Behind the Bookcase Page 14

  “All right,” Jeb said, and faced B.B. “Are you ready?”

  B.B. nodded tiredly, turning around so that Jeb could climb onto his back. Sarah waved as they took off, then followed them as quickly as she could on foot. In no time, they melted into the darkness, shadows swallowed by shadows. Sarah put her head down and picked up her pace.

  She thought about all the things that would have to be undone once they had the Undoer. She would have to put Jeb’s face together. Get Edgar out of the Black Iron Prison. Restore the blemmye camp. Give Billy his mouth back. Make B.B. a normal boy again. And, of course, send the sleeping souls back to Penumbra, if indeed Balthazat had really stolen any. The last thing she would undo was her visit to Scotopia. Then she could keep the Undoer and ensure that Balthazat’s power would be incomplete.

  Jeb was right, though: none of them knew how to use the Undoer. Sarah tried to think who could help them with that. She knew that Balthazat certainly wouldn’t tell her, even if she could find out where he was and ask him. Anonimo didn’t know how to use it, even though he had planned to get it. He wasn’t even sure it was real. The only people who would know how to use it, she realized, were those who had used it before. Anonimo had mentioned other kings, like Tantalus and Leedo. Sarah wondered if they were still alive. She supposed that if they were, they would most likely be in the Black Iron Prison, and she shuddered at the thought of going back there again.

  Sarah was thinking so hard about these things that she almost didn’t see the gaping hole in front of her. At the last possible moment, she stopped herself short and pulled back. As she did, she stumbled and started to fall backward. Pinwheeling her arms, she threw herself sideways, along the edge of the hole. Grabbing at the ground, she barely managed to hold on. Carefully, she pulled herself away from the edge. Once she was clear, she climbed back to her feet and turned around. The hole wasn’t just a hole, it was a gigantic canyon of darkness that stretched almost as far as she could see. She would have to follow the edge to find a way around it. She decided to head to her left, toward the Moonlit Sea.

  After ten minutes of following the canyon’s edge, Sarah realized she was way out of line with her original path. This meant that when B.B. returned, he would have a hard time finding her. She decided she should just go back to where she had started. But when she did, she saw a thin line of glowing blue torches in the distance. She couldn’t believe the guards had caught up with her so quickly. She looked around, trying to figure out what she could do to avoid capture. The most obvious answer also seemed to be the most difficult: she had to hide in the black chasm.

  She went to the edge and peered over. What little she could see was very steep. In a few spots, however, she saw enough rocky outcroppings to make her believe she could climb down and bury herself in the shadows until the guards had passed. She took one last glance over her shoulder to make sure they weren’t close enough to see her, then climbed into the chasm, lowering herself into the shadows as carefully as she could.

  In a few moments, she heard the guards tramping over the black sand, kicking some of it over the edge. When they passed Sarah, the sand fell on her like stinging rain. Some of it got into her eyes, and she rubbed them furiously. Just when she thought it couldn’t get any worse, some of the sand got into her nose and mouth and she felt a violent sneeze clawing its way out of her. Before she could stop it, the sneeze exploded from her. She froze.

  So did the guards.

  Sarah dared herself to look up. She saw the glow of their torches just over the chasm’s edge and heard several of the creatures speaking in harsh whispers. Then one of them called for quiet.

  The glow brightened as they all moved toward the edge in a line and looked down. They lowered their torches slowly, and Sarah watched in terror as the shadows around her melted away.

  When at last the cold blue light reached her, she could think of nothing else to do but scream at the top of her lungs. To her surprise, the piercing shriek she let out so frightened the guards that the one nearest to her stumbled and fell. He dropped his torch as he made a frantic attempt to grab on to something—anything—but he missed, and as he plummeted into the pit, Sarah looked down. The chasm was so dark that he vanished from sight almost instantly. His torch, however, continued glowing even as it got smaller and smaller. Sarah was still screaming when she faced the edge again.

  The other guards were crowding in, pointing at Sarah and shouting. Several of them began working together, holding on to each other to form a chain so they could reach her. Sarah didn’t know which way to go. She screamed yet again, and just then, a black shape appeared, knocking into the guard at the top of the chain, toppling him over. The rest went with him, a half-dozen guards in all, tumbling down the way the first one had gone. Sarah flattened herself against the chasm wall as they whooshed past her.

  She heard more confused shouts above, and when she looked up she saw the black shape gliding along the edge of the chasm, knocking the guards over like dominoes. As the shape passed directly overhead, she saw that it was B.B., with Jeb hanging on underneath, using his feet to kick the guards in.

  As soon as it was clear, Sarah pulled herself up. She looked around—they had gotten every guard but one. He was running away from the chasm, back the way he had come. B.B. dropped Jeb and swerved sharply, tearing after the fleeing guard. The cyclops looked over his shoulder and, when he saw B.B. bearing down on him, threw his torch down and ran faster. But B.B. was too fast, and he snatched the guard up in his claws and lifted him off the ground. Sarah watched as B.B. flew toward the chasm, obviously planning to drop the guard in with the others.

  “Wait!” Sarah shouted. “Don’t drop him in. We need him!”

  Jeb grabbed Sarah. “Are you crazy? What are you talking about? I found the Undoer.”

  “And maybe he can help us with it.”

  Jeb’s eyes widened and he shouted with Sarah, “Stop, B.B.! Don’t drop him in!”

  B.B. was already over the chasm when he banked and flew back toward them, the guard still in his claws. He dropped the guard on the ground next to them, then landed and started waddling back.

  The one-eyed creature shook with fear. “Please don’t hurt me,” he said, his voice weak and thin.

  “We won’t,” Sarah said, “if you help us.”

  “Anything,” the guard said.

  “Do you know where we can find Tantalus or Leedo?”

  The guard’s one eye widened.

  “Who are they?” Jeb asked.

  “Kings before Balthazat,” Sarah said. “They know how to use the Undoer.” Jeb smiled and Sarah looked back at the guard.

  But he was gone.

  Sarah heard something at her back, and when she turned around, she saw the guard running toward the chasm edge. “Stop him, B.B.!” she shouted.

  B.B. flapped his wings and took off, but not before the guard reached the edge and jumped. As the creature vanished from sight, B.B. dove after him. Sarah heard B.B. squealing, using his radar to find the falling guard in the dark. She held her breath until she couldn’t hold it anymore. When she finally let it out, B.B. burst from the chasm, the guard squirming in his claws. Sarah and Jeb jumped for joy as he brought the guard back to them and dropped him on the ground.

  Sarah looked at Jeb. “So let’s see it,” she said. Jeb reached into his pocket. He took out the Undoer and held it up. It was just as he had described: like a pen made of glass. Only, it was far more beautiful than Sarah had expected. Even in the darkness it seemed to glow with a faintly shifting purple light. Sarah took it from Jeb’s hand and showed it to the guard.

  “Do you know what this is?” she asked.

  The guard’s lips trembled as he nodded.

  “Tell me,” Sarah said.

  “The … the Undoer,” said the guard, his voice a mere whisper.

  Sarah nodded. “That’s right. And we intend to use it so that Balthazat will be powerless again. That’s why we need Tantalus or Leedo. They know how to use it.”
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  “That’s true,” the guard said as he got to his feet and dusted himself off. “But talking to them won’t do any good.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because they can’t answer. Balthazat took their mouths.”

  Sarah’s shoulders sagged.

  “Could they write down how to use it?” Jeb asked.

  The guard shook his head. “Balthazat took their hands, too. That’s the way it is with everyone down there.”

  “Down where?”

  “Where they are: in the bottom of the Black Iron Prison.”

  Sarah grimaced. No wonder the guard was so scared of Balthazat. She didn’t even want to think about being locked up in the dark without a mouth or hands.

  “Oh, well,” Jeb said. “I guess that’s that.”

  “No,” Sarah said, facing Jeb angrily. “It can’t be. We’ve got to think. There must be some other way we can find out how to use it.”

  “You heard him,” Jeb said. “They can’t talk. They can’t write. This whole thing has been hopeless from the beginning. I don’t know why I ever thought anything would come of it. I let you get my hopes up. And now I see the way it really is.”

  Sarah shook her head at Jeb. “You’ve been here too long,” she said.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “You’re giving up too easily,” she said. “Just when I need you the most. That’s not what friends do.”

  Jeb looked away, unable to meet Sarah’s gaze, obviously ashamed. “Are you always this right?”

  “No,” Sarah said. “I just happen to be this time. Now we’ve got to think. There has to be a way we can get what we need from Tantalus and Leedo.” Sarah closed her eyes and turned the problem over in her head. Then, instead of focusing on what the former kings couldn’t do, she decided to think about what they could do. All at once it hit her, and she snapped her fingers. “Wait a second,” she said. “Can they think?”

  “What?” Jeb said, completely confused.

  She grabbed the guard. “Can they think?”

  “I don’t know,” the guard said. “I guess so.”

  She released him and faced Jeb and B.B. “That’s it. All we need to do is have them think about how to use the Undoer.”

  “And what good will that do?”

  “Because we’ll have Anonimo with us,” she said. “He can read minds, remember?” Jeb and B.B. smiled. She told B.B. to go to the blemmye camp and tell Anonimo and Billy what had happened. “Then lead them back to the Black Iron Prison,” Sarah said. “We should get there about the same time you do.”

  B.B. nodded and took off.

  Sarah pushed the guard forward, then grabbed Jeb’s hand and pulled him into the dark.

  Sarah was right: they all reached the Black Iron Prison at almost the same time. She was glad to see Anonimo and B.B., but she was especially glad to see Billy, and she hugged him tightly before she realized what she was doing. He pushed her away, then tapped Anonimo on the shoulder and pointed at his own head.

  Anonimo laughed. “He says, ‘Yuck. What’s wrong with you?’ ”

  Sarah smiled. She faced Billy and shrugged. “I guess I’m actually glad to see you,” she said. “As hard as that is to believe.”

  Anonimo read Billy’s mind again, then said: “He says, ‘Whatever.’ ”

  “Not much longer now,” she whispered to him, “and you’ll have your mouth back. I promise.” He nodded his understanding.

  Sarah faced the guard. “Will you have any problem getting us in there?”

  “No,” the guard said. “I’m the only one left now.” And with that, he turned and led them through the gate, into the prison.

  Inside, the halls glowed with light from rows of cold-fire torches. The guard wound through a series of narrowing passages and down steep staircases until at last he stopped outside a tall thin door.

  “This is it,” he said. “The bottom. They’re all in there.”

  “Okay,” Sarah said. “Open it up.”

  The guard nodded and took a key from around his neck. He slipped it into the lock and twisted it. The lock opened with a clunk. He pulled the handle and the door swung open with a shrieking creak. Rust dust floated down, glinting in the blue light like copper snow. Stale air wafted out at them from the darkness beyond.

  Behind her, Anonimo moaned, as if in pain.

  “What is it?” Sarah asked.

  “So much suffering in there,” he said. “I don’t think I can go in. Not unless some of them calm themselves.”

  Sarah faced the darkness and shuddered. She was glad she couldn’t read minds the way Anonimo could.

  “I’ll go in and bring them out,” she said. She motioned for the guard to get a torch and come with her. “Do you know their names?” she asked him.

  The guard shook his head. “No. I’ve only ever been in there once. That was enough.”

  “Give me the torch, then,” Sarah said.

  “I’ll do it,” a voice said, and Sarah whirled around to find Edgar standing in the doorway.

  She couldn’t believe her eyes. Until now, she had really been having some doubts about whether or not they could make this work. Seeing Edgar, though, changed that. Now that he was here, she was sure they could do it. “Edgar,” she said. “This is where they took you?”

  Edgar nodded. “Once they found out you were missing, they tried to make me tell where you had gone. When I refused, they put me in here.”

  Sarah smiled and hugged him. “Thank you,” she said. “For not telling.”

  “No,” Edgar said. “Thank you. For coming to my rescue. I’m afraid they had in mind to take my mouth after all.” He reached up and took a torch down from the wall. “So who are you looking for?”

  “Tantalus,” Jeb said.

  “Or Leedo,” Sarah added.

  Edgar nodded and stepped back through the door. It looked to Sarah as if he were being swallowed by an iron giant’s gaping toothless mouth.

  They all waited in breathless silence, watching the dark. Sarah heard Edgar moving about, calling out for Tantalus and Leedo. Every so often, she saw his torch flicker past. At last he emerged, dragging with him a poor pale creature with no mouth and no hands. His clothes were tattered and moth-eaten. His gray hair and bushy beard were like silver wire. His skin was so pale and pasty that Sarah thought it looked like cooked spaghetti. She wondered how long he had been in there, then decided she didn’t want to know. He blinked at the light and stared at them all.

  “I’m fairly certain this is Leedo,” Edgar said.

  The old man nodded.

  Sarah stepped closer to him. “It’s okay,” she said. “We’re here to help you.”

  Leedo looked at her suspiciously, between darting glances at the others in the corridor.

  Sarah took the Undoer from her pocket and held it up. “Do you see this?”

  Leedo’s eyes widened and he reached for it reflexively. Obviously he had forgotten that he didn’t have hands. When he saw the stumps, he froze and stared at them. After a moment, he dropped his arms to his side and bowed his head.

  “Help me to use this and I’ll give you your hands back,” Sarah said.

  Leedo looked at her and pointed at his mouthless face with one handless stump.

  “I know,” Sarah said. She motioned for Anonimo to come forward. “This is Anonimo,” she continued. “He’s a blemmye. He can hear what you’re thinking.”

  Leedo lunged for Anonimo, staring him in the eyes, obviously thinking at him as hard as he could.

  Anonimo stumbled backward. “Yes, yes,” he said. “It’s true. I can read minds and we are here to help you. Now calm down.”

  Leedo backed away and nodded.

  “Clearly and carefully,” Sarah told him, “I need you to tell Anonimo how to use the Undoer. Just think it through step by step.”

  Leedo nodded slowly and closed his eyes. His breathing was shallow and rapid.

  Anonimo took a deep breath and bowed his head in conce
ntration, listening intently. Then, very quietly, he said, “First, you must clear your mind. Then you must picture exactly what it is you want to undo. Then, when you are sure you are thinking of nothing else, say the following words:

  “What has been done

  I now undo

  By counting two one

  And then one two.”

  Sarah felt the Undoer growing warmer and she held it up. The purple light inside wasn’t faint anymore. It had grown in strength, as if it was closer to the surface than it had been before.

  Leedo snapped his eyes open and held his stumps out to Sarah.

  “Hold on,” she said. “First things first.” Sarah turned away from Leedo and went to her brother. She knelt in front of him and closed her eyes. Concentrating as hard as she could on seeing his mouth back on his face, she lifted the Undoer and said:

  “What has been done

  I now undo

  By counting two one

  And then one two.”

  Sarah was terrified. What if the Undoer hadn’t worked? What if she had somehow done it wrong? She sucked in a deep breath and slowly opened her eyes.

  “You did it, Sarah!” Billy said. “You really did it!”

  Sarah couldn’t believe it. The Undoer had worked! Billy’s mouth was back on his face and he was talking with it.

  “I’m talking,” Billy said. “I’m actually talking!”

  Sarah hugged her brother tightly. And this time, he hugged her back. He didn’t say “Yuck” or “What’s wrong with you?” And Sarah didn’t mind at all.

  She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to find Jeb staring at her with a hungry look in his eye.

  Sarah smiled at him. Again she closed her eyes and concentrated. Again she said the words, and again she felt the Undoer get warmer.