by T. S. Hall
The creature jumped as Dax slipped, crashing into the wall. The gremlin hopped on Dax as Katie tried to grab it. The pesky creature slapped her, causing Katie to lose her balance and trip over her brother. It jumped onto a desk and flipped over Tanner, who lunged at the gremlin as it bounced around the room. Mrs. Ferris, Allora, and Tanner leapt over desks, bounced off walls, and ran into each other. It kept slipping from their grasp. The gremlin made a break for the door. The creature jumped sideways as they both came at it, causing them to crash into each other and fall to the floor. Tanner spun around, grabbing Allora around the waist so that he would break her fall.
Allora ran after the hopping blue gremlin as it traveled up the back stairwell toward the other side of the school. Her mind suddenly flashed, entering a dreamlike state. Her eyes were fuzzy, and her head pounded, but the clear image of a green doorway on the right side of the hallway appeared. Without thinking, she opened the door and entered into a storage room. In the distance, she could hear the faint voices of her friends as they continued the pursuit of the gremlin, but her objective seemed to have changed as she scanned the room. Metal shelves lined the closest wall, and boxes of books, supplies, and toiletries filled the floor area. Her mind flashed again on the back wall in the corner. She looked down at her hands, which weren’t her own. They were calloused, strong, and manly. She walked forward, moving without conscious thought. The dream kept flashing to a time when the room seemed much cleaner and more organized. She placed her hand on the solid cement wall, feeling the hadrons around. Sparking the surface, she turned her hand in a pattern that she couldn’t quite control. It was as if someone had possessed her body, moving her hand in a preconceived rotational combination.
After six turns, her hand stopped. The wall was a thick liquid state. She reached in and grasped a small square object. When her hand came out, there was an odd blue cube the size of a walnut in her palm, completely made of sapphire. As soon as she laid her eyes on the cube, her head began to pound like it was in a vise. She stumbled back through the door to the storage room and fell to the carpet in the hallway. An image of a man, blurred in the dying light, was running toward her as her mind faded into a dark chamber. Her vision focused upon the glint of steel coming down toward her as she pulled up a sword. Spinning around, she thrust the blade into the masked warrior, clad in full black battle suit with a gold dragon insignia on his shoulder. She leapt high, coming down on two other battle suit–clad soldiers. Knocking them out cold, she saw in the distance an old man in robes swinging a staff, fighting off five soldiers at once. The old man looked familiar. She had seen him in a dream the night after her incident at soccer practice over a year ago. The old man sent a wave of energy that forced the soldiers off their feet and into the wall on the far side of the chamber. The room they were in was grandiose, with majestic marble pillars and beautiful glowing orbs circling the ceiling, which was painted in an intricate mural of wondrous creatures, landscapes, and battles.
The old man beckoned her forward. They ran to the back of the chamber where there was an altar sitting at the center of a circular interior room. On the floor, detailed lines were carved into the black stone, flowing like waves toward the middle. The old man placed what looked like an obsidian orb into the concave indentation in the middle of a stone plate hovering above the altar. The plate dropped down into the circular altar, and the sapphire cube appeared, along with the first piece of parchment that had led them to the Eye of the Titans. The old man quickly handed it to Allora.
“It has begun,” he said. “You must start the journey.” He looked disheveled, with scorch marks on his brown robes. His grayish-white hair was sticking out in different places, and small cut marks littered his face. He was worn and tired, looking almost defeated, as though he’d been through a fierce battle for his life.
“What about the Purge?” she found herself saying, but the voice was that of her uncle’s. “What about the others?”
“You have a far greater task ahead.” As the old man said this, a wave of soldiers entered the chamber. “And when she is ready, you must show her the way. Now go!” Allora nodded and grabbed Mr. Swan’s barely conscious body. She entered the secret escape corridor and watched as it shut, leaving her with no light. Her head again pounded in the vise, and the blackness turned to a fuzzy image of a man kneeling over her. Mr. Swan looked much less emaciated.
He was smiling, staring at the sapphire cube that he’d picked up from the carpet. “You found it.” Mr. Swan helped her up, put her arm around his shoulder, and led her down the hallway to the science department. “Here you go,” he said, handing her a ceramic mug containing a steaming liquid. She took a sip and cringed, sticking out her tongue. “Yeah, it tastes nasty, but it’ll help with the headaches.”
Suddenly, four bodies crashed through the door trying to restrain the violent gremlin that squirmed around attempting to release himself from their grasp. The gremlin snarled and spit as they dragged the creature further into the room, knocking over desks. Mrs. Ferris pulled a clear, hard plastic ball from across the room with her hadrons, lifting it above the creature. The ball opened and dropped on top of the gremlin. From inside, electricity jolted the creature, freezing it in place. The ball closed around the creature as the others let go of its arms and legs.
“Nasty little buggers, aren’t they?” Mrs. Ferris said, wiping the sweat from her brow. The creature suddenly started to secrete a weird goo that dropped to the bottom of the round enclosure. Through osmosis, the liquid permeated through the thin material, dripping down into a small vial that Mrs. Ferris had grabbed from the shelf. She raised it up to the light and moved the liquid around, inspecting it closely.
“What is that stuff?” Dax asked.
“Gremlin sweat,” Mrs. Ferris replied.
“Ew,” Katie added.
“And this stuff looks clean enough to use in our balloon glue recipe.”
“All that work for this thing’s sweat?” Tanner asked.
“Oh, yeah, gremlin sweat has some very magical properties. It’s just really difficult to get since the import and export of gremlins is strictly forbidden on Earth.”
“How did you get this one?” Tanner asked.
“Swan found me this little guy.”
“I had to barter with a real ugly dwarf for that thing,” Mr. Swan said.
Allora was staring at Mr. Swan, picturing him beaten and bruised. Her dream had been so vivid and brutal, like stepping into his tortured past. He looked at her as if he knew what she must have seen. His look was that of empathy, but also pain, like the look of a tortured soldier leaving the battlefront of a long war.
“What was the Purge?” Allora asked.
Glass shattered on the floor. Allora turned her head to see Mrs. Ferris staring down at the floor. She had dropped a large beaker. Her body looked as though someone had placed a large weight upon her shoulders. Swan took a broom and swept it up, whispering something into her ear.
“I have a few more integral ingredients to acquire,” she said, her voice faint and distant. She grabbed her briefcase, placed the gremlin through the hidden wall near the shelves, and left the room. Once Mrs. Ferris was gone, Mr. Swan addressed Allora’s question.
“The Purge happened at the height of the Rebel Wars, a few years after Salazar’s coup against the royal family.” Mr. Swan walked around to the front of the classroom, as if by habit. “I had been spying for the rebellion at the time, relaying information to Ben as much as I could. Salazar knew that there were parts of the internal government in Titanis that were still loyal to King Tildar and Queen Kalia. Salazar had been systematically cataloging the inner workings of those in the military and intelligence community. From a strategic point of view, it was genius. He had made everyone inside believe that the threat from the rebellion was on the front lines, when he knew the most important pieces were right next to him. The Purge was intended to eradicate every threat within Titanis, and it worked too well. We were clueless. Extermination
groups were formed within multiple government agencies, and manned by Salazar’s most loyal followers. All of our assets inside were either assassinated while they slept or tortured for information, such as myself. The only reason that I’m here is Ben. He came back for me.”
“And what happened to Mrs. Ferris?” Tanner asked.
“Her two sons were killed during the Purge. Many people lost family members during that time.”
“Our mother?” Dax asked, clenching his fist.
Mr. Swan simply nodded.
“I saw you in my dream,” Allora said. “You were in a temple of some sort, and you looked like you had been beaten pretty badly. An old man handed my uncle this cube and the piece of parchment. I’ve seen the old man before in previous dreams.”
“The man you saw in your dream was the grand master of the keepers, Archimedes. He was like a shaman or holy man. He was the one who told us about the Eye of the Titans. He told us that it was time for us to play out a destiny that was put in motion thousands of years ago. Unfortunately, I didn’t listen to Ben when he told me of its importance. I was so angry and vengeful from my time being tortured that I went back to the war as a soldier. I only returned here when I learned of your uncle’s death.”
“So then what is it?” Allora asked, staring at the sapphire cube in her palm.
“I have no idea, but I do know where we may find out,” Mr. Swan said, staring at the familiar object. “ Shangri-La.”
Eight
SKIPPER
Rain beaded on the grey metal as Allora straddled the strange contraption, following Mr. Swan’s meticulous instructions. After scraping the thick mud from her boots, she placed each foot in the metal indent of the skipper. Tanner, Dax, and Katie did the same, listening to Mr. Swan as he went over pre-takeoff procedures. The slight drizzle continued, a staple of a normal Oregon November. The plain gray sky seemed endless. A dense fog rolled into the field where they hovered above the ground, waiting to start out on their first ride. Allora gripped the soft metal handlebars, staring out into the foggy morning.
“Swan, we’ve been asking you for weeks about Shangri-La,” Allora said, ignoring his instructions. “When are we going?”
“Like I told you before, I’m trying to work out a compromise with your mother,” he replied, sounding slightly annoyed at the repetitive nagging. “It will most likely be in December when they have the annual guardian council meeting. Now pay attention. You’ve got to input the height that you’d like to hover above the surface.” He pointed to the screen in front of Allora, snapping her back to reality. “The closer you are to a surface of any kind, the faster you can go. Try not to exceed six hundred miles per hour. Most can’t sustain stability at that speed.”
Allora glanced over and saw how jubilant Dax was, like a kid on Christmas morning.
“Let’s do this!” he exclaimed, hopping up and down on the skipper.
“Now make sure you follow all of my instructions,” Mr. Swan said, looking apprehensive. “Do not put it on manual. Do not go through the forest. Stay above on the canopy with a clear line of sight, and if you do crash, make sure not to move. The skipper will enclose you in a protective balloon glue shield that will prevent serious injury.”
“Got it,” Dax said, revving the hadron mercury core engine and accelerating before being giving the go-ahead.
He sped off through the field, checking his speed before he got to the tree line. The sudden acceleration caught him off guard, and he forgot to hit the boosters, which didn’t give him enough momentum to get above the foliage. The skipper went vertical, and then gravity brought him quickly downward. The enclosed metal tube filled with balloon glue, along with the exterior. The large ball of balloon glue bounced on the soft, wet grass and then came to a stop at the edge of the forest.
Allora giggled as they all slowly turned the handle controls and eased the hovering vehicles toward the other side of the field, stopping at the ball. Mr. Swan got out of his skipper, sparked the ball, and stepped back. The glue receded, sucking back into open lines on the exterior and interior of the plank of soft metal. The encasing shifted back, revealing a bug-eyed, embarrassed boy.
“I don’t think I did that right.”
They all giggled, while Swan put his hand on Dax’s shoulder.
“At first you don’t succeed, try, try again. You know what you forgot, right?”
Dax nodded, pointing to the booster button at the end of the handlebars. His eyebrows furrowed, and he pressed his lips together tightly. The metal casing shut, and he took off through the field, turning around and then accelerating right toward them. They cringed as he got closer, while Mr. Swan sat calmly on his skipper with his arms crossed, smiling slightly. A few feet away, Dax’s skipper launched above them, hopping on the foliage and then zooming across the top of the trees.
“What do we say about failure?” Mr. Swan asked.
“It’s just one step on the road toward success,” Tanner said.
“I’m glad that someone listened during my lectures,” Mr. Swan said, slightly surprised. “Ya’ll ready to go?”
Mr. Swan got into the prone position, enclosed the casing, and sped ahead, mimicking Dax’s move. Allora did the same, feeling the forces of gravity turn inside her body. She rotated the handlebars as the skipper turned a hundred and eighty degrees, and then she punched it, feeling the weight push back on her feet. About thirty feet from the edge of the forest, she quickly pressed the interior button on the handlebars, launching the skipper into the air and dropping down onto the foliage. The skipper bounced on the pocket of air created by the hadron bubble on the bottom of the vehicle. Allora accelerated toward the distant dot of Mr. Swan’s skipper. With that speed, Allora expected the clear casing to become less visible, but the exterior shield kept the rain from inhibiting her sight.
Allora shifted her weight to the right, feeling the skipper turn with her. The hovercraft glided on the air like a Jet Ski on water. She shifted her weight back to the left, getting a feel for the way it moved. After a few more slight direction changes, she hit the throttle. The dashboard in front read over five hundred miles per hour as she glided toward Mr. Swan, who was just ahead. She quickened her breaths to compensate for the increase in weight and pressure. As she got closer, the intercom on her dashboard lit up with the small image of Mr. Swan’s head.
“Okay, speedy,” he said, proud but apprehensive. “Let’s do a few maneuvers. First, let’s get you all synced in with your crafts. All you have to do is think of what you want the skipper to do, and it will react to your thoughts. Your synapses are connected through the handlebars, which link to your nervous system. So just project the thought of the communication link, and your image will pop up.” Allora felt a slight electrical pulse through her hands as she thought about the link. An illuminated image of her head appeared next to her teacher.
“Whoa,” Allora said.
Then Dax, Tanner, and Katie appeared. “These are closed communication circuits, so you can shift who you are talking with. You can also use the synaptic connection to alter the speed, direction, and manual override of the skipper.”
Tanner and Katie had caught up as Dax slowed down for the others. They lined up, feeling not only a connection with their skippers but also with the others’ minds.
“There is going to be a field in about five minutes,” Mr. Swan said. “I want you all to pull back on the handlebars and do a backflip as you get over the forest canopy. Make sure to push the booster right as you do it, and then when you drop down, push it again while you accelerate.”
Mr. Swan pushed forward. They could see his blurry image skip upward, spin back, and drop over the tree line. Allora felt a rush of excitement as she got closer, and she proceeded to push the booster button, flip backward, and drop down toward the field. Her head slightly grazed the top of the casing as the gray sky blurred above her. The green, grassy field came into view as the skipper rotated downward. As she descended, she hit the booster button again, f
eeling the turn of her stomach as the skipper hopped a foot from the ground. Accelerating forward, she leveled out and sped up toward Mr. Swan.
Just then she heard Katie scream, and her communication image disappeared. Allora and the others turned around abruptly, seeing Katie’s ballooned skipper rolling along the field. They all stopped and got off their skippers, running toward the large gray ball of balloon glue. Dax sparked it. The glue dissipated, and the enclosure opened. Katie was sucking in air, looking terrified.
“Let’s not do that again,” Katie said, her hands slightly shaking.
“Well, I think that’s enough for today,” Mr. Swan said, letting out his breath in relief. “Let’s head back, and we’ll pick this up on another day.”
Dax slapped his sister on the shoulder. “Buck up, buttercup. It’s not so bad.”
She sneered at her brother as he got back up on his skipper and took off back the way they came. When Allora got back to her house, making sure to take the back way so that no one from town could see her bouncing along the top of the forest, she walked through the back door and into the living room, where her aunt was intently staring at the television. Milly was in the back hallway, pacing back and forth while talking to someone on the com bracelet.
“If you’re just tuning in to our broadcast, we’d like to give you a live update as to the current situation,” the national newscaster said. “As of this morning, ten bombs exploded at American and European embassies across the world. The exact number of dead is still undetermined, but sources are saying that it’s in the thousands.” The image split, showing a disheveled reporter, with illuminated smoke and flood lights in the background. “We now go live to our correspondent in the Middle East, who has more information.”
“Thank you, Charlie,” the reporter said, after a few seconds of pause because of the delay in the communication relay. “It’s absolute chaos here as investigators try to make sense of this senseless act. Right now emergency personnel are trying to find survivors among the rubble, but the scene is pretty bleak.” The reporter looked as though he was trying to mask his emotions, having seen the aftermath up close.
