Beyond the Knock Knock Door (24 page)

Oriana silenced the courtiers clustered around her then strode forward with the demeanour of a viper. ‘Your disgraceful accusation, Gold Knight, is untrue and unfounded. Today, you have brought great shame not only to my royal household, my city and my people, but to yourself and the great Hall.'

‘Then explain this, Your Majesty.' Luke played the scene where the white harlequin put away her silver mandolin and tried poisoning Michael with a blow dart. After being disarmed by Samantha, the white harlequin then misjudged a punch and broke her right hand.

‘Look familiar?' Michael asked.

‘Why should she?' Oriana asked. ‘Who is this villain?'

‘You, Your Majesty. You and that harlequin are the same.'

This incensed the court even more. Nobles called for the triplets to be arrested.

‘Nonsense! Just because one strums a mandolin does not mean one associates with traitors!' Oriana shouted.

‘Show us your hand.'

‘I will not! Captain! Arrest these three. I have reason to believe they are impostors – and not from our beloved Hall of Heroes!'

The marines rushed towards the triplets, but were quickly surrounded themselves. The Scorned footmen dropped their platters with a crash and revealed themselves as Tahoke and his men.

‘Show us your hand!' Michael repeated.

‘How dare you use that tone with me, child. I am a queen and you are a charlatan. Captain, you have your orders!'

The marines couldn't move. Both they and the Scorned warriors faced each other in an armed stand-
off. Concerned about bloodshed, Michael snatched a glass of water from the Empress and threw its contents at Queen Oriana. It splashed her waist and arm in a harmless and seemingly juvenile act of rebellion.

However, as the water dripped down her left hand, her smallest ring – a silver signet with a false ruby – suddenly burst forth with a holographic image. It showed the Weeping Mountains then Luke's face.

‘
Monster's lair
,' the Vulture's recorded voice said. ‘
Now. We have captured one of the children.
'

The room became chaotic. Marines didn't know what to do. Dignitaries didn't know what to say. A bold noble even grabbed Her Majesty's hand from behind and removed her right glove. Underneath, her knuckles were bruised and badly swollen.

‘The rest of her secret police are caged in a warehouse!' Michael shouted to anyone who would listen. ‘Go and ask them who they work for! They'll tell you it's her!'

‘Captain of the Royal Marines,' the Empress said, ‘I strongly suggest that you place Her Majesty under house arrest until a time deemed fit by an emergency sitting of your parliament.'

‘What?' Oriana said. ‘Captain, you shall do no such thing. Marines! Stand down!'

The captain and his men hesitated.

‘Captain, arrest her!' Prime Minister Federico repeated. ‘That is an order! The Queen is relieved of duty as spelt out in our Constitution.'

‘And arrest the politicians,' Samantha said. ‘Until we can figure out how many are involved as well.'

Prime Minister Federico paled as the marines blocked off the exits.

Nearby, the captain was caught between conflicting orders until the crowd forced his hand. ‘Arrest her!' a lone voice shouted, before echoed by several more.

‘Queen Oriana of the Pacifican royal household,' the marine captain began, ‘I regret to inform you that I am placing you under house arrest until a date to –'

‘You can't arrest me! You do not have the authority. None of you do! I will be proven innocent and all of you jailed for treason!'

‘I don't think so, Your Majesty,' Michael said, facing her. Their eyes locked – hers with anger; his with hurt and betrayal. ‘Only one person holds enough power on this planet to order a ban on shipping lanes. Only one person can guarantee pirates safe passage to the Western Seas. Only one person can stop her marine captain from investigating nobles who have been kidnapped from Pacifico at night. And that person is you, Your Majesty.'

The dignitaries watched with a mix of alarm and fear as she, a queen, was marched out in shame. For someone they had once considered an ally, she was now treated with revulsion. Whatever happened from this day on, her rule was finished.

As the commotion grew louder, the triplets slipped away. Finally, the real monster had been caught. It was time to go home.

Standing on a pebbled beach in their costumes, the triplets watched as the remaining royal yachts, presidential starships and cruisers jetted away without fanfare. The citizens of Pacifico were caught up with news of their queen's betrayal.

‘I always knew she was behind this,' Samantha said, following streams of water flowing upwards from the sea.

‘Really?' Luke said, trudging behind her through the trees and long grasses that covered the slopes of the extinct volcano. ‘And when were you going to tell us?'

‘When Michael stopped looking at her all lovey-dovey.'

‘Was not!' he answered, cheeks burning.

‘Yes you were!' Luke said, slapping him on the back. ‘You do know because the special mineral water here makes people look so young that Oriana was probably as old as Nanna!'

He made puckering noises, which only embarrassed his brother further. Michael chased after him, but was slowed down by his armour.

They hiked towards the lake nestled inside the extinct volcano's crater. Several pipes had once carried water between it and the Ninety Islands, crossing under the harbour.

‘So tell me again, how'd you figure out the Knock-Knock Door's up here?' Luke asked Samantha.

‘Knock-Knock Doors need a lot of water, right?'

‘Probably as a coolant,' Michael said.

‘Thank you, Doctor Brain. Anyway, remember our Knock-Knock Door on Earth – it was close to a stormwater drain, correct? On the Broken Isles, it was under a waterfall. Here, it's this volcanic lake. We've been looking at it all this time.'

‘Oh!'

‘What?' Luke asked.

‘That sugar merchant! He told me the lake had gone salty. That meant water was being drawn
up
from the sea
into
the crater.'

She whirled on him. ‘You mean, you've known about this since we got here, and you're only figuring it out
now
?'

‘Sam, I –'

‘You mean, I've spent the last few weeks being chased by stinky fish, hunting a monster that doesn't exist and fighting circus freaks because you
forgot
?'

‘Look, I'm sorry, okay. It –'

‘You mean, I've been scratching this beard – this ugly,
prickly, sweaty man's beard – FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER?'

Luke laughed as he watched his brother sprint up the path, Samantha screaming after him. With a tap of his wristpad, he recalled his satellite into his jetpack and grinned. ‘Guess that makes me the favourite brother from now on.'

An hour later, he found them collapsed against a hidden entrance halfway up the volcano. Water defied gravity and streamed into its jamb, just like the sewers back home. Other rivulets continued upwards to fill the crater.

‘What are you two arguing about now?' he asked, watching Michael rub his shoulder. Not even all that armour could protect him from one of Samantha's pummellings.

‘Oriana,' she said. ‘How could she watch the tricentennial celebrations, but at the same time perform in front of all those people as the white harlequin?'

‘Even I know that one. It was just another actor taking her place,' Luke said.

Michael shook his head. ‘She didn't want anyone to be suspicious about her double life.'

‘But why would she want to be a harlequin?' she asked. ‘Oriana's a queen – or
was
a queen. She had all the power in the world.'

‘I don't think it was about power. That day of the ferry ride to the Island of Roses, she was mobbed by thousands of people. All her life, she's been the public face of the city. She's never been able to step outside without being recognised. Afterwards, she told me she
felt like a prisoner in her own kingdom. As a harlequin, she could be faceless and free of rules. And for evil people, that normally means making others suffer.'

They pushed open the hidden entrance then took a last look at Pacifico: the royal palace, mansions, docks, markets, plazas, theatres, conservatorium and stables. Despite its sinister queen, for three weeks it had been their home. They'd made friends there – one of whom was dead and the rest missing. Their only disappointment was failing to free them from the slavers. They hoped the new government would rectify that. But that was someone else's story.

‘We did pretty good, didn't we?' Luke asked.

She nodded. ‘You did pretty good. Both of you. Not bad for a couple of boys.'

The brothers smiled, thinking back to how much they'd each grown since falling from the sky into a waterfall – Michael and Samantha quite a lot, but Luke? Well, he wanted to stay a kid forever.

The triplets had seen enough. They entered a cavern and discovered their last surprise. Before them, large and bold, was another Knock-Knock Door. But this one was made from red obsidian – not unusual considering they were inside an extinct volcano. It was fastened shut by a giant round lock in the shape of two fish, and another pair of carp held the knockers in their mouths. The floor was made out of pretty celestite chrysanthemum – or black ‘flower stone'.

After rapping the knockers, the streams of water flowed quicker; the lights glowed brighter; and the
familiar gold-painted ironwork of bells and cogs started to
tick-tick-tick
and
ding-ding-ding
.

Samantha did the honours. She'd waited for this moment too long.

Knock. Knock.

Who's there?
a cuckoo bird asked on a piece of tickertape.

‘Carmen,' she answered.

Carmen who?

‘Carmen see for yourself!'

Luke laughed as cogs rolled and stuttered, whistles blew and the giant double fish lock, twisted and separated. An enormous rush thundered above them as the lake emptied itself behind the Knock-Knock Door. ‘Good one, Sis.'

Do you like riddles?

‘Yes,' Michael answered. ‘We like riddles.'

Unlock the answer and I'll open for you.

More cogs
tick-tick-tick
ed and bells
ding-ding-ding
ed until a second cuckoo bird scissored forward and asked its riddle:
If there are two of you but one of me, what am I?

‘A mirror,' they all answered.

As before, the triplets stepped in an enormous star chamber with the whole universe charted out before them. They could explore any planet in all creation, but they were united in their decision.

‘Take us home,' Michael said.

The chamber blinked from black to white then black again, before the triplets farewelled Pacifico and vanished.

Back on Earth and three weeks previously, a trio of forgotten monsters crept along the subterranean tunnels below the old pumphouse. They homed in on a bright cavern with chequerboard tiles and an enormous red double door, but slowed when they heard children's voices. Surprise, surprise, the lead girl smiled. The Bowman losers.

‘Don't make a sound,' April hissed, holding a stolen sledgehammer.

The Thornleigh sisters kept well hidden at the top of the steps behind the plaster cavity and spied on the geeks. That giant door they'd discovered was out-of-this-world – and that meant one thing: money.

The middle sister, May, pestered April to charge down there and grab them, but she had other plans. She wanted to learn what they knew. Besides, these losers were trapped, and she owned the only lighter. They'd have to turn back – and not before a good pounding.

Again, June caused a problem. She slumped against the wall in boredom, unaware she'd caught her red cloak on a chunk of plaster. In a flash, April caught it before it bounced down the steps. ‘I warned you upstairs about making a noise!'

The mistake was quickly forgotten when the weedy Michael Bowman yelled, ‘Door, it's the letter “o”!' The strange red exit answered by chiming and opening to let the triplets inside.

After a metal cuckoo bird whizzed past them, the Thornleighs snuck down to the same door, only to have it suddenly swing shut. There was a great
whoosh
ing, like a crashing wave, then nothing but dripping.

‘What do you think's behind it?' May Thornleigh asked, shaking the golden ironworks.

‘I don't know,' April said, running her hand across the double door. ‘But I reckon it's gotta be big.'

An hour later, when they still hadn't opened it, April reached into her costume pocket and pulled out a small silver bell. It was tied to a business card, which read on one side:
In case of emergency
, and on the other:
Mr Deed's Curious Curios
.

She rang it.

Soon, the cavern echoed with
tick-tick-ticks
and
ding-ding-dings
, and the gateway rumbled apart.

And so, one by one, Little Red Riding Hood, a cyborg and a particularly nasty spideress walked through the Knock-Knock Door.