10

by James Phelan

  ‘I cannot bring myself to believe we just did that. It was terrifying, non?’ Zara said. ‘Let’s not do it again, OK?’

  ‘Least you had your eyes closed,’ Sam said, passing back her phone on which he’d been reading up about Clos Lucé. ‘I had to watch the whole thing.’

  ‘Sam, you can handle what’s ahead?’ Aubree asked, pulling the car up to the side of the road.

  ‘Yes,’ Sam said. ‘I think so.’

  Aubree nodded, ‘This is as far as I go.’

  Zara said, ‘Can’t you come with us?’

  ‘No, ma cherie, I’m sorry.’ She took Zara’s hands in her own and kissed Zara’s cheek.

  ‘But—you’re my mother …’

  ‘And she’s also an Enterprise Agent,’ Sam said. ‘She knows what she’s doing.’

  ‘And when you two are in the clear and far away, I will call in and report that the two of you disappeared before we could meet.’

  ‘Aubree, thank you,’ Sam said. ‘You’ve done a good thing.’

  Aubree smiled. Zara sniffled away tears.

  ‘Zara, I have a job to do,’ Aubree said. ‘I must stop your pursuers as best I can.’

  ‘What about the police?’ Zara said. ‘Then you can come with us.’

  ‘This is our battle and the police don’t understand what’s at stake,’ she said. ‘Besides, they can’t lock these people up until they catch them in the act or have proof. They’re so wealthy and powerful, they’d be out of custody immediately.’

  ‘Please—’

  ‘I’ve dreamed my role in this,’ she said, smiling. ‘Don’t worry, darling. You and Sam will be fine.’

  Aubree passed her an antique dreamcatcher charm, which looked a lot like the one Lora had given Sam.

  ‘This was my mother’s,’ Aubree said. ‘It’ll bring you luck.’

  ‘But you need it,’ Zara argued.

  ‘I’ll be fine,’ her mother insisted.

  ‘How do you know?’

  ‘I know,’ Aubree said, her hand reassuring on her daughter’s face.

  Sam stood and watched as Aubree drove away. Zara mopped up her tears with her sleeve.

  Where is she going? To Paris, to collect her husband? Or will she lead the chase someplace else?

  Sam considered if the Enterprise had a way of tracking her, as the Academy could track him so long as he wore his dreamcatcher. Maybe she was leaving them to do this themselves while leading Stella away?

  ‘We have to keep moving,’ Sam resolved, walking through the last of the day’s shadows cast by the imposing castle-like Château d’Amboise.

  Zara remained where she was, watching as her mother’s car disappeared around a corner.

  Sam walked back to her, but before he could say anything of comfort or persuasion, another car was coming. He grabbed Zara and pushed her down behind a wall with him. They peered out as the car drove past. Sam saw the face of the guy from the Council in the back window. Mac had arrived.

  35

  EVA

  Eva lay on her side, bells ringing inside her head. Pi’s face was close to hers and he was yelling something at her but the words had no sound.

  Have I gone deaf?

  She was helped to her feet by Xavier. Gabriella had blood running from her ears. The hallway ahead was gone, the open expanse of the cliffs extending below the cantilevered structure. The remnants of the ceiling’s wooden beams were on fire.

  Pi led the way in the opposite direction towards a steep set of stairs. As the four of them ascended, Eva’s hearing returned, low notes at first, and then all the range came blasting back. She realised the ringing was not just in her mind or damaged eardrums, but it was the Academy’s evacuation alarm.

  ‘Through here!’ Pi pushed open the door onto the grand entry hall. Only one wall remained, the rest were piles of rubble. Debris was kicked up as helicopters buzzed directly overhead. They ran to take cover at the last wall.

  ‘Over here!’ Lora yelled.

  She was with a group of Guardians behind a makeshift barricade, firing at their attackers with an assortment of weapons.

  Eva and the others ran close to the ground and joined the remaining Academy staff.

  ‘Keep your heads down and stay behind this wall!’ Lora commanded them.

  Eva nodded, cowering down low behind the stonework.

  ‘There are still three aircraft,’ a Guardian said to Lora. ‘And we’re out of ground-to-air missiles.’

  Lora looked grim.

  Just then, a new sound cut through the mountain air. It was a snowmobile, tearing hard and fast up the driveway. In the distance was an apparition Eva had seen before—Tobias!

  And strapped to his back, a rocket launcher.

  Eva turned to see Pi running towards a fallen Guardian who still had a loaded rocket launcher next to him. ‘Pi! Get down! Tobias is coming!’

  Pi was already far across the hall, out in the open.

  A helicopter loosed a missile.

  WHOOSH!

  Pi dived for cover behind a pile of smouldering stones.

  Too late.

  KLAP-BOOM!

  The explosion hit just in front of the stones, right at Pi’s heels as he jumped from the ground. Eva felt time slow as Pi was sent cartwheeling through the air and landed with a dull thud on a bank of snow.

  No!

  The helicopter still buzzed overhead but not caring for her own skin, Eva ran out, legs pumping hard. She slid down to grab the launcher from the dead Guardian, spinning round to catch the helo in the optical sights. The helicopter banked around for another attack, firing its machine guns at the walled position where her friends were.

  The eyepiece beeped that it had locked on.

  Eva did not hesitate. She pulled the trigger.

  WHOOSH!

  The missile shot out from the launcher, the plume of smoke streaking into the sky. Eva looked up to see—

  BOOM!

  A direct hit. Eva turned away as the fireball enveloped the attack helicopter which plummeted to the ground with an ear-splitting mechanical screech. Another explosion rocked the air above her as Tobias took down another helicopter.

  Eva had eyes only for Pi as she sprinted towards him. She fell to her knees next to him. ‘Pi …’ she said.

  He was on his back, his arms and legs at odd angles, blood staining the snow. His eyes opened and when he saw her face, he smiled.

  ‘Pi—hang in there!’ Eva said, then yelled towards the others, ‘Quick! Help!’

  He continued to smile, his expression calm and quiet.

  ‘Pi, just wait for help,’ Eva pleaded, seeing his eyes falter, his chest heaving jaggedly with breath. ‘Just wait, OK? You’ll be OK.’

  ‘No … I think I have to go now.’

  ‘Pi, no, please,’ Eva begged, her hand to the side of his face, ‘please, be strong. Help will be here soon.’

  Pi smiled and his gaze was steady.

  ‘I’m going to dream forever,’ he said. Then his body went limp.

  36

  SAM

  Sam and Zara stayed hidden in the shadows of the trees as Mac sped by without seeing them.

  ‘Who was that?’ she asked.

  ‘A guy from the Dreamer Council,’ Sam said.

  ‘That’s great!’ Zara said, then added, ‘Wait, why do we hide from him?’

  ‘Because I’m not sure whose side he’s on,’ Sam said, quickly explaining Mac’s revolt at the Council meeting.

  ‘Maybe he’s here to help?’ Zara said, falling into step next to Sam as they raced across the road to Clos Lucé.

  ‘I’m not convinced about that,’ Sam said.

  ‘You think he followed us here from Paris?’ she asked.

  ‘Maybe … I mean, how else could he have known where to come?’ Sam stopped, looked at the imposing chateau before them. ‘But if he’s headed to da Vinci’s workshop, he’ll beat us there!’

  ‘No,’ Zara said. ‘There’s another way in—a shortcut.’

 
The tunnel from the stone chateau to da Vinci’s workshop ran from the basement cellar.

  ‘And you knew about this, how?’ Sam asked as they ran through the passageway.

  ‘A tour,’ Zara replied.

  ‘Really?’

  ‘This was the royal chateau, and Francis I had da Vinci here as his guest,’ she said. ‘The grounds and museum are full of da Vinci models. My dad has brought me here many times. Oh, no,’ Zara said at the bottom of stone stairs. The passageway ended at a steel gate which was secured with an old lock.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Sam said from behind Zara.

  She pointed to the gate. ‘Of course, it was open during the tour.’

  ‘Just a sec, I’ve got an idea,’ Sam replied, putting the edge of the Stealth Suit’s sleeve into the door hinges. ‘Stand back a bit.’

  Sam turned the sleeve of his suit into the arm of a puffer jacket, filling the gap. Nothing. The door didn’t budge.

  ‘So much for that great idea,’ Sam said, stepping back from the door. ‘We’re going to have to go back and around to the workshop above us.’

  ‘Or not … it is hardly a modern masterpiece,’ Zara said.

  ‘What?’

  Zara pulled a hairpin from her hair and bent it, jiggling it around inside the lock.

  Holding his phone’s light steady, Sam watched as Zara wrestled with the lock—

  CLICK.

  The lock sprang open, and with a few nudges, the door creaked open on rusty hinges.

  ‘Paris, represent!’ Sam smiled. Zara gave him a quick mock curtsey.

  ‘Follow me,’ she commanded as they went in.

  Old concrete stairs led upwards, the arched brick tunnel surrounds opening up. At the top of the next stairs was an iron gate, this time thankfully unlocked, and they went through into the basement level of da Vinci’s final home and workshop.

  ‘This must be for storage,’ Zara said, weaving her way through boxes of cleaning products and canned goods for the tourist cafe above.

  ‘Zara,’ Sam said, the little light between them illuminating the room. ‘It’s up to you now, your dream.’

  She nodded.

  ‘Can you remember where we have to go?’

  ‘Yes.’

  In a bedroom which Sam guessed was da Vinci’s, Zara went straight to the ornate fireplace. They moved quietly, careful not to make a sound to alert anyone else in the dark house.

  There came the sound of breaking glass downstairs, echoing loudly in the silence.

  Sam froze.

  Zara staggered forwards in fright and bumped her head on the mantelpiece. She stifled a cry as a crystal ball displayed on top bumped off its holder and rolled along headed for the edge.

  Sam lunged for it—

  His fingers touched the crystal’s smooth edge but it raced by and shattered on the floor.

  Zara looked at Sam with eyes wide with fear. For a moment all was quiet.

  Maybe they didn’t hear it?

  Heavy footfalls were coming up the stairs.

  ‘Zara!’ Sam said, racing to shut the bedroom door. ‘If you’re gonna find anything, make it quick!’

  Zara went to the fireplace and began feeling into the nooks and crannies.

  At the door, Sam took the stun grenade from his pack, pulled the pin and tossed it down the hall, then slammed the door shut and leaned against it.

  ‘Cover your ears!’ Sam shouted, watching as she did so.

  BANG!

  Even with his hands over his ears, the explosion was near-deafening, the blinding white light that flashed under the door enough to completely light up their room for one eerie second.

  ‘One moment!’ Zara said, as her finger ran across the filigree design, searching, remembering.

  CLICK.

  ‘Got it!’ Zara said.

  Sam rushed back to her as the side of the stone fireplace swung open like a door, the opening big enough to squeeze through sideways.

  ‘Can we close it from inside?’ Sam asked. They searched the inside wall, looking for some kind of lever.

  ‘Here!’ Zara touched a hidden latch, the panel closing behind them.

  ‘That should buy us some time,’ Sam whispered.

  By the light of their phones, they could see they were in a small square brick room with no adornments and, worryingly, no other way out. The room was bare.

  ‘Is this how it was in your dream?’ Sam whispered.

  Zara remained silent as she looked around, closely inspecting the brickwork for something that Sam could not see.

  Through the tiny cracks in the hidden door panel, Sam could hear voices in the bedroom beyond. As he worried that the light from their phones might be visible—

  ‘Sam!’ Zara whispered.

  Standing next to her on the other side of the room, he could see that she had found a brick that was worn smooth. Zara rested the fingers of one hand into what were slight indentations and pushed.

  The brick moved in, the whole wall sliding across into a hidden cavity behind it.

  ‘That’s cool,’ Sam said.

  Zara went first, walking down steep stone stairs.

  We might be the first people to walk on these stairs since da Vinci. Man!

  They went down a long flight of stairs, ending in another, slightly larger room. The end wall was roughly chiselled rock with two side walls covered in wooden shelves full of dust and cobwebs. Blowing them away, Sam found tools, bowls, trowels, jars of powders and pigments.

  ‘Da Vinci’s workshop?’ Sam asked hopefully.

  ‘More like his toolshed,’ Zara replied. ‘And more storage.’

  ‘This isn’t where we need to be?’

  ‘No …’

  ‘So where?’ Sam asked. There were no doors to be seen. He banged on the far wall. It was solid rock.

  ‘I didn’t dream this room,’ Zara said. ‘I went through the fireplace, it was a bit hazy—then I was in the other room.’

  Sam knew that the dreams did that. They didn’t show every detail and often jumped from one moment to another. Zara looked over the contents of the shelves. There was nothing around but the rough-hewn rock walls. The cobwebs in front of Sam shifted slightly. He looked closer.

  ‘There’s a breeze!’ Sam said. ‘The air is being sucked upstairs and out the seams of the hidden door above.’

  ‘From where?’

  ‘Exactly!’ Sam felt around the shelves in front of him. He could feel the rock wall behind and it was smooth. At the end of the shelving, there was a crack where the air was filtering through. ‘It’s here.’

  Sam pulled at the shelving but it wouldn’t budge. He tried lifting it, pushing it, prising it—nothing.

  Zara began clearing the shelves and turned to Sam with a smile.

  There, set in the smooth stone face, was an etched diagram of interlocking Gears.

  ‘That’s part of the Bakhu …’ Sam said. He snapped a photo of it on his phone. The centre of the diagram, the largest of the Gears, was inset with a brass disc.

  ‘And here, I think, we need that special key of yours …’ Zara said.

  Sam took the key from around his neck, and the pointed star-shaped end fitted neatly into the brass lock. He turned it carefully.

  There was a sharp CLONK! and a grinding noise as the shelves opened out.

  Each side of the floor-to-ceiling shelves was hinged and they opened in the middle.

  Suddenly a lion appeared out of the darkness, roaring as it came at Sam.

  ‘Argh!’ Sam dropped his phone and fell back in horror.

  The beast stopped, and gave off a small ticking sound where it was stuck in place, its forward legs twitching.

  ‘It’s mechanical,’ Zara said, looking closely at it. ‘I was going to tell you I saw a lion attack us in my dream, but it sounded too weird.’

  ‘Next time, maybe you could warn me?’ Sam said, embarrassed as he got up and dusted himself off.

  Sam picked up his phone and in its weak light he checked out the lion
. It had been preserved, so for all outwards appearances resembled a real lion, only this one had an open panel on the side and mechanical workings inside.

  ‘Da Vinci made this?’ Sam said.

  ‘I’ve seen a modern replica,’ Zara said, stepping over the threshold into the next hidden room. ‘Oh wow …’

  ‘What?’ Sam walked in behind her and his jaw dropped at what he saw. Parts of machines were everywhere, on benches and on walls, along with pulleys and lifts and building materials. Plans and papers were strewn on the ground. What looked like an old space capsule sat in the centre of the room—

  ‘That’s da Vinci’s design for a tank,’ Zara said. ‘And that,’ she said pointing to a large object hanging from the roof, ‘a kind of helicopter.’

  ‘This is amazing. And a bit surreal. It’s like we’re in a movie about da Vinci. Have you ever seen so much of his stuff in one place?’ Sam marvelled.

  ‘Da Vinci’s secret workshop,’ Zara said, awestruck. ‘Even in my dream, I couldn’t believe it. If my father could see this now …’

  ‘I can just imagine. I know a few other people who would lose their minds to see this stuff. But for now we have to find what we came for,’ Sam said. ‘I know it’s tough, but try to stay focused.’

  ‘OK, of course,’ Zara said.

  ‘Where was it in your dream?’ Sam prompted.

  Zara was way ahead of him. She went over to a desk in the far corner. ‘Yes, this is right. OK, now …’ She opened a drawer, hesitating, ‘No, next one.’ She knelt down on the dusty floor and pulled at the handle of the larger drawer underneath.

  At first it jammed and she cursed quietly as she teased it open, bit by bit. As Sam stood watching, she eventually had it open, reaching in to pull out a wooden box, swathed inside a large cloth bag. It was the size of a shoebox.

  Zara wiped her sleeve over the lid, smearing away the dirt and grime of hundreds of years, revealing notations and symbols etched all over the brass fittings. She paused, looking up at Sam. He nodded.

  Do it.

  Gingerly, Zara cracked open the box, the hinges squeaking as it opened fully. Inside, lit by their torchlight, was a geared crank shaft.