Steemjammer: The Deeper Truth (19 page)

“You little imp!” Marteenus growled, spitting out the tooth chip and rushing her.

He lunged but missed. She was incredibly fast as she dashed away. Losing track of her in the darkness, he dodged just in time as another rock came at him, bouncing harmlessly off his thick, kinky hair.

“This is getting tedious,” he said, chasing.

He dove forward and grabbed her hair. She kicked him, hard. Shocked by how much it hurt, he managed to grab her around the waist and pick her up. Finding herself face-to-face with the strange little man, she could only think of one thing to do.

“Ow!” he yelled as she bit him on the nose.

He put her down roughly on her feet near the base of the steps and grabbed her neck.

“If you don’t stop that,” he growled, “I’m going to actually have to hurt you!”

She smiled. What kind of wild child, he wondered, was this? He was so focused on controlling her that he hadn’t noticed a strange flapping sound. When he finally processed what it meant, it was too late.

“AGH!” he screamed.

The cursed penguins! The igloo, he realized, had finally melted, and they’d gotten out. Hearing the girl’s yells, they’d broken into the house. One was actually sliding down the steps on its belly, bouncing but gaining speed. It careened off the floor with a
slap
and sailed through the air, low and fast like an avian cruise missile, and jabbed Marteenus in the thigh with its beak.

The pain was excruciating. Screaming, he dropped the girl and struggled to get the pistol from his pocket. Meanwhile the other penguin came down. Honking and hissing, they pecked him savagely.

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! He missed three times.

“Stop!” shrieked Angelica, who grabbed his arm, causing his next shot to go harmlessly into the wall. BLAM!

“Agh!” he screamed, wondering how birds could be so vicious.

He flung the girl off his arm and shifted. Aiming, he pointed the gun right at the larger penguin’s head. This time, he knew, there was no chance he’d miss.

“NO!” the little girl screamed.

Clenching his teeth, Marteenus squeezed the trigger. CLICK! The big penguin pecked his belly, and the other tore at his coattail. CLICK! CLICK!

“What is wrong with this useless thing!” he shrieked, desperately trying to fire the pistol that had run out of ammunition while the birds pecked him mercilessly. CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! “What have I done to deserve this?”

“You’re a bad man!” Angelica accused fiercely. “That’s why!”

He saw a blurred spinning thing to the side of the little girl’s head, and with a
snap
, she released her sling. Time seemed to slow as he watched a grainy, tan rocklike object fly right at his face.

THWAP! It hit him square on the forehead and would have been fatal had it been a real rock. Angelica, however, had loaded her sling by accident with a groat klonk. Though quite hard, it only stunned him.

Marteenus staggered and stood there for a moment with the strangest expression frozen on his face. Then, he passed out and collapsed to the floor.

“Toory! Clemmie!” Angelica said. “Are you all right?”

They seemed unhurt, so she rushed over and kicked the pistol away from the unconscious man. Facing the verltgaat machine, she felt a surge of panic in her chest. What to do? Could she really make it open a world hole?

“AAIIIY!” a high-pitched voice screamed.

Waverly Norman had awakened to see the purple “space monsters” staring at her. She mercifully passed out again.

***

“RING THE BELLS!” Donell cried, hurling a hardwood dresser down the steps at a pair of Rasmussen agents.

It smashed into them, sending them back, but more were crowding in behind them. Donell no longer cared. Caught up in a battle fury, he felt like his veins ran with liquid fire, like his body had turned into a sort of human boiler, which gave him surges of incredible strength.

“A FIN!” he bellowed, hitting the next Rasmussen to come up the steps with his hammer so hard that the armored man was knocked off his feet.

Behind him, Will hurled a stool, catching another Rasmussen in the head, dazing him. Alfonz threw a chair. For a moment no more came up the steps, but they had another pressing problem in their midst. Around the red-hot steemball the floor kept catching on fire. Cobee, Kate and Jack rushed back and forth from the bathroom, bringing water to douse the flames.

“Och, we’ll all die if it continues like this!” Donell said. “Klazee, can we get to the roof?”

“No good,” Cobee shouted. “Can’t you hear them?”

Now he could. Footsteps thumped on the rafters above, and it seemed the agents up there would find a way through the ceiling soon.

“Where’s Angelica?” Giselle asked desperately. “Did she ever come out?”

“Hey,” said Will, who was looking down, ready to hurl a chair. “They’re leaving.”

Not believing it, Donell turned to look. In fact, the Rasmussen agents were not only leaving, they were running. They dodged and ducked as kitchen knives flew after them, and Gus, who’d been throwing them, raced up the steps.

“Hoyzaa!” Will cheered at the little gnome, who turned and faced him gravely. “Go, Gus!”

“Not me,” he called, “that they run from. Keek!”
Look
!

Will went down enough to look out the open front doorway and see that a large steemwagon had pulled up. A hooded man dressed in black opened the back. An ominous stomping began, which quickly grew louder. Feeling a tinge of fear, Will knew what this meant.

“Shadovecht!” he cried.

Chapter 15

BESET ON ALL SIDES

“Get me a sword!” Clyve hissed in exasperation.

Someone handed him a blade in a scabbard, which he affixed to his belt.

“I’m going down,” he said. “Any steemsuits?”

“Too heavy to keep on board,” the captain replied. “The Shadovecht have arrived. Surely that means all is well.”

“Our men are scattering. Look!”

The captain saw Rasmussen agents scampering out of holes they’d made in the roof. They dropped their weapons and ran in terror, jumping to other rooftops. Seeing something else, he scowled with concern.

“Sir,” he said, “that smoke’s growing by the minute. The house is on fire.”

“All the more reason,” Clyve said, heading to the rope ladder, “to go down. I’m immune to the fear. I’ll keep them from escaping out the top, and if I have to burn to get Zander his prisoner, so be it.”

***

Thick, dark smoke wafted up the stairwell. Will, who stood partway down, ducked to keep from breathing it. Looking back, he saw the cause. Though most of the steemball was still intact, a thin ribbon of molten bronze had cut through the floor and was streaming down, setting the lower floor ablaze.

He scanned through the haze, trying to see what the Shadovecht were doing. Because of the growing fear aura, he sensed them getting closer, and then he thought of the others just up the stairs.

“Someone grab Jack and Kate,” he cried. “Don’t let the fear make them jump out a window!”

Sounds of scuffling and panicked shouts indicated that this was already happening.

“Calm down!” Cobee hollered. “Do you want to get yourselves killed?”

Good, Will thought. At least Cobee wasn’t overwhelmed, and he doubted Tante Klazee would fall prey to the fear aura. Donell and Alfonz, he realized, might break down.

STOMP STOMP STOMP! Through the thickening haze, a dark shape approached the stairs. He backed up the steps as the lead Shadovecht came to a stop. Its face had been painted dark red to resemble dried blood. Looking up with soulless, green glowing eyes, the lids snapped open in its cheeks, revealing the extra pair of red eyes. Will knew it was staring right at him.

Its hand came up with a nozzle, spraying a plume of gas up the steps. Dashing back, Will knew it was some sort of poison, probably meant to put them to sleep. He hadn’t counted on that and feared it was too late, that they’d pass out in moments and be captured.

The gas, however, was flammable, and an ember set it ablaze. Instead of putting them to sleep, a gout of flame roared up the stairwell. It singed Will’s backside but caused him no harm.

At the top of the steps, Donell forced himself to remain in place, his trembling hands turning white as they gripped his hammer’s handle. Alfonz leaned against the wall, averting his eyes in terror.

“Great Maker,” Donell said in prayer. “Steel my heart and burn away all fear.”

“Did it open?” Will cried. “The verltgaat?”

“No,” Tante Klazee shouted from the bathroom.

Turning off the gas, the first Shadovecht began slowly treading up the steps. Will tossed a chair, which only bounced off it. He remembered they had trouble on stairs, but he felt fear growing inside him. This wasn’t caused, he thought, by the aura from the creatures. It was the very real fear that they might all die.

“Steady,” Will said, putting his hand on Donell’s shoulder.

They hurled furniture at the monster, which it easily smashed to bits. Another Shadovecht could be seen behind it. Will realized they had no way to stop them.

“Save yerself,” Donell told Will. “I’ll hold them.”

“You need me,” Will assured him.

“Don’t let them take ye alive, laddie.”

Will couldn’t say anything to that. He wanted to tell Donell it would be all right, but of course that didn’t seem true. There was no handy pit to lure the monster into, and even if they could somehow kill the first one, the other two were close behind.

“Come and get what’s comin’ to ya!” Donell tried to growl but found that his voice, normally strong as a bull’s, was cracking up.

Flames from the dripping, molten metal intensified but didn’t harm the Shadovecht, which slowly trudged up the steps. Will felt his heart sink.

“Out the windows!” he shouted at the others. “Scatter and run!”

“If they capture even one of us,” Giselle yelled, “they’ll force that person to open world holes for them.”

Even if they all got away, Will shuddered, the Raz would be able to dig the Tracium out of the burnt ruins of Tante Klazee’s house, and they’d be able to open verltgaats. Had he failed? Had his enemy actually won? Fighting off waves of despair, he looked back.

“I’m so sorry,” he started to say, but he stopped as something caught his eye.

Hope surged through his body like a cleansing ocean wave. From the open bathroom doorway came a flickering of multi-colored light in the smoky haze. For a moment he feared he was hallucinating, but the dazzling light grew stronger, shifting to a deep purple.

Will pointed. “Run!”

“No,” Donell said, hands trembling so badly he could barely hold his hammer. “Last stand. Right here.”

“The verltgaat! RUN!”

The monster was only four steps away. Its razor claws snapped out, and it was moments from reaching him.

“What are you waiting for?” Angelica screamed from the bathroom doorway. “
Hurry
!”

“Groes Vevardinker!” Tante Klazee said, blinking like she’d just come out of a trance. “We’re saved!”

“Hurry!” Will yelled. “Help them!”

Jack and Kate were so overwhelmed with fear that they couldn’t move. Cobee and Klazee had to shove them through the opened verltgaat. Alfonz gained control of himself and ran toward the large glowing circle.

“Giselle?” Will called anxiously.

She came running from a back bedroom and went through to Beverkenhaas.

“Go on,” Will told his sister and great aunt. “I’m coming.”

The ominous stomping got louder.

“Hurry!” he said.

Angelica ran through the hole, followed by Klazee.

Will turned and saw the Shadovecht at the top of the steps, looking this way and that. It seemed to be processing information before attacking, like the other had done in Beverkenhaas.

Bravely, Donell forced himself to stand in front of it, clasping his hammer, his entire body shaking and racked with fear.

“We’re all through,” Will yelled. “Come on!”

“OCH!” Donell shouted, and he hurled his heavy hammer right at the monster’s face. It smashed out one of the green eyes, which only seemed to irritate it. Will could hear its springs unwinding as it surged forward.

Unable to take any more, Donell turned and ran through the verltgaat. Will heard a mechanical hum coming from the monster and knew that it drew power from its internal system of heavy springs. Seeing him, it charged incredibly fast.

Right then, as it took a step near the steemball, the ton of bronze was overwhelmed by a buildup of internal heat. It had been like an egg, a hard shell with a mostly molten core, and then it rapidly converted to liquid.

Melted bronze flowed across the floor. Confused, the Shadovecht hesitated. The entire top landing and staircase collapsed in a huff of heat and flame. The house blazed away now, and Will realized he only had moments. He rushed into the bathroom and saw the large verltgaat against the wall. He ran through.

***

It took Will a moment to process what had just happened. The heat was suddenly gone, and only a tiny amount of smoke had come through. Angelica, Giselle and Cobee stood with Jack and Kate, assuring them that they were safe. Alfonz trembled. Tante Klazee grabbed a pillar to hold herself up, and Donell bent down to kiss the floor.

“Thank the Great Maker,” he said.

Then, Will saw his sister tug the lever, closing the verltgaat, but something else caught his eye. The ghostly image of Tracium continued to spin above the machine. The intense heat hadn’t destroyed it, and he realized the Rasmussens would now get it.

Turning, he looked through the verltgaat, which hadn’t yet shut. Through the open bathroom doorway, he could see where the steemball had once rested. There, in all improbability, the lump of Tracium hung in mid-air.

“NO!” Angelica screamed as he took a step.

He rushed through, and the verltgaat closed behind him, trapping him in the burning house.

***

Immediately Will dropped to his belly to avoid the hot, churning smoke, and he lost sight of the Tracium. The heat felt like an oven door had been opened. As fast as he could, he crawled forward, hoping to reach the lump of Tracium.

Why, he wondered, was it floating in the air? Was this piece ghostly and intangible, too? If so, how had it been trapped in the bronze, and how could he get it out?

He reached the place where floor and staircase had collapsed and was assaulted by a rush of intense heat. Below him lay a puddle of molten bronze, flame and at least one ruined Shadovecht. Then, he saw it. There, floating in the air just out of his reach, was the piece of Tracium.

“Help me!” a voice surprised him.

He turned to see little Gus coming up behind him, dragging a board. Will picked up the piece of wood, and the Gnome came to his side, studying the situation gravely.

“Very hot,” he said. “You get back, Wilhelmus Steemjammer.”

“But it will burn you, too,” Will objected.

“We are tough. Besides, Gus is your guardian gnome. Let me do this.”

“You could get killed!”

“You hold the board. It’s the only way. Haast!”

Realizing the little Gnome was right, Will slid the board out over the gap toward the Tracium and held his end down with his body. With surprising agility, Gus walked out and grabbed the piece of Tracium.

“It’s cold,” he said, returning along the board, which was smoking and emitting flames.

Reaching the solid floor, Gus handed Will the piece of Tracium. Surprisingly cold, it was very slippery and shot out of his hand, bouncing off the wall. It seemed unaffected by gravity and was heading back toward the blazing stairwell.

Gus grabbed it using even pressure on opposite sides and just managed to get it under control. He came back, and this time Will opened his pocket. The Gnome shoved it inside, and Will buttoned the flap. The smoke, however, engulfed them. Even though he hugged the floor, Will realized it would smother him in seconds, if the heat didn’t bake him first.

“This way,” Gus said. “Vershneelen!”

Gus led him down the hallway. Will crawled past the bathroom and looked in, hoping to see the verltgaat opening, but all was dark. In a back bedroom where the smoke was less, Gus closed the door and pointed at a hole in the ceiling.

“Up,” he said, pointing at a hole that had been knocked through the ceiling. “Get air. When verltgaat opening is, I’ll shout.”

Will looked for a way to climb out, but he felt Gus tugging on him. He looked down.

“Not so loud am I,” Gus confessed, “at shouting. What if you’re not hearing?”

Will looked around frantically for an object the Gnome could bang on, and then he remembered something. His hand went into his pocket, and he found the whistle the man at the toy shop had given him.

“Can you blow this?” he asked.

The Gnome nodded and took the whistle. Climbing on a dresser, Will went up through a hole the Raz agents had made in the ceiling. The attic was too full of smoke, so he climbed out a hole in the roof.

Here, the smoke was bad, too, but enough of it was carried away by the breeze to give him air to breathe. He knelt, holding the edge of the hole to keep from sliding down the slippery slate roof tiles, when a horrifying sight caught his eye. Clyve Rasmussen stood not ten feet away, drawing a glinting steel saber.

“Well, well,” he said with a wicked grin. “Wilhelmus Steemjammer. Just the young man I was hoping to find.”

***

“What was he thinking?” Giselle cried.

“I don’t know,” Angelica said, “but we’ve got to get this thing open again!”

“Then, open it already!”

“I’m trying, but it won’t do anything!”

She shoved the lever into the on position. The carousel spun, and the ghostly image of Tracium could be seen spinning in the correct place.

“Verdoor!” Angelica gasped. “The crystals!”

She pointed at the crystals, which flickered randomly instead of showing geometric shapes in synch with each other. Looking at the control dials, she pointed.

“They zeroed out!” she said. “Quick, where’s Dad’s journal!”

“I’ve got it!” Giselle said, reaching into her dress pocket. “We almost forgot it in Cobee’s bedroom, but I went back for it just in time. Here!”