“I am done with you!” the man screamed. He had a strange, high-pitched voice and a hawkish face.
He heaved Rocky, throwing him to the ground. Rocky sprawled in the dirt, dazed. The man leveled his gun, and Rocky raised his head. Neither of them noticed Katie standing nearby. She felt like a bystander, unseen and invisible.
“It’s all over, Roche,” Rocky said with a sick smile. Blood stained his teeth. “Scoreboard. We outnumber you, and the Supers are bodying your men.”
Roche laughed, a high-pitched wheeze. He sounded deranged. “It’s not over. Even now, Calico is in there.” He pointed toward the temple with his pistol. “He’ll make short work of your friend. Then he’ll take the stone, and together we will become powerful.”
“You knew,” Rocky said. It wasn’t a question, and he showed no surprise at the revelation.
“Of course I knew!” Roche shouted. His voice cracked. “I’ve always despised the Supers, those who think they’re above me. Once I take the stone, Calico and I will be equals. No more shall we worship a select few who did nothing to earn it!”
Rocky laughed again, despite the gun pointed at his face. “You think you’ll be equals with Calico? Who do you think will be more powerful, the man born with powers or the one gifted them by some stone?”
“It will not matter!” Roche said shrilly. He leveled the gun, his finger sliding onto the trigger. “But you and Mr. Bolt will not be around to see it.”
Without thinking, Katie launched herself at Roche.
She collided with him as the gun went off, and the ground at their feet exploded. They went down in a tangle, her ears ringing from the closeness of the discharge. Before she knew what happened, Roche was on top of her, his hands around her throat.
And then Rocky was there. He shouldered roughly into Roche, throwing him to the ground. He stepped forward and kicked the gun, which skittered across the grass, far out of reach. Roche struggled to get to his feet, but Rocky punched him hard in the face, and the man fell back again. Rocky kept punching until the man fell still, then kept punching after that, his teeth clenched in a feral grin.
“Rocky, stop!” Katie shouted, alarmed. She laid a hand on his shoulder.
Only then did he stop, his shoulders rising and falling. Roche’s face was a mess of blood, and Katie hoped he was merely unconscious. Rocky glanced up at her. “I hate being helpless,” he muttered.
Katie grabbed his wrist and led him away from Roche, toward the front of the temple, where the rest of the soldiers were being rounded up and where Tonitrus, Myrcellus, and Afectrus were clearly fighting a losing battle against the other Supers.
At that moment, the ground shook beneath their feet. Katie and Rocky stumbled. The temple next to them vibrated as if struck, and cracks appeared in the ground, snaking out from the temple. The shaking went on for several moments, then stopped. Katie and Rocky looked at each other with wide eyes, unable to voice their shared thoughts.
While the battle outside was clearly won, something was happening inside. Get out of there, James, Katie thought. You can’t beat him.
Chapter 39
The next thing James knew, his back connected with the water and it exploded around him. He sank quickly, the water swirling around him, until his back connected with the floor of the shallow lake. The impact forced his breath out, and his eyes flew open. The bright green light remained imprinted in his vision, but with each blink it faded until it was nothing but a memory. He turned and kicked to the surface.
He broke through, coughing, and tried to find his bearings. He was on the edge of the cavern, far from the center platform—he must have been thrown a good thirty feet. There was no sign of the Chintamani Stone. Or Calico. The chamber was oddly quiet now, like when an air-conditioner shuts off and you’re forced to confront true silence.
He swam back to the platform and pulled himself out of the water. The pillar that had held the stone was completely gone, leaving behind a dark scuff on the ground. Roerich’s words, too, were gone, wiped away into nothing.
What had happened? It seemed that, somehow, severing the connection between Calico and the stone had caused a reaction, a small explosion. But there was no sign of Calico or the stone. Had they just disappeared?
Something glinted in the corner of his eye. Something green. He whipped his head around, heart pounding. Sitting on the ground at the other end of the bridge, where man-made stone met the rough rock of nature, was the Chintamani Stone. It glittered and seemed to shine even brighter, like it had been strengthened by the explosion.
James’s breath caught in his throat. He swore the stone hadn’t been there moments ago; he would have noticed it. What was happening?
He had to get to it. Before Calico came back. If he came back.
James got to his feet and made for the stone, his shoulders tense. The flickering light seemed to beckon him, inviting him forward. Calico’s interruption was the only reason he’d resisted its pull before. Could he do it again? Visions of the powers he could have flashed through his mind, and he steeled himself, trying to ignore them. He’d made his choice.
He was halfway across the bridge when his sight blurred. He stopped, swaying on his feet. A strange whirring sound rushed past, and his ears popped as the pressure in the room suddenly dropped. He looked around, unsure, when something hit him—no, hit his mind—as hard as a freight train. It felt like his head exploded, and his vision flickered, like a dying light bulb.
He fell to his knees, the pain in his head unbearable. It blinded him, lit up his mind. He couldn’t think. He couldn’t see.
“Please,” he groaned, his mouth dry, his tongue thick.
A voice spoke into his head. It was harsh, guttural, straight
