Joshua and the Arrow Realm (2 page)

9:50 p.m.

Drip. Drip
.

The soft melting of snow from our clothes cut through the rise and fall of the wailing wind. I followed Charlie's lead and ripped off my heavy jacket but left the liner on, tugging my snow pants over my jeans and boots. I slung the bow across my chest and stuffed the flute and orb
in my jean pockets. A shiver ran across my chest even though the kitchen was warm.

I stepped closer to her. “Who are you?” I repeated.

“Ash.” It came out a rasp.

“Like ashes from a fire?” Charlie said.

“No. The tree.” She squeezed her throat. “Got water? I sucked in pine needles when I left home.”

Where was home
?

Charlie raised his eyebrows at me and I nodded. He filled a glass, hesitated, then placed it in her hands.

“Where'd you come from?” I said.

She pointed up as she gulped down the water.

I wanted an answer but didn't want the truth. “The Lightning Road?”

She stared at me with her bright green eyes and nodded.

I pulled out a kitchen chair out next to her and sat down. She seemed more an escaped prisoner than a bad guy. The fear of being kidnapped back to Nostos as a slave to the heirs of the Greek gods in the Lost Realm clamped me like a vise. Yet … she didn't seem like a Child Collector here to steal and sell us at auction. Could she have escaped from Nostos to get back home to Earth, like my mother had done?

“Why are you here?” I said.

She sat up straighter, color coming back into her pale cheeks. “For King Apollo.”

It took a moment for it to register. The King Apollo I knew died, but his son, who became king—and my friend, Sam, was alive.

“You mean Sam? What's happened to him?” I stood up fast, knocking my chair over.

“Queen Artemis kidnapped him.”

“
Mon Dieu
!” Charlie shot me a look as if I knew what we should do.

9:55 p.m. Bo Chez, we need you!

Thoughts flew through my head with what could've happened. We'd left the world of Nostos with the plan for Sam, the new King Apollo, to end corruption in his Lost Realm kingdom, stop Zeus from plundering Earth, and shut down the Lightning Road to Earth forever.

Ash stood, her lips pinched together. “You have to leave with me. Now.”

Charlie shook his head like crazy.

“My world depends on it,” Ash said in a rising voice. “And your future—the future of all kids.”

She wrenched me toward her. The bottom button of her shirt popped open, revealing her waist—and her belt.

“A Child Collector's belt!” Charlie and I both said, jumping back. She folded her palms together, knelt before us, and bowed her head.

“She's not here to hurt us,” I said.

“Why? Because she's praying to us like we're Greek gods?” Charlie said, darting his eyes from her to me and back again.

I nodded, hoping I was right. “Where'd you get that belt?”

She raised her arms, clenched a fist, and pulled a hand back as if shooting an arrow.

My stomach trembled inside. It could be only one person. “Say his name,” I said, my voice cracking.

She pressed her palms together again and staring into my eyes with those intense green ones, said quietly, “Leandro. He sent me here to bring you back.”

Hearing his name jolted me back to a time when I'd blindly trusted Leandro in any event. He'd risked his
life many times to help us rescue my friend, Finn, in the Lost Realm last summer while leading me to believe he was a traitor in order to beat the evil Ancient Immortal, Hekate. He got me, Finn, Charlie, and Bo Chez back home. He'd believed in me when I hadn't.

The wind moaned around the house.

9:59 p.m. Any second!

“Charlie, our friends are in trouble. We've got to go with her!”

His eyes widened as he shook his head frantically. “You've done enough. We've done enough. It's their world. Let them figure it out.
S'il vous plaît
!”

“What if they don't figure it out?”

His eyes screwed up. “Then they don't. It's out of our hands.” He looked away. Maybe he was right but our friends were asking for our help. How could we do nothing?

Ash stood up with her hand held out. “We need to leave.”

Charlie put his hand up. “Wait a minute,
Tree Girl
.” He turned to me. “What if she stole Leandro's belt,” his voice dropped to a whisper, “and did something to him?”

“What about the Takers? Hekate? The power mill? The hydriads?”

“What about them?” He threw his hands up.

“Leandro and Apollo saved us from all of them.”

Charlie sighed. He was in.

Ash put her fists to her waist, waiting for my decision. She looked out of place in our farmhouse kitchen with her animal-skin clothes and belt of colored squares that transported her between worlds. But she had Leandro's belt. She came to us from the Lightning Road on his orders. She wasn't stealing us away, and my friend Apollo
needed help. The decision was clear.

10:01 p.m. Bo Chez, where are you?

Lights flashed in the driveway. Finally!

“Got to tell Bo Chez!” I said.

Ash caught my hand as I bolted out of the kitchen for the front door. “No time.”

“
Oui
, we have to tell Bo Chez first!” Charlie said.

“No!” She pulled me back in the kitchen.

I tore away from her. “We can all come with—”

She jerked me back. “No! I can take only one. You!”

“Why?” Then I remembered the Child Collector only transported one of us at a time. It's why he came back again and again to the same spot—to steal more kids.

“Too dangerous,” she said. “No room. More might fall off the road!”

“You can't take him without me,” Charlie said dragging me back by my shirt.

I stopped him. “Wait! If Apollo's in danger and Leandro sent her to ask for our help, maybe Leandro's in danger too!”

“
D'accord
! But see what your grandfather says!”

Charlie pulled me closer to the front door. Ash stomped her feet and pulled me back in the kitchen. I swayed back and forth between their tug-of-war until she shoved Charlie away and pressed the buttons on her belt.

Click. Jangle. Tap-tap.
“I'm home, boys. It's a monster out there!”

“Bo Chez!”

My words were lost when the back door flew open with the raging blizzard. Ash clasped me to her chest as the wind swept up in a funnel, sucking us away.

The last I saw of home was Charlie lunging for me,
yelling
“Attendez!”
and Bo Chez's wide eyes as he ran into the kitchen.

“Patrok!” the girl exclaimed.

Bo Chez reached out to stop us.

Too late.

Charlie, me, and this mystery girl blasted away on a river of fire down the Lightning Road to another world—and another adventure.

S
tars blasted past us on our road of fire then we crash landed. I cracked my elbow on a rock coming off the Lightning Road as Leandro's bow dug painfully into my back. Charlie landed next to me with a whoomph and a shout I'm pretty sure was a French curse word. I scrambled to my feet, hanging on to Charlie, never so glad to see someone in all my life. He'd slipped off the road's edge on the way here, and it took all my strength to hold him up.

“I knew we'd make it.” He swiped a hand across his face and fell back into a tree trunk with a big sigh.

Ash stood in a wide stance as if she'd landed in such a confident pose with one hand shielding her eyes from the crackling light of our transport. Hot breezes blew the tang of pine all around me, filling in the cold I'd left behind. No world of white greeted us. Just green woods, a deep purple sky, and the Lightning Gate we'd been transported through.

The gate's blaze spun a web of brilliance then dimmed and died out, leaving us in deep shadows under a rising orange moon. The massive portal filled the small meadow like a tarnished bronze statue that had weathered many storms. Its two Greek columns stood on round stone blocks, and another wider slab overhead connected them. Carved figures and animals moved through the gate's ancient metal as if alive. The scent of blistered tin blew off the door to another world, still standing after 2,000 years. Built with lost Olympian magic, I'd once again traveled through it to rescue another friend.

Across the top crosspiece, giant letters scrolled the last words Charlie and I'd seen from this world before returning home to Earth:
Honor the fire of Zeus that sparks your journey. Adversity breeds true power. Bow to the gods!

This trip called for true power. I wouldn't be bowing to any gods this time around. As if in response, the lightning orb pulsed in my pocket.

Ash scanned our surroundings. Oak trees loomed over us, their gnarled branches clawing at the stars. Shadows stretched deeper in the dark and twilight rushed down. Harsh voices broke my study of this unfamiliar land.

Charlie darted his head back and forth. “This isn't the Lost Realm. Where—”

“Guards!” Ash yanked my hand and we were off in a new land. We raced between trees, their limbs bowing with our passage as Charlie clung to my shirt. Amber light pierced the ground, revealing the roots of the wooden giants spreading outward from each trunk like two-toed feet. I vaulted over them, panicked they'd rip themselves from the ground and stomp us flat into a mossy grave. Anything was possible in this world. I dared a peek behind me, more terrified to see red eyes of the
cadmean beasts staring back than guards. No monster foxes with fire breath chased us down—yet.

A pain in my side forced me to slow down, and I pulled Ash to a stop. Charlie groaned with relief. We'd run far and all was quiet. A good time for questions. “How do you know my grandfather?”

She darted her eyes back and forth. “Patrok?”

“He's Bo Chez to me.”

“Not to Leandro. He praised Patrok as a great Olympian Storm Master hero from long ago and for his recent help freeing kid slaves in the Lost Realm.”

A hero. Yes. “What happened after we left there?”

“Obviously, nothing good,” Charlie said, wiping the back of his neck. “No surprise.”

She ignored him and spoke fast. “Apollo angered Zeus by freeing the mortal slaves. Zeus put him on house arrest and banned his land from trading with other realms. It got bad for his people. Apollo was secretly working with Artemis and Poseidon to start a revolution when Artemis turned on us all. Nostos rulers are divided. Some want the Oracle to rise and deliver their ancestor's powers to them and stop looting Earth. Others want things to stay the way they are and seek power for themselves. Enough?”

“Almost. Where are we?”

“Arrow Realm.”

“Leandro's land. And these trees—”

“The tallest in all of Nostos. Sky-highs.”

She nodded, motioning us along, and said, “Keep talk short on the ground. Artemis's patrol could be about. Above, we can talk all you want.”

Charlie shook his head. “Tree Girl, I've got my own questions,” he said, flicking a finger at her. “Why isn't Leandro here? Where's Apollo? And what's the plan to
save him and get back home?”

“You weren't supposed to be here.” This shut him up. She put a finger to her lips and whistled a high-pitched call, the sound reminding me I had Apollo's flute. I drew it out and tested it. The former squeak was replaced by an enchanting melody. Its power was mine again. No butterflies floated down like they had in the Lost Realm. A great
screech
called overhead.

“Korax,” Ash whispered. Charlie and I knew that word. We tucked ourselves in the shadows of a tall bush.

The monstrous bird soared in circles overhead. Butterflies were preferable. Maybe Apollo's flute called different flying creatures in each realm—good or deadly. Talons gleamed through the treetops, searching for prey. I sucked in my stomach at the memory of being snatched up by these giant birds and carried away as a slave to the power mill in the Lost Realm. They'd rescued us later on, and we'd ridden on their backs to freedom, but the bad stuff was easier to remember. Charlie backed up into a tree while Ash readied her bow and I gripped mine. Some good it would be against birdzilla with no arrows, but the cries faded and the massive wings flapped away.

“You called it with the flute, didn't you?” Ash said. I shook my head, not sure what had happened. She let it go.

I glanced around. “Who were you whistling to?” Ash scanned the woods but didn't answer me.

Charlie shrugged helplessly at me and chewed on his thumb. I focused on the woods and the forest came alive. Squirrely-things jumped from limb to limb. A swarm of bats flew across the moon in a burst of black smoke. Leaves on the ground rustled. Unseen things scurried across my feet, and I squished my toes together as the
scent of mud and earthworms crept up my nose. Yellow eyes peeped out like stars in the black holes of tree trunks. A figure slunk through the shadows low to the ground.

Charlie saw it too, and we backed into a tree, its bark biting into me. Ash put up her hand. “No need to scram and cram.”

“This is not the holiday vacation I signed up for, Joshua,” Charlie whispered to me.

He was right about that. He'd followed me into danger—again.

The form became the shape of a black dog and sat before us, its fur sticking up in shiny points. The creature's head reached my shoulders. Its thick paws tapped the ground as its massive tail swished. To my shock, Ash removed the Child Collector belt and buckled it around the beast's neck. “For Leandro.”

The dog bowed its head and gazed at me with black eyes then spoke. “Joshua of Earth, welcome to Arrow Realm. I am Lore.”

Charlie tugged on my shirt. “You understand it?”

I nodded, shocked to have an animal speak to me again. Only on Nostos, with my lightning orb, did I have this power. “Why are we here?”