“Absolutely. They call it The Advent. They plan on bringing every single gar on Eelong here. There’s more than enough food for them, and plenty of room. They’ve got schools set up to help educate and civilize children as well as adults. It’s quite remarkable. The Advent is all about rescuing and nurturing an entire race. Eelong will never be the same.”
“But the klees would never allow that!” Yorn exclaimed. “They need the gars to survive.”
“They don’t have a choice,” Gunny said. “Black Water is protected by these mountains. The klees won’t be able to get close…present company excepted.”
“So you left here to tell Seegen about the Advent?” I asked.
“Ihad to,” Gunny answered. “Seegen may have been a klee, but he’s the Traveler. This is a major turning point in Eelong’s history and Saint Dane is here. That’s whyIleft for the flume. Imet Yorn, Yorn brought me to Seegen, and I brought Seegen here. He only got as far as the black waterfall, though. He never came inside. You two, Yorn and Kasha, are the first two klees to ever set foot in Black Water, andI’m going to guess that you’ll be the last.”
“But, how can it be done?” Kasha asked, stunned. “How could they possibly make this Advent happen and get all the gars to come here?”
“That’s the last surprise,” Gunny said with a sly smile. He took something from his pocket and held it in the palm of his hand. It was one of the mysterious, amber cubes.
“Whatarethose things?” Kasha exclaimed.
“Saint Dane wants to know too,” I added.
Gunny led us back out and through the greenhouse. We went all the way back to the long corridor we had first walked through and went into one of the side doors. Stepping through, we entered a much smaller room that was completely dark, except for a truly strange-looking device. There were six huge amber crystals that went from floor to ceiling. They were tube shaped and about three feet in diameter. Each tube gave off a soft glow of light and a slight electric hum. In front of the crystals was a table made of polished wood. On top were three rows of crystals that were fixed into the wood, like buttons. They were all different colors and shapes, and like the amber tubes, they glowed with light from within.
“It’s cool-looking,” I said. “But what is it?”
“They call it ‘Link,’” Gunny answered. “We have another name for it at home. We call it a ‘radio.’”
“A radio?” I exclaimed.
“That’s right,” Gunny said. “The gars took klee technology and did it one better. This is the first broadcast station on Eelong. Basically, it’s a powerful transmitter.”
“And the amber cubes are receivers!” I exclaimed.
“Radios? Receivers?” Kasha repeated, confused. “I don’t understand.”
Gunny took Kasha’s paw and held it out flat. He put the cube on it, making sure the black side faced her. He stepped to the crystal control board, pressed a triangle-shaped crystal and said, “Hello, Kasha!”
The cube in Kasha’s hand lit up. Gunny’s voice came through it like a miniradio.
“Yaaah!” Kasha screamed and dropped the cube. “It’s magic!”
“It’s not magic,” Gunny said. “It’s a radio. This is the turning point on Eelong. The first radio broadcast. Using this device, the gars can communicate with one another. They can coordinate their movements and escape from the klees by the thousands, all at the same time. This radio is going to make the Advent possible. There’s no way the klees can stop the gars if they all leave at once. All they have to do is give the word, and the gars will come home.”
“My oh my.” Yorn laughed. “I am stunned, and it takes a lot to do that. This has turned out to be so much better than I expected.”
“You think it’s funny?” Kasha said, still upset. “The gars have the technology to save Eelong, but they’re only going to use it to help the other gars!”
“Can you blame them?” Yorn replied. “They’ve been treated horribly for generations. You can’t expect them to turn around and help their tormentors.”
“Maybe not,” Kasha replied. “But it’s not something to laugh about.”
“Oh, that’s not what I’m laughing about,” Yorn said. “I’m laughing in relief.”
“Relief about what?” Gunny asked.
“About you, Pendragon,” Yorn answered, still chuckling.
“Huh?” was all I managed to get out.
“I made such a silly mistake,” Yorn said. “I was worried you’d catch it, but as it turns out, you weren’t as observant as I gave you credit for. No harm done.”
Uh-oh. I didn’t like that tone. A prickly, familiar feeling of dread started to creep up my spine.
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“Gunny’s hand!” Yorn exclaimed. “Think! When we were bringing Seegen’s body back to Leeandra, I stupidly told you it was sheer luck that the hand was found and not devoured by the tangs. How could-“
“How could you have known that?” I said. The realization hit me like a punch in the head. “Unless you’re the one who found it and gave it to Saint Dane.”
“Well, something like that,” Yorn exclaimed with a small chuckle. “I thought the game would be over when I made that silly slip, but here I am!”
“What about my hand?” Gunny asked, confused.
“That’s how I got your ring, Gunny,” I said soberly. “It was on your hand. Saint Dane brought it to Second Earth and gave it to Mark and Courtney. I got it from them. But the thing I never asked myself was-“
“You never asked how Saint Dane got it in the first place,” Yorn exclaimed. “I must admit, it was a fluke. The hand was right in the spot where Gunny was attacked. I think the tangs left it alone because they were afraid of the ring.”
“I’m lost,” Kasha said.
“More than you know,” Gunny said to her. The horrible truth was starting to sink in for him, too.
“Yorn?” Kasha shouted. “What are you talking about?”
“Yorn is dead, you stupid girl,” the old klee exclaimed. He yanked off the necklace that held Yorn’s ring. “It really was a bold move, if I do say so myself. I’ve never taken the place of an acolyte. I thought I played the role quite nicely.”
He tossed the ring at Kasha, who caught it awkwardly. She still didn’t know what was happening. But I did.
“Show her,” I shouted at the old klee. “Don’t just tell her, show her.”
“As you wish,” the cat responded. He took a step back from us as his body transformed. I had seen this before, but that didn’t make it any easier to take. Yorn stood up on his back legs as his body went liquid. First his legs, then his chest, and then his arms became human. He grew to his full seven-foot height. I saw that he still wore the familiar, black suit. Then his head transformed. You guys told me his face had changed, but nothing prepared me for this. He no longer had shoulder length gray hair and cold blue eyes. He was now completely bald, with angry red scars running across his dome, from front to back, that looked like lightning bolts. But what I couldn’t stop looking at was his eyes. They were nearly white. I felt as if they were burning holes in me.
Saint Dane was back.
Kasha stood frozen with wide, stunned eyes.
“Thank you, both, so much,” Saint Dane said. “I’ve been trying to discover the location of Black Water for so long; it was so kind of you to show me the way.”
“It’s too late, Saint Dane,” Gunny seethed. “They’re ready to call the gars home. Getting rid of Edict Forty-six won’t do a thing.”
Saint Dane laughed. I know I’ve said this before, but Ihateit when Saint Dane laughs. It means he still knows more than he’s telling.
“Oh, you simple Travelers,” Saint Dane chuckled. “You haven’t even begun to understand my plan. Ask your friends Mark and Courtney. Perhaps they should be the Travelers from the Earth territories, they are so much more clever than you.”
“Leave them alone!” I shouted.
“What they do is their decision,”
Saint Dane said innocently. “The same as all of you. Don’t blame me for the choices they make.”
Gunny took a step backward and touched one of the crystals on the control panel. Instantly a sharp horn sounded.
“What’s that?” Kasha asked in surprise.
“That alarm will lock down the Center,” Gunny answered. “In two minutes there’ll be an army of gars in here.”
“Give them my best, won’t you?” Saint Dane said, and ran out the door.
Kasha looked at Gunny and me with wide, wild eyes, saying, “He’s trapped in here, right?”
“You can’t trap Saint Dane,” I said.
“We can try!” Kasha said, and leaped for the door.-Gunny and I followed her into the corridor. A quick look showed the door to the greenhouse slamming shut. We all ran for the door, threw it open, and jumped in. A dark shadow swooped past our heads. We ducked as the shadow barely missed us and flew up toward the glass ceiling. It was a bird. A huge, black bird. I had seen that bird before, so had Gunny. It was outside the Manhattan Tower Hotel on First Earth, right after Saint Dane had leaped off the penthouse balcony. “What is that?” gasped Kasha. “That,” I said, “is why we’re here.”
“There’s no way out,” Gunny said.
As if in response, the giant bird shot straight for the ceiling. It hit the glass right above our heads and smashed through, sending a storm of shards raining down on us. Gunny pushed us out of the way as the glass crashed to the floor. The three of us looked back at the ceiling to see the hole that Saint Dane had made, and escaped through.
“What do you think he’ll do?” Gunny asked.
“I don’t know” was my answer. “But whatever it is, it’s got to do with Black Water. He’s been desperate to find it…and we led him here.”
“What do Mark and Courtney have to do with this?” Gunny asked.
“I don’t know that, either. I’ve got to go back to Second Earth. Saint Dane keeps pointing me toward them. We’ve gotta find out why.”
Kasha held Yorn’s ring in her furry hand. She stared at it, as if the stolen ring could give her some answers. “Let me have it, Pendragon,” she said, all business.
“Let you have what?” I asked.
Kasha looked me right in the eye. I saw an intensity there that made me shiver.
“My ring,” she said. “I’d like it now, please.”
I reached to my neck and pulled the cord over my head. Dangling on it were two Traveler rings-mine and Seegen’s. I took mine off and put it on my finger where it belonged.
“No more pretending,” I said, and held the necklace out to Kasha.
She looked closely at the ring she had so callously tossed aside. Her father’s ring. Her ring. Kasha took the necklace reverently, threaded Yorn’s ring onto it and put it over her head. She would wear them both.
Once again, there was a Traveler from Eelong.
That’s where I’m going to stop writing, guys. I finished this journal back at Gunny’s hut. Tomorrow we’re going to go to the flume, and I’m going to meet you guys on Second Earth. I don’t know why Saint Dane keeps pointing me toward you, but it’s time to find out. I hate that he’s dragging you into this. It’s my fault. If I never sent you journals, you wouldn’t be in danger right now. Seems as if a lot of things are my fault lately. I have no idea what day it is at home, or if you’re in school, or if you’re even in Stony Brook. But I’ll find you. You may not believe this after seeing what a dope I can be, but I swear I’m going to figure out a way to keep you guys safe.
Be looking for me. I’m coming home.
END OF JOURNAL #18
EELONG
Bobby Pendragon never made it home.
He and Gunny and Kasha left Black Water, made the long journey back toward Leeandra and got as far as the tree that held the flume. They entered the small tunnel at its base, crawled through the vines, descended the root stairs toward the underground cavern, stepped over the pile of gar bones, and came face-to-face… with Mark, Courtney, Spader, and Boon.
Bobby stood there in stunned silence, not fully understanding what he was seeing. There was a long, tense moment where everyone stared at one another. It was Mark who broke the ice first.
“S-Surprise,” he said meekly.
“What are you guys doing here?” Bobby said with dismay. “I told you not to use the flume!”
“We didn’t have a choice,” Courtney said.
“Why not?” Bobby shouted. “Did Saint Dane pick you up and throw you in?”
“Don’t be angry, mate,” Spader said. “Listen to what they have to say.”
Bobby focused on Spader. Seeing him was almost as surprising as seeing Mark and Courtney. “Spader! Did you bring them here?”
“Yes,” Spader said. “But-“
“There’s no buts!” Bobby shouted. “This is wrong! The territories aren’t supposed to be mixed. Get them out of here before-“
“Seegen died on Second Earth,” Courtney said calmly. “We were there.”
That got Bobby’s attention.
“You saw my father die?” Kasha asked. “What happened?”
Courtney and Mark explained everything they had been through, from getting the note to go to the flume, to Seegen’s death, to their fearing it was the poison from Cloral that killed him. Spader explained how Mark and Courtney came to Cloral with a sample of Seegen’s fur. They tested it and confirmed it was the Cloral poison. No mistake. Finally Spader said that ten tanks of the deadly poison were missing.
“Seegen was fine when he left for the flume,” Boon announced. “But he went with Yorn, and since Yorn was really Saint Dane, that means-“
“Saint Dane poisoned my father,” Kasha said as if spitting it out.
“And the poison is here on Eelong,” Courtney added.
“How bad is this poison, Spader?” Gunny asked.
“It’s a nasty-do,” Spader answered. “It works on living things, turning them deadly. Eat something infected and you’ll be dead before you know you’re in trouble.” He looked to Kasha and said, “It’s how my father died, too.”
“All those dead tangs on the farm!” Boon exclaimed. “That fruit didn’t just go bad. Saint Dane must have been testing the poison!”
“That’s what Seegen thought,” Courtney said.
“What if this poison touches a klee, or a gar?” Kasha asked.
“Instant death,” Spader answered. “At least, that’s what my brainy mates on Cloral tell me.”
“Bobby,” Mark said, “Saint Dane said he was going to w-wipe out the gars, but there was no way he could do that just by getting klees to hunt them. But with this poison, he can kill thousands.”
“That doesn’t make sense!” Boon interrupted. “If it’s so deadly, he can’t use it on the gars without poisoning the klees, too!”
“So maybe he’ll just poison everybody and get it over with,” Courtney suggested. “He is a bad guy, after all.”
“No,” Gunny said. “That’s not how he works. He wants the people of the territories to bring about their own destruction. All he does is push them into making foolish choices. He’ll get the klees to use the poison on the gars, all right. I don’t doubt that.”
“But how can he get the klees to poison so many gars without getting poisoned themselves?” Boon asked.
Nobody jumped in with an answer. There was a long silence, then Mark said softly. “It’ll be easy.”
Everyone looked at Mark. Mark cleared his throat and continued, “We read it in Bobby’s last journal. I think it’s why Saint Dane is here right now. This is the turning point of Eelong. When the radio message is sent from Black Water to start the Advent, every gar on Eelong will go there.”
The horrible truth suddenly became obvious to everyone in the cavern. It was Gunny who said it out loud. “If the gars are all in one place, then it would be nothing short of-“
“Genocide,” Bobby whispered. “That’s what Saint Dane promised. That’s his plan. Genocide.”
Bobby’s head was spinning. This was all too much to believe, even for him. He sat down on the flat rock, stunned. Courtney sat next to him.
“You okay?” she asked.
“He told me everything,” Bobby said, reeling. “He told me what he planned to do, like he was daring me to stop him. He even said that you and Mark figured it out.”
“And we can stop him,” Courtney said. “We brought the antidote from Cloral. All we have to do is figure out how to use it.”
“You brought the antidote?” Bobby asked, surprised. “But Uncle Press said never to mix anything between territories.”
“Press is gone, Bobby,” Courtney said firmly. “Things have changed. You don’t want Saint Dane to get another territory, do you?”
Bobby closed his eyes, as if the thought actually hurt to be inside his head. He jumped to his feet, walked to the far side of the cavern, and huddled down, hugging his knees. The others watched him nervously, not sure of what to say. Spader made a move to go after him, but Gunny held him back.
“Leave him be,” Gunny said. “He needs to work this through.”
The tension in the cavern was intense. Nobody was sure what the next move should be, or if Bobby could get his act together and help figure it out.
Courtney approached Kasha and said, “I’m sorry about your father.”
Kasha nodded in appreciation.
Mark joined them and said, “He didn’t s-suffer or anything. One second he was fine, then he was gone.”
“That’s how fast the poison works,” Courtney said. “Saint Dane really could wipe out the gars.”
“I’m finally beginning to understand that,” Kasha said somberly.
Every so often they’d glance toward Bobby to see that he hadn’t moved.
Spader whispered to Gunny, “Time’s wasting.”
Gunny nodded and walked to Bobby. When Bobby looked up at him, Gunny saw in his face how troubled and confused he was. Gunny sat next to him, and the two had an intense conversation that nobody else could hear. Bobby nodded often, as if he were getting sage advice from a wise old friend, which is exactly what was happening. Finally, Bobby stood up, wiped his eyes, took a deep breath, and walked back to the group.
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