Sonora and the Scroll of Alexandria (Book #2)

by T. S. Hall

  She unfolded the paper and showed the girl. Kali’s eyes recognized it and went wide. Her mouth opened and froze. She yanked her brother’s arm and took off down the dirt ramp and into the crowded walkways below. Allora ran after her, followed by the guards, her friends, and Mr. Swan.

  “Wait!” Allora yelled, weaving in between the mass of people.

  All around them were strange creatures: warlocks, elves, gnomes, dwarfs, and men. The walkway led to a large, round opening that was filled with people and surrounded by old marble and rock buildings. Allora spun around and jumped above the crowd, searching in vain for the brother and sister. The guards caught up, unhappy with Allora’s sudden departure.

  “Ms. Smith, I can’t tell you how dangerous it is here,” Brutus said. “You can’t just take off like that. Our mission is to keep you safe.”

  She suddenly noticed the eyes that watched them. They were outsiders, and from the looks of the faces, they weren’t welcome.

  “How about we keep moving,” Mr. Swan said, uncomfortable with how exposed they were.

  They left the area and went down a declining walkway to an area below that was lined with old shops. The signs above the doors were worn and dirty. After about twenty minutes of searching, they made it to the bottom of the walkway, which wrapped around into a series of tightly packed buildings.

  “Swan, we are not in an ideal spot,” Brutus said, scanning the window openings above. Grunt made a sound, seemingly to agree with the statement. The light was shallow, and it smelled of mildew. The air was getting colder, causing the hair to rise on Allora’s arms. Up ahead a shadow passed across the narrow passageway, followed by another. The guard placed his hand in front, stopping them. They froze and watched the shadows ahead. “We need to get out of here now.”

  They backed up, turned, and ran. Above, the shadows jumped across the buildings, following their every move. Allora turned into another alleyway, passing the sudden closing of doors. Windows shuddered, and the sudden departure of the crowds was eerie. They kept sprinting among the maze of rock and marble, searching for an escape from the shadows that gained on them. A bolt of light exploded ahead, knocking rock from the buildings. The guards pulled their pistols out and shot toward the direction of the light. A barrage of explosions followed as Allora took a right, heading back into the darkness of the building maze.

  A shadow leapt from the roof, landing in front of them. The guard was taken off his feet from the bolt of light that collided with his chest. Allora jumped forward and swung her forearm onto the shadow’s hand, knocking the black pistol from its grip. She spun her left leg around, knocking the shadow’s knees, causing it to lose its footing and fall. Allora punched down on the shadow’s head, knocking it out cold. The punch shattered part of the black plastic helmet inside of the shadow’s hood. It caused the black smoke surrounding the creature to dissipate, leaving a teenage boy lying unconscious on the ground.

  Mr. Swan checked the smoking area on Grunt’s chest where the blast had hit. He was stunned, but the battle suit had taken most of the blast. Above, the shadows danced along the roof, congregating closer to their location.

  “Damn shadow gangs,” Brutus said, pointing his pistol toward the sky. “We’re surrounded. Alpha Bird, come in. Come in, Alpha Bird.” He tapped his ear, trying to contact the security headquarters. “All I’m getting is static. Our signals are being jammed.”

  Panic set in as the number of shadows increased. With the hadron inhibitors, they were stuck without any chance of using their powers. The shadows increased in number, quickly coming at them from all sides. They prepared themselves for a fight as the attackers bore down on their small force.

  Twelve

  SHAMBHALA

  Allora searched the area for an exit without any luck. Packed into the narrow alleyway, they stood back to back, waiting anxiously. The smoky figures dropped down into the alleyway. As the shadows closed in, the rock wall next to them miraculously opened, and a girl appeared. It was Kali.

  “Come on!” she said, waving her arms.

  Mr. Swan helped Grunt to his feet, and they moved into the wall quickly as the shadows ran toward them from both directions. Kali closed the wall somehow, and they went into the blackness. A light came on at the base of a narrow tunnel. In front was Jakar, swinging his arm for them to follow. He got on all fours and disappeared into an even narrower tunnel.

  “You really want us to follow him?” Dax asked.

  “Do you want to live?” Kali asked. “The shadow gang will figure out where we went, and they will head into these tunnels from another entry point. It will only be minutes until they will be on us. We need to go now.”

  “That sounds like a pretty good reason to me,” Katie said, slapping her brother on the back and kneeling down to push through the dirt tunnel.

  They all followed the little boy, coughing from the churned-up dust that filled the air. After five minutes of crawling through the dirt, they ended up in a stone room. Jakar pushed a rock that jutted out from the wall, and a slab swung open, leading them into a rock canyon. Allora stared up at the lights of Shangri-La twinkling in the cavern above. Kali closed the rock slab and led them through the canyon.

  “How did they make that smoke?” Tanner asked Brutus as they kept walking through the canyon.

  “It’s made from dead ice,” Brutus replied. “It’s ice that doesn’t melt with heat. Really strange stuff. You’ll see these large dead ice pillars in the deserts of Sonora. Those hoods that they wear are lined with a mechanism that changes the dead ice to a gas, which allows them to see but inhibits anyone from identifying individuals.”

  “And it makes them look really creepy,” Katie added.

  “Ugh,” Grunt affirmed.

  Allora ran up to the front. “Thank you for helping us.”

  Kali jerked around, stopping the group. “Are you naïve or just plain stupid?”

  “Excuse me?” Allora said.

  “You think that you can just come down here and no one would notice?” Kali said, getting more animated as she spoke. “As soon as you got here, there was a target on your back.”

  “What do you mean?” Tanner asked.

  “They knew you were coming,” Kali said, walking ahead with her brother close behind.

  “Maybe we should get out of here,” Mr. Swan said. “If someone knows about what we’re looking for, we could be walking into a trap. I don’t like this at all.”

  “No. We have to find this symbol,” Allora said, waving the drawing in the air. “This is our only chance. As soon as my mother figures out that we are cut off, she’s going to bring the fleet down here, and we are gone.” Allora ran ahead and stopped the pair. “Please, Kali. I know you know where this symbol is. It’s imperative that we find it.”

  “No way,” Kali said, aggressively pushing Allora out of their way. “Your little group here is going to get us killed.”

  At this point Allora was pissed off. She could feel the manipulative question percolating into her mind.

  “And how do you think your parents would feel about you chickening out like this?” Allora asked, her eyebrows furrowed and her stance rigid.

  Before she could take it back, a fist came flying around and connected with her jaw. It was quicker than anything she had been trained for, and the force behind it was surprisingly strong, considering the girl’s petite stature. Allora was knocked to the ground. She blinked emphatically, grabbing her bruised jaw.

  “How dare you,” Kali said, standing over Allora with fists clenched. “You do not get to judge me or my brother. You don’t know what we have been through and what we have had to do to survive.”

  Kali kept going farther into the canyon as Katie helped Allora up.

  “I’m pretty sure you deserved that,” Katie said, shaking her head in disappointment.

  “Yeah, I think you’re right,” Allora said, rubbing her cheekbone. “I think I need to go apologize.”

  Allora ran ahead, stopping short of
Kali and Jakar.

  “Look, I’m sorry,” Allora said, walking a safe distance behind. Kali kept looking ahead, maintaining the same walking speed. “I had no right to say that. Please, Kali, can you just stop for a minute and hear me out?”

  Jakar slowed, pulling at his sister’s hand. He stared at her with his bright-blue eyes without saying a word. She smiled slightly and then glared at Allora.

  “You’ve got one minute,” Kali said, folding her arms and raising her eyebrows.

  “OK.” Allora thought a moment and then decided to go for the truth. “My uncle died years ago, about the same time as your parents. He left me with a memory orb, which led me to this symbol. He discovered something that was crucial to defeating Salazar. Someone found out and killed him for it. I need to continue his quest. Please. I need your help.”

  Kali lowered her brow and unfolded her arms. Jakar tugged on the bottom of her shirt, pleading silently with his sister. She stroked his matted hair and stared back at Allora.

  “Fine, but you have to do exactly what I say, or you will have no chance of coming out of this alive.” Allora nodded, agreeing to Kali’s terms. “The symbol you drew is for an underground trade organization that deals in ancient artifacts on the black market.”

  “And you know of the person who would know what this is?” Tanner asked.

  “ Pipmar. He’s a broker and the slimiest of elves. Personally, I think that you’d have more luck getting information from a troll than getting him to talk.”

  “Let us worry about that,” Allora said, contemplating how to extract the information. “All you gotta do is lead us there, and we’ll do the rest.”

  Kali took a deep breath and then led them through a shallow ravine a hundred feet to their left.

  “As soon as you get in there, an alarm will be sounded. Pipmar has a very complex system of alerts, and the shadow gang is his muscle. They will surround the building and cut off every exit.” Kali took them through another underground passageway and into an alley along the back of the main city square. She pushed a rock on the wall, causing the wall to slide open. “You take your first right and then your second left, and you’ll be in his back storeroom. Just remember, as soon as you enter, the alarm will be triggered. You’ll have about five minutes to get what you need, and then they will have you.”

  “Thank you, Kali,” Allora said, giving the girl an unexpected hug. “And thank you,” Allora said to Jakar, rubbing his hair. “You’re a really brave little dude, you know that?”

  He smiled back and held onto his sister’s hand. Allora and the others entered the tunnels, moving slowly through the dark passageway. They followed Kali’s directions, stopping at a cement wall with a carved-out door.

  “Allora, I think that you should leave the interrogation up to me,” Mr. Swan said. “I actually have experience in this field.”

  “Do I even want to know?”

  “No, you don’t,” Mr. Swan whispered in the dark. He motioned one of the guards to give him his backup pistol and pulled out a small marble from his pocket. “As soon as we get in there, I need you two to take posts on the windows, making sure to have a full view of the exterior points of attack. Dax, Tanner, I need you guys to grab any weapons that this guy will most certainly have. They will be hidden in certain accessible points, such as under the counter and in this back room. I need you guys to post up at the back entryway. You’ll have about four minutes until they get to the tunnels, as they will be less visible. As soon as you get overwhelmed, you’ll need to shoot this.” Mr. Swan handed Tanner the object. “It’s a nova grenade. As soon as it’s sparked, it will act like a miniature supernova, imploding and then exploding like a grenade. Very effective for collapsing this tunnel. Katie, I need you to access his records. They will most likely be encrypted, so Allora, that’s where we come in.” He pulled out a ball of balloon glue. “We will trap him with this and then coerce him into telling us the access code.”

  “And how do you propose we do that?” Allora asked.

  “With these,” Mr. Swan said, pulling out two vials. Allora had to look close in the dim light of the tunnel. One of the vials had a black liquid, and the other had a clear liquid. She gave him a questioning look. “Are you sure that you’re up for doing whatever it takes to get this done?”

  Allora stared back at the sullen face of her history teacher, knowing that what he had planned would be ethically questionable. After some thought, Allora nodded.

  “Ready?” Mr. Swan said with his hand on the rock lever. They simply stared ahead, readying themselves for what they needed to do. With one more long, deep breath, Mr. Swan hit the hidden stone button, opening the secret door. They stormed into the room, moving with a purpose through the back. Up ahead the sound of crashing ceramic echoed into the hallway, followed by a bright flash ahead.

  “Duck!” Swan said, rolling along the ground. Allora pressed against the wall as a hadron burst exploded into the back. Swan tossed the balloon glue and shot the object as it rolled along the ground. The pistol burst hit the marble-sized orb as it got to the small man with pointy ears at the end of the hallway. He screamed as the orb exploded, encasing the elf in a prison of glue.

  “All right, you know what to do,” Swan said, moving toward the elf as he grumbled and rolled along the ground.

  “Do you know who I am?” the elf said in a high, screechy voice. His face scrunched at the top of the ball. He had cream-colored skin, long pointed ears, an oblong-shaped head, and beady, dark-yellow eyes. “You are so dead. No one comes into my shop and tries to steal from—” He kept rolling, and his head went underneath the ball, drowning out his squeaky, annoying voice. The guards went to the barred windows and posted up on the sides, peering out into the busy square with their pistols drawn at their waists. Allora locked the front door and placed an old wooden dresser against it.

  Swan rolled the ballooned elf so that his head was back on top and pulled out the black vial. Without a word, he opened it, pulled back the elf’s head, opened his mouth, and forced the liquid inside. The elf choked, trying to spit it up. Swan put his hand underneath the elf’s chin forcefully, held onto his head, and plugged his nose. The elf finally swallowed. Swan let go, and the elf began coughing violently.

  “What the hell was that?”

  “Morsatra,” Mr. Swan said.

  The elf’s eyes turned to fear, and he struggled within the bubble of glue containing him.

  “What did you just give him?” Allora asked.

  “Black Death. You gave me the Black Death, you bastard!” the elf screamed, writhing angrily.

  “It’s a synthesized poison that will cause the nervous system to react as though the body is being slowly pressurized, like dropping him into the ocean abyss or space.” Mr. Swan looked eerily serious, staring into the elf’s eyes. “In about five minutes, this elf will experience excruciating pain until the cells within the body collapse, turn black, and die. It is said to be the most painful way to die. Now you’re going to give us your access code to get into your records.” The elf spat at Mr. Swan. He responded by punching the elf in the face. “Tell me, now!”

  “Swan,” Allora pleaded. “We can’t do this.”

  “I asked if you were ready to do anything to get this done,” Swan said, grabbing the elf’s cheeks in his grip. “Now tell me or I let you die.”

  “No. I did not sign up for this,” Allora said, glancing back at Katie, who looked terrified. “We are not those kind of people. We can’t do this.”

  “Well, then maybe your mother was right. Maybe you’re not ready for this life. Compassion is a weakness that our enemies do not subscribe to, and that is why they will win.” Mr. Swan faced his shocked student. He could see that the innocence of this girl was being slowly ripped from her. He kept his serious demeanor but then gave Allora a slight wink, turning up the right side of his lip.

  Allora caught the motion while remaining shocked. “Fine. Do what you need to do, but I’m not going to watch.”
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br />   “You crazy psychos!” Pipmar exclaimed.

  Mr. Swan pulled up the other vial. “I’ve got the antidote right here. You tell us how to gain access to your records and we’ll let you live. If not, you will die a horribly painful death.” Mr. Swan pulled up his watch and glanced back at the elf. “You now have about three more minutes.”

  Allora’s heart pounded in her chest as she paced anxiously. The elf tried pathetically to move, spinning his head.

  “Tick tock, tick tock….”

  “OK, OK!” the elf said, stopping his movement and lowering his eyes. “The password is PipRocks123.”

  Mr. Swan gave him a puzzled look. “Really?”

  “Yes! Now give me the antidote!” Pipmar said emphatically, opening his mouth wide.

  “Katie, check it,” Mr. Swan said, opening the clear liquid vial and holding it over the elf’s mouth.

  Katie pressed a couple buttons, plugged in the password, and nodded. “We’re in.”

  Mr. Swan poured the liquid into the elf’s mouth and then left him to roll around the ground. Allora ran over and hung over Katie’s shoulder. She searched through the database for a sapphire cube–like item. She made the screen pop up above the desk and filtered through a number of pictures of similar items, but nothing was exactly like the one that Allora pulled from her pocket.

  “Guys, we’ve got a problem,” Brutus said, inching away from the exposure of the window and pulling his pistol up against the glass.

  Mr. Swan ran over to see that people were sprinting out of the square. In seconds the entire area was clear of anyone.

  “They’re here.” Mr. Swan ran back to the records desk. “We need to find this thing ASAP.”

  “I’m trying,” Katie said, emphatically swiping through the numerous records of odd sapphire artifacts dating back to ancient times. “It’s not exactly easy finding a needle in a haystack.”

  “We’ve got company,” Tanner yelled down the hall. Suddenly the whole building shook. Tanner and Dax were thrown off their feet. The back room filled with dust and black smoke. The boys pulled out the pistols that they had found and began shooting erratically into the back room.