someone in cold blood, would we be taking the final step down to Saint Dane’s level?”
“Yes” was my honest answer.
Alder thought for a few more seconds, then said, “You have never taken a life, have you, Pendragon?”
I shook my head. I had been surrounded by death and destruction from the moment I became a Traveler, but never at my own hands. Even with the Hindenburg, it was Gunny who allowed the rocket to be fired. Not me.
I swallowed hard and admitted, “I’m not even sure I could.”
“You must not find out now,” Alder concluded.
“What other choice do we have?”
“Only one. If it comes to it, I will kill Naymeer.”
I hadn’t expected that. “What? Why?”
“It is wrong to take another life,” Alder explained. “However, if it would mean stopping the Ravinians and righting Second Earth, I believe it would be justified. If it would prevent a massacre, it would be justified. If it would end the Convergence and protect Halla, it would be justified. I believe that. But I also believe it would be disastrous for you to do it.”
“Why? What difference does it make?”
“You are the lead Traveler, Pendragon. You are the way. You have always been the way. You must rise above. If Halla is to be put right, many will look to you for guidance. I believe that is the way it was meant to be. If we are to believe that our way is the right way, you cannot become a killer. If it came to that, I believe Halla would truly be lost, and Saint Dane would have his ultimate victory.”
Alder’s words rang true. We were the good guys. Or so I always thought. Yes, we made mistakes and didn’t always play by the rules, but I always believed our intentions were right and our actions justified. This was different.
Deliberately taking a life, in cold blood, felt like it crossed the line. Even more so than mixing territories. I wasn’t sure it would be okay for Alder to do it and not me, but I was willing to accept the possibility. Saint Dane told me so many times that this was a battle not only for Halla, but between the two of us. He wanted to prove himself superior to me. I still didn’t know who he wanted to prove it to, but some higher power had to be involved. Maybe I was kidding myself by thinking that condoning a murder, without actually doing it, got me off the hook. That felt like a technicality. But if this were truly a battle between Saint Dane and me, I had to think that taking the high road and not actually having blood on my hands was the right way to go.
“All right,” I finally said. “We’ll try to get Naymeer off the territory. If we fail and have to do something more drastic, I’ll step aside for you, Alder. But not if it means losing him.”
“Very well. Please remember, though, that there may be a lot more to lose if you do not step aside,” Alder said.
With those ominous words in my head, I lay back down on the bunk and closed my eyes.
“I gotta sleep,” I said. “Tomorrow is going to be a long day. Wake me up in two hours. We have work to do.”
SECOND EARTH
Courtney and Mark sat behind the samelong table in the Stony Brook police station where they had been interrogated years before by Captain Hirsch. It was Chief Hirsch now. Both Mark and Courtney remembered him as being a good guy. A friend. He was genuinely concerned back then about what had happened to Bobby and his family. They trusted him. Not anymore.
Hirsch wasn’t an enemy, but he and the Stony Brook police were standing in the way of their mission to derail Naymeer and the Ravinians. Mark and Courtney knew that whatever happened, they had to keep the police away from Bobby and Alder.
Hirsch had left them alone in the simple, bland room for over an hour before rejoining them. The whole time, Mark and Courtney didn’t say a word to each other. They knew they were being watched from behind the two-way mirror that took up most of one wall. When Hirsch finally entered, he came in with a uniformed officer who went immediately to the back of the room and stood with his arms folded. Hirsch brought Mark and
Courtney sodas and chips. Neither cared. Neither ate. Hirsch took off his gray suit jacket and sat down in the chair across from the two friends.
“So?” he said casually. “Where have you guys been?”
It was such a simple question that had an impossibly complicated answer.
Courtney jumped in first. “I just took off,” she said bluntly. “I was going through a lot at home, you know, with getting injured and all. When Mark’s parents died, it was just too much to handle. So I left. It was wrong, I know. What can I say?”
“Where did you go?” Hirsch asked, sipping on a Coke.
“New York,” Courtney answered. She wanted to keep as many elements of the truth as possible in her story, in case she slipped up. “I stayed in different places. Worked some odd jobs. You know, just to get by.”
“We can check on that, you know,” Hirsch said bluntly.
“Do you really care that much?” Courtney asked.
Mark winced. He was afraid Courtney would get combative and say something foolish. Hirsch didn’t answer her. Instead he turned to Mark. “How about you, Mark?” Hirsch asked. “I’m very sorry about your parents by the way.”
“Thanks,” Mark said softly. He had to play the role of a grieving son who had lost his parents in an air disaster. “We were together. Courtney and I. We were just hanging out, you know?”
“Okay, why?”
“I don’t know,” Mark said evasively. “It’s tough losing your parents and finding out you’re alone in the world. I didn’t want to live with my aunt in Maryland.”
“He’s my friend,” Courtney added. “I was helping him get his head back on straight.”
“Without telling your parents?”
“If you were my father, would you have let me go?”
Hirsch nodded thoughtfully. “Why did you break into Alexander Naymeer’s house?”
Mark was about to answer, but Courtney sat forward, cutting him off. “We didn’t. Why would he say that? We were hanging around outside, but we didn’t break in. Does he have proof? Were things stolen?”
“Uh, yes, a car.”
