Angel Fall (17 page)

“What’s that way out there?”

“Now, I gotta show you somethin’, and it isn’t very nice. So buckle your seatbelt.”

The thing grew larger. It was some kind of monstrous building floating like a ghost in space. Smoky tentacles reached out from it in every direction.

“Sometimes when your body gets sick, there’s one place that’s causin’ the whole trouble, an’ you gotta fix that one spot so everything else can get well. You understand what I mean?”

“No.”

“You ever had a bad pimple?”

“My sister did. It got infected.”

“That’s just exactly what I’m talkin’ about. Now that right there’s like a big nasty pimple right on the nose of the universe. An’ it’s been gettin’ pussier for thousands of years.”

“My mom had to pop the one on my sister. She screamed.”

“An’ this one’s gotta get popped too. Remember in your sister’s pimple there was a puky little knot right at the core?”

“I didn’t look at it.”

“Well, there was. An’ there’s a puky little knot at the core of this one. Except it’s a person. Remember what pulled you into that picture frame?”

“Old Paint Buckets?”

“Exactly right. He’s the core o’ the pimple.”

“Why do you call him Paint Buckets?”

“’Cause he thinks he’s a great artist when he’s nothin’ but a copycat. If he stuck to paintin’ ugly little pictures it’d be bad enough, but he kills people. He went bad a long time ago, an’ that’s all I can say about it. But somebody’s gotta stop him before he makes the whole universe turn into rot. Now listen to me, ’cause we don’t have much time. I’m a good friend of that old lady Bellwind. We ain’t spoken for years on end, and she don’t know nothin’ about what I’m doin’, but we’re fightin’ on the same side, if you know what I mean. Now your brother got himself in all kinds of trouble…”

“You know about Alex?”

“Course I do.”

“Where is he? I want to see him.”

“Well, he’s in a bit of a pickle.”

“I could help.”

“Only way you can help is by listenin’ hard and doin’ exactly what you hear. The thing that’s got hold of your brother ain’t nothin’ to mess with. I call him Paint Buckets, but his real name’s Lammortan, and he lives in that big pimple out there. That’s where your brother is, an’ that’s where you gotta go if you want to help him. You willin’?”

Tori gulped. “Yes.”

“You’re a spunky little kid. Remember the snaffle we pulled? Well, this is what we done. He thinks he’s got you right where he wants you, an’ he’s half right. But we tricked him. He got the half that don’t count. He thinks you’re stone dead and in his power, but the Painter’s a fool. Comes from sniffin’ too much enamel in closed-up places. Now, in a few seconds I’m gonna send you back to join your sleepin’ half an’ you’ll be where he lives.”

“What am I supposed to do when I get there?”

“Don’t need to know that right now, ’cause there’s gonna be somebody to help you every step of the way.”

“Will you come with me?”

“Nope, no place to park the limousine. But I’ll keep up with what’s goin’ on, you can bet on that.”

“Well, who’s gonna be there?”

“Don’t you worry none, honey. You’ll meet a new friend. Just do whatever he says. Now you’re gonna fall asleep for a while, an’ when you wake up it’ll be in a scary place, but don’t be afraid. This new friend’ll be right there with you. You got that?”

“Okay.”

“An’ whatever happens, remember this. Help always comes in the strangest packages. Oh, yeah, I got somethin’ for you. A little gift.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver chain. Dangling on the end was a tiny stone filled with starlight.

“Oh, it’s so pretty.”

He fastened it around her neck. “Now, tuck this away and don’t let nobody see it. There’s somethin’ buried under the light. At the right time you’ll know what it is.”

Tori stared at the pendant and was about to ask another question, but Mr. Hydrogen only shook his head and put his finger to his lips. Suddenly there was a powerful blast of wind. The glass bubble seemed to dissolve, and once more she was flying away into darkness. The last thing she remembered was her friend standing in the observatory, waving and blowing kisses. This time, flying was like falling asleep.

F
irst there was humming, a tiny buzzing noise. Though it was soft, it penetrated through the darkness of Tori’s mind, and slowly she began to awaken.

What
was
that sound? It was annoying, and it was very close to her ear.

Then it started calling her name. “Torriiiizzz…Toriiiiizzz…zzzz…Toriiiiizzz…zzzz…Toriiiizzz…” The sound left her ear, and a little breeze fluttered over her cheek. Then something settled on her nose making it tickle. Her eyes popped open. The first thing she saw was a tiny light. The humming sound seemed to be coming out of it.

“
Yick
, a bug.” She brushed it away.

The light fluttered above her face, and a small voice angrily said, “Don’t do that. Keep your gigantic hands to yourself.” The voice was coming from a moth. But it wasn’t a normal moth. Its body was glowing. “I can assure you that I find humans just as unpleasant as you find me. However, did I say, ‘Yick, a girl’? I did not. I restrained myself, and I suggest that you do the same. Yelling ‘Yick, a bug’ does not establish a friendly working relationship.”

“A
talking
bug—and you’re
funny looking
.” In front of the wings was a miniature face, and it was quite comical.

“Please! Have you no self-control?”

“Are you real?”

“Look, if something is right in front of your nose you’d better assume it’s real until it proves otherwise.”

“My sister has a bug collection.”

“Now that was uncalled for. What if I told you that my brother has a people collection—all stuck on gigantic pins—how would it make you feel?”

“I’m sorry. It’s just hard to get used to a talking bug—
yick
. Where I come from, people don’t talk to bugs, they squash ’em.”

“I am well aware of the brutal proclivities of your race.” The moth had put a little more distance between himself and Tori. “We have a lot to do and not much time to do it in. Squashing me will slow things down considerably. So restrain your natural instincts.”

“Are you the one Mr. Hydrogen told me about?”

“I don’t know any Mr. Hydrogen, but I do know that I’m assigned to you for better or for worse. Probably the latter. My name is Mirick. Do you get scared easily?”

“Of bugs?”

“Of
anything
.”

“Pretty much. And when I get really freaked I start screaming.”

“Well, if you don’t mind, try not to do any screaming right now. Stuff some hair in your mouth—you have enough of it. The place we’re in is rather unpleasant, but it looks a lot worse than it is. Now take a deep breath, then sit up slowly. And whatever you do, don’t scream. Is that clear?”

“I’ll try not to. Is it full of bugs?”

“I am the
only bug
present.”

“Good. Okay.”

Tori sat up and almost did scream. She was in a huge cavern that stretched away in every direction as far as she could see, and it glimmered with eerie light. The light came from thousands of blue candles that burned on slender candlesticks spread throughout the chamber. By their flames she could see row after row of small stone tables, and on each lay the body of a child. There were thousands of them, from little babies to Tori’s age, and all were covered with layers of dust as though they had been there for a very long time.

“Are they all…dead?”

“The maker of this place thinks so.”

“What happened to them?”

Before Mirick could answer there was the distant creak of a door.

“All right, they’re coming. Quick, lie down and pretend to be dead.”

“Who’s coming?”

“Just do it
. I’m going to hide in your hair.”

Frightened, Tori lay back down and the moth crawled in next to her ear.

“Yick, bugs in my hair.”

“
Please be quiet
. Now, nothing can hurt you as long as you don’t move. So go to sleep or something.”

A moment later coldness filled the air, and there was the sound of many footsteps. Trying to see, Tori narrowed her eyelids into slits which made everything blurry. Moving toward her were dozens of strange shapes, half people, half colored shadows, and each was carrying a small crystal bottle. A tense whisper filled her ear.

“Stop twitching or you’ll give us away.”

Suddenly, directly above her head, appeared the cruelest face that she had ever seen. It was a regal-looking woman. Then came more faces until she was surrounded. Some were men and some were women, but all were filled with a breathless kind of hunger like wild animals gathered around a kill. They watched as the regal woman placed her bottle on Tori’s chest just above her heart. Then, bending down, she covered the opening with her lips and began to suck.

It was the most awful thing that Tori had ever experienced. It felt like her soul was being pulled up into a knotted little clot. Desperately she tried to control her terror, but the harder the woman sucked the worse it became. The other faces watched with ravenous anticipation.

Just when Tori was about to scream, a strange warmth radiated through her body. It started close to her throat, where the pendant the old man had given her hung. When it filled her chest, the awful clotted feeling vanished. Suddenly, instead of wanting to scream, she felt like shrieking with laughter. The whole situation was so totally stupid. A funny-looking woman was sucking on an empty bottle. And it looked like she might suck Tori’s shirt right into it, and the whole thing would clog in her mouth in a great big wad. The image was so hilarious that Tori didn’t think she could stand it.

Finally, with a cry of frustration, the woman jerked the bottle away. “What’s wrong with this filthy little beast? She’s like an empty husk. Don’t the offspring of her world have souls?”

A shadow-faced man edged her aside. “You’re not sucking hard enough. Some of the older ones need vigorous concentration.” Placing his bottle on Tori’s chest, he started sucking like a vacuum cleaner. She could almost hear the motor in his mouth, which made her want to laugh even more. Finally, with a roar of rage, he gave up.

“Let me try, let me try.” Next came another woman, but her suction was pitiful. A fourth made a half-hearted attempt that wasn’t even worth talking about.

“The Master must have taken every drop,” the man growled.

“But he always leaves us the crumbs.” Whined another voice. “He always does that. This is worse than not eating at all.”

The regal-faced woman screamed, “Shut up! If only he would let us consume each other, I would devour every one of you so I wouldn’t have to listen to your pathetic moans.”

At that moment a deep male voice yelled,
“The dawn is coming.”

The faces vanished. Tori heard footsteps rush back across the cavern. The heavy cold that had been around her disappeared. A moment later a door opened, then slammed shut. Mirick fluttered out of her hair.

“Not badly done, not badly at all.” Landing on the edge of the candlestick, he stared at her. “I have to say I’m surprised. I thought you were going to scream, and then we’d have been in a very nasty mess.”

“I almost did.” She sat up. “I was afraid they were gonna suck my shirt off.”

“What an odd creature you are. It wasn’t your shirt they wanted, it was your soul. They’ve lost their own, and it’s the only thing that will appease their hunger. They were particularly aggressive because they haven’t had a meal in quite a few centuries. Come along, we have work to do.” The moth fluttered off in the opposite direction from the one the strange people had taken. Tori climbed down and followed, but as she hurried along, she couldn’t help staring at all the children lying in neat rows around her.

“Did they suck the souls from all these kids?”

“They tried.”

“It’s so horrible. How did they get so many of them here? Did they steal them from their parents?”

“That’s the worst part. The parents brought them and gave them away.”

“How could they do that? Didn’t they know what was going to happen to them?”

“They knew enough.”

“It makes me want to cry.”

“Many tears have been shed in this place.”

Finally they reached the far side of the cavern, and Mirick settled to the floor next to a crevice in the wall.

“This is the way out. You’ve got to squeeze through this opening.”

“Are you
serious
?” Tori knelt down and tried to look into it, but it was pitch black. “I can’t get through there.”

“Yes, you can. And you must.”

“I
can’t
. I’m
too big
.”

“While you were asleep, I took careful measurements. It’ll be a tight fit, but you can do it.”

“What’d you measure with, a moth ruler?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Where does it go?”

“Before this building was constructed, a beautiful castle stood here that belonged to the first king of Boreth. A monster called the Painter thought he destroyed it, but there are hidden parts that still exist. This leads to an ancient staircase.”

“But what if I get stuck?”

“You won’t. After a few feet it opens out into a corridor with enough space for even a giant like you. Now, let’s go.” With that, he disappeared into the wall.

“Why can’t we go through the door those people-things used?”

Mirick’s voice echoed from inside. “Because it leads to where most of them are sleeping, and we’ve got to stay hidden as long as we can. Now, do you want to help your brother or not?”

“Are we going to find Alex?” Suddenly Tori was excited.

“That’s what all of this is about.”

“All right, I guess I’ll try.” Lying flat on her stomach and pushing with her feet, she was able to slide her head and shoulders into the crevice, but it was very tight. By the light from the moth’s body, she could see a few feet ahead.

“It’s too small. I can’t get through.” She wailed.

“Yes, you can. Keep pushing.”

Inch by inch, grunting and struggling, Tori forced herself into the narrow gap. Finally her whole body was inside, but she could barely move.
“I’m stuck.”

Mirick burned brighter and his voice deepened. “Tori Lancaster, the power to be and to do has been given to you, but you must try harder than you have tried to do anything in your life.
And you must do it right now!”

She began pushing and pulling with all her might.

An inch.

Six inches.

Tears came, but she kept on going.

A foot.

Then the crevice grew wider.

She could raise her head a little.

After that her shoulders.

Suddenly the top half of her was out, but the bottom half was stuck.

“You’re almost through.
Pull!
” The moth fluttered in front of her nose. With one last great effort she flopped onto a stone floor. There she lay exhausted, sobbing.

“Excellent, if I do say so myself.” Mirick was glowing normally again. “Of course, I have to take a bit of credit for some wonderfully precise measurements, but getting your giant body through that hole did require a bit of courage.”

Instantly Tori was so aggravated that she stopped crying. “I do
not
have a giant body. I may look big to a creepy, little bug, but I’m
not
a fat person.”

“Semantics. Clearly you don’t know how to take a compliment. However, I shall overlook your lack of social graces. Now, we have a few minutes for you to rest and eat.”

“Eat? Is there food in here?” Slowly she sat up and looked around. She was in a small square chamber carved from solid rock. By the tiny light from Mirick’s body, she could just make out the bottom of a staircase. The moth fluttered to a small pile that lay on the floor. It was a mound of nuts and dried berries. Crawling over, Tori picked up a handful.

“Is this all there is?”

“Don’t tell me you don’t like nuts and berries.”

“I don’t like crunchy things.”

“Crunchy things?”

“Stuff that crunches when you chew it—except cheese snacks. They’re crunchy, but that’s okay. Mostly I like food that comes wrapped in paper. You know, hamburgers, chicken strips, that sort of thing.”

“We have no cheese snacks, hamburgers, or chicken strips, whatever they are. It sounds like the food of monsters. Do you know how long it took to bring all this down here so you could fill your stomach? It had to be done one nut and one berry at a time. And they came from far away. This is a month of hard work. Now, are you hungry or not? I can assure you there will be no food ‘wrapped in paper’ for a very long time. Chicken strips. Ugh.”

“I
am
hungry.”

“Then eat. We don’t have time to sit around talking about your repugnant gastronomic practices.”

Reluctantly she put a berry in her mouth and chewed. “Well, they’re not too bad.”

“I’m so glad they meet with your tepid approval.”

She took some more. “I’ll bet flying them in was hard work for a bug.”

“Oh, I didn’t bring them here.”

“Who did?”

“Two very dependable and hard-working rats.”

“Oh, yick, rat food!”
Tori spit out what she had been chewing and tried to scrape the residue off her tongue.

“Don’t tell me you’re prejudiced against rats too. I suppose your sister has a rodent collection.”

“They’re awful. They’re dirty. They’re full of disease.”

“I beg your pardon. My friends would be deeply insulted at such slanderous allegations. Whatever rats are like in your world, in this one they are quite clean.”

“They are?”

“Immaculate. They cleanse themselves thoroughly twice a day with their tongues.”

“O
H
,
YICK
!”

“Well, what did you want them to do, take mineral baths? You are a very exasperating creature. Now stop thinking about how the food
got
here, and be grateful for the fact that it
is
here.”

“I can’t. I just can’t eat it.”

“Fine, then let’s go. But when you’re starving you’re going to wish that you hadn’t been so picky.”

Tori stared at the pile. She was
very
hungry. “You’re making me do a lot of nasty things.” She whimpered, “If I die from eating rat stuff it’ll be all your fault.”