Death's Academy

by Bast, Michael

  “There!” I point, and we hurry over to Mal.

  Brilliance is still unconscious. Lightcrest scoops her up in his arms and faces us.

  “Do you see all of the mechanical gears and wheels over there?” he asks, motioning toward the cavern wall.

  The gears and wheels still spin and whir at different speeds and in different directions all the way up to the ceiling. “Those things control everything down here. They’re like a power plant. Below the gears are tubes that connect with the surface. You step on the platforms inside a tube, pull a lever, and it shoots you up and out. It’s the fastest way to get out of the city. We’ve got to move. Stay close.”

  We follow Lightcrest to the wall. He checks to make sure the coast is clear and scales the fence with Brilliance. I help Mal over and then climb to the other side myself.

  “Follow me,” Lightcrest says.

  Dozens of unicorns are scouring the streets looking for us. Lightcrest keeps to cracks between homes and behind walls. Several times we’re nearly spotted, but we’re able to stay out of sight. Near the base of the cavern wall, a candy-cane picket fence stands in between us and the gears up above. The fence has created a small compound. Inside the compound is a guard house and a blue-and-green tower with wide windows at the top.

  I peer through a narrow gap between two fence slats and see what Lightcrest was talking about. Carved into the stone below the spinning gears are three arched entries that look very much like elevators.

  I glance over at Mal, and we make eye contact. “Are those …?”

  “Connected to the holes that I nearly fell into? I think so,” Mal says.

  “Shh!” Lightcrest says and hold his hand up to us. “What’s that?”

  My eyes flash in every direction looking for unicorns, but there isn’t one to be seen. “I don’t see anyone.”

  “Listen,” Lightcrest hisses.

  I hold my breath. Faintly, like a distant train, a rumbling grows.

  “What is that?” Mal asks.

  I look down where my hand is pressed against the cavern floor and small pebbles are trembling.

  “Is it an earthquake?” I ask and take a couple of steps toward the approaching sound. Mal creeps up next to me and tugs on my shirt.

  “We better get going,” she says.

  “There’s a release valve at the top of the guard tower. You’ll know it when you see it. It must be twisted to the left to allow the tubes to work,” Lightcrest says, staring directly at me.

  I have a terrible feeling that he means to have me release the valve.

  “The tower looks empty. You’ll have plenty of time once you release it to get to your tube, but I would recommend not taking all day,” Lightcrest says.

  I swallow. “Okay.”

  The rumbling transforms into a roll of thunder that’s heading directly toward us.

  “They’re coming,” Mal says, gripping my arm.

  I turn to Lightcrest. “What’s going to stop them from following us up the tubes?”

  “Nothing … We’ve got to outrun them,” Lightcrest says and turns toward the opening to the compound.

  “Will you carry this for me?” I ask and extend the Scythe to Mal. “Just till we meet back up.”

  She takes it from me. “Be careful.”

  Mal and Lightcrest run for the stone arches and the tubes, and I for the guard tower. I burst through the door and start climbing the winding staircase. I scale the final set of stairs two at a time and sprint into the room at the top of the tower. I’m not alone.

  I skid to a stop inches from a reclined Shetland unicorn. His little feet are up on a desk, his stubby arms crossed on his chest. I gasp and jump backward. He doesn’t move. He has a pair of shorty headphones in his ears and his eyes are closed.

  He’s asleep! I glance around. A stack of unicorn magazines litter his desk and a long red licorice whip is wound up hanging on the wall. Where’s that stupid valve? I take a couple of steps around to the other side, and I see a bright green knob that looks like the valve I use to turn on our water hose in the back yard. That’s got to be it. I take a step toward it and make the mistake of looking out the window.

  Two dozen rampaging unicorns careen around a street corner and dash toward the compound’s entrance. My eyes flicker over to the tubes. Mal has jumped into one, and Lightcrest and Brilliance in the other. I grab the valve and twist it to the left. There’s a terrible whistle and steam shoots out of the pipes jutting out of the ground near the tubes. Lightcrest and Brilliance disappear first, and then Mal pulls on the lever and she’s shot up the tube and out of sight.

  I turn and head for the door when I notice the sleeping Shetland unicorn stir. He jumps from his chair and looks around. He sees me and cocks his head to the side like he doesn’t quite understand what’s going on. I lunge for the licorice whip and rip it from the wall. He leaps toward me just as I crack the whip at him. It lassos around his chest and pins his arms. He trips and loses his balance. He stumbles past me and reaches the edge of the first step in the winding staircase. He catches himself barely and teeters with his hooves at the precipice.

  We make eye contact and he realizes what I’m about to do. He lets out a long whimper, and I give him a soft push with my forefinger. He tumbles backward down the stairs.

  Oh, don’t give me that look. You would have done the same thing if you were in my shoes.

  I bound down the stairs and through the door. A muscular unicorn with a familiar scar is rushing through the gate. It’s Raindrop. Close behind him is a herd of unicorns frothing at their mouths.

  He sees me, lets out an ear-piercing whinny, and gallops toward me. I run with all my might, my legs churning faster than they have ever moved. The last tube is twenty yards away … ten yards … His hooves are pounding right on my heels. I dive into the wide tube opening and reach out my arm. My hand catches the lever and yanks it backward. The platform shakes once and rockets upward.

  Raindrop’s furious scream fades behind me as I am propelled upward. The force of the elevator presses me against the floor and I feel like I’m going to be squashed into a puddle. Suddenly the elevator shakes violently and starts to slow down. My body actually levitates off the ground and I hover a few feet above the floor until gravity catches up with me and slams me back to earth.

  “Night!”

  Mal grabs me by the arm and helps me to my feet. I look around, the world still spinning. My eyes come into focus and I recognize the giant gear that’s spinning just above us against the back wall. The other two holes have been filled with the elevator floors.

  “We’ve got to keep moving,” Lightcrest says breathlessly. “They’re going to follow—”

  A metal shriek rings out, and the massive gear behind us begins to spin faster and faster. The ground where Mal was standing suddenly drops, and the elevator shoots back down to the unicorn city. I jump from my platform just as it and the other elevator vanish. The gear spins so fast it becomes a blur. I watch it for a second, and then it begins to slow down again. An idea pops into my head.

  Lightcrest turns and runs down the pathway between the stalagmites. Mal turns to run, and I catch her by the shoulder.

  “Wait!” I say and take the Scythe from her.

  She looks at me confused.

  “They’ll catch us unless I slow them down. I’ve got an idea,” I say.

  “What? How?” Mal protests.

  “This gear. It’s the key. I’ve got to jam it or destroy it.”

  “With what? They’re going to be here any second!”

  “You said the Scythe of Grim holds all of the original Death’s powers right?” I ask.

  Mal nods. “That’s what I read.”

  The gear stops spinning. The elevators must have reached the bottom. I inch forward and walk the narrow path between the elevator shafts and the back wall. The gear begins to spin again, going faster and faster.

  “Night! They’re coming up!”

  The gear becomes a blur. They
’ll be here any second. I lift the Scythe over my head and swing it down with all of my might. It collides with the gear, and there’s a terrible explosion. I’m thrown backward like I’ve been shot off a trampoline. I fly over the elevator shafts and land in a heap on the other side.

  The massive gear splinters and shatters. Shards of the gear shoot out in every direction. Mal dives forward and throws herself on top of me. Pieces of debris land all around us.

  A hazy smoke and the smell of burned rubber fill the cavern. Mal looks down at me.

  “You okay?”

  “I think so.”

  I get to my feet, and the smoke gradually clears. The Scythe is lying on the cavern floor a few feet from me. I pick it up and turn it a couple of times in my hands. There isn’t a notch or mark on it.

  “I’m surprised,” Mal says, her mouth arched in a partial smile.

  “About what?”

  “That your plan worked.”

  I let out a long sigh. “Me too.”

  Suddenly there’s a terrible quake, and both Mal and I fall to the floor. The sound of distant explosions echoes up through the elevator shafts.

  I get to my feet and peer down one of them. “What was that?”

  “That,” a voice calls out and a claw appears over the top of one of the other elevator shafts, “is my city being destroyed.”

  Mal and I scurry backward. Another claw catches hold of the ledge and a blood-splattered unicorn head inches above the ground. Raindrop’s one good eye finds us and his mane bristles. His glare is filled with pure hatred.

  “Run!” I scream, and Mal and I bolt down the path.

  We weave back and forth between the stalagmites. The Scythe’s weight and clumsy size make it difficult for me to navigate through the narrow pathway. Raindrop’s stuttered running pursues me.

  Clop, drag. Clop, drag.

  The pounding of the waterfall grows louder, and the rocks begin to glisten from the mist. I glance through an opening in the stalagmites and see Lightcrest hurrying into the tunnel that pops out on the other side of the waterfall.

  “I’m going to rip your limbs off one by one, hoodie!” Raindrop screams behind us.

  We breach the mouth of the tunnel and sprint down its corridor. I peek over my shoulder. Raindrop is almost on top of us. His eye blazes red. I look forward and make the horrific realization that he’ll catch us before we reach the end.

  “Go, Mal, go!” I yell and slide to a stop on the slick floor. I spin around and raise the Scythe up threateningly.

  Raindrop clatters to a stop. His chest is heaving and steam is shooting from his snout. He eyes the Scythe and takes a cautious step forward.

  I raise it up higher.

  “Stay where you are!” I yell over the crashing waterfall.

  He smirks and shakes his head. Blood and water spray off his mane onto the tunnel walls. I scurry backward a few feet.

  “You’ll never escape, little hoodie. I’ll decorate my house with your skull and bones,” he says, taking another step forward.

  “You mean your house that just blew up?” I ask.

  He grits his teeth.

  “You’ll pay for what you’ve done, hoodie. You’ll wish you were never born.”

  I slide backward, my eyes fixated on him. He follows after me, keeping the same distance between us.

  “You unicorns already made me wish I hadn’t been born before. That’s old news for me,” I say.

  Raindrop squints and gazes at my face. “Who are you?”

  “You don’t know me, but you knew my dad.”

  A quizzical look crosses his face and then it slowly transforms into comprehension.

  “You’re the son of that hoodie who got blamed for the Queen Suzanne,” Raindrop says and lets out a shrill laugh. He takes a couple of scurried steps toward me, and I nearly trip backward.

  “Stay back!” I say and brandish the Scythe.

  His smile droops, and he wipes some blood from his mouth. His face screws up once again in confusion. “You’ve come all this way with the halo that framed your father?”

  I whip my head over my shoulder. The exit is only another twenty yards. I can see the churning water and the first steel lily pad.

  “We didn’t come with Lightcrest. He showed up after. I didn’t know what happened with my dad until today,” I say and inch backward.

  He lets out another laugh. “He never told you? He tried to stop us. Fought off quite a few before we overpowered him. We tied him up and stowed him away. Lightcrest knew no one would believe him. He was the perfect scapegoat.”

  “Did my dad know you were helping Lightcrest?” I ask, still taking every chance to creep toward the tunnel’s exit.

  “No. For all he knew, Lightcrest showed up to stop the unauthorized killing of all the humans on the cruise ship. Your father had no clue that Lightcrest was the mastermind behind it all,” he says, spitting on the ground. “He ruined your life, didn’t he, little hoodie?”

  My eyes drop to the cavern floor and my fingers slacken around the Scythe. The countless times I have been thrown out of stores and shunned by my friends’ parents flashes before me. My mouth goes dry. I nod.

  “You want to know a little secret, hoodie?”

  My eyes flicker up to Raindrop. His mouth is arched in a smirk. “The secret is that Lightcrest never meant to—”

  Boom!

  A huge explosion rocks the entire mountainside, throwing both of us to the ground. My ears are ringing and my head feels like it has just been dribbled down a staircase. I shake my head and glance over Raindrop’s shoulder. A gurgling wall of smoke and fire rolls toward us like an ocean swell. I scramble to my feet, and Raindrop pounces forward, his teeth and claws bared.

  I stumble backward, and my arms, acting by their own will, as if a puppet master is directing them where to go, jerk the Scythe to the side. The Scythe’s blade strikes the tunnel wall. It tears through the stone like scissors through cloth. Water crashes through the gap in the tunnel wall. The force of it slams into Raindrop and then me, lifting us from our feet and churning us down the tunnel. We are shot out the end and into the swelling river.

  My back slams into one of the steel lily pads, and I let out a groan. I grasp the Scythe with all my might, but it’s pulling me down. I topple end over end by the rampaging water and can feel my world starting to go black. The Scythe starts to slip from my hand when two arms grab me in a bear hug. I’m pulled backward and heaved to the surface.

  Mal tugs me to the bank, and Lightcrest catches her hand. He pulls us both from the water. I lie facedown on the bank, spluttering and coughing, trying to catch my breath. I push myself onto my knees and peer toward the tunnel opening. The fire and smoke spewing out of the opening sizzle and pop. Raindrop is nowhere to be found.

  “Can you see him? Can you see the unicorn?”

  Lightcrest shakes his head. “No. He went under and disappeared. They can’t swim … He must have drowned.”

  I let out a long sigh and flop down onto my backside.

  “So you survived, huh?” a weak voice calls out.

  Twenty-Five

  I turn around, and Brilliance is propped up against a tree with her eyes half shut and a small smile on her face.

  “Good job, you dumb hoodie,” Brilliance says, her smile widening.

  “You okay?” I ask.

  “I’ve been better,” she says and beckons me forward.

  I crawl over to her. She leans forward and kisses my cheek. My entire face feels like it has been dipped into a pot of boiling water. It takes every ounce of my willpower to prevent my eyes from crossing.

  “Thank you for saving my daddy. He means everything to me,” she says and closes her eyes. She leans back against the tree and groans. “I just don’t want to move a muscle again for a few months.”

  I turn to Mal, her hair matted against her face and a scowl slapped across her face.

  “What’s wrong?” I ask.

  She folds her arms and storms aw
ay. I chase after her and catch her by the shoulder.

  “Hey, what’s wrong?”

  “Nothing,” she spits out.

  We stand there for several moments not speaking.

  “Thanks for … you know … saving my life in there,” I say, gesturing to the river.

  She rolls her eyes. “Whatever.”

  I frown but walk over and hug her. She stiffens at first, but then hugs me back. For some reason my face starts to get really hot again. She lets me go, and her face is red too. We share an uncomfortable moment, and I try to break the awkwardness.

  “How are we going to get out of here?”

  “I’ve called for some bald eagles and falcons to carry us back home,” Lightcrest says.

  “We can use my blanket again. It’s in the clearing over that way,” Mal adds.

  Lightcrest carries Brilliance to the meadow, and we find Mal’s pink polka-dotted blanket. I’m so exhausted I don’t care that it is the girliest blanket ever created. I fall onto it. The eagles and falcons arrive, and they lift us into the sky. We soar so high, the tall pines and aspen melt together like a patchwork quilt. I lay the Scythe over my chest.

  My world dissolves like a drop of paint in the ocean. A rolling fog seeps toward me. An ancient ship with tall masts and wide sails breaks through the mist. A wave lifts me onto its deck. The deck has form, but it isn’t solid. It’s more like a cloud. I don’t sink through it, but my body seems to become a hazy ghost that hovers over it.

  A single flickering torch hangs above a doorway to the captain’s quarters. The door swings open, and an imposing man takes three loping strides toward me. I feel like I should be terrified, but a calmness expands inside of me like a flowering potion that starts in my chest and reaches to the tips of my fingers and toes. He stops just in front of me and his features congeal and take form. He has a grandfatherly face and a silver beard. His long hair is raven black with glints of fading grey.

  He stares at me for a few moments and smiles.

  “Hello, Midnight,” he says in a soft but commanding voice.

  “Hello,” I peep.

  “You saved my Scythe for me. I’m deeply grateful to you and to your friends.”