A Measure of Disorder (26 page)

Jenni heard screams.
I’m too late!

Flying in from the north, she saw the tall towers in the hub of
Seren’naie
had been destroyed. Even the Seat of Governance was no more than a pile of rubble. She pushed herself for more speed.

She flew over the city, noting the damage in the back of her mind, and feared for her friends.

Jenni raced to the east and the source of the horrified sounds. She spotted Ba’ize in his gray robes on one of the guard towers.

Then she saw two cylindrical black shapes sailing through the air.

The barrels hit and burst open, spilling their contents. More screams split the air.

Jenni watched poisonous clouds form where the waste spilled.

“Lori!” she shouted at the air, “see if you can contain those clouds!”
Please hear me.

“She’s on it,” Mrs. Osorio said in Jenni’s ear.

Jenni dove and landed with a rush of air from her wings on the tower roof. Two guards drew their weapons to defend Ba’ize. Several others were writhing in pain on the stone. Fingers of deadly mist formed from splashed areas.

“Jenni!” Ba’ize said in surprise and waved off the guards. His robe was smoking in several places.

The stench of the noxious gas reached Jenni’s nose and she smelled the danger of it. She also realized it seemed familiar somehow.

She knew what she needed to do.

“Here,” she said, handing Mrs. Osorio to him, “she can explain — I’ve got to hurry!”

Jenni concentrated and felt it. The toxic waste and contaminants were all of Earth. She could bring them into herself — manipulate them!

She started with the tower. She closed her eyes and worked by feel alone. Screams changed to gasps as she pulled the poisonous material out of the air, from the stone, even from the bodies of those around her.

She leapt off the tower and dove to the decimated city guards below.

It was a war. The toxins resisted change. Jenni had to fight to reform them into harmless material. The more she absorbed, the harder it was to keep control.

She landed in the middle of the guards and drew in the deadly waste. She felt herself changing, growing, but couldn’t spare concentration to direct her shape.

More and more she pulled in. All of this was their fault! She couldn’t bear to have anyone else suffer for her mistakes, or those of her friends and classmates.

She let guilt and anger feed her — let them give her strength.

Jenni’s body burned. The waste seared through her. She worked, molecule by molecule, to reshape the deadly substances. She felt the last of it draw into her and she opened her eyes in shock and agony.

She had taken the form of a green dragon again, and she glowed in the sunlight with the fury and rage that battled inside her.

She shouted, “Move away! In case I can’t hold it!”

Jenni shut her eyes again and fought with the most dangerous compounds known to man. She used all of her fear, her sorrow, her will, to combat the wrong that had been thrust on these innocent people.

Spent, she collapsed into darkness.

Brandon saw a shape drop down from the guard tower shortly after the second set of barrels hit.

Then the earth erupted around Mogritas once more and he shouted in surprise.

Blazes burst forth from several cook fires around the camp, leaping to Mogritas and charring his scaled flesh.

Mrs. Minch still lay where she’d landed, Carrie and Marco, bent over her.

Mogritas tried to fend off the new attacks. “The spirits have gone mad! Brandon, help me!”

Their eyes met, and Brandon realized he’d been played for a sucker all along. Mogritas didn’t care for anyone but himself.

He watched Mogritas’s eyes flare in anger when Brandon held his ground.

His former mentor roared at him, “There’s so much I could have taught you! So much we could have learned together!”

“It’s not worth the price,” Brandon said, looking at the limp form of Mrs. Minch.

Mogritas roared a final time and broke free of the earth and fire that sought to hold him. He exploded into the air and fled northeast, in the direction of his fortress.

The spirits, evidently angered at the escape of their prize, turned their sights on Mogritas’s army. Brandon heard shouts and screams as the soldiers were suddenly attacked by the very ground they walked on and the air they breathed.

Brandon’s attention was drawn back to the city entrance. There he saw a green dragon in the midst of the fallen defenders. It wasn’t as big as he was, but it glowed like it contained a million fireflies. The beauty of it took his breath away.

It also looked in tremendous pain.

A roar issued from the green dragon. He watched, mesmerized, as its form melted and shrank into a pile of gray sand.

He then looked back to Carrie and Marco. Carrie was holding her mother’s head in her lap and crying. Marco sat with her doing his best to console her.

Suddenly angry at himself for his continued inaction, he turned to see what he could do to help the elemental spirits disperse the remnants of Mogritas’s army. Then he saw some familiar figures at his feet.

“Brandon,” Mike said, “can you help us?” Scott, Will, and Kim stood near him and they looked with fright at the army under attack.

Brandon sighed. “Yeah, stay close, they’ve left me alone so far.”

“Thanks,” Scott said. “I thought this soldiering stuff would be fun … but it didn’t turn out at all like I thought.”

No,
Brandon thought,
it certainly hadn’t.

Jenni opened her eyes to warm sunshine.

She was lying on a gently sloping hillside in lush grass. Up at the top of the hill was a lone tree. A figure sat underneath with a picnic spread out in front of them.

Jenni shaded her eyes and saw the figure was an older woman. She beckoned for Jenni to join her.

Jenni stood up, trying to remember what she’d been doing before, and walked up the hill.

As she got closer, she recognized the woman.

“Grammy?” Jenni asked and sank down tiredly in the grass next to the picnic blanket.

Jenni’s grandmother chuckled. “It’s all right, my dear. Have something to eat.”

Jenni plucked a grape from a bunch set in a bowl and popped it in her mouth. As she chewed, her memory came flooding back — her friends in trouble, and her desperate attempt to save them.

She swallowed and looked back at her grandmother, who had died three years before after a fight with cancer. “Am I dead?”

Grammy smiled at her and shook her head. “No. You are in a place … in between … shall we say. I brought you here so we could chat for a bit.”

Jenni frowned. “But, what happened? Is everyone okay?”

“Everything passes as it must.”

“That’s not an answer,” Jenni said, growing more confused.

“Yes, it is.” Grammy countered. “Just not the one you want to hear.”

Grammy picked up an empty plate from the picnic basket next to her. She held up an index finger and placed the plate on the tip, balancing it there.

“How are you —”

“Hush now. Think of the plate as the world we live in. On one side,” she pointed at the edge of the plate nearest her, “we have good, and, on the opposite, evil.”

Jenni’s brow crinkled. “Okay,”

“But,” Grammy continued, “not only do we have good and evil, we also have things we can call law on this side,” she said, pointing to the right side of the plate, “and chaos opposite that. Four forces that act on the world.”

Jenni looked up from the plate and saw, not her Grammy’s face, but Ms. Pap’s. Jenni jumped in surprise and nearly knocked the plate from Ms. Pap’s hand.

Ms. Pap smiled at her. “Settle down and focus Jenni, we don’t have much time. Now, what happens if we put a grape in the center of the plate?” Ms. Pap reached down, took a grape from the bowl, and placed it directly in the middle.

“It stays in balance,” Jenni said.

“Exactly. But what happens if one of those four forces get a hold of the grape?” Ms. Pap rolled the grape with a finger, diagonally toward one edge. It began to tip.

“The plate, er … the world becomes unbalanced.” Jenni said.

“Yes. So, what can we do to correct it?”

“Move the grape back?” Jenni asked.

Ms. Pap nodded. “Yes, but we could also place another grape in the opposite area.” She reached for a second grape and positioned it to balance the first.

“Jenni, you and your friends were grapes, placed here to help achieve balance in the world.”

Jenni nodded, understanding dawning.

“I admit, I was desperate,” Ms. Pap said. “But try to imagine balancing a plate with not two, but thousands, even millions of grapes. It’s not as easy as it looks!” She laughed and winked at Jenni.

“So you’re the one who brought us from Earth?”

Jenni’s mother nodded. Jenni blinked, but didn’t jump at the change — she was getting used to this strange place.

“The world was tipping dangerously far in the direction of law. It needed some chaos — a measure of disorder, to help bring back the balance.”

“But, so many people were hurt, even killed,” Jenni said.

“Everything passes as it must,” she said again. “But, you are right: life is precious. That’s part of the reason why I’m giving yours back to you.”

Jenni was puzzled again. “Giving mine back?”

“What you did was incredibly brave and selfless, Jenni. It was also reckless. Taking that much of those substances into your body should have killed you, in spite of your abilities. I stepped in to prevent that, but I cannot do so again.”

“Why?” Jenni asked, now frightened.

“To take direct action like that again, would upset the balance too much to mend. It would destroy the very thing I’m trying to protect.”

Jenni shuddered at the power and responsibility of what she’d been shown.

“I’m afraid our time is up. Please take care of yourself, Jenni. I’m not ready to lose you yet.” Her mother smiled. “Now, close your eyes and your mouth.”

“Why?”

“Don’t argue with your mother,” she said, chuckling. “Just do it.”

Jenni sighed and complied.

“Good. Now push up with your arms…”

Jenni pushed and felt a weight of dirt or sand give way in front of her. She pushed again and felt fresh air and sun caress her skin.

“She’s here! She’s alive!”

Jenni opened her eyes to Sara’s smiling, copper-skinned face. Jenni then spit out a mouthful of sand and coughed.

“Well, thanks a lot, Kershaw!” Sara laughed. “Some greeting!”

Someone draped a cloak around her and helped pull her from the pile of strange gray sand she was lying in. Jenni realized she was stark naked under the cloak and quickly created some clothing. She blushed brightly and smiled at Sara as she saw Ba’ize, Captain Herina, and several other city guards nearby.

“A girl’s gotta make an entrance,” Jenni said tiredly, and they laughed.

Jenni did little but sleep for the next few days.

Ba’ize sat with her much of the time, talking to her and relating what had happened after she’d left to find Mr. Kain. In turn, she told him her story of the rescue and their trip back to Earth.

Captain Herina had sent the guard’s rocs to retrieve Mr. Kain, Crank, and the others, and they’d arrived safe and sound three days later.

Ba’ize also told her that, with the help of Mrs. Osorio, they were holding negotiations with the elemental spirits. Ba’ize had hopes they would be able to rebuild the city with their help — freely given this time, rather than as slaves.

Lastly, Ba’ize related the sad news that Mrs. Minch had been killed by Mogritas, but she had set the spirits against him, forcing him to flee, before she died. Marco and his mother were helping Carrie in her time of grief.

Brandon was living outside the city for the time being, doing what he could to help with the rebuilding efforts, along with her other classmates that had joined Mogritas’s army.

Once Crank arrived, he didn’t leave Jenni’s side. She was relieved that nothing had happened to him after she’d gone and was happy to have the attention. He was about three feet tall and had not grown any more since their return. Nor had he shrunk back to his original size.

Ba’ize was keenly interested in Crank’s partial transformation. It answered the centuries-old question why none of the expeditions sent to Earth had ever returned. If those that went from Mother to Earth were transformed into humans, the
Strodin’i
would have lost their powers, along with the elemental spirits. The ability to perform the ritual to return would have been lost as well. There was also the obstacle that doorways could only be opened in certain places on Earth. It may have taken them days, or even longer, to find a suitable spot to attempt a return.

Why the transformation seemed to be a one way, one time event, however, was something no one could explain.

Later, Crank told Jenni what he and Mr. Kain had done after she left for
Seren’naie
.

They had rested for the remainder of the night, then, in the morning, had gone to Crank’s village. It had been extremely difficult for him, but he’d needed to see it. To see how his family had died.

Jenni tried to comfort him. Crank went on so say how he and Mr. Kain had followed the truck’s trail to where it had run out of gas. When they got there, Todd was nowhere to be found.

Mr. Kain had Matt create a dirt and stone enclosure around the entire truck and its contents. He hoped it would keep the dangerous waste from contaminating the land, and keep it out of the hands of Mogritas.

Jenni held Crank after that and let him cry for his lost family. They hadn’t gotten along well and his parents hadn’t understood him, but they were still family.

A couple of days later, Jenni was able to be up and about again. She remembered bits and pieces of a dream while she’d been unconscious — vague impressions of Ms. Pap, and her Grammy — but it was all jumbled in her mind. She told Ba’ize about it, as much as she could remember anyway.

“I think Mother saved you, Jenni. She has more in store for you I believe.”

That night, all of them gathered for a dinner in Jenni’s honor. The Council and many citizens of
Seren’naie
came out to thank her for her bravery. Jenni was embarrassed by the attention, but it was good to see all of her friends again in the same place.

After the members of the Council and others had left, they had a private get together. They held it outside, in the warm evening, so Brandon could attend too. Some of the old tensions were still there, but they were able to set them aside for the evening and enjoy each other’s company.

They laughed and cried, and spoke of those who had passed, like Mrs. Minch and Ms. Pap, and of those who were still missing — Maggie, Vic and Todd — and wished for their safe return.

Ba’ize stood up, late in the evening, and addressed them all. “Jenni, we have one more expression of thanks we’d like to give you.”

Jenni looked up at him in surprise. She couldn’t imagine what it might be.

“Mr. Kain, Mrs. Osorio, and the others would like to take you home,” Ba’ize said.

Home?

Mr. Kain stepped forward. “Jenni, the rest of us are either too changed to go back, or have little to go back to … but you, of all of us, can go and have reason to. We’d like to take you, if you want.”

Jenni was shocked. She hadn’t thought about going back since she’d whispered her goodbyes in the dome Matt had created to bring them here safely. She ached to see her family, but all of her friends were here.

An image of her mother on a grassy hillside flashed in her mind.

“Yes,” she said, with tears in her eyes. “Yes, I’d like to go back.”

Ba’ize smiled. “Very good. We’ll start preparations immediately.”

“But only if you guys promise to come visit me!” Jenni added and everyone laughed, assuring her they would do just that.

Crank stepped up to her. “I have a request, Jenni.”

She looked at him expectantly.

“Take me with you. Please.”

Jenni immediately understood. Crank had no place here, no purpose. He wasn’t
Nomenstrastenai
anymore. He was something else.

She nodded. “Of course.”