The Pillars of Ponderay (16 page)

Whatever had happened to the Pit, it wasn't good.

Eleven minutes later, Albert sat beside Birdie and Leroy on the spectators' bleachers, looking down into the Pit. Or at least, what used to be the Pit.

It was now a pile of rubble, dust still hovering in the air. The edges had crumbled into the middle, making the entire thing look as if it had swallowed itself whole. There were strange, oozing globs of colorful goo pouring from the Pit's sides (what was left of them), so that
it looked like it was bleeding.

The Core maintenance men were already there with blueprints and tools, trying to decipher what had happened and how the Pit had been destroyed like a giant foot stomped down on it. Professor Bigglesby hadn't been around much this term, but he was here now, clearly concerned. He stood with the maintenance men, and was using some sort of oversized copper binoculars to peer down into the rubble.

“The Pit has never been damaged like this before,” Professor Flynn said. The MegaHorn made his voice loud, but without the Pit's depths, there was no echo. It was oddly disconcerting. “And while we're still working on figuring out what caused the shock wave earlier, our engineers have determined that the quake wouldn't have caused this level of destruction on its own. Someone used the chaos of the shock wave as cover-up for destroying the Pit. This was no amateur prank, no random act.”

Professor Asante sat beside him in her wheelchair, dark eyes scanning the crowd of Balance Keepers. She whispered something into Professor Flynn's ear, and he nodded.

“We suspect someone knowingly vandalized the Pit to disrupt the training of our Balance Keepers, to prevent us from having the capability to protect the Realms.”

Farnsworth growled angrily, as if he would protect
the Core all by himself if he could.

A murmur spread through the bleachers. Albert sat still and silent, taking it all in. But his stomach felt sour as if he might be sick, and he clutched Farnsworth so tightly the poor dog's eye lights went out.

Professor Flynn held up a steady hand.

“In the Core, we are family. If any of you have any knowledge, any information or evidence about who might be behind this, I urge you now to come forward, for your and everyone's safety. If you yourself have contributed to this chaos, I urge to you confess; we have seen enough destruction.”

Heads moved back and forth as people looked at one another with questions in their eyes.

“Now is the time,” Professor Asante said. “Come forward.”

“This is bad,” Birdie whispered. She groaned and put her head into her hands.

“The Book of Bad Tiles,” Albert whispered back. “We have to tell my dad. I can feel it, guys. Whoever owns that is the one who did this.”

Just then, Trey slipped away from the edge of the crowd and disappeared into the shadows, then out the door of the Pit.

“It's him, isn't it?” Leroy whispered back. “It's Trey. That's why he's been acting so weird. Following us. Glaring all the time. He knows we know.”

And suddenly it hit Albert.

The minty smell that always accompanied the strange shadow. It had been on
Trey
when they'd spoken the other day, just here in the Pit. He gasped. “It could be!”

“Don't jump to conclusions,” Birdie warned. “He's an Apprentice! There's no way he'd do something like this. Besides, isn't he our friend?”

Albert shook his head. “Not anymore. Not since we came back this term.”

“Let's just stop and think for a second,” Birdie said. “We can't just accuse a person without solid evidence. And I still don't think Trey would ever do anything like that. He'd never betray the Core. It's his entire life.”

After a few more moments of waiting, the Professors nodded, obviously disappointed that no one had come forward, but resigned to moving on.

“From now on, everyone will be required to move in a buddy system. No more lone walkers in the Core,” Professor Asante said.

People groaned, but Professor Flynn held up his hand again. “This is only for safety reasons, Balance Keepers. Someone is targeting our practice arena. Which means, in turn, they might target you.”

The room went silent as everyone realized the real danger they were in, trapped underground with nowhere to run.

“I don't say this to frighten you. I say this to keep you on your toes. Be vigilant. Keep your eyes open, and watch your backs. Now, we were planning to have one
more competition before choosing the First Unit midday tomorrow, but as the Pit is no longer working, and repairs will likely take too long . . .”

He swallowed, his voice falling into silence. And then his eyes turned toward Albert. Professor Flynn looked sad. Dark. Full of worry.

Professor Asante took the MegaHorn from Professor Flynn's hands.

“Our rulebooks don't mention the destruction of the Pit,” she said. “The Realm of Ponderay needs a First Unit. Without the Pit to rely on, we will simply have to cease the competitions. We were supposed to have more time. But that has come to an end.”

Tussy appeared, holding a miniature version of the leaderboard. Albert's heart went into his throat. Were they about to pick the First Unit? He tried to remember what the scores had been between Hydra and Argon, but suddenly his mind went blank.

Professor Asante took the scoreboard and turned it toward the crowd.

There were thirty-four points in Argon's favor, a whopping score.

But Hydra had thirty-five.

Which could only mean one thing, and it dawned on Albert just as Professor Asante turned to look at him and his friends.

“Hydra is now the Ponderay First Unit,” she said. The
crowd's whispers rose like the voices of ghosts.

Albert should have felt like shouting for joy. He should have felt like dancing or singing or anything at all, but for some reason, the victory didn't feel complete. The resigned looks on Birdie's and Leroy's faces matched his.

They all turned to look at Professor Asante. She sighed, and the lump in Albert's throat told him that she wasn't done with the news. There was something else.

“I wish I could congratulate you, Hydra. I wish I could bestow this great honor upon you with confidence.” She took a deep, rattling breath. “But under these circumstances, with the level of the devastation in Ponderay, and the danger of a traitor in our midst, and without you being fully ready . . .”

Now the lump in Albert's throat disappeared, replaced with a sinking feeling in his chest. He didn't like where this was going.

“The Professors and I have decided to appoint
two
teams to go into the Imbalanced Realm. Argon competed with great skill and determination. Their presence in Ponderay will only further our chances of restoring Balance. This is not the time to take risks. This is the time to be vigilant.”

The brick in Albert's chest dropped solidly to his stomach.

“No.” Birdie breathed out the word. “No!”

She tried to stand, but Albert and Leroy kept a tight
grip on her. It gave Albert something to focus on besides the shock that was now running through his veins.

Professor Asante turned toward Hoyt and his cronies, who were seated just a few bleachers below. Slink and Mo both leaned forward. Their eyes were as wide as saucers, and they had huge grins on their faces, like they couldn't believe this was happening. Hoyt, on the other hand, looked petrified. He was clenching and unclenching his fists and chewing on his bottom lip. It reminded Albert of the Jackalope in Professor Asante's room the other day: like Hoyt wasn't sure if he wanted to bolt out of fear, or stay here with everyone else.

Professor Flynn spoke. “Argon, you will be the other unit. Together, you six will enter Ponderay tomorrow and execute the Means to Restore Balance to the Realm.”

Albert was surprised he didn't wake up just then. Surely, this was a nightmare, a really, really bad one. He almost asked Birdie to pinch him.

But when Hoyt turned toward Albert, and their eyes met, and Hoyt said nothing,
did
nothing, just stared back at Albert with the same shocked expression on his face that Albert surely wore right now, Albert knew.

This was real life.

They were going into Ponderay, together.

Whether Albert liked it or not.

T
hat evening, Albert and many of the boys gathered their sleeping bags, which they were using in lieu of beds until the damage to Cedarfell was fixed, and grouped together around a fire. No one spoke. Instead, they all sat in silence, listening to the crackling of the flames. Hydra sat beside Argon, and for once, they didn't exchange words. They simply
sat.
The camaraderie of the moment made Albert feel a little bit braver, and helped to chase away the panicky thoughts that threatened to take over his mind.

Some while later, Tussy came knocking on the Cedarfell door—it was time for a crash course on Ponderay. Albert, Leroy, and Argon rose from the campfire circle and left
without a word. “I'm really wishing for those original seven days right about now,” Albert whispered to Leroy as they headed down the tunnel to Professor Asante's office.

“Me too, bro,” Leroy whispered back. “Me too.”

Their footsteps echoed eerily down the empty tunnel as they walked. Everyone else in the Core had been confined to their quarters, even the Core workers. When they got to Professor Asante's office, her door was wide open. Farnsworth scurried inside and barked a greeting.

Birdie stood in the corner of the room looking very small. When she saw the boys, she rushed to their side. There were dark circles under her eyes. “I feel sick,” she whispered.

“Me too,” Leroy said with a gulp.

“It's just nerves.” Albert shook his head. “I don't think anyone in the Core is feeling too good right about now. Well, except Farnsworth.”

The little dog wagged his tail in reply.

Tussy called everyone to sit down on the couches in the corners. Albert, Birdie, and Leroy sat on the couch on one end of the room. Hoyt, Slink, and Mo stood on the opposite side, up against the bookshelves.

Even though no one was speaking, Tussy clapped to get their attention.

“All right, listen up Balance Keepers. You must take this lesson seriously tonight. The Core Watchers have
confirmed that the quake from earlier was the Imbalance escalating to Phase Four.”

Albert looked at Leroy. Weren't three phases enough? How many were there going to be?

Tussy continued. “The Pillars have changed direction yet again, and are still spinning at top speed. They've also moved outward, farther apart from one another—their circle is getting bigger. The Watchers think that that movement was what caused the shock wave earlier today.”

“Oh man,” Leroy muttered, “what's that doing to the surface?”

Tussy looked down and took a breath in and out before answering. “I'm afraid the rains and hurricanes have spread from California into surrounding states.” She glanced at Birdie with an uncharacteristic soft expression.

“My family's in Oregon!” Birdie said. “We have to do something!” Albert saw her eyes begin to well up with tears.

“That's why you're here, Balance Keepers. The Realm needs you desperately and you must prepare. I'm going to get the Professor. Stay here,” Tussy commanded. She left the room in a hurry.

“Are you okay, Birdie?” Albert asked.

She shrugged. “I guess so. I'm just ready to get into Ponderay and get this over with.”

Leroy put a hand on her shoulder. “Me too. We'll do it. We'll stop the Imbalance.”

“This has never happened before,” Hoyt said from the corner of the room. “Two teams, going into a Realm together. It should have been Argon.”

“Well it's not, moron! It's both teams.” Birdie growled. She leaned forward like she wanted to snap at him, but Leroy and Albert held her back.

Slink held out his hands. “We're okay with it, Birdie. We're just shocked, is all.”

Birdie's face grew red the moment she realized Slink was talking to her. She looked at her toes.
What's that about?
Albert thought.

Slink continued speaking. “It's a lot to take in.
Right
, Hoyt?” He nudged Hoyt, who mumbled
sure
and crossed his arms.

“We want this Imbalance solved just as badly as you guys do,” Mo said. “Can we at least agree on that?”

Birdie's shoulders sagged. “Fine. I guess you're right.”

“He is,” Leroy said, “and no matter how much we can't stand each other, we'll have to make it work.”

Slink and Mo both nodded in agreement. Hoyt still sat there, just staring into the distance.

“Hoyt?” Slink said. He leaned toward him, and Hoyt suddenly snapped his head up.

Albert realized something he hadn't before. Hoyt might pretend to be their fearless leader, but sometimes,
Hoyt seemed
afraid
of the other guys. Lately, he acted like he was afraid of a lot of things.

“You guys haven't been to a Realm before, but you've done some great work in the Pit,” Albert said. “If we can learn to put aside our differences, we might be able to knock this Imbalance out of the park.” He gave a nod of thanks to Slink and Mo, who both returned it at once. They were turning out to not be so bad. If Hoyt could get it together, this might work out to their advantage in the Realm.

“Let's just agree right now to act like teammates,” Albert continued. “I'm in if you guys are.”

He couldn't believe what he was about to do. Last term, he never would have dreamed of it. But Albert crossed the room and held out his hand.

Leroy followed and put his hand on top of Albert's. Slink stepped forward next and put his hand on the pile. Next was Mo, and finally, Birdie stepped forward with an exaggerated sigh.

“Let's do what we have to do, boys,” Birdie said.

Hoyt came last. Albert watched closely as Hoyt lifted his hand.

Their eyes locked as Hoyt put his hand on the top of the pile.

“To Hydra and Argon,” Albert said.

“To Hydra and Argon,” everyone else echoed.

The door of the room swung open, and Tussy wheeled
Professor Asante inside. Everyone backed away, almost like they were embarrassed to have been caught agreeing on something.

“Well, isn't this a sight for sore eyes?” Professor Asante chuckled as Tussy wheeled her past the six of them. “I like what I'm seeing, Balance Keepers. Now get comfy, because you're about to get a crash review course on Ponderay. We have a lot to cover; you enter the Realm at noon tomorrow.”

The six Balance Keepers exchanged looks—that was only eighteen hours away—but they settled down on the ground in front of Professor Asante's desk, all six of them in a line.

“Very good.” Professor Asante nodded in approval. She motioned for Tussy to hand her a book from the bookshelf. Tussy brought one over, and Albert recognized it as the book Professor Asante had shown them when they snuck into her office.

“Ponderay is a very delicate Realm,” Professor Asante started. “You've trained with replicated pillars. But the ones in the Pit were nothing compared to the real Pillars of Ponderay. The Ten Pillars will be three times as large. As you know, they'll now be moving faster than a tornado, and the creatures won't hesitate to attack. You've seen the Hammerfins and the Jackalopes. Don't forget the Lightning Rays. Their goal will be to defeat you. They almost never lose.”

Albert swallowed, hard.

“No one will defeat Argon,” Hoyt said, crossing his arms over his chest. When Professor Asante turned her angry eyes on him, he cleared his throat and said, “I mean, um, no one will defeat us. The, uh, six of us.”

Albert couldn't believe his ears.

Professor Asante nodded. “That's more like it. From now on, while you are in Ponderay, you must
forget
the names Argon and Hydra. You are now part of a new team.”

Professor Asante flipped to the middle of the book. The pages crinkled as she found what she was looking for. It was a map of the Realm, shaped in a circle just like Calderon was, only this one seemed bigger, and far more intense.

“The Ring of Entry, like all Realms, is where the tunnel will spit you out.” Professor Asante pointed to the map. “That part will be the easiest. It's here, at the Canyon Cross”—she pointed farther toward the center of the map—“that things will start to get rocky.”

It was like the Grand Canyon, but to get from canyon to canyon, there were rickety bridges and clusters of pillars that looked like they could crumble at any second. Albert gulped. They hadn't trained for that. What else would they face in Ponderay?

“You'll face the Path of Pillars there. You must pay attention to your surroundings at all times in the Realm,
but especially in the Path of Pillars. Once you get past that point, you'll be well on your way to the Silver Sea.”

In the middle of the Realm were the Ten Pillars. She explained the goal again, how all the Tiles on top of the Ten Pillars were scrambled, and would need to be reordered to set the Balance right.

“I only summited one of the Pillars, and Professor Flynn and Tussy only summited two, so we don't know the full extent of the challenge. I don't know the order the Tiles need to be in. Look for colors or symbols—maybe shapes—on both the Pillars and the Tiles. What I do know is that this task will be dangerous.” Professor Asante took a deep breath. “We want you to be as safe as possible. Tussy, if you would, please.”

Professor Asante held out her hand. Tussy scrambled over, holding something wrapped in red cloth. She set it onto the old desk with a
thwump.
Albert leaned forward, eyes wide, eager to discover what the object was.

Professor Asante unwrapped the cloth, and all six Balance Keepers gave a collective
oooooh.
It looked like a crossbow, only it was made of wood, like something from the days of knights and kings. Albert couldn't wait to get his hands on that thing.

“What is it?” he asked.

Professor Asante covered it back up with the red cloth. “This is a CoreBow, handcrafted by Professor Bigglesby. Very dangerous. Very useful. Now, because
you
,
Mr. Flynn, can use your Master Tile to take aim, I'll be appointing the CoreBow to you.”

Hoyt sounded like he was choking on a lollipop. “What? But that's not fair!”

“Fair is a childish word,” Professor Asante said. “You'll be using your Speed Tile to run and jump, possibly even the lengths from Pillar to Pillar.”

“Of course,” Hoyt said, recovering. “I was just trying to make sure everyone agreed with the plan. Since we're teammates and all.”

Birdie looked like she was going to puke. Slink smiled at her apologetically, and she sat a little straighter after that.

Professor Asante went on to review all of the dangers:

Icy winds.

Water cold enough to give a person hypothermia in less than sixty seconds.

Bridges that could snap and send a Balance Keeper falling to his or her death.

Angry, Imbalanced creatures, from Hammerfins to Jackalopes to Lightning Rays.

And of course, the fact remained that if they didn't succeed in returning the right Tiles to the right Pillars, the entire Realm would basically crumble, and in turn, the surface world above.

No pressure.

After four hours of a grueling review of information,
Albert's head felt ready to explode. He hoped Leroy had logged most of the information with his Synapse Tile, because there was no way he'd be able to recall all that tomorrow.

“We'll meet in the Main Chamber at twelve noon tomorrow,” Professor Asante said. “I suggest you get some sleep now—as much as you can.”

“Yes, Professor,” they all said.

As Tussy escorted them from the room, Albert had to laugh. “Argon and Hydra,” he said. “Who would've thought?”

“Not me,” Birdie said.

“Definitely not me,” Leroy added. “All that's on my mind right now is getting one final night of sleep.”

“Final night of sleep?” Birdie asked, as they rounded the corner and walked out into the Main Chamber. Hoyt had gone ahead and was standing on one of the bridges, peering into the depths of the water below. Slink and Mo stood off to the side, talking in hushed voices.

“It's a final night of sleep for sure,” Leroy said, chewing on his thumbnail. “Because tomorrow, with those guys in the way, we're totally gonna die, dudes.”

That was the phrase that stuck in Albert's mind the entire night long.

He couldn't sleep, not without picturing the world destroyed. All because Hydra and Argon couldn't solve
the Imbalance in Ponderay.

Hoyt's annoying laugh plagued his dreams, and Albert woke up breathing hard, drenched in sweat.

Farnsworth whimpered beside him in the darkness.

“It's okay, buddy,” Albert whispered, petting Farnsworth's soft fur.

Leroy was snoring in his bed across from them.

“At least one of us will be rested,” Albert sighed, rolling over onto his stomach.

He climbed out of bed and grabbed the CoreBow, then slipped out into the dark woods.

Albert and Farnsworth walked deeper into the trees, skirting past the fallen branches and broken piles of tents. When they had gotten far enough away from the main camp, Farnsworth lit up the night with his eyes.

“Let's see how this thing works,” Albert said.

He grabbed a short, fat stick from the forest floor and slid it into the open groove at the front of the bow. There was a trigger like a gun. Albert took aim, pointing the CoreBow toward a nearby tree.

“Here goes nothing,” he said.

He squeezed the trigger. The stick shot out like a bullet. It exploded against the tree's trunk and splintered into a million pieces.

Farnsworth wagged his tail excitedly. Albert's fingertips buzzed. “That was incredible.”

Behind them, a stick snapped. Albert spun around just
as Hoyt emerged from the trees. Farnsworth growled, but Albert put a hand on his head to silence him.

“What are you doing up?” Albert asked.

Hoyt shrugged. “Couldn't sleep.”