It seemed as if this Nevva was just about as loyal as the original. When we exited the office, four red shirts arrived, each carrying Tasers.
“Stand back,” Naymeer ordered them. “I must not be harmed.”
The guards looked confused. Or as I’ve written before, as confused as a dado can look. They kind of bumped into one another as they jockeyed to get out of our way. I ran to the door that led to the cellar and the flume.
“Go,” I commanded after opening it.
Alder pushed Naymeer ahead and down the stairs. I looked back at the dado guards and said, “You bozos wait here. We won’t be long.” I closed the door, leaving them standing there, befuddled.
“What is the point?” Naymeer asked as Alder wrestled him down the stairs and through the basement. “Do you think taking me away from Second Earth will change anything? Ravinia is more powerful than any one man. All will continue as planned whether I’m here or not. This is all so futile.”
“Maybe,” I said. “Maybe not. We’ll know for sure in a couple of minutes.”
“What? How?” Naymeer asked.
“We’re going to see the future.”
We stopped at the wooden door with the star. The gate to the flume. I took a second, and touched the star symbol that had been burned into the door.
“This star used to represent something special,” I said to Naymeer. “Something bigger than all of us. This star said Halla. But you took it and made it into something small and hateful. You feel good about that?”
Naymeer lifted an eyebrow and said, “What makes you think that star ever represented anything other than the pursuit of perfection that is Ravinia?”
I wanted to hit the guy. Especially if he was right. I didn’t want to believe that the star was put at all the gates solely to mark the way for Saint Dane’s crusade. That would have been too horrifying to even think of. So I didn’t. I pulled open the door and motioned for Alder to take him into the root cellar.
“We’ll all travel together,” I said as I stepped into the mouth of the flume. “I don’t want to risk this guy getting away and-”
The flume came to life.
It began to crack and writhe as light appeared in the deep distance. I shot a look to Alder. I wasn’t sure why. He didn’t have any more answers than I did.
“This is my lucky day,” Naymeer said with a confident grin. “It looks as if I’m to be receiving additional guests.”
I jumped out of the flume and stood with Alder and Naymeer, our backs to the far wall. The gray stones of the flume turned to crystal. A shadow appeared. A tall shadow. A single Traveler had arrived. He walked slowly from the depths of the flume and stood with the light at his back.
The light didn’t disappear. That meant only one thing.
“I’m honored that you’ve all come to greet my return,” Saint Dane said. “I trust you’re getting acquainted.”
“We’re taking him out of here,” I shouted.
Saint Dane laughed. “Why would you do that? You wouldn’t want him to miss all the fun, would you?”
“Let’s go,” I growled to Alder, taking his arm and pulling him toward the flume. I didn’t care if Saint Dane was there. I was ready to bowl him over. We had to get Naymeer away from Second Earth. We had to change the future.
It was going to be harder than I thought. More shadows appeared from deep within the flume, walking toward us in two military-like lines.
Alder and I stopped short. “Dados,” he declared.
They all wore the red-shirt uniforms of Naymeer’s guardians. Naymeer was right. It was going to be a lot more difficult leaving the house than it had been getting in.
We weren’t ready to give up. I spotted the two dado-killing rods that we had brought from Denduron. They were still on the dirt floor where we had dropped them when we were Tasered on our arrival.
“Let him go,” I commanded Alder, while diving to the ground and grabbing the rods.
Alder pushed Naymeer away. I tossed him a weapon.
Saint Dane stood in the center of the flume with his legs apart and his arms folded. He wasn’t about to move.
“Must you always be so difficult, Pendragon?” he asked, bored.
“Uh, yeah” was my answer, and the fight was on.
The dados jogged past Saint Dane on either side of the demon, headed for us. I dropped my rod down to my waist, ready to use it like a prod. I nailed the first dado in line, instantly feeling his power going out. I pulled the weapon back and jabbed again at the second. They didn’t know what hit them. Wherever these dados came from, it wasn’t Quillan. They knew nothing about the power of these weapons. We had a chance.
Naymeer ran from the root cellar. I didn’t care. We had to get out of there and go to Third Earth, where we could figure out another plan of attack. Alder took out the dados one by one. The bodies were piling up, but more red shirts marched from the depths of the flume. Many more.
I heard Alder gasp. He’d been hit. I wasn’t sure by what. A Taser? The butt of a gun? He staggered. I went to him to try and keep the dados off him. It was the last move I made. There were too many of them. As soon as I jumped to Alder’s defense, I felt a sharp shot to the back of my head. I fell forward, dropping the weapon. Alder was already flat out. I was on my knees, about to join him. I took another shot to the side of my head and went down, hard. The last thing I remember seeing was Saint Dane’s smiling face looking down at me.
“Always the hard way,” he said, shaking his head.
(CONTINUED)
SECONDEARTH
“Howare you feeling?”
It was a deep voice that sounded vaguely familiar. How was I feeling? I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer.
“Like I was hit by a bus,” I croaked. Of course, I’d never actually been hit by a bus, but I was pretty sure that this was what it would feel like. I struggled to pull myself out of the dark pit of the unconscious, knowing that when I got out, I wouldn’t want to be where I found myself. I opened my eyes. At least I think I did. It was hard to tell, because everything was black.
“Alder?” I asked.
“He is fine,” came the deep voice.
Who was that? Why did he sound so familiar? I blinked. It didn’t change anything, other than to make my head hurt. I decided not to blink anymore. I was lying out flat on something soft. At least somebody had tried to make me comfortable. Good for them, whoever they were.
“Over here, Pendragon,” the voice said.
The third time was the charm. I recognized the voice. I wanted to be unconscious again. I looked toward my feet to see him standing over me, lit by a small lamp near the end of the couch I was on. The light hit him from below, like when you hold a flashlight under your chin to look all spooky. But Saint Dane didn’t really need any lighting effects to help with his creep appeal. He loomed over me like a vulture, his bald head in shadow caused by the light of the single bulb.
“Welcome back,” he said warmly, as if he actually meant it. “I was afraid you’d miss the festivities. Close your eyes; I’ll put some lights on.”
What a courteous guy! He didn’t want me to be uncomfortable when he flicked on the lights. How thoughtful. I’d have thanked him, if I hadn’t wanted to hurt him.
Saint Dane walked slowly to a wall panel and turned a dimmer switch. The room slowly grew brighter, and I got a view of the space. It looked like the waiting room at a doctor’s office. I didn’t think for a second that Saint Dane would have taken me to a doctor. There were a couple of couches and chairs with tables. One whole wall was covered by heavy red drapes that were probably blocking a window. I was lying on a couch along one wall. My head
