Star League 8 (2 page)

One moment I'm staring down Jay's evil parents, the next everything goes dark. And I'm not just talking about the regular kind of dark with a moon and stars. I'm talking pitch black. It's so dark I can't even see my hands when I wiggle them in front of my face. I reach out and feel rough stone walls on either side of me, so I know I'm not in the tower any more.

‘Where do you guys think we are?' My voice echoes around the stone walls. ‘Hey, do you hear THAT?' There's no answer other than my own voice bouncing back. ‘Guys?'

I feel a stab of panic as I realise I'm alone somewhere in a dark cave. What if I'm stuck down here for the rest of my life? Or worse, what if I'm
not actually alone down here? I keep my ears open for the sound of monsters creeping up behind me, but the only thing I can hear is my own rapid breathing.

‘Okay, Connor, calm down. Don't freak yourself out. Just transform into a werewolf and you'll be able to see in the dark.' I close my eyes and try to make the Change, but nothing happens. Then I remember Mrs Casey's threat just before we were teleported out of the tower. ‘I can't believe it, they actually took our powers!'

I need to find the others. Together we can figure out a way to get our powers back, but right now I'm totally exposed. I freeze at the sound of footsteps behind me – quiet ones, as though someone is trying to sneak up on me.

‘Asuka?' I ask, trying not to let my voice wobble. ‘Leigh? Sam?' I frown. ‘Roger?'

But there's no answer. That's when I really start to freak out. I spin around on the spot as I try to
find a way out. Everything feels way too close in here, as though the walls are closing in. ‘Calm down, Connor, you're imagining things!' But the more I say it the more freaked out I get. ‘I can get out of here. I just need to find a path!'

I calm down enough to put one foot shakily out in front of me and take a step forward. Immediately I imagine stepping off a cliff in the middle of the darkness. ‘That's not helping!' I order my overactive imagination to be quiet as I take another step forward and another. Soon I'm following a path through the dark cave, trailing my hand along one wall to guide me.

After a while the air seems to grow lighter and warmer, as though I'm climbing higher. I start to hope that maybe I'll find an exit out of this place, and then I can teach both Professors Pestilence a lesson in not kidnapping kids and stealing their powers. I'm feeling so good about this plan that I start taking bigger steps and soon I'm practically
running along in the dark.

I'm doing so well that it comes as a big shock when I run face-first into a wall.

‘Ouch,' I mutter. ‘That hurt.' I pause for a moment to rub my forehead and that's when I hear a noise. It's very quiet, but I definitely know I heard something. I stay as still as a statue as I try to pinpoint the sound – a kind of scuttling, like something scrabbling up a rock face. And it's close. Very close.

I stand in the spot where whatever is making that noise is about to pop out. Then I raise my hands to grab it. It climbs over the ledge and I leap forward, wrapping my arms around it.

‘YARRR! GOT YOU!'

My arms ache from climbing up this cliff. Normally I could've climbed in seconds, but it feels like it's taking me forever. I reach up with one hand and I realise I've finally arrived at the top. I groan as I drag myself over, hoping that now I can just relax for a while.

But before I can, something barrels into me.

‘YARRR! GOT YOU!'

I panic and aim a ninja chop at whatever is attacking me, but there's no power behind my blow. Ever since Jay's parents took my powers away from me I've felt as weak as a baby. I still remember all my training, but my strength has completely deserted me. So instead I duck and roll under the legs of my attacker.

‘Hey, where'd you go?' asks a voice I'd know anywhere.

‘Connor?' I ask. ‘Is that you?'

There's a moment of silence. ‘Asuka? Oh, am I glad to see you! Well, not really see, I guess. It's too dark in here.'

I squint. ‘I can see a little. My night vision was always good. Of course, it's not as good as it normally is since …' I trail off, thinking about my stolen powers. It hurts as much as a real wound.

I can just make out Connor nodding in the dark. ‘They took my powers, too. I feel so useless. What if we get trapped down here forever?'

Up until now I'd been thinking exactly the same thing. But hearing Connor say it makes me realise we can't give up yet. ‘We shouldn't talk like that. We're going to get out of here and get our powers back. Then we'll make Professor Pestilence … I mean Jay's parents … well, whoever they are, we'll make them pay!'

‘You're right, Asuka,' says Connor, rubbing his forehead. ‘We have to work on getting out of here, and that means finding the others.'

We follow the path as it climbs higher and the darkness starts to lift. Soon it's light enough for me to see Connor, and he looks as scared as I feel. I just keep hoping we don't bump into anything nasty on this path because without our powers, we're toast!

Suddenly Connor comes to a stop.

‘What's wrong?' I ask, but Connor just puts his finger to his lips.

I stand still and listen, and sure enough I hear footsteps echoing around the cave.

‘Is it one of the others?' I whisper, but Connor shakes his head.

‘I don't think so. I heard footsteps when I was first teleported here. I think there's someone else in these caves with us.'

We follow the sound of the footsteps but we
don't see anyone. Eventually the path leads through a doorway into a dimly lit room. Flickering torches line the walls of what appears to be a huge circular stadium. We walk to the centre and look around.

‘I've got a bad feeling about this,' mutters Connor.

I nod. I can feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, which is a sure sign something is wrong. Right on cue the doors slam shut behind us, locking us in.

‘Uh oh,' mutters Connor. ‘What is THAT?'

I spin around and find myself face to face with a monster. It looks like a huge, ferocious dog, and when it opens its mouth I can see three rows of razor sharp teeth. It screeches and a long, thin tongue whips out towards us.

I gulp. ‘Something tells me that's not a good dog!'

I watch as the enormous dog-like monster stalks towards Asuka and Connor below. I try to judge the distance between the balcony I'm standing on and the ground. Normally it wouldn't be a problem – my processors would kick in and I'd be able to not only judge the distance, but figure out the best angle of impact to take out that dog monster. But the seventh shard knocked out my data processors and I can't figure out even the simplest of quadratic equations.

Connor and Asuka need my help now. There's no time for calculations. I close my eyes and jump.

Even though it looked like a long jump from the balcony, it's over in a second. I land right on top of the dog monster, and it squeals in surprise. I scramble off the dog monster, then turn to face the others.

‘Sam!' cries Asuka. ‘Are we glad to see you!'

‘Yeah, we always love it when you drop in for a visit,' says Connor.

‘No time for reunions,' I say, glancing over my shoulder as the dog monster gets to its feet. ‘We need to RUN!'

The three of us race towards one of the stadium doors. It's shut tight, but if I can remember enough to override the circuits we might be able to get out.

I close my eyes and put my hand on the access panel. I concentrate as hard as I can, given there's a gigantic dog monster racing towards me, but nothing happens. The Caseys have well and truly stolen my powers.

‘Quick, it's almost on us!' yells Connor.

‘We're going to have to manually override the control panel,' I say.

‘What does that mean?' asks Asuka.

‘Grab hold and pull!' I lunge for the edge of the door, scrabbling to get my fingers into the crack. The others do the same and we start to heave the door back. A tiny gap appears, but it's nowhere near big enough for us to fit through.

The dog monster is so close I can smell its horrible breath. It screeches in triumph, no doubt excited about its next meal – us!

‘One last try,' I gasp. ‘HEAVE!'

We give the door a giant tug and it slides open enough for us to squeeze through. We try to slide the door closed after us but it won't shut all the way.

‘Well, that was close,' I mutter. We jump as the dog monster slams into the door, but thankfully the gap is nowhere near wide enough for it to get through.

‘Uh, I don't think it's over yet, guys,' says Asuka. ‘This is a dead end!' We glance around and groan in disappointment. She's right – there are no
other doors besides the one we came through.

‘So we've got to go back out there?' asks Connor. The dog monster snaps its jaws and lashes out with its long tongue. ‘That thing is going to eat us alive!'

Over the sound of the dog monster's growling I can hear another noise – a kind of chirping.

‘Oh great, and now there are rats in here!' says Connor.

I glance up and spot the opening of a tunnel above our heads. ‘Look, an exit! We should be able to escape by climbing through there.'

Connor looks doubtful. ‘What if the room above is infested with rats? After all, if this place has dog monsters who knows what the rats are like?'

The chirping gets louder. ‘Oh no, the rats are coming in here!' says Asuka.

‘Wait,' I say, holding out a hand to silence the others. ‘That's not a rat. Listen!'