Dream Tunnel (9 page)

37

C
onroe and Geneva took Crane to Conroe’s bedroom. He felt as though they were sneaking him into the castle, but he wasn’t sure why. Maybe the queen would be upset about him being in her daughter’s bedroom before they were married.

“The wedding is at six o’clock, so we don’t have much time to get ready,” Conroe said.

“I don’t have a suit or a tux. In fact, I don’t have anything—except what I’m wearing.”

“I know, sweetie,” Conroe replied. “We’re gonna take care of you.”

She had called him
baby
after their kiss, and now she had called him
sweetie
. He smiled.

Geneva studied Crane and began to size him up. “What are you—about a forty-two long?”

“That sounds right,” he answered. “It’s been a while since I’ve worn a suit. I wear a size thirteen medium shoe.”

“Can you handle it?” Conroe asked Geneva.

“Yes, but it’s going to take a while. We may be cutting it close.”

“I know you’ll get it done,” Conroe said.

“Right.” Geneva rushed toward the door.

“And don’t forget my dress,” Conroe added, in singsong style.

Geneva looked back and smiled. “I’ve got everything under control.” She went out the door.

Conroe turned to Crane. “Just sit down and relax for a few minutes, sweetie. I need to go talk to Mother.”

“The
queen?
”

“You think this is kind of cool, huh?”

“Well, it’s just that I’ve never met a queen.”

“And now you’re about to marry one.” Conroe gave him a quick kiss on the lips as though she had done it a hundred times before. “I’ll be back soon, baby.”

“Okay.”

She left.

This was really happening to him—and it was crazy. In a couple of hours, he was going to marry a girl he’d met less than a week ago, a girl who was about to become the queen of a kingdom in a future world that looked like the past. It was no wonder he felt dizzy.

He sat down in a stuffed chair and looked around the room. There was something on Conroe’s dresser that looked like a laptop.

Crane went over and opened the top, and it came to life. It was the time travel computer. The keyboard included most of the keys he would have expected—plus some odd ones he’d never seen before. He spotted the battery level indicator on the screen, which showed five percent power remaining. He was surprised to see several icons labeled with his name. There was no mouse or touchpad, so he tapped a screen icon with his finger. A video, entitled
Crane song 1
, started playing.

He watched himself singing and playing guitar in the bedroom of his last foster home. He knew it must have been recorded more than a year ago, and he wondered how Conroe had done it. Had there been a hidden camera in his room?

Stopping the first video, he tapped
Crane song 2
. This one was embarrassing—watching himself write a song in real time, trying lyrics that didn’t work, rewriting them, working out the melody, sometimes hitting sour notes. Yet, Conroe had fallen in love with him while watching things like this.

There were at least two dozen files with his name on them, most including the word
song
. Could a love based primarily on singing last a lifetime?

The battery level indicator began to flash: three percent.

He noticed one file titled
Crane end
, which he assumed was her last recording of him singing. He ran the video and saw himself walking up to the back door of Dave’s Diner. It was dark. He took out a ring of keys and unlocked the door. Crane was confused—this had never happened. How had Conroe recorded something that didn’t happen?

He saw himself step inside the door and close it. But before he could lock the door, a man wearing a mask forced his way inside. Crane watched as the man pointed a pistol at him and demanded money. When Crane told the man that all the money was in the safe and that he didn’t know the combination, the man shot him in the chest and ran out.

Crane watched himself lie bleeding on the floor. He wondered when someone else would arrive and call 9-1-1. Would he see himself being picked up by paramedics and carried to the hospital? Would there be a scene with a surgeon in the operating room?

Time passed, but nobody came. He finally stopped breathing.

The video ended.

The battery level indicator flashed one percent, and then the screen went black.

Crane got up, walked out of Conroe’s bedroom, and began wandering the halls of the castle in a daze, looking for her. Finally, he heard her voice.

“I will not do it, Mother. I will not marry a man I do not love.”

“Don’t be foolish, Conroe. The monarchy must take precedence over love. You shall marry Wilford Wincraft, and you shall do it with joy and dignity.”

Who was Wilford Wincraft? Crane had heard enough. He walked away, shaking his head, wondering why he had come to this strange world. He needed some air.

38

C
rane took one of the horses and rode out to the grassy clearing where he and Conroe had come out of the Dream Tunnel. Perhaps Conroe was wrong. Maybe there was a way to go backward through the tunnel. He searched the area for a rock wall that could be the closed-off end of the tunnel, but he found nothing.

He wondered if he could get into the tunnel the same way they got onto the bridge from the other end—by dreaming about it. But Conroe had said that it was never about dreaming—it was the electronics of the time travel computer that enabled them to go from one world to the other.

But he wasn’t sure about anything anymore, so why not give it a shot? Lying down in the grass, he tried to relax and fall asleep while picturing himself traveling back through the tunnel and over the bridge. He was beginning to get drowsy when something stung him on the side of his neck. He forced himself to ignore the fire ant or bee or whatever it was—because he was beginning to go under. At any moment, he would be inside the Dream Tunnel.

39

C
onroe walked into her room. “Hope you didn’t get too bored while I was…Crane? Where are you?”

No answer.

She searched the hallways, checked each room, and then she went outside and saw that a horse was missing. “Oh, Crane—what are you doing?” She prayed he hadn’t gone near the cliff. The grassy clearing was closer, so she would check it first.

She saw his horse as she approached the area. But where was Crane?

When she got closer, she spotted him lying on the ground. “Crane—what are doing? We’ve got to get ready for the wedding. Come on.”

Crane didn’t move or even open his eyes.

She got down from her horse and went over to kneel beside him. “Sweetie?” She touched his cheek. It was cold. “Crane? Wake up.”

“He’s going to be out for a while.”

Conroe recognized the voice. She turned around and saw Frederick sitting on his horse. “Frederick—what have you done?”

“Why do you assume that
I’ve
done something?”

“I don’t
assume
—I
know
, because I know you.”

“Yes, I suppose you do, even after all these years.” He grinned. “Your fiancé is enjoying a deep, restful sleep brought on by a small dose of Redberry juice.” He held up a blowgun. “But he’ll be wide awake in a couple of hours.”

Conroe searched Crane’s body for the dart, found it on the other side of his neck, and pulled it out. “It’s not going to work, Frederick. There’s nothing you can do to stop me from becoming queen.”

“Oh, really. Well, I happen to know that if you are not married by 7:12 this evening, which is twenty-four hours before you turn eighteen, you will forfeit your eligibility,” he taunted.

She flinched.

A pompous smile flashed across Frederick’s face. “What? You didn’t think I knew the details of the law? You cannot possibly make it to the church in time. So, at precisely 7:12, your eligibility will pass to me.” He took the reins of Conroe and Crane’s horses.

She lunged toward him.

“Get back.” He held up the blowgun. “I don’t want to have to use this on
you
.”

She stopped in her tracks.

“You believed in
love
above all else, Conroe, and how has it repaid you? It’s turned you into a pitiful fool.” He laughed as he rode away with the horses.

Conroe went back to Crane, who was struggling to open his eyes.

“Crane?”

“Where am I?”

“You’re in a nightmare. We both are. You’ve got to get up—
now
.”

40

F
rederick walked down the side aisle of the church and sat with his mother, Opal. “It’s done,” he whispered.

Opal smiled at him.

He watched the church clock. It struck 6:00 p.m.

Organ music began to play.

Frederick looked confused. “This is impossible.”

Opal grimaced at her son.

The priest stepped up to the platform, followed by the groom, who was wearing a black tux and the traditional black wedding face mask, with its perpetual expression of happiness.

The priest raised his arms, a signal for the congregation to stand in honor of the bride.

Everyone stood up and turned around. The bride wore a stunning wedding dress and white wedding face mask. Wally walked her down the aisle.

“I don’t believe it,” Frederick marveled.

The bride’s dress sparkled with diamonds and silver. The royal train glided along the aisle behind her.

She stopped to allow Wally to join the queen in her pew and then walked up the stairs to the altar, taking her place beside the groom. Her train flowed across all ten stairs behind her.

The organ music stopped.

The priest read several passages of scripture and then nodded to the bride.

She removed her mask.

The priest gasped. “What is the meaning of this?”

“I’m sorry.” The bride turned around, and the queen saw her face.

The queen jumped to her feet. “Geneva! Where is Conroe?”

Geneva turned back to the priest and then looked down.

The queen looked at her husband. “Wally, what do you know about this?”

He shrugged.

The queen stepped out of the pew and into the aisle. She walked up to the altar. “Geneva, what is going on? Where is my daughter?”

“She told me she would make it,” Geneva replied. “But then it was time to start, and I didn’t know what else to do. I was hoping she would be here at any moment.”

“I don’t blame
you
, Geneva. This is not your fault. But Conroe has just given up her right to the throne.”

“Oh, no—please, Your Majesty. Can’t we wait just a little longer?”

“I’m afraid not. Now, you and Will please leave the altar. I must make the proclamation.”

“But—”

The queen glared at Geneva.

They walked down the stairs and out the side door.

Frederick and Opal tried to conceal their delight.

41

“
C
an’t you walk any faster?” Conroe asked.

“Maybe—if you’d quit dragging me,” Crane answered.

Conroe let go of his arm, and he lost his balance and nearly fell down.

“Okay, I was wrong,” he said.

She grabbed his arm. “I’m sorry I have to push you so hard, but if we don’t make it in time—”

“You’ll lose your chance to become queen—I know. But you don’t need
me
for that. The queen is gonna make you marry that Wilford guy. Just
run
to the church—by yourself. You can make it.”

“No, I’m not gonna marry Will. How did you hear about Will?”

“I went looking for you and overheard you talking to your mother.”

“You were supposed to stay in my room. Why did you go out looking for me?”

“Did you really bring me here because you were in love with me, or was it just because you felt sorry for me?”

“What are you talking about, Crane?”

“I saw the video. I got shot, and I died. If you had left me there, I would have been a dead man. But why didn’t you just tell me what was gonna happen to me? I could have avoided the situation that was going to get me killed.”

“No, you don’t get it,” she said.

“I had no family, no future. I was just a nothing. Maybe I deserved to die.”

“Quit feeling sorry for yourself. You might have thought you were a nothing in
your
world. But can’t you see that you’re
everything
to me in
my
world?”

“Then why were you gonna marry somebody else?”

“I wasn’t. I’m
not
.”

“The queen says you are. How can you go against the queen?”

“Just trust me, baby. But we’ve got to go faster.”