The Ruined City

by John Wilson

  Cate ignored the worry in her friend’s voice. She was setting a blistering pace up the hill, and Howard was already breathing heavily.

  “We need to talk to Madison,” she said over her shoulder. “Do you know which one is her house?”

  “Somewhere along here,” Howard replied, unwilling to admit that he had memorized Madison’s address long ago in case she ever asked him over. “Why do we need to talk to her?”

  Cate didn’t slow down as she answered. “When you met Madison on the beach, she said she thought Leon had spiked her drink—I doubt it. Some shamans use drugs to see other dimensions, but I don’t think they have much control over where they go or what they see. I’m pretty sure that on some level, Madison knew how she got there and how she could get back. We need to ask her how she knew that.”

  “But what if she’s still asleep?”

  “Then we’ll wake her up.”

  As they continued up the hill, Howard began to feel slightly nauseated. He couldn’t believe they were on their way to wake up the girl he’d had a crush on since eighth grade—not to mention that lately he and that girl had been sharing dreams.

  “Wait!” Howard made a grab for Cate’s arm but missed. “Will Madison remember last night’s dream?”

  “I have no idea.” There was a trace of impatience in her voice. “That’s something else we’ll find out.”

  The houses now were all two or three stories tall. Many were built of brick, and a few were decorated with turrets. The yards were immaculate, and Howard spotted a gardener hunched among some rosebushes outside one place.

  “I think this is where Madison lives,” he said.

  “As if you didn’t have it memorized, Sheepherder.”

  “Don’t call me Sheepherder!” Howard exclaimed.

  “Is Heimao talking to you again?” Cate asked.

  “Yes. Can’t you hear her?”

  “She chooses who she talks to.”

  “That’s a bit of luck, Shee—”

  “Don’t,” Howard warned.

  Madison’s house was modest compared to some of the others on the hill, but it was still three times the size of Howard’s. It was of a traditional design, with lots of fancy carved wood and a deep verandah stretching the full width of the front and disappearing around both sides.

  “Are you sure this is a good idea?” Howard asked, hoping Cate had changed her mind.

  Without even hesitating, Cate pushed open the gate and strode up the path with Heimao. Howard followed, nervously scanning the surrounding bushes for armed security guards or a large vicious dog.

  A bell echoed deep within the house. This was Howard’s last chance to flee the inevitable embarrassment, but he held his ground.

  Steps echoed, and the door opened to reveal a well-dressed woman. She smiled at them woodenly. “Can I help you?”

  “Good morning, Mrs. Danforth,” Cate said cheerfully. “Terribly sorry to bother you, but we’re friends of Madison’s from school, and we’re wondering if she’s home. We saw her last night at Leon’s, and she asked if we wanted to drop by and hang out today.”

  There were so many lies in this little speech, but it seemed to work. Mrs. Danforth’s smile softened.

  “It’s so nice to meet Madison’s friends.” She held out her hand. “What did you say your name was?”

  “Cate.”

  Mrs. Danforth shook hands with Cate, then turned to Howard and frowned.

  Once again, Howard’s lack of fashion sense was putting him at a disadvantage. “I’m Howard,” he said, putting on his most winning smile.

  Madison’s mom shook his hand with considerably less enthusiasm. “Madison’s just in the shower. Perhaps you could—”

  “We’d be happy to wait,” Cate interrupted, not giving Mrs. Danforth a chance to suggest they come back later.

  “Well…” Mrs. Danforth said reluctantly. “I suppose that would be all right. But not the cat. I can’t have it leaving hair everywhere.”

  For an instant Howard had a strong feeling that Heimao was about to leap at Mrs. Danforth’s throat, but then Cate said, “Not a problem. Heimao will be happy to stay out here in your lovely garden.”

  “I’ll just go and slaughter a few small mammals and birds,” said Heimao sarcastically inside Howard’s head.

  Mrs. Danforth led Cate and Howard led into a huge formal drawing room and invited them to sit down on an antique couch with ornately carved legs. “I’ll tell Madison you’re here,” she said as she left.

  Howard sat gingerly on the edge of the couch, worried that the thing would break and he’d have to spend the rest of his life working to pay off the repair bill. Cate had no such qualms and bounced to her feet the moment the door closed. Howard watched nervously as she picked up elegant ornaments from the mantel and tilted them to look at their bases.

  “Wow!” she said, examining a pale vase covered in an intricate honeycomb pattern. “This is a Royal Worcester by George Owen. It must be worth twenty or thirty thousand dollars.” She replaced it, a bit too close to the edge for Howard’s comfort, and turned to a pair of ornate vases sitting on the floor, one on each side of the fireplace. “These are Han dynasty hunping soul vases. They must be close to two thousand years old.”

  Howard wanted to ask Cate how she knew all this, but he didn’t want to distract her, so he remained silent and prayed she would leave everything alone and sit back down safely beside him. She did, but only after she’d checked out everything in the room.

  “This place is like a museum,” she said, plopping down so hard that Howard glanced at the couch legs to see if they’d cracked.

  “Houses should be for living in,” he said, “not for storing expensive stuff to look at. I could never relax in this place.”

  “It’s all a question of perspective. You’d be quite happy here if you had enough money to easily replace anything that got broken.”

  Howard doubted it, but he didn’t argue. “What if Madison doesn’t want to see us?” he asked.

  “No problem,” Cate said. “We’ll simply take that Royal Worcester vase and leave.”

  “No way!”

  They both jumped to their feet as Madison appeared by the sliding doors leading to the dining room. “That vase is worth more than both your families earn in a year,” she said.

  Howard felt Cate tense beside him and hoped she wasn’t about to say something that would get them thrown out on the street. To his relief, she just smiled and said, “I know, right? You’re so lucky to have so much cool, expensive stuff. I was just joking.”

  Madison sauntered across the room and struck a model pose on the arm of a chair that matched the couch. She was wearing skintight pink jeans, leather ankle boots and a loose crocheted top over a white T-shirt, and she carried a brightly colored clutch bag. Her face was made up, and every hair was in place. Howard tried unsuccessfully not to stare.

  “It’s good of you to see us,” Cate said, as if they’d been granted an audience with the queen.

  Howard detected a note of sarcasm and silently gave thanks that Heimao hadn’t been allowed in. Madison noticed nothing.

  “Yeah. Whatever,” she said. An annoyingly cheerful jingle echoed from her bag, and she pulled out a pink cell phone and examined the screen briefly. “Okay,” she said, “I’ve got to get back over to Leon’s. Why are you here?”

  “We wanted to ask you something about the party last night,” Cate said.

  Madison looked confused. Howard got the feeling it wasn’t that hard to confuse Madison.

  “Yeah, well, like, I’m sorry you weren’t there, but what do you want? A class report?”

  “We were wondering about your dream.” Cate spoke slowly and calmly.

  Madison looked as if she was about to fall off the chair. “How do you know about my dream?” she finally managed to squeak out.

  “So you remember it then,” Cate said. “Do you remember Howard being in it?”

  Madison looked like a frightened rabbit, and
Howard worried that she was about to flee the room.

  “How…?” she began again, but she ran out of words.

  “You and Howard had the same dream,” Cate offered helpfully.

  “What? Howard? But why? That’s just too creepy.” Madison stood up.

  “It’s true,” Howard said. “We were on a dark beach. There were creatures coming out of the water, but you scared them away with the flashlight on your cell phone, and then you went through a portal and back to the party. You thought Leon had spiked your drink.”

  Madison stared at Howard with eyes like saucers. There was a time when that look would have made his knees go weak, but now he just wanted information.

  “How did the dream begin?” he said curtly.

  Madison frowned as she struggled to remember. “I’d had a bit too much to drink. Leon was being a jerk, wandering around mumbling some stupid words. I was the reason this party was going to be such a huge hit, and he kept ignoring me. That’s not fair, right?” Madison looked as if she wanted Howard’s approval.

  He nodded agreement and asked, “What was he mumbling?”

  “How should I know? It was nonsense.”

  “Was it Chinese?” Cate asked.

  “Don’t be stupid. Leon has enough trouble with English. He can’t speak Chinese.”

  “Then what happened?” Howard asked.

  “Leon came up behind me, mumbling his nonsense. I guess he was more drunk than I was. Anyway, I must have fallen asleep. Next thing I knew, I was waking up and feeling angry at Leon. I went looking for him, but he was sober enough to know to keep out of my way, so I just left and came home early. Last night was a bust. I hope tonight will be better. I’m going over there soon to warn Leon not to be such a jerk again.”

  “So,” Cate kept pushing, “you think Leon spiked your drink? And then you passed out and had your weird dream?”

  Madison nodded. “Something like that.”

  “Were you scared in the dream?”

  “Scared? Of what? Howard?”

  Howard had no desire to scare Madison, but he was disappointed that she had dismissed the possibility so easily. “What about those crawling creatures?” he asked.

  “They were gross,” Madison acknowledged, “and a bit creepy, but dreams are like that, you know. Weird.” Her phone jingled again, and she read her latest text. “I’ve gotta go now,” she said, replacing the phone in her bag. “Leon wants to talk. Probably ready to apologize.”

  “Why did you and Howard have the same dream?” Cate asked.

  Madison shrugged. “He probably dreams about me all the time. Sooner or later he was bound to have the same dream as me. Kind of like winning the lottery.” She flounced toward the door. “Don’t steal anything,” she said as she left.

  They let themselves out. “Well, that was a bust,” Howard said when they were back on the street.

  “Have fun with the rich and famous?” Heimao asked.

  Howard ignored her. “We didn’t learn anything,” he said.

  “On the contrary, we confirmed that the portal’s in the Whateley house and that Leon knows about it. What we don’t know is why he sent Madison through it.”

  “He sent Madison through it?”

  “I doubt she could do it herself. I think we should pay Leon a visit.”

  “How? We’ll never get away with the ‘friends from school’ routine at Leon’s place. Besides, Madison will be there now.” Another thought struck Howard. “If Leon’s an Adept and really did send Madison through the portal, do we want to mess with him?”

  “I doubt Leon’s that powerful. Madison’s so suggestible that I could probably send her somewhere. But I wasn’t suggesting we break in just yet. We’ll simply stroll past and see what’s going on.”

  “Okay,” Howard agreed. Then he realized what Cate had just said. “Wait! Break in? You’re suggesting we break into Leon’s house? We can’t do that—now or ever. It’s illegal. And besides, rich people have security cameras and alarm systems.”

  “Perhaps break in was too strong,” Cate said, setting off toward the top of Hangman’s Hill. “Let’s just walk past Leon’s house and see what we can see.”

  Howard wasn’t comforted, but he followed Cate anyway. “And when we get there, what do we do?”

  “Save the world,” Cate threw back over her shoulder.

  AYLFORD

  THE PARTY

  As they approached the top of Hangman’s Hill, dark tendrils flickered at the edges of Howard’s vision, and his worry level soared. Would Cate stand and stare at Leon’s house or start crawling around the grounds? He had visions of his mom having to bail out her stalker son and his weird friend.

  Barely breaking stride, Cate walked through the gate and up the steps of the largest house on Hangman’s Hill. She turned the handle of the ornately carved front door and marched inside. Howard froze on the porch, but an arm extended out the door beckoned him in. Heimao slipped past his feet and disappeared inside.

  “We shouldn’t be doing this,” Howard whispered as he closed the door behind him. The blackness around his view was slowly solidifying, and his fear of being plunged back into the tunnel was growing.

  Cate seemed oblivious to his concerns. “Why not? There’s a party on, and Leon simply forgot to invite us. Besides, look at this place. There’s real money in selling old books.”

  The two stood in the hallway and stared. The Whateley house was even bigger and more ornate than Madison’s. The floor of the entrance hallway was marble, and there was dark wood paneling everywhere. In front of them a wide staircase rose to a landing, where it split in two to give access to both sides of the floor above. Overhead, a domed stained-glass window let in subtle colored light.

  Open doors on either side of the hallway showed well-appointed and expensively decorated rooms. The effect was spoiled, however, by the empty bottles and cans littering every flat surface, and the bodies asleep on every couch and chair. As Howard and Cate looked around, Brad Forman, the captain of the school football team, stumbled through one of the doors, wearing only boxers. For a moment he stared through bleary eyes, and then he grunted something that might have been “coffee” and headed toward the back of the house.

  “Brad seems to be enjoying the party,” Cate commented.

  “A wonderful example of human superiority,” Heimao observed.

  “So now that we’re in, what do we do?” Howard asked.

  “Good question. We need a plan.” Cate headed for the grand staircase, climbed a few steps and sat. Heimao jumped onto one of the newel posts and positioned herself like an ornamental statue.

  Howard took two steps toward Cate before the blackness rushed into his vision and the stairs melted away. He stumbled forward and fell to his knees on the bottom step, terrified that he was about to be plunged back into the horrors of the beach. But almost immediately the world solidified again, leaving him confused and dizzy.

  “Are you okay?” Cate asked, taking his arm.

  “Everything seemed to melt for a moment. It was just like that lightning strike outside the AIPC.” He took a deep breath and sat beside Cate.

  “Seems as if we’ve come to the right place,” she said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Aylford is a place of power, which is why Adepts are drawn here. But the power isn’t uniformly distributed across town. There are nodes or vortices where the power is concentrated. The AIPC is one such place, and the Whateley house is obviously another. You’re very sensitive to these places.”

  “So I can expect to have another attack here?”

  “Maybe,” Cate said unhelpfully.

  “But if I do, you can say the words and bring me back, right?”

  “Maybe.”

  Howard wasn’t thrilled by the idea of being hurled into the horrifying world he had visited before. “What about the book?” he suggested. “You told me that words were important, and that what Kun said in the book told us about the white ship and led us he
re. Maybe there’s also something in the book that will tell us what to do next.”

  “Maybe.” Cate shrugged. “But we don’t know what we’d be looking for.”

  “Will you stop saying maybe? I’ve had no idea what to do since all of this began. We’re just stumbling around and hoping for the best.”

  “Okay,” Cate said, taking the book out of her satchel. “Let’s give it a try.”

  She and Howard starting flipping through the pages while Heimao occupied herself cleaning her fur. They tried reciting bits and pieces of the story, but nothing happened—until a loud, booming thump came from somewhere below them, sending vibrations up through the stairs.

  “Did we do that?” Howard asked.

  “I don’t think so,” Cate replied.

  There was another thump, followed by several loud crashing sounds. The whole house shuddered so violently that Howard grabbed the banister. The thumps came more frequently, until they had merged into a deep, continuous roar. It sounded like a powerful waterfall.

  A cold drip landed on Howard’s head. He looked up to see a crack spreading across the glass dome. It had gone very dark outside.

  “What’s going on?” He turned to Cate and noticed a trickle of water running down the stairs beside her. The wall behind the landing had become a steadily growing waterfall. Water splashed onto Howard’s face. “It’s salty,” he said. “It’s seawater.”

  “I think a portal is opening,” Cate said. “I think this is the ocean from the other dimension leaking through.”

  “It’s bringing stuff with it,” Howard added as something that resembled a cross between a squid and a sea star flopped about on the top step. Heimao watched disapprovingly as the water poured down the stairs below her. When a drop hit her from above, she shook herself angrily.

  Cate kept flipping through the pages of the book. “There has to be something in here,” she said under her breath.

  Just then a wall of water collapsed out of the doorway to Howard’s right, flooding the hallway. The water running down the stairs had become a torrent, and now it was swirling around his legs and Cate’s hunched back, threatening to sweep them off the stairs. Pieces of furniture were beginning to float out of the rooms on each side of the hallway.