The Chaos Code (36 page)

There was a roaring in their ears. The crack of the breaking rock, the rumble of the volcano, the crash of the water. Shapes loomed through the drifting smoke. Matt could make out dark figures, closing in. He gripped Robin's hand tight. She was looking round, aware of them too.

Harper appeared out of the thickening air. His hair was blowing in a gale that sent the smoke skidding away in billowing swirls. ‘You think you are so clever,' he rasped.

Matt could hardly speak. His own throat was dry and raw. His feet were frozen despite the heat. A creature of glowing, molten rock was standing beside Harper. Its skin was blotched with dark crusts over the smouldering lava beneath. A steaming hand reached out for Matt and Robin.

Other figures appeared, encircling them both. Some earthy and dull, some like sandpaper wrapped round a huge doll. Some glowing and smoking. All closing in.

And behind them, from the top of the steps, a running figure – lean and human, not crude lumps of elemental matter crushed into the rough shape of a man.

‘The waterfall,' Venture shouted. ‘Robin, Matt – the water!' Then he dived to the ground, disappearing in a flurry of smoke.

‘Get down!' Robin screamed at Matt.

Smoking hands were reaching out for Matt. He could feel the heat from the stubby fingers. He dropped, straight down to the ground, lying beside Robin on the steaming stone floor.

Just then a wall of water crashed out of the gloom. Lights they could hardly see exploded as the water hit. The shadowy figures standing above Matt and Robin were swept away. The air itself seemed to be washed clean by the wave, smoke dispersing, the whole place lit by the eerie glow of molten rock. Steam hissed from the walls as splashes and droplets evaporated in an instant.

Then the water was gone. The wave had passed. Robin and Matt climbed slowly to their feet, splashing in the shallow waterfall that rolled down the steps into the lake now forming at the base of the amphitheatre.

‘Where's Harper?' Robin asked.

Matt hugged her tight, and they both stared down at the scene below.

The water had crushed the elemental figures together and hurled them down the steps. They'd smashed into Harper, taking him with them. Weakened and broken by the water, the elementals were coming apart – rock and earth becoming mud, sand and dirt breaking to pieces.

In the middle of it, Harper was struggling, flailing. The water was rising as more swept down into the growing lake. He tried to clamber out, but he was mired in the mud. The lumpy misshapen figures were collapsing
round him, over him. Dragging him down. Like quicksand.

His fingers grasped desperately for his laptop. But the water was pouring over it. He struggled to reach the keys, move the pointer. The screen hissed and went blank.

And now there was just his hand, scrabbling out of the viscous mud. The last of the creatures was sinking into the swamp, dissolving, melting …

Bubbles broke the surface, as if the mud itself was boiling. But the volcano was sleeping again now. The water rippled gently, sand and dust bobbing on the tiny waves. Nothing else broke the surface.

Mum and Dad were arguing. Of course. In the middle of a ruined ancient city underneath a smoking volcano with a spectacular waterfall crashing over the remains of a shattered pyramid, having just escaped death by less than the skin of their teeth, they were arguing about Matt. About which of them was more to blame for Matt being left to fend for himself over the school holidays.

‘You're both as bad as each other,' Matt told them. ‘You were both daft enough to take a job with a homicidal maniac who wanted to use ancient forbidden knowledge to rule the world. Deal with it.'

‘You really shouldn't talk to your mother like that,' Dad told him.

‘And your father is one of the cleverest people in his field; you should show him some respect,' Mum added.

‘OK,' Matt said, ‘so I guess it's
my
fault then. Should have known. From now on, I'm going to be spending the holidays with Aunt Jane.'

‘Jane,' Dad realised. ‘I'd better call her, she'll be worried sick.'

‘You never call her,' Mum told him. ‘You always wait for her to call you.'

‘That's not true.'

‘Isn't it? When did you start calling her then? I don't remember you ever calling her.
I
called her. Birthdays and Christmas it was
me
who called Jane.'

Matt left them to it.

Venture was speaking to Smith beside one of the huge helicopters. Robin was standing on her own, watching them. Her face was smeared with mud and her hair was wet and in a mess. But she still looked beautiful. Weird, but beautiful. Matt walked over to join her, and she smiled.

It wasn't a twitch of the mouth, it wasn't a half-smile that might have been mocking him. It was a real, full-on smile. And Matt grinned back. He probably looked ridiculous, just as caked in mud and dirt, just as much of a mess. But he didn't care.

‘I'm going to spend the rest of the holidays with you and Aunt Jane,' he said. ‘I can help sort out the mess, after the fire. If it's OK?'

‘That'll be good.'

She was still smiling, so Matt guessed she meant it.
‘You think it's finished?' he asked. They looked back at the smouldering volcano and the ruined pyramid behind them. Black-clad figures were leading a dishevelled group of men in khaki uniforms through the ruins.

‘I think so,' Robin said. ‘The discs are lost forever. The theatre is gone. And so is Harper, and Katherine Feather, and anyone else who really knew what happened.'

‘And before,' Matt said slowly. ‘When this all happened the first time – with Atlantis …'

‘What about it?'

Matt hesitated. Julius Venture was walking over to join them.

‘Well?' Robin prompted.

Matt shrugged. ‘Nothing. I just wondered if it was the same last time. If someone deliberately destroyed a civilisation.'

‘And why would they do that?' she asked, head tilted to one side. Wet hair rippling in the light breeze.

It was her father who answered. ‘To prevent anyone having the sort of power they were trying to create,' he said. ‘Is that what you think, Matt?'

Matt shrugged. ‘I don't know. All those lives for the freedom of everyone else. It would be quite a decision to have to take, wouldn't it.'

Venture blinked. ‘I wouldn't know,' he said quietly. ‘I wouldn't want to have to make that choice.'

‘Matt's coming to stay,' Robin said.

Venture smiled. ‘That's fine. Be nice to have you.' He reached out to shake Matt's hand. ‘And thanks for your help. It's good that you're finally starting to think, to see things in perspective. Just …' He looked at Robin, then back at Matt. ‘Be careful, all right?' Then he turned and walked back towards the helicopters.

‘He meant you,' Matt told Robin.

‘He did not,' she said.

‘You may be a bit older than me,' Matt said, ‘but you have a lot to learn.'

‘Oh? Such as what?'

‘Such as, don't get to like me too much, all right?'

She gave a snort of laughter. ‘You wish.'

Matt didn't contradict her. He was watching Robin's father, again talking to Smith beside the helicopter. Watching the way that Smith patted the sweat from his forehead with his handkerchief. The way he had to remove his tinted glasses to do it. Just for a moment.

To reveal the startlingly blue eyes behind the darkness.

The Death Collector
The Chaos Code

Copyright © 2007 by Justin Richards

All rights reserved. You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages

First published in the U.K. by Faber and Faber Ltd.

Published in the United States of America in October 2007

by Bloomsbury Books for Young Readers

Electronic edition published in October 2012

www.bloomsburyteens.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Richards, Justin.
The chaos code / by Justin Richards.—1st U.S. ed.
p. cm.

Summary: Fifteen-year-old Matt and his new friend Robin search the globe to
retrieve an ancient code—rumored to have brought down the ancient civilization of
Atlantis—from the hands of a madman who is bent on destroying the modern world.
[1. Ciphers—Fiction. 2. Adventure and adventurers—Fiction. 3. Supernatural—
Fiction. 4. Atlantis—Fiction. 5. Mystery and detective stories.] I. Title.
PZ7.R386Cha 2007 [Fic]—dc22 2006102609

ISBN 978-1-6196-3018-5 (e-book)