Rogue (15 page)

Will sped up and quickly caught up with her before she reached the outer walls, stopping her in midstride. She tried to shake him off, but he held firm.

“Let Ajay and Nick go first,” he said. “Ajay can spot any booby traps and Nick can avoid them. If Jericho's in trouble, we can't help if we get into any ourselves.”

She reluctantly waited for the others to reach them. Will repeated his instructions, Ajay switched on his flashlight, and the two boys started ahead of them at a brisk pace, examining the ground carefully as they moved.

The path had gradually risen along with the walls on either side. The earthen path had given way to worn dark gray stone pavers, large slabs a couple of feet square. They stopped just outside the first big row of outer walls. An elaborate carved arch spanned an entrance about six feet across. Ajay shone the flashlight along a series of deeply eroded carvings adorning the arch that might once have been faces. Not human faces, at least not entirely. They were some kind of hybrids, but they were too worn out to identify exactly.

“Remind you of anything?” asked Will.

“The stonework and building style are reminiscent of Cahokia,” said Ajay. “Obviously nowhere near the same level of decay.”

“They haven't been here as long, right?” said Elise.

“Let's check it out,” said Nick.

He passed through the entrance first and the others followed. The walls were higher here, maybe eight feet, and the passage between them more narrow, no more than six feet, leading off in either direction about thirty yards until they reached another wall and a ninety-degree turn. The air was still, humid, stifling, with a sour undertaste of rot.

“Which way?” Ajay asked Will.

“Up,” said Will, then looked at Nick.

“Up it is,” said Nick.

He trotted back outside the entrance, turned, and sprinted straight at the inside wall. He ran up two steps, then turned, leaped, grabbed the edge of the outer wall, and pulled himself up on top of the arch. He stood, turned, then jumped directly over their heads onto the top of the inner wall, looking all around.

“Whoa,” said Nick.

“What do you see?” asked Elise.

“It's a maze,” said Will.

“It's like one of those…what do you call it,” said Nick.

“A maze?” asked Ajay.

“That's it! A maze. It's amazing. Hey, that must be where they got the word from: A-mazing!”

Ajay shook his head at Will. “You had to let him go off on his own.”

“Nick, can you see where it leads?” asked Will.

“No way, man, it's a maze.”

“Let me rephrase the question: Can you see where it reaches the central tower?”

“Sure thing.”

“How far do you think it is from here?”

“I'm gonna say…wow, at least a quarter of a mile? This is a helluva of a hella maze. Reminds me of this one they put up in Needham every Halloween, made out of corn, that I got way lost in once when I was about nine—”

“Here's what I need you to do, Nick. Stay on top of the walls, go find that entrance, then work your way back to us and talk us through which way we need to navigate to get there.”

“Piece o' cake,” said Nick.

“No yelling, just come back and tell us.”

Nick gave a thumbs-up, leaped off the wall to the next one over, closer to the center. They heard him moving away, then nothing.

“What else did the plants tell you?” asked Elise, her brow furrowed, staring at Will.

“That was it—basement, pit, bars, water,” said Will. “And they didn't
tell
me; they
showed
me. That's how they think, if you can call it that. In pictures. Images.”

Elise still looked pissed at him.

I'm not holding out on you,
he finally felt obliged to send to her.

How'd you know about the maze, then?

I don't know.

I think it's weird.

What?

You just knowing all this stuff somehow,
Elise said.
I just think it's weird.

You and me both,
he answered.

Ajay looked back and forth at the two of them, their eyes locked, staring at each other.

“Is this a private argument, or can anyone join in?” asked Ajay.

“I don't know what you mean—” said Will.

“Don't know what you're talking about—” said Elise.

At that moment, Nick leaped back into view on top of the inner wall, only slightly out of breath.

“We're good to go,” he said. “Follow me.”

He walked along the top of the wall to the left and they hurried to keep up. When they turned right, and then right again, Nick jumped over them onto the next wall closest to the building. Ajay took a small can of fluorescent pink spray paint out of his pack and sprayed an arrow at every corner that they turned, pointing toward the structure. When Nick questioned what he was doing, all Ajay replied was, “You'll thank me later.”

They proceeded that way for fourteen more turns, each time following Nick's directions as he crossed above them to the next wall over.

Will examined the walls as they moved along, most of them choked and almost overrun by a latticework of thick ropey vines. He reached out to touch one of the vines, wondering if any of these had been part of the network that had earlier communicated Coach Jericho's location. He did feel a mild buzz—like a weak electrical field—issue from the vine, but before he had time to investigate further, he heard a voice from above.

“Almost there now,” said Nick. “Two more turns and we're at the entrance.”

Looking up, Will could see the edge of the complex's central tower rising over the nearest walls now.

“Good work, Nick,” he said.

“Stupid maze makers thought they could put one over on us—”

“Stop right there,” said Ajay, holding up his hand.

They stopped. Ajay's eyes were fixed on the floor a few steps ahead of them, where it took a left-handed ninety-degree turn. He pointed at one of the pavers.

“There's something wrong with that floor stone,” he said. “The one at the right inside corner. There's a suspect notch in it, and a slight gap in the mortaring. I don't recommend that we set foot on it…”

Nick picked up a loose stone from the top of the wall and dropped it onto the paver Ajay had described. The rock smashed into the broad stone paver; at almost four feet square it covered the whole width of the passage. The paver hinged open ninety degrees and the rock tumbled down out of sight. They heard the stone banging and smashing off walls for a few seconds and then, from far below, a distant splash.

Will leaned forward over the edge to look down through the opening. “It's not a straight drop; it's carved and sloped, like a slide.”

“So it's designed to capture any intruder,” said Ajay, “but not necessarily kill it.”

“Awesome,” said Nick, kneeling on the wall for a closer look. “Want me to check it out?”

“Don't be stupid,” said Elise.

“Too late,” said Ajay.

“Maybe this is how they got Coach,” said Will. “Maybe he's down there right now.”

“Hey, Coach!” shouted Nick into the opening.

With a loud crack, the paver stone snapped back into place.

“Really?” said Ajay.

“These clowns are a real pack o' jokers,” said Nick.

“What do you think we should do?” asked Elise, looking at Will.

“If Coach is down there, it won't do him any good if we end up in the same fix,” said Will. “Can we get around it? Do you see anything else up ahead?”

Ajay turned his attention to the visible pavers on the far side of the trap before the passage turned the corner. “I don't see anything else untoward as far as the floor is concerned. Shall we jump across it? I'm not entirely sure that I can negotiate it myself—”

Before he could say another word, the end of Nick's whip dropped into sight near them.

“Grab on, peewee,” Nick said from atop the wall. “I'll swing you across.”

“Wait, I'll go first,” said Elise.

She moved back a few yards, ran forward, jumped, and easily cleared the hinged stone. Ajay fidgeted in place and swallowed hard.

“You next, Ajay,” said Will.

“It's too far for me,” he said. “The long jump is not in my skill set.”

“No sweat, bro,” said Nick. “I'll get you there.”

Nick leaned down and dropped the edge of his whip as low as it would go, about to Ajay's knees. He grabbed on to it with both hands, then lifted his feet off the ground, wrapped himself around the whip as best he could, and closed his eyes. Nick swung him back and forth a few times, building momentum, then swung him all the way across the trapdoor. His eyes shut tight, Ajay clung to the whip and swung all the way back to the others.

“You have to let go, numb nuts,” said Nick.

“My apologies. I was afraid to look,” said Ajay.

Nick swung him back across a second time, Elise grabbed him, and Ajay let go, clinging to Elise just a second or two longer than necessary.

Will loped back down the passage, accelerated a few steps, and easily jumped over the trap to join them. Nick coiled up his whip and walked forward along the wall above them, scouting ahead.

“Turn that last corner and we're in,” he said.

The three of them turned left around the final corner, Ajay's eyes focused hawkishly ahead for signs of danger. The three of them stepped onto the next paver together and they felt it give, with a loud thunk, and it dropped, but no more than half an inch.

“I did not see that coming,” said Ajay.

“That can't be good,” said Elise.

“Don't move,” said Will.

Nothing else happened for a moment. But then they heard from nearby an ominous grinding sound, stone on stone.

“Crap on a cracker,” said Nick.

“What?” asked Elise.

“Ahead of you,” he said.

Four pavers ahead of them, the wall had started to move, a foot-thick block of stone sliding directly toward them, slowly at first but picking up speed. They heard another sound behind them; the trapdoor just around the corner had sprung open again.

“Good golly Miss Molly,” said Ajay.

“Nick, you'll have to pull us up,” said Will.

“Way ahead of you,” said Nick as the end of the whip dropped down to them again. “Ajay!”

Ajay grabbed the end of the whip again. Nick quickly spooled him up to the top of the wall and Ajay scrambled onto his hands and knees. With the moving block of stone now less than two pavers away, Nick dropped the whip down again and Elise grabbed on. He reeled Elise up top as Will backed away onto the last paver before the wall, with the open trapdoor just to his left.

“It's okay; I'll just jump back over it,” he said.

But as he turned to make the leap, just on the other side of the trap, another tall stone wall slid quickly across, blocking his way. The moving stone block was less than one paver from him and bearing down.

“Stay there,” shouted Nick.

Will looked up and saw Nick in midair, falling down toward him, spread-eagled like a skydiver. He landed with his feet against the wall at Will's back, and he extended his arms out just as the sliding block moved within reach. The full weight of the block hit Nick and he braced himself against it, slowing its advance to a crawl, every muscle straining, a human wedge.

“Climb up onto me, dude,” said Nick through clenched teeth.

Will jumped up and grabbed on to Nick's rigid middle, which felt like banded steel, pulling himself up and over his torso.

“Hurry up,” grunted Nick.

Will got to his feet on Nick's back, using him as a plank, and stepped off him onto the top of the moving block. From there he jumped over onto the wall where Ajay and Elise were waiting.

“Get out of there, Nick,” said Elise.

Nick needed to bend his knees now to stay wedged in between the walls, but he was also no longer trying to hold them apart. He slowly contracted his stance and waited until the walls moved within a yard of each other. Then he pushed off with his feet as he let go with his hands and jumped onto the moving block. From there he scampered onto the top of the inside wall, opposite the others, shaking the tension out of his arms and legs.

“Now I know what a panini feels like,” he said. “I shoulda just jumped down the hole.”

“No, you shouldn't have,” said Will. “And we'd better keep moving.”

He led the others along the top of the left wall, while Nick kept pace with them atop the right. They reached the arch above the entrance to the central building together. Larger and much grander than the one they'd encountered earlier, more elaborate versions of the same eroded carved faces and figures they'd seen before spanned the length of this arch as well. Ajay leaned in to take a closer look at them.

“I think some of these are snakes,” he said.

“Stop trying to reassure us all the time, will you?” said Elise.

Will knelt down to look at the room below the arch and immediately inside the entrance. A plain, moderately sized chamber, lined with the same stone pavers. A few vines had snaked their way inside but there were no other adornments or features. He saw three staircases, one left and right heading down, and a grander set of stairs straight ahead that led up to a landing and a huge set of double wooden doors, studded with bars and metal rings.

“We need to head down those stairs,” said Will, pointing to the set on the right.

“How do we get down from here without spraining all eight of our ankles?” asked Ajay, looking down at the ten-foot drop to the floor.

Before anyone could answer, Nick unfurled his rope, tied one end around the arch, and dropped the coiled end to the floor below. Elise grabbed the rope and shimmied down; then Will and Ajay followed. Nick untied the rope, coiled it back up, and stuck it in his pack; he then swan-dived off the wall, tucked, somersaulted once, hit the ground and tumbled forward, and rolled up into a perfect landing on his feet.