by Ally Condie
Logan closed the book. Opal nearly sighed in relief as he set it back where he’d found it. But his words had been a slap to all of them. The tension in the room was choking.
Logan’s eyebrows rose as he peered past Opal. She followed his gaze. In its jar atop the pedestal, the strange green thing was floating upright. Two dark spots had appeared. They looked like eyes.
“Gross.” Logan strode over and knocked on the glass. “You guys steal this from a bio lab?”
Opal stormed forward and grabbed his arm. “Don’t touch anything.”
Logan gave her an icy glare. “Hands off, Walsh.”
He’s using my last name now, too.
Opal tightened her grip. “You need to go. You don’t belong here.”
Logan flinched. “And you do?”
Emma and Tyler hurried around the pedestal, blocking Logan’s view of the back wall. But Tyler kept glancing over his shoulder. “Just stay … stay where you are!”
“Oh, wow.” Logan pulled free of Opal’s grasp. “Are you hiding something?” He pushed past Tyler and Emma. “Whaddya got? A hidden vault full of gold doubloons?”
He rapped a fist against the wall. The panel popped open, revealing the staircase.
Logan stepped back in surprise. “Oh, crap. I was kidding.”
“It’s just the hold.” Emma shrugged, feigning nonchalance. “Go ahead if you want, but I’m not coming with you.” She made a scurrying motion with her fingers. “Spiders.”
The ploy almost worked. Logan squinted into the darkness as if having second thoughts. Then he clicked his tongue. “Yeah, right.” His shoes rang on the stairs like warning chimes as he headed for the basement.
“Logan!” Opal raced after him, the others trailing behind. “Hey, seriously. It’s not safe down there!”
She took the steps two at a time, tripping on the last one and staggering into Logan, who stood at the Darkdeep’s edge. “What is this?” he whispered, ignoring the collision.
“Nothing,” Tyler said reflexively.
“A well,” Emma answered at the same time.
“Something that can hurt you.” Nico was the last to reach the bottom. “Trust me, Logan. That water is dangerous.”
“Right. Trust you.” Logan began to circle the pool. “Why is it moving like that?”
Opal stood statue-still, not daring to answer. What if he touches the water?
“This is your fault,” Nico hissed at her.
“I didn’t invite him!” Opal’s hands were shaking. Logan stared into the Darkdeep with a predatory gleam.
Nico’s eyes blazed. “He followed you.”
Emma looked away. Emotions warred on Tyler’s face, but he didn’t say anything.
Opal couldn’t breathe with the unfairness of it all. They were holding her responsible for Logan’s actions. Why was she guilty for what he did? No. She answered for herself and no one else. “I am tired of you doing this to me,” Opal spat through gritted teeth.
Nico flinched. His mouth opened.
“Doing what?” Logan had come full circle. “Are your friends being mean, Opal?” He’d said her first name this time, but that meant nothing. Not with that taunt in his voice. Not after he’d stalked her across Timbers and ruined everything.
“Get out of here, Logan,” Opal said.
“Not a chance.” He pointed at the churning water. “I want to know what this pool is, and why you’re being so weird about it.” His tone became mocking. “Will it turn me into Spider-Man or something?”
Nico raised a palm. “I promise you, that well is toxic. You need to stay away from it.”
“I almost believe you, Holland.” Logan smiled wryly. “The problem is you’re a wimp.”
He knelt and reached toward the water.
“No!” Opal rushed at Logan. She had to stop him.
Nico got there first. He grabbed Logan’s arm and yanked it back.
“Get off me!” Logan tried to shove him away, but Nico held on, and the motion knocked them both off balance.
“Look out!” Opal cried.
Locked arm in arm, the two boys tipped, toppled, fell.
Logan touched the surface first. For a moment, the dark water stilled.
Then it swallowed them whole.
19
NICO
Nico felt the cold of the Darkdeep envelop him.
His body seized as he was dragged down into the bottomless black. A pulse of energy ran over him, through him. He wanted to scream, but suffocating liquid pressed in from all sides. He was drenched. He was frozen. He was unmade.
Then it all vanished. He floated in a void. Days. Seconds. An instant.
Like the times before, but also … different.
He felt another presence struggling with him. Lashing. Twisting. Panicking.
Logan?
The sensation flickered. Currents of pure emptiness scattered Nico’s thoughts.
Beneath them, Nico sensed a deeper awareness.
Something murky. Alien. Impossibly old.
The Darkdeep wrapped around him like a funeral shroud, then tightened, enfolding Nico in a net of midnight black.
His mind blanked, and he felt nothing more.
Nico awoke gasping and spitting by the pond. He rolled onto his back.
“Oh, man,” he rasped. “Oh, jeez.”
He’d been through the vortex a dozen times, but this trip had been a nightmare. His head suddenly weighed fifty pounds. His fingers were blue, his body chilled to ice-cube status.
Nico had never felt so powerless inside the Darkdeep.
He’d never felt someone else.
He rocketed up. Spotted Logan a stone’s throw away—he’d crawled halfway out of the pond and wasn’t moving. Nico scrambled over to him, shouting his name.
Logan didn’t respond.
Nico reached for him but stopped short.
Should I touch him? What if he has internal injuries?
“Hold on, man.” Nico twisted around. A full moon was rising beyond the fog, casting an eerie half-light over the island. He spotted Opal leaping across the stones, Tyler and Emma hot on her heels.
“Over here!” Nico waved, then turned back to Logan, who groaned and licked his lips. Nico’s heart started beating again. “Just relax, dude. We’ll get you fixed up. Don’t … don’t freak out or anything.”
Logan puked into the grass. “Wha … what happened?”
“We fell into the Dar”—Nico winced—“the pool under the boat. Came up in the pond. You’ll be fine in a minute.” But Nico wasn’t sure. No one had gone through the Darkdeep with another person before.
Opal and the others were racing toward them. Nico stood. Cracked his neck. A moment later the ground shuddered beneath his feet.
Nico froze. “What was …”
The island went silent.
The hairs on his neck stood.
Logan hocked onto the grass. “Oh man, I feel like a used Kleenex.” He rose to his knees, then shot Nico a wild-eyed look. “What’s going on? What was that … that thing in the water? What are you guys doing out here?”
“Shhh.” Nico waved for quiet. “Something isn’t right.”
“Of course it’s not right!” Logan staggered to his feet. “I got sucked down some kind of undertow … into … into …” He aimed a finger at Nico. “Tell me right now what you and your weirdo friends are up to, or—”
The ground shook a second time.
“Be quiet, Logan!” Nico tried to look everywhere at once. “You don’t understand what’s happening. We should get back to the houseboat.”
“Where the whirlpool is?” Logan stared at Nico in horror. “No way. I’m not going near that thing.” His teeth chattered. “Did you … I swear I felt something. Like there was someone in the water with us.”
A tree groaned. There was a sound like a bullwhip, then a broken sentinel pine crashed to the mud less than a dozen yards from where they stood.
“Oh no,” Nico whispered.
“What was that?” Logan shouted, his voice cracking.
From the gloom emerged a giant, clanking monstrosity. It stood fifteen feet tall, wearing a dark robe with the hood thrown back. A smell like rotten eggs swept the field.
Moonlight pierced the mists, illuminating the figment’s face. Beady black eyes flanked a veiny, bulbous nose. Two sharp tusks protruded from its mouth.
“No!” Logan stumbled backward in shock. “You can’t be real! I stopped playing years ago, I promise!”
Nico’s eyes shot to his companion. “What is that?”
“Volg,” Logan practically whimpered. “It’s the Ogre King.”
The nightmare glared down with scorching eyes. “Invaders,” it growled through dripping jaws, though its voice sounded mechanized. “Humans have no place in my empire!” Lightning bolts sizzled along the creature’s sleeves as it unsheathed an enormous broadsword and raised it with an earthshaking roar. Fire erupted from the blade.
Nico gasped, his blood turning to ice. “Holy crap. That’s no ogre!”
Thanks to the burning sword and electric robe, Nico could better see the creature’s face. Its skin was made of liquid metal. The tusks were steel spikes. The letter M was stamped in the center of its forehead.
“That’s Mordan,” Nico whispered, his jaw dropping open. “Warden of the Ways.”
Nico used to watch Japanese cartoons with his older brother as a kid. Mordan was a robot monk tasked with guarding the underworld on the planet Hexra. Mordan had scared Nico witless every time he saw him. After three episodes and a dozen nightmares, Nico never watched the show again.
Yet here the robot god was. Only … why did he also look like an ogre?
Logan was nearly hyperventilating at Nico’s side. He’d backpedaled into the pond up to his ankles, but didn’t seem to notice. “Ogre Wars is just a stupid video game. I quit when I was ten!” His hand shot out to grip Nico’s arm. “Why am I seeing Volg? Why is he made of metal?”
“Volg? That’s Mordan. You can tell by …”
Then it hit him.
Two people had gone into the Darkdeep. One horrible figment came out.
“You have sullied Hexra’s burial ground!” Volg/Mordan thundered. “The war continues! You shall be DESTROYED.” The creature reversed the flaming sword and drove it into the ground.
That was enough for both of them.
“Run!” Nico shouted, matching action to words. Logan was a step behind him.
Air swooshed over Nico’s head. He heard a bone-jarring thwack, followed by the hum of quivering metal.
“It’s trying to kill us!” Logan shouted, nearly face-planting in panic. Nico grabbed his elbow to steady him and risked a backward glance. The sword was stuck in the belly of an oak tree. Huge robot arms were straining to free it.
It is trying to kill us. A figment! What is happening?
They ran smack into Opal, Tyler, and Emma at the edge of the pond.
“Back back back!” Nico shouted. “This one’s homicidal!”
The others spun on a dime, but Logan stopped dead. He stared at Nico, wide-eyed and panting like a spooked racehorse. “This one? What do you mean, this one?”
Nico seized Logan by the shoulder. “Now is not the time! We’ll wait this thing out on the houseboat.”
Logan lurched free. “You’re crazy,” he whispered. “All of you!” Before anyone could stop him, Logan shot past the stepping-stones, tearing around the back side of the pond toward the gully that hid the tunnel. Away from the bellowing ogre god with a razor-sharp sword.
“Inside, right now!” Nico shouted.
“What about Logan?” Opal said.
“What about us?” Tyler shot back. Emma was already on the second stone, bounding for the boat. The others followed like a ragged flock of birds.
Nico heard something crunch behind him, then a furious roar. He didn’t stop. Didn’t look back. Didn’t take a single breath until his sneakers hit the porch. There he whirled, terrified he’d see a fiery broadsword slicing toward his throat.
But the figment was mired near the shoreline. It had one foot on dry land, the other in the pond. The first stepping-stone had cracked under its weight and its left leg was now buried in the mud. The creature’s robe sparked and hissed. Its fiery sword went out. Volg/Mordan bellowed in fury. It took another step, sinking to the waist.
“Too heavy!” Tyler nearly sobbed in relief. “Maybe it can’t reach us.”
The robot ogre dragged itself out and stood dripping in the darkness, staring at the houseboat. A growl carried across the water. The creature began to circle the pond.
“There’s no other way to the houseboat,” Nico said, trying to slow his rampaging pulse. “I … I think we’re safe. Unless Volg/Mordan can fly.” He laughed nervously.
“Volg? Mordan?” Opal wiped sweat from her forehead. “What are you talking about?”
Nico felt the adrenaline leaking out of him. “I’ll explain inside. We’re stuck here until that monster disappears anyway.”
It took two hours for the figment to vanish—even though it was huge, could speak, and was trashing the world around it. Nico explained his theory about the double monster—that it sprang from his and Logan’s imaginations combined. As the robot ogre circled, slamming its sword into the ground, the group dug into the books they’d gathered, looking for anything about the Darkdeep.
Nico was sitting by the window when the monster finally disappeared. He felt the ghostly tickle of a sword swinging for his neck. Broke out into a sweat.
The creature outside might be gone, but the warning was inescapable.
A figment had tried to kill him.
20
OPAL
ATTACK OF THE KILLER RADISHES—THIS SATURDAY!!!
The banner hung over the entrance to the Timbers Public Library across the street.
“What on earth does that mean?” Opal said. She wondered if she’d forgotten something. Had they conjured up walking vegetables at some point? Was she losing her mind?
“It’s a horror movie.” Emma gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up. “They’re showing it the night of the festival, after the pageant.”
“Killer radishes?” Nico squinted at the banner. “I thought it was tomatoes.”
“That’s actually the movie,” Emma said. “But I’m going to have a live mic, and every time anyone in the movie says ‘tomatoes,’ I’m supposed to shout ‘RADISHES’ over it.”
“Wow.” Tyler shook his head.
Emma nodded sagely. “It’s lucky I know the lines so well.”
They were sitting on the school steps. On every lamppost, smiling radish signs beamed at the residents of Timbers. But many of the adults seemed worried, like they were convinced the fate of Timbers was riding on the success of the festival. Almost everyone was involved in some way, including the kids. Most weren’t as laid-back about it as Emma.
“We should meet again,” Opal said. “That robot-ogre gave me nightmares. Things are bad, you guys.”
“I know, but I can’t right now.” Nico rubbed his temple as if to ward off a headache. “My dad got home before I did last night and yelled at me for being late. Plus I have a costume fitting for the parade.”
“Could be worse.” Opal squeezed her eyes shut. “I have a private dance rehearsal. My mom wants to see my routine.”
Nico snorted. “What about you, Ty? What have they roped you into?”
“The radish-eating contest.” Tyler covered his face. “My mom’s in charge of it.”
Emma cringed. “That’s disgusting. Everyone’s gonna be sick.”
Tyler chuckled grimly. “Somebody bring the barf bags, is all I’m saying.”
Opal laughed. It was all so ridiculous, wasting time on this nonsense after what they’d seen yesterday. What they’d made.
“This festival is doomed,” Emma said cheerfully. “So many bad ideas at once.”
Opal undid the rubber band at the end of her braid and started fixing it again. “I
mean, radishes are fine, I guess. They’re a pretty color. I know Timbers ships a lot of them to restaurants in Seattle. But this was the best idea the town could come up with?”
“What is the best thing about Timbers?” Nico asked. Opal detected a current of bitterness in his voice.
“All of it,” Opal answered, surprising herself. When Nico glanced at her, she searched for the right words. “The radish farmers, the mill, everything.” Opal held out her arms, trying to encompass the whole town. Main Street and its old-fashioned streetlights. Overlook Row, with its beautiful painted houses facing the sea. The chalkboard sign outside the coffee shop listing the daily specials. The slumping pier, the green parks, the redbrick library. The mountains, the sky, the fields and woods.
If this isn’t enough, what is?
“It’s just a really nice place to live.” Opal felt a sudden swell of pride in her hometown. And panic that it might be in danger. She looked at Nico, and wondered if he was thinking the same thing.
“So here’s what we need to do.” Opal scooted closer to the others so no one else could overhear. “First, we should go back to the houseboat and keep searching those books. Find out what we’re dealing with.”
“No more Darkdeeping,” Emma said sadly.
Opal nodded. “Not until we know more.”
Nico folded his arms. “And second, we need to decide what to do about Logan.”
“Right.” Opal sighed. The concrete steps chilled her legs through her jeans. A crumpled leaf skittered across her sneaker. “I’ll talk to him.” She was the only one he might listen to.
Logan had run off in a total panic last night. Who had he told? What would he do next?
Opal had been half-relieved when he didn’t show up at school that morning—he couldn’t blab to his friends if he wasn’t there. But he might be at home right now, talking to his parents. Or the police. The FBI. Anyone. What if a SWAT team was motoring toward Still Cove right now, to investigate what Logan said?
“Speak of the devil.” Tyler clicked his tongue. “Here he comes.”
“What?” Opal turned around. She’d assumed she’d have time to gather her thoughts and approach Logan friend-to-friend. Or person-to-person. But his mother’s BMW convertible was pulling into the parking lot.
