Intangible

by C. A. Gray

  For a split second, Kane had a clear path to join the rescue party. Peter’s eyes locked on Kane’s, and Peter had the uncanny feeling that he was watching a calculation taking place in Kane’s mind, weighing his options. He knew the moment when Kane had arrived at his conclusion, because an expression crossed his face that was almost a challenge. His lips, impossibly, curled into a smirk.

  Then, he dove in to the churning waters below.

  Chapter 31

  No one reacted for an interminable minute, as the waves consumed what was left of Kane’s body. Then Peter felt the horror wash over him, paralyzed in shock.

  “Move!” cried Sully hoarsely, “we’ve got to keep moving! It’s going to take all of us to get past that dragon!”

  With an effort, Peter forced his mind to forget what had just happened. Jael abandoned her numb chucks and now expertly swung a pair of katanas with a longer reach, one in each hand. She barely made contact, though, and when she did, the swords glanced harmlessly off of the dragon’s scales.

  “She could rip that thing apart!” cried Dan. “Why doesn’t she?”

  “She has to get close enough to do it,” Sully shouted grimly, pounding along behind him. “The talons and teeth make that a bit difficult…”

  “And the wings…” Dan observed as it lifted into the air.

  Just then, the dragon opened its mouth and released a torrent of flames.

  “And the fire!” cried Dan and Sully together.

  Isdemus met the wall of flames with his own fireball, but it rebounded on him, and he and Jael both had to duck to avoid being burnt to a crisp.

  “He’s a creature of shadow,” Achen shouted to the others, “and what’s the best way to get rid of shadows?”

  “Turn on the light!” answered Verum, and the three nimbi pelted the dragon with their luminous weapons. But each attempt evaporated on contact, as if swallowed by a black hole.

  The dragon took a swipe at Jael and she fell, hard.

  “Jael!” the scream ripped from Dan’s throat, and he began to shout the words of the Ancient Tongue with renewed vigor even as they sprinted towards the creature. The water at the feet of the dragon thrashed and roared like a stormy sea, but the dragon hovered just out of reach, held aloft by its powerful wings.

  Then suddenly the dragon reared back, but before it could finish off his victims in flames, Lily thrust her arms in front of her, in Isdemus’s and Jael’s direction, and shouted, “Chruthú allamuigh!” The dragon’s flames missed the Watchers by a foot, glancing aside in either direction. Lily held the invisible bubble of protection over them tenuously, trembling all over as she ran.

  “Nice one,” Cole murmured as if in a trance. Verum propelled him along, and Cole stumbled more than ran. Lily did not answer; she dared not break her focus. She didn’t even blink.

  “Lily, can you let us inside?” Dan begged once they reached Isdemus, and Jael’s crumpled form. Through the forcefield, Dan shouted frantically to Isdemus, “Is she hurt?”

  Lily obediently lowered one arm, dropping one side of the forcefield, and then raised it again once they were all inside. Immediately Dan scooped Jael into his arms, tenderly brushing the hair matted with sweat from her face. He was beside himself.

  “Lily – wow,” said Bruce, looking around them appreciatively.

  “She can’t hold it much longer, though!” Peter said with a worried glance at Lily’s pale face.

  Bruce nodded. “We have to confuse it, so it doesn’t know who to attack!”

  Dan gingerly laid Jael’s unconscious form on the ground and glared at the dragon with cold fury. “He’s mine.”

  “No, leave it to me,” Sully growled, fingering his katana. “I can warp behind it…”

  “They have a soft spot just between the neck and the head,” said Peter, thinking fast. “A sword thrust right between the scales at the base of the skull should sever the brainstem…”

  “How do you know that?” said Brock, amazed.

  Peter shrugged. “Anatomy! I figure the brain’s always in the head, right?”

  “Guys…” said Lily, now white as a sheet.

  “We all attack at once,” said Isdemus decisively.

  “Right,” said Achen, and the nimbi brandished their weapons of light.

  “On three, Lily, lower the forcefield!” cried Bruce. “One, two…”

  On three, Lily collapsed, and at the same second, there were a series of cracks: Sully reappeared at the base of the dragon’s skull, grabbing on to its plates with one arm like a bucking bronco while trying to aim his sword with the other. At the same moment, Achen, Bellator, and Verum appeared all around it, and pelted the dragon with light from all sides. Peter, frightened of hitting Sully, aimed his machete at the dragon’s flanks and hurled it with all his might. Isdemus created an inferno beneath the dragon’s underbelly while Dan commanded waves that came dangerously close to the nimbi. Bruce pelted the dragon with a stream of photons at the exact same moment that Sully got his footing and drove his sword into the base of its skull, and Dan’s waves made contact. There was a great roar, a flash of light, and a sucking sound into the abyss all at once; it was impossible to tell whose blow finally finished the creature off. In the nick of time, just before Sully got sucked into the abyss along with it, he warped back to the ground where Lily and Jael both now lay in crumpled heaps, gasping for breath.

  Once the three nimbi had also reappeared with the rest of them, Isdemus cried, “Balla dóiteáin!” and a dome of fire leapt up around them where Lily’s forcefield had been a second before.

  Instantly Dan was cradling Jael again. She still did not move. Brock hovered over Cole, conscious but barely, and Peter knelt awkwardly beside Lily, who held him off with one hand and gasped, “I’m fine… I’m fine…”

  “We cannot keep fighting the penumbra individually,” said Isdemus. “There are too many of them.”

  “You think?” said Brock sarcastically.

  Isdemus ignored him, arms held overhead. “If we all try to escape at once, we’ll never make it. Some of us have to stay here and hold them off.”

  “Someone has to… stay?” Lily gasped, looking around anxiously.

  “You three,” said Isdemus to Sully, Dan, and Jael, “Run.”

  “I can stay –” Sully began to protest. Ordinarily Dan would have said the same, but he obediently scooped up Jael and prepared to run in the direction of the portcullis.

  “I am giving you an order,” said Isdemus to Sully firmly, beginning to tremble from the effort of keeping the dome of fire intact.

  Neither Dan nor Sully bothered to ask how they would escape with the portcullis closed. They poised to obey the moment the wall of fire receded.

  Then Isdemus turned to Brock, Cole, and Lily. “You three are to go with them.” He looked especially at Brock next, indicating Cole and Lily. “They are both too weak. You will have to help them.”

  Lily shot back with as much defiance as she could muster, “I am not too weak!” just as Brock said bravely, “I will,” although he was fairly unsteady himself by then.

  Next Isdemus turned to Achen, Verum, and Bellator, and said, “Protect them.”

  “What about Peter?” Lily protested. “He has to come –”

  “No time to argue,” Isdemus nearly whispered, his face beginning to look gray even in the reddish flames.

  “You don’t understand –” Lily began, looking at Peter meaningfully. “Peter has to –”

  “Go!” With that, Isdemus lowered one arm, and the wall of fire facing the portcullis receded. The three nimbi positioned themselves around the perimeter, and the six humans half ran, half stumbled in its direction. Only Lily turned around to look back anxiously.

  As soon as they were far enough away, Peter blurted to Isdemus, “We have to blow up the fortress.”

  “Yes,” said Isdemus wearily. “That does seem to be the only way.”

  “How?” Peter demanded.

  “Peter,” said Bruce. He flashe
d him his typical goofy smile, the same one he used to give Peter to cheer him up when he’d had a bad day at school. It tied Peter’s stomach in knots. “You know how.”

  “I refuse to accept that!” Peter shouted vehemently. His eyes stung with tears. “I did not come all this way so you could sacrifice yourself!”

  “It wasn’t for nothing. You did manage to save Brock,” Bruce pointed out.

  “No!” Peter shouted again, shaking his head and closing his eyes as if to shut out the possibility. Then he looked at Isdemus wildly. “There’s another way, I know there is. Now come on, what is it?”

  Isdemus’s face had turned ashen from the effort of holding the dome of fire in place, but his eyes still shone with a pitying gaze, which was answer enough. Tears slipped over Peter’s cheeks unbidden and he looked back at Bruce with disbelief. This can’t be happening.

  Suddenly the fire began to wane. The flames thinned, and they could see the outlines of the penumbra on the other side, waiting for Isdemus’s energy to give out. They were crouched, ready to spring.

  “We don’t have much time, Peter,” Bruce cried. “I can hold them off until you’re far enough away... Go! Now!”

  As he spoke, Isdemus sank to the floor and the dome of fire vanished. Involuntarily Isdemus grabbed on to Peter’s shoulder as he fell, no longer capable of supporting his own weight.

  The penumbra lunged, but the second Isdemus’s hand made contact with Peter’s body, the flames leapt back to their full height again. The penumbra cried out and fell backwards, scalded.

  Confused, Peter looked at Isdemus to see what had happened. His face had regained its color, and he stood tall, as if his strength had been refreshed. He held Peter’s shoulder firmly, like a starving man devouring a feast. The flames soared higher and higher.

  Peter blinked at him, and then looked back at his dad.

  “Peter!” cried Bruce in wonder.

  “Of course,” Isdemus murmured, his gaze lingering on Peter’s face, as if seeing him for the first time.

  “It is you!” Bruce declared, still staring at Peter in amazement.

  “What –?” Peter began. But Bruce cut him off before he could finish the question.

  “Our energy comes from our own bodies, Peter, but apparently yours… doesn’t! It’s limitless!”

  Peter laughed feebly and gestured at his body, covered in sweat and blood. He was more exhausted than he had ever been in his life. “Yeah, limitless,” he said sarcastically.

  “Don’t you see?” Bruce pressed on. “Of course your physical body can get worn down, you’re still mortal. But your energy for the Ancient Tongue – that doesn’t come from your own cells, the way it does for the rest of us. That’s why you can do things like reverse entropy and break the physical laws! You have endless reserves! You’re like your own nuclear power plant!”

  “Dad, focus!” Peter shouted. “What are you saying?”

  It was Isdemus who replied. “He’s saying, Peter, that he doesn’t have enough energy to destroy the Fata Morgana and live to tell about it. But you do.”

  “That makes no sense. I don’t know how to do what you do!” Peter shouted. “I can’t create particles – I don’t even know how to use the Ancient Tongue!”

  “You don’t have to,” said Bruce, his eyes shining.

  Without explaining further, Isdemus shouted, “Come on! We have to move back to the portcullis first so we don’t get impaled by the glass…” He gestured at the ceiling but did not bother to finish the thought. Bruce and Peter had no choice but to run, to avoid being scorched as Isdemus’s dome of fire moved with him. Isdemus meanwhile maintained a grip on Peter’s shoulder as they ran down the wide path that Brock had left behind. Bruce pounded along behind them.

  “They got the portcullis back open!” Peter shouted as they approached it.

  “The nimbi probably blew it open, more like,” Bruce shouted back. Only sections of jagged spikes remained.

  “This is where I leave you, then,” said Isdemus. Then he said, “Good luck,” but his tone held the weightiness of goodbye. Then he released Peter’s shoulder, and the wall of fire disappeared as Isdemus vanished through the gaping portcullis.

  “GET HIM!” Sargon’s voice reverberated through the castle. The penumbra surged forward, teeth bared, wings flapping, and breath wheezing as they shouted unearthly war cries. They had only seconds.

  Peter swallowed hard and grasped his dad’s hand tightly in his own. “So – on three?”

  “Why three?” Bruce returned, and flashed him his bravest grin. “You don’t have to be ready, do you?” Before Peter could answer, Bruce squeezed Peter’s hand more tightly and extended his other arm in front of him, fingers spread wide as if to grasp the whole of the fortress in the palm of his hand. Then, with all his might, he shouted, “CHRUTHU FOTONS!”

  It happened in slow motion. The explosion sounded to Peter like the tinkling of crystal, except in surround sound, coming from every direction. He felt time stand still for one long, excruciatingly silent moment.

  Then, they felt the shock waves.

  They were airborne, hurtling straight for the jagged edges of the portcullis. They were about to be impaled –

  Then the portcullis was no more. It vanished, along with the reflections of the endless sea, in a shattering flash of light. Suddenly they were flying over the water, now tossing furiously like a squall upon the sea, and below, the footbridge tore loose, flapping in the wake of the explosion like a ribbon in the wind.

  For an instant that seemed to last an eternity, Peter saw their entire company on the banks. Even Isdemus seemed to have made it to the other side in time. Dan spoke over the water, calming the waves, and the others appeared to be speaking too, but it was unclear what they hoped to accomplish.

  Just then, there was an extra thrust from a secondary explosion behind them. The second shock wave thrust their bodies forward horizontally like rag dolls, and the water rushed up to meet them. Vaguely Peter heard screams from the banks, but he could not identify to whom the voices belonged, or what they were saying. He felt himself plunging down, down, down, toward the churning water below –

  Then he felt the impact, and everything went black.

  Chapter 32

  “Peter? Peter!”

  The voice sounded far away and garbled, as if the person was speaking through a very viscous liquid. Peter’s head throbbed as he returned to consciousness. He wished he could slip away again into blissful oblivion, but reality was persistent. He groaned.

  “Peter!” the voice now sounded relieved. He recognized it as belonging to his dad, but he also registered the fact that there were many voices in the background, whispering. He couldn’t understand what they were saying. He tried to open his eyes but it took several false starts because his eyelids felt so heavy.

  At last, he blinked them open. The first thing he saw was the blue, cloudless sky that could only mean that either they were in Carlion (since the skies were never that blue anywhere else in England) or that they were in some other country altogether… which, given recent events, was not out of the question.

  The next thing he saw was his dad, who blinked back tears when Peter met his eyes. Bruce’s glasses, usually held together with sellotape, seemed to have broken anew, and now hung crooked from his nose. Parts of his face were blackened and charred, and he bled from several places, but only slightly.

  “You look terrible,” Peter managed to croak.

  Bruce actually choke-laughed, but could not reply.

  Next, Isdemus’s face joined Bruce’s, peering down at Peter with concern. He, too, looked much the worse for wear, but he smiled at Peter with grandfatherly affection, and long strands of his snowy white hair tickled Peter’s cheek.

  “This is Dr. MacDouglas,” said Isdemus, and immediately another face appeared in the space above Peter’s head. Peter did not recognize him, but he had a full red beard and a kindly smile. “Achen went to find him as soon as we got back. He’s a hea
ler, and I do believe it’s thanks to his skill that you woke up at all.”

  “What happened?” Peter moaned. “The last thing I remember was the explosion, and then I…” He paused, trying to remember. “Then I fell into the water!”

  “No. We both would have,” said Bruce, “but –”

  “It was Sully!” Lily’s voice broke in, eager to join the conversation. Her face filled in another wedge of the circle above Peter’s head, her brown curls hanging down inches from his face. She hastily tucked them behind her ears, and he could see her luminous green eyes shining down at him with relief. She looked as if she’d slept for three days already.

  How long have I been out? Peter wondered.

  Lily went on, “Sully – well, I don’t even know how he did it, really…”

  “It was the most impressive bit of space manipulation I have yet seen him perform,” said Isdemus fondly. Peter couldn’t see Sully’s face, but he could hear him grunt dismissively in the background. “He made contact with each of us on the banks, and then when he saw you and Bruce falling, he had to precisely estimate your locations so that he could make physical contact with you both and then create a portal to the castle before any of us actually touched the water. It was really quite astounding.”

  “It was just the adrenaline,” Sully muttered gruffly. “Don’t even know how I did it… it just happened…”

  “So… I didn’t hit the water?” Peter murmured, trying to understand.

  “No,” came Sully’s voice, and his face pushed into the little circle above Peter too, blocking out the last bit of sky. “You hit me, and that’s when you blacked out. I was just guessing where you were and I didn’t have much room to play with because you were almost in the water. So I pretty much warped right on top of you.”

  “Oh,” said Peter, rubbing his forehead and discovering the beginnings of a very large goose egg. He touched it tenderly. “Did I knock you out too then?”

  “No, I think you head-butted my knee,” Sully said with a wry grin.