The Secret of Ashona (66 page)

Could he close his eyes? Just pretend he was somewhere else? But if he did that, he couldn’t aim through the person’s heart. . . .

Just then, Erec froze in terror. As if remembering a distant dream, he pictured the vision he had seen of his future. Rushing forward on a horse, with a lance aimed straight at the heart of
Bethany
.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
The Impossible Quest

T
HERE WAS NO WAY
in the world he would let that happen. No way. Bethany would never die at his hands. He just wouldn’t do it. Nobody could make him. Erec crossed his arms and let the current carry him away from Ashona. It was over for them—and for him. He didn’t care anymore.

There was something on his shoulder—he looked and saw Spartacus’s hand. For a while the ghost didn’t say anything, but then he gave Erec a sad smile. “You know, she’s going to die either way.”

“So what? I don’t want to know about it.”

“But you do know about it. Pretending it isn’t happening doesn’t help. Bethany wants to give her life so she can help everyone else. Isn’t that a better way for her to die than by suffocation, along with everyone else in Ashona?”

“She wants to be the one to make the sacrifice. That sounds just like her.” Erec flushed with anger at the thought. “Selfish,” he murmured.

“Selfish! She’s giving up her life to save everyone else, and you’re calling her selfish?”

“Exactly!” Erec wasn’t sure where his anger was coming from, but he was full of it. “She’s thinking of everyone except for me! How am I supposed to go on and be happy if she dies here? She should think about
that
!”

Spartacus put his hands on Erec’s shoulders and looked him in the eye with sarcasm. “Is this the person talking who gave his own life up to save all of the captive souls—without thinking about how it would affect Bethany? Is this the person who risked going into the underworld without thinking of Bethany? Is this the guy who jumped into the Diamond Mind pit to save five people—”

“All right! All right. You made your point.” Erec calmed down, thinking about it. Spartacus was completely right. Erec had done this much more than she had, and it was only with luck that he was still here to talk about it. He had been perfectly fine with himself making that choice—and now he realized it was much harder being the one left behind. No wonder Bethany had been crying when she was in Ashona, not knowing where Erec was or if he was even alive. He felt awful for her. What he had done was wrong. No matter what the risk, he should have let her come and be there for all of it. This was the last time, he decided, if for some reason they both possibly lived through this, that he would ever leave her home to worry.

The only problem was that there was no way they would both live through this. Erec was safe now. And his brother—and Bethany’s brother—Trevor was out of danger. But everyone else would be gone. His father, Aunt Posey, Nell, Zoey . . . his heart crumbled when he thought of Zoey in that place with all of the pressure and heat, and no oxygen. Was it too late for her already? How could he be taking his time like this—he had to save her now! And all the innocent people trapped in Ashona.

And his birth mother, Queen Hesti, the Metamorpher.

And his lost triplet sister, Elizabeth.

There was no choice. He would have to do this, for everyone’s sake. Even for Bethany’s sake. Better she die the way that she chooses than in absolute failure.

This would be the hardest thing he ever did.

Without another word, Spartacus pulled him fast in the right direction. Soon they were at the mouth of a small rock cave. It seemed a horse would not fit inside, but Erec went in to look.

The circular cave was five feet around—with no horse anywhere. But a large, sparkling silver sea horse wagged its curled tail back and forth, darting in different directions around the cave.

The creature cocked its head, looking at Erec out of an eye in the side of its face. Its voice was clear and soft, almost like a whisper. “I know why you’re here, little boy. You want to take the spell off of Ashona. You need to use the lance on the floor here.”

A thin needle, about one foot long, lay against some rocks. Erec picked it up. It was much smaller than the one in his vision. In fact, it seemed doubtful that it could stab through the shield around Ashona at all. And if it punctured Bethany’s heart . . .

Erec cheered up immensely. This little thing wouldn’t kill Bethany. If it went into her heart it could hurt her, but there were great doctors in Ashona, like in Alypium. Magical doctors who could fix a
small problem like a needle in the heart. There was hope! Everything would be fine. The Secret of Ashona needed a sacrifice, but the sacrifice didn’t have to die, did it? Maybe Erec had it wrong. . . .

He grabbed the tiny lance with glee and approached the small sea horse. “Can I ride you, then?”

“Of course.” The thing preened its fins with its snout, then breathed what looked like orange liquid onto its back. “Let me finish cleaning up. I want to look nice.”

Erec watched it blow orange all over its body. “Is that some kind of paint?”

The Horse of the Elements cocked its head again. “No, little boy. It’s fire. I have fire, air, earth, and water inside of me. I will breathe fire at anyone who gets in our way on the ride to Ashona.”

Erec almost laughed, thinking about how little a tiny stream of fire would do, especially underwater. But he held back. This animal was saving everyone he knew.

“Go ahead, climb on!” it said.

Erec was as large as the sea horse. He threw a leg over its back and an arm around its neck, the tiny lance in his other fist.

“Okay. Ready, then.” The sea horse took off slowly, barely drifting out of the cave. Erec bit his lip to keep from laughing. This was what he had been so worried about? Going at a snail’s pace and holding a needle, he wasn’t going to hurt a fly. Bethany would be fine. He had never been happier—all was going to be great. Everyone would be freed from Ashona, and he would be able to finally meet his birth mother and triplet sister soon!

The only problem was that they were moving so slow it would take a year to get there. With a mile to go, Erec was impatient. His family was suffering. Someone in Ashona could be dying.

As if on cue, the sea horse sped up a bit, and then a bit more. In fact, Erec was surprised that the thing was able to go so fast, given
its size. It didn’t seem very strong—Erec’s feet hung far below its underside . . . at least they had before. Oddly, the animal seemed to be larger. As they ventured forward it grew even bigger, and moved faster. In fact, it was obvious now—the thing was far bigger than Erec. He could still wrap an arm around its neck, but he had to scoot forward to reach it.

It was getting harder to hold on as the Horse of the Elements sped ahead. The water dragged Erec backward, and he had to angle forward so he did not get tugged off. Holding the lance was harder too. If Erec did not keep it pointed straight, the pressure of the water yanked it to the side. It seemed heavier now, and harder to hold.

Erec looked at the lance with horror. It had grown as well, along with the horse. What had started out a thin, one-foot needle was now a four-foot long, thick blade.

This would not be safe for Bethany at all.

But if Erec had thought he was moving fast before, that was nothing compared to now. The horse kept growing larger and racing quicker until they charged at full speed. Erec could see nothing except bubbles and blur. Water yanked his lance up and down until he wedged its base into the ridges of the horse’s neck, keeping it poised straight ahead. It took everything he had to hold the horse and lance at the same time.

They would be there any minute now. Erec’s heart thumped. This was exactly like his horrible vision of the future. His lance was now seven feet long, aiming straight at Ashona and Bethany’s heart. He thought about stopping time again, but what would that do? As soon as he restarted it, he would either stab through Ashona and Bethany, or not.

How could he do this? But how could he not do it? It was what Bethany wanted. It would save everybody. It would save Zoey. And his mother. And everybody else.

He had to do it.

Ashona rose up fast before him. He could not see where the clear seal around it began, but soon he spotted a lone figure directly in the path of his lance, which was now ten feet long. At first he could only see the dark hair.

But then he could see her. It was Bethany. Ropes held her still, stopping her from changing her mind.

Everything inside of Erec froze. The Horse of the Elements shot forward. Erec gripped hard, poised so he could aim . . .

. . . straight . . .

. . . at . . .

. . . her . . .

. . . heart . . .

NO!

Something broke inside of Erec. Just before the lance stabbed through the barrier around Ashona, and into the heart of his best friend in the whole world, he dove on it. With the weight of his body, he shoved the handle upward, pushing its tip straight down into the water. It plummeted before it even made a nick in the shield.

In the split second that relief flooded through his body, the speeding lance hit rock beneath him. Erec was thrown up through the water, flung from the force of the speed and the weight of the lance. Before the drag from the water slowed him, he was above the edge of the bubble around Ashona.

Getting his bearings again, he swam the rest of the way up to the top. What had he done? There was no way he could kill Bethany . . . so he had basically killed everybody inside, including Bethany. He was an idiot. A failure. Bethany was just as doomed now, and would be miserable in her last moments too.

Was it worth finding the Horse of the Elements below and trying this all over again? He closed his eyes and pictured a repeat
performance, and still could not imagine being able to stab Bethany, even knowing all that he knew.

It was hopeless.

Erec drifted along the upper surface of Ashona, dragging his fingertips along its sealed enclosure. The least he could do was to be there when the whole thing went bad. As soon as he could face her, he would swim to Bethany and wait with her, watching her through the bubble shield even if they could not hear each other.

Erec could see the hallways and passages below him, as well as some open-topped storage rooms. Nobody was in sight. It was so hot and miserable inside they were either sleeping or waiting on lower levels where it might be cooler.

Erec drifted to the pinnacle of the shield. Under him, at the very topmost point, someone was in a room filled with machinery. Out of curiosity, he swam over and looked in. Of all people, there was Nell, his sister, fiddling with gears on a large turbine. She leaned on her walker propped against a wall.

What was she doing? Erec watched until she gave up with the turbine and tried to yank a chain off of its gear teeth.

She was trying to destroy the machinery. It looked impossible, but his brave sister was doing the only thing she could think of to disable the Heart of Ashona. He figured this must be the control room that Ashona needed to function. If Nell dismantled it, the Secret of Ashona would lose its ability to form a force field around the place.

It wasn’t a bad idea, but there was no way that it would work. Nell wasn’t strong enough to do any damage—Erec doubted anyone could. The only way to help things was for Erec to . . .

He didn’t want to think about it. Instead, he distracted himself watching Nell struggle against the machines. She didn’t see him, and worked tirelessly in an effort that would amount to nothing.
Erec shoved his hands into his pockets, thinking about the futility of everything.

Something in his pocket scraped against his hand, and he pulled it out. It was that odd mousetrap-shaped device that Baskania had given him. Which made him think of another thing he was carrying—Erec dug deeper and found the little pink brain that had been Tarvos’s power source. Just holding it amplified his powers thousands of times, and the mousetrap multiplied it thousands of times more. Erec remembered when Rosco tried to create a drop of water using those two things and had created a solid wall of water that flooded all of Alypium.