Saving Thanehaven (21 page)

“Hurry, Noble!” Yestin squeaks.

“I’ve got it.” Noble’s fingers close around the key, which is tucked into the seam of his waistband. “Just give me a moment.…”

“You haven’t got a moment,” Rufus says gravely. Like Yestin, he’s pressed up against a wall. A teaming knot of arms and legs and open mouths is barreling toward them.

Noble produces his key at the very instant he’s hit in the back. He’s lifted off his feet and driven straight at the door in front of him, which is made of metal and covered in peeling brown paint. But he doesn’t drop his key. With his cheek mashed against the door and his rib cage compressed, he manages to insert it into a keyhole.

“Hurry!”
Yestin pleads.

Click
. The key turns. Though Noble can hardly breathe by now, he’s able to nudge the door handle with his wrist. There’s another gentle
click
and then … 
WHOOMP!

The door bangs open. Noble pops like a cork across the threshold. He nearly drops to his knees, but the pressure at his back pushes him straight across a small room and up against another door before he has time to lose his balance.

The second door is very different from the first.
This
door is made of steel bars, set in a wall made of stone. Noble is convinced that he’s landed in a prison cell.

“Ooof!”
Once again he finds himself pinned flat.
The bodies are piling up behind him. In front of him, beyond the bars, lies a familiar collection of metal doors, overhead pipes, brick walls, and light-filled glass tubes.

It’s the Kernel’s lair. But the Kernel himself is nowhere in sight.

“Princess!” Noble roars. “Help me!”

His face is being pushed between the bars. He can hear Yestin squealing and other people groaning. The pressure builds and builds and … 
crack!
The barred door gives slightly.

“Princess!” Noble’s voice is hoarser this time, and much weaker. He can’t expand his chest because it’s being crushed. Thrusting his right arm through a gap in the bars, he clumsily tries to unlock the door from the outside.

But his key won’t fit in the lock. And by this time the bars are actually bowed from the weight of so many bodies. A handful of dust patters down onto his face from the lintel above him, which seems to be disintegrating.

“Noble!” It’s Lorellina’s voice. She’s hurrying toward him down a nearby passage.

The Kernel is right behind her.

“Princess! Be careful! It’s a trap!” Noble gasps. He understands now that the Kernel never intended to negotiate with Rufus. Instead, Noble was given a key that would lead him straight into a prison cell, no matter where or when the key was used. Noble can’t
imagine how the Kernel managed to construct this cell without alerting the princess. From her expression, it’s clear that she’s horrified. His cry for help must have summoned her to an unexplored corner of the Kernel’s domain.

But the Kernel hasn’t let her come alone. He’s waddling along at her heels, sweating and puffing, and as she picks up her skirts, he seizes her arm.

“Wait,” he says.

“Let go!” She tries to pull away from him. “Are you blind? They need help!”

CLANG!
A crossbar splits and the straining door buckles. Noble feels the pressure ease, just briefly, before it builds again. He wonders if his eyeballs are going to explode.

“Look out!” cries the Kernel. “It’s a breach!”

Then a creaking, rending sound is followed by a sharp
snap!
The barred door pitches forward, slamming onto the ground. Chunks of rubble spray everywhere. A howling mob bursts across the threshold.

Noble finds himself on all fours, kicked and trampled. Fallen bodies are stacking up around him.

“Noble! This way!” Lorellina has freed herself from the Kernel’s grip. She’s reaching for Noble with one hand as she shields her head with the other. “
Ow!
Watch it! Stop treading on me!”

The crowd is surging in every direction, bouncing off walls and filling up corners. Noble stumbles to his
feet. He bats off a couple of reeling girls and grabs Lorellina—but not before tucking the key back safely into his breeches. He’s not about to lose that key. At the moment, it’s the only weapon he has.

“Yestin?” he cries, straining to be heard over all the noise.
“Yestin!”

“There he is!” The princess points at a small, cowering shape behind a screen of milling legs. “Yestin! Over here!”

Seeing Yestin look up, Noble twines his fingers firmly around Lorellina’s elbow and forges through the chaos. People are hanging off the overhead lights, swinging like monkeys. They’re snapping open cans and spraying each other with fizzy liquids. They’re kicking holes in wooden panels and vomiting on one another’s shoes.

“Come on,” Noble rasps, when at last he reaches Yestin. “We’re getting out of here.”

“How?” Yestin asks tearfully.

“Through the trapdoor.”

“What trapdoor?” Yestin doesn’t understand.

But Lorellina does. “What about your key?” she says. “Maybe it will open one of these doors.…”

“Maybe,” Noble growls. “The trouble is, there might be a prison cell on the other side.” Peering around, he adds, “I’m lost. Which way
is
the trapdoor?”

“That way.” Lorellina nods at the passage to their right, which is already seething with bodies. “We can make it if we hold hands.”

“But what about Brandi?” Yestin whimpers. “What about Lulu and Lord Harrowmage?”

“Yes. Where’s my cousin?”

“Uh …” Noble looks back at the door to the prison cell, which is still spewing people. It’s clear to him that trying to push through that torrent would be like trying to swim up a series of river rapids. Even
reaching
the door might be difficult. Noble suddenly realizes that if he and his friends don’t start moving pretty quickly, they might lose their chance to move at all.

“We’ll worry about the others later,” he says. “Let’s go.”

“But—”

“Now!”

Yestin submits. Noble leads the way down the nearest corridor, hand in hand with Lorellina, who holds on to Yestin. They round a corner and pass the Kernel’s booth, which has already suffered a lot of damage. People are dancing on the desk. They’re smashing the windows and smearing one another with glue.

“This way!” says the princess. “Hurry!”

They reach their destination just ahead of the crowd, though Noble can tell that they don’t have much time: a minute or two at the most, probably. Then he discovers, to his dismay, that the trapdoor has been covered by a sheet of fresh wood.

“The Kernel fixed it, remember?” the princess remarks. “You were here when it happened.”

“I forgot,” Noble admits. He glances to his left and sees that the mob is closing in. What on earth is he to do?

“Kick it in!” Yestin exclaims. “Just give it a kick!”

“No,” a gruff voice says. “I’ve got a better idea.”

It’s the Kernel speaking. He’s skulking off to their right, at the far end of the corridor. His shirt is flapping loose and he’s missing several buttons.

“Come on,” he croaks. “Let me show you the way out.”

“L
iar,” says Noble.

“Not this time,” the Kernel assures him.

“Hah!”

“It’s true, I swear.” The Kernel’s anxious gaze has already slipped toward the approaching stampede. “Please. You’ve gotta believe me. There’s only one way out of this place, and if you don’t use it now, we’re done for.”

Noble isn’t convinced. He’s angry about the prison cell. But Yestin doesn’t need persuading. “Come on!” he whimpers, pulling at Noble’s arm. “Hurry!”

“We have to go,” the princess agrees. She’s already moving.

“But—”

“This way, Noble!”

They scurry to the end of the corridor, then take a sharp right. The hallway in which they find themselves is almost identical to the last—except that it’s empty of people. “The only way to save this computer is to turn it off,” the Kernel is saying. He’s up ahead, straining to be heard above the noise of the approaching crowd. “That’ll put a stop to the damage. Then maybe someone can work out how to repair it.”

“Can’t
you
turn off the computer?” Yestin asks.

“Not without a direct command.” The Kernel disappears around another corner. Noble finally catches up with him in front of a metal door that looks different from the others. For one thing, it has no handle or lock.

The Kernel punches a button that’s sitting on the wall next to it and announces, “Mikey was playing
Thanehaven Slayer
a little while ago. Then he walked away and left the computer on, which is why we’re in this mess. But Mikey’s cell phone has Bluetooth—and it’s in
DISCOVERABLE
mode, right now. So we’ll send him a text message. We’ll tell him his computer is under attack and he has to turn it off before it crashes.”

“What’s a ‘Bluetooth connection’?” Noble inquires.

“And what’s a ‘cell phone’?” says Lorellina.

“Never you mind.” A sharp
ping
makes them all jump as the metal door in front of them slides open. Behind it is a small, square, windowless room. “Okay, here’s your ride to the delivery platform,” the Kernel
quickly explains. “You have to take the Bluetooth connection to International Mobile Equipment Identity number 709348880021743.”

Noble blinks. “Mobile Equipment …?”

“Identity Number 709348880021743. It’s like a serial number, okay? And here—you’ll need these tokens to get onto the platform.” From one of his pockets, the Kernel extracts three small metal disks, which he distributes to Noble and the others. “I’m pretty sure this’ll work, now that the virus has altered your programming. You couldn’t have done it before.”

Noble is hopelessly confused. He stares at the token he’s holding, then at the boxlike room, which is the size of a cupboard.

“You’ve gotta get to Mikey’s phone and leave a message on it,” the Kernel continues. “Tell him his computer is infected and needs to be turned off. Got that?”

“Yes,” says Lorellina.

“Then go.
Go!
” The Kernel steps back. “They’re coming!”

Still Noble hesitates. He doesn’t understand why he should be hiding in a cupboard if he’s supposed to be running away. Could this be another prison cell? Can the Kernel really be trusted? What if it’s all a trick?

“Come on, Noble!” Yestin cries. He’s already inside the cupboard. And when he asks the Kernel if they should go up or down, Noble suddenly realizes that the tiny room must be some sort of vehicle.

“Up,” the Kernel replies. “Press the
UP
button.” He’s almost shouting because there’s so much commotion from the mob around the corner. Noble decides to join Yestin just as the cupboard door begins to slide shut between them both. Luckily, the princess catches it in time.

“Come on!” she exclaims, throwing herself after Yestin.

Noble follows her across the threshold. Then he swings around to address the Kernel—but there’s no Kernel to be seen.

The door bangs shut on a view of tumbling bodies.

“Come on,” Yestin mutters under his breath. “Come
on
!” He’s jabbing at another wall-mounted button, which is emblazoned with a white arrow. Noble feels the floor lurch. Then the whole room begins to hum.

“What is this?” he demands. “What’s happening?”

“We’re going up,” Yestin informs him.

“Up?” says Noble.

“It’s an elevator. Elevators go up and down.”

Noble doesn’t know what to make of this. He glances uneasily around the room. It’s bobbing as if it’s afloat; there’s a grinding noise and a slight vibration.

“I hope this works,” Yestin remarks hoarsely. His lips are trembling.

“Did you understand what the Kernel said?” Lorellina appeals to Noble. She’s the color of salt. “Do you know what he was talking about?”

Noble shakes his head, then looks down at the token in his hand. Now he has a key
and
a token. Will either of them do him any good?

“We’re taking a message to Mikey’s phone,” Yestin volunteers. “I guess—I guess that means we’ll be uploaded onto it. Maybe.”

“But what does that
mean
?” asks the princess.

Before Yestin can answer, the elevator bounces to a halt. A bell chimes somewhere as the door opens, revealing a lot of grubby, tiled surfaces.

“Wait.” Noble’s arm shoots out to stop Lorellina from advancing. He cautiously pokes his head around the door and scans for any looming threats.

All he can see, however, is a steel gate barring the way to a large room with a curved ceiling.

“
ENTRY TO PLATFORM ONE
,” Yestin quavers. He catches the door, which is trying to shut again. “
PLEASE INSERT TOKEN HERE.”

Noble frowns. “What?”

“Look. See? In the slot.” Yestin points at the complex arrangement of silver bars and skinny metal boxes in front of them. Then he catches sight of Noble’s puzzled expression and blurts out, “Can’t you read?”

“No.”

“Really?”

“What
is
this place?” Lorellina interrupts. She’s peering around at the beige-and-green tiles all over the walls, floor, and ceiling. “Is this Mikey’s phone?”

“I don’t think so.” Yestin’s voice is hushed. “I think
this is just the delivery platform. This is where we catch the Bluetooth connection.”

“How?” Noble queries.

“I’m not sure. But we should probably stick the token in that slot over there.”

So Noble leaves the elevator. With Yestin and the princess in close pursuit, he approaches the nearest slot and inserts his token, as instructed. There’s a dull
clunk
, but the gates don’t open.

“That bar moved.” Yestin points. “I saw it shudder.”

“Give it a push,” Lorellina suggests.

When Noble obeys, the three-pronged gate yields to his pressure, rolling aside to let him pass. Next thing he knows he’s through the gate and standing on a long, narrow platform at the edge of a ditch. An arched ceiling, blotched with damp, indicates that he’s in a very large tunnel. The ditch at his feet contains several metal rails laid on the ground. Each end of the ditch is lost in darkness, swallowed up by a tunnel that continues in both directions.