Behind the Canvas (29 page)

They hiked to the top of another rise, which looked down into a small basin surrounded by rocky hills. An enormous cave opening spread across the side of one hill, flanked by an array of unlit torches. Bones were strewn about the ground in front of it. Claudia didn't have to ask if that was their destination—it was obvious. Something lived in that cave.

Something big.

They descended the ridge into the basin and approached the cave. It was many times taller than Claudia, leading into the side of a hill covered with boulders and gravel and scraggy trees. While the window-cave she had stepped out of earlier had smooth lines carved into the mountainside, this cave seemed cobbled together without much thought on the part of nature—or the artist.

Claudia tried to ignore the bones scattered on the ground as she stepped around them. But even those weren't as unsettling as the pitch black that began just a few feet into the entrance of the cave. It was a darkness that hid secrets and didn't care if you wandered in because it could hide you, too.

She slipped a trembling hand into Pim's as they stopped a dozen paces from the opening.

Pim set his jaw and clenched the staff and stared with fiery eyes into the darkness.

“Colossus!” he shouted.

The name echoed over and over through the depths and eventually died out. The cave seemed to exhale and a warm stench flowed from the darkness that overpowered Claudia's senses, reminding her of decay and the worst kind of … disappointment. She wasn't sure if she wanted Pim to call out again.

“Colossus!”

He let the name echo and fade before continuing. “Colossus, you know this voice. You know what I did for you. I've never asked you to repay that debt. Until today. Come out. I am calling on your help.”

The words were commanding and bold, and their force was surprising. It was a reminder that this twelve-year-old boy was anything but that. Yet when the echoes had disappeared, there was still only silence.

“Colossus, I need your help and I need it now. Come out and repay your debt!”

She felt the rumble before she heard the growl, but both shook her bones and her courage. The growl grew and became stronger. Something incredibly large moved in the darkness.

Pim squeezed her hand and spoke quickly. “Whatever happens, don't move. He won't harm you if you're with me.”

That didn't help. Every part of her body screamed at her,
Run!

Whatever monster hid in the darkness, it was coming toward them quickly. There were tremendous footfalls, a growl reverberating in her ears—

The torches at the sides of the cave sprang to life, orange fire burning hot as if it had glowed since their arrival.

And then a giant face, both man and beast, burst through the darkness as the torches flickered wickedly. Its jaws opened wide with easily enough room to stuff Claudia in whole, and it stopped in front of them as the growl turned into a massive roar.

Claudia squeezed her eyes shut as the foul stench of putrid oil paint and death—and, again, disappointment—washed over them. She grew light-headed, and the roar left her ears ringing painfully. Despite Pim's assurance, she knew she was about to be picked up and dashed against the boulders of the hill.

But the roar fell silent. When Claudia opened her eyes, a giant stood before her, almost as tall as the entrance to the cave. His bearded face was smeared with dirt, and his body was just as soiled and hairy. He was naked except for a large cloth that hung from his waist, revealing bulging muscles that any bodybuilder would have been proud of. The physical power of this giant was obvious.

Just the sort of power they needed.

Colossus set round eyes on Pim, ignoring Claudia altogether. “Curse you, boy,” he said in a voice as deep and rocky as the hills. “Sadness follows you like shadow. Why do you bring it to my cave again?”

Pim returned the giant's gaze. “Your sadness was not my doing.”

“Not your doing?” Colossus bared his teeth like a wildcat. “If it weren't for you…”

“I've come to collect the debt you owe me.” Pim raised the staff in front of him. “You do this simple task and I'll take my sad shadow and never return. You have my word.”

The giant stared at Pim for a moment longer and then sniffed, as though he knew something about the value of Pim's word. He noticed Claudia, seemingly for the first time. His face softened just slightly, and the fire dimmed in his monstrous eyes. She shuffled her feet nervously.

The gaze lingered and then reluctantly came back to Pim. “What do you ask of me?”

Pim let out the tiniest of sighs. “I can't break this staff. It's thick with magic. But I think you can do it.”

Colossus crouched down and reached for the staff, which was shorter than his forearm. He brought it up before his eyes to examine it. He tapped it experimentally against a boulder. He stuck it in his mouth and bit gently. “Just wood,” he mumbled.

Then letting out a cry that made Claudia jump, the giant took the staff in both hands and raised it above his head. He brought it down onto his bent knee with enough force that Claudia was sure it would have to explode into a thousand tiny splinters. But instead the giant howled in pain, dropping the staff to the ground.

Claudia stared at where it had fallen among the dust and gravel.

Whole and without a scratch. And it began to moan.

 

C
HAPTER
26

T
HE STAFF
moaned louder this time, as though matching the size of the creature that had tried to break it. Claudia winced at the intensity of it. Pim picked up the staff. Colossus put his hands over his ears. And just when the instant couldn't get any more crowded, a flash of color at the edge of the forested ridge behind them caught her attention.

“Oh no,” she mumbled. “Pim!”

The Fireside Angel came over the ridge, squinty-eyed and breathing hard.

It was a creature of flowing lines and gruesome features, the details of its body lost in ragged folds of colorful cloth. It was the size of a tall man with arms so long that its fingerlike claws scraped the ground. Its skeletal head was birdlike, except for the razor teeth and a ragged mane flowing down its neck. Its bowlegged stride ended in bulky boots that were spiked like vicious soccer cleats. Most grotesque was the beast attached to the Angel's leg, protruding as though it had grown out of the flesh of the larger monster. It had a jagged snout of its own and possessed a single foot with an array of claws, which it occasionally touched to the ground in an effort to participate in the hulking strides of the larger creature.

Pim turned and saw it, and without hesitation he grabbed Claudia's hand and pulled her toward the cave. She snatched one of the torches from its holder as they rushed in. The moaning of the staff echoed off the walls like a choir of zombies in a cathedral. Behind them, Colossus unleashed his roar on the Angel. The Angel answered back just as fiercely.

The evening light lingering at the entrance dimmed and disappeared as they ran farther and farther in. The torch gave a shadowy view of the cave, which reeked and was littered with bones and refuse.

Would Colossus fight to protect his cave? It didn't seem likely he would fight to protect
them
.

The immense cave stretched onward, bending and twisting and leading them deeper into the painted earth. Claudia glanced behind them and saw only darkness. In the distance, the howls of the two creatures continued.

Pim said something in Dutch that sounded like a curse. Claudia's head snapped around, but not in time to avoid colliding with Pim's back. She and Pim tumbled to the ground, the contents of her backpack scattering across the cave floor.

She'd bruised her knees again and her hands stung, but she immediately focused on something bigger. Thirty feet bigger.

The cave abruptly ended right in front of them. Boulder after boulder after boulder had been piled and stacked to create a wall that sealed off any chance of escape. It was thick and complete; not an open crack or hole to be seen. The moaning of the staff faded and stopped, but it left behind a ring of hopelessness in Claudia's ears.

Pim stumbled to his feet, his eyes wandering frantically over the wall of boulders. “This used to be a tunnel. It went north and connected with more window-caves, like the one you came through. Paintings.” He closed his eyes. “That giant fool.”

Claudia stood and grabbed the torch from the ground. She pushed on one of the boulders as if it might magically give way.

Solid. As a rock.

Pim's eyes were still closed and he stood motionless. He was out of ideas, she knew it. This was it. They had come to the end. Up until now she had relied on Pim to get her through this world—Pim, or Cash, Rembrandt, even the three Dutchmen. But now there was no one.

No one but her.
Ha! What good is that? I can't see a way out of this.

Seeing. The odd refrain from the Cubists leaped into her mind.

The world can be different from how it appears …

But not this. They were talking about appreciating art, not life-and-death situations.

The world can be different from how it appears …

Claudia took a breath and closed her eyes. Then she slowly opened them, like the Venetian blinds her mother pulled up on the window every morning.
See differently,
she commanded herself. She thought vaguely of the Mona Lisa. This was the same thing.

Listen more quickly.

Open your mind.

See differently
.

The walls of the cave surrounded her. Parts were rocky, parts were smooth. But the rocky parts were still solid; no cracks or crevices or holes. The smooth parts were large and wide and rose to the ceiling, like a canvas Rubens might have painted on. The floor …

No. The smooth walls weren't
like
a canvas, they
were
a canvas. Canvas and paint, just like everything else in that world. Canvas and paint that came alive because an
Artisti
had willed it to. Alive because an artist had touched brush to canvas. Magic channeled through art.

Vicious roars came from the distant cave opening—a battle between beasts.

Pim opened his eyes and turned to her. “Colossus roars, but he'll retreat as soon as the real fight begins. Claudia, we need to…”

She jammed the handle of the torch in between several large boulders to make it stick. There was an excitement boiling up inside of her now. Insight. Illumination. Inspiration. Of a kind she had never felt before. She scanned the cave floor where the contents of her backpack had scattered. There. She snatched up the package of Aunt Maggie's nail polish. She hurriedly dumped out the contents—twenty-four different colors and a plastic bottle of polish remover. Nail polish wasn't exactly oil paint, but maybe it would be similar enough. Either way, she had to try.

She grabbed a bottle of Promising Plum polish and stared at the smooth cave wall.

“What do we need?” she mumbled. Something fast. A car. But she had no idea how to drive a car. She turned to Pim.

“Can you ride a horse?”

He stared at her blankly. “Yes, but—”

She snatched up another polish bottle and tossed it to him. “Good. Let's do it.”

Pim stared at her as though she'd tossed him a bottle of … nail polish. “Shall I start at the tail, then?” he said sarcastically.

“Yes, and hurry.”

Pim remained still.

“Pim,” she pleaded. “You tell me I'm an
Artisti
. I've got my doubts. But I'm going to try because we don't have any other choice. That wall is made out of paint and canvas. You know more about this than I do, so you tell me. Can we paint ourselves a horse?”

He stared at her a moment longer, and then the despair in his eyes transformed into something more solid. Faith or hope or friendship … it was hard to tell what. “Yes,” he said quietly. “I think we can.”

“Good. 'Cause I can't do it alone.”

Pim smiled and stepped up next to her at the wall. He twisted open his bottle of Ravishing Raspberry. “Right, then. A horse.”

They slashed the polish against the wall, using tiny brushes designed for fingernails instead of masterpieces. Claudia finished one bottle and moved on to another, and then another. Pim kept pace, creating a smooth line for the horse's back, wavy lines for the mane. Roars continued to echo in the distance. The ground vibrated. Claudia stroked on the legs and the hooves and the rounded underbelly. Within minutes they had formed the outline of a short but broad and powerful horse.

The two artists stepped back from the wall to look at their work. Despite the desperation and danger, there had been a quiet thrill in creating a piece of art in tandem with a friend. Art—as simple as it was—that came from within her, from her own dreams and imagination. But now that thrill faded hand in hand with her hope. Somehow she had expected the horse to magically leap off the wall when it was complete. But it remained noble, pink, and motionless. Claudia dropped the last empty bottle of nail polish to the floor.

And then in the distance they heard the trumpeting of Celebes joining the skirmish. Colossus was outnumbered.

“Now comes the hard part,” Pim said. “You need to bring it to life.”

“How on earth is that supposed to happen?”

“Remember that the art is simply a channel for the magic.” Pim moved his hand from the horse on the wall toward Claudia. “There is a bond between what you've created and who you are. It's just as real as if there were a thousand threads connecting you and the painting of the horse.”

Colossus howled in the distance. Then the laughter of the Fireside Angel echoed through the cave. It was coming.

“Find those threads with your mind, Claudia. And pull.”

It sounded ridiculous. Absurd.

But the rope at the viaduct. Hadn't she done the same thing there? She hadn't found threads with her mind, but she had wished for the rope to come closer to her—was desperate for it to come closer—and it had. It had come because … she was an
Artisti
.