by Mark Jeffrey
“He was at the farmhouse,” Max said, eyes filling with dim memories and tears. “Siren came there. In the sixties. Isn’t that right?”
Mr. E nodded. “I had hoped you would not remember. In 1963, Siren came looking for you. He did not know who you were, but he knew that you were Niburian. Siren has been the collector of Niburian artifacts through the centuries, even living ones. But you’d already left for New York. So instead, he took Hess and Romey. They couldn’t take the strain of Siren’s questioning.” Then Mr. E added quietly, “You never forgave yourself.”
Casey winced. Max felt a chasm open up around him.
“That’s why the house looked deserted,” Max whispered. “And that nam-shub thing around the house . . .”
“You did that,” Mr. E confirmed. “I told you how to make it. To keep you from ever returning.”
At that moment, Mr. E became distracted. He peered intently into the night and jerked his head side to side as though straining to hear something.
“What is it?” Max asked.
“Shh!” Mr. E hissed.
Max strained, but could not see anything.
A crow cawed loudly and a black shadow passed against the stars. Mr. E tapped his chair and a secret compartment opened. He pulled out a large bow and several arrows. Mr. E loosed an arrow and they heard a dull, muffled thunk!
A shadow dropped out of the sky, wings limp and twirling. Several long seconds later, there was a splash.
“Was that crow dangerous or something?” Max asked.
“That was not a crow,” Mr. E replied mysteriously. “And I’m afraid our time together is at an end.”
An end? Max wanted to protest. There were still so many things he wanted to ask, so much that—
Without warning, Mr. E touched Ian’s forehead. Ian’s eyes flew open wide and his mouth formed a perfect O. Music, something like opera, flooded Ian’s mind. The words seemed important, but the music was going by too fast to make them out.
Mr. E withdrew his finger and Ian looked like he had just managed to let go of a live electric wire.
“What was that?” Ian demanded.
But Mr. E ignored him. He stared at the horizon.
A black cloud approached, seeming to well up from the sea like a spout of ink. It crossed against the wind. The starlight of this place was extraordinarily bright and sharp; Max found that even far-off details were crisp in its glow. Because of this, he suddenly realized that he wasn’t seeing a cloud, but rather a massive number of crows—a thick swarm of black feathers and beaks.
It was heading straight for the Tower.
“My Isle is constantly under a kind of attack,” Mr. E explained. “I have my enemies just as you do. And they’ve been trying to do me in for some time now.”
“Crows are your enemy?” Casey said.
“I already told you, those are not crows. They’re Archons.”
“What are—?” Max asked.
“No time!” Mr. E growled. “Here! Put these on—all of you! Don’t take them off!” Mr. E shoved four bracelets into Max’s hands with such suddenness that Max almost fumbled them into the ocean below. Each was ornate silver with a deep blue gem set into it.
The crows grew louder. The flock looked like wiggling black smoke, blotting out more and more of the sky. Mr. E stood, furiously nocking an arrow, bracing for the assault. But there was no way his meager arrows would suffice against such an onslaught.
“Get your bracelets on! And get ready!” Mr. E yelled.
Get ready? Max thought. Get ready for what?
But the foursome quickly did as Mr. E asked. Mr. E launched his first arrow. It struck a crow, which fell. But Mr. E’s defense was laughable. He had time for perhaps two or three more shots.
“But—what’s going to happen to you?” Casey asked, watching the flying torrent heading for the Tower.
Mr. E met her gaze and shook his head.
Then Mr. E clapped his hands. The floor disappeared beneath their feet just as the first wave of crows broke over the side of the Tower. It was overwhelming, like the leading edge of a hurricane. A swarm of dark feathers, beaks, and cawing breached the wall. Mr. E disappeared in a single gulp.
No!
Then Max could see no more. He and his friends were falling down the same tunnel or wormhole that had brought them there in the first place. The opening above them snapped shut and Mr. E was left to his fate at the hands of the mysterious Archons.
Mr. E!
Chapter 19
Cloudrider
Max, Casey, Ian, and Sasha were ejected from the Book.
Apparently, it had been moved while they’d been inside because now they were in an altogether different room.
Around them was an odd collection of arcane devices and substances. There were vials and powders, dank liquids in stopped bottles, Books, gemstones, and strange medical devices. There were tablets with cuneiform, a golden scarab beetle, a glass cat, ankhs, scepters of gold, decanters, and vases.
The Singular Eye lay in a bed of incongruous Foamlastic packing popcorn.
With a start, Max realized they were in Siren’s lab.
And with another start, he realized that Siren himself was standing right in front of them.
“Ahhh!” Max screeched and scrambled backward.
But curiously, Siren did not react at all.
His gaze was fixed greedily on the Book, as if anticipating their imminent return. Several centurions flanked him, weapons drawn, all poised on the balls of their feet.
“They’re not moving,” Max said. “Why aren’t they moving?”
“Is something wrong with them?” Casey asked, and then after a second, said: “It’s like they’re frozen in the Pocket.”
“You know, it might be the bracelets,” Ian said. “Mr. E probably guessed that Siren would be waiting for us when we got out of the Book. That’s why he gave the bracelets to us, though he didn’t have time to explain why. I think . . . I think they’re amplifying the Pocket somehow, making it so we’re moving even faster in time than Siren and his goons are. We’re in another Pocket inside the Pocket.”
“A SuperPocket,” Sasha said.
“How did you know that?” Max asked.
“Um,” Ian said, confusion playing across his face. “I think Mr. E stuck it in my head.” After a moment, he approached Siren. “Huh. Old razorface doesn’t look so scary now, does he?”
“He does to me,” Casey muttered.
Ian waved his arms in front of a centurion. “Hellllooo!” No response. Ian laughed.
“So it was a trap,” Max said. “Siren was going to grab us when we came out of the Book.”
Ian laughed. “Nice try, pockhead!”
“Now what?” Casey asked.
“We steal a Sky Chamber,” Ian said. “And we fly to Loch Sheil in Scotland.”
Max, Casey, and Sasha turned toward him like he’d gone mad. “Why in the world would we want to do that?” Max asked.
“Because that’s where the Pendant is,” Ian said with a grin.
“And you know this how?” Max asked.
“When Mr. E touched my forehead, he must have uploaded a bunch of stuff into my brain,” Ian explained. “The Pendant is in a place called the Pyramid of the Arches, which is at the bottom of Loch Sheil. And guess what else? I know how to pilot a Sky Chamber.”
“What are we supposed to do with the Pendant when we get it?” Max wondered.
Ian shook his head again. “No idea. I only know where it is—and how to get us there.”
“Okay. Obviously Mr. E wants us to go get it. Which Sky Chamber are we taking?” There were several parked nearby on the lawn around the mother ship, and several more hanging in the air, motionless in time.
Ian’s eyes glinted. “Siren’s, of course. That ought to get his knickers in a bunch.”
“Shotgun,” Sasha called out suddenly.
Ian looked curiously pleased about this. The tips of his ears turned red.
Sudde
nly, Casey grabbed Max’s arm and whisked him away from Ian and Sasha and into the hallway. “Come here. I’ve got to talk to you,” she said.
When they were out of earshot, Max said, “What?”
“Look,” Casey said. “What if Sasha really was working for Siren. What if she still is, right now?”
Max scowled at the suggestion. “Wait. I thought you and Sasha made up.”
“That’s not what this is about,” Casey said. “I’m just trying to be careful, okay?”
Max nodded slowly. “Okay.”
“Look. Siren actually was waiting for us when we came out of the Book. It actually was a trap. And who’s the only one who could have set us up for that? Sasha.”
Max considered this for a second and stole a sideways glance at Sasha.
“I don’t think so,” Max said. “I mean, Ace was killed and I don’t think Sasha meant for that to happen.” He considered for another moment, then made up his mind. “No, Sasha sided with us when she didn’t follow Ace into the Book.”
Casey’s eyes met Max’s.
“So we bet on Sasha,” Max said.
Casey pursed her lips. “Honestly, I still don’t trust her. But I’ll go along with it if you’re sure.”
“I’m as sure as I’m going to get about anything,” Max said. “C’mon. Let’s get on with this.”
It took Ian a few moments to get the hang of flying a Sky Chamber, despite the gift of piloting knowledge from Mr. E. At first the Sky Chamber lurched and jumped embarrassingly. Ian bumped into the side of a building, sending a small splash of brick and soot raining on the street below. “Oops. Sorry about that,” Ian muttered sheepishly—and then proceeded to scrape the belly of the craft on a roof.
But after these minor mishaps, Ian seemed to get the hang of it. And once he was out over the open waters of the Atlantic, he accelerated to top speed with confidence.
Ian’s hand gripped a gem set into the Sky Chamber’s pilot seat. While he did this, it was like he lost track of his own body. Instead, his mind was melded with the physicality of the ship: The hull became his skin, his eyes, his ears. Ian was the Sky Chamber.
Sasha, Max, and Casey watched the outside world through a viewing jewel set into the middle of the bridge. It was a polished, clear sphere some twenty feet across. It showed a full panoramic view of everything happening outside. Clouds whizzed by. Ripples on the dappled sea sailed beneath them like they were the very breeze itself.
Halfway through their journey, Ian insisted on a new name for the ship. “A proper name. Something better than ‘Siren’s Bloody Sky Chamber.’ And I’ve thought of one: Cloudrider. What do you guys think?”
Sasha nodded enthusiastically. “I like it . . . it’s a good name.”
Casey nodded in agreement.
“Cloudrider it is, then,” Max concluded to Ian’s delight.
Chapter 20
The Tale of Sasha Fwa
Sometime later, Sasha carefully approached Casey. “Hey,” she said.
Casey looked up, surprised. “Hey,” she replied.
“Look,” Sasha said nervously. “I know you have every reason to hate me. And I know you don’t really trust me.”
Casey considered and then said, “I don’t hate you. But you’ve done some pretty mean things to us, so I don’t really trust you.”
Sasha nodded sheepishly. “Yeah, I know. That’s why I figured I should try to explain.”
Casey blinked. She hadn’t expected that. “I’m listening. But don’t pretend that you didn’t love being in the Serps—because I know you did.”
“You’re right about that,” Sasha said. “I’ll admit it. It was like a dream come true.”
“You can’t be serious,” Casey said.
“You don’t know what my life was like before the Pocket. My parents planned everything out for me. And I mean everything. They made me do ballet and figure skating—both things I totally hate, by the way—plus, I had to study extra subjects and even go to finishing school, where they teach you which fork is the right one to use. They had all these expectations for me and basically kept me busy from the time I woke up until I went to bed. Even on weekends. My life was terrible.”
“But you were popular,” Casey said with a hint of envy in her voice.
“Oh, sure,” Sasha said, rolling her eyes. “But who cares if you’re miserable?
“It got so bad that I started skipping school. I snuck down to the boardwalk by the seaside, where all the bad kids hung out. I loved how free they were, how they didn’t have a plan in the world.
“Eventually my parents found out and they went crazy. My father screamed at me for hours. He lectured me on how a proper young lady was expected to behave. They grounded me, took away my computer, and completely cut me off from any kind of social life. And by the way, Ian was right: I really am a closet geek. Taking away my computer is basically the worst thing you can do to me.
“And that’s when the Pocket happened.” Sasha brightened visibly at the memory. “The first few weeks were rough. Everybody was fighting everybody. You could get jumped at any time. Lots of kids got hurt. Nobody could sleep. But then I found the Serps . . . and life got pretty awesome. It was the greatest thing ever. It was like sneaking down to the boardwalk, but all the time, every day!”
“But the Serps were cruel,” Casey said. “Why would anybody like them?”
“Once Ace unified the gangs, everything got better. When he did that, hundreds of us were on the same side, protecting one another. And we practiced whooshing and fighting together.”
“Yeah, I remember,” Casey said. “You guys practiced on us.”
Sasha winced. “I know. But you have to realize that the Serps kept me safe. So I went along with it.” She swallowed thickly, tears shining in her eyes. “And soon I was so wrapped up with the Serps that there was no way out, even if I wanted. I know I acted terribly toward you. Now I realize how far I’d gone from being a normal person. But back then, I had no choice.”
“So you did it to survive,” Casey said softly. “I get that. Then what changed your mind about Ace?”
“I’m getting to that,” Sasha said. She took a deep breath to steady herself and then said, “It was what he did when the Sky Chambers found us.
“We were asleep. I woke up when I heard screaming outside. I ran to the window, and there, in the sky, was a UFO—a Sky Chamber—and immediately I remembered Ian and all his warnings.
“Then this purple beam shot out of the UFO into a house. And three kids suddenly came flying out the window. The beam was sucking them up, like a big vacuum cleaner, until they disappeared into a hole in the bottom of the UFO.
“I woke Ace. When he saw what was happening, he went white as a ghost. But he didn’t care about the kids. Instead, he was horrified that his little Serp fantasy world was vanishing right in front of him.
“His knees buckled, he was shaking so bad. I was screaming at him, saying, ‘What do we do? What do we do?’
“‘Run,’ Ace said numbly. ‘Just run. Fast as we can.’
“We ran out the back door and into the hills behind the house.
“By this time, there were, like, seven or eight Sky Chambers. Everywhere you looked, kids were being sucked up into the sky.
“Ace and I whooshed faster than either of us had ever attempted before, but a Sky Chamber broke away from the main group and ran us down.
“Ace caught sight of the Sky Chamber over my shoulder, and without a second thought, he whooshed away as fast as he could.
“I just stared at his back as he disappeared in a blur. He’d actually just left me behind!
“I was still in shock as a purple light enveloped me. I squinted and could barely see. I felt suddenly lighter, and then I was sucked up. I screamed. I could see the whole neighborhood rushing away beneath me, and before I knew it, I was slipping through this tube in the bottom of the Sky Chamber. I went around a few corners, and then it dropped me into this big white room.
“There were about fifty other kids in there. Most of them had been caught sleeping—a few were even still in their sleeping bags.
“Everywhere I looked I saw glum, terrified faces. Nobody said anything. We all thought we were going to die.
“A few minutes later, Ace fell from the same tube at the top of the chamber and the kids all crowded around him, wondering whether he knew what was going on. After all, Ace had said he started the Pocket.
“But one look at Ace and everyone could see how scared he was. And that’s when they knew: Ace didn’t know any more than they did. He never had. He’d been lying to them this whole time.
“Ace looked around the room at the fifty kids. They’d been lied to. And they weren’t happy about it.
“‘What are you staring at?’ Ace barked. He didn’t know what to do. After having all that power for so long, he couldn’t become a nobody again.
“An hour later, a door opened. Several figures stood in blaring white light. I expected TV aliens, but instead, these regular, human-looking guys in golden armor entered. They were grinning.
“Mafdet was with them. He said, ‘Your lives are now forfeit. But we shall lease them back to you, in return for your slavery.’
“I had no idea what he was talking about.
“They chained us all together. We were led outside, and when I saw the Empire State Building, I realized we were in New York.
“We were brought together with several other groups of kids, all chained up like we were. As I looked around I realized they’d gotten all of us. Every single one of the Serpents and Mermaids had been captured.
“Later that day, Mafdet led us into the giant Sky Chamber on the Great Lawn. There was this huge room they called the Hall of Thunder. They made us march up the aisle, one by one, to the front. Kids were screaming when they got up there, but we couldn’t see why.
“Then, it was my turn.
“I was terrified. They walked me up to Mafdet. He smiled and said something in another language. Something ancient and sinister. He took my hand, and before I knew what was happening, he held a white-hot gemstone to the back of it.
