Black Knight (36 page)

Sam hesitates. “I don’t want to go.”

“You don’t have a choice!” Kyle snaps. “We don’t know where Viper and Nordra are, but we have to assume they’re close. We have to stick together. It’s the only way we stand a chance of fighting them off.”

Sam turns to me and points to Marc. “He’s in no condition to hike, not at this altitude. And Li’s in bad shape. She’s hardly said a word all day. If you two are serious about going to the wall, then I can stay behind and guard them. I can keep an eye on Jelanda as well. Someone has to—you can’t take them all with you.”

Sam has his eyes fixed on me, waiting for my approval. He must know I have doubts about him. He may even suspect I’ve heard about his history with his murdered boyfriend.

My gut is still too twisted in knots to tell me whether I can trust him or not, but what he says makes sense. Marc can’t travel and Li’s a mess. At least one witch has to remain behind.

If
we are determined to study the wall.

It’s a big if. Our first priority is survival and we’re stronger if we stick together. But what’s the point of remaining in the cave? Sure, it can provide shelter for the night. But then what? Are we going to huddle here forever and wait for Nordra and Viper and the ghosts to attack?

No, I have to make a choice. A tough choice.

“Kyle and I will go to the wall,” I say. “Sam and Chad will stay here and keep an eye out for you know who. At the first sign of trouble scream at the top of your lungs. Kyle and I will be traveling light and we’ll be able to get back here in a hurry.”

Chad raises his arm like he’s in class. “Excuse me, Jessie, I have a suggestion.”

“Don’t say it,” I warn.

Chad continues. “I respect you’re in charge and all that but you have to take me. This wall—it’s obviously a phenomenon mankind’s never run into before. And by ‘mankind’ I’m including witches, too. It’s an enigma and I’m the only scientist in this group who’s been trained to study enigmas. You need me.”

Kyle glances at me. “He might be useful.”

I’m a far from objective leader. I don’t want to take Chad because I want him to stay and keep an eye on Sam, to make sure he doesn’t harm Li or Marc. Yet, if Sam is a traitor, he’ll have no trouble overpowering Chad, so in a way leaving Chad behind is an exercise in futility.

Once again paranoia fills the air.

“Fine, you can come,” I say.

* * *

As we hike toward the back of the volcano, what we call the west side, we angle for greater altitude. According to Sam, the wall is higher than the cave. The moon has climbed farther into the sky since we entered the cave, and to our night-adjusted eyes we have all the light we need.

That’s why we can’t understand why we have yet to catch a glimpse of the wall. Granted, Sam told us he didn’t notice it until he stumbled upon it. Yet once he did find it, he realized it stretched for miles, north and south.

Talk about a confusing story.

The volcano’s molten crown continues to throw out streams of red flares, and the guys begin to joke that it’s happy to see us. But the sudden activity continues to haunt me. Besides, I don’t like them talking and tell them to hush.

We hike for half an hour straight, no breaks.

Then we see it. No warning. It’s just there.

It’s tall and dark and at first glance it appears to be massive. There’s no question it stretches for many miles in both directions. I wouldn’t be surprised if it divides the island in half. But I don’t see anything supernatural about it and wonder why it spooked Sam so much.

Until I take a closer look.

From our position on the side of the cinder cone, we should be able to see over the wall, even though it’s far taller than Sam described. Still, we’ve hiked way up and we definitely should be able to see the wide ocean far beyond the western edge of the island, especially in the brilliant glow of the moon. East of us the sea is sparkling like a veritable lunar field.

Yet we can see nothing above and beyond the wall.

We can’t even decide how tall it is. Chad says two hundred feet. Kyle says it’s over four hundred feet. The guys both believe we’re not seeing over it because it’s too tall. Yet we all agree we can see the top of it—sort of. Kyle and I turn to Chad for an answer.

“You’re the science nerd,” Kyle says. “Explain how it’s screwing with our eyesight?”

Chad frowns. “I wish we’d come here during the day. We’d probably spot the problem in a minute. There’s something about the way it reflects light or the angle it’s built at that throws off our sense of perspective.”

“Hate to break it to you, mate,” Kyle says, “but that wall ain’t reflecting no light. It’s swallowing the bloody moonlight whole.”

“I think Kyle’s right,” I say.

Chad holds up a hand. “Let’s not jump to any conclusions. There are plenty of objects in nature that, at first sight, give the wrong impression of what they really are.”

“Name one that’s as big as this fucker,” Kyle says.

“I can’t, not off the top of my head,” Chad says, turning to me. “We have to examine it.”

“Maybe I should go alone,” I say.

“Jessie, this is every scientist’s dream,” Chad pleads. “It’s a genuine enigma. To the naked eye, it makes no sense. But our eyes are only one sense. I need to touch it, I need to examine it.”

I nod. “All right, we’ll go closer, all of us together. But no one lays a hand on it until I say so. Agreed?”

We walk toward it until we’re standing thirty feet away. That would be a first down in football. Stretching our necks back, we have even more trouble figuring out exactly where the top is.

Again, we turn to Chad for an explanation.

“It’s definitely hard to estimate its height. Our main problem is a lack of proper tools. You need a microscope to see germs or a telescope to see galaxies. In the same way, if we just had a long measuring tape . . .”

Kyle interrupts. “Smart boy, we’re stranded on a tropical island. We don’t have any special tools to work with. But I can tell you something—my whole life, I’ve never needed more than my eyes and my wits to tell how tall a building is. What’s so special about this thing that we can’t even guess at a height?”

“Well?” I say finally, when Chad doesn’t answer. But then I realize we might be putting too much pressure on the poor guy. He suddenly takes a step toward it.

“Fair enough,” he says. “Let me at least figure out what it’s made of.”

I grab his arm. “I just told you, no one touches it until I give the okay.”

“At least let me feel for its temperature. I can do that without actually touching it.”

“Fine,” I agree reluctantly.

Chad and I step to within three feet of it. Kyle stays where he is. He says he doesn’t care if it makes him look like a coward, he knows when something isn’t natural. This is from a witch with supernatural powers.

Chad raises his hand, moves his palm toward the surface.

“Careful,” I warn.

Chad brings his palm within three inches and stops. He frowns.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

“It has a normal everyday temperature.”

“Normal is good. Why are you frowning?”

“Because it’s freezing up here. When I said it has a normal everyday temperature, I should have said it’s at room temperature.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I can feel its warmth.”

“How’s that possible?” I ask.

“It must have an internal heat source. Or . . .” Chad doesn’t finish.

“Or what?” I ask.

“It’s not really here. Not in the conventional sense.”

“That doesn’t sound very scientific.”

Chad shrugs. “You wouldn’t say that if you were a student of string theory, which I am. Modern physics believes there are a lot more dimensions than the standard three. In fact, your witch world is proof that physicists are on the right trail. For all we know this wall is the product of a highly developed civilization.”

“We talking aliens here? ’Cause I’m not into aliens.”

“You spoke about how your witch’s Council knows about advanced races that lived here before us. And back in that cave, the drawings clearly showed a depiction of our solar system with an unknown fifth planet.”

“Not following you, mate!” Kyle calls.

“Will you get over here,” I snap.

“Happy where I am!” Kyle replies.

Chad continues. “What I’m saying is that it’s possible that human beings lived on more than one world in our solar system in the past. The idea isn’t as far-fetched as it sounds. There are many signs that Mars had a thick atmosphere and open water in the past. And when it comes to the fifth planet, even the most conservative astronomer will admit the asteroid belt was probably a complete world thousands or millions of years ago.”

“And you’re saying this advanced race of people built this wall?” I say.

Chad nods. “It’s more likely than saying aliens built it.”

“Interesting,” I mutter.

Kyle snorts. “If they did build it, their wall didn’t do the people on the fifth world any good. Since their planet exploded.”

“You’re missing the point,” Chad says. “Whatever this structure is, it’s amazing.”

Kyle grumbles. “Who gives a shit? All I want to know is if we can use it to get off this island.”

“Let me do another test,” Chad says, lifting up his spear. He looks to me for approval.

“You can touch it with the tip as long as you keep as far away from it as you can,” I say.

Chad grips the spear by the end and tries to scrape it against the wall. But the instant the wood touches the dark material, his face goes blank and he stops moving. I immediately shove him aside and he drops the spear and lands on his butt. Kyle runs over as I kneel by Chad’s side.

“What happened?” Chad mumbles.

“You tell us,” I say.

Chad looks around as if surprised at his surroundings.

“How long was I gone?” he asks.

“You didn’t go anywhere,” Kyle says. “You just fell on your ass.”

Chad stares at me. “That makes no sense. I remember doing things. Going places and talking to people.”

“Who? Where?” I demand.

Chad goes to speak and stops. “I’m not sure. But I know I left here and was gone for a while.” He looks around some more. “It’s dark.”

Kyle groans loudly. “Now we know what the wall’s good for. Shorting out your brain. I’ve got pills back home that can do the same thing, only they take a little longer and they give you a lot more pleasure.”

“Can you recall one clear memory?” I ask.

Chad brushes himself off and I help him stand.

“I remember watching TV and a U.S. senator and a Supreme Court justice had just died,” Chad says.

Kyle and I exchange a startled look.

Chad notices our surprise. “What is it?”

“Those events happened in witch world,” I say. “But they haven’t happened in this world yet.” I turn to Kyle. “He definitely experienced witch world. And he didn’t have to die to go there.”

Kyle is suddenly interested. “Are you saying we can reach witch world by using this wall?”

I consider. “That should be impossible. Our real-world bodies can’t physically survive in witch world, at least according to the Council. But clearly the wall’s connected to it. At the very least Chad’s mind went there.” I put my hand on Chad’s shoulder. “You feel all right?”

Chad tries stretching, then grimaces. “Now that you mention it, I’m sore all over, like I just went twelve rounds in a prizefight.” He rubs his temples. “I have a dull headache.”

“All that because you touched the wall with the tip of your spear,” I remark. “What does the scientist in you think of that?”

“That this wall isn’t interested in science as we know it. The thing is already breaking a half dozen physical laws by warping all our senses.”

“All our senses,” I mutter to myself. I grab Kyle’s arm. “What do you hear?”

“What do you mean? I don’t hear anything.”

I strain to reach with my ears. “Not the wind. Not the rumbling of the volcano. Nothing.” I stop. “Nordra and Viper could be attacking the cave right now, the others could be screaming for help, and we wouldn’t know it.”

“Do you want me to back away from the wall?” Kyle asks hopefully. “At least to where I can hear normal sounds again.”

“That’s very thoughtful of you,” I say.

Kyle begins to back away. “I told you, I’m as bad as Sam, that thing gives me the creeps. I’m happy to get away from it.”

“Don’t go too far,” I say.

Kyle suddenly stops. “What are you going to do?”

“You know.”

“What the woman in the picture did,” Kyle says. “Press your bracelet to the side of the wall.”

“Someone has to try it. It may as well be me.”

Chad speaks. “Bad idea. You’re our leader, the strongest one we’ve got to protect us. You’re the last one we should risk.”

“A witch drew the images in the cave,” I say, thinking of Cleo. “I can tell. The lines are too perfect. That means the woman in the picture was a witch.”

“Your logic is weak,” Chad says.

“I know who the witch was.” I speak seriously. “If I freeze up when I make contact with the wall, don’t push me away. Let me be.”

“For how long?” Chad asks.

“As long as it takes.”

“Bullshit,” Kyle interrupts. “A minute, tops. We’re not going to let it fry every synapse in your brain.”

“You’re supposed to be backing off,” I tell Kyle.

Kyle points at Chad. “Give her sixty seconds, no more.”

Kyle walks away while I mentally try to prepare myself. A talk Kendor and I had in training comes back to me.

“People will tell you that all fear is based on the fear of death. It is not true. People only imagine they fear death. Because they are afraid it will be painful. Pain is the source of fear. Once you accept that you will suffer in life no matter how hard you try to avoid it, the fear vanishes.”

“Why? How?”

“Because that is when you stop running from it.”

His words were simple but they had a profound effect on me.

They calm me as I turn toward the wall. “Wish me luck.”

“Good luck, Jessie. I . . .” Chad doesn’t finish.

“What?”

He stammers. “I know you’re in love with Marc and that he loves you. I just want you to know that . . . I think you’re amazing.”