Come back!"
She ran from the safety of the passageway with Samuel
chasing her.
"NO, Isabel!" Samuel sprinted after her. Both of them realized
the mistake they'd made and tried to stop, but momentum was
on gravity's side. They slid closer to the opening on loose rocks
and dirt until they finally skidded to a halt ten feet from the edge.
"Step back, Isabel!"
But Isabel couldn't stand the idea of being left behind by her
protector inside Atherton. Without Gossamer, she didn't see
how they could survive. She took one more step toward the
edge, where gravity's pull was like a fast-moving river that was
getting deeper and deeper.
Samuel held on to Isabel's arm. "Isabel, please! I can't hold you
if you won't help!"
"I'm trying!" she said, finally coming to her senses as she felt the
force of gravity growing. "I can't back up!"
And just then, right when they were both more afraid than they'd
ever been, the Raven rose from somewhere beneath their line
of sight, its million black spikes sliding in and out threateningly.
It crept up slowly, as if it were studying the two, trying to decide
if they should be destroyed or not. The shocking sight of the
mysterious vessel sent Isabel and Samuel into a panic.
"I'm sliding, Samuel!" screamed Isabel. As Samuel reached
unsuccessfully for her hand, she rolled head over heels toward
the Raven, which hovered directly above the edge of the hole
and seemed to watch the scene unfold without emotion.
Isabel's legs went over the edge first and then her body
followed until all Samuel could see was her head and her
hands, which held on for dear life. Her eyes were white with
fear as she slid, clawing the dirt with her fingers and then-- flit! -she was gone.
"Isabel!"
The Raven hovered closer to Samuel, leaving him speechless
as its enormous weight glided overhead. Samuel looked back
to the edge and thought about jumping after Isabel, though he
knew he would be jumping to his death. Was there any chance
he could save her?
He heard Gossamer before he saw him, the monstrous black
wings flapping somewhere out of view. But a second later the
miraculous presence of the black dragon filled the cave once
more.
"This is all your fault!" cried Samuel, choking back tears. "She
trusted you! You're nothing but a monster!"
Gossamer flew up and in, pushing Samuel away from the edge
with the power of his wings. The wind nearly bowled Samuel
over as he ran back toward the passageway, angry and afraid.
When Samuel was safely back from the pull of the opening,
Gossamer landed. He blew a puff of black smoke from his nose
and laid his soft wing along the floor. Isabel slid down, battered
but alive.
"Isabel!" shouted Samuel, overcome with gratitude that his
friend wasn't lost forever. "Are you all right?"
Isabel stood, feeling her arms and head. Her hair was a crazy
mess on top of her head, and there were small cuts and bruises
every where, but nothing appeared to be broken.
"I think I'm all in one piece."
When they looked back at Gossamer he began to move, quickly
making sure Isabel and Samuel were okay and then going
straight to the Raven. Two of Dr. Harding's most imposing
creations sat nose to nose with each other, and Gossamer
seemed oddly pleased at the arrival of the spiked object.
"What are they doing?" asked Samuel, completely bedazzled
by this new mystery. The Raven landed on the ground on
thousands of black shards. As imposing as the Raven was, it
was still dwarfed by the size of Gossamer, who stood over it,
craning his neck in every direction as he examined the new
arrival. It was, Samuel thought, like a mother inspecting an egg
for the first time.
Isabel and Samuel crept forward until they stood about twenty
feet away from the Raven. They didn't dare get any closer.
When the door began to open they jumped back, and
Gossamer moved behind the door, where those coming out
wouldn't be able to see him. If anyone turned around, though,
there would be no hiding the crouching giant.
Light from the white wall filled the inside of the Raven as Red
Eye and Socket emerged, swishing their benders back and
forth. Socket had found his goggles, but the dark lenses were
spidery with cracks and the world of Atherton was harder to see
than he'd hoped.
Edgar called out from inside the Raven. "I can show you where
to go," he said. "You should let me come out."
"Edgar?" said Isabel. She couldn't believe her ears, and it
showed in her voice. "Is that you?"
"Edgar!" yelled Samuel.
Isabel and Samuel wanted to bolt forward to look for their friend,
but neither of them felt they could safely go anywhere near the
Raven.
Red Eye and Socket had no intention of letting their prisoners
go. "Stay right where you are," commanded Red Eye, staring
down Samuel and Isabel. He returned his bender to his back,
but he had found Shelton's Leveler, a very powerful handheld
pistol of sorts, which he pointed in their general direction.
"Bring me Edgar, and one of the others--the small one," said
Red Eye. Socket reached back and stored his bender, then
disappeared inside. When he returned a moment later he had a
firm grip on Edgar in one hand and Landon in the other. Landon
had pulled his small goggles down over his face and looked
around in wonder.
"It's really you!" Isabel cried, her arms outstretched as she
impulsively moved toward him.
"That's far enough!" said Red Eye. He grabbed Edgar roughly
with his free hand and yanked him close.
"You shouldn't do that," warned Samuel. "And who's going to
stop me?" said Red Eye. Seeing no adults to confront him, he
slipped easily into his typical arrogant behavior. "I've got the
boy and the Leveler."
Samuel and Isabel shook their heads. They had an idea of what
was coming.
"Don't shake your heads at us!" demanded Socket. He raised
his hand to strike Landon and show who was in charge. It was
then that he felt the hot breath on the back of his head. Socket
looked over his shoulder. His brother followed suit.
"You better let them go," said Isabel. "Gossamer doesn't seem
to like you very much."
Gossamer's head was frighteningly close to Red Eye and
Socket. The dragon opened its growling mouth and revealed
rows of black teeth.
"Gossamer, it's really you," said Landon slowly, mesmerized.
Socket's grip had slackened and Landon pulled himself free,
stepping farther back to get a good look at the monstrous black
dragon. He broke into a great smile and looked at Socket. "Oh,
he's mad! You really made him angry!"
In a flash Gossamer had one huge claw around Socket and
lifted him off the ground, but his fiery blue eyes never left Red
Eye. Socket squirmed and screamed as Red Eye pushed
; Edgar to the ground. His plan was to dive back inside the
Raven and return to the Dark Planet as fast as he could;
Atherton was not what he had expected.
But his leap to safety ended in midair in the claw of the black
dragon.
Gossamer held both men close to his face and inspected them.
He had a mind to throw them both into the air and shower them
with flames, reducing them to bones and ashes before
everyone's eyes. Red Eye and Socket screamed in terror as
Gossamer held them tightly, gazing with those terrible, piercing
eyes. The Leveler fell out of Red Eye's hand and Gossamer
pulverized it with one foot.
"Does he listen to what you say?" Edgar asked Samuel and
Isabel. He wanted to go to them, embrace them, and hear all
about how they'd come to be here with such a commanding
beast. But he couldn't do that until Red Eye and Socket were
taken care of.
"He usually listens to us," said Isabel. She looked to Edgar a
little worse for the wear, as if she'd been beaten up or rolled
down a steep hill, and it made him wonder about the adventure
she'd had.
"Tell him to set them down," said Edgar.
"Put them down, Gossamer," yelled Isabel.
A burst of dark smoke drifted from Gossamer's nose. He put
Red Eye and Socket down reluctantly but kept a close eye on
them. They were fairly near the edge and they felt the pull of
gravity.
"Can't we go back to the Silo?" asked Socket, who'd already
had quite enough of the monsters and bright lights, and now
had this bizarre feeling that he was going to be pulled off the
edge.
Edgar pointed toward the wal opposite the passageway, which
seemed as good a place as any to make them wait until he
could figure out what to do with them. The rest of the green
team already had their goggles on as they streamed out of the
Raven and blinked rapidly in the light. Gossamer sniffed the
door to the Raven, pronounced it empty, and set his gaze on
Red Eye and Socket.
"Throw the benders off the edge," said Edgar. "Then sit over
there and don't make a sound."
"We'll do no such thing!" shouted Red Eye. "Send us back to
the Dark Planet. That's all we want."
"Give them a good roar, Gossamer," Samuel ordered.
"Everyone cover your ears!"
Gossamer took in a colossal breath. It felt like all the air was
being sucked out of the chamber. All the children covered their
ears, and then Gossamer roared at Red Eye and Socket, his
massive teeth only inches from their faces. For Red Eye and
Socket it was the kind of noise that felt like it had the power to
kill them both where they stood. Forever after they would have
an annoying ringing in their ears that would make it nearly
impossible to hear what anyone was saying.
When the roar was over the two men pulled out their benders
without hesitation and threw them toward the vast opening to
the outside. Gossamer blew a mighty red flame at the benders
and the horrible weapons were vaporized for good.
"What's that you say?" said Socket, looking at his brother and
hearing only the ringing.
"What?" said Red Eye, banging his head with the palm of his
hand.
The rest of the green team looked around, stunned and
confused, as Edgar, Isabel, and Samuel hugged one another.
The time of their reunion had finally come and the questions
flew. Soon Edgar understood how his two friends had used the
tablet to find Gossamer, and Isabel and Samuel understood that
Edgar had brought the Raven. None of them had any idea what
was supposed to happen after that.
"These are my new friends," said Edgar, "Vasher, Teagan,
Landon, and Aggie."
All four of the children from the Silo looked apprehensively at
Samuel and Isabel. They were self-conscious of the way they
looked, because even from inside their goggles Samuel and
Isabel seemed as healthy as Edgar did. Teagan wondered for a
brief moment if she fit in better on the Dark Planet than here.
"They have to wear the goggles, because of the light," said
Edgar.
Samuel was already talking to Vasher and bending down to
shake hands with Landon. Isabel knew immediately what she
had to do.
"I'm very happy to meet you," she said, drawing near Aggie and
Teagan. "Thank you for bringing Edgar back and for coming
here. We're going to be great friends, we three, I'm sure of it."
Aggie and Teagan felt better then. Maybe things would be all
right.
"I think we're about to see what Dr. Harding meant by the chill of
winter," said Edgar. "Maybe we saw the statues in the yards in
the right order, after all."
Gossamer had been watching the Raven, nudging it gently with
his snout as the group gathered together. They watched as the
black dragon blew soft flames on the black surface of spikes.
"I think he's cooking the Raven," said Landon.
"Be quiet," said Vasher. "Let's not distract him."
The Raven's door slid shut and it rose into the air and drifted
slowly toward the wall of white crystals. "They're the same,"
said Samuel out of the blue, noticing that the Raven was
shaped the same as the many oval shapes of glowing white
light on the vast wall.
"What do you mean?" asked Vasher, who was keenly
interested in all that was happening.
Before Samuel could say anything more Gossamer walked
behind the Raven, fanning it with flames. The spikes began to
glow red and orange, though the center stayed black as night.
Seeing the spikes turn red seemed to spur Gossamer on, and
he blew thicker, darker flames as they moved closer to the vast
wall of white crystals. When they came within fifty feet of the
wall, Gossamer stopped blowing. As the Raven spun in a slow
circle, its spikes appeared to have been lit like a mil ion long
candles.
"I get the feeling we should be in the passageway," said
Samuel.
"So do I," said Isabel.
She and Samuel led everyone out of the chamber and stood a
few feet back inside the tunnel. Edgar spotted Red Eye and
Socket huddled against the far wall. He yelled for them come
near, but they couldn't hear him. He wasn't at all sure it would
be a good idea to let them come too close, anyway. He hadn't
wanted to see them burned to death by a dragon, but he surely
didn't trust them.
Gossamer turned and blew fire on the Raven again. A few
seconds later a sound like firing arrows filled the air. Everyone
marveled as the once black spikes that surrounded the Raven
became flaming spears flying into the white wall by the tens of
thousands. The Raven moved up and down, firing glowing
orange arrows into every part of the wall. Soon the wall was
trembling and Gossamer was howling magically, flapping his
wings eagerly as if preparing for a task he'd waited his whole
life to begin.
"He's not leaving, is he?" asked Landon, suddenly aw
are that
his dream of being with Gossamer might come to a quick end.
He ran out into the open yelling Gossamer's name until he
stood at the foot of the black dragon. "You can't leave! I only just
found you."
Gossamer leaned down close and seemed to smile at Landon.
His big tongue rolled out and Landon touched it. It was hot, but
not so much that he couldn't put his fingers on it, and Gossamer
licked all the way up Landon's arm.
"Are you ever coming back?" asked Landon.
Gossamer couldn't respond, but his big eyes stared down at
Landon and nudged the boy toward the passageway with the
soft part of his nose.
"He licked me! I bet he's never done that to anyone else, ever!"
The wall of white began to change. It moved like it was alive,
bulging in a thousand different places, until a section crumbled
loose and drifted in the air. It was a mirror image of the Raven,
only it was white, not black. It was the same size and oval
shape and covered on every side by white shards. A few
seconds later a second white Raven broke free, and then, as if
by magic, there were hundreds of white Ravens floating in the
chamber.
"I've seen something that looks like this before," whispered
Aggie. "My dad had a picture of it. This is winter."
"It wouldn't have worked without you," said Edgar, looking at all
his new friends from the Silo. "I don't think white Ravens are
possible without powder blocks. It's the secret ingredient."
Gossamer flapped his wings and ran for the opening of the
chamber before any part of the storm could escape. The black
dragon took flight, zooming down and out of sight, then
charging back up again and holding steady as he roared into
the chamber. A steady stream of white Ravens fell in line
behind Gossamer and he flew away, his dark outline
disappearing fast as he raced for the Dark Planet.
"He was saying goodbye," said Isabel, putting her arm around
Landon. The two of them would miss Gossamer more than
anyone else.
"I think he's coming back again someday," said Landon. "In fact,
I'm sure of it."
Vasher watched in awe as the sky fill with white.
"There must be ten thousand of them."
"More than that," said Samuel, seeing that the wall was
anything but finished producing them. A steady blizzard of white
Ravens blew through the chamber, all of them following the
black dragon. The making of winter lasted an hour. Red Eye