The Pilgrims of Rayne (8 page)

Man, I missed Gunny. Spader too. But I couldn't let myself go there. Self-pity didn't help things.

“No luggage?” Dodger asked. He kept stealing nervous looks at Courtney, as if waiting for her to tee off on him again. Courtney just glared.

“We're traveling light,” I said.

“Is that a problem?” Courtney asked aggressively.

“Not for me,” Dodger said. “If you don't need a change of undies, that's your business, sister.”

“I'm not your sister,” Courtney shot back, then looked at me and smiled. “I guess I'm
his
sister.”

“Let's just go inside,” I suggested, trying to diffuse the situation.

Dodger went ahead of us, leading us up the wide front stairs into the hotel.

“Be cool,” I said softly to Courtney. “Dodger's okay.”

“He's overcompensating because he's short,” Courtney sniffed.

“Whatever. We need him.”

“Okay, I'll be good…little bro.” She smiled as she said this. It was weird pretending that we were brother and sister.

The hotel was just as I remembered. It was the height of luxury, 1937-style. The lobby had a high, stained-glass ceiling. There were huge, dark oriental carpets everywhere and lots of soft, leather furniture. It was a place that catered to the highfalutin, so all the guests were dressed impeccably. The bellhops looked neat and crisp in their burgundy uniforms with gold trim. They were the same uniforms that Spader and I had worn when we lived and worked there. I actually had lots of happy memories of the place.

Some lousy ones too.

“You hear the big news?” Dodger asked as he strutted through the lobby.

Courtney said, “Heard it? We were there!”

Dodger frowned. “You were in Hollywood last night?”

Courtney and I shared a look.

“You're not talking about the subway wreck?” I asked.

“Nah, I'm talking about Dewey Todd.”

“The elevator operator?” I asked in surprise.

“Yeah,” Dodger said. “He went out to Hollywood to work
in his old man's new hotel. Last night there was some kind of strange accident. He was running the elevator and it got hit by lightning.”

“Is he okay?” I asked, horrified.

“That's the strange part. Nobody knows. Everybody on the elevator disappeared. Halloween night. Spooky, aye? Poor sap. I liked the little guy.”

“Littler than you?” Courtney asked.

Dodger gave her a quick look, but let it go.

Poor Dewey. He was clueless, but a nice guy. I hated to hear that something might have happened to him. It seemed like a real mystery, but I couldn't worry about it. I had enough mysteries of my own to deal with.

Dodger led us to the elevator.

“We'll take the stairs,” I told him.

“What'sa matter? Afraid lightning might hit?” he asked, snickering.

Neither of us laughed. Dodger stopped chuckling quickly. “Okay, bad joke. You got a key?”

“I know where Gunny keeps it.”

“Okay, if you need anything, you know where to find me.” He started to leave, then turned back to me, as if wanting to say something.

“What?” I asked.

“Don't take this wrong, Pendragon. But you look different. I mean, you've been gone for what? Four months?”

It was true. By my clock I had left First Earth a couple of years before. But the flume put us back there not much later than when I had left. It was just another example of how the flumes were guided by some knowing force.

“How come you look so different?” Dodger asked.

“Growth spurt,” Courtney said flatly.

“It's been a rough four months” was all I could think of saying.

Dodger looked at me quizzically, then shrugged, and walked off. “If you say so.”

“I'll get you the cash for the cab ride,” I called after him.

“It's on me,” he said. “Consider it an apology for getting off on the wrong foot with your sister.”

He looked at Courtney, and gave her a genuine, apologetic smile.

“Thanks, peewee,” she said.

Dodger winked at her and took off. We watched him as he strutted back into the lobby.

“He winked at me,” Courtney said, disgusted. “What is up with that?”

“He can't help it if he was born in a different era.”

“I'll let him get away with the skirt comment, but if he calls me a dame, he's done.”

I laughed and said, “Let it go, all right?”

“And I don't care where they play, Dodger is still a dog name.”

Gunny had a small apartment on the first basement level of the hotel. It sounds worse than it was. I led Courtney down the stairs and along the corridor, passing the hotel laundry, the vault, and the baggage checkroom. Gunny's apartment was at the very end. I reached up to an exposed, overhead pipe where, sure enough, Gunny's key was waiting.

“Not exactly high-tech security,” Courtney scoffed.

“Not needed.” I reached for the door and turned the knob. The door was already unlocked. “Half the time Gunny never even locked it.”

The apartment was dark, as you might imagine a basement apartment would be. There were a few narrow windows near
the ceiling that were just above ground level. They didn't let in much light, but it was enough to make the place a little less claustrophobic. I flicked on a lamp to see that the apartment was exactly as Gunny had left it. There was a small living room with a sofa and two easy chairs positioned around a big-old radio in a wooden cabinet made by some company called Philco. There were no TVs in 1937. The radio was the center of home entertainment. One wall of the living room was actually the kitchen, with a small sink and stove next to a tiny refrigerator. Beyond the living room was Gunny's bedroom. Off that room was his bathroom. That was it. Gunny didn't need much to be comfortable.

There weren't a lot of knickknacks or personal touches, other than one painting that hung on the wall above the radio. It was an oil painting of a U.S. Civil War battle where the union soldiers were all members of the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, one of the first black army units in the Civil War. Gunny was really proud of that.

Standing in that room, I expected to see Gunny walk out of his bedroom with a big smile and a greeting of “Hey there, shorty!” That wasn't going to happen. The thin coating of dust on everything was a sad reminder that nobody had lived here in a while.

“Are we ever going to see him again?” Courtney asked somberly, reading my thoughts.

“I think so,” I answered optimistically. “When this is all over.”

“So let's make that happen,” she said, getting down to business. “Can we make this our base while we're looking for Mark?”

“That's the plan,” I said. I walked to Gunny's tiny kitchen and opened the oven. Inside was a metal cookie tin that looked like a log cabin.

“Stale cookies?” Courtney said.

“These cookies don't get stale, and they are very sweet.” I opened the tin and pulled out a roll of money that was held together by a rubber band.

Courtney whistled in awe. “Yikes! Didn't he ever hear of a bank?”

“He kept this in case of an emergency. I think this qualifies.” I tossed the roll of bills to her. “For food and more clothes and anything else that comes up.”

Courtney stared at the huge roll of cash nervously. “I think I'd rather have you in charge of this. My palms are already sweating.”

It was time to tell Courtney of my plan. From what I'd seen, everything was working out the way it had to. Gunny's apartment was still here and available; money wasn't a problem; and the people at the hotel remembered me. The hunt for Mark could happen from here. That was the easy part. I led Courtney over to the couch. We sat, facing each other while I scrambled to think of the right words.

“This looks serious,” she said. “I'd say you're breaking up with me, but since we're not even going out I don't think—”

“I can't stay on First Earth,” I said.

Courtney stared at me, not sure how to react. She laughed. Stopped herself. Gave me a curious look. Laughed again and finally shook her head.

“We just got here. We have to find Mark.”

“I know. You need to do it alone.”

“What?” Courtney jumped up. “No way! Just…no way!”

“I'm sorry,” I said.

“Don't be sorry,” she shot back. “Be serious.”

I took a breath to try and keep my voice calm. It was
killing me to do this but I couldn't see any other way.

“I am being serious. I can't stay here because Saint Dane went to Ibara. That's where I need to be.”

Courtney paced. I couldn't tell if she was angry or frightened. Probably both.

“He wants to beat me, Courtney. He
has
to beat me. I think that's just as important to him as taking control of Halla.”

“Then don't let him!” Courtney screamed. “He's luring you there, Bobby, don't you see that? He wants you to follow him so he can beat you.”

“You're right. That's exactly why I have to go. I don't think he can control Halla until he beats me, once and for all. But it works both way. If we want to stop him, I mean really stop him, forever, I'm going to have to beat him straight up. That's the only way this can all end.”

“That's pretty arrogant, don't you think?” she sniffed. “I mean, thinking that the future of all existence is only about the two of you.”

“It's not,” I countered. “It's about how we influence events, and the people of the territories and the choices they make.”

Courtney shook her head. “I don't understand.”

“This has been torturing me from the beginning,” I answered. “On every territory, with every conflict, Saint Dane has challenged me. You've read about it all. He always gets me to follow him to his next target. The Travelers have ruined his plans more often than not. The guy is a lot of things, but he's not an idiot. He could have won every single territory if the Travelers hadn't stopped him, but we never would have gotten the chance if we didn't always know where he was going. But he always tells me. Don't you wonder about that?”

Courtney plopped down in one of the cushy easy chairs,
shooting out a small cloud of dust. “Yeah,” she said, resigned. “I have. Are you saying he really wants to be beaten?”

“No!” I said quickly. “He wants to win, all right, but winning for him isn't just about toppling a territory. It's about beating the Travelers. Beating me. I think the battle here is more complicated than we even realize. It isn't just about wars or destruction or us trying to make sure the people of a territory have a peaceful way of life. I think it's more about the
way
it happens. The decisions people make. The paths they choose.”

“You're getting a little cosmic on me,” Courtney said.

“I know, I'm on shaky ground here, but the more I learn about Saint Dane and the way he thinks, the more I realize he's trying to prove some kind of point. He talks about the people of the territories being greedy and arrogant and shortsighted. He thinks that whatever horror happens to the territories, the people deserve it.”

“Because he's a monster,” Courtney added.

“Yeah, but he doesn't see it that way. He thinks he's giving the people what they want.”

“Death and destruction and misery?” Courtney asked.

“I know, it doesn't really follow. But the point is, he thinks he's serving a grander purpose. I don't think it's as simple as him being some kind of megalomaniac James Bond–type villain who wants to rule the universe, muhahahahaha! In some twisted way, he thinks he's doing the right thing.”

“But that's just it,” Courtney pleaded. “He thinks the right thing is to steer the people of the territories into disaster. How can that possibly be right?”

“I'm not saying it is. I'm saying that's how he thinks.”

Courtney looked around the room, letting my confused logic sink in. “So if Saint Dane is on a quest to prove that his way of running the territories is the right way, and the only
way he feels he can do that is by beating the Travelers, then by his way of thinking, the Travelers are the bad guys.”

Those words hit me hard. I hadn't thought of it that way, but if my theory was true, then Courtney was right. If Saint Dane thinks he's trying to save the territories, in his mind the bad guys who must be defeated are the Travelers.

“That's not all, Bobby,” Courtney added. “If Saint Dane is trying to prove something, who exactly is he trying to prove it to?”

I sat forward and rubbed my eyes. I was feeling very tired. “That's the biggest question of all,” I said softly.

“It's coming to an end, Bobby,” Courtney said. “Whatever the Convergence is, it sounds like it's what this has all been leading up to. I think what Saint Dane did as Andy Mitchell, what he got Mark to do, has broken down the walls between the territories for good. There are dados on Second Earth. There are dados on Third Earth and Quillan.”

“Dados tried to get onto First Earth,” I reminded her. “For all I know, more are showing up right now.”

“The destinies of four territories have been altered. It's sounding like those dominos are being lined up.”

“I agree,” I said. “That's why I've got to go to Ibara. I hate to say this, but I'm afraid it's too late to undo what Mark has done. Too many events have been set in motion. A Traveler has joined Saint Dane, remember? Nevva Winter is on his side. She told me on Quillan that she was thinking of taking the place of the Traveler from Ibara. All signs point to Ibara being that first domino that's going to be tipped.”

Courtney looked at the floor.

I continued, “I don't think we can change the future by trying to re-alter the past. We're too far down the road for that. I've got to look forward.”