Eternity

by Matt De La Peña

  “Wait,” Dak said, feeling unexpectedly anxious. This was all he wanted, right? So why was he so hesitant? He cleared his throat and said, “Shouldn’t we, like, tell our parents first?”

  Sera punched in the coordinates, saying, “I already left a note in both our houses.”

  “Wow, great,” Dak said, nodding. Sera had certainly covered all the bases. All he had to worry about was fixing history again. “So, I take it your parents agreed to watch the flea sack, then.”

  “The what?” Sera looked up at him, confused.

  “Your rescue dog,” Dak said. “I just wondered who was going to feed that bag of germs while you were gone.”

  “Oh. Right. The dog.” Sera looked up and down the trail again. “Trust me, he’s way safer here. My mom will take care of him.”

  Dak nodded. “Cool.”

  “Grab on,” Sera said, holding out the golden Ring.

  Dak gripped one side of the thing as Sera slung her bag over her shoulder. Before she pushed the ACTIVATE button, she looked up at Dak and said, “Ready?”

  “Ready.” Dak searched the treetops one last time for his pterosaur, but it was still nowhere to be found.

  When he turned back to Sera, he found her staring at him with a concerned look on her face. “What is it?” he said, not wanting anything to keep them from their mission.

  “Is there something wrong with the cheese I got you?” she asked. “You haven’t even touched it.”

  Dak looked down at his hunk of Gouda, still perfectly intact. Only time travel could possibly distract him from eating a piece of high-end cheese. “No, it’s outstanding,” he assured Sera. To prove it, he took a huge bite and smiled as he chewed.

  “That’s more like it,” Sera said, her face lit up with approval. “Okay, here we go.”

  Dak watched her push the ACTIVATE button.

  The Ring glowed and shook in Dak’s hand. He barely had time to take a second bite of cheese before the sweet weightlessness of time travel spread through his entire being.

  6

  The Tang Dynasty

  DAK WOKE up on a cot in a small bamboo hut, with a familiar buzzing sound in his ears. He sat up, still half dazed, and looked around. Sera was there, shoving what looked like modern medical supplies into her small leather knapsack. She was wearing a not-so-modern-looking brown cap on her head, strange-looking riding pants, and a white blouse. And there was a small robotic disk hovering in the air near her head.

  Dak rubbed his eyes and looked at the disk again, trying to decide if they’d warped into ancient China or the set of some science fiction movie.

  “Where are we?” Dak said, stretching out his arms and neck. He pointed at the flying disk. “And what the heck is that thing?”

  “Oh, you’re up,” Sera said, emotionless. “There’s a traditional robe on the bench for you, next to your backpack. But please stay in the hut until I get back.”

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  She looked up at Dak and gave a fake smile. “Everything’s going according to plan,” she said. “I just have something kind of important to do right now.”

  Dak slid off the bed. “Was I, like, asleep for a long time or something?” He was usually so excited to be in another time period, he couldn’t sleep at all.

  “You were asleep for over a day,” Sera said, closing her knapsack. “But don’t worry, I picked up the slack like usual. I found some local clothes for us to wear, and I made sure there were no Time Wardens. And just this morning, I learned where to find the local expert in waidan.”

  “Waidan?” Dak said, allowing the word to bang around his bleary brain for a few seconds. “Isn’t that the ancient Chinese version of alchemy?”

  “Wow,” Sera said. “You really do know a lot. But I’ve got this one covered. You, Dak, are going to sit here and rest your tired little head. I left some more of that cheese you like on the counter. Eat up and I’m sure you’ll get your strength back.”

  Dak saw another hunk of Gouda on the counter, and his stomach instantly grumbled. If he’d been asleep for a full day, it also meant he hadn’t eaten in a full day. Cheese would be the perfect remedy. “But I don’t understand,” he said, turning back to Sera. “I’ve never fallen asleep during a warp.”

  “You probably had a bug or something,” Sera said, moving toward the door. “Seriously, rest up. I don’t mind taking the lead on this one.”

  How strange, Dak thought. He didn’t feel sick. Not at all. In fact, other than the hunger pangs, he felt great. So why couldn’t he remember anything beyond the moment he put his hand on the Infinity Ring?

  “Wait,” Dak called to Sera as she started opening the door. He moved toward the wooden bench. “Just let me throw on this ridiculous-looking robe and I’ll join you.”

  “No!” Sera barked.

  Dak froze. “What? Why not?” She’d never spoken to him like that before.

  Sera’s face softened. “I mean . . . I’m late as it is, Dak. Just relax, okay? I need you in top form for the next warp.”

  “What next warp?”

  “I’ll explain later,” she said. “But trust me, you’ll enjoy our next destination way more than boring ninth-century China.”

  Dak let the robe fall back onto the bench. “Boring ancient China?” he said, outraged. “I’m fascinated by ancient China, Sera. You know that. Remember when I spent an entire weekend reading the Song Dynasty treatise Wujing Zongyao? And I’m still in awe about the four great inventions of the Chinese culture. You remember what they are, right?”

  “Dak, I really —”

  “The compass, gunpowder, papermaking, and printing,” Dak told her. “Four staples of modern life. How could anyone think ancient China was boring?”

  “Okay, okay, I get it,” Sera said. “You like China. Just . . . be a good boy and eat your cheese. I’ll be back.”

  “At least tell me what this thing’s all about.” The hovering disk seemed to be looking back and forth between Dak and Sera.

  “That’s ABe,” Sera said, cracking a genuine smile this time. “My pet smart-drone.”

  “Where’d you get a smart-drone?”

  “You know all that time I was spending in your parents’ barn?” Sera made a clicking sound with her tongue, and the mechanical disk whipped around the small room and then perched on her shoulder. “I was building the world’s first mechanical pet.” She then snapped her fingers and held open her knapsack, and “ABe” buzzed right inside and powered itself off.

  “Whoa,” Dak said. “Definitely beats that fleabag you were hanging around the other day. But I thought you said you were putting together the SQuare while you were in the barn.”

  “This is the SQuare, Dak,” Sera said. “That’s what makes the smart-drone so smart. Now, rest up.” She pushed through the small bamboo door and let it swing closed behind her.

  “Wait!” Dak called out, hurrying to the door and poking his head out into the bright, sunny day. “Where are we exactly? And what Break are we trying to fix? You never even told me.”

  Sera stopped near the far end of a large, empty courtyard. “We’re in the capital city of Chang’an,” she said. “During the heyday of the Tang Dynasty.”

  “Okay, and . . . ?”

  “You’re the one who’s supposed to be the history buff,” Sera told him. “Go eat your cheese. I promise I’ll be back soon.” And with that, she disappeared out of the courtyard.

  Dak studied the well-groomed trees that lined the perimeter of the courtyard, trying to figure out what had gotten into Sera. Was she really that mad that he’d slept through an entire day? It’s not like he wanted to sleep that long. He was sick. She even said so herself. Though he definitely didn’t feel sick now. Groggy, maybe, but not sick.

  A sad thought then occurred to Dak as he sulked back in the dark hut. What if Sera wished Riq were
on the warp with her, instead of him? Did she think Riq was a more useful history-fixing road dog?

  Dak glanced at the cheese she’d left for him. It looked quite exquisite, he had to admit. And he was definitely hungry. But he didn’t have time to eat. No, he had to get out there and prove himself to Sera. He’d show her who was the better Hystorian.

  Dak turned his back on the cheese and made a beeline for the robe.

  7

  The Legume Thief

  THE MOMENT he heard voices, Dak ducked out of sight behind a large manicured bush. He had a clear view of a nearby courtyard, where a group of men dressed in fancy golden robes seemed to be interrogating a boy no older than he was. The men took turns shouting things at the boy and pointing their fingers at him, but Dak couldn’t understand a word they were saying. Warping back in time and across the planet was a little more difficult, he realized, when you didn’t have a translation device.

  One of the men pointed to the dirt floor of the courtyard at a sack, which was overflowing with what looked to be legumes. Based on how thin the boy was and the poor quality of his clothing, Dak wondered if he’d stolen from the men. Still, he wished he could do something to help. The boy looked like he needed the nourishment much more than the men surrounding him.

  Dak decided it was best to leave things alone, though. This dispute wasn’t any of his business. And he needed to continue looking for Sera.

  He still had no idea what Break they were supposed to be fixing or why they needed to fix it, but if he could find an alchemist, he figured he’d find Sera, too, and she’d explain everything. Leaving him in the hut was a test. She wanted to make sure he was still committed to the Hystorian cause and not just some lazy scrub who was addicted to hammocks.

  But Dak was quickly realizing how hard it would be to gather information in an ancient city when nobody understood a word he was saying. Sure, he could list tons of facts about the Tang Dynasty. Like, he knew it was founded by the Li family, who seized power after the collapse of the Sui Empire. And he knew Chang’an, the city Sera said they were in, was currently the most populated city in the world. But all the historical info at his disposal couldn’t make up for the fact that he was lost without Riq’s translation device. Or without Riq himself.

  Maybe Riq really was more valuable on these warps than Dak. At the very least, Riq had always managed to stay awake.

  Dak sighed. He was just about to leave when one of the men suddenly wound up and slugged the boy right in the gut.

  Hard.

  Dak cringed just watching it.

  He didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t just leave the young thief here to fend for himself. On the other hand, there were five golden-robed men and only one Dak. And these guys seemed nasty. What was he going to do, challenge them to a fistfight?

  One of them stepped up to the boy and boxed his ears.

  The boy let out a yelp.

  Dak remembered the two remaining skyrockets in his backpack. And the matches. He knew how consumed the Chinese would eventually become with fireworks — which they would use at first to ward off evil spirits. What if Dak introduced fireworks a few decades ahead of schedule?

  A third man stepped up to the boy and slugged him in the stomach again. The boy doubled over and coughed up a little blood this time. The men laughed.

  Dak had to act now.

  He took out the first skyrocket, planted the tail in the dirt in plain view of the men, and got his match ready. “Hey!” he shouted.

  The five men looked up at Dak, their faces full of confusion . . . and then rage. One of them shouted something Dak couldn’t understand.

  “You guys want to see something crazy?” he shouted back. He knew they had no idea what he was saying, but it didn’t matter. His words weren’t the important part. Dak pointed at the bright blue sky and said, “Watch me light up the heavens before your very eyes.”

  Two of the men began marching toward Dak, and they didn’t look like they were coming in peace.

  Dak quickly lit the match and put his flame under the fuse. He watched it start chewing its way up to the explosive. Just as the two men grabbed Dak by his elbows, there was a loud blast and the skyrocket launched into the sky above the courtyard, exploding into an array of sparkling colors.

  The robed men all stared up at the sky in awe. The two who held Dak released him. One of them even bowed dramatically at his feet.

  “You like that?” Dak said, grinning. “I have one more if you want it.”

  They responded in a language Dak couldn’t understand, of course, so he dusted off his nonverbal communication skills. He held up the final firework and mimed planting it into the ground. Then he showed them how to strike a match and pretended to light the fuse.

  All five men were near him now, nodding their heads and speaking in their native tongue. As diversions went, this one had been a big win. But Dak noticed that the boy still hadn’t run away. His feet, Dak then realized, were tied together with rope.

  Dak put the skyrocket and matches on the ground and backed away, motioning for the men to try it themselves. When they converged on the firework, Dak hurried over to the boy and dropped to his knees to untie the rope. By the time one of the men turned around, Dak had freed the boy. He handed him the sack of legumes and shoved him toward the exit.

  The man took a step toward Dak and the boy, but they were already in a full sprint out of the courtyard. Dak led the boy down a dirt road, through a row of seller stalls and crowds of merchants and people milling around, many of them still looking up at the sky even though the colors had long since fizzled away.

  Dak turned around, expecting to see the men chasing after them, but there was nobody.

  He slowed to a stop about a hundred yards down the path and stood there sucking in breath. He looked behind them again. Still nobody. Then he turned to the boy and said, “Go on, dude, get out of here. You’re a free man.”

  The boy just stood there, though, not understanding a word Dak was saying.

  Dak pointed at the dirt path ahead of them. “Take your legumes and go.” He even pulled the hunk of Gouda out of his bag and handed it to the boy. “And take this. You need it more than I do.”

  The boy stared down at the cheese, baffled.

  “You eat it,” Dak said. “Like this.” He pretended to stuff something into his mouth and fake-chewed.

  The boy seemed to understand because he took a bite of the cheese, his eyes immediately lighting up with pleasure. He had a dark birthmark on his cheek that looked like a crescent moon. For some reason, it reminded Dak of his dream about being in space, and the fire, and the asteroid coming right at him. It had been so vivid. If he didn’t know better, he really would think he’d had a Remnant. Or maybe it was a premonition. Was that even possible?

  “It’s called Gouda,” Dak told the boy. “And it’s about twenty times more valuable than that firework back —”

  Dak was interrupted by a blast in the distance. He looked up and watched the skyrocket soar above the city, bursting into an array of beautiful colors. All of the people nearby were pointing up at the sky, oohing and aahing. Some started toward the courtyard to see where all the color was coming from.

  The boy swallowed another bite of cheese and tried to hand Dak the sack of legumes. Dak shook his head, a thought suddenly occurring to him. The boy didn’t understand a word of English, but Dak knew at least one word in the local dialect. “Waidan,” he said.

  “Waidan?” the boy repeated.

  “Yes,” Dak said. “Waidan. Where” — he put a flattened hand over his eyebrows, like a military salute, and pretended to be looking all around — “can I find some alchemy?”

  “Waidan,” the boy excitedly repeated three more times. And then he began pulling Dak down the street.

  8

  The Evils of Gunpowder

  THE CHINESE boy with th
e birthmark led Dak to a dark, wooden warehouse shoved right up against a Buddhist monastery. Dak had read about these early monasteries, but seeing one in person was astonishing. It was beautifully landscaped with flowers everywhere, and several monks were walking in silence along a cobblestone path, heads bowed.

  Dak felt like he should be tiptoeing out of respect.

  The boy unlatched a thick wooden door and led Dak inside, where it was extremely dark and damp. They had to pass through a long, narrow hall lit up by a few dull torches. When they came upon an open door, the boy pointed inside and said in a quiet voice, “Waidan.”

  “Thank you,” Dak told him, bowing slightly. He didn’t know where the bow had come from but it felt right, especially after seeing the monastery. Dak expected the boy to spin around and hurry his sack of legumes and Gouda back home to his family, but he just stood there behind Dak, nodding.

  Dak shrugged and ducked his head inside the door.

  He spotted Sera immediately. She was standing next to an older Chinese man, who had to be the alchemist. His dark workroom was set up like an ancient version of Dak’s parents’ barn. There were dozens of stone bowls filled with powders and plant clippings, and a faint smell of sulfur hung over the room.

  Sera and the ancient alchemist were both leaning over an old wooden table, and the man seemed to be explaining something in his ancient Chinese tongue. Sera was nodding, which meant she had to be wearing a translation device. Dak wondered where she got it and why he didn’t have one, too.

  The man then added a chemical to one of the small stone bowls, which resulted in a minor explosion that made both of them leap back from the workbench.

  “Waidan,” the boy whispered over Dak’s shoulder. His breath smelled like Gouda, which Dak found surprisingly pleasant.

  “Yeah, I kind of gathered that,” Dak whispered back.

  All the pieces finally came together in Dak’s mind. Fireworks. Ninth-century China. An anonymous alchemist toiling away in a dark room. Dak had just witnessed history. This man had just discovered the chemical recipe for gunpowder!