Alistair untied the leather string at the top of his bag. “I’m sure there are occurrences in your world that you consider normal but would appear extraordinary to me.”
“Yeah, well, I can’t think of one.”
“Take a seat,” said Alistair. He brought out some sliced meat from his bag and began to eat. Daniel sat beside him and hungrily tore into a crust of bread.
They sat quietly, polishing off the meal. Alistair had a thermos full of warm milk, a little sweeter than the milk back home, and Daniel was more than happy to gulp the whole bottleful without ever looking up. They ate a round of cheese and some roasted hickory nuts, and while it might not have been dinner at an expensive steakhouse, it got the job done and Daniel was left satisfied. If this was going to be the last meal he and Alistair shared together, he couldn’t have asked for a better one. Simple, yet filling, all the while floating several hundred feet up in the air.
The cloud kept climbing higher and higher. Little did Daniel know when he woke the next morning, he would find himself a mile above the mountain’s tallest peak. The air would be treacherously thin, though inside his newfound shelter, he would breathe comfortably, though never comfortably enough to forget the danger ahead.
That was never far from his mind.
Chapter 32
Joshua’s Wait
It was not the answer he expected, far from it. With those few words, “I will find your brother,” Meruzilak had silenced Joshua quicker than vines or charcoal ever could.
From excitement to disbelief, disbelief to panic, Joshua barreled through every emotion possible. Daniel was here, too? It sounded too good to be true. Daniel was close by and Meruzilak knew where to find him. It meant Joshua didn’t have to be alone anymore. He’d reunite with his brother and, together, they’d get out of this mess.
Joshua huddled under his blanket. He’d swiped it from the sleigh after they stopped to camp for the night and was glad he risked it. The blanket was the only thing keeping him from freezing. Joshua burrowed inside a half-rotted log he found, and from there kept a watchful eye on Ralmaghar and Meruzilak, not wanting any more surprises.
The more he thought about what Meruzilak said, the more worried he became. Having spent the entire day with Meruzilak, Joshua had grown used to his usual demeanor, which was pretty much foul-tempered and angry all the time (with the possible exception of when he teased Joshua for being short). But there was something different about that moment—That’s where I will find your brother. Meruzilak said it with such disdain, as if he knew something secret about Daniel and wanted to punish Joshua by not telling him.
But what does he want with Daniel? Joshua kept coming back to that question. It made no sense. Daniel didn’t even know Meruzilak. Joshua asked the question again then gave way to the silence that followed.
Joshua had heard the expression, “The eyes are the window to the soul.” He wasn’t sure of its meaning, but he guessed it implied that if you want to find out about a person, start there. So that’s what he did. He replayed the moment in his head, but this time, instead of focusing on Meruzilak’s voice, Joshua pictured his eyes and what they said.
The look he’d seen in Meruzilak’s eyes went deeper than being hacked off or angry, or wishing Joshua would be mauled by a wiffen the next time around. In Meruzilak’s eyes, Joshua saw pure hate. Hate that was possessed, with no concern for right or wrong, that would do whatever was necessary, no matter how evil, to get what it wanted. And what scared Joshua the most was that the hate wasn’t directed toward him, as he assumed, but toward Daniel. Joshua saw it clearly now. Everything Meruzilak was doing was for one reason: he was trying to find Daniel so he could kill him.
Joshua cowered inside his log. Until a few days ago, this would have all sounded too fantastical to believe. The most excitement that ever happened in Grisby was an occasional parade float catching on fire or kids smashing pumpkins on neighborhood porches. Stuff like this didn’t happen in real life, or at least it wasn’t supposed to. He lay silent, too stunned to move. Part of him wanted to hunker down and go to sleep. At least then he wouldn’t have to think about the real world.
The real world? Joshua scoffed, suddenly irritated. The real world is back home, where I have school tomorrow and it’s grilled cheese and tomato soup day. That’s the real world, not this. Joshua tried switching on his wrist light; it was dark and he thought he saw something crouched against a nearby tree. The light, however, was burned out. “So much for that,” he whispered.
And so much for being angry. This was real, whether he liked it or not. If he shut his eyes and went to sleep, he might enjoy a couple hours of forgetting, but he’d still wake up under the same sky, faced with the same predicament. Meruzilak would still be looking for Daniel and, unless Joshua stopped him, he’d eventually find him. Joshua must get to Daniel first, and that meant he needed to escape.
Escape. He had no food, no map, no idea where he was going. All he knew was that he had to get to the top of the mountain. Joshua clenched his jaw to keep his teeth from chattering. The first time he tried to escape, Ralmaghar stitched his mouth shut. If he couldn’t escape then, how did he expect to do it now?
The answer was simple, really. He couldn’t. But it didn’t matter. Something bigger was at stake and it made no difference whether or not he could do it. The only thing that mattered was that he had to do it. He had to get away from these creeps and beat them to the top, which meant he needed to 1) wait for these losers to go to sleep, 2) sneak away without them hearing, 3) find his way through a dark and spooky forest, and 4) climb to the top of the mountain.
Then, after all of that, he had to find Daniel and they had to make it home. “Great,” he mumbled. “Maybe I should add ‘wrestling a grizzly bear’ to the list to make it more challenging.”
Settling in, Joshua made a mental checklist. First things first, he must wait for the Goon Boys to go to sleep, which didn’t seem to be happening anytime soon. How long could the two of them stand there doing nothing? They never spoke, never moved, and neither did anything remotely magical. If this is what it’s like being a wizard, then no thanks. How boring can you get? Joshua hid his face under the blanket.
The night grew longer and the air colder. Joshua rubbed his arms and rocked his legs back and forth to keep the circulation flowing. It was a weird feeling for him, waiting to escape. By making a run for it, Joshua was risking his life, and he knew there were a lot of things that could go wrong. He might get lost and freeze to death or be attacked by a pack of mountain lions. What if he reached the top and Daniel wasn’t there? If only he had a crystal ball. At least then he could see what was coming ahead of time and do things differently.
A sudden movement surprised him and Joshua turned to look. It was Ralmaghar. He was finally turning in for the night. Joshua watched him walk slowly to his tent and disappear inside. “It’s about time.” Joshua blew into his hands to keep them warm. “One jerk down, one to go.”
It wouldn’t be long now, he was sure of it. He grew restless inside his log. Meruzilak, however, didn’t share Joshua’s hurry. “Oh, come on,” Joshua whispered. “Go to bed already. What are you waiting for? Maybe if I hypnotize him, he’ll go to sleep.”
Joshua took off his watch and swung it gently, as though it were a gold pocket watch. “You’re getting sleepy, very sleepy,” he said in his most droning voice. “You will now run around in your underwear clucking like a chicken in the snow.” Joshua laughed at the image. Wow. He realized it was the first time he’d laughed in days. It felt good and helped the waiting go easier. “You will now bring me a chicken salad sandwich and root beer.”
If he could hypnotize Meruzilak, it would solve everything. But he couldn’t, so Joshua put his watch away. He didn’t feel like laughing anymore. His brother was in huge trouble and he didn’t need to be joking at a time like this. Joshua lay silent under his blanket, grimly waiting for the moment when Meruzilak turned in for the night.
Joshua s
napped to attention. Meruzilak reached into his cloak and brought out something. Joshua scooted forward to get a better look. The best he could tell, they were some sort of crystal-looking objects. One by one, Meruzilak dropped them in the air. However, instead of falling, they levitated above his hand, which he moved in a trancelike manner, waving his fingers like wind chimes. Seconds later, a beam of light shot from each of the crystals and lit the nearby area, bathing Meruzilak in a harsh glow.
Meruzilak waved his arms like a crazed symphony conductor and shouted strange words Joshua didn’t understand (he was pretty sure they weren’t nice words; Meruzilak had that mad look on his face). Meruzilak closed his hand over the crystals, placed them in his pocket, then turned and walked to his tent, not once looking at Joshua. He opened the flap and stepped inside.
Joshua gently rocked his legs back and forth to make sure they still worked. He said a quick prayer, crawled out of the log, and slipped away into the forest.
Chapter 33
Joshua’s Escape
“Oh, man, this stinks!” Joshua spit snow from his mouth. As if he wasn’t cold enough, he sure didn’t need the trees dumping snow on his head. “Really, really stinks.”
Joshua knew it was a delicate balance, escaping for one’s life. He should be careful but quick; he mustn’t crack any branches under his feet but couldn’t waste time looking down at every footfall. With the silhouette of the mountain as a guide, Joshua walked swiftly through the forest, hoping to put as much distance as possible between him and the two wizards.
There wasn’t much of a trail, just a bunch of thickets, but he trusted it was the right way and kept going. The moon shone through cracks in the tree line, throwing its light upon the branches and giving them a spook-like demeanor. Though he knew they weren’t real, Joshua was still creeped out. He didn’t believe the tarantula in the corridor was real, yet he still felt its disgusting legs crawling up his hand. Joshua kept his arms close to his side.
The blackened snow had turned to slush, and each step he took sounded like biting into a snow cone from the ballpark. He felt water seeping into his shoes and soaking his socks, which felt about five times heavier than normal. Deeper into the forest now, Joshua picked up his pace to a full run. “Just be careful,” he reminded himself. “And don’t trip on anything.”
Joshua had never been the quickest of runners. Throughout his life, it seemed whenever he ran as fast as possible, his feet and brain quit playing for the same team, and if he didn’t constantly watch where he was stepping, he’d trip and fall. Well, he couldn’t let it happen this time, as every second counted. Joshua came upon a small ditch. “Don’t trip,” he whispered. “Don’t trip … don’t trip …”
Safely over the ditch, he breathed a sigh of relief.
He saw lightning flash in the distance, followed by a thunderclap. Joshua was glad he brought the blanket, as he suspected it would get a lot wetter. As he ran, he picked up speed, feeling he was gaining strength rather than losing it. Something was driving him, pushing him farther and faster, and he realized it was the same something that happened in Grisby. He couldn’t explain it, but whatever it was, it gave him assurance he was heading in the right direction.
Now that he was a couple of miles out of sight from the tents, Joshua’s adrenaline slowed, allowing him to come to terms with his surroundings. He was in a forest and, as everyone knows, forests are full of creatures—all kinds of creatures, good ones and bad ones. Joshua remembered the encounter on the sleigh, nearly having his hand chewed off, and grew worried. “What if there are you-know-whats out here?”
You-know-whats was his new name for them. He had no idea how something with such a cute-sounding name like wiffen could be so vicious, but all the same, he wasn’t going to call them that anymore. Joshua kept a darting eye in each direction, fearful of vengeful you-know-whats around the corner.
As Joshua traveled through the forest, he returned to the question of it: the it giving him peace of mind about his direction. Whatever it was, it had happened before—a few times, actually—and each time, it left Joshua feeling confused and slightly guilty.
Joshua was not one to over-think matters. Whenever strange things happened, he responded with that’s weird, or that’s cool, and went about his business. But there had been a few instances in his life that left him scratching his head. The first time was when Daniel got his new BMX bike. He’d wanted one for ages and, when he finally got it, he spent every afternoon for weeks practicing on the local track. Then he signed up for his first race.
The night before, Daniel and Joel worked on the bike together, checking the brakes, tightening the pads, making sure the tires were at perfect gauge. When they were done, they locked it up and Daniel got ready for bed.
The next morning, they found the bike missing. Someone had broken into the garage and stolen it. Daniel was crushed. He’d practiced for weeks and was now going to miss the race. On top of that, it might be an eternity before he got another bike—at least, that’s what Daniel claimed.
What Joshua never told them was that he was the one who stole it.
After Daniel climbed into bed that night, Joshua pretended to be asleep, but he was far from it. He couldn’t explain what he was feeling. It was a mash-up of emotions: nervousness, concern, confusion. His skin turned clammy and he fought the urge to throw off his pajamas, which were sticking to his skin. Joshua didn’t know what was happening, but he knew one thing for sure: he couldn’t let Daniel compete in the race. So he snuck out in the middle of the night, took the bike, and threw it off a cliff.
He felt terrible the next day. Seeing Daniel so heartbroken made him feel guilty, and he went back and forth the whole day about whether or not to confess what he’d done. In the end, he kept silent about it. To this day, his secret was safe.
A few days later, they ran into Mr. Woodford at the grocery store, where he told them about the accident. “Crying shame about the Loggins boy,” he said. “Out there on that race track by Ridgecrest, them souped up bikes the boys are riding these days. Came down off a jump too hard and lost control.” Mr. Woodford reached for a tin of biscuits and placed it in his cart. “That boy will probably never be the same.”
The second time: Joshua woke with a terrifying concern that his father shouldn’t go to work that day. He left his bed early and raced downstairs, where he found his dad sitting at the den table, drinking coffee and finishing a bowl of cereal.
“I don’t want you to go anywhere,” Joshua said. “Just spend the day with us. Call your boss and tell him you’re sick, then we’ll go to the beach and fly kites.”
“I’ll tell you what,” said Joel. “I don’t have much work today. I’ll finish early, your brother and I will fire off the new rocket, then all of us will go to dinner and a movie. How does that sound?” Joel took Joshua into his arms and held him tightly. “I’ll see you when I get home. I love you, Joshua.”
As he sat by the window, watching his dad climb into the truck, Joshua knew something was wrong—really wrong. But his dad promised him everything was fine, so he believed him. After Joel drove out of sight, Joshua slowly wrote his name on the fogged windowpane and walked away from the den.
The same thing that happened with the BMX race happened then, and he ignored it. Joshua made a promise that he would never, ever again ignore that feeling, no matter how much trouble he got into or how guilty he felt afterward; which is why, though he knew Daniel was going to be furious at him, he had to wreck the game of Three Strikes. He couldn’t let his brother take that swing.
***
It was raining again—not a good sign to Joshua. He decided if he ever got out of here and back home he would have a bonfire and burn every shred of clothes he was wearing. If he never had to look at his soaked sweatshirt again, the happier he’d be.
So far, the forest had been quiet. An occasional owl here and there, some far-off chipmunks (or at least they sounded like chipmunks). Things were now picking up. Life was begi
nning its morning stir. In the distance, Joshua heard a crow shriek.
The big question on his mind—Have they noticed I’m gone yet? Joshua tried to picture them sleeping soundly in their tents, snoring like jackhammers. Maybe if he wished hard enough, it would come true.
Approaching a difficult area, what looked like a cross section of fallen logs blocking the path, Joshua slowed his pace. He carefully stepped over the leg of a tree trunk. Unfortunately, his shoe didn’t come with him. Joshua looked down. One of the tree roots, resembling a four-fingered hand stretching out of the ground, had taken hold of it.
“Okay, that’s not real!” Joshua said, tugging on his sneaker. The shoe didn’t budge.
He put his feet against the tree trunk and pulled with everything he had, as the root fought against him. Then, as if waiting for the perfect moment to play a practical joke, the root let go. Joshua tumbled backward, falling on his butt between the fallen logs. The rain pelted him in the face, so he covered himself with the blanket. “Maybe I should rest here for a second,” he said. “It’s a few seconds. It can’t hurt, right?”
It was the first time he’d sat down and it felt good, like he could stay there all night. As he huddled underneath, Joshua listened to the constant patter of raindrops hitting the blanket. It was hypnotizing in a way and, coupled with his heavy exhaustion, came dangerously close to lulling him to sleep.
Just a few more seconds. The patter of the rain was drumming heavier and he didn’t look forward to leaving his newfound cubbyhole. Oh man, it’s really raining now. In fact, it was raining too hard. There was no way it could have increased that much in a few minutes. Joshua took a peek.
It wasn’t the rain, but he wished it was. What he saw was worse—a lot worse.