“Bean . . . Brianna, can’t you see what that is? It’s an Ent!” Levi said urgently, trying to draw her attention away from the big bug.
Brianna didn’t respond. She kept staring up at the Ent, her eyes unfocused. Like she was being hypnotized. Ivy saw that weird thing on the back of her neck blinking furiously.
Levi stepped forward, reaching out to put the helmet on Brianna’s head. The large Ent shrieked, launching a dart. It hit Levi in the chest, and he stumbled backward—his breastplate repelled the dart, but the helmet flew from his hands and rolled away. Before Levi could grab it, the Ent shot another dart at him, which glanced off his helmet. Levi fell backward on the ground, dazed. Brianna continued to stare at the Ent as if she had no idea what had just happened.
“Bean, please,” Levi cried, “get your helmet! Put it on! Before it’s too late!”
Brianna shook her head.
The helmet rolled toward Ivy, stopping right before her boots.
Rec Center—Inside
4:25 PM
A bead of sweat trickled down Mr. J. Ar’s brow. The swarm of Ents against the windows was so dense it blocked every bit of sunlight, shrouding the center in darkness. The Warriors had only the glow of their breastplates and the red lights of their shields to guide them. But the boys were struggling to cover all the windows by themselves. It was just a matter of time before . . .
“Help!” Manuel called out. One of the windows on his side had started to crack. “I can’t hold it!”
“Stand firm, Manuel!” Mr. J. Ar ordered.
But Manuel took several steps backward, his shield wavering. The Ents took full advantage, breaking through the cracked window and sweeping into the rec center.
“Mr. J. Ar!” Manuel cried desperately, struggling to stop the onslaught by himself.
“Xavier! Manuel! Come to me!” Mr. J. Ar beckoned from the shelter door, where he was stationed.
Xavier and Manuel retreated from the windows to join Mr. J. Ar, their shields and helmets protecting them. The cloud of Ents made it hard for them to see where they were going.
“Stay in front of this door; form a shield wall!” Mr. J. Ar said, shouting to be heard over the screeching of the Ents and the shrill whistling of flying darts that turned everything they hit—books, backpacks, jackets—to solid metal.
The two boys nodded, standing together to form a glittering red shield wall in front of the shelter door. The swarm kept coming, pummeling their shields with their long, lethal darts, but the Warriors held fast.
“Stand firm!” Mr. J. Ar said again. Then he turned and nodded to Grandpa Tony, who was covering the gym entrance. Tony nodded back. He stepped away from the gym door and began slashing at the Ents with his sword, shattering whole swaths of them into dust. Mr. J. Ar did the same, his sword glowing brighter with each Ent it destroyed. Xavier and Manuel watched with wide eyes at the sight of so many Ents falling in defeat.
But still they came. More and more of them, streaming in through the broken windows.
“I don’t know how much longer I can hold out my arm,” said Manuel, struggling to keep his shield up.
“I’ll help you,” said Xavier. He reached with his free hand under Manuel’s sagging elbow. Manuel let out a breath, relaxing slightly.
“Thanks.” Then he murmured to himself: “Seven, eight, nine, ten . . .”
They waited.
And hoped for Evan to open the quaritan.
Soon.
Chapter 34
Here and There
Ahoratos—The Quaritan
4:25 PM
More stones. More strange letters and designs. Evan raced to fit them together.
דבר נעים
The quaritan walls shook and trembled, dropping dust and pebbles on his head. He didn’t feel them though; his helmet seemed to deflect not only the voice of the enemy but the impact of the falling debris as well. Yet the quaking was getting worse. He was running out of time.
He kept arranging the magnets, figuring out how they fit together.
Hurry, hurry, hurry! The message, or writing or whatever it was, still made no sense to him. He only hoped he was on the right track.
Ahoratos—Outside the Quaritan
4:29 PM
Rook stayed within the protection of Ruwach’s fiery circle, his shield in one hand, his sword in the other. The Ents couldn’t reach him. But he noticed that the bulk of the swarm had moved to attacking the quaritan itself, their darts chipping away at the huge rock bit by bit. The enemy may not be able to get to Evan, but if he destroyed the quaritan before Evan could open it, the Ents would not be captured or contained.
And Evan might never get out.
Don’t give up, Evan, Rook said to himself. Don’t. Give. Up.
Ahoratos—Inside the Quaritan
4:29 PM
I can’t do this.
Evan leaned back from his work and stared at the incomprehensible message taking shape from the magnets he had fit together. Even if he finished the puzzle, he still wouldn’t know what it meant. If this message actually contained the secret of how to open the quaritan, he wouldn’t be able to read it. He was tired. His fingers were scraped and sore. The shaking was coming more frequently now. Evan knew that the enemy was not happy with his progress. Sweat curled in his eyes—he could barely see what he was doing anymore.
“What’s the use?” he said aloud. “I can’t do this. It’s too hard. I’m not smart enough.”
His breastplate brightened, the orb spinning, churning out another message into the air before him:
Be strong and courageous. Do not be discouraged. Do not be afraid.
Another instruction he’d gotten days ago on his phone. He wished he’d paid more attention to it then. He would have been more prepared for this moment. But there was no time for wishing. Evan let the words sink deep into his heart. He sighed, rubbing dust from his eyes, straining to examine the remaining crystals despite the shaking. He kept working.
And finally, he was down to two. There were no more black stones in the quaritan that he could find. As he fit the first one into the puzzle, the entire quaritan rocked as if it had been knocked off its foundation. Evan fell sideways, the last stone flying from his hands. He struggled to right himself, covering his eyes to avoid the dust and debris falling all around him. He searched around with his hands—but that last piece of the puzzle was gone.
Desperately, Evan crawled along the rough floor, searching for the missing piece. It was hard to see anything at all, with all the dust in his eyes. He coughed and choked, struggling for breath. The shaking continued to worsen. He wanted more than anything to just give up, to find some way out of this awful mess. He wanted to go home.
But then he had an image in his mind of Brianna sitting by herself in the rec center, sad and alone. Something had gotten hold of her. That thing . . . that Sypher. He rose up, balling his fists in anger. His friend was in trouble. He remembered how she had stayed with him through the dark city on their first trip to Ahoratos. He couldn’t abandon her now. He had to find that last stone.
He kept searching, combing through the rocks and pebbles and broken crystals that littered the floor of the quaritan. Show me, show me where it is. He whispered the words over and over, hoping Ruwach could hear him.
Then he remembered—the stone was magnetic. Maybe he could use one of the other stones to find it! He crawled over to the nearly completed puzzle and yanked off the last stone he had placed. Then he scanned it over the floor of the quaritan, using it to detect the stone he was missing. The rocks on the floor kept shifting as the trembling worsened, but Evan kept trying.
Finally, he felt something latch onto the rock in his hand—it had to be the missing piece!
Rec Center—Outside
4:30 PM
Brianna felt tears stinging her cheeks.
&nb
sp; “Stella, where are you?” she said, ignoring Levi’s pleas to put on her helmet.
I’m right here, silly.
Her neck tickled. For the first time she began to make the connection—the tickle on the back of her neck and . . . Stella? She was the one talking to her? Telling her all those things?
“It’s lying to you,” Levi said. “Whatever it says is a lie!” He tried to rise, but the Ent shot another dart at him. He fell backward again, dizzy and disoriented.
“Stella wouldn’t lie to me. She loves me. . . .” Brianna barely whispered.
Levi spoke in breathless gasps: “It doesn’t love you, Bean! It can’t love you! It’s just trying to control you! Your family loves you . . . and your friends . . . and . . . me. You need to put on the helmet. You need to hear the truth! Please . . .”
“Stop!” Brianna cried. She lowered her head, covering her ears so she wouldn’t hear Levi’s voice—or Stella’s.
Ivy, still at the edge of the tree, watched in horror as the giant Ent on the branch rose up, spreading its enormous wings. She saw Levi still on the ground, too far away to help. The Ent let out a terrible screech, a braying cry of victory, and aimed its next dart directly at Brianna.
Ivy knew she had to do something. She picked up the helmet and ran toward Brianna.
“Watch out!”
Brianna looked up, confused. Ivy leaped in front of her, just as the deadly dart flew into her path. . . .
Ahoratos—Inside the Quaritan
4:30 PM
Evan quickly scrambled back to the puzzle, the two final stones in his hand, and placed them at the end of the puzzle.
אמת כבוד נעים בין בדברים האלה
And as he did, the shaking suddenly stopped. . . .
Rec Center—Outside
4:30 PM
. . . And so did the dart.
In the split-second moment when the dart was just about to hit Ivy . . .
It didn’t.
Ivy could hear her own breathing—rapid and shallow. Her eyes, which had slammed shut to prepare for impact, opened to see that the dart had stopped in mid-air, inches in front of her. As if it had been frozen in the middle of space. Then it disintegrated, turning to dust and falling harmlessly to the ground.
Ivy gazed down at the dusting on the grass that had been an Ent dart a moment before. When she looked up again, the enormous Ent in the tangled branches began to shrivel up into a blackened shell that fell off the tree and landed in a pile of dust in front of them.
Ahoratos—Inside the Quaritan
4:31 PM
Evan waited, listening. There was no sound. But when he looked at the stones again, he saw that the designs etched into them were changing, transforming, the strange letters morphing into new shapes, radiating with their own inner light.
True. Honorable. Lovely. Think on these things.
Evan realized he could read the words now. Then the entire puzzle lit up like it was set on fire, shooting out a wide, flat beam of light that burned through the quaritan’s roof of crystals like a blowtorch cutting steel. Evan shielded his eyes from the blinding light. He could feel the intense heat waft toward him as the quaritan began to split apart.
Ahoratos—Outside the Quaritan
4:31 PM
Rook saw it happen—something he never thought he would see with his own eyes. The quaritan was opening like a clam. It made a tremendous noise, as if the whole land was about to erupt. The attacking Ents shrieked in alarm, for the inside of the quaritan was as bright as the sun, shooting up a twisting column of fire that spiraled upward for what seemed like miles. It spun feverishly, drawing the Ents into its vortex like moths to a flame. They were powerless against it.
“Evan!” Rook raced toward the quaritan, fearful that Evan, too, would be consumed by the towering column of fire. But Ruwach, standing before the opening quaritan, held up an arm to stop him.
“I’ve got him.” Ruwach’s other arm pointed to the sky. Rook looked up, seeing nothing at first but the fiery tornado. Then something large and fast streaked by overhead, scattering the roving swarm of Ents that still lingered there. At first Rook thought it was an enormous Ent. He raised his sword, as if in defense. But then he heard a noise like a trumpet turned inside out, and he started to laugh.
Tannyn swooped into the fiery quaritan and disappeared. Rook sucked in a breath, holding it in anticipation until Tannyn finally shot back out of the firenado with Evan secured in his huge jaws. They looked unharmed. The dragon soared into the sky, tossing Evan onto his back, and then dove for the ground. He landed badly, as usual. But Rook could see that Evan was smiling.
“You did it,” Rook said, looking up at Evan with a big smile. “Good job.”
Evan, exhausted and covered in dust, bent over to give the dragon a pat on his scaly hide. “Thanks, old buddy,” he whispered.
Tannyn craned his neck around to give Evan a toothy grin. “Gorp.”
Rec Center—Outside
4:33 PM
Ivy held Brianna’s helmet out to her.
“Here, Brianna. Put this on. Please.”
Brianna stared at the helmet a long time. Finally, she took it and slowly put it on her head. The helmet flickered then lit up as if it were powering on. Each of the tiny facets twinkled, spraying the tree branches with twirling lights. There was a piercing squeal, like a runaway train trying to stop. Something flashed around Brianna’s head, and she jumped, nearly falling backward. Ivy reached out to steady her.
“Hey, are you okay?” Ivy asked.
Brianna blinked several times, shaking her head.
“I think so—”
A pitying cry rose up from the ground at Brianna’s feet. She looked down to see a tiny winged creature lying in the dirt, its once silvery wings shriveling up, just like the big Ent’s, until it was nothing but a jumble of blackened wires.
“It’s the Sypher,” Ivy said, nearly breathless. “It’s dead.”
“Stella?” Brianna said, staring down at it. Then she looked up at Ivy, her eyes soft, like she might cry.
Ivy smiled at her. “Welcome back.”
Brianna turned to look at Levi, who had risen and was moving toward her slowly, one hand over his breastplate. He looked like he was in pain. But he was smiling.
“You okay now, Bean?”
“I’m . . . fine,” Brianna murmured.
She looked once more at the mangled wires that had once been her friend. Then she heard a new voice in her ear, clear as a bell, sweet and soft, a voice filled with music and love:
True. Honorable. Lovely. Think on these things.
Rec Center—Inside
4:33 PM
“What’s happening?” Xavier shouted.
Something was happening. The swarm of Ents that had engulfed the center appeared to be lifting, relieving the pressure on his and Manuel’s shields. Mr. J. Ar and Grandpa Tony stopped swinging their swords, gazing in awe as the massive cloud of Ents was sucked out of the rec center through the broken windows. The horrible insects screamed in terror as some unseen force suctioned them back toward the holes in the ground outside.
Both boys retracted their shields and ran to the windows to watch as the black spinning swarms went down into the holes, which sealed up as if they had never been there at all.
Ahoratos—Outside the Quaritan
4:33 PM
The sky above Ahoratos split apart, revealing a dark hole from which a twisting black cloud descended, plummeting toward the firenado that raged from the opened quaritan.
“What is that?” Evan shouted as he slid from Tannyn’s back.
“The Ent swarm, from earth,” Rook said. “The quaritan is trapping them.”
Before long Evan could see the Ents, shrieking and fluttering furiously, unable to get away from the irresistible force of the quaritan
.
“It’s like your leaf vacuum,” Evan said aloud.
Rook laughed. “Yeah, a little bit like that.”
The quaritan itself trembled and roared as it captured the Ents, like a monster swallowing a flock of birds. Then it began to close, two jaws snapping together, making the ground under Evan’s feet shudder. It sealed up just as the last of the Ents, still shrieking their skin-prickling cries, disappeared inside.
Then all was quiet, like every bit of sound had been sucked into the rock along with the Ents. Evan took a deep breath, relaxing. It was over. The Ents were trapped inside the quaritan, and it was sealed.
“Is that it?” Evan asked, hoping he’d been fast enough to help his friends.
“Not quite,” said Rook. “Wait for it.”
The quaritan started to quake as if all the Ents inside were trying to escape. It rocked this way and that, breaking away from the ground with more deafening rumbles. Evan and Rook were swept off their feet by the shaking; Tannyn cried out “Gorp!” and hunkered down, lowering his head to the ground. Finally, the entire boulder broke away from the ground and lifted into the red-gold sky, floating toward the other large lumpy objects that hovered there.
And that’s when Evan realized what it was.
“A . . . skypod?” he said aloud. “That’s what those things are?”
“Very good, Evan,” said a deep voice. Evan turned around to see Ruwach standing behind him, his arms folded into his sleeves.
“Ru!” Evan said. “Where’ve you been?”
“Here . . . and there.” Ruwach made a noise that Evan thought might have been laughter, but he couldn’t be sure.
Rec Center—Inside
4:34 PM
Grandpa Tony charged through the back door, carrying his sword as he ran out onto the playing field, toward the beech tree.
He didn’t have to go far. He stopped when he saw Brianna emerge from under the tree with Levi at her side. They were both smiling. Brianna saw her grandfather and flew into his arms, laughing and crying at the same time.
The Prince Warriors and the Unseen Invasion Page 18
