From Light to Dark (17 page)

She didn’t even answer this statement. With a muffled cry, she turned and ran back to the mattress.

“I see our other guest is gone,” the Exile said from behind Eref.

Caer hid her face in the pillows. Eref turned to face the Exile.

“Yes,” Eref said. He tried to hide his anger. “Apparently he left.”

“Interesting. Why did you wake him, Caer?”

She sat up and looked at the Exile. “How did you—”

“It’s not possible for him to be up on his own this soon. Would you like to talk about it?”

More tears poured down her face.

“She ‘just did it,’” Eref said.

“I wasn’t trying to hurt anyone!”

He couldn’t believe her defensive attitude. “How is that possible, Caer? You know how that stuff works! You knew Balor needed to sleep!”

“I wasn’t thinking!”

“Of course you were! I know exactly
what
you were thinking! You didn’t trust him, even after I pulled that thing out of his head. You wanted him to die!”

“No.” She whimpered.

“It didn’t matter to you that he was my best friend and I’d like to be with him to say goodbye! That didn’t cross your mind at all, did it?”

“Why is it all about you?” Caer jumped up and glowered at Eref, tears still rolling down her ivory cheeks. “All that matters is
your
friend! It’s all about
your
problems and
your
troubles! And then I’m supposed to sit here and babysit him while you and the old man go off to talk about something I’m not good enough to hear—but has anyone thought about my problems? Right now, my best friend is in the Shade, about to get that same implant put in her head!”

Caer took a deep breath and looked at Eref with a mix of fury and frustration on her face. “All I’ve done is watch over you since you got here. I’ve lost Vul, I’ve lost the last few days before my birthday, all because you needed me. And now, when something goes wrong, I’m the bad guy.”

She looked him straight in the eyes. “I’m sorry I woke Balor up. He was talking in his sleep, and he said something that frightened me. I made a mistake. I wish I hadn’t done it.”

Eref didn’t know what to say. He understood her anger but he couldn’t get over the shock that Balor was gone. That she’d let him go.

“Fine,” Caer said. “Don’t talk to me. I’ll go find him on my own. At least he gives a damn about someone other than himself.”

“What does that mean?”

Caer didn’t answer. She walked over to the river and started washing her face.

“Caer, you aren’t leaving—”

“I’m going wherever I want.”

“You can’t,” Eref said. “Your birthday—”

“I’m going to help Vul,” she snapped. “And Balor. You and the Exile can talk in peace.”

Eref turned to the Exile, who stood nearby without saying a word.

The Exile looked very calm. As usual, he didn’t seem at all worried about anything. “What did Balor say in his sleep?”

She stood up but kept her gaze fixed on the water below. Eref assumed she was examining her own face—the puffy eyes and pouting lips.

“He talked about Atc,” she whispered.

“Atc?”

“My tinghept.”

Eref took a step toward her. That was right—Balor had broken into her apartment just when they had escaped. “What did he say?”

“At first it was nothing,” she said, more tears rolling down her cheeks. “Just stuff like, ‘Trashed the apartment…hurt my leg…hate myself.’ I figured he was having a nightmare about what he’d been through. But then—”

“Go on,” said the Exile.

Caer blurted the rest out in one sobbing breath. “He said, ‘Blue fur…face like a human…bit off the head…blood in my mouth….’”

“No,” Eref said.

“I see.” The Exile offered Caer a handkerchief. She wiped her eyes.

“It’s not that I wanted to hurt him,” she said, sniffing. “I really wasn’t thinking. Atc is more than just my tinghept. He’s my friend. I’ve raised him since he was a baby.”

Eref was bewildered. Could he be hearing this right? Had Balor actually bitten the head off an animal?

The Exile had more questions. “What did you do then?”

“I ran over to him and shook him. At first he kept talking in his sleep. About the blood and the dead thing at his feet. I just shook him and shook him until his eyes opened.” She cried harder as she said this, as if the reality of it were too hard for her to admit.

“Caer,” Eref said.

“Eref….” Caer looked like she didn’t know what else to say. She was probably still angry with him.

“I can’t believe he would do something like that,” Eref finally said. “Balor loves animals. He had some of his own in Light World.”

“The Eighteener Entrance changes people,” the Exile said.

“No, but you don’t understand,” Eref continued. “He volunteered for the animal shelter after class sometimes. He’s the most harmless person I’ve ever—”

“That’s the same harmless person who tried to break your neck,” the Exile said.

Eref stopped. He couldn’t know what it was like to have the implant in his head. But if it had changed Balor this much….

What Balor went through must have been unspeakable.

“When he woke up, at first he was frightened. He didn’t know where he was,” Caer said. “But I told him what happened, and then he remembered.”

Her face twisted up like she was going to cry again, but she took another breath and went on. “He hugged me. He said he was sorry for everything he’s done to all of us.”

Eref’s heart sank. If only he’d been there to talk to him.

“I asked about Atc, and it was true.” Caer’s voice warbled. “Atc’s dead.”

“Caer,” Eref said. “I’m so sorry.”

“He was terribly upset. I know Balor isn’t a bad person. I forgave him. His actions weren’t his fault.”

The Exile waved his hand and pulled a glass of wine out of thin air. Handing it to Caer, he asked, “Where is Balor now?”

Caer took the wine and sniffled before she took a sip. “He wanted to know where you were, Eref,” she said. “I told him you’d be back any minute, but he said he didn’t want to be a burden. He said he wanted to make up for what he’d done.” She wiped her nose on the handkerchief.

“Did he tell you where he was going?” The Exile spoke with a gentle, calming voice.

Eref wished he hadn’t shouted at Caer. He should have known she wouldn’t have purposely hurt Balor. Now she probably hated him.

Caer looked at the Exile. “He wanted to know who Vul was. Apparently he followed us the whole way here and overheard our conversations in the jungle. He was even there when the Bog Beetle—” She sniffed again and looked down into the wine. “That’s how he hurt his leg.”

The Bog Beetle. Eref could have sworn someone was nearby during that attack. It had been Balor all along.

“What did you tell him?” He tried to make his voice as soothing as the Exile’s.

“I told him….” Two more tears fell and splashed into her drink. “I told him what happened to Vul. I was really just talking to make him sit still longer. I thought you might come back. But then he said that was how he’d make up for everything. He left to go save her. I tried—I pulled on his arms and begged—but I couldn’t stop him.”

“It will be all right,” the Exile told her.

“No, it won’t,” she sobbed. “I made a stupid mistake. I’ll never forgive myself.”

Eref reached out to her. “I’m the one who needs to be forgiven,” he said. “I shouldn’t have put you through this. I’m in your debt.”

“You don’t owe me anything,” she said quietly.

“Yes, I do. I owe you your friend back.” He took a step closer and wiped her tears away. “I owe you a better life. I am so sorry for everything I have done.”

“Eref….” Caer seemed to give in the moment he touched her cheek. She leaned into him and let him hold her. Her body felt so cool and soft, and her wet face pressed into his chest.

He took her fuzzy hands in his and looked down into her round, black eyes. “Caer, listen. I swear to you, I’ll find a way to make the world safe again. No more Governors. No more Eighteener Entrance. You’ll see.”

Caer stood there in his arms, a half-hearted smile on her sad face.

He held her close again and whispered, “I promise I’ll fix things, Caer. If it’s the last thing I do.”

Finding Peace

Everything hurt. Exhaustion overwhelmed him. But Balor kept laboring through the jungle, pushing past strange plants with oozing blooms and large insects that chirped and clicked as if warning him to stay away. His glasses illuminated the dark jungle and showed him where he was going.

Judging by the way his body felt now, he didn’t have much time left. Maybe half a day.

But that was all he needed.

It had felt so strange, talking to Caer in the cave. She was nothing like what he had seen with the implant. Before, he thought of her as a dirty, ragged, sickly-pale creature.

But when he woke in the cave, terrified and alone, Caer had been there. She comforted him. Best of all, she forgave him.

In the cave, Balor hadn’t seen a disheveled, scrawny Dark Person. There, with his mind clear again, he had seen a young lady of more beauty than he had ever imagined. Her eyes looked so black and full of compassion. Her body was a kind of white that almost sparkled, with soft hair covering every inch.

He’d woken up to an angel.

Now he needed to repay her for forgiving him. He needed to repay Eref and the old man for bringing him back to himself.

It was time to set things right.

Earlier, Balor had seen the Shade, where Caer told him her friend Vul awaited the Eighteener Entrance. He knew how to get back there. All he needed was to find his way inside.

But how? At least a hundred soldiers guarded the entrance, and even more Dark People filed in throughout the day. He’d have to find an alternate way.

Most likely, the best entry would be through one of the many enormous roots that spread miles from the trunk of the tree itself. Perhaps he could climb on them to get closer. The roots created the pavilion beneath them, but Balor assumed the Eighteener Entrance would take place in a more private area, likely as high up as possible.

He thought back to his hazy memory of the Shade. With the implant in his head, it had seemed disorganized and ugly. Now he wondered if it might actually be an attractive structure.

A massive tree, it rose so high Balor couldn’t guess how many feet in the air it stood. The branches hung low, dangling vines and leaves all around them like elaborate clothing. Nothing could penetrate that veil.

Somewhere in there, Balor felt certain, the Eighteener Entrance ceremony was performed.

It was the perfect place. Dark People wouldn’t see it from underneath the pavilion of the roots. Just like in Light World, where—

But Balor couldn’t remember his Eighteener ceremony. He’d been led upward into the Center—that was all he knew. High, high up into the Center. From there, he remembered nothing else until Eref’s stoning.

Balor cringed.

He had to keep going. The pain in his wounds had come back, the dull numbness wearing off. A little bit of blood trickled down his leg. He didn’t have much time left.

Not only had the old man said it would happen, but Balor could
feel
his life slipping away. He felt himself trying to hang onto a kite that was blowing too hard in the wind. At any second, the string would break. He’d be gone.

After everything he’d done, Balor needed to make himself useful. His heart ached with something more than physical pain. It was the deepest sense of regret and loneliness he’d ever experienced.

He kept running through the jungle. “If I’m going to die,” he said under his breath, “I’m going to make it up to you, Eref. For every stone I threw. For hurting Caer. For hurting you.”

Vul was his last chance. She was important to Eref’s friend. If Caer wanted her back, Balor would bring her back.

Without an implant.

After a few hours of running downhill, Balor finally came upon a root of the Shade. He saw no one near it. The Shade itself was only a small speck in the distance.

Something seemed strange about this root. It looked too perfect somehow, almost artificial.

He crawled on his knees, exploring the side of the root. A few feet along, he found a small opening. It was hollow! Bugs and dirt caked the hole, but it was large enough for him to squeeze in.

Balor looked around. No one else was there. This could be his chance.

He poked his head in to determine if it was safe, but at that moment, a horribly familiar sound came toward him from behind. He whipped his head out again just in time to see a huge, red Bog Beetle scurrying his way. Its pinchers clicked dangerously, and its tiny eyes fixed on his throat.

Balor made a quick decision. He pulled himself into the root as fast as he could. His injured leg didn’t move as well as the rest of his body, and he caught his knee on a hard piece of bark.

The beetle clicked closer, and Balor grabbed his leg to pull it in.

Just in time. The pinchers snapped in after him, but the beetle was too wide to fit through the hole. It lingered there at the opening, clicking angrily and pushing against the root, but it couldn’t get in.

Balor took a breath and looked upward through the hollow passage. His dark-vision glasses weren’t very strong in here. It was blacker than anywhere else he’d been in Dark World.

All around him, tiny insects scuttled across slippery mud. It smelled like rotting wood and mildew.

There was no turning back now. Not with the Bog Beetle guarding the exit.

With another deep breath, Balor started to crawl through the root, sometimes sliding on his stomach to fit through. Every inch, he wondered what would happen if it suddenly narrowed and the path ended, or worse, if the root collapsed and dropped him into the arms of a Dark Person.

But the root held strong. At some places, the tunnel even opened up enough for Balor to crouch.

Soon he realized that he’d discovered more than just a random tunnel. It was a hidden maze.

There were twists and turns. He often had to choose whether to go left or right, up or down. The root crossed with others, all hollow, allowing him to change paths while he traveled along.