But then Professor Bigglesby came into the Main Chamber—in a wheelchair.
“Oh . . . crud,” Leroy groaned.
A group of students were clustered around the old dwarf. The wheelchair was tiny, seemingly made for a child, and Bigglesby had a big strip of gauze wrapped around his head. His shock of white hair nearly blended in with the bandage.
“What happened?” Birdie asked as they pushed their way to the front of the crowd. “He was still sleeping when I left the hospital wing this morning, but he looked totally fine to me.”
“I can’t believe this,” Hoyt said.
Professor Bigglesby gingerly lifted an arm in greeting when he saw them.
His other arm was in a cast.
Albert stopped dead in his tracks.
Professor Bigglesby’s arm was fine yesterday. And had he even hit his head when he’d landed in the soft mossy area on the moor? Then again, everything had happened pretty fast. It could have happened without Albert noticing.
“I won’t be joining you any longer,” Professor Bigglesby said. His voice wavered. “I’m afraid the Realm proved to be too much for an old man like me.”
Hoyt sidled up next to Albert. “He didn’t seem to be an old man yesterday, when he was giving that speech.”
Albert had to agree with that.
“So we’re going in without you?” Leroy asked. His face had gone as pale as paper.
Professor Bigglesby nodded. “I’m afraid the time has come for you young Balance Keepers to carry the burden. A terrible mishap. Brittle bones, you see, and it’s lucky for our in-Core nurse. Otherwise, I may not have survived.” He coughed into his non-broken arm. “Sleep. That is the best thing for me now. I do, however, have a gift for you all before you continue on.”
Just then, Petra came sprinting around the corner, carrying a small black box. “I’ve got it, Professor!” he shouted, and set the box down on the floor in front of Bigglesby. Albert, Birdie, Leroy, and Hoyt crowded around it.
It was full of potions. Four strange little triangular glass vials full of a lavender liquid. Petra passed them out, one to each Balance Keeper.
“What is this?” Albert asked.
“Knockout Serum,” Petra explained. “It’ll take care of the toads for you guys. I made it myself, just this morning!”
Leroy clapped Petra on the shoulder. “I had no idea you could do this stuff, dude.”
“A bright future for this one, I should think,” Professor Bigglesby said weakly.
“Well, there’s loads of books in the Tower.” Petra’s cheeks flushed, and he beamed. “Just empty a vial into the moors. It lasts only an hour, so you’ll have to dump another bottle on the way back.”
“Thanks, Petra,” Albert said. “This is really great.”
“I just wish I’d known before you guys went in last time,” Petra said. “Good luck today.”
“We’ll need it,” Albert said. “But we’ll do better today with this stuff.” Petra was such a constant supporter, loyal down to his bones.
There were a few other people there to see them off, but most were still in their dorms, hiding out in case of more quakes. Lucinda shuffled past, mumbling to Kimber. “Stay on, you awful beast!” she hissed. She headed in the direction of the exit doors that led toward the gondola.
“Going to visit the Path Hider?” Leroy asked.
Lucinda stopped, her face reddening. “That’s none of your business!” But then she leaned close to Birdie and whispered, “How do I look?”
“Fine,” Birdie said stiffly. Albert knew Birdie didn’t like Lucinda anymore, not since they found the shopkeeper studying that awful Book of Bad Tiles last term.
“Good luck today,” Lucinda said without her usual gusto. She smoothed her hair down, tugged Kimber back up onto her shoulders, and shoved her way through the doors, into the darkness beyond.
“That’s odd about her snake,” Birdie mused. “I thought those two were practically inseparable.”
“I wouldn’t sit on her shoulders if you paid me to,” Hoyt said.
Albert chuckled. He went to place the vial into the pocket of his protective vest and suddenly remembered the gem that was already in there. He pulled it out and showed Professor Bigglesby.
The little dwarf’s eyes widened. “These are Troll symbols,” he explained, and pointed out the old markings on the gem. “I’m afraid I’m not sure exactly what this is though. I myself have never been to Troll Mountain, and there’s rumor of caves within its depths. I’ve studied the Trolls’ symbols over the years, from what little documentation we’ve been able to gather, but the language is nearly impossible to decipher. Curious beings, the Trolls. Keep it with you. Perhaps it will come of use once you make it to the mountains.”
He yawned and rubbed his head.
The cyclops nurse arrived, tsking and swatting at everyone. “Pests, the whole lot of you,” she said. “Can’t you see he needs his rest?” She unlocked the brake on the wheelchair and slowly backed Professor Bigglesby away.
Birdie rushed after them. “But Professor! How are we supposed to continue on without you?”
“We don’t even know if there are other creatures in there,” Leroy added. “And there’s a traitor in there, for crying out loud!”
“The Realm has chosen its protectors,” Professor Bigglesby said, without turning around. “This time, I’m afraid I won’t be one of them.”
The cyclops nurse pushed him along faster, and then he was gone.
Hoyt threw his hands in the air. “Well, that’s just great. First Poison Toads, now this. Next it’s gonna be velociraptors running rampant in the Core.”
Leroy wrung his hat in his hands. “Dude. If that’s the case, I’m out of here.”
“And with only five days left,” Hoyt said, gesturing to the countdown clock near the broken door to Belltroll, “there’s no way we can do this on our own.”
Albert thought of his mom, and the article she’d sent, about the Yellowstone Caldera. It was too close to Herman. Too close to another place that felt like home.
Time was moving quickly. The surface needed saving, and Albert needed his team to be in their right minds.
“We’ll handle it just fine,” he said. “We’ve never had a Professor with us in the Realms, and we don’t need one now.” He thought of the conversation he’d overheard two nights ago and how Bigglesby seemed to have a problem with Albert. “We especially don’t need him.”
It was Birdie who finally stepped up to the plate and said the final words to get them all going. “I’m certainly not afraid,” she said. “And you boys shouldn’t be either.”
Hoyt puffed up his chest. Leroy slid his hat back onto his head.
Birdie winked at Albert as they all stepped forward and headed through the door into Belltroll.
The potion worked as Petra promised it would. One vial dumped into the water of the moors, and it spread throughout, dousing the giant toads.
They were able to pass through the bog in just under an hour, and that small victory alone gave everyone a dose of new energy.
As they walked across the final stretch of the moor, hopping from landmass to landmass in a very frog-like way, Albert studied the gem he’d found.
“Maybe it belongs to one of the Trolls,” Hoyt suggested. He hopped over a toad, which was snoring even louder than Leroy and Farnsworth combined. “In stories, don’t trolls like to collect and guard things? Maybe the caves in Troll Mountain are full of treasure. And whoever came in here before us stole something, and the Trolls are mad, and that’s why the Realm is out of Balance?”
“Dude, that could be true. Maybe the Trolls are on strike,” Leroy added.
“That doesn’t even make sense!” Birdie snapped from the back of the group. “Especially what Hoyt said.”
Hoyt whirled around. “What did I ever do to you?”
“Seriously?” Birdie threw her arms up in the air. “Ponderay! That’s what you did, Hoyt! You nearly got us all killed in t
here.”
“I screwed up,” Hoyt said.
“You betrayed us all,” Birdie said. “We agreed to work together, and then you just turned your back on that!”
Albert jumped in between them, and Leroy placed his hands on Birdie’s shoulders and pulled her gently back.
“Look, guys,” Albert said. “We’ve all got our issues here, but now is not the time.”
“Albert’s right,” Leroy said. “Every second we waste fighting is another second we lose on figuring out the Imbalance and who the traitor is.”
Birdie scuffed her toe on the grass. Hoyt gave a curt nod.
“So here’s the question,” Leroy said, stretching out his arms as they started walking again. “Anyone else think Professor Bigglesby’s faking it?”
Albert didn’t want to say it earlier, but he totally agreed. “Something is off about him. And with the broken-arm thing . . .”
“I’ve already added him to our list of possible traitors,” Birdie said with a nod.
“There’s a list?” Hoyt asked. “Can I see it?”
“It’s only for the people we trust,” Birdie growled. Albert threw her a look, and Birdie sighed. “Well . . . I guess. When we get back. But you have to promise not to tell anyone a thing about it.”
“Scout’s honor,” Hoyt said.
Albert knew she’d calm down after a while. And Birdie being that upset just showed Albert he was further along toward forgiving Hoyt than he thought. Hoyt had already saved Albert in this Realm, and honestly, Albert didn’t have the energy to be upset with Hoyt any longer.
People made mistakes, and there was something about the imminent threat of death that made forgiveness feel a lot more important.
“Can we get back to the velociraptors thing?” Leroy asked Birdie. “Because if those are here, dude, I’m gone.”
“Leroy Jones, if you call me a dude one more time . . . ,” Birdie warned.
Their talking trailed off as the moors ended and their boots finally landed on solid ground. They had reached the Ring of Emerald.
It was stunning, like a land made out of dreams.
The hills rolled on and on ahead of them, with Troll Mountain Range just barely in view beyond what looked like a cloudless sky. Everything was still so green, and Birdie clapped her hands and hopped up and down like a kid on Christmas morning.
“I just love this Realm,” she said.
As if in response, the ground trembled, and Hoyt yelled, “Hold tight!”
A quake split through the Realm. Hydra locked arms, waiting it out, as Belltroll rebelled.
The moor sloshed like a wave pool, and overhead, the very sky seemed to darken. Even from this distance, Albert could hear the mountain grinding deeper and deeper into the ground. This really wasn’t good.
As if on cue in response to Albert’s thoughts, a tiny, half-inch-wide tear snaked its way across the ground, sweeping right in between Albert’s feet. He hopped sideways to avoid it. When the quake ended, Albert bent down to get a closer look.
“Uh . . . guys. This isn’t a good sign.” The crack went deeper than Albert could see, and as far as he could see in either direction.
“Five days might not be long enough,” Leroy said as he looked around at his teammates.
Hoyt gripped his Speed Tile, eyes widening. “Five days is all we have.”
Birdie tightened her ponytail, and they all looked to Albert.
“We’ll just have to make it work,” Albert said. “Like old times, right, guys?”
They walked on, the tall green grass like a sea of swaying silk all around them.
The Ring of Emerald was no joke. Half the time, they were hiking uphill, which wasn’t exactly a walk in the park.
Without the Pit, and at the rate this Imbalance was worsening, the Balance Keepers hadn’t been able to train. Even Hoyt, who was usually bouncing off the walls thanks to his Speed Tile, looked ready to drop by the time they made it halfway through the ring of hills.
“Are we there yet?” Leroy asked from the back of the group. They’d stopped in a small clearing at the bottom of a hill, and he was busy massaging his sore legs.
“I need water,” Birdie said as she dug through her backpack. “Hey, look! I forgot we had this! Though I don’t remember putting it in here . . .”
She pulled out the old map of the Realm and spread it across the grass. A little purple-and-black ladybug landed on it, which she promptly swept away.
“Professor Bigglesby said it would give us the best route to Troll Mountain,” Albert said. He leaned in even closer to take a look.
“We’re here,” Birdie said. She tapped the left side of the map, and Albert could see that they were only a little ways into the Ring of Emerald, with lots of hills still to go. “We can go through this little valley here, though,” Birdie said, “which seems to be the fastest way to the mountain range.” She looked at Leroy and raised a brow in question.
“You’re on track,” he said, and nodded. “That’s about three quarters of a mile, if I’m rounding up. If we walk at a constant speed of four miles per hour, we should make it there in about eleven minutes.”
Hoyt whistled in approval. “You’ve got enough brains for the lot of us.”
“It’s the Tile,” Leroy said, tapping his Synapse Tile.
It struck Albert how strange this was, standing here with Hoyt. Two terms ago, Hoyt had pushed Leroy in the Library, and Albert had snapped.
Now the two were chumming it up in Belltroll as if nothing had ever happened.
I guess dark times bring people together, Albert thought. Then he remembered what a mess Lucinda had been lately. Or, they can tear people apart.
He promised himself he wouldn’t let that happen to any member of his team.
“Take a few minutes to catch your breath,” Albert offered. “Then we’ll move on.”
Leroy ate a snack while everyone else tightened their laces and checked the straps on their leathery armor. So far, today had been easy. Effortless, almost.
And Albert knew that was always too good to be true.
CHAPTER 14
The Trundlespikes
Though Birdie’s map had said it was a straight shot up the hill and through a bit of trees into the valley, it turned out things had shifted in the Realm due to the quakes.
Trees were overturned. Cracks in the ground—some as wide as the pipes in the Path Hider’s domain—threatened to, at best, trip them, or at worst, suck them down to the underworld, as Leroy had mentioned several times already.
But as they walked, the map changed. The ink morphed to show them a new path. Birdie shouted out commands for where to turn, and Leroy, alongside her, helped decipher whether the routes would work out as expected.
Hoyt just walked in silence, his eyes on the horizon. Albert was focused on finding clues that could lead them to the identity of the traitor.
They searched left and right, for any sign of anyone having passed through here before them. But there was nothing. No footprints, no fallen Tiles, no signs that anyone had been here before them at all. Unless Albert considered the dire state of the Realm, and the surface world above, he wouldn’t have known they were in any danger at all.
As they walked, Albert kept an eye on his Counter. The little screen still read 5 days. It felt like plenty of time, but adding in trips back to the Core to get some food and rest would take big chunks out of that.
“We’ve targeted twelve hours today, to make it back by dark, and we’re already at the five-hour mark,” Albert said aloud. “We’re making good time, but I think we need to move faster. We’ve got to get to the mountain range. My gut tells me that’s where we’ll find a clue of who did this.”
“The Imbalance is our clue,” Hoyt said. “It’s someone who’s trying to kill us all.”
“Dude. A little positivity wouldn’t hurt!” Leroy whined like Farnsworth from the back of the group.
“I think the other side of this hill is the end of the Ring of Emerald!
” Birdie shouted. “We’ll be in the center of the Realm in no time.” She stopped and turned her map around so the rest of them could see it. They were standing at the bottom of another steep hillside, the green grass looking like a perfect emerald tidal wave stretching up. Albert imagined going to the top and rolling all the way down like he was a little kid again.
“It looks pretty accurate,” Leroy said. “But I don’t see the boulders on there.”
He pointed at the map, where the hillside was simply green and empty. When Birdie moved it and they looked in front of them at the actual hill, it was covered with large lumpy boulders all around.
“Those are weird,” Birdie said. “Think it’s possible they came down from one of the mountains, during a quake?”
Albert shrugged. “Could be. But if that’s the case, we’ll need to be quick. If there’s another quake, there’s no telling how fast those boulders might move.”
Birdie nodded and carefully rolled the map back into its case, tucking it into her pack for later.
“Race to the top?” Hoyt asked as he chugged water from a canteen. “It can’t hurt to have a little fun, right? And it’ll get us there quicker.” He tossed the canteen to Albert. “Come on, it’ll be just like old times in the Pit.”
“Those old times weren’t exactly fun, Hoyt,” Birdie growled. But then she held a hand to her mouth, like the words had slipped out of their own accord. She looked down at her toes. “Sorry.”
He held up his hands. “It’s cool, I get it. I was just kidding.”
“Let’s just get to the top,” Albert said. “And if you want to race, Hoyt, then let’s just go old school. No Tile powers. Just normal, surface-level climbing.”
“Deal,” Hoyt said with a grin.
The hills in Belltroll weren’t exactly small hills, so after Leroy estimated a twenty-minute hike to the top, they began.
It felt good to move fast, after having walked most of the day.
Hoyt went straight up, then forked left between two large boulders. Leroy, whose long legs were an advantage, followed Hoyt at a pretty even pace. Birdie and Albert both went off to the right, zigzagging between boulders as if they were playing a game of chase.
The Traitor of Belltroll Page 9
