“The red bottle, child. On the top shelf.”
Gabriel ran and got it as fast as he could. The woman grabbed a bit of this and a bit of that and tossed it into the potion, all the while barking orders to get strange-looking ingredients. He gnawed his thumbnail as he watched her stir the concoction. Brent followed Piper as she paced in circles, grumbling under her breath.
“The dog may be too far gone for any potion to work, but we’ll give it a shot. We’d better get some into the girl, too, and fast,” Leejor said.
Piper pointed to the pot of liquid and scrunched her nose. “If you think I’m gonna drink any of that, you’ve totally lost your marbles.”
“You will do what I say if you want to live,” Leejor snapped. Piper grunted and turned away, grumbling under her breath in Spanish. “Is it ready, Marta?” Leejor asked.
“Yes,” she replied, pouring the steaming green liquid into a cup.
Piper dragged her hair behind her ears, then raised fisted hands into the air. “I won’t drink it. Come near me and I’ll bite you, I swear!”
Zigzag raged in her cage, eyes flashing green. Gabriel winced as she flung her body against the steel bars.
“We need keep away.” Finley wrapped his tail around Gabriel’s leg as he, Brent, and Gabriel leaned against the cave wall.
Leejor pulled a wand from beneath his cloak. He waved it back and forth in front of Zigzag’s cage in a smooth movement, chanting some rhyme. Zigzag slid to her belly, quiet. Then, Leejor turned and cast the same spell on Piper. Marta caught her as she fell, and carried her to a hammock. Piper was still awake, but calm. Leejor and Marta gave the potion to Zigzag and Piper. Zigzag was first; hers had to be injected. Piper, despite her vow never to drink the green liquid, sat up in a trance and drank an entire cup.
“That is all for now. Only time will tell. Night is upon us, and we must rest.”
Brent, Gabriel, and Finley followed Marta farther into the cave. She turned into a dimly lit chamber. Several lanterns placed against the rugged rock walls cast dim light over the few cots scattered across the floor. Marta tucked them into the beds, covering each of them with blankets and patting their heads, one-by-one.
“Go to sleep, friends. Morning brings new hope,” she said. Then, to Gabriel’s horror, she blew out the lanterns, leaving them in complete darkness. Gabriel shivered and tugged the thin blanket up to his neck. His mouth turned to sawdust, and his heart rate skyrocketed. He hated the dark. He squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them again, hoping his eyes would adjust to the darkness and let him see something. From every dark corner, he imagined glowing green eyes peering at him. He inhaled a deep breath and counted to ten, trying to slow his crazy heartbeat. He didn’t know if he was more hungry, terrified, stressed, or exhausted. And he had no idea if Piper and Zigzag would ever be normal again.
Chapter Seven
Gabriel stirred at the sound of heavy footsteps walking toward his hammock. He opened his eyes to the morning light. Leejor leaned over him.
“Come with me,” Leejor said.
Gabriel scrambled from the hammock and shook Brent and Finley awake. The boys and the little monkey followed Leejor to where Piper had been sleeping the night before. The bed was empty.
“Where’s Piper?” Brent asked.
Before Leejor could answer, Piper jumped up from a crouched position. “Aha!” she yelled.
Finley squealed, Gabriel jumped back, and Brent raised his hands defensively. “Whoa!”
“Guys, I’m okay!” Piper spun around. “I’m all good. Well, except my arm is still kind of sore.”
The boys ran to hug her and, in a rush of excitement, they did their handshake.
“This is seriously amazing!” Gabriel yelled. “It actually worked!”
Brent laughed and gave her a playful shove. “You were such a grouch. I’m not even kidding.”
Piper giggled. “I don’t remember anything.”
Gabriel faced Zigzag’s cage. “What about her?”
“I’m afraid she isn’t better,” Leejor said, stroking his beard. “She is quiet now, but she should stay here and receive more potions. Although I don’t know if I have one strong enough. She’s had the virus longer than Piper, and it is deeply seeded in her. I don’t know if she can be saved.”
Gabriel hung his head. “Please don’t say that.” Piper slipped an arm around him.
“I will do my best, I promise,” Leejor said.
Marta ushered them to a table, where she passed around steaming plates of a breakfast that tasted like pasta with cream sauce. They all ate, though Gabriel mostly pushed his food around with his fork and watched Zigzag sleep.
“Nothing you can do for her, Gabriel,” Leejor said, following his gaze. “Her best hope is with me now.”
Gabriel sighed. He hated that Leejor was right.
“You really should be on your way. You’ve quite a way to travel, and not much time. Our land is in turmoil, and if you don’t get back to your world soon, I fear you never may,” Leejor said, sounding forlorn.
We have to get back. “We’ll come back for her as soon as we can,” Gabriel said, pushing his chair back. “Thanks for everything.”
From the corner of his eye, he watched Marta apply a creamy substance to the wound on Piper’s arm. Piper looked away, grimacing. Gabriel gasped as the gaping wound gradually disappeared.
“Piper—your arm!” Brent pointed to it, eyes wide.
Piper gawked at the wound as it disappeared. Then she squeezed Marta into a hug. “You totally rock!”
“Marta be rock?” Finley asked, pulling a face.
Everybody except Finley laughed.
Piper patted Finley’s head. “No, Finley, I just mean she’s really, really good.”
Finley nodded. “Marta rock.” He chuckled and squealed.
Marta smiled. “It’s what I do,” Marta answered with a quick pat to Piper’s healed arm.
Leejor handed Gabriel a small bag. “Bring this with you. In it are potions needed in Shataundra. Some are for making the tongue tell truths, others are for maladies. I also packed a special one for you and your friends,” he said with a wink.
Piper leaned over Gabriel to peek inside the bag. “Muy bien. I mean, great. What for?”
Leejor passed each of them a small vial filled with turquoise liquid. “It is a special potion to make you invisible. Use it wisely, as it can only be used once. Its spell will last only ten minutes. Keep them hidden until you need them.”
“Dude, that’s so cool,” Brent said.
“Epic! I’m just hoping we won’t run into anything we need to be invisible from.” Gabriel gulped, remembering the tiger in the crystal. He hadn’t even looked at the crystal since he’d been in Valta. They tucked the invisibility potions deep in their pockets.
Before they left, Marta gave them each a bag of snacks for their journey. Gabriel was dying to leave. Worry about Gruocks, the long journey ahead, Zigzag’s sickness, and the possible need for an invisibility potion, all filled him with a burning fear. What if they never got back to their world? The crazy thoughts made his stomach nosedive. Being lost in a dying world with monsters lurking everywhere totally freaked him out.
Chapter Eight
“We need go C-pring now.”
Finley pointed in the direction from which they’d come. Gabriel knew Finley meant Carissa Springs, from what Rakur had told them. Finley raced downhill, hopping through foliage and jumping over moss-covered rocks. The morning light beamed through the tree leaves, and a small stream trickled nearby. Piper pointed out some animals in the distance, grazing in a field of grass. They looked like deer, but smaller.
“Look at that,” she said. “They’re so skinny you can even see their ribs. But there’s lots of grass and stuff. Why don’t they just freaking eat already?”
Brent paused to watch them, eyebrows twisted. “They look confused. They’re just walking in circles.”
“That’s strange.” Piper chewed a strand of her hair.
“I guess that’s part of the problem here.”
Gabriel walked on ahead without replying, deep in thought. Dead leaves and glittering gold dust fluttered across the ground. With every step, Gabriel’s feet sunk in an inch or two, making the hems of his jeans glitter too.
They walked for a while in silence. Everyone had a lot to think about. After several hours, Finley stopped, peering around. “Quiet now. Finley need think.” He knelt and felt the soil, bringing some to his nose. His eyes darted around. “Me no like smell of land here.”
As he finished speaking, the earth heaved, tossing Gabriel and the others high into the air. Gabriel dug his fingers around looking for something to hold on to. He grasped what he thought was netting—invisible netting. It swung around, making them tumble into each other. They dangled in midair, swinging back and forth like a pendulum.
“What’s going on?” Gabriel yelled.
“Trap!” Finley screamed, “Traaaaaap!”
They clung to the net as it swayed wildly. When it came to a stop and they could see straight, they searched the ground far below. Two of the creatures with the gazillion eyes stood beneath them, speaking in an odd language.
“Eeker!” screeched Finley.
Gabriel’s blood roared in his ears. He couldn’t breathe. One of the creatures reached into its pocket and grabbed a device, like a control pad. The seeker turned a dial on the front, then flipped it over, and pressed a button on its bottom. The button flashed green at his touch.
Something snapped, then they fell. They landed with a thud, still tangled in the invisible net. Gabriel’s knees stung from hitting the tiled floor. Wait. Tiled floor? Gabriel gulped when he realized they were in a new location; somehow the seekers had transported them somewhere else. He shook his head, trying to shake loose from the net. Piper rubbed her wrists. “What the hay?” Gabriel whispered.
Gabriel looked around. The forest had been replaced with a building. The ceiling soared at least three stories high. Grand pillars towered from the floor to the ceiling throughout the room. The hand-painted ceiling shone in shades of blue, purple, yellow, and white. Stained-glass windows ran the length of the walls. In the middle of the room, looming up from the polished marble floor, towered a large fountain with a tall statue of a beautiful woman wearing a long, flowing dress, and a crown.
Brent gazed around in disbelief. “Where are we?”
“Me not know here,” Finley said.
“This looks like a palace,” Piper whispered. “I just hope they didn’t bring us here to be their next meal. I’ve been bitten enough for one lifetime, thanks.”
Gabriel tried breaking the ropes apart, but they were too thick. He wished he’d brought his pocketknife with him. “This sucks.” He sighed and dropped his head in his hands.
Before long, a woman’s voice called, soft and misty, “Release them.”
Gabriel looked around, but couldn’t see anybody.
“Sounds like an angel,” Piper murmured. “Maybe we’re in heaven.”
Then the seekers reappeared from out of nowhere, untying the netting until it fell around them in a heap. They stood, brushing themselves off.
The woman spoke again, her voice as soft as a down blanket. “Come to me now,” she said. “I promise I will not hurt you.”
Gabriel looked at his friends and shrugged. Piper took Gabriel’s hand, then Brent’s. They walked, unified, toward the voice. Finley hopped ahead of them. When they rounded one of the pillars, a beautiful woman waited for them at the end of the room at the top of a staircase, smiling at them.
“It’s the woman in the statue,” Piper whispered.
The woman stood in front of a plush purple velvet chair trimmed with gold. A sparkling crown sat on her long blond hair, hair that fell to her waist in loose curls. She wore a flowing turquoise gown with a high waistband trimmed in gold. The golden hem brushed the white marble floor. She smiled at them, her sea-blue eyes fixing on each of them in turn. Her head tilted to the side in perfect curiosity.
Finley perked up and made ecstatic, squealing monkey sounds. Then he bent on one knee and bowed his head. He motioned for the others to do the same. Gabriel and Brent bowed, and Piper curtseyed.
From his bow, Finley peeked up at the woman. “Empresssss … ” Finley slathered the letter s as he tried to sound out the word. “Malina,” he whispered as his tail swished from left to right.
The empress motioned for them to stand. “Please stand, Fegan and friends. There is no need to bow before me. Please, come and sit beside me.”
“Empress Malina?” Gabriel whispered, looking to Finley for an explanation.
Finley nodded. “Empra Malina, master! You know, Finley tell you bout.”
“No, you didn’t tell us your master was a freaking angel princess!” Piper said with a sigh. “She’s so beautiful.”
Brent stood, and climbed the ten steps to her in silence while the rest of them followed closely behind. As they neared the top, a huge white tiger stalked from behind the empress’s throne. Finley squealed, and they all jumped back a step. They hadn’t seen it because it blended in with the marble floors perfectly until it opened its pure, blue eyes.
“Don’t be afraid,” Empress Malina said. “This is Andimian. He is my guardian. He won’t hurt you—unless I ask him to.”
The empress petted the magnificent creature’s head and he purred. Andimian’s striking blue eyes watched their every move. “Will you all join me outside in the gardens for lemonade?” She pointed to a doorway in the castle wall.
“Sure,” Piper said.
Gabriel nodded, mesmerized, and Brent licked his lips.
“Me love lemonade.” Finley bounced around, then froze as he met Andimian’s glare.
The empress laughed and ushered them outside to a sunny garden with white benches. Mossy rock walls surrounded the garden, and hummingbirds flitted from tree to tree. Multi-colored roses bloomed all around them, though many seemed to be dying. Gabriel couldn’t tell why.
The empress sat on one of the benches, pulled the tail of her long dress to one side, and patted the seat beside her. Before Gabriel had a chance to sit, Finley bounced up next to her. “And who are all of you?” the empress asked.
“I am Gabriel Stone, of Willow Creek,” Gabriel said, mesmerized by her sweet voice and the tiger that swished his tail around her seat. He placed a hand over the crystal under his shirt. This can’t all be a coincidence.
The empress smiled at him. “And you?” she asked, turning to the others. They recited their names. Empress Malina counted as she looked them over. “Gabriel Stone, Brent Chapman, and Piper Ramirez? I thought there were four of you.” She tapped her finger against her lips.
Gabriel was about to tell her she must mean Zigzag, but before he had a chance, she spoke again.
“And Finley of the Fegans.” She tapped Finley’s nose. “You are all so lovely. I sense your kindness and goodness of heart. I was told by one of my seekers that some humans had traveled to our land. I have been trying to find you ever since then. These are dangerous times in Valta, even more so now that our world is dying.” She looked to the ground.
“Dying? I thought it was just sick right now,” Gabriel said. Heat rushed to his cheeks. Total dork. Like I know better than the empress.
“When things are sick and you cannot heal them, they die,” Empress Malina whispered, like it was painful to say the words too loudly.
“Why is Valta sick?” Gabriel asked. “And why can’t it be fixed?”
“Seriously, what could be so terrible it can’t be fixed?” Piper added. “I was sick, and Leejor fixed me.” She fidgeted in her seat, looking as uncomfortable as Gabriel was with the conversation.
Empress Malina sighed. “There isn’t a potion that can fix Valta. But oh, how I wish it were that easy.”
“I just remembered, these are for you.” Gabriel reached behind him and took off his backpack. “Leejor sent them. He said you need them.”
“Thank you, darling.�
� Empress Malina peeked into the bag of potions, then set it beside her. “These will certainly be helpful. If only they could cure what is wrong with our land.”
Gabriel felt sorry for Empress Malina, her huge responsibility, and how much she must be worried for her world. Then a scary thought occurred to him. It sank from his head to settle in his gut.
If they were stuck in this world—and it was dying—then he and his friends were dying, too.
“Empress Malina,” he said, “I’d really like to help if I could. Please tell us if we can do anything.”
Brent nodded.
Piper arched her brows. “Can we help, Empress?”
The empress smiled widely. “You really are darlings. I don’t expect you to help. It is dangerous. But still, I think you may be clever enough … innocent enough … ” She stared into the distance, pondering. “If you help me, help our land, perhaps I could help you in return.”
“Really?” Gabriel asked, excited. “You mean, help us find our way home, right?”
“Why yes,” Empress Malina answered. “I know where you came from. You slipped through a portal opened mistakenly because of Valta’s sickness. It is closed now, but if things are made right again, I would be able to reopen the portal and return you home.”
She paused to inhale a deep breath before continuing. “My wicked brother, Duke Malgor, has been trying to seize my throne. He’s stolen Valta’s very life force because whoever controls the life force controls all of Valta. That’s what he wants of course—what he’s always wanted … ” She sighed. “He’s hidden it somewhere that neither I nor my seekers can find it.” She frowned and looked to the ground.
As she spoke, some of Empress Malina’s seekers came into the garden and passed around cookies and lemonade. Gabriel shifted back a step at the sight of the seekers, and shook his head when offered a cookie. Brent stretched his arm and quickly snatched two from the plate and offered one to Piper.
“Without the life force, our world will surely die. My seekers have been searching, but many of them are becoming ill and will be unable to hunt soon.” She sighed. “I am sorry to burden you, darlings. I will call the princess. She will show you the castle. It will be dark soon. Tonight, you must stay and be my guests.”
Gabriel Stone and the Divinity of Valta Page 5
