She’s right – the white boulder in the middle of the lake is empty. I look at Six and Crayton and see they’re on high alert, ready for danger. I glance around us. What is this, a trap?
‘He will now test you,’ Commander Sharma says, interrupting my thoughts. He’s the only one among us who doesn’t look shocked by Vishnu’s disappearance. ‘That is why I have brought you here.’
We all see it at the same time. Something is blocking the sun on top of the jagged wall above the pool, and a long, oddly shaped shadow is cast along the water. A figure walks slowly along the ridge until it stands directly above the farthest of the four waterfalls on the left.
‘Commander?’ I ask. ‘Who is that?’
‘That is your first test,’ the commander says, stepping onto the grassy shore around the lake. We all follow, without taking our eyes off the figure.
A second later it dives gracefully off the cliff. I notice its legs are strangely short and it has a wide, circular torso. It falls slowly, almost floating, as if it can control gravity. When it breaks the surface of the pool, there is no splash. Not even a ripple. Six reaches up and squeezes the large blue pendant that hangs around her neck. Ella takes a few steps back, away from the lake.
‘This could be a trap,’ Crayton says quietly, voicing my fear. ‘Prepare to fight.’
Six lets the pendant drop from her hands and rubs her palms together. I set my Chest down and begin to mimick her movements, but I feel ridiculous and glance around as surreptitiously as I can to see if anyone noticed. Good thing they are otherwise occupied. Fact is, Six knows how to fight, has trained for this her entire life. Everything she does has a purpose. I’m just rubbing my hands together. I slowly lower my hands back to my side.
‘He’ll test you one at a time,’ says the commander. Six snorts.
‘You don’t make the rules. Not for us,’ Six says. She turns to Crayton, who nods.
‘Commander, this is not what we came here to do,’ Crayton adds. ‘We came here to find our friend, not to be tested or to fight.’
Commander Sharma ignores him, walks into a patch of short grass and sits. I never would have taken him for a guy who could pretzel himself into the lotus position. ‘It must be one at a time,’ he says serenely.
The being – or whatever it is – that dove into the lake is still underwater. And I’m the only one with the Legacy to meet it down there. I know what I have to do. Still, I’m surprised to hear the words come out of my mouth. ‘I’ll go first.’
I look over at Six. She nods at me and I dive into the lake. The cool water becomes darker the deeper I swim. My eyes are open, and at first I can only see a few inches of murky water in front of me. But my eyes soon adjust and my vision penetrates far into the lake, my ability to see in the dark coming in handy. I allow the water to enter my lungs, and a familiar calm sweeps over me. I start breathing normally, letting my Legacy take over.
I reach the muddy bottom and spin around, looking in every direction for the thing that dove from the cliff. Something moves over my right shoulder, and I turn to see a figure coming at me. He’s wearing a golden crown over his short, jet-black hair. His eyebrows are perfect semicircles, and his nose is pierced with a gold ring. He is strangely beautiful. I can’t take my eyes off of him.
I stand perfectly still, waiting to see what he wants. He comes closer. When he gets within a few feet of me and I can see him more clearly, my jaw drops. What I thought was a strangely circular torso is, in fact, the body of a turtle. I’m mesmerized, watching to see what he will do next. So much so, I’m taken by surprise when he lunges towards me and hits me with his two right arms.
I go spiraling backwards, the force propelling me with a speed that stuns me. But I’m not in motion for long. My feet quickly find the muddy bottom and I twist around in a panic, trying to find him in the darkness, my senses on alert and on guard. Something taps my shoulder and I turn to see the blue turtle man. Damn, he moves fast. He winks at me, then swings both of his left arms, but this time I’m ready for him. I raise my forearm and knee in time to block them. Then I plant the bottom of my foot squarely on his chest and kick as hard as I can. I flip over and come at him from the back, wrapping my arms around his neck, and look around for something, anything, I can use as a weapon. I see a large rock sticking out of the mud in front of us, and I use my telekinesis to send it at this alien turtle, using all of my strength to pull it through the water. He sees the rock coming and when it’s within inches of hitting him, he just disappears. Poof. The rock smashes me instead and I fall back in the mud.
I lie there dazed, waiting for him to appear again, but he doesn’t come. Eventually, I decide to float to the top.
The first thing I see as I break the surface is Six, standing at the edge of the water, looking for me. ‘What happened?’ she calls.
‘She passed.’ Commander Sharma nods.
‘You okay?’ Ella shouts. ‘I couldn’t see anything through the glasses.’
‘I’m good,’ I yell back. And I really am.
‘What do you mean, she passed?’ Crayton demands of the commander. ‘That was one of his tests?’
The commander just smiles serenely and ignores Crayton.
‘Okay, who’s next?’ Treading water, my eyes follow the commander’s finger high over my head. I turn to see a shadowy figure up on the jagged wall again. This time he’s a giant bearded man with an axe in his hand.
Six wades into the water up to her knees as I climb out, wringing water out of my long, dark hair. She is all steely determination and confidence when she says, ‘Me.’
The figure walks to the third waterfall and dives. This time he makes a massive splash when he hits the pool. We can see the ripple on the surface of the water as he moves towards Six under water. Then the tip of his axe comes out of the lake, followed by his giant head. Six doesn’t flinch, doesn’t change expression at all, even when he’s fully emerged and stands at least four feet taller than her in the shallow water at the edge of the lake.
With a grunt and a howl, the giant swings the axe. Six leaps out of the way but before he can pull back, she kicks at the wooden handle, breaking it in half.
‘Way to go, Six!’ Ella yells.
The giant swings a fist at her, which she easily avoids with a bob and a weave. With the next beat, she lands a quick kick to his kneecap. As the giant bends over and howls in pain, Six grabs the end of the broken ax handle as it floats by and swings it at his head. The being disappears before it hits him.
‘What the hell was that?’ Six asks, whipping her head around wildly, on the alert for any kind of reappearance.
Commander Sharma smiles placidly. This guy is really starting to make me angry. ‘That was another test, which you passed. There is one more.’
Before anyone can speak, we hear a roar. I reel back with horror at the creature I see emerging from the water. It’s over ten feet tall and has the head of a lion and the body of a man. It has five muscular arms flexed at each of its sides. The creature shakes the water from its mane as it steps onto the shore and marches towards Ella, unleashing a second roar.
‘Oh. My. God,’ Ella says, mouth open and eyes wide.
‘No,’ Crayton says, stepping in front of Ella. ‘You’re not ready for this – it’s too much.’
Ella rests a hand on Crayton’s arm. A small smile breaks across Ella’s face and she seems to transform from a scared kid into a Garde prepared to fight. ‘It’s okay. I can do this.’
Six comes to my side. We’re both ready to fight if Ella needs us. The creature moves towards her; she slides my glasses back onto her face. Then, it attacks.
The creature swings all ten arms at Ella, but she ducks and avoids each one. It’s as if Ella sees every punch before it happens. The tree behind her ends up taking the beating. Large chunks of wood fly around her, hitting the creature’s face, bouncing off its chest. Not running away but not fighting back either, Ella circles the tree trunk, continuing to dodge the ten fists. The tr
ee is getting pummeled.
Suddenly, Ella screams. ‘Oh no! What have I done?’
Before I can figure out what Ella means, there’s a loud crack and the heavy tree trunk tips forward. It’s about to crush the creature when the figure disappears just like all the others. As the tree continues its fall to the ground, a branch swipes the dark glasses off Ella’s face and they are crushed by a huge tree branch. ‘Marina, I’m so sorry! I knew the glasses were going to be broken, but I couldn’t do anything to stop it.’
Crayton, Six, and I run over to Ella, who’s staring in horror at the fragments of the glasses by her feet. ‘Ella! Don’t worry about the glasses. You held your own and that thing disappeared. What’s important is that you’re okay. I’m so proud of you,’ I tell her.
‘Ella, that was amazing!’ says Six.
‘Congratulations,’ the commander says, still sitting calmly, Buddha-like. ‘You have just defeated three of Vishnu’s avatars. You’ve passed his test. The first was Kurma, a half man, half tortoise who churned the ancient ocean so that other peaceful gods could regain immortality. The man with the axe was Parashurama, the first warrior saint. The last was one of the most powerful incarnations of Vishnu, the man-lion, Narismha. Now, we await Vishnu’s arrival.’
‘We’re done waiting,’ says Crayton, turning to the commander, jaw set and fists clenched by his side. ‘He better show himself and fast.’
‘Chill, chill, chill,’ a boy’s voice says, emerging from the high grass behind me. ‘The commander was just following my orders. I was being cautious.’
From the grass we now see the statue of Vishnu step towards us, alive and smiling.
‘I’ve been waiting a long time to meet you.’
10.
Sitting on a metal chair, I’m in a Plexiglas cage in the back of a small truck. My hands are cuffed to the chair and my ankles are secured with heavy shackles. A strap of leather pulls my forehead back against the Plexiglas wall behind me. I’m facing the side of the truck, but can turn my head just enough to see Nine, also in a Plexiglas cage, a few feet away from mine. In front of me a guard is watching us. I know I could free myself in an instant, but BK , who’s still hiding in my pocket, is right. We need to see what they know and how it could help us. Nine must agree because he is even more capable of breaking the binds that hold him, but he, too, does nothing. There are a bunch of locks on our cages and the only way we can talk through the thick Plexiglas is through the eight tiny holes in the cage doors. The truck’s engine is running, but we haven’t moved an inch.
Special Agent Walker is sitting on a long metal bench near the front of the truck. She has one foot on my Chest, and the other on Nine’s. A Mogadorian cannon lies across her lap. The man with the crooked nose is sitting next to her with the other cannon. Walker is whispering into a cell phone. Every so often she glances over at us. I can almost hear what she’s saying, catching words like boyfriend and powerless. I remember Nine saying back in the mountain that he can hear for miles. I hope he’s picking up more than I am.
‘Hey, John!’ Nine yells.
The guard turns towards Nine’s cage and aims a rifle at Nine’s head. ‘You! Shut up!’
Nine ignores him. ‘Johnny! When do you want to roll on out of here? I don’t know about you, but I’m bored, I could use a change of scenery.’ He does enjoy pissing people off. I’m beginning to understand the appeal.
Special Agent Walker closes her phone and pinches the bridge of her nose with her fingers. She looks like an aggravated parent or teacher, her exhaustion wiping away a lot of her authority. Then she takes a deep breath and sits up straight, as if she’s made a decision. She knocks on the window, indicating the driver should start moving.
She stands and marches towards us, balancing herself with the cannon over her head. She comes to a stop in front of me. There’s something in her eyes that wasn’t there before. It’s almost as if she’s sorry she caught us. Or she’s sorry about what she has to do next. Or both.
‘How did you find us?’ I ask.
‘You know how,’ she says.
I still have the bracelet around my wrist. It’s been quiet for the last few minutes, but as soon as the agent speaks, it begins to buzz again.
Nine shouts, ‘Hey, I wasn’t kidding about being bored here. I don’t feel like playing nice anymore. It’s up to you, but you should know that you don’t have long before I decide to amuse myself. You can tell us everything you know right now, or I’ll kick my way out of here and make you tell me. Guess which one will make my day a little more fun?’
The man with the crooked nose rises slowly from the bench and aims his cannon directly at Nine. ‘Who do you think you are, kid? You’re in no position to threaten us.’
‘Whatever you’re planning, I promise, I’ve been through worse,’ Nine says.
‘I know exactly where you were before. Don’t you get that? We know.’ The man sounds annoyed by Nine’s bravado.
‘Agent Purdy,’ Walker says to him. ‘Lower your weapon. Now.’
The agent starts to lower it and I decide to have some fun. I guess Nine is rubbing off on me. Using my telekinesis, I rip the cannon out of his hands and toss it to the back of the truck. It hits the back door before landing on the floor with a clang. Just at that moment we take a sharp corner and Agent Purdy stumbles towards me, his right shoulder slamming against my cage. I use my telekinesis to keep him pinned in place.
‘Son of a . . .’
‘Don’t you know you should always wear a seat belt, Agent Pretty?’ Nine laughs. ‘Safety first! Here, take one of mine. You just need to come on in here to get it.’
Agent Purdy says, ‘However you’re doing this, you better stop it.’ He tries to sound scary, but it’s hard to sound threatening in his position.
I lean forward, easily breaking the strap across my forehead. Play time is over. ‘Agent Purdy, do you know where Sam Goode is?’
‘We have Sam,’ Special Agent Walker says, turning towards me. Her voice is casual but her cannon is pointing right at me.
For a second, I’m so blown away by this new piece of information, my mind goes blank, and I accidentally release Agent Purdy. He crashes into the aisle.
They have Sam? Setrákus Ra isn’t torturing him in the cave like I saw in my vision? He’s okay? I’m about to ask where Sam is when I notice the lights swirling in the tube of Special Agent Walker’s cannon. Instead of green, these lights are black and red.
She grins at the alarmed look on my face. ‘If you’re lucky, John Smith, or whatever your name is, we’ll show you a video of how we use our interrogation techniques on Sam. But if you’re really lucky, we’ll show you some footage of that little blonde girlfriend of yours. What’s her name again?’
‘Oooooohhhh, shit,’ Nine says. I can hear the grin in his voice as he knows what is about to go down. ‘Now you’ve gone and done it.’
It takes me a second to find my voice. ‘Sarah,’ I whisper. ‘I know she’s working with you. What did you have to tell her to turn her against me?’
Agent Purdy grabs his cannon and settles back into his seat. ‘Are you kidding me? That girl wouldn’t tell us a thing, and, believe me, we asked many things in many different ways. She had nothing to say to us. She’s in love.’
Once again, I’m stunned. I was so sure Sarah was working with the government to bring me in. When I saw her last week in Paradise, she acted so strange. She met me in the park, but then started getting mysterious text messages – at two in the morning. Seconds later we were surrounded by agents and being slammed to the ground. I can’t think of anything else that explains it. It had to have been those text messages; they must have been from the police. How else could they have known that Sam and I were there? Damn. Now I don’t know what to think. And she’s still in love with me?
‘Where is she?’ I demand.
‘Far, far away,’ Special Agent Walker says. Is she taunting me?
‘Who cares, dude?’ Nine yells, interrupting. ‘Big
picture, Johnny, big picture! She’s not in it! Neither is Sam!’
I ignore him. Now that I know the U.S. government has Sam and Sarah, I’m determined to find them both. I’m thinking of my next move, my next question, when I feel Bernie Kosar crawling out of my jeans pocket.
It’s almost time to go, he says. We’ll take the woman to lead us to Sam and Sarah.
‘Nine,’ I say. ‘You ready to get out of here?’
‘God, yes. Been ready forever. I really have to pee.’
Special Agent Walker glances from me to Nine and back again. She doesn’t know where to point the cannon, so she moves it back and forth between us. Agent Purdy stands again and does the same. The guard in the back of the truck points his rifle at us.
‘If they move, shoot anything but a vital organ!’ Agent Purdy says, moving to stand shoulder to shoulder with Special Agent Walker.
Bernie Kosar jumps from my lap and crawls up the glass door. He flitters his tiny cockroach wings at me and he says to count to five.
‘Hey, Nine?’ I ask.
‘I’m already on three, my man,’ he says.
Walker shouts at us to shut up. My bracelet vibrates and sends a thousand pinpricks up and down my wrist but I ignore it. Nine breaks all of his restraints as if they were nothing, and stands up. I do the same, though it takes more effort for me. Nine kicks the Plexiglas wall at the front of his cage and the whole thing pops easily out of its frame. As he steps out, the guard fires at him. With a smile he just raises his hand and stops bullets in midair. He lowers his hand, and the bullets fall to the floor one at a time.
He looks over at me, ‘Need some help there, buddy?’ He kicks in a wall of my cage, and I step out. BK scrambles back into my pocket.
Before the guard can do anything, I use my telekinesis to launch him to the ceiling and twist his weapon into a useless piece of metal. Agent Walker and Purdy both fire their Mog cannons at us, but Nine stops the streams that come out of them. He smiles, and shakes his finger at the two agents. ‘No, no, no. You should know better by now.’ He looks over at me. ‘Get ready, Johnny, ’cause we are going for a spin!’
[Lorien Legacies 03.0] The Rise of Nine Page 7
