Black Water

by D. J. MacHale

  “There’s one for each of you. With holsters,” Yenza said. “I don’t care how tough those tangs are on Eelong, one shot from this will knock ’em silly.”

  “No,” Spader said. “No weapons.”

  “Why not?” Courtney asked. “Eelong is a hairy place.”

  “So it is,” Spader replied. “But we’re going there to get rid of a poison that should never have been brought in. That’s all. We can’t start using whatever we want from other territories.”

  “I-I hear you, Spader,” Mark said nervously. “B-But it’s going to be dangerous. We might not make it out of the flume tree alive.”

  “If we don’t,” Spader said, “then that was the way it was meant to be. We’ll have to take our chances. Still want to go?”

  Mark looked at Courtney. He had been having second thoughts about this trip all along. Now he was having third and fourth thoughts.

  “Absolutely,” Courtney answered with confidence.

  “Mark?” Spader asked.

  Mark took a breath, then said, “Yeah.”

  Spader said to Yenza, “Please send a message to Yorn through your ring. He’s the acolyte from Eelong. Tell him that Saint Dane brought a poison to Eelong from Cloral and we’re coming with the antidote. He’s got to get that message to Pendragon so we can join up with him.”

  “Understood,” Yenza said. “Are you sure you don’t want me to come?”

  “No, I’m not at all sure,” Spader answered. “But we’ve already got two acolytes traveling. If it turns out to be wrong, I don’t want to risk sending another.”

  “It’s not wrong,” Courtney said defensively.

  Spader replied by picking up his water sled. “We’ll soon find out. Ready?”

  They all grabbed their air globes and placed them over their heads.

  “Good luck!” Yenza called to them as Spader and Courtney leaped into the water.

  “Thank you,” Mark said to Yenza. He sat on the rail of the speeder, twisted his legs over the side, and gently slipped into the warm water of Cloral. The three floated together next to the boat.

  “Same as before,” Spader instructed. “Grab my belt.”

  He ducked below the surface, followed by Mark and Courtney. They each grabbed on to his belt, and with the help of his powerful water sled, Spader pulled the trio down underwater toward the gate to the flume. Yenza had positioned the speeder right above the rock ledge, so in no time the three shot underneath. Minutes later they surfaced in the cavern that held the flume. Without a word they pulled themselves up onto the rocky ledge and got rid of their air globes and swim belts.

  “We’ll wear these clothes in the flume,” Spader said. “Then find clothes from Eelong when we arrive.”

  “It’s going to be tough explaining to the klees what these tanks are,” Mark said.

  “It’s going to be impossible,” Spader shot back. “Let’s hope we won’t have to.” He slipped back into the water and called out, “Eelong!” The flume overhead sprang to life. As the light and the musical notes grew closer, Spader looked to Courtney and said, “I sure hope you’re right about this. See you on the other side.”

  The bright light flashed out of the flume and shot down toward Spader. Mark and Courtney had to squint to see what was happening, and caught a glimpse of Spader being lifted out of the water. A second later the light flashed so brightly that it blinded them. When it disappeared, Spader was gone. All they could hear was the faint sound of the musical notes fading into the depths of the flume. The two stood there, nervously waiting for the other to go first.

  “You realize we could die on Eelong,” Mark said soberly.

  “Nice,” Courtney said. “Real positive attitude you got there.”

  “I’m serious,” Mark complained. “Are we ready for this?”

  Courtney answered by slipping into the water. “Yes,” she said. “You’re not going to bail on me just when it’s getting interesting, are you?”

  “This is a lot of things,” Mark said as he dropped into the water. “ ‘Interesting’ doesn’t begin to cover it.”

  “Eelong!” Courtney shouted.

  Instantly the flume groaned. They could hear the rock walls crack and grind as if an earthquake were shaking it. Mark and Courtney looked up in wonder.

  “It didn’t do that when Spader left,” Mark said nervously.

  Two rocks fell out of the flume, bounded down the side of the cavern and splashed into the water. Mark and Courtney had to swim out of the way or they would have been creamed.

  “This isn’t right,” Mark gasped.

  “Too late now,” Courtney shouted back as the musical notes grew loud. More rocks fell, splashing down in the water. The light from the flume circled them both and they could feel themselves being lifted up and out of the pool. A moment later they were whisked into the flume and sent on their way to Eelong.

  As they flew, they quickly forgot about the unusual damage that happened to the flume. The anticipation of what was to come was far more exciting, and scary. As with their first flume trip, they saw strange images floating in the star field that surrounded the crystal tunnel. There was a giant castle that looked as if it were built into a mountainside, a silver, cigar-shaped zeppelin that could very well have been the Hindenburg, and what looked like legions of tall soldiers, marching together in perfect formation, headed for some unknown war. Mark and Courtney had no idea what any of it meant. They didn’t have much time to discuss it anyway, because they soon felt the tug of gravity that meant they were arriving on Eelong. Seconds later they were on their feet . . . and enveloped by the curtain of vines. Each went a different way and quickly got lost in the tangle.

  “Ahhh!” shouted Mark in terror as he slashed with his arms to keep them away. “Courtney!”

  “Mark!” Courtney called back from somewhere. “It’s cool. They’re roots, remember? Bobby wrote about them.”

  Mark stopped struggling. “Right, roots,” he said, embarrassed. He felt a strong hand grab his arm and relaxed. He wasn’t alone anymore. “Oh man,” he panted. “How do we get out of—”

  As the hanging vegetation parted, he saw that the hand didn’t belong to Courtney. Holding on to his wrist was a yellow-eyed, sharp-toothed, semihuman quig. The two stared at each other, waiting to see what the other was going to do. Mark reacted first.

  “Quig!” he shouted and tried to pull away. But the quig held him tight Mark fell backward into the vines as the quig pounced on his chest. The beast looked down on him, baring his teeth in a hideous smile. It lunged for Mark’s throat. Mark threw his hands up to protect himself, and the quig bit into his forearm. “Ahhh!” Mark screamed in pain. Mark wasn’t a fighter. Not even close. But the pain kicked him into action. He whacked the quig on the side of the head with his free hand, knocking the little beast away. But not for long. The quig scrambled to his knees, ready to pounce again. Mark was on his butt, backing away on all fours.

  “Courtney!” he shouted. “Help!”

  The quig sprang, but before it got to Mark, a vine shot out and wrapped around its neck, holding it back. The quig let out a surprised yelp and tore at the noose. At first, Mark thought the vine had come to life and attacked the quig, but a second later he saw the real reason. Spader was clutching the two ends of the vine, holding the monster quig tight.

  “Nasty little woggly,” Spader said with way more calm than the situation deserved. “I think you should apologize to my friend.”

  The quig tore at the vine, cutting it in two, allowing it to escape. It took off through the root forest and disappeared. A second later, the vines behind Mark rustled.

  “There’s more of ’em!” he shouted, and backed toward Spader.

  The roots parted to reveal . . . Courtney. “What happened? You all right?” she asked.

  “No!” Mark shouted.

  Spader looked at Mark’s arm to see the damage. “It’s not bad,” he said. “Just a scratch.”

  “Easy for you to say,” Mark shot b
ack. “That thing better not have rabies!”

  “Can we please get out of this jungle?” Courtney asked.

  The three stayed close together and pushed their way toward the cavern that Bobby had described in his journal. Courtney emerged from the tangle first, took one look, and said, “Oh man!”

  Mark and Spader came out right behind her. Mark had the same reaction, “Oh man!”

  “Hobey,” Spader said. “I guess it’s true.”

  Standing on all fours next to the flat rock in the center of the cavern was a big, brown jungle cat.

  “Are you all right?” the cat asked. “I didn’t know the quig was in there. Sorry. That wasn’t a very good welcome to Eelong.”

  They stared back at the animal numbly. Though Mark and Courtney had already met Seegen, seeing a talking predator cat was still pretty strange. And Spader had never seen any kind of cat before, civilized or not.

  The cat said, “Are you Mark and Courtney? And Spader?”

  Courtney was the first one to get her head back together. “Yes,” she said. “Boon?”

  “That’s me!” Boon answered. He stood up on his hind legs and held out a pale green leaflike sheet. It looked just like one of the pages Bobby used to write his journals from Cloral.

  “This is terrible news,” the brown klee said. “Would Saint Dane really bring a poison from another territory?”

  “I don’t understand,” Spader said.

  “It’s okay,” Mark assured him. “Klees are the superior beings here on Eelong.”

  “No, I’m talking about the note,” Spader said. “I asked Yenza to send that note to the acolyte, Yorn.”

  “She did,” Boon answered. “Yorn gave it to me just before they left for Black Water—that’s why I’m here to meet you. Is it true? About the poison from Cloral?”

  “It’s true,” Spader answered. “Why didn’t they wait for us?”

  “There’s something else I don’t get,” Mark said. “How come we can understand you, Boon? I mean, you’re not a Traveler. We’re not Travelers either, and I’m pretty sure you don’t know English. And now that I think of it, neither did Ty Manoo on Cloral.”

  Courtney said, “Bobby said that things were changing. Maybe something changed in us because we can use the flume now.”

  “Uh-oh,” Mark said.

  “Now what?” Spader asked.

  Mark raised his hand to show that the stone in the center of his ring was glowing. He took it off and placed it on the dirt floor. The familiar events followed quickly. The music, the lights, the growing ring . . . and the arrival of a roll of parchment pages. Mark reached down and picked up the next journal from Bobby Pendragon.

  “Maybe all the answers we need just came in,” Spader said.

  JOURNAL #18

  EELONG

  How does he know?

  It’s a question that’s always bugged me, but now it’s pissing me off. Ever since I left home with Uncle Press I’ve had to accept a lot of things that made no sense. On top of that list of course, is the question of why I was chosen to be a Traveler. But there are a thousand other questions rolling around that have yet to be answered, like: Who made the flumes? How can they shoot us through time as well as space? What is the power behind it all? Where did the rings come from? I could go on forever, but there’s one question that’s making me totally nuts right now.

  How does he know?

  I’m talking about Saint Dane. Time and time again he’s found the perfect moment in a territory’s history to step in and work his evil. Why is that? Can he predict the future? Can he look into a crystal ball and see the entire history of a civilization and pick a moment in time when he can do the most damage? If I ever find the answer to that question, I think I’ll unravel the entire mystery as to why all of this is happening. Maybe then I can forget this whole mess and go home for good.

  I guess the reason I’m obsessing about it now is because I’m angry. Mostly at myself because I’ve been an idiot. We are at a critical turning point in the history of Eelong; an event is about to happen that will alter the course of this territory forever, and Saint Dane is once again ready to step in and push things the wrong way. What makes it all so frustrating is that I had a chance to stop him, and I blew it. The truth was staring me square in the face and I didn’t see it. Saint Dane made a critical mistake, and I didn’t realize it until it was too late. I should have been smarter. Now Eelong is on the verge of catastrophe, and I don’t know what we can do to stop it. I’m feeling totally helpless. All I can do now is go back and write about what’s happened since I finished my last journal. At least that way there will be a record of my failure, so that when the history of Halla is written and they get to the chapter on Eelong, they’ll know which Traveler was to blame.

  Me.

  I finished my last journal after we found Seegen’s map to Black Water. Our plan was to have Boon stay in Leeandra to spy on Timber and the Council of Klee while Kasha, Yorn, and I followed the map to Black Water. At first I thought only Kasha and I should go because Yorn was kind of, well, old. I don’t mean to sound like I’m against old people or anything, but this was probably going to be a dangerous trip, and I wasn’t sure if Yorn could handle it. But Yorn told me he wanted to help make sure Seegen’s last request was carried out. I figured the real reason he wanted to go was because he didn’t trust Kasha. Truth was, neither did I. But Kasha understood Seegen’s map. I didn’t. To me it looked like a bunch of circles with random numbers and some arrows that represented . . . whatever. But Yorn could read it. I figured if Kasha bailed, Yorn could take over. Besides, I was happy to have somebody along who wanted to be there, as opposed to Kasha, who didn’t. So we became a trio.

  Kasha guessed it would take a full day, riding on zenzens, to follow Seegen’s map to the end. We decided to rest that night and start out at dawn. That was fine by me because my batteries were dead. While Boon and Yorn went out to arrange for the zenzens and stock up on provisions, Kasha and I returned to her home. I was glad to get the chance to talk to her alone. She was the Traveler from Eelong now, whether she accepted it or not. I knew what she was going through, and I felt bad for her, but there were more important things at stake than her feelings. I needed to get her up to speed, fast. So when we got to the privacy of her home, I tried to do just that.

  “How do you feel?” I asked, opening the conversation as innocently as possible.

  “About what?” was her sharp answer.

  I didn’t want to push. She got mad easily, and I didn’t want her thinking the problem was me and decide to go all klee on me and take my head off. Or some other vital body part. So I tried to make nice. “A lot’s happened,” I said. “I remember how tough it was when I first found out I was a Traveler and—”

  “Stop!” she roared. “I am not a Traveler!”

  “But, you saw what Saint Dane did to the gar—”

  “It was a gar,” she shot back. “It wasn’t like he was torturing a klee.”

  “I don’t believe you feel that way.”

  “I don’t care what you believe,” she spat at me. “My father is dead because of you Travelers. I’m not going to make the same mistake.” She tried to walk back to her room, but I cut her off.

  “I saw you risk your life to save a gar,” I argued. “And you did the same for me, more than once. That’s not the way somebody acts when they don’t care.”

  “Look!” she snarled. “I told you I’d help you follow the map. But I’m doing it for my father, not because I’m a Traveler.”

  “Fine, whatever.” I was getting tired of arguing with her. “I’ll leave you alone, but I need to see your father’s journal.”

  “You can’t. When we burned his body, I threw the pages on the fire.”

  “You didn’t!” I shouted.

  “I absolutely did.”

  “Why?”

  “I didn’t want anything to remind me of how he wasted his final days. I’ll follow his map for you, Pendragon, but then I’m
done.”

  She brushed past me. I didn’t give up.

  “But Eelong is in danger—”

  Kasha whirled on me. “I told you if anything happened to my father because of you Travelers, I’d tear you apart. I meant it. After I get you to Black Water, if I ever see you again, I’ll kill you.”

  She stormed out of the room, leaving me a little dizzy. Not only had I bungled the chance to get her on board, I pushed her into threatening my life. Nice work, Bobby. Real diplomatic. I could only hope that she’d make good on her word. At least the part about getting me to Black Water, that is. The killing me part I’d just as soon she forgot. With that ominous thought in mind, I laid down on the couch and turned my thoughts to the task ahead.

  Black Water. What exactly was it? A place? A state of mind? Another dimension? A lost underwater city like Faar? It had to be real, because Seegen had been there and drawn a map. And Gunny was there. It was definitely important enough to the gars that they chose death over revealing its secret. And what did those little amber cubes have to do with anything? I hoped to find some clues in Seegen’s journal, but that chance went up in smoke. Literally. But in spite of all the setbacks and uncertainties, I felt sure that Black Water was key to Saint Dane’s plan. I had to get there and find answers.

  I tried to get some sleep but it was tough. My mind was racing in eighteen different directions. Thankfully my body took over and I nodded out. Sleep is an amazing thing. It heals the body, and the brain, too. Good thing. I desperately needed healing. I even had a dream. Boon was bouncing around wearing a tall, red-and-white-striped hat and saying nonsensical rhymes like: “Where is Gunny? I think he’s funny. I don’t like eggs all soft and runny.” Yeah, I know. Twisted dream. But hey, no more twisted than Eelong. The next thing I knew I was being shaken awake.

  “Pendragon,” a voice whispered. “It’s time.”

  I was still half asleep, but opened my eyes to see Boon. I said, “Imagine that, you’ve lost your hat.”

  “Huh?” was Boon’s confused reply.

  I didn’t bother to explain my bizarre Dr. Seuss dream. “Where’s Kasha?” I asked, rubbing my eyes.