Gabriel Stone and the Divinity of Valta (5 page)

“No, Ziggy, no!” Gabriel hollered. Gabriel’s eyes widened and his mouth gaped open, shock and horror ripping him apart.

The beast lunged at her, teeth bared. Zigzag darted away, barely missing its attack, then sprung back. Her teeth sank into the creature’s neck. It yelped and spun around, grabbing Zigzag by the leg and flinging her far into the darkness. The beast bounded away after her.

Gabriel strained his eyes, searching the thick grass for any sign of them. Howls and roars rumbled in the distance, but soon faded away.

Another beast sprang from the darkness, pressed its huge paws against the tree trunk, and gnashed its teeth. Just as Brent regained his footing, the rope ripped apart, sliding through Piper’s fingers. Piper cried out and lunged after the falling rope.

Finley clutched Piper’s leg, dragging her back. Another monkey grabbed the ripped rope. Monkeys surrounded them then—one hanging onto Finley’s tail, then the next onto his, and continuing down a line. From other tree houses, monkeys threw rocks at the remaining gruock.

Heart pounding, Gabriel stretched his arm down and grasped Brent’s hand. Brent clawed his last few steps up to the hut, and collapsed.

The Fegans dragged the ladder up and scattered away. Only a few stayed nearby with Finley. Gabriel couldn’t hear what they were saying over the hammering of his heart, but he figured Finley must be trying to explain who they were. One monkey seemed especially annoyed. He wore a red scarf with a thin white stripe around his arm. He scowled, looking angry, confused, and interested all at once. He made hand gestures while Finley spoke.

Must be their leader.
Gabriel wrung his hands together, wondering if they’d be kicked out.

Finally, the stern looking monkey hopped away, and it seemed as though they’d be allowed to stay—for now. Gabriel and his friends called out for Zigzag for over an hour.

Brent rubbed his forehead and hung his head. “I’m sorry I couldn’t hold on to her, dude. I really am.”

“She’ll come back, Gabe. Don’t worry.” Piper offered him a weak smile.

Yeah, you said that about my mom, too, and she hasn’t come back.
Gabriel swallowed hard against the burning in his throat and tried to put on a brave face. He felt like he was about to puke.

“I know you tried. Man, this totally sucks,” Gabriel said. He scuffed the toe of his shoe against the floor of the tree house. “First my mom, then my dog, and now we’re in some freak land.” He shook his head. “It’s all my fault. I’m the one who convinced you guys to go on the hike. I’m the one who pushed Cedric. Because of me, you guys are sick from stupid berries, we’re talking with monkeys, and now we’ve been attacked by some
Night of the Living Dead
zombie wolves on steroids that probably just killed my dog.” The last words stuck in Gabriel’s throat.

Brent tugged a dangling leaf from a branch above him. “Hey, it’s not your fault. You were only trying to help me when Cedric whipped that branch in my face. It’s not like you
meant
to push Cedric into the water. He’s a scammer, we all know that. He’s probably home right now. And Ziggy … well, she saved my life.” Brent hung his head.

“She helped save
all
our lives. Some dog owner I’ve turned out to be.” Gabriel slumped to his knees, tears welling in his eyes. It felt like holes had been punched straight through his heart.

Piper hugged him. “Don’t worry, Gabe. We’re all right. Brent’s okay. I’m totally over the berry thing. And Ziggy? I really think she’ll come back.”

Gabriel’s mind swirled with flashes of glowing green eyes and what Zigzag must have faced.

Finley pointed to a pile of leaves. “You must eep. Lie there.”

Gabriel had a gazillion questions, but before he could get a word out, Finley jumped to a higher part of the tree house. “Eep, Gabrul, talk in morning. We good in ky. eep, eep!”

Piper motioned to the leaves, and they fell into a heap together. “I think he wants us to sleep. We should really try, Gabe,” she whispered. “We’ll work this out tomorrow.”

Work this out?
Gabriel rubbed his forehead.
My dog was just eaten by some half-lion, half-wolf creature. Hard to work that out.
He searched the darkness from their tall perch, looking for Zigzag. Knife-sharp guilt jabbed him in the gut. He couldn’t lose his dog after already losing his mom. Gabriel’s thoughts drifted to his dad and how he was probably losing it right now, too.
My dad’s alone. He must be freaking out—first Mom, now me.

With heavy eyes, he mumbled, “I have to find a way back to Willow Creek.”

***

Something tickled Gabriel’s face. He shooed it away, but in seconds, it returned. He opened his eyes to see Finley standing over him with a silly grin, holding a leaf.

Gabriel bolted upright. “Is Zigzag back?”

Finley’s face fell. “No Zigzag. Me orry, Gabrul.”

Gabriel fell back to the leaves, stomach churning. “It’s okay, Finley. It’s not your fault.” He poked his friends one-by-one. “Wake up. It’s morning.”

As the others stirred, Gabriel turned back to Finley. “What is this place?”

“Valta, Finley home.” Finley frowned. “It be odd here now.”

Ya think?
“What’s
odd
to you
?
” Gabriel asked, remembering the tiger he saw in the crystal.

“Creature odd now. Night longer … ” Finley pointed to the sky. “Ky odd color, it bad rain, and eeker everywhere.” Finley made a face. “Finley no like eeker.”

Gabriel looked up at the mostly blue sky and narrowed his eyes at the dark, ominous streaks of orange scattered throughout. “So what’s the story with the eeker things?”

“Not bad like gruock … me no think, but me no like. They eat our berry.”

“There’s a few things here I don’t like,” Gabriel murmured, then said, “Finley, you said you have a master, right?”

Finley nodded. “Master know many thing. Take care Valta.”

Gabriel nodded back.

Piper stepped beside Gabriel, and Brent sat up, stretching. “Maybe we should try to talk to this master guy,” Piper suggested. “Maybe he can help us get home.”

“No,” Finley said. “Too danger. Master far away. Only come here one time in many, many eep.”

Brent chuckled. “Just how many sleeps is that, dude?”

“One hundred eep.”

“One hundred sleeps?” they asked in unison.

“We can’t wait one hundred days!” Brent tugged at his blond hair, like he planned to pull it all out. “We have to get home, like, now!”

Piper looked dazed. “But how will we
get
home?”

Another monkey swung down, landing on the wooden floor with a thud, scowling. He towered over Finley and was darker, with a very long tail and serious eyes. His red striped scarf was secured in a tight knot around his left arm. Gabriel recognized him from the night before as the monkey who looked like their leader. Finley motioned toward the stern-looking monkey.

“He Rakur, charge of Fegan.”

Rakur frowned at them and folded thick arms over his chest, his dark eyes darting from Piper to Brent, before finally settling on Gabriel. “The humans cannot stay here, Finley. Their scent is everywhere. It won’t be long before the gruocks return.”

Gabriel shuddered. “Our scent?” He clenched his trembling hands into fists. “I’m sorry for any trouble we’ve caused. But we’re totally lost and need to find a way home. Can somebody lead us to your master?”

Finley motioned toward the stern-looking monkey.

“It’s too dangerous out there,” replied Rakur. “I won’t let anyone travel the lands of Valta. Our world is sick, and the creatures are agitated. We see the seekers more often than ever traveling about the land and snatching up our berries. Valta is especially hazardous and uncertain.”

Gabriel thought for a moment and realized that what Rakur called seekers were the creatures with the gazillion eyes that Finley pronounced as eeker.

Finley patted his chest. “Me take them, Rakur. Finley go.”

“That is not wise, Finley.” Rakur’s voice was firm. His mud-brown eyes narrowed to slits. “You risk much for these human strangers.”

Finley glanced around at his newfound friends, his voice growing shaky. “Me found them. Me help them. They kind. Me help them.”

“I will not stop you. But you will be on your own. You may take them to Shataundra, to the palace. But there you must leave them at the gate.”

“But what bout prafaceee, Rakur?”

Rakur chuckled. “You mean, prophecy? Now, you don’t believe in Valtan tales now, do you? Go if you must. Take refuge at Carissa Springs on your way to Shataundra. Move swiftly and speak to no one.”

Rakur waved to other monkeys high in the trees. They hooted and screeched as they rushed across the branches. The monkeys gathered fruit, which they brought to the three friends. Gabriel ate eagerly, but Brent peeled back the banana and sniffed at the fruit before shrugging and taking a bite. He chewed slowly, then gave Piper a thumbs-up.

“Go for it,” he said to her. “It seems okay to me.”

Piper grimaced, but then sighed and took a small bite of her banana. After a few minutes, she grinned. “My stomach’s good,” she proclaimed.

Afterwards, they packed the leftovers in burlap sacks and thanked Rakur for his help.

Piper smiled at the monkeys. “Thanks for everything. Seriously, thank you.”

“Yeah, you guys totally rule!” Brent said around a mouthful of banana.

Gabriel wiped his sticky hands on his jeans and shook Rakur’s hand. “We’re very grateful for your help. I don’t know what we’d have done without Finley.”

“We’d have been road kill,” Brent mumbled. Piper scowled, and told him to be quiet.

“You are welcome,” said Rakur. “Stay close to Finley. He is a young Fegan, but well-trained and a good tracker. He will lead you to the palace in Shataundra. Go well.”

Chapter Six

Gabriel followed Finley down the path. The gold and powdery dust that covered the ground also coated his shoes. It shimmered under the bright sunlight, making everything almost too bright for his eyes. He looked at his compass instead. The heading showed south, which, judging by the location of the mountains, would have been north back home. He gave the compass a tap. As he moved it around, the needle changed direction like it was supposed to.
What should have been west was east, and what should have been south was north.

It’s not broken—everything is just backward here.

He reread the inscription:
If you believe in yourself, you will always find your way.

Yes,
he thought,
I have to believe.
Gabriel wondered if anyone else had noticed the similarities to Willow Creek, or if he was imagining things again, like when he thought he’d seen his mother under the ice.

They headed through the grass, just like they had the day before. The summer sun warmed Gabriel’s skin. And even though Valta seemed like Willow Creek, the weather was completely different from the winter they’d left behind. Valta did seem similar to home—except for the shimmering gold mountains, dragonflies as big as birds, multi-colored trees, and grass so tall he felt like an elf as he walked through it. The menacing orange streaks seemed a little bigger than they had in the morning, but he hoped he was imagining that.

After a few hours of walking, Piper suddenly stopped and pointed. “Look! It’s Zigzag!”

Gabriel’s heart pounded as his dog’s big brown eyes met his. She looked dirty—but she had made it. “She’s alive!”

“I knew it!” Brent yelled.

“Come on, Ziggy. It’s all right. Come here, girl,” Gabriel called. Zigzag looked at them, unmoving. The others called her, too. Zigzag inched toward them, as if unsure who they were.

Gabriel crouched down and clapped his hands. “Ziggy,” he called. “Come here, girl.” She didn’t budge. Gabriel frowned and glanced up at his friends. “What the heck? She’s acting like she doesn’t know me.”

“She’s probably just spooked,” said Brent. He knelt and clapped too. “C’mon, Ziggy.”

Zigzag slowly got to her feet and limped toward them, giving Gabriel his first look at the long gash on her hind leg.

“Oooohhhh, dog hurt,” Finley said, a worried look on his face.

Gabriel groaned. “Oh, Zigzag. What did the gruock do to you?”

Everyone but Finley petted her and checked out her oozing wound. Dried blood caked her leg. As Piper bent down for a closer look, Zigzag spun around and snapped, biting her arm. “Owwww!” she yelled, yanking her arm away. “She bit me!”

“Zigzag!” Gabriel exclaimed. She’d never bitten anyone before, let alone one of his friends. She’d known Piper since the day Gabriel had gotten her. “What’s wrong with you? Bad dog!” Zigzag backed away, growling and flashing her teeth.

“Zigzag ick! Zigzag bit by gruock! Zigzag need help. Piper too, Piper too!” Finley pointed at Piper, who bled from Zigzag’s bite.

Gabriel gripped his arms tight over his chest. “What’re we gonna do?” Gabriel asked, his stomach twirling into knots.

“My arm hurts, guys,” Piper mumbled, cradling her wounded arm.

Zigzag stopped growling and crept back to Gabriel. She lay down, whimpering and licking her wounded leg, like she’d completely forgotten what had happened only moments before. At least she seemed to remember Gabriel, now. She leaned against him like a pup. He leaned down and peered at her. For a moment, he thought he glimpsed a green tinge to her eyes. He squeezed his eyes closed. When he looked again, they were normal.

“Must go healer home. Only he know cure for gruock bite,” said Finley. “Zigzag and Piper no well. No time. Rakur no like. No good, no good.”

Piper folded her arms across her chest. “Piper not well—what’s that supposed to mean?”

Finley shook his head impatiently. “Only healer know. Him name Leejor. No time! Follow Finley!”

Finley made a makeshift leash out of vines to tie to Zigzag’s collar. Brent picked leaves off a nearby tree and pressed them against Piper’s arm to stop the bleeding. The monkey muttered darkly as he led them into the shimmering gold mountains.

Clusters of trees lay dead and toppled over as they moved forward. The gold dust covering the ground around the fallen branches had turned copper in patches. The dead trees and weird dirt made Gabriel feel even more anxious. Zigzag snapped Gabriel to attention with a low growl, followed with a high-pitched whimper. Gabriel’s heart raced and sweat slicked his palms. Piper seemed fine, but whatever was happening to Zigzag could happen to her, too. They rushed after Finley, anxious to get to the healer’s house.