Final Quest (9 page)

- 21 -

MISSING

Not only is Drew missing, but we quickly discover that he’s far away from us. Using his spy-band, Jamie was able to determine Drew’s current location from the GPS tracking device that is built into Drew’s spy-band.

“How could he already be so far away from us?” Jasmin asks.

“He’s continuing to move away from us at a rapid pace,” Jamie says as he continues to monitor information on his spy-band.

“He’s must have been captured,” Michael says. “It would be impossible for him to be moving through the jungle so quickly on his own. Someone, or something, has taken him; someone familiar with a path through the jungle.”

“Or someone who is flying,” Jamie says.

“What are we going to do?” Jasmin moans in a theatrical display of emotion. “We’ve got to save him.”

Although I’m sure we all agree with Jasmin’s desire to save Drew, how do we even begin?

“Drew’s gone,” Jamie says, his voice full of concern.

“Gone?” Jasmin says, her voice rising. “What do you mean he’s gone?”

“There’s no longer any signal from his spy-band,” Jamie says.

“Maybe it’s been damaged,” Michael suggests.

“No, that’s not possible,” Jasmin cries out. “How can he be gone? Emily, can’t you use your emerald to find him?”

Of course I can, I think. Sometimes I forget about my emerald.

Holding my emerald, I say, “Akem, Drew.”

Nothing happens.

“Impossible,” I say. He can’t just vanish.

I try again.

“Akem, Drew.”

Once again, nothing happens. There’s only a cloudy unrecognizable image in my emerald.

We move closer to each other. If Drew can vanish, then so can the rest of us if we get separated from each other.

- 22 -

HYPNOTIC PERFUME

Michael and Jamie are both trying to make contact with Drew using their spy-bands.

Their faces reflect their failure to locate him.

The dense blanket of every color in the rainbow erupts with an endless variety of sounds, almost like a thousand people, each speaking a different language trying to compete with each other to be heard.

A few steps away from me, a purple tree that threads upwards through a twisted mass of blue vines, seems to be saying something.

A talking tree?

As I glance around me, I come to the realization that the plants and trees are making various noises. Are they talking to each other? Is it really possible that the plants and trees can communicate?

“They’re sending a message across the jungle that we’re here,” Capurni says as he moves closer to the tall purple tree.

“What do you mean?” Jasmin asks, fear evident in her voice.

Jasmin begins to step away from the jungle. As one of her feet touches the sand, she stops. The look on her face sums up our current situation. We are trapped between a beach, with hideous creatures waiting beneath the sand to snatch us, and the jungle with unknown dangers lurking everywhere.

“We can’t continue to stand here,” Capurni says. “We need to enter the jungle.”

“Where will we go?” Jasmin asks.

“Why don’t we begin by seeing if Emily can use her emerald to locate the caves?”

“What about Drew?” Jasmin says.

None of us have an answer for her.

I hold the emerald in front of me. My friends crowd closer to me.

“Akem, caves on the island of Elpis,” I say.

A cloudy picture forms in the emerald that is so distorted that it doesn’t make any sense.

There’s something very strange happening on this island.

“Jamie, can you use your spy-band to point us in the direction to the place where you had the last contact with Drew?” Capurni asks.

“I think so,” Jamie says.

Jamie touches his spy-band.

He says, “Last GPS coordinates for Drew.”

I don’t think that any of us are too keen on going any deeper into the jungle.

Jamie looks at Capurni. “I’ve got the last GPS coordinates for Drew before he vanished.”

I glance at each of my friends. I get the feeling that none of them want to enter the jungle.

I look at Capurni and reluctantly nod as if to say, “Let’s go.”

What choice do we have? We can’t leave Drapesia without Drew.

“Follow me,” Jamie says nervously as he takes a few steps further into the jungle. His eyes are glued to his spy-band as he plots a course for us.

I’m immediately behind Jamie with Michael, Jasmin and Capurni all pushing against me. It’s obvious that no one wants to be left alone at the back of our little line.

A few steps into the dense vegetation and the humidity hits me like someone throwing a pail of warm water at me. The ground is slippery. There’s no actual path for us to travel on so we twist our way over exposed roots and through vines, tree trunks and a maze of vegetation that is splashed with color like Picasso designed it.

As I lose my footing stepping over a large root, I grab a branch to steady myself. Unexpectedly the branch vibrates and emits a sound of pleasure as though I’m tickling a baby.

Jerking my hand away from the branch, it moans as though it’s sad.

I reach out to the branch again and softly stroke it. Soon the tree is purring like a contented cat. As I continue to softly touch the moist, neon orange branch it vibrates, sending a shiver of pleasure into my hand.

“Hold up,” Jamie says.

Capurni, Jasmin and Michael are in front of me. Next is Jasmin and then me. I’m now alone at the end of the line.

Capurni says, “We need to stay together. Remember what happened to Drew when he separated from us.

I rush to catch up with the others, almost knocking Jasmin over in the process.

Soon we’re walking tightly together again.

When Jasmin unexpectedly stops, I bump into her.

She’s looking at an incredible array of flowers.

The stunning flowers are dangling from the branches of a large yellow tree, its trunk smooth like silk. Some of the flowers are purple while others are pink. Some are a deep orange and some are a brilliant red. I’m not sure whether the flowers are part of the tree or whether they are attached to various vines that have crept around the tree.

“Smell that?” Jasmin says as she takes a step closer to the hanging flowers. “It smells like a fragrant perfume.”

Taking a step closer, I get a whiff of the pleasant smell. It’s almost hypnotic. I find myself wanting to get closer.

“Wait,” Michael says, after stepping back to join us. “This could be a trap.”

There are hundreds of the delicate flowers hanging from the branches of the trees around us. The center of each flower is glowing as though a neon light has been set inside the luminesce petals.

The beautiful aroma begs me to come closer.

“Don’t move,” Michaels says sternly.

Jasmin’s fingers are already reaching out to touch one of the flowers. Suddenly a vine from the tree snaps around Jasmin jerking her off the ground.

Jasmin screams, but her cry of terror is brief. A vine is wrapped around her like a snake. She’s being choked.

I point my emerald at the vine that has ensnarled Jasmin.

“Abruella!” I shout.

A bolt of lightning strikes the vine causing a burst of fire.

At the same moment, another vine whips at me, barely missing.

Before any of us can take further action, another vine has wrapped itself around Jasmin. She’s now dangling above us, her breath being squeezed out by the powerful grip of the vine.

“Abruella!” I scream “Abruella!”

Bolts of lightning fly from my emerald smashing against the vine. As one vine shrivels from the flashes, another one takes its place.

“Try hitting the tree trunk,” Jamie says.

I direct bolts of lightning at the trunk of the tree. It moans. I continue blasting it.

Suddenly the tree vaporizes in a cloud of smoke and dust.

Jasmin drops.

Michael attempts to catch her. Although he’s unsuccessful, he breaks her fall as they both tumble to the ground.

“Look!” Jamie exclaims. “They’re back.”

Jamie is looking into the sky.

Although it’s difficult to get a clear view through the thick vegetation that is surrounding us, there are at least ten more flying objects like the one that Michael shot down earlier on the beach. The Zelareans have come to seek their revenge on us.

What are we going to do?

Jasmin is on the ground, groaning in pain. Michael is holding his leg.

“Over here,” an unfamiliar voice says.

Glancing in the direction of the voice, a humungous orange tree trunk opens as though it’s an elevator waiting for us.

Jamie and I pull Jasmin to the trunk of of the tree. Capurni helps Michael.

“You will be safe here,” a soft voice says.

I’m amazed at how still the jungle has become. It’s almost as if every living creature on the island is afraid of the Zelareans. Minutes ago, the jungle was deafening; now its silence is terrifying.

Being inside the tree trunk is like being jammed into a narrow closet, but none of us are complaining. We’re hidden from the Zelareans.

What if the flying objects land?

Perhaps it’s time to use my emerald to return back home, even if this means leaving Drew behind.

Capurni sticks his head outside the tree trunk. He looks upwards. Instantly he pulls himself back inside. His eyes are wide with fear.

“There’s a flying object hovering at the top of this tree.”

They’ve found us, I think. Any minute now, they will attack.

Suddenly the inside of the tree, where we’re hiding, shifts. The ground below us opens. Unexpectedly, we’re sliding rapidly through a tunnel.

- 23 -

THE DRAWINGS

My rapid descent comes to an abrupt stop in a large pool of water. In spite of the fear caused by what is happening, the water feels refreshing.

My friends are swimming nearby.

We’re in a large underground opening. Streams of light are pouring down from crevices in the natural rock ceiling. The closer I look at the walls and ceiling, the more I’m beginning to think that the surfaces are acting like a gigantic mirror.

“Over here,” a familiar voice says. It’s Capurni. He’s standing on a wide ledge beside the pool of water.

I swim towards Capurni.

“What about our spy-bands?” I shout to Michael.

“Waterproof,” he answers.

I should have known.

Reaching Capurni, I pull myself out of the water.

Gazing around me, I discover two smaller tunnels leading away from the pool of water. It appears that one of them could be reached by walking along the ledge while the other one would require a short swim to get to it.

“Any thoughts on which tunnel we take?” I say to Capurni.

Capurni is focused on something else. He’s bending over to inspect one of the tunnel walls. Jamie is beside him. I step closer to them.

“Look at this,” Capurni says, pointing towards some markings on the wall. “Someone has drawn pictures.”

“Looks like a map,” Jamie says.

I see the drawings they are referring to. The surface of the wall is reflective like a mirror even though it appears to be part of a natural rock formation.

“That must be the pool of water,” Jamie says as he points to a circle that has what appears to be ripples or small waves on it. “The drawing shows the two tunnels.”

Jamie’s fingers trace the lines on the wall. The drawings are a blue color. They look like they were made recently, rather than being something that was made a long time ago.

“These are fresh drawings,” Capurni says to confirm my thoughts. “I think that someone is trying to give us directions.”

“Or lead us into a trap,” Jasmin says. She pulls herself out of the pool.

Jamie’s fingers travel over what appears to be a picture of the tunnel leading from the pool of water.

“That looks like a monster,” Jamie says as his fingers touch one of the crude drawings.

Although I wouldn’t have come to the same conclusion as Jamie on first looking at the picture, I see what appears to be a mouth of vicious teeth slashing through the air. Or, perhaps we are letting our imaginations run wild and what we are looking at is no more than a bunch of random squiggly lines. Then again, who drew them? And why?

“What are we going to do?” Jasmin asks. “We have to find Drew.”

No one responds to Jasmin. Right now it would appear that the drawings on the walls are more important to the others than finding Drew.

Michael is running his hand along one of the walls as though he’s looking for something.

“Find anything?” Jamie asks.

“Yes,” Michael says as he turns back towards the rest of us. “This cavern is not a natural formation. It has been built by someone.”

“How can you tell?” I ask, at the same moment observing Capurni taking a closer look at the walls.

“The walls are too smooth to have been formed naturally,” Michael says. “If you look closely at them, you can see thin grooves in the walls where the materials were joined together.”

“Why?” I ask.

“Maybe,” replies Capurni, “there was a need to have a hiding place. In the same way that this cave is protecting us from the Zelareans, perhaps it was originally constructed by others who wanted to escape the ruthlessness of an enemy that was too powerful to fight against.”

“Look at the ceiling,” Michael says. “Those beams of light coming down are like skylights in a house. This cave is definitely not a natural formation.”

“The mirrored finish on the walls must be the reason I couldn’t locate any caves using my emerald,” I say.

“Perhaps,” Capurni says, “the mirrored walls were built thousands of years ago to protect some people from the emerald that Kienda was using to defeat his enemies.”

“Is that possible?” I say in awe.

“Which way should we go?” Jasmin asks, a nervous shudder in her voice.

“I think we should avoid the tunnel that leads off the pool of water,” Jamie says.

“I agree,” says Michael, “unless we want to encounter a vicious beast.”