Atherton #3: The Dark Planet (No. 3) (34 page)

to work! We're getting out of here," he cried, grinning ear to ear.

But things weren't exactly as he'd hoped when the door slid all

the way open.

"What the devil!" said Red Eye.

"You got me in a lot of trouble!" said Socket. Then, thinking a

tiny bit more, he added: "How did you get all the way out here?"

Socket and Red Eye both wore their usual thick goggles, and

both had their benders out, swishing them from side to side in

the pale light. Every single member of the green team felt a

crushing sense of defeat. They had almost made it, only to find

their tormentors standing in the very place they wanted to be.

"You don't know how to operate it," said Edgar. He wasn't about

to give up that easily.

"Shut your mouth!" said Socket. "You're in enough trouble as it

is."

Red Eye rolled his eyes at his brother. They were so far beyond

ever being able to go back to the Silo and life the way it had

been. He was only interested in one thing: getting to Atherton.

"You know how to run it?" asked Red Eye, who had been

utterly confounded by the inner workings of the Raven and its

vast black, blank surfaces. It had moved of its own will to arrive

near the yards.

"I know exactly how to operate that thing," said Edgar. "And

what's more, I know how to take it to Atherton."

"Atherton?" said Socket. "You're kidding?"

Edgar shook his head. "If you don't know what you're doing

you'll never make it. It's complicated."

Red Eye weighed his options before answering with a growl.

"You can come, but the rest stay."

"No!" yelled Landon. He couldn't imagine being left behind on

the Dark Planet.

Socket moved forward and swung his bender with a
swish!

swish!

"Shut up! You're staying here and that's the last of it."

Above the Raven, Commander Judix had heard the voices

growing in volume and had made her way back to the rail. She

grabbed it and hauled herself out of her chair.

And there it was. Outlined in the murky light of afternoon sat the

jet-black vessel that had come to take her away. She was,

unfortunately, incapable of climbing down to the ground to

reach it.

Commander Judix watched in disbelief as Red Eye and Socket

stood in front of a group of children from the Silo. When she saw

Edgar, even through the haze, she knew it was him. Her anger

flared and she screamed.

"Red Eye!"

Red Eye, Socket, and all the children looked up and couldn't

believe their eyes.

"Commander?" said Red Eye. "Is that you?"

"Of course it's me! Get up here and carry me down!"

Socket wanted nothing at all to do with Commander Judix. He

retreated into the Raven and stood in the shadows as his

brother approached the Commander.

"You don't really think I'm taking you with me?" said Red Eye.

He had longed for a moment like this. Never in his wildest

dreams did he think it would come true, and with such

perfection! He was leaving the wretched Dark Planet for a

waiting paradise and she--this monster of a woman who had

treated him like dirt for far too long--she was trapped on the roof

of Station Seven.

"You will come here this instant," said Commander Judix in her

most authoritative tone. But for once the voice failed her. Not

only did Red Eye refuse to bring her to the Raven, he laughed

at her. He snorted and wheezed until the dirty air burned so

badly in his lungs he had to stop.

And that was when he heard it, the presence of a Spiker. It was

closer than anyone had thought, and just then, its enormous

clawed foot came down next to the Raven. The Raven wasted

no time in response. A series of at least thirty black spikes shot

out at lightning speed and sliced right through the Spiker,

piercing through the other side of its leg. The monster shrieked

and hobbled a few paces off to lick its wounds.

In all the commotion Edgar waved his friends through the door

and into the Raven. Vasher clutched the powder block close to

his chest.

Socket stood in the corner, shivering with fright and staring at

the black ceiling, which had begun to glow. Two cave eels

stared him down as if they might jump out from behind the glass

and chomp off his head with their sharp teeth at any second.

"Don't move," said Edgar, tricking Socket into believing he

might actually be in danger. "If you do, they'll tear your limbs

off."

Red Eye came briskly into the Raven and Edgar kept the ruse

going.

"He better stay still, and so should you," said Edgar, acting as if

the slightest movement might trigger an unexpected attack. "We

all need to be slow and careful now. You won't like what

happens if they get angry."

Red Eye's breathing slowed and he stayed very still.

"You better not be trying to trick me."

From outside they heard Commander Judix screaming for them

to come get her. Edgar felt a pang of guilt at leaving her behind,

but if she returned to Station Seven, there was yet a chance she

could be saved.

Edgar slowly placed the disk on the black table in the middle of

the Raven, and the door began to shut.

"At least we won't have to listen to her howling any longer," said

Red Eye.

Aggie thought this was one of the meanest things she'd ever

heard anyone say. With a Spiker so close by, she could

imagine the poor woman's panic. She had known the feeling of

being left behind to fend for herself on her long walk through the

wood on her way to the Silo. She wouldn't wish it on anyone, no

matter how cruel they'd been.

The table burst to life and Edgar saw the images of everything

he'd seen before.

"When I do this, you're probably going to see a lot more

creatures than you see right now," said Edgar. "After everyone

is settled in I'll start things moving. You're going to feel as if the

chair you're sitting in is trying to pull your pants off."

"What?" said Red Eye.

"Shhhhh!" whispered Edgar. "They hate loud noises."

As if to prove his point an eel emerged behind the glass near

Red Eye's head and stared down at him. Edgar turned and

winked again at the green team and they took some

reassurance that every thing would be fine. "Slowly now," said

Edgar. Red Eye was wary of moving while the cave eel

watched him, but he gathered his courage and slid down into

one of the chairs.

"Nice to see you brought something for me to eat," said Red

Eye, seeing the powder block sitting on Vasher's lap. Vasher's

twitching had calmed and he actually glared at Red Eye. There

was no way he was giving up this treasure so it could be eaten

for lunch.

"I'm not moving," whined Socket from where he'd slumped

down on the floor. A glowing cave eel was trained on Socket's

head from behind the black glass.

"I don't recommend that," said Edgar. "The Raven gets moving

pretty fast. It will be nothing like what you experienced getting

from the forsaken wood to here."

But Socket wouldn't move.

Edgar shrugged his shoulders, actually feeling a little bit guilty

at what was about to happen.

"Stay in your seats," he said, placing his hand over the twirling

snowflake. He thought twice about it and looked at Vasher.

"Why don't you set that down on the table here? You're not

going to want to carry it all the way to Atherton."

"Yeah," said Red Eye, leaning forward menacingly. "Set it

down so we can al have some."

Vasher held his arms out and gently set the heavy powder

block on the table. The moment he did all the firebugs

dispersed at once. They formed a column below the surface of

the table and the powder block began to melt away, like it was

sitting on a bed of acid. It hissed and smoked while the firebugs

grew brighter and brighter until everyone but Edgar had to look

away. He alone saw as they changed from blue to a brilliant

shade of red.

"You can look now," said Edgar, and everyone turned back to

the table. All the images were back in place as before, but now

every thing was a soft glowing shade of red. And there was one

new item that hadn't been there before. It was the only thing

Edgar had ever seen made of white firebugs: a shimmering

snowflake pulsing from the bottom of the image of Atherton.

Edgar tapped it, and the inside of the Raven came to life.

Eels swam every where and firebugs multiplied until it looked

like a star-filled night all around them. The two eels that had

watched Socket darted off with the rest, gobbling up red

firebugs by the hundreds as the Raven began to move. Edgar

felt the seat hug him close, pulling him down and holding him

steady. Everyone gasped at the feeling except Socket, who

wasn't seated in a chair and seemed not to understand what

was about to happen.

The Raven shot into the air, spinning as it gained speed on its

way to break out of the Dark Planet's at mo sphere. Socket

tumbled end over end and found himself pinned to the glass.

His goggles flew off and smashed into one of the chairs. He

was a man in a tumbler, spinning circles at the back end of the

vessel while everyone watched from the safety of their seats.

"I tried to warn him," said Edgar.

Red Eye scowled deeply at Edgar. He couldn't wait until his

seat let him go so he could beat the boy senseless. The last

thing he'd done was to slowly put his bender away, so at least

his favorite weapon hadn't been lost. "When we get to Atherton,

you better run," said Red Eye. "All of you better run!"

"I don't think it will be us doing the running," said Landon. "Just

you wait until you meet Gossamer. He doesn't like adults,

especially mean ones like you."

"I never met anyone as dumb as you, Lanny," said Red Eye.

"Let me spell it out for you. There's no such thing as dragons.

Got it?"

Landon didn't say anything else. In fact, everyone seemed

perfectly happy to stay quiet as the Raven started its journey

across the sky. Even Socket had settled into a comfortable spot,

curled up like a baby at the bottom of the ship.

Commander Judix slumped down in her chair and watched the

Raven leave the Dark Planet. It was, in her view, the final insult.

She had long been a cold and calculating person, and yet she

had never given in to the darkness entirely. She would

remember her mother's touch or the voice of a lost friend, and

the tiniest bit of hope would return. But in that moment of

watching the Raven fly away, the Dark Planet had finally won.

She felt nothing. When the Spiker leaned down and caught

sight of her, she was unmoved at its arrival. There would be

pain, but at least she would feel something in the end.

She felt the Spiker's huge nose sniffing at her hair, and then, to

her great surprise, she began to cry.

CHAPTER 27THE CHILL OF

WINTER

"Wake up," said Samuel. "Isabel, wake up!"

He prodded her shoulder and felt Gossamer's warm breath on

his neck. The black dragon had awoken first, nudging Samuel

where he lay curled up next to Isabel, nestled safely in one of

Gossamer's warm wings.

For two days they'd been stranded with the great dragon, the

sound of falling crystals a constant reminder of how completely

trapped they were. They feared being stuck inside Atherton until

they starved to death, and tried without much success not to

dwell on how worried their parents must be. One thing was for

sure: If they ever did make it out alive, they were in big trouble.

"He wants us to move," Samuel said as Isabel rubbed her eyes

and woke up.

"Do you hear that?" asked Samuel. Isabel was slower to wake

than Samuel was and she wasn't sure what he was talking

about. "It's
quiet.
"

Isabel and Samuel carefully crept down the wing and stepped

aside. They heard the faraway sound of two or three crystals

falling from the ceiling.

"He's stopped trying to keep us here," said Samuel. "Maybe

he's thinking about taking us back the way we came. We might

actually get out of here alive!"

When they were clear of Gossamer's spiked head and neck he

stood and lumbered heavily away from them. The space they

were in was vast and brightly lit. On one end was the wide

opening to the outside of Atherton, on the other was the vast

wall of pulsing white light. Samuel and Isabel had watched it for

hours and wondered what its purpose could be. The more they

looked the more they were sure that Cleaners were swimming

behind the white wall in the deepest part of the waters of

Atherton. It was a thick, foggy sort of glass that hid them in

shadow, a glass that was covered with billions of sharp spires.

"What's he looking at?" asked Samuel. Gossamer wasn't one to

leave their side, but something had caught his attention at the

opening.

"What is it, Gossamer? Do you hear something?" asked Isabel.

Everything had turned unnervingly silent, and Samuel was left