by Chad Morris
Suddenly the walls filled with color. “For example,” Grandpa said.
The walls served as a screen to show a view of a great valley with mountains in the distance. An army marched over the horizon. Silhouette after silhouette moved toward the tower. Derick looked down and saw an entire city below him. Women took their goods to market, children following close behind. Men moved their horses from the stables to prepare them for travel. Merchants set up their shops.
Derick looked back at the army in the distance and realized that someone was on the tower with him—a man, dressed in simple skins. A cloth was draped over his head and tied with a string of leather. He picked up a drum and began to pound it. The city below changed. The women grabbed their children and rushed out of the streets. Men ran to get their swords and spears. The walls of the city filled with archers. The enemy was coming, and by the time they arrived, the city would be ready.
The scene changed. Derick was still on a tower, but the war wasn’t far away, and it was no longer a time of simple skin clothing, but of armor and long, shiny swords and shields. Arrows rained down from the sky. Soldiers dumped a huge pot of boiling oil onto the attackers below.
“They’re moving the siege tower to the south wall!” a voice cried beside Derick—another watchman calling out warnings. Derick saw a messenger at the bottom of the tower rush into the fray. He bolted across the castle walls, reaching a general who guided his men from atop the wall.
After a few orders, a new squad of soldiers rushed to the south wall. The siege tower, large, mobile and made of wood, steadily pressed closer to the wall. The enemy could use it to get inside the city. The men on the walls shot arrows and threw spears at those on the battlement. Enemy soldiers fell from the wooden tower to the ground below, but there were plenty remaining to press forward.
One man on the castle wall dipped his arrow in fire, then shot it into the wood. He repeated the action several more times. In less than a minute, the entire war machine was engulfed in flames. Men ran out from inside it, as it would soon burn to the ground.
“Another battering ram is coming!” the watchman on the tower shouted. Beneath him, a group of enemy soldiers held their shields above their heads as they approached the front gate. Derick could barely make out that beneath all their shields, they carried a large trunk of wood. They were going to burst through the gate. Men of the city quickly moved reinforcements to the tower. Some moved another pot of burning oil into position.
“Watch the east!” the watchman yelled again. “Archers from the east!”
To the east, a group of archers climbed a hill, where they could better launch their arrows in at the wall. And then the image faded out.
Derick heard his grandfather’s voice again. “I cannot stress enough that unless your situation looks to be as life-threatening and significant as these, do not continue further. Unless you suspect an enemy, unless there are signs that something has happened to me, and that someone or some group is in hot pursuit of the same secret you seek, stop at once. What you will find through your journey is only to be known under the direst of circumstances.”
Rafa asked, “Do you think this qualifies?”
“Yes,” Derick heard Abby say without hesitation. “Both my grandpa and my parents are missing. A group of people questioned us, pretending to be police, and they took my locket. Someone has denied my Bridge access. I suspect some of the teachers are involved. Whoever took my parents and my grandpa is probably after the same information we are.”
Grandpa’s voice returned. “If you are determined to continue, you will need this.” A stone in the wall moved outward. From the monkey’s perspective, Derick couldn’t see anything but the hard underside. “If there is any doubt at all, leave now, and the stone will return to its place.”
There was no doubt in Derick’s mind about going forward. As he climbed the wall, he realized that the stone had been hollowed out. It contained a small, white cube big enough to fit a golf ball inside, but nothing more. The avatar monkey grabbed it and jumped back to the ground, where Derick could examine it. It appeared to be solid. There were no handles or buttons to open it.
Once the cube was removed, the blinds on the tower windows opened again.
“To open the cube,” Grandpa said as Derick blinked against the light. “You must know what saying was carved on the mantelpiece in my study.”
Back in the lab, Abby’s voice spoke up. “Derick knows what it is, but he can’t say it as a monkey. He has to bring the cube back.”
Derick nodded his monkey head, knowing Abby and Rafa would see it on-screen. He approached the wall below a thin window and began to climb up.
His head was just high enough to see out when Rafa yelled, “Get down!”
Derick dropped to the floor.
“What just happened?” Abby asked.
Derick heard Rafa pushing buttons.
“Derick,” Rafa said, “I’m showing Abby what I saw when you looked out the window.” Several seconds of silence passed, and then Rafa said, “Look there.”
“It’s Ms. Entrese,” Abby said. “She’s on the grounds below you, and at least a few seconds ago, she was there looking right at the tower.”
Rafa spoke, “Don’t try to come out of the window again until I give the word.”
Derick heard more movement from the lab.
“Don’t go near the window, Abby!” Rafa commanded. “If she suspects an avatar is in the Watchman, she may also be watching this lab. In fact, she might have someone coming to check it out right now.”
21
The White Cube
What are we going to do?” Abby asked.
“You’ve convinced me, Derick,” Rafa said. “Unless you feel confident coming down the other side while carrying the cube and staying out of view, I suggest you come out of the avatar and let me take it from here.”
Derick was stunned. Rafa had suddenly changed from someone who was going to turn them in, to someone who was going to help them.
The monkey went limp, and Derick opened his eyes. Rafa helped him unlatch the sensors, and Derick handed them over.
Before Rafa began to control the monkey, he said, “Grab your things. I would suggest you leave, but I doubt you will without the white box. When I get back in, we may need to leave in a hurry.”
Derick watched the screen as the monkey Rafa controlled picked up the cube from the floor and peeked out the window. He saw nothing. He moved quickly and smoothly, shimmying down the tower with surprising speed. He ran across the roof, then jumped the divide, landing on his feet on the other side.
“Yeah, yeah,” Derick mumbled flatly.
Soon the avatar was back, through the window, and it handed Abby the cube. Rafa logged off, put the monkey away, and within a minute, all three of them had their packs and were gathered around the door.
“Let me look out first,” Rafa said. “It will be much less suspicious for the avatar TA to be seen leaving the lab.”
Abby and Derick waited for his all-clear signal, then followed after. They walked down the hall and into the commons area, moving quickly, but trying not to draw extra attention to themselves.
Rafa looked over his shoulder. “Some private study rooms are down this hall. Duck in there and look at the box.” He led them through the masses of students. Abby felt better being with a large group—less chance of being caught—but something about Rafa leading them made her nervous.
Rafa looked into two of the rooms before finding an empty one. He opened the door, and they all went inside. They surrounded a small table with several screens lining the top for student use. Five simple chairs circled the table. No one sat.
Rafa raised his hands and spoke. “I realize that this is none of my business, and you probably aren’t sure you can trust me. But if you’ll let me help, I’d like to.”
An awkward silence lasted for several seconds.
“He really helped us out,” Abby said tentatively.
“He hasn’t ta
ttled on us yet,” Derick countered.
“All you have is my word,” Rafa said, “but I promise to tell no one. I won’t take the time to explain here, but your grandfather was once very kind to my family. We owe him a great debt of gratitude. If I can do something to repay that debt, it is worth risking my hard work here.”
“Thanks, Rafa,” Derick said. “We’ll let you know.”
Rafa nodded. “I’ll leave now, but if you need any more help, I promise that I can be trusted. Com certeza.” Rafa stepped out of the door and closed it behind him.
Abby and Derick waited a moment to make sure Rafa was gone. “Do you think he’s sincere?” she asked.
“I’m not sure,” Derick admitted.
Abby held up the white cube and changed the subject. “I think this is like the locket. It doesn’t seem to have any way to open it from the outside.”
“Grandpa got pretty good at that,” Derick said. “He said we had to know what was carved on the mantelpiece in his study. That means only people who knew him well could open it.”
“So do we say the quote?” Abby asked. “I don’t see what else we could do.”
“Give it a try,” Derick said.
Abby remembered the words easily. Grandpa had forced both her and Derick to memorize them, probably in preparation for this very moment. “‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’”
The small box opened, and a three-dimensional image was projected onto the table, almost a foot tall and two feet wide. Thank goodness Rafa had brought them to a private place. This would be awfully difficult to conceal in the commons.
The image showed someone walking down a dark hallway, like watching a miniature reality. Both Abby and Derick leaned forward to get a closer look. The hallway was so poorly lit that it was hard to tell what the walls were made of. Occasional dim lighting showed only splotches of gray that looked like hard cement.
“Where is that?” Abby asked.
“Oh, I know,” Derick said with a sarcastic grunt. “Grandpa told me all of the secrets he wanted to keep from everybody else. He happened to tell me the location of the creepy secret hallway one day while we were sipping root beer and watching old movies.”
“Not funny,” Abby said.
The person in the image continued down the virtual hallway until he came to two large double doors. The metal plating and complicated handles made the doors look impenetrable, but they opened, and the journey continued for a few steps before fading away.
“Okay,” Abby said, straightening. “So we need to find some creepy hallway that leads to a set of huge doors.”
“So easy,” Derick said sarcastically.
Each side of the cube unhinged from another, so it fell flat against the table. What had been a box was now a collection of flat little squares on the table. Both Abby and Derick leaned in for a closer look. On five of the squares were intricate pictures, like the smallest murals they had ever seen. On the sixth, little metal clasps held another small key like the ones in the lockets, plus a rolled piece of paper.
Derick removed the key and put it on a metal ring with the others. “It feels so strange to have real metal keys,” Derick said. “What does the paper say?”
Abby removed the paper and unfolded it. Written in her grandfather’s handwriting was one phrase—By Endurance We Conquer. She showed it to her brother.
“Cryptic,” Derick said. “You’d think Grandpa would be a little more straightforward for once. He is a scientist after all.”
Abby leaned farther forward and examined the mini-paintings on the inside of the cube. She tried to identify what was going on in each: a ship completely surrounded by ice, two armies—maybe from the Civil War—clashing in battle, a small boy on a bed surrounded by doctors, a young lady with a neck wound fighting in a battle, and a man dangling from a rope beside a ship.
“I don’t get it,” Derick admitted. “Are these all supposed to be related? I don’t see a connection.”
“Me, neither,” Abby said. “Maybe we need to study.”
“Where do we start?” Derick asked.
Abby turned on her rings and began typing. “I’m searching about the phrase Grandpa wrote,” she said. “‘By endurance we conquer.’”
“That’s just a saying,” Derick said. “He might just be telling us not to give up.”
Abby scanned the results. “It was the family motto of Ernest Shackleton.”
“Who?”
“Ernest Shackleton. I’m not sure who he is,” Abby admitted, “But it says here that he named a ship Endurance after the motto and sailed to Antarctica.” Abby pointed to the picture of a ship surrounded by ice.
“You’re brilliant,” Derick said. “Let’s go check it out on the Bridge.” Abby gathered all the little squares and stored them in her pocket. Derick opened the door to leave, but stepped back into the room. “Oh no,” he said. “Look.” He pointed down the hall.
Rafa was talking to Ms. Entrese.
22
Shackleton
Derick and Abby decided to go different ways and meet up at the Bridge lab. That way, hopefully, at least one of them wouldn’t get busted. Abby waited several uncomfortable minutes outside the lab, waiting for her brother. Then the thought occurred to her that if Ms. Entrese wanted to, she could summon both her and Derick to the office at any moment.
Derick finally showed up. “Sorry,” he apologized, approaching his sister. “I bumped into Dothan, a kid from music class. I didn’t want to look suspicious, so I had to chat for a minute.”
“It’s fine,” Abby lied. “I was here, all by myself, worrying about how everything could collapse around us at any moment.”
“Good to hear you could handle it.” Derick turned on his rings and synced up to the Bridge. “Dang it!”
“What?” Abby asked.
“I’m blocked too.”
“Oh no,” Abby said, running her fingers through her hair. “It’ll take days to get your access back.”
Derick paced for a moment. “But we need this. We could try studying it on our rings, but maybe a clue is in the actual Bridge entry.”
Abby stood there in silence as her brother still walked back and forth.
“What are we going to do?” Derick asked.
After a moment, Abby smiled. “We have to ask someone else to let us use their Bridge code.”
“We’re in too deep,” Derick protested. “We can’t tell anybody else about this.”
“Precisely,” Abby said. “Someone else already knows quite a bit.”
“Rafa?” Derick asked.
“No,” Abby said. “I’m not sure we can trust Rafa. I was thinking of someone blonder.”
“Carol,” Derick said. “Do you think she’ll help us after she freaked out in the avatar lab?”
Abby smiled again. “I think we have a good chance if you ask her.”
• • •
Carol opened the door to her dorm, and her eyes immediately went wide.
“Hey, Carol,” Derick said.
“Derick!” she blurted out and hugged him like a long-lost friend. “I’m glad you’re not kicked out of school. That would be terrible. It would be a waste of a great mind and a great face. I guess neither would really be wasted, but I wouldn’t get to see your face, so that really would be a waste, at least to me.”
Derick awkwardly hugged her back. “I’m glad I’m not kicked out too, and that my face isn’t ... wasted. So far, no one has said a thing.”
“Good,” Carol said, letting go of him, “but I couldn’t be involved. I hope you understand. That was just crazy.”
“Yes, it was. And I’m sorry,” Derick apologized.
“I mean, I guess you guys must have your reasons, but I don’t know what they are, so to me it just didn’t make any sense. I was thinking that—”
“I’m going to tell you those reasons,” Derick said.
“You’re opening up to me? That’s awesome!” Carol said, grabbing his hand
. Derick had to fight his reflexes not to pull away. “I didn’t think we were at that stage in our relationship. After you, I’ll be sharing something super personal, like how when I was nine, I ... Oh, I almost told you. That would have been embarrassing, especially if it was worse than—”
Derick pulled back his hand and pretended he needed it to pick an eyelash out of his eye. “My grandpa and parents have been kidnapped.”
“I heard they were missing, but kidnapped? That’s super terrible, awful stuff. Are you okay? I’m here for you,” Carol said. “I’ve been really worried about you and Abby. Speaking of Abby, where is she? Not that I don’t love this alone time with just me and you.”
“My grandpa had some sort of secret,” Derick said. “And we think some people have kidnapped him for it. We still haven’t figured out how my parents fit in. Maybe they knew the secret.”
“I’m so sorry,” Carol said, and hugged him again. “That’s scary.” She squeezed him tightly and then settled back.
Derick shuffled uncomfortably. “I need to ask a favor.”
“You need a girlfriend to get you through this difficult time. We’re probably too young to start dating, but I’m really good at comforting. I’ve learned a lot about that. I had a dog, and her name was Cleopatra. She was part-poodle, part-Maltese, which made her a short, black thing with curly fur. But anyway, when I was sad, she used to be able to just tell—like dog sense or something—and she’d snuggle up close to me and—”
“I was wondering if we could use your Bridge code,” Derick interrupted.
Carol let go of him. “You came here to ask if you could use my code?”
“Yes,” Derick said. “Both mine and Abby’s have been blocked, and we think we’re on the trail to helping our parents and our grandpa, but we really need to use the Bridge to figure it out.”
Carol opened her mouth. Derick could tell she was poised to say yes, but she stopped and said something else. “I know you’re in a really difficult situation, but it does sound crazy that looking at the Bridge is somehow going to help your family. Aren’t the police already on it?”
