Circles of Seven (35 page)

Walter jumped in front of the professor, brandishing his sword in both hands. “The demon is Devin, Prof. He’s inside Clefspeare’s body.”

Devin reached out and snatched up Mrs. Bannister in one of his scaly claws, squeezing his talons around her waist. She screamed, pushing against his grip with both hands.

“Hartanna, fighting you here would take too long. Come with me as a prisoner of honor or she dies!”

Walter pulled back his sword. “We don’t make deals with demons!” He jumped up and hacked at the dragon’s forearm, penetrating the flesh between two scales. Mrs. Bannister flew out of Devin’s grip and tumbled to the ground in a heap. The professor rushed to her side, pulled her to her feet, and led her behind Hartanna’s body.

Dark blood streamed from Devin’s forearm. The dragon roared, whipped his tail around, and looped it around Walter’s body. With a snap, he flung Walter into the air, then followed with a blast of fire. Hartanna caught Walter with her wing, shielding him just before the flames could slam into his body.

As soon as Hartanna set Walter down, he pushed the wing aside. Devin took a heavy step toward them. Walter raised his sword and waved at the she-dragon. “Get Prof and Mrs. B out of here! I’m going to end this now!”

Hartanna scooped up the adults with her claws and tried to fly, but she could only skitter along the ground. When Devin gave chase, Walter sprinted around the dragon’s flank and sliced off the back quarter of his tail. Devin screamed and shot up into the air. He soared higher than the treetops, then plummeted straight toward Walter, his rear claws bared.

Walter flattened to his stomach and rolled clear. Devin slammed to the ground, cracking the surface. The earth crumbled beneath Devin’s body, and he slid into the widening chasm. A laser beam shot upward through the hole, narrowly missing the dragon, then streaked along the ground in a hundred directions like branches of lightning.

Walter pushed up on all fours and scrambled away from the brink. The chasm ripped open even wider, swallowing more dirt and catching Walter’s kicking feet. He sprawled forward, frantically scratching the ground for something to grab. Anything!

He snagged a root and hung on, his body sinking below ground level as the gulf widened. He tried to call for help, but dirt spilled into his mouth. As he spat it out, a loud splash sounded behind him.
Oh, great! Water! Drowning is next!

Digging into the chasm wall with his feet, he pulled on the root hand over hand, but he was still a good five feet from the top. His body hung over a pit, and all he had was a stringy root keeping him from a precarious plunge.

A sturdier tree root dangled just inches over his head. If he could only let go long enough to grab it, he would be home free. His root began tearing away from the wall, inching him lower. He slowly released it with one hand.
Okay! Here goes!

Ashley knelt at Bonnie’s side and wept. The regeneracy dome shrank, barely enveloping Bonnie’s curled-up form. The inner sparkles slowed, falling to the ground in tired sizzles as the dome finally collapsed and vanished.

Ashley scooted forward on her knees and laid a hand on Bonnie’s ashen cheek. It was cold and slick, more like glazed pottery than skin. She slid her hand under Bonnie’s back and pulled her into an embrace, laying Bonnie’s head against her shoulder. She cried bitterly into the mass of tangled, blonde-streaked hair. “Bonnie . . . I . . . I love you so much! . . . If I could take your place . . . I would.” She lifted her head. “God . . . if you’re listening . . . give me a sign. Show me if there’s anything I can do.”

Larry’s voice crackled through the handheld computer lying on the ground. “Apollo’s flash completed.”

Patrick and Shiloh stood at Ashley’s side, arm in arm. “We should not linger here,” Patrick said. “With the Watchers prowling—”

The ground suddenly quaked, sending violent shivers through their feet. A flash brightened the sky. Streaks of light zipped across the ground, one stripping the grass along the terrace and sending a path of sparks flying straight up. The bolt shot into Bonnie, enveloping her and Ashley in a vibrant halo. The aura buzzed. Ashley shook violently, Bonnie still in her arms.

Ashley’s teeth ground together. Spots danced in her vision, and her world faded to black. A thousand images flashed before her eyes—her childhood bedroom, her father and mother, a fire, a hospital, her grandfather, kids at school cruelly laughing at her—all spinning on a high-speed merry-go-round.

She felt a cool touch on her cheek. “Ashley?” a gentle voice said.

Ashley forced her eyes open. Three smiling faces stared down at her. Patrick, Shiloh, and . . . “Bonnie?” She pushed herself up to her seat. “Bonnie! You’re alive!”

Bonnie grinned and offered Ashley a hand up. Letting out a loud squeal, Ashley leaped to her feet, then wrapped her arms around Bonnie’s neck and rocked from side to side. “I can’t believe you’re alive again! We thought we’d lost you!”

Bonnie pushed Ashley back gently. “Where are Billy and Walter?”

“Billy’s still in the circles, but I’ll tell you what I know about that later.” Ashley pointed up the slope. “Right now Walter needs our help over that hill. A dragon’s after your mom.”

“A dragon!” Bonnie stretched out her wings. “The one from the circles?”

“It came out of the circles, but I don’t know who it is.” Ashley reached down and rubbed her tingling thighs. “Can you fly?”

Bonnie balled up her fists. “I’ll soon find out! I have a bone to pick with that dragon.”

Dirt poured on Billy’s head, spilling into the stream at his feet, and light poured in from above. A huge splash in the hole in front of him sent water washing over his face. He stumbled backwards and fell into the hole behind him, now a pool of frigid water. He thrust his feet downward into the biting cold and found the bottom. Standing on tiptoes, he propped up his body and kept his head and torso above the surface. He raised Excalibur, and its light flashed back to life. He summoned the beam once again and aimed it skyward.

The sword’s light radiated across his wrists. For some reason his skin had turned milky white. A pasty film coated his arms and shirt, making him look like a glowing ghost. With a mental command, he doused Excalibur. If the dragon was still around, he didn’t want to be a neon bull’s-eye in its fire-breathing crosshairs.

Billy looked up at a new gaping hole in the ceiling a dozen feet or so above his head. It was way out of reach, but he could see the sky—the big dipper, the glow of the moon, and . . . a jet? No, two jets. And a transport helicopter. Was he back on earth? Could Apollo’s flash have sent him away from the circles and the dragon?

Finding an upward slope, he sloshed ahead, but his shoes slid on the white residue, making the going slow. Finally, after plodding into ankle-deep water, he summoned Excalibur’s beam once again and guided it around the room, now a gaping crater.

Pools bubbled up in both holes, and he stood in one of the outflow streams. Chalky residue coated the rocky bed, making it look like someone had spilled a hundred gallons of milk into the water. The other spring bed, however, wore a coat of reddish-brown, like the skin of a freshly rusted nail.

Bubbles in the red spring floated to the surface and multiplied, like a volcano about to erupt. A curtain of vapor shrouded the pool, growing into a billowing cloud. Slowly, the head of a dragon emerged, the fire from his breath boiling the water and sending blasts of steam into the air.

A river of flame burst from the pool and hurtled toward Billy. He jumped out of the way of the inferno and swung Excalibur’s beam across the dragon’s neck. The beam wrapped around its head, buzzing like an army of chainsaws. The shaft of light separated into a million sparks and adhered to the dragon’s scales, but the sparks quickly fizzled out, leaving the crater bathed in the light of the moon and the dragon unharmed.

His scales even redder than before, the dragon lunged out of the spring. In the white light from above, Billy studied the glowing monster. Something was different. The shape of its head was wrong, not the same as it had been when it presented the fruit tree and then submerged in the pool. Was this even the same dragon? Or was this . . . Devin?

The dragon blasted another jet of fire. With a hyper-fast sweep, Billy parried, catching the jet with the sword’s beam and quenching it in the white spring’s water. A plume of steam rose, filling the chamber with fog.

The dragon roared, his six-inch teeth bared and his forked tongue lashing out. “You can’t keep blocking my flames forever! Give up and be my hostage, or die!”

Devin’s voice!

Billy held Excalibur in front of his face with both hands. “No way! I don’t know how we got here, but I’m not about to give up! I can create a barrier with Excalibur for as long as I want.” He gestured upward with his head. “Besides, I think England’s government has sent a welcoming party for you.”

Devin glared at Billy. “Trust me, the military won’t be on your side. They’ll investigate everything. You’ll be a caged white rat in a top secret laboratory with tubes sticking out of your body from your head to your belly.” He paused, his body dripping red, as though thin blood streamed from every scale.

Walter’s voice popped in from above. “Billy! You made it back! You okay?”

Billy jerked his head upward. “Walter!” He turned his gaze back toward Devin. “I’m fine. I just have to dispatch this stinking lizard. What’s up with you?”

Walter propped his hands on his knees and leaned over the twenty-foot-wide opening. “There’s about a hundred soldiers lining up, armed way past their teeth, but I don’t think they know where you are yet. All the dragons flew—” Walter grimaced and pounded the dirt with his fist.

“Ahhh!” Devin said, letting out a sinister laugh. “So you revived the other dragons, and now they’ve flown the coop!” He thrust his tongue out at Billy again. “Looks like you’re alone in this fight.”

Walter threw a rock at Devin, hitting him square on the snout. “Alone? What are you talking about, you ugly hunk of snakeskin? I’m here, remember?”

Devin blew a jet of fire, but Walter jumped to the side. “Missed me, you overgrown tin can! Why don’t you come out here instead of crawling in the dirt like a slimy little worm?”

The dragon roared. “I’m not a fool to be baited, you idiot! I know you want me up there where the soldiers can see me.”

Walter stuck out his tongue. “You couldn’t hit a knight with your breath if he kissed you on the mouth!” He hopped up and down and waved his arms. “C’mon give it another shot!” He put his thumbs in his ears and wiggled his fingers.

“Oh, trying to use me to signal the military, are you? I know I’m trapped in this hideous body, but I’m not as stupid as Clefspeare. Forget it, boy. Billy’s alone, a captured fool, just like his father.”

Billy growled under his breath, but he kept his anger in check. What good would it do to attack now? Something was keeping Devin safe from the beam. Was it the red coating? Some kind of residue that repelled the translumination?

A new splash erupted from one of the pools. Walter stepped out of the white spring and stood at Billy’s side, drenched and looking like a wet, glazed doughnut stick. He shook his head like a dog after its bath, sending white droplets in all directions. “Don’t ever try to rappel into a pit with a root.”

Billy lifted Excalibur and set his feet. “I’ll make a note of it.”

Walter glared at the dragon. “Billy’s never alone as long as I’m around.” He dug into his pocket and held up a closed fist. “You think you’re so smart, can you guess what’s in my hand?”

Devin’s good claw reached toward Walter, but Billy grabbed his friend and stepped back to avoid the lunging dragon. Devin tumbled into the white spring face first and thrashed around until he was able to right himself. As Devin’s head rose above the surface, Billy waved Excalibur, creating an umbrella shield.

Devin stalked slowly toward Billy and Walter. The two boys inched backwards, both keeping their eyes pinned on the milky white dragon. Walter held his fist higher and whispered, “Let’s drop that curtain, and send this snake to the moon.”

Billy stilled his sword, and the shield collapsed into a single beam. Devin reared back to heave another blast of fire, but before he could let out a spark, Billy slashed his body with Excalibur’s beam. This time, the laser ate through Devin’s hide, disintegrating him into a spinning stream of dazzling light. Walter opened his hand, and the stream rushed toward it and plunged into the candlestone that lay in his palm.

When the light vanished, all was silent except for the gentle slap of running water. Walter tossed the gem into the air, caught it in his hand, and wrapped his fingers tightly around it. He gave Billy an impish smile. “Know of any pawn shops in Glastonbury? I’m willing to let this go cheap.”

Billy tucked Excalibur in its sheath and splashed Walter with a swift kick. “I oughta sell you at a pawn shop!” He then hooked his arm around Walter’s neck and pulled him close. “But you’re worth a whole lot more than the couple of farthings anyone’s likely to pay for you.”

A female voice drifted into the pit. “Well that looks cozy!”

Billy pulled away from Walter and looked up. That voice! Could it be? He could barely whisper. “Bonnie?”

Walter waved. “Hey, girl! You finally decided to wake up?” He kicked up a splash of water and grinned. “About time, you lazy thing!”

Billy felt tears in his eyes, but he didn’t bother to wipe them away. His voice shook. “Don’t . . . ahem . . . don’t listen to him, Bonnie! We both know better!” He spread out his arms. “You know what? I think I need to get a ride from a certain, awesome girl I know. It’s your turn to carry me for a while.”

Bonnie’s face beamed. She fluttered down into the cavern, settling into the ankle-deep water streaming from the pool. Billy stared at her, his arms slack and aching. Bonnie folded her hands at her waist and lowered her head, whispering, “I learned something really important today.”

“What’s that?” Billy whispered back.

She lifted her gaze, and her eyes sparkled as she stepped closer. “You remember how we were supposed to follow the light?”