Fractured Worlds (Book 1 of the Fractured Worlds Trilogy) Read online

Predawn gray in the sky of the east was more than a welcome sight to Leena, Tristan and William. They had been quite warm enough in the spire’s cathedral, but the incessant call of nature made them each quite uncomfortable.

  “I don’t think I can wait any longer Tristan.” Leena spoke with urgency.

  “Me either.” He agreed. “William and I will hop down, and go off the stairs. You can go up here.” With that both of the boys disappeared down through the center hole, and left her alone in the cathedral. They yelled back up instantly that the main chamber lights had come back on. She nodded to herself and quickly looked around for an inconspicuous spot to soil, and found a small rectangular patch of gray material that was different than the other flooring surface. A hand hold looking protrusion came out of the transparent wall a meter above this, so she went. As she finished and zipped her jump suit back up she turned and noticed that her waste was gone, just plain disappeared. Then she grabbed the hand hold like protrusion to lean down and further inspect the different material, when suddenly a clear liquid ran freely from the spout end. This too vanished without a trace as it splashed down on the grey surface below. Leena let go of the hand hold, and the liquid flow stopped. Then she grabbed it again and held her hand under the spout, catching some of the liquid in her palm. She sniffed it, and there was absolutely no odor to the cool clear fluid, so she braved a slight touch of her tongue, thinking that she understood what this was.

  Leena congratulated herself as she was right about the function of the device. The liquid was pure fresh water, and the grey patch on the floor was a bathroom waste disposal of sorts. Kind of a very advanced drain.

  “Hey guys!” She shouted down the hole. “I found a water source.”

  “What?” Tristan hollered back up from out of sight on the stairs.

  “I found a water faucet!” She yelled again. “Come on back up. Let’s fill up our bottles.”

  After the boys had examined and played around with the sink and water spigot for a bit, they settled down and ate the remaining berries they had brought for breakfast, and had their fill of cool fresh water for the first time in over a day. The sun was just peaking over the distant horizon as they decided to head on down the long frightening stair well. Remembering the way the floating disk had lit up and buzzed; Leena had another insight.

  “When we get down onto the disk guys, don’t get off of it right away. OK?” She offered.

  “Why? What’s up?” William looked puzzled.

  She smiled and said, “I think I know what that floating disk is too.” So the three hopped down onto it and watched as the red light came on again in the center of it accompanied by the buzzing noise. Then the light began to blink as the buzzing increased in pitch slightly.

  “Why walk, when we can ride?” She said smugly, and suddenly the disk smoothly began to descend. The red light turned to blue, and the noise stopped completely.

  “How did you know?” William was astonished.

  “Just a lucky guess.” She grinned.

  The disk smoothly gained speed and in less than a minute it was again slowing down near the bottom. It silently contacted the floor of the immense base chamber, and the light in the center went off.

  “That’s way better than those doggone stairs!” William exclaimed as the three stepped off the disk, and started for the distant entrance to the spire. Leena turned around to watch the disk as they disembarked it, waiting to see if it would automatically rise to the top again, but it did not.

  “Whew!” She breathed. “It looks like we don’t have to take those doggone stairs again when we return.”

  “Amen to that.” Will chided.

  “Come on,” Tristan implored. “We’ve got a long way to go before dark.” And he started off towards the entrance almost half a kilometer distant, as the disk had landed in the very center of the immense base.

  ----------

  Meanwhile Michael Welsh was just starting to awaken from his chemically induced torpor. Everything was dark, and he was restricted, or restrained somehow. He was very groggy too, but he could hear some vague voices echoing from around him, though he couldn’t quite make them out. As he struggled to free himself from the unseen restraints, he heard someone say; “Nurse.” Michael tried his best to yell, or even make a noise.

  “Hey, hey, take it easy. Relax. You’ve had a hard couple of day’s mister” A soft female voice cooed to him. “You’re in no condition to be moving about.”

  “Maa, my family?” He managed to mutter through thick dry lips, and then he started to feel the pain from all over.

  There was a long silence before, “I’m sorry Mr. Welsh, there was a terrible fire.” Was all the voice said. Michael started screaming. Unbeknownst to him in his blindfolded state, Millie Schotner was in the room watching all this. She had to leave the room to keep from bursting out laughing at him. Out in the hallway she did let loose with a bawdy fit of giggling, though she tried to keep it down. A female technician in a blue jump suit exited the room where Michael was, and Millie stopped her in the hallway.

  “Erica, now you are sure he feels pain as though he’d been burned?” She demanded of the woman.

  The woman nodded as a matter of fact.

  Millie pressed the issue further. “He must think he has been badly burned in a fire! This is imperative.”

  The woman nodded again, “Of course Ms. Schotner.” She assured.

  Just then Mr. Fielder came down the hall, and Millie dismissed the technician and turned to Fielder. The woman technician went about her business with a careful guard of her expressions. She couldn’t let any disdain, or defiance show; lest she ruin her chance of stopping this madness. Erica had always be adept at hiding her feelings, and she knew it was never as important as now.

  “So, how are the ‘patients’ doing?” Fielder asked with genuine interest, as he could see by the wicked grin on Millie’s face that she was thoroughly enjoying herself.

  “I haven’t had this much fun in years.” She confessed.

  Fielder too smiled, as he also enjoyed seeing humans suffer.

  “You really must come listen to his torture sometime.” Millie told Fielder as if she were inviting him for coffee.

  “My, my, yes. I’d like that.” He cheerfully agreed. “Oh, and I have here the report on the other families my Queen.”

  “Good. Are there any excessive trouble makers yet?” She grinned with hope.

  Fielder shook his head sadly, “Just as you predicted Master. As soon as the children that made it out were given back to their parents; they all calmed down remarkably. The only ones whom would cause trouble are the parents whose children are still missing, and you already have them all locked down here in the ‘patient’ care facility.”

  “That’s exactly what I surmised Fielder.” Millie spat with disgust. “They don’t have the backbone that you Andorians do. Lock an Andorian in a room against their will, and either the room will be breeched, or the Andorian will destroy themselves in the process; regardless of whether or not their children are present.”

  Fielder smiled with pride, knowing this was absolute truth.

  “That is what attracted me to your kind in the first place.” She walked away grinning.

  That caused Mr. Fielder to completely lose his smile, and any sense of conceit. It was moments like these that he truly regretted having sworn eternal loyalty to the Dark Queen so long ago, but he also knew full well that he would never break his vow. It wasn’t in their make up to do such an unthinkable thing.

  ----------

  As Erica Brooks took the meal tray to her next charge, she thought of all the events of the last several days. This certainly wasn’t what she had signed onto to Dreamland for. Not kidnapping children and whole families, and surely not torture of innocent people. Even though she did have some experience back in the Iraq war with the ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’; that was a far cry
from what was being demanded of her now.

  Those hapless people she had brutalized in the war were enemy combatants, or at least that was what she was told. Here and now there were no such fabricated illusions. Still, she too was a prisoner of sorts, as she had come to find out. None of the inner echelon of Dreamlands most trusted employees had been allowed to leave the complex, nor to have any contact with the outside world since the ‘Quest” had begun. She cursed herself as she should have known there was only one need for someone with expertise in chemical methods of distress, regardless of her other medical training.

  Erica had resolved to do whatever she could to get word to the authorities, the first chance she got, but with the constant over-watch of Dreamland’s elite security forces she had to be extremely careful. Those men were not normal, and even beyond what she had experienced the Special Forces troops of the army to be capable of.

  Her last pre-employment test had been to administer chemical influence on a willing test subject in order to get the man to breakdown and quit the test procedure. It was one of Millie Schotner’s elite guards, and try as she might; Erica could not even get the man to flinch, much less beg to be relieved of the duty. She had never seen anything like it; the man’s tolerance for pain was far past incredible. He had taken every combination she could conjure of painful drugs, and even the last one at a dose Erica was reticent to administer, but the man merely looked her in the eyes with utter hateful contempt, and took the pain without so much as a whimper.

  ‘Damn it! I should have known!’ She silently thought without showing any facial expression.

  ----------

  Jackie Welsh was worried sick in her cell. She had awoken the day before in this small confined prison cell, alone. She had no idea what had become of her beloved husband Michael, nor of their two loving children. Jackie certainly feared the worst, but she also knew that she had to try to be strong, and keep a clear mind. For all she knew; she was her family’s only hope.

  Suddenly the door to the outer area of the cell was opened, and the same short dark haired woman with dead eyes, whom had brought her meals the day before; was again bringing her lunch. There was a thick Plexiglas barrier separating Jackie from the entrance area, and once again the woman merely slid the paper meal tray under the slat at Jackie.

  “Wait!” Jackie pleaded. “Please just tell me what’s going on. Why am I here? Where are my children? Where is my husband?”

  The woman didn’t even look at Jackie, but merely left as she had done for each meal so far. Again this brought tears from Jackie as she couldn’t imagine such disdain from anyone.

  It took a while before she had any appetite to eat, and when she did unfold the paper wrapping the sandwich, she saw something strange on the wrapper. Jackie looked closer, and saw tiny hand writing on the paper. It read; ‘Your husband is alive. Will try to contact authorities. Eat this note now, or I will be killed.’ Jackie tried to keep her eyes from bugging out, and she kept her disposition so the camera watching her every move wouldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Quickly she ate the part of the sandwich wrapper with the note, as she took a bite from the sandwich. It was hard to swallow, but there was a taste of hope.

  ----------

  Carefully Becky used the wooden tongs she’d lashed together to remove the small can from the fire. The water inside it was boiling nicely, and thus it was ready to sterilize one of the hooks that Joshua had made for the fishing rig. She set the can down and dropped the hook into it. Joshua watched this and moaned again. His foot had swollen up from an obvious infection around the wound, and Becky had insisted on trying to lance some of the puss from it. At first he had flatly refused the treatment, but as his foot continued to become more painful, he finally relented.

  “Give it just a minute to sterilize the hook, and then we’ll do it Josh. OK?”

  Joshua nodded reluctantly.

  Suddenly a distant whistle interrupted them, and all four looked in the direction of the sound. There on the far hill side were three golden suited people waving at them.

  “It’s them!” Penelope cried out. “They made it!” Then she was off and running to them, followed closely by Sarah and then Becky. Josh stayed at the old ‘Shanty’ by the fire, as his shoes were off, and it was far too painful to put them back on just then. So he watched the joyful reunion from afar, seeing the two youngest girls clamor all over Tristan, and then William, and then both went back to Tristan, and clung to him closely. Becky was very happy to see Leena, and they hugged like long lost family. Shortly the group was headed back to the shanty camp.

  Once back, Becky and Leena immediately got to work draining the infected puss from Joshua’s foot. Then they applied the last of the antibiotic ointment that the three returning comers still had from their packs. The other four had already used up the last of the tiny tubes they had earlier that morning. Leena used up her small amount of gauze bandages with Becky wrapping the ugly wound, and took stock that only William and Tristan still had any bandages left.

  “How does that feel Josh?” Becky asked with tenderness.

  “It actually feels a lot better now.” He told the truth. “You were right about getting all that puss out Becky. A lot less pressure.”

  Leena pulled Becky off to the side, out of ear shot; “What do you think Becky? Can Josh walk?”

  “He can get around OK, but it’s going to get worse. We’ve got to get him medical treatment soon.” She was grave.

  The seven of team number seven ate together for the first time since they had arrived on this strange world. All eagerly sharing in their stories of the adventures experienced, and in the fresh fruit from ‘Purple Berry Pass’. Leena and William had picked some more of the also delicious red berries on their way back, and thus passed them around as well. Leena commented on how lucky they were that all this food was here, and Becky added they were even luckier that none of it was poisonous. Everyone stopped eating for a moment.

  “Relax,” Becky chided. “We’d all be dead by now.” Then she popped one of the longish white and yellow tart tasting pods into her mouth, and crunched away. Everyone else followed suit.

  After dinner as they all settled back, and watched the sun retire for yet another day, the questions started flowing.

  “How are we going to get back home?” Sarah demanded.

  “Yeah, what are we going to do Tristan?” Penny added with sternness.

  “We think there may be a way.” Tristan revealed. “The spire must be some sort of doorway, like the one we fell through.”

  “Was that light show last night from you guys?” Joshua queried.

  Leena nodded and answered for her brother. “That was us.”

  Becky asked, “You really think we can get home from that thing out there?”

  “I don’t think we are going to get back through the doorway we fell through.” Tristan explained. “It must be in the roof of that cave somewhere, but I already went through a doorway in the spire, to another planet I think. I figure it’s just got to be connected to Earth somehow.”

  “You did not!” Joshua challenged him.

  “Yeah, I did. Ask Leena.” Tristan told.

  Joshua looked to her for confirmation.

  “He sure did.” She nodded. “He was gone for a second or two.”

  All four whom had stayed at the camp got wide eyes. “Wow!” Joshua said what the girls were thinking. Leena got real serious, everyone could tell by the way she raised her voice just enough. “Do you think you can make a good day’s hike, or maybe two Josh?”

  “Sure.” He sounded positive. “I may not be as quick as I used to be, but I can make it!”

  Becky laughed with softness toward him.

  “There’s a little climbing too.” Tristan put in.

  The two smaller girl’s eyes grew wide at the mention of that. “There’s just one bad spot, but we got it rig
ged up for you all ready.” He assured them.

  “As long as you’ll take care of us Tristan, we’ll be alright.” Sarah spoke with confidence.

  Penny nodded whole heartedly, “He won’t let us down.”

  “Not as long as I’m breathing I won’t.” Tristan promised.

  Leena put the finish on the discussion, and the evening by proclaiming; “Good. We leave in the morning.” Then as an afterthought she added, “I don’t want to stick around here long after what you described of that giant bird you all saw, because it saw you too.”

  “And it was way big enough to eat us!” Joshua had to insert.

  “Shut up Josh!” Came a chorus of four girl’s voices, followed by two of them giggling.

  A sky mostly void of stars set in, with the light of two small moons as the only beacons. Once again they all slept fitfully, not from the cold as they were all bundled tightly together in Becky’s ‘Not so Shanty’, but rather from the unfamiliarity of their situation. Right under the surface, each child was fearful, yet also in awe.

  First light found the four kids whom had stayed at the base camp eager for the trek, but the three whom had just returned the evening before were a little sore from all of their exertions the previous days, and weren’t so hot-footed to get going. They took their time with a leisurely breakfast before setting off, as they figured with the littler ones and Joshua; that it would take two full days travel anyway. It turned out they were right; the team took a full day just to get to the point on the canyon rim where Leena and William had camped two nights earlier. So they camped there again. William and Penny had developed a habit of naming everything and everywhere they went, and this place they simply called ‘the rim camp’.

  Morning of the fifth day came more quickly for all of them, as they were all fairly tired by now, and so slept better. Leena and Tristan did their best to prepare the others for the impending crossing of the ‘Devil’s Bowl’ as William had aptly named it, and everyone found trust in the pair. They started winding their way single file down the carved trail. When they got to the ‘Devil’s Bowl’ though their trust seemed to almost evaporate. The smaller girls weren’t quite as nervous when the saw the system Tristan had rigged up, especially when they learned that each would be tied off to the guide rope, and to one of the bigger kids. Both Tristan and William had to make the traverse encumbered with one of the little girls, and then had to cross back up to escort Becky, and Joshua down. Tristan felt that he was becoming old hat at this by the time everyone had safely crossed.

  All were glad when they made the comparative safety of the massive bridge.

  “Why do you call it ‘Holy Bridge’ William?” Sarah prodded, as he had been calling it that all morning.

  William smiled and pointed to the hole Tristan had almost lost his life in. “See. Holes.”

  As it had been almost four hours since the group had left the ‘rim camp’, they decided this was a good place to have lunch. Each looked about with the wonder of it all evident on their faces, and even the three whom had seen it before were still in awe.

  “Do we have to climb all the way to the top of that thing?” Joshua said with a worried tone as he gazed almost straight upwards.

  “We did, but this time I think we have a ride.” Leena let him know, and could tell he liked the sound of that. All had noticed his worsening limp on the way down the carved steps of the trail. She and Becky each were worried more about his infection due to this. They fully realized Joshua needed medical treatment, and fast.

  Leena said to herself, ‘We’ll get you home real soon my friend.’

  The four new-comers were freaked out big time by the entrance shroud to the spire, inspiring Josh to note that his favorite TV magician would sure love a device like that. Then as he saw the ungodly passage of the spiraling stairs going so far up above them he said, “There is no doggone way I’m climbing those.”

  “You won’t have to buddy.” Tristan exclaimed. “The elevator disk is still down here waiting for us.”

  “I have to go now.” Penny stopped Tristan by a tug on his jumpsuit.

  “Can’t it wait until we get to the top?” He implored.

  Penelope shook her head. Leena heard this and said that she would take her outside, but as she turned back towards the entrance she saw the familiar sight of one of the ‘bathrooms’ right under the beginning of the stairs. “Hey guys! Look, there’s even a restroom down here.” Leena said excitedly. “I didn’t see that the other day.”

  “Maybe we should have spent some more time exploring down here.” William offered.

  “You all go on to the disk. We’ll be right behind you.” Leena directed. “Anyone else have to go?”

  They all shook their heads, and followed Tristan towards the center and the waiting disk.

  After everyone was all aboard the elevator it started blinking the red light as before, and then when it turned blue, the disk rose slowly at first, but ever increasing in speed until after a mere minute it was at the top. Even though Tristan had them all crouch down as it neared the destination, the disk had slowed enough so none would have their head smashed into the ceiling above. It seemed to have some safety features, though all the kids would have really like some railing around the edges. William and Leena climbed up into the cathedral first, and then helped pull the others up as Tristan gave them each a boost. Once up top Leena gave them a quick tour; the ‘bathroom’, the teleportation pedestals, and the ever awesome view. The girls were just as apt to enjoy the scenery for a while, but the boys wanted to get right down to business.

  “OK.” Tristan started, “Let’s decide just how we’re going to do this.”

  “Can’t you hold on for just a while Bro?” Leena shot back at him. “We just got here.”

  Tristan knew that Leena only used the term ‘Bro’ when she was at the end of her patience with him, but this really confused him just then. “What, you want to stay?” he returned with scorn.

  This in turn confused her. “No, but it is really beautiful from up here. Just give us a minute.”

  “Fine.” He relented. “Just let us know when you are ready to go home Sis. OK?”

  ----------

  Erica Brooks had finally come up with a viable plan to alert the outside authorities, but it was a very risky one. This didn’t deter her though as she was quite familiar with danger, so she set her plan in motion. There was no way she was going to take any further part of this mad woman and her evil insidious henchmen’s plans any longer; money and position be damned! The fire she set in the emergency generator room by the fuel tanks for the generators would definitely draw some of the guards away from the security control room she’d figured. When the alarms went off she knew she had to move fast. Then the explosion she knew was coming, rocked the very foundation of the immense building complex known as HQ.

  ‘I might have over done it a bit’ she thought as she raced to the security room.

  As Erica rounded the long corridor leading to the ever secure control room, she had to get out of the way of a number of Millie’s elite forces as they ran full on to the scene of the trouble. It was a very good sign to her, as there was no way she could overcome many of those men. ‘Hopefully there aren’t too many left inside the security control room.’ Erica wished. She tried to stay off to the edge of the camera’s field of vision as she approached, and then she was at the door. The security pass she had lifted from the electronics’ tech that afternoon at the mess hall should still be active, as it was less than an hour ago, and hopefully he hadn’t reported the card missing yet. A quick swipe of the card and she knew he had not, as the door unlatched automatically. She walked in very calmly carrying a tray of food.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” The single solitary guard barked at her as she entered.

  She looked perplexed on purpose, “Rolf told me to bring him his lunch here today.” She sounded
completely innocent. “What’s all the ruckus about anyway? Was that an earthquake?”

  “Get out NOW wench!” The man yelled.

  “OK, OK, I’m leaving.” She paused and then set the lunch tray on a console desk near the man. “Tell Rolf this is for him, OK?” Erica asked ever so sweetly.

  The man raised from his chair too quickly, and was suddenly in her face. His breath was unlike any foulness she had ever smelled. “OUT! Or I crush you.” He snarled.

  “Easy there big boy, I’m on my way.” She slipped the hypodermic from under the tray her hand was still on, and quickly inserted it into the man’s abdomen. “Arrrgh!” He growled as he felt the needle enter him, and more quickly than she had ever seen anything move, his back hand sent her flying across the room. It almost knocked her unconscious, and she was definitely woozy to the point she missed a moment of time. Erica didn’t see the man pull the needle out, nor did she hear his battle roar.

  When she did regain her senses she heard him leap towards her, and quickly she rolled out of the way. Confusion set in briefly as she thought that any man should instantly be unconscious from that dosage of the drug she had administered. This thought quickly left her mind though as his powerful palm had the back of her head in a vise like grip. She saw the fire alarm master switch right in front of her at that moment, and she pulled it.

  “You traitorous wench!” He yelled. “Now DIE!”

  Erica Brooks didn’t hear anything else, nor did she see anything else ever again.

  ----------

  The private line of Millie’s communicator buzzed to life, it was the rare emergency signal that alerted her. Quickly she pulled it from her shawl’s hidden pocket, and answered the call.

  “What is it?” She hastily demanded.

  On the screen a semi groggy Andorian agent of security appeared. “My Queen, I have failed you! A traitor has breached the security control room and set off the master fire alarm.”

  “So?” She asked brazenly. “All the outside alarm communications have been de-activated.”

  “I am afraid not my Master. It seems that someone forgot to disconnect the master fire alarm as you had requested.” The man grumbled as though half asleep.

  “Someone FORGOT!” Millie screamed with a peculiar high pitched whine. “You irrelevant imbecile! What is the matter with you, what happened to you?” She queried at the agent’s obvious drowsiness.

  “I was drugged by the traitor my Queen. I will self-terminate as you desire, for my sin.”

  “You will do nothing of the sort!” She commanded him. “I am sending reinforcements now. Guard the booth until they arrive. Understood? And what of this traitor?”

  The agent blinked unsteadily and said, “She has been terminated.”

  “Good!” Millie spat with venom. “Await further orders.”

  At that Millie disconnected, and called Fielder on the emergency line. “Fielder! Set battle plan ‘Cat’! Yes, NOW! And get to my office immediately!” After a moment she calmed herself by will, and realized that only the fire department would be responding at first. It would take a while for all hell to break loose, and she had contingency plans for that as well. She took the small silver looking bracelet off her wrist and plugged it into the formidable charging unit in her desk. This was the last piece of extreme tech hardware that any of them still had, and now she thought she might actually need it again.

  “I will make them vanish.”

  ----------

  “It took three of us last time to really get it going, where we could see other places.” William enlightened the others.

  The girls had finally relented and joined the boys by the pedestals.

  “Now watch this.” Tristan said as he looked to his sister for quick approval. She nodded once and he stepped onto one of the multicolored stone daises. The wonderful golden light instantly bathed him. This certainly surprised the four whom had not seen this before, even though they each expected something unusual to happen.

  “WOW!” Joshua’s jaw dropped.

  Penny uttered with fascination, “It sure is quite pretty light.”

  “You should see when three people get on.” Tristan encouraged.

  “What about five?” Becky asked having noticed the obvious five pedestals.

  “Don’t know.” Leena broke in.

  Tristan tried to push an issue right then, “Let me be the first one to go.”

  Leena backed away, there was just too much that they didn’t know about these alien devices, and the pressure to make a decision weighed very heavily on her mind. She had put it all there herself though, as the others were more than glad to help, she just figured it was her responsibility.

  “I don’t know Tristan.” Leena sounded worried again.

  “One of us has to.” He challenged her.

  She shook her head, confused.

  Just then Joshua stepped up onto a pedestal, and Becky immediately charged him to get down.

  “Hey!” Josh said. “My foot doesn’t hurt anymore.” He ignored Becky’s orders, and even put weight on his foot to test his assertion. “See!”

  Then Leena remembered something important. “Tristan! Do you still have the metal signal thing that the Dreamland man gave you?”

  Tristan shrugged, and then nodded. “Yeah.”

  Becky grabbed Josh, and pulled him off the pedestal. “OK, OK.” He relented as he caught his balance, though she was there to steady him gently. Just then Penelope stepped up onto the same pedestal that Tristan was on.

  “Give me the device Tristan. I don’t think you should be on that thing with it.” Leena insisted. “I don’t trust them.”

  “Get off Penny! There’s only room for one.” Tristan argued.

  “Tristan! Give me the thing!” Leena ordered with authority.

  “OK!” Tristan reached inside his pocket with one hand as he tried to push Penelope away with the other. “Penny! Stop it!”

  Penelope grappled with him with big eyes watching the beautiful light dance around their limbs.

  Sarah turned to Tristan her eyes wide with fright, as she felt something terribly wrong was happening.

  “Come on Penny.” Tristan implored. “OFF!”

  Sarah was just starting to form the word, “NO!” as she reached out.

  Penelope’s fingers were still clawing to hold onto Tristan, when she inadvertently touched the button on the silver device that he had just pulled from his pocket. Suddenly a strong vibration shook the entire spire, and the stream of light washing over Tristan and Penny pulsed much brighter.

  Instantly a brilliant sphere of light expanded rapidly from the pedestal that Tristan and Penny were on, knocking over all the others, and pushed them up against the transparent wall of the cathedral, and uncomfortably so. Another deeper vibration shook the spire like an earthquake. William had his face pressed against the clear wall of the spire and saw huge boulders tumble down from the surrounding cliffs. One even hit the massive bridge far below, and took another chunk out of it.

  “Holy crap!” He screamed.

  Just as suddenly, the sphere of light pressing all the others against the walls disappeared with a grinding shriek, and so too were Tristan and Penelope gone.

  The rest of them took a deep breath now that they could breathe again, but no one uttered a word.

  Leena wanted to curl up in a ball and cry, but she held off the rush of panic, as right then she knew she needed a clear head. William picked himself up first, and rushed to a pedestal. “Come on!” he barked. “We need three of us on the pedestals, now. So they can get back here!” He jumped up on one, and so did Becky right away, but no light came rushing forth as it had. Leena was just getting up herself and rushed to another one, but it wouldn’t spark to life either.

  Sarah spoke with deep sorrow, “I think we broke it.”

  Then Leena did curl up into a ball, and began to cry.