by Peter Telep
Behind me, more of the same: gleaming feather and pine cone designs rising and vanishing into infinity.
I swallow and sniff the air. Just the faint trace of sea water coming from me. No smells at all, really, like the air’s been purified.
“Hello, Docherty. It’s such a pleasure having you drop in like this. And no, she didn’t save you, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
Solomon floats down from the ceiling and lands silently in front of me, his white cape billowing after him, his armor shining in the half-light.
I set my teeth, and my hands become fists. A curse floats just behind my lips—
As I stare at this abomination, this thing who still thinks he’s a man—a man who sold out my father’s company and murdered my biological mother.
Now he’s just a thing, a slave to the masks, and now my father might join him.
He breathes an exaggerated sigh and says, “So let’s first remember that you’d be dead right now if it weren’t for me. Hero is not an easy title to wear, but I think I wear it rather well, in my humble opinion…”
As he comes closer, I crawl backward, leaving a puddle.
He frowns. “What’re you afraid of?”
“Where are we? Where’s Julie?”
“She’s upstairs doing her homework.”
“Yeah, right.”
“Let’s talk.” His smile is poison.
With a snort, I struggle to my feet. “You took my mother and Tommy. I want to see them right now.”
“We’ll get to that. But first, I’ve brought you here to meet the Armadis. It’s a great honor.”
“Like I care?”
“You should. And you should stop worrying about your friends back on Flora. The truth is, they’ll probably die—and that’s not my fault.”
“Not your fault?”
“Come on, Joshua and his ridiculous plan and attempts to block me? Your father trying to deny his own destiny? It just makes me want a cigarette so badly right now.”
I spring at him, my fingers tensing to wrap around his throat—even as a trrune flashes. In that vision, I watch him jump behind me.
He snorts loudly as I spin around. “In your body, you’re too slow to stop me. So… we can do this forever … or we can do something that’ll change your life.”
“My father told me what happened to you, and what’s supposed to happen to him.”
Solomon rolls his eyes and waves his hands like those kids in theatre class who overact. “Your father makes it sound so dramatic, doesn’t he? Well, he’s wrong! Every Floran we’ve taken has been saved.”
“You mean from the planet you blew up?”
“That was never my intention!”
“But it happened. And now you’re a slave.”
Solomon paces in front of me, calming down and carefully measuring his words—
As though he’s being watched.
“It’s true that once you become a mask there’s no turning back. But it’s a greater existence, with a greater purpose, and a greater influence.”
With that, energy stitches its way through the billions of patterns on the walls and ceiling—
Like something’s been activated.
Solomon lifts his gaze to the ceiling.
Personas ignite and shimmer high above us, floating with their arms extended at forty-five degree angles just like those knights at the Hall of Vines.
But instead of armor, they wear white cloaks outlined in gold, their bodies twinkling beneath the fabric.
Slowly, they come together, hovering about two feet from each other and looking down on us as they form a colossal wreath over our heads.
There must be thousands.
Solomon takes a huge breath and speaks in a forced and formal tone:
“Distinguished Lords and Ladies of Galleon, I’ve brought Docherty Centennial Harrison before this great Armadis so that he might be inspired by your power and visage and recognize his true potential.”
Power and visage? Is he serious?
I stare up at the wreath as jagged rods of energy similar to the ones used by the masks link the personas together and make them glow a deeper, richer blue.
The once silent hall fills with a single note, like a chorus of angels singing loudly toward a crescendo. The wreath begins to rotate and strobe with more even light, the blues turning to purples and reds and darkening to black before warming into blue again.
“Up there, that wreath, that Armadis, is the most powerful force that’s ever existed,” Solomon explains. “And very few possess the gifts that enable them to join it.”
I smirk. “So I guess you didn’t make the cut.”
“As Masks of Galleon, we advance and enforce the will of the lords and ladies, but it’s their Armadis that protects us and provides for us and gives purpose to our lives.”
“So you’re just a grunt working for a bunch of idiots who control you and think they’re gods.”
“Not gods, Doc. We’re the future of humanity, and you’ve just received the greatest invitation of all.”
“Can you please shut up and take me to see my mother and Tommy? And then I want to talk to Julie.”
He shifts closer and lowers his voice. “Listen to me, you ungrateful brat. They want you badly, and it’s my job to recruit you. Trust me. I won’t fail. I’ve lived most of my life in your father’s shadow, and I sure as hell won’t have my eternity ruined by his kid. You think I wanted this? I just didn’t want to die. But now I need to suck it up… and so do you.”
“Wait. So if I join them, I’ll be your boss?”
“Well, I wouldn’t put it that way.”
“How would you put it?”
“If you join them, I’ll rise to the top of the ranks. I’ll direct all of the masks, answering only to the Armadis.”
“And if I don’t?”
“They’ll probably banish me forever.”
“That’ll work.”
He stands there for a moment, frowning. “If you don’t join them now, they’ll consider you a dangerous enemy.”
I glance up at the immense wreath. “Yeah, I really look like a dangerous enemy.”
“You are… because you can see where they jump, and they don’t like that. It leaves them vulnerable.”
“And you’re telling me this because…”
“Because like I said, I need you, too. You’ll become a Lord of Galleon. In exchange, I’ll cure your stepmother’s cancer. And I’ll save her and Tommy from their experiments.”
“What experiments?”
“Humans from Earth don’t have wreaths, so they can’t be controlled by the Armadis… but what if they did?”
I gasp. “What’re you talking about?”
“Docherty, my boy, they’ve already begun their tests. Of course, there’s no guarantee that the test subjects will survive the process. You still have time to save Tommy and your mother from all of this.”
“You leave him alone!”
“It’s not my decision.”
I’m losing my breath. “What about my father?”
“It’s too late for him. He’s too far along in the process. He either joins us or dies.”
“No! That’s not good enough.” I look around, searching for a door. “Where’s Julie? Where is she?”
“She can’t help you now. No one can. But life here… it’s not so bad. One day you’ll even call it beautiful.”
“You’re lying about everything. Where are we? What is this place? Is this Galleon?”
He nods. “But it’s not what you think. Let me show you.” He offers his hand. I just look at it.
But then Julie’s persona flashes between us, and instead of taking his hand, I grab hers.
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
We’re back on the island, standing on that hill overlooking the ocean. It’s straight out of my dream.
Julie’s face looks creased, as though bringing me here is draining the life from her. “Doc, can you hear me?”
&nb
sp; “Yeah!”
“Finally! That means my father’s getting weaker. So just listen. We came here to lose him, and Joshua’s helping, but it won’t last long, so we need to talk.”
“I knew you were helping us! I knew it!”
She winces in pain. “Please! There’s no time! Just listen!”
“Okay, okay.”
She groans and trembles as we jump again.
We’re standing in my bedroom at our island home—
Only Julie’s a little girl now, drawing a circle over her heart and crossing it. “I promise I won’t forget you.”
“Forget me? No! You’re okay. And I have your mother’s immortal. I need to give it to you.”
Little Julie looks horrified. She grabs my hand—
And bang, we’re standing in her bedroom back home in Winter Springs, and Julie’s eighteen again. “What happened to my mom?”
“She went after you, but she was out there too long.”
Julie’s eyes widen. “No! No…”
I can barely face her now. “I came to bring you home. You can’t stay with… Solomon… anymore.”
She shifts away, her white cloak flowing behind her.
But then, as though reaching a decision, she whips around and thumbs back the cloak—
To reveal a full suit of white armor…
Armor worn by the Masks of Galleon.
She glances down, hating what she sees, and then she faces me, her eyes turning completely white. “It’s too late.”
“No, it can’t be.”
“Doc, he promised me so much. He said we’d be a family again. He said I’d have a father. But he lied. He said they forced him. He said they’d kill him. He begged me. But I don’t know what to believe any more.”
“Did he make you do it? I mean, did you push yourself all the way into your persona?”
She starts to tell me, but her voice fades. She glances around the room, and then her head jolts back—
As Solomon flashes in front of us.
Before he can say anything, Julie grabs my hand, and we jump again.
We’re inside a corridor with more of those feather and cone patterns, and now we’re sprinting toward the far end. Lights automatically flash on at our feet.
Julie waves her palm, and a door at the end dissolves.
We rush into the next hall, this one much narrower.
Whoa. This is weird.
Hundreds of cylinders about ten feet wide and fifteen feet high stand tightly together and line both sides of our path. More feather and cone patterns spread across them. Strange markings along the bottoms become numbers as my wreath translates them: 8841, 8842, and so on. Maybe we’re in some kind of power plant or something.
Julie reaches a cylinder on the left and types furiously on a flat touch panel. The patterns burn off like firecracker fuses, and the entire outer shell evaporates to expose something like a giant test tube.
I curse and touch the glass.
Inside floats a grren with hoses attached to its body. The poor cat’s been pulled upright by the shoulders while his head hangs limply to one side. There’s no fluid, but he seems to hang there like he’s underwater.
Oh, no. I recognize the head markings: an upside down triangle with a ring at the peak.
It’s Brave, Julie’s old friend. And mine.
What’re they doing to him?
Julie wipes off a tear, beats a fist on the tube, and then rushes off, stopping a few tubes away to activate another. She waves me over to the next grren, whose diamond pattern of four rings connected by jagged lines is more than a little familiar. This is Mama Grren. She and Brave saved our lives. We owe them everything...
Julie spots something over my shoulder, takes my hand—
And bam, we jump again.
Another corridor. More tubes. More running. Another touch panel. Two more. Three. She’s opening an entire row to show me the nomads who were taken from Earth.
There’s Rific with his trademark blue bandana hanging from his neck. I stare at his chest, rising and falling. He’s alive. They’re all alive.
If you call this living.
Another jump. Another row of tubes, with Julie opening one after another to reveal an even more shocking find:
It’s Wexx and the rest of the rumms we left back at the safe house.
Even Rose.
What the hell happened?
How’d they get off the Wrrambien? And when were they taken here?
I glance back to ask Julie, but she’s hunched over like she’s about to vomit. When she looks up at me, her eyes flash white again. She bears her teeth and grabs my hand.
“Please, I want to see Tommy and my mother.”
I’m not sure she hears me.
And I sense her father is only seconds behind us.
We’re about to jump again—
But then my chest feels weird, like when you put on that heat rub to clear up congestion.
Oh, no. I know what this is.
I think I can jump into my own persona now—
Meaning I’m vulnerable. I have to leave. I have to go the Hood.
Julie looks at me. In shock. She realizes it, too. She opens her mouth, fighting to get a word out, and then finally, she manages, “But we’re not done yet!”
And she’s right.
And how am I supposed to find the Hood, anyway? I have no idea where I am, and my wreath doesn’t know the way back because I’ve never made this jump before.
“Doc, project your persona. It’s okay!”
Julie knows more than me about all of this, but it could still be trap.
“Hurry!” she screams.
I tremble with indecision… and then curse and just do it. The second my persona appears, she takes my glowing hand—and now we’re floating in space, surrounded by more stars and the planet Flora glimmering beyond us.
But then she nudges me around…
At this point, a number of things happen simultaneously. I can’t explain how… but they do:
I spot something lumbering toward us, something that blows my mind. I can’t even describe it now. Julie jumps us in closer, and then we make a dozen more jumps so she can show me every shocking detail.
Again, at the same time, we jump back to the corridor, where my persona returns to my body.
“Julie, wait, I still have your mother’s immortal!”
But we jump again and wind up on the bridge of personas across the Rosengate Sea. I’m scooped up by Grandpa and thrown on his back.
He gallops across a single row of driffs, all that remain, even as wind and rain pound on us, and the kax and skulls continue their attack from below.
All of these moments run parallel with each other, like they’re all happening inside a trrune where time and space no longer matter. And just as suddenly, it’s all over.
“Julie?” I scream as I cling to Grandpa’s ears. “Julie?”
But she’s gone. Nothing but more grren behind me and Joshua’s caravan leading the way.
I catch my breath and strain to see Meeka, Steffanie, and Keane. They’re all there, along with Hedera and Rattle.
Keane looks back, spots me, and shouts to the others.
A dim light shines on the near-black horizon, and we’re racing toward it.
Grandpa leaps over a gap in the bridge, and our impact jerks my head toward the clouds—
Toward the masks.
They’re still there.
And one of them notices me.
Its eyes grow wider, and then…
Twin bolts of blue energy explode from them.
The bolts join into a single rod that lashes out at me.
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
I’m lying in the middle of the Hood’s rooftop dance floor with blue-colored steam rising from my persona.
Did I make it?
Someone screams, “There’s a dead kid out there!”
I clutch my sore chest, too weak to sit up.
In seconds the gir
ls hover over me, sounding like they’re talking through empty rolls of paper towels.
And wow, I feel a drunk. Maybe I answer, “I’m okay,” and then they lift me up.
With my arms wrapped around their shoulders, they carry me off the dance floor because my legs barely work.
So wow, I’m in the Hood, with personas making people look “better” than they normally do. Nose or ears too big? Not a problem. Feeling kind of heavy? Project yourself thin. Bad hair day? We can fix that.
And sure, I could change my persona if I wanted, go for the musclehead look, but it’s not that awesome anymore.
I need real faces and people I can believe in.
Steffanie and Meeka must feel the same way, because their personas look exactly like themselves now, not the sexy ones they once used here. Keane looks normal as well, but then again, he’s always kept his persona looking normal, something I really respect about him.
The girls lead me through the crowd of worried kids to find our group near the back, jammed into a sectional sofa and sipping on drinks. A handful of Joshua’s people are here and nod politely at my arrival. They, too, have done nothing to alter their personas.
“Well, at least you’re doing better here than there,” Keane says, plopping down beside me.
“What?” I ask, still dazed.
“You just fell off Grandpa’s back.”
“I did?”
“You didn’t even try to multitask, did you?” he asks.
“I forgot.”
“You need to practice. Now I’m getting off my bike, and I’m picking you up, and I’m carrying you with Hedera. At least we’re almost there.”
“What do you see?” I ask.
“There’s a light. Not sure what it is.”
“What happened after my bike sank?”
He snorts. “We were like, damn, and then we kept going.”
“Come on, dude, seriously.”
“We didn’t have to stop. Julie showed us what happened. She told us she was going after you.”
“And you could hear her?”
“Oh, yeah. No problem. She was screaming, but you could tell she was fighting it, like it was hurting her. Bad.”
