The Passage to Mythrin 2-Book Bundle (35 page)

“You've waited long enough.” Mr. Manning smiled at the crowd. “And the winner is …”

“No, wait!” Simon yelled again, throwing himself forward. “Everybody's got to get away!” He climbed up onto the platform and scrambled to his feet. “There's danger!” But before he was halfway through the word “danger,” the other two football players took him gently, each by an arm, and turned him around and lowered him to the ground.

Some people were laughing at him, some were jeering. “Simon Hammer! Shame on you!” “Sore loser!” “Get
out
, Simon!”

Mr. Manning gave him a stern head shake. Then back to the mike: “And the winner
is …
”

He never got to finish. At that moment, the platform tilted, the bugler yelled and leaped off, Mr. Manning flailed his arms to keep his balance, the mike toppled into the crowd, and the football players sat down and slumped together like four oversized stuffed dolls. The Hec Manning Trophy dropped with a clang.

The three punks burst out from under. Mr. Manning fell to his knees and reached for the trophy, but one punk elbowed him aside. Another grabbed the trophy. He hoisted it as the other two flanked him, and away they ran.

Everybody yelled. Everybody ran. Ty skimmed nearly off the ground. Pier dropped from the chestnut tree (
So that's where she'd hidden!
) and threw herself into
the chase. Oscar kept stopping to take pictures. Simon stood staring around. “Which way did they go?”

“That way.” Ike pointed north, to McNairn Avenue.

“I thought they headed west, but I couldn't really see.”

Horns blared on Queen Street, southward.

When Ike and Simon reached the spot, they found traffic jams on both sides. Two punks sat dazed in the middle of the road. The third, the blond one, was missing. So was the trophy.

Within two minutes, this stretch of Queen Street was almost as crowded as the games field had been. The police were there right away and kneeling down beside the two punks. They asked questions, then Constable Nader looked at her partner and shook her head.

Oscar came lumbering up. He took some pictures, then got down on the pavement with the punks, and in a minute Celeste was there, and Mr. Manning, and soon there was a wall of people around them.

Ty pushed out of the crowd, followed by Amelia. “They will find out nothing that way,” Ty said. “Their minds are torn.”

“Their minds.” Amelia looked sick and pale. “Who would do a thing like that?”

“Who
could
do it?” Simon looked at Ty.

The amber eyes flashed at him. “They gave me their names! Jeff and Xenon. After that could I hurt them?”

“Then who?”

“Did you not see Zephrinarrinaden? Perhaps not. I was not sure of him myself until almost the last minute.”

“Zeph … who?” Ike put in. “You mean, that's the other dragon? The big, grey guy Dad couldn't photograph? Why does that happen, anyway? Is it —”

Ty set a hand on Ike's head and dug his nails in just a little. Ike snapped his mouth shut.

“He has the Bane,” Ty hissed. “And I know what he will do with it. He will take it back to Mythrin himself, all for his own glory. And he will kill Erwin in the doing! I must stop him!”

Amelia grabbed his arm. “But how can he? The window's gone by now! No way he can get to the gate!”

“Is there another?” Ike asked eagerly.

“Who knows?” Ty darted across the intersection and headed south on Dunning Street. Amelia raced to catch up.

“Aha! I get it!” Ike stared after them. “If the gate's there, he can get to it, no problem. Even if there's no stained-glass window. 'Cause he can fly.”

“And so can Zeph.”

“Yes, but why would Zeph mess with the punks? Why not just grab it and go?”

“Maybe he can't,” Simon said thoughtfully. “It's an anti-dragon weapon. Maybe that's why he used those punks to steal it.” He had a very bad feeling about this Zeph person. He remembered the shining eyes in the dark under the platform.

“You mean, he … sort of controlled their minds?”

“Not just ‘sort of.' And if Ty's right, he plans to take Erwin
and
the Prism back to Mythrin. He'll use the guy like, well …”

“Like wearing oven mitts to hold a hot pan,” Ike finished. He made a sick face.

Simon thought of the way the two punks had looked, sprawled there dull-eyed, as if there was nobody home inside. What would happen to the third — Erwin — after he'd been under the dragon's claw for a while?

“Dragons are like that,” Pier spoke up suddenly at Simon's elbow. “With fire or teeth or eyes or speech, they will destroy if you let them near.”

“You seem awfully calm about this,” Simon growled. “Don't you care about your precious Prism Blade?”

“Of course I do.” Her eyes flicked from face to face in the crowd, alert for danger.

“At least Ty's trying to get it back,” Ike said.

“Let him try.” Pier turned away, but not before Simon saw a look of satisfaction flash across her face. He got it.

“Ike, you're the fastest. Quick! Run and stop Ty and Ammy before they get to the library!”

For once, Ike didn't ask questions. He just ran.

Simon looked at Pier. She scowled back at him. “Why?”

“The Prism didn't go that way, did it? You can feel it. Zeph isn't heading for the gate at all. That's why you're not worried yet.”

“We could have been rid of those two if not for you.”

“Pier, don't you see? They could help!”

“No! Not the dragon.”

“But, Pier —”

“It's a dragon!” she spat. “It means death to me and mine. To you too, maybe. Can't you see? Has it got into your head?” She backed away.

“Pier, wait!”

But she was off again. Simon dashed after her. Three strides, and he ran smack against something and bounced off. Big hands grabbed him by the arms before he could fall, and held on. Pier slipped away through the crowd like a fox in a forest.

“Whoa!” Oscar said. “Cool it just a minute.” He held Simon out at arm's length. “You knew something was going to happen back there, didn't you? That was you climbing on the platform. How'd you know?”

“Excellent question,” said Mr. Manning, over his shoulder.

It took a good five minutes for Simon to explain, in a way they would believe, why he'd been underneath the platform just then, and what he saw there. He was looking for Pier, and he saw … these guys. He couldn't explain why they spooked him. “There was just something about them, sitting under there. And, um, I think that grey guy was with them. I just got a bad feeling. I thought they must be planning something.”

Oscar studied him, and nodded slowly. Mr. Manning shook his head in despair. “It's irreplaceable,” he said.

Pier watched the shadow float across the games field under an empty sky. She held her breath. The only people on the field now were the clean-up crew. She thought of calling out to warn them, but guessed they wouldn't pay attention or believe, even if they did hear her.

From her hiding place in the chestnut tree next to the high school, she had already seen a cat and a couple of squirrels vanish as they scampered in panic across the grass. They were just gone, snapped up into thin air. Animals always knew when a dragon was near, but often that didn't save them.

But the cleaners were safe, most likely. The beast probably wouldn't grab a person, she thought. Even if it was that hungry, it wouldn't want the fuss. It seemed to want to keep things quiet.

The first time she'd felt the dragon above she had raised her baffle spell, but then she realized it was not hunting her.

And then, when the Prism Blade had snuffed out like a candle in her mind — what a terrible moment that was! She thought, of course, that it was gone, that the dragon had taken it back through the gate in the air. But she soon knew that the dragon was still here, and so was the other dragon, and dragon-friend Amelia, too.

She knew then what must have happened. For reasons that were plain as day once you thought a little, the grey dragon was not able to use that gate they'd all come in by, the one that was now high in the air. Even though it could fly. So it was crisscrossing the town, up and down and back and forth, searching for another gate. And lunching.

Meantime, it had hidden the Prism behind an illusion, the same way it had hidden the three boys when they stole the trophy and carried it off. But no illusion could last forever, especially if you were working others at the same time. They all took energy.

She wondered how the beast stayed invisible as it flew. Was that another illusion, or a kind of shape-shifting, or a spell like her baffle spell? This dragon must be very strong.

Pier wished it would show itself. A visible dragon was bound to cause an uproar, even among these know-nothing people. Some might shoot at it, and they had stronger weapons than arbalests. They could explode the beast into a million pieces.
Yes!

She thought of the terrible scenes she had watched in the picture boxes this morning. Humans fighting other humans — horrible! — and using machines to throw dragon fire at each other. Well, now for once they could use their weapons in the right way.

But only Simon seemed to want to do the right thing. He was just confused about what was right. Poor Simon.

She felt guilty at hiding from him. She'd seen him plodding across the town with Ike, looking, calling. Whenever he came near she put up her baffle and stayed quiet. He was kind, but if she found the Prism Blade and he knew it, he would try to make her share it with Amelia. He just didn't understand.

But Simon was the least of her worries. The dragon had been skimming over the town for three hours now. At any moment it might find the gate in the meadow
behind that house, and then it would go and get the boy and the Prism and soon after that it would be gone. She had to be alert for the moment when it took off the illusion and the Prism showed itself again. And then she would have to move like the wind.

“If he can do it, I can too!” Ty snarled at the sky, where they had just seen a pigeon disappear. A single, grey feather floated down past them and lighted on the grass at the base of Founders Tower.

Ty and Amelia were leaning out at the top of the tower. They had gone there to see if they could spot Zephrinarrinaden, because the stone tower on top of the hill in Founders Park was the highest point in Dunstone. The town lay below them, hazy and golden in the evening sunshine.

“Sure, you can do it,” Amelia said. “But, uh, isn't Zeph a lot older? I mean, he's had years and years to get good at flying and eating and being invisible all at the same time. And you're like, how old?”

“Old enough!”

“Sure. Okay.” She never had been able to get Ty to tell her his age. Maybe his age in dragon years wouldn't tell her much, anyway. But she was almost certain his
age in human years would work out to about fifteen and a half. For some reason, his being not quite grown up was a sore point. It was like that with some human kids, too.

Ty's plan was to fly back and forth over the town, “brushing it with soft fingers of the mind — so soft none will know,” until he found Pier. “I touched her mind once, so I will know if I touch it again.”

One thing was sure: Pier was tuned in to Wayland's Prism. If anyone could find it, she could. So, Ty and Amelia would follow her, and when she found the Prism Blade, they would stop her from taking it back to Mythrin. Simple.

They still hadn't agreed on what to do with the Prism once Amelia had it in her hands. It had to be hidden again, but where? “One thing at a time,” she said. “First, we find Pier.”

But it wouldn't be a good idea for people in Dunstone to see a dragon flying overhead. It didn't matter that no human being on this Earth had seen a real dragon in a thousand years. As soon as they saw Ty they would know exactly what he was. That was why Ty would have to be invisible when he flew, like Zeph.

“We wouldn't be able to search in peace,” Amelia told him. What she was really afraid of was that somebody would get out a hunting rifle, but she didn't tell Ty
that. Any mention of danger, any hint that he should be careful, just made him more reckless.

Like now. “If he can do it, then I can too!” he snapped. And before she could move a muscle to stop him, he set a hand on the chest-high balustrade and vaulted over, fifty feet above the stony ground, and dropped. She shrieked and sprang to the railing, then sagged with relief as he flashed into dragon form halfway down. He swooped up, grinning, wings spread wide.

“Show-off!”

His laughter crackled in her mind.

It was the first time she had seen Ty properly in his true shape. The glimpses by moonlight on Mythrin hadn't told her much. Blue-green, shimmering, with the muscle and swiftness of a lion — but with four, five times the size and power.

Nothing human about him now. Yet even now she wasn't afraid, not deep down.

Watch me!
came his voice in her head. He circled out from the tower.

Amelia knotted her fingers together as his sea-green wings faded slowly to nothing against the hazy sky over Dunstone, then shaded back. Then winked out again. She let out her breath. He was doing it!

Then came an ear-ripping shriek, and Ty slammed into view. He wasn't flying, he was falling. Spiralling
down and down. The trees at the south side of the park gobbled him up.

“This is useless.” Ike dropped onto the concrete rim of the wading pool in front of the town hall. “She can make herself invisible, too. How are we ever going to find her?”

They had walked their feet off and not seen a sign of Pier or Erwin or the trophy. Their last sign of the big, grey dragon had come about twenty minutes ago, at half past six.