THEY DESCENDED THE three flights to the Globe entrance, their echoing footsteps providing the only sounds in the stairwell. When they reached the hole in the hallway, Trevor took a moment to test the wire’s strength and found that, despite having dropped a few feet from its original position, it still held his weight. He swung across easily enough and passed the wire down the line. This time, Nika chose to go next.
Holding her breath, she pushed off from the edge, but unlike before, Trevor plucked her from the wire before she had a chance to fall and pulled her into his arms.
“Nicely done,” Trevor said, steadying her with his hands. “What did you think?”
Nika smiled. “It was better than the first time.”
“When we get off this ride, we should all go BASE jumping,” Trevor said.
Nika blinked. “BASE jumping?”
“Yeah, it’s where you jump off something really high with a parachute or a bungee cord, or something like that. Doug Castleton does it all the time on his videos. I bet he knows some pretty awesome spots in the area. Maybe he could even film us.” Trevor looked back at Devin. “That would be cool for your YouTube channel, huh?”
Devin shrugged. “Yeah, sure. Want to give me some room so I can swing over?”
Trevor moved out of the way, and Devin whooshed across the gap. He wobbled uneasily once on the other side, reaching out and snagging Trevor’s shirtsleeve to gain his balance.
“What do you think would really happen if I slipped?” Devin glanced over at Cameron, who was waiting patiently for the wire. “I mean, if it’s all programmed by the Globe, would I really fall?”
Cameron exhaled dejectedly. “It pains me to say this, but I honestly don’t know. We’re all just following Trevor blindly. Maybe it would be better if we didn’t explore the what-ifs and the unknowns at this time.”
“Yes,” Nika agreed. “We wouldn’t want to give Trevor any ideas either, now would we?”
Trevor whistled as he leaned over the side, trying to see to the bottom of the massive hole. “That’s a long way down. It would be like BASE jumping, but without any way to stop.”
Cameron made it across the hole next, and then, together, the four of them scaled the rubble mountain from the ceiling collapse and wound their way back to the room where the creatures had abducted Terry Castleton.
Nothing in the room had changed. It looked the same as when they’d left it: spilled paint cans, dangling wires, and the aluminum scaffolding they had moved aside from the door when they first entered the back hallway.
Trevor stepped over a pile of garbage and approached the door leading out to the track. He opened it, and the reddish glow of the maintenance light poured in from overhead. Trevor glanced over his shoulder and noticed the others eyeing the opening apprehensively.
“What’s wrong?” Trevor asked.
Devin swallowed. “Is it just me, or does this seem way too easy?”
Nika nodded. “I agree. It feels like we’re forgetting about something.”
“Like what?” Trevor stared out into the Globe. Fifty feet away, the Adventure Machine cart lay in a heap, a few wispy tendrils of smoke seeping from the cracked hood.
“I don’t know,” Nika said. “But I think we should be cautious and stick together.”
“Sure.” Trevor grinned at Devin. “Bet you I can get there first.” He turned and sprinted up to the wreckage. Bending over the battered side of the cart, Trevor found his remote exactly where he had left it. If Nika hadn’t been so concerned about her injuries, Trevor might have considered hanging out on the ride a while longer. Now that he knew the secret, there was nothing he couldn’t do. They could be like superheroes, facing off against every monster and weird scenario thrown at them. But Trevor was tired, and eager to see his mom and tell her everything that had happened.
“Come on, guys,” Trevor said when he noticed that no one else had joined him yet. “We just need to press these bad boys and then we’re done.” When he turned back, holding the remote in his hands, he discovered the reason for their delay.
“Trevor.” Nika’s voice trembled. “They’re not fake!” The creature, One, stood beside her, his long black claws closed around her throat. Two of One’s companions had their hands on Devin and Cameron as well. Even from the short distance away, Trevor could see the monsters were real. But how was it possible? They were no longer wearing their neotanium suits, which meant the creatures shouldn’t have had any power over them. Unless they were something else. Machines, or maybe they were actors dressed up in costumes. But that didn’t feel right either.
“The four of you will now return with me,” One said, his yellow eyes twitching with agitation. “There is no need to resort to violence, unless you resist. And that’s not going to happen, is it?” He moved his mouth within inches of Nika’s hair, and he flexed his fingers before closing them once more around her neck.
“What’s your problem?” Trevor asked. “Why do you keep messing with us?”
“I’ve learned much from you,” One said. “But the others need their time to interact and grow. I promise that once we’ve gleaned all that we can, we will let you go.”
“Like we can really trust you,” Devin said.
One glanced back at Devin. “I have no need to lie. In fact, it’s not even an option in my original programming.”
“But you’ve evolved, haven’t you?” Cameron asked. “If you’ve taken everything from us, then you’ll have the ability to lie as well.”
One chuckled. “I guess you’ll have to make a decision.” He turned back to face Trevor. “Either you come with me and we finish what we started, or you take your chances on your own and I dispose of your friends.”
“I guess you’ll do what you have to do,” Trevor said, his thumb hovering over the remote button.
“If that’s what you wish.” One’s eyes cut toward Nika. “She will be the first to suffer.”
Trevor wanted to tell him to go ahead. That he knew for a fact this was all part of the show and that One had no intention of actually harming Nika. Trevor looked down at the remote. Maybe all that was left to do was push his button and the ride would stop. The lights would come on, and the creatures would power down like battery-operated toys running low on juice. It shouldn’t have been such a hard decision. But what if Trevor was wrong and the plan backfired? He had already made quite a few mistakes. Almost everything that had gone badly throughout the ride could be blamed on him. He had put the others in harm’s way, and he couldn’t afford to make a mistake on this decision when the consequences meant life or death for his new friends.
A weird feeling came over him. It began in his chest, like the warnings of a cold. An achy, uncomfortable throbbing that made it hard to breathe at first. But then the feeling turned into a heaviness, which settled in Trevor’s stomach. He had never experienced this before.
“You’ll just free us, after it’s all done?” Trevor asked.
“I have no need for four children,” One said. “You’ll just get in the way.”
“What about our parents?” Devin asked.
“They’re not of any value and will have the same opportunity to leave as you.” One made a motion with his free hand, the one not currently squeezing Nika’s throat, but he didn’t move it far. In fact, the creature held his arm close to his stomach, protecting it as though he couldn’t use it properly. It looked misshapen, maybe even broken.
“Come now, Trevor. Your friends don’t know whether to trust you anymore,” One said. “It would be a shame for them to find out that they can’t.”
Nika, Cameron, and Devin looked exhausted, but Trevor also noticed worry on their faces and that made him want to throw up. He lowered the remote at his side and almost dropped it. But then his eyes returned once more to One’s injured arm as he remembered something. Right after Trevor had rammed One in the stomach, the creature had dug his claws into Trevor’s uniform. There had been a loud crack, like the breaking of a bone, and One had fallen
away.
“What happened to your hand?” Trevor asked.
One cocked his head to the side and extended the forearm in question. “It is nothing.”
Trevor scratched his chin. “Looks broken. Does it hurt?”
One smiled. “No, it doesn’t. Fascinating, isn’t it?”
“That’s right.” Trevor nodded. “You took on my fearlessness, Devin’s psychic ability, Cameron’s intelligence, which means you would’ve had to absorb Nika’s abilities as well. Basically, you’re just the four of us combined.”
This caused the creature to smile. “I did indeed take from Nika. I’m now the perfect weapon. Advanced artificial intelligence.”
“But you would’ve had to take everything from her, right?” Trevor asked.
Nika’s eyes suddenly widened, and Trevor could tell she was thinking the same thing he was.
“You make a lot of bad decisions,” Trevor said to One. “You probably got that from me. And you are kind of cocky, which I’m guessing you stole from Devin.”
“Hey!” Devin flinched, but the smile remained. “That was a low blow.”
Trevor shrugged innocently.
“And you’re annoying,” Cameron added. “Courtesy of Cameron Kiffing, I presume.”
“What are you implying?” One glanced back at Cameron.
“That you took everything from us,” Trevor said. “The good and the bad.”
One exhaled a deep, aggravated breath. “I’ve had enough of our conversation. Say goodbye to your friend.”
But Nika reacted first.
Before One could squeeze her throat, she raised her fists in the air and slammed them down as hard as she could on the creature’s arm. One’s fingers fell away from her neck.
“Osteogenesis imperfecta,” Nika said, glaring into the creature’s eyes. “You’ll learn how to get used to it. I have.” Then she kicked One in the knee, and his leg buckled from the blow, bending at an odd angle as he collapsed to the ground.
Devin elbowed his captor in the ribs and twisted free from its grip. The creature holding Cameron seemed unsure of what to do, and that allowed Trevor enough time to cover the distance between them and knock it to the floor.
“Are you okay?” Trevor asked Nika. She stared down at her arms, and he could see the worry in her eyes. She had struck One with all her strength, and a blow like that might have broken her bones.
“Let’s just finish this,” she said. “I’m done with this adventure.”
“Me too.” Devin patted Trevor on the back. “That was awesome, by the way!”
“Indeed. You have an uncanny ability to think brilliantly on the fly,” Cameron said. “I would love to see your official IQ test scores. I have no doubt they’re much higher than I originally gave you credit for.”
“Uh, thanks,” Trevor said.
One attempted to give chase, but he hobbled along on the ground, unable to feel pain and yet unable to move much. “Your parents will suffer,” he hissed. “They’re still my captives, and I will never let them go.” He reached out, dragging his body forward with his crooked arms, persistent to the end, now resembling nothing more than a smashed cockroach trying to walk.
“My mom’s not there.” Trevor held up his remote as the others grabbed theirs from the cart. “She never was.”
“We do it simultaneously,” Nika instructed.
“That means at the same time,” Cameron said, smiling at Trevor.
Then the four of them pressed their buttons together.
A SPRAY OF fog blasted all around Nika. She batted her hands, trying to see through the cloud, while rapidly blinking her eyes, but it didn’t let up. The sudden burst startled her, more so than anything else that had happened so far on the Adventure Machine. Not that it was scarier, but because it was unnerving. Nika had no idea where she was or how she had gotten there.
“What is this?” Nika heard Devin ask from close by. “What’s going on?”
“We need to evacuate!” Cameron shouted. “The Globe must be on fire!”
Nika sniffed the air. “This doesn’t smell like smoke.” They would’ve been coughing and wheezing, and the fog had more of a pleasant, clean smell, like fresh bubble bath.
“Where are we then?” Devin demanded.
Trevor tried to stand up from the seat he now found himself in, but bumped into something rigid and heavy. “Ouch!” He massaged the spot where the flat end of a nozzle had struck his chest. He reached out, trying to redirect the annoying spray from dousing him.
“Oh, let’s not do that,” someone said. “We wouldn’t want you to damage the equipment. Give it a second, and the fog will shut down.”
It took a moment for the haze to disperse, but when it finally did, Nika saw Doug Castleton standing a few feet in front of the row of seats.
“Welcome back,” Doug said, a twinkle in his eye. “How was your trip?”
Nika knew she must have looked foolish to Doug, because her expression was one of complete confusion. “We’re in the Activation Room.” She recognized the long decompression tubes and the soft, spongy chairs.
Doug nodded. “That’s correct.” Terry Castleton stood behind his brother, adding a few notes to his tablet with his stylus.
Devin raised one corner of his mouth, his nose scrunching. “Are there two Activation Rooms?”
“Just the one. It would appear that you’re confused by this?” Doug was recording their conversation with a tiny handheld device. “Do you have the data?” he asked Terry.
Terry held up a flash drive in his fingers and nodded. “All of it has been collected and is ready to be analyzed.” Both Castleton brothers seemed tense, anxious. “Yes, Cameron, do you have a comment?”
Cameron once again had his hand politely raised. “I was sitting in this exact chair hours ago. I remember because when I sat down I thought it felt oddly like a marshmallow.” He bounced lightly in his chair.
“Did you say hours ago?” Doug sidled over next to his brother, a shifty smile creeping across his mouth. “How many hours?”
“At least three,” Nika said. “Though we didn’t have a way of telling time.”
“More like five or six,” Devin added. “We were stuck on the track for a while.”
“How did we get back here?” Trevor asked. “Where’s the Adventure Machine?”
Doug winked. “You just got off it.”
“No, I mean the cart that we rode in.” Trevor pointed at the door.
Doug tugged on the handle, but the door didn’t open. “That’s not actually a door. It’s just a decoration. Part of the whole ambiance of the ride.”
“But Candy was in there,” Devin said.
“Candy, like everything else you saw, is actually part of the program,” Doug explained. “We’re still considering other possibilities for that. Did you like Candy? Did she make you feel welcome, or would you rather it be someone else? We have a myriad of choices. How about a seven-foot man from Papua New Guinea?”
Nika reached up to rub her eyes, but stopped short of the visor. “Where did this come from?” She had taken off her helmet along with her uniform. When had they replaced her helmet?
“Are you all right, Printsessa?” Nika’s grandfather asked from the entryway. “You seem distraught.”
“Dedushka!” Nika sprang from her seat and raced for the door. But before she had a chance to fling her arms around him, her grandfather held up his hands to stop her.
“You know better than to run like that.” Nika’s grandfather leaned forward and lowered his voice. “You could’ve injured yourself.”
“I’m sorry.” She dropped her arms at her sides. “I was so worried about you, and now I know you’re safe.”
“Of course I’m safe.” Her grandfather gently laid his hands on her shoulders and tilted his head to one side, studying her closely.
Nika jerked toward Doug, a feeling of dread swarming in her chest. “Is there a doctor here at the facility?” She looked down at her arms and legs, kno
wing there had to be numerous fractures. Even if the neotanium had somehow managed to shield her from her fall, she had fought One without any form of protection.
“We have a medical team on-site,” Doug said.
“Why, Nika?” her grandfather demanded, his eyes widening with alarm.
Nika bowed her head, fighting back tears and trying to think of a way to tell him. She didn’t want to admit that she had been wrong to ride the Adventure Machine. “I fell, Dedushka.”
“When? Where?” He dropped to one knee, lightly cradling her wrists in his hands.
“In a hole. We had to escape these monsters and I swung across, but the wire broke free and I hit so hard. I may have broken something.”
Mr. Pushkin stood and spun around, searching the floor. “What hole?”
“Not here,” she explained. “It happened while we were in the Globe.”
Her grandfather’s eyes narrowed. “Is this some kind of joke?”
It wasn’t a joke, but it felt wrong. How did they make it back to the Activation Room so quickly? Was there some sort of secret passage that they didn’t know about?
Devin’s dad entered the room. He snapped his fingers to get Devin’s attention. “Hey, Son, why haven’t you been filming this?”
“What?” Devin stared down at his lap. In his hands, he held his father’s phone. “Hey, here it is!” He held up the phone, showing it to Trevor. “Oh man, I thought I lost it.”
“From just walking into this room?” Devin’s dad asked. “Maybe I should hold on to it. You’ll end up breaking it.”
“Excuse me, but when exactly are they going to get on the ride?” Cameron’s mom asked, poking her head from behind Devin’s dad. “It seems this sort of delay won’t be good for customers, if you ask my opinion.”
“Mom, my pills!” Cameron jumped from his seat and nearly tripped. “Hurry, before I have another episode.”
“You just had your pill, dear,” his mom said. “You don’t get one for another two hours.”
The World's Greatest Adventure Machine Page 18
