Tales from Dargo Island: The Complete Trilogy (17 page)

Two days went
by and we still hadn’t found a cure. Champagne was even worse than before. I
visited her every few hours, always running into the father from the other day.
Though he sat with his son every time, he never took his eyes off me. He’d
stopped applying the blue-and-yellow paint, but never washed it off. It had
started to fade, giving him a creepy, undead look.

The red eyes
completed the effect.

Though
Champagne slept through most of my visits, she was awake now. “Why so sad,
Sugar Plum?”

I gladly looked
away from the angry father and smiled down at her. “I hate seeing you like
this.”

“It’s no picnic
for me either. But I don’t feel as bad as I did the other day.”

Nearly every
surface of skin was covered in dark veins. The bartender’s face had been
covered with paint so I couldn’t tell what he looked like when he died, but I
feared it was something like this.

“Aneela’s
doctors are trying to reverse-engineer a cure using some of the birds,” I told
Champagne. “We should have one very soon.”

“Thanks for
that, Sugar Honey. That makes me feel a little better.”

I didn’t know
whether or not we were close to a cure, but I wanted her to feel better,
however I could. She could probably read from my emotions that I was deceiving
her.

“I’m scared,
Daddy,” I heard a tiny voice say. I looked up and saw the angry dad look down
at his sick son.

“I’m scared too,
baby.” Tears spilled down his faded cheeks. “The queen is doing all she can to
take care of you.”

“He’s lying,”
Champagne whispered to me. “He doesn’t believe the queen is doing enough. Help
me up. Take me over there.”

“Why?”

“I want to try
something.”

I helped her
up. She’d lost so much weight and energy that she couldn’t support herself. Her
legs were nothing but skin and bone. I carried her over to the father and son;
she weighed next to nothing.

Angry Dad
stared at us as I sat Champagne down in a chair in front of him. “What do you
want?” he asked.

“To help soothe
his fear,” she replied. “May I?” She held her hands up. He stared at them for a
moment before nodding.

She placed a
hand on the boy’s chest, another on his forehead. His skin was completely covered
in veins. Champagne closed her eyes and smiled. The boy smiled as well.

“Wow!” he said,
looking at something we couldn’t see. “That looks so cool.”

“What does,
son?”

“The whales.
They’re swimming through space. I’m riding one. We’re passing Saturn.”

Angry Dad cried
more. The boy looked around, his eyes seeing all sorts of amazing things. He
looked happier than he had in days. Champagne took her hands away and nodded to
me. I carried her back to her bed, where she died moments later.

*
 
*
 
*

We held a
funeral for Champagne and others who died sooner than expected. Most of them
were children and elderly islanders—six people in all. Everyone else had at
least three or four days left. Something had to be done.

At the mass
funeral, Angry Dad walked up to Aneela. “My son is among the dead. You let him
die to save a world we are not even a part of. How could you?”

Aneela didn’t
reply. She stared at him, trying not to cry. He walked away without another
word.

“He’s right,”
Aneela said quietly.

“No he isn’t,”
Astrid said.

“I’m letting my
people die in order to protect people I’ve never met. Nearly half the people
infected are now dead. Am I supposed to let the others die and then try to move
on? We have a cure.”

“It’s not a
cure,” I said. “It’s entrapment, or extortion, or something.”

Aneela stared
at me for a moment, and then nodded and walked away. I wasn’t sure if I’d
convinced her.

After the
funerals, I hopped on the train and rode to Dallas. The trip took “five minutes,”
though I’m sure it really took significantly longer. I wondered how long the
train would last now that Rockne was gone. It seemed to hold up well.

When I got to
the station in Dallas, I took a cab to my parents’ house. After watching so
many people die so quickly, I missed my family more than ever.

The cab driver
coughed a lot on the way to the house, so much that I worried he would
accidentally crash. He dropped me off in Fort Worth. I had a key for the front
door, but since I didn’t live here anymore I decided to ring the doorbell.

My dad answered
and seemed happy to see me. He was like an older twin; we had the same nose and
ears.

*
 
*
 
*

I sat in the
living room with my parents. We talked about things, though I didn’t mention
the plague on the island.

“Estevan’s been
here a lot,” Dad said. “He’s good people.”

“He seems wiser
than his years,” Mom added. “Like an old soul. You two used to be inseparable
as kids. You played every day.”

“I get it,” I
said. “He’s the son you never had.”

I regretted it
the moment I said it. My parents grew quiet.

“I’m sorry,” I
said. “I didn’t mean it like that. I love him too. He’s a great friend.”

“Why don’t you
call him over and we can have dinner?” Mom suggested.

I called him
and he said he’d be there in “no time.”

When he got
here and I answered the door, I nearly passed out from shock.

Dark veins were
starting to appear on his right hand.

*
 
*
 
*

“You wouldn’t
believe it,” he told me on the front porch. I didn’t want my parents hearing
our conversation. “On the way back from the island, I saw a bunch of red birds
under my seat. One of them pecked my thumb when I tried to pet it. Now I’m
sick. I didn’t feel bad until today.”

I pinched the
bridge of my nose and sighed. I told him about the birds carrying the plague,
since I’d left that out earlier.

“Oh,” he
replied. “That sucks.”

“What happened
to the birds after you got to Dallas?”

“They flew out
of the train.”

“How many were
there?”

“Five or six, I
think. Dad and I saw on the news right before I came here that a lot of people
in Dallas are sick.”

I started
breathing heavily, feeling dizzy. I had only days to find a cure before my best
friend died. I honestly didn’t know what to do.

“Go with me to
the island,” I said. “I have a plan, but I need you to be with me on the island.
Okay?”

“Okay, bud,”
Estevan said. I knew he could sense the worry—and possible lie—in my voice, but
didn’t mention it.

Estevan rode
back with me to Dargo Island. The horse I’d ridden to the station was waiting
for me when we got there. I rode home and asked Shae to keep an eye on Estevan,
which she gladly agreed to do.

Astrid was Up
There, visiting Nalke, so I rode to the palace to check on the status of the
cure. I was still running on the adrenaline from the shock of finding my
friend—and possibly all of Dallas—sick with the plague. Otherwise, I would be
wasting away my youth with sleep.

The news at the
palace wasn’t good. Aneela’s doctors were no closer to finding a cure than they
were days ago. I told her that I brought Estevan to the island, and she was
okay with it. Though, the news that my friend was also sick only made her feel
more guilty.

“What’s on your
mind?” she asked me.

I must’ve
looked troubled, though I tried to hide it. We walked through the grand
corridors of the palace, occasionally passing soldiers. The rest of the island
was asleep. “I was thinking about what Dargonius said when we first met him. He
mentioned the crystal in the chamber, where the birds were trapped. How could
he have possibly known about that?”

“Someone told
him?” she guessed.

“How? The
island was hidden. Plus, the island reappeared when the crystal was taken out
of that chamber. It doesn’t add up.”

“And what about
the body?” she asked me. “We still haven’t figured out who died in the
chamber.”

“Where is the
body?”

Aneela took me
to a palace-version of a morgue. The dead Dargons had been prepared for burial
here.

The mystery
skeleton was on a table in the middle of the room. Someone was standing next to
it, his back to us.

“This island
has taken so much away from me,” Angry Dad said. I recognized his voice.

“What are you
doing here, Andor?” Aneela asked.

He turned to
us. “I know who this is.” He indicated the skeleton. “He was my
great-grandfather.”

“How do you
know that?” I asked.

He indicated the
back of the skull, and then pointed to his own. “A genetic family trait. Our
skulls curve inward.”

“Why was he in
that chamber?” Aneela asked.

“My grandfather
told my father, who told me, that Great-Grandfather planned to release
Dargonius from his prison. Great-Grandfather didn’t care about the rest of the
world—this island was his home—and he didn’t agree with Rockne’s decision to
hinder his plans. I don’t know what happened after that.”

“Thank you for
telling us,” Aneela said quietly.

Before she
could say anything else, Andor spun around and pointed a gun at her face. “Take
me to the key,” he said.

“No.”

He hit her in
the face with the gun and she collapsed. He pointed it at her head and said to
me, “Take me to the key.”

“What are you
doing?” I asked.

“We’re going to
finish what my family started. We’re going to release Dargonius.”

A large soldier
walked into the room, surveying the scene.

“Help us!” I
screamed at him.

He looked at me
and smiled. “I think not.”

Andor continued
to point the gun at Aneela. “Maleeko,” he said to the soldier, “go with him to
get the key.” To me, he said, “If you try anything, I’ll kill her.”

“Fine. I’ll get
it. But you have to take me with you.”

“Why’s that?”

“There are
certain things you have to get through to get to the prison. If you want to get
through them, you’ll need me.”

He nodded.
“Fine.”

*
 
*
 
*

Maleeko and I
rowed a small boat to the second island while Andor “supervised.” We hit the
shore and pulled the boat out of the water. I walked in front of them, up the
grassy hill. When we reached the giant rock door, Andor pulled me back.

There was a
guard posted at the opening.

“Oops,” I said
with a grin.

“Not as big a
problem as you might think,” Andor said, pushing me forward again.

The guard saw
us and stiffened, but then he relaxed and said, “Josh, what are you doing here?
Where’s the queen?”

Andor chuckled.
“She’s coming.” Maleeko shot the guard.

“How many
people do you have on your side?” I asked Andor, looking at his murderous
friend. I couldn’t believe what was happening.

“Not as many as
I should. A lot of people aren’t happy with the way Queen Aneela is handling
the plague, but none of them are willing to do anything about it. Why let our
people die for the fear that Dargonius
might
attack the rest of the
world?”

Maleeko put the
key in the indention now. The door opened.

“Haven’t you
heard?” I asked Andor, though I knew he hadn’t. “The plague is already on the
mainland.”

We were heading
down the staircase when Andor pulled me to a sharp halt. “Then why are we even
discussing this? If it’s already done…”

He pushed me
and I tripped down the rest of the stairs. He picked me up and shoved me into
the closed prison chamber. I read the words that appeared (Andor couldn’t read
them, luckily) and I had to struggle not to fall into the acid pool that
surrounded Dargonius after Andor pushed me through the open door.

“Hello,
Dargonius,” Andor said to the floating figure in the cylinder.

“What is this?”
he asked.

“I’ve come to
set you free. Our people are dying. I don’t care for the rest of the world,
which I’ve just learned is already suffering the plague. If I set you free,
will you cure us?”

Dargonius
stared at us. At least, I think he was staring at us. It was hard to tell,
considering he was made of cyan-colored dust. “I will cure everyone on this
island only.”

“Good enough.
How do we release you?”

“I must possess
a living person.”

Andor and his
friend looked at each other. “Do you have a preference?” Andor asked Dargonius.

The figure
looked straight at me. “This boy intrigues me. What are you?” he asked me.

I didn’t answer
at first. Andor nudged me again, and I was truly getting tired of that. “I’m a
form of incubus!” I yelled angrily. “I can suck the life out of people.”

“Ah,” Dargonius
said. “That sounds like an interesting power.”

“Rockne said
the same thing before I killed him.”

Dargonius
laughed. “You killed the all-powerful Rockne? Yes, I think you will do nicely.
I choose him,” he told Andor.

Andor, in
return, nodded and looked around the chamber. “How do we get to you?”

“Isn’t it
obvious? Someone has to come over and open the cylinder.”

“Through the
pool?”

“Yes.”

“It’s filled
with acid,” I said.

Andor and his
partner looked at each other. “I’ll do it,” said Maleeko. “For the sake of the
island.”

“Thank you,
Maleeko,” Andor said, clapping his friend on his massive shoulder.

Maleeko stepped
into the pool and began screaming at once. He walked quickly toward the
cylinder. As he took wide steps, I saw his legs as they left the black water.
They were nothing but bone and torn muscles. The skin was gone.

He reached the
cylinder and started pounding on it, trying to find an opening. “Where is it?”
Maleeko screamed. He was getting weaker. I couldn’t stand watching him die, so
I turned away.

He kept
screaming for only a few more seconds. Then I heard nothing at all except a
small splash. When I looked again, I didn’t see him.

An opening in
the cylinder appeared.

“A sacrifice in
the Black Pool was required,” Dargonius said. “Rockne had a dark sense of
humor.”

I wanted to
throw up.

Dargonius was
free.

He soared
across the Black Pool, toward me.