Black Water

CLORAL

The ride was everything theyhoped it would be… only better. All that Bobby had described to them in his journals was now theirs to experience. The sensation of floating on warm air, the twists and turns with no fear of bashing into the crystal walls, the vast star field beyond, the musical notes that whipped past-it was all exactly as Bobby had explained it. Mark and Courtney held hands as they flew along. At first they held tight out of fear, but it only took a few moments for them both to relax and enjoy the ride.

“It… it’s incredible,” Mark exclaimed. He looked to Courtney, who floated alongside him, her eyes wide, taking in every detail.

“Look!” she exclaimed while pointing out to the star field.

They saw what looked like a giant fish swimming right up to the crystal shell of the flume and traveling along with them. It was the size of a house, with nearly transparent skin through which they could see the stars beyond.

“It’s one of the images Bobby wrote about,” Mark exclaimed.

The immense fish shot away and flew toward the stars.

“What is that?” Mark asked, while pointing to the other side of the flume. There was a vast, pyramid-shaped object spinning across space. It too was semitransparent so that stars could be seen through it.

“Maybe it’s a Lifelight pyramid,” Courtney suggested.

“What does it mean?” Mark asked.

Courtney laughed and said, “Are you kidding? What doesanyof this mean?” She let go of Mark’s hand and did a somersault like an astronaut in zero g. “Just gowith it.”

Mark actually laughed and tried to do a somersault too. But he only got halfway around and the two of them ended up sailing along with Courtney’s head up and Mark’s head down. They looked at each other and burst out laughing. A moment later they both heard something far ahead. The musical notes grew more furious, along with a new sound that was like…

“Water!” Mark exclaimed while scrambling to get his head back upright. “I forgot! The flume on Cloral dumps out into a-“

He couldn’t finish the sentence because they were shot out of the flume, twenty feet in the air. Gravity kicked back in and both fell toward a pool of water. Since Courtney’s head was up, she was able to get her feet together and hold her nose. But Mark was launched out of the flume head down. He flailed his arms to try and right himself, but it was too late. Courtney knifed into the water, nearly vertical. Mark spun himself heels over head and hit the water with a full-on belly flop that sounded like a cannon going off. Courtney surfaced first, looking for Mark.

“Mark?” she called out. “Mark!”

A moment later Mark surfaced, his long dark hair covering his eyes. He floated there for asecondmaking Courtney wonder if he was hurt. He then uttered a simple, profound, “Ouch.”

Courtney laughed. So did Mark. They had made it. The two swam to the side of the pool and pulled themselves up and out, to sit on the rocky ledge and survey their surroundings. It was exactly as Bobby had described. They were in a rock cavern that had vines laden with colorful flowers growing from its walls.

“We’re here!” Mark exclaimed. “I can’t believe it.” He leaned over and plucked off a dark green, cucumber-looking fruit from a vine. “Bobby made these sound delicious,” he explained while snapping it in half. The fruit inside was bright red, like a tubular watermelon. Mark took a greedy bite, the juice dripping down his chin.

“Well?” Courtney asked.

Mark smiled. “Sweet, crunchy, excellent. Bobby’s words didn’t do them justice.”

Mark handed Courtney the other half. The two of them took a moment to enjoy the strange fruit that could only be found on this territory. While they ate, both looked around the cavern, awestruck.

“Cloral. Unbelievable,” Courtney said.

Mark added, “It’s like we stepped inside a book.”

They both dangled their feet in the warm pool of water that was their welcome mat.

“I hope Wu Yenza got the message,” Courtney said. “If not, this is as far as we go.”

Both knew that in order to get out of this cavern, they would need air globes and swim belts, because they were far below the surface of the waters of Cloral. No way they would be able to hold their breath long enough to swim out. Even if they could, they’d find themselves in the middle of the ocean, with the possibility of quig-sharks lurking around. Courtney was right-if Wu Yenza hadn’t gotten their message, the mission to Cloral would go no farther than the gate.

“I think she got the message,” Courtney announced.

“How do you know?” Mark asked.

Courtney made her way carefully around the edge of the pool until she came upon a mound of vines. She tugged at them to reveal…

“Clothes!” Mark exclaimed. “Cloral clothes!”

Courtney picked up a bright blue shirt that looked to be made of a lightweight, rubbery wet suit material.

“We were expected,” Courtney said.

“Awesome!” Mark exclaimed. “I guess all we have to do is wait and-” Mark didn’t finish his sentence.

“What’s the matter?” Courtney asked.

Mark held up his hand. The gray stone in the center of his ring was starting to sparkle. “We’ve got mail.”

Mark took it off and put it on the rocks while Courtney quickly scampered around the edge of the pool to join him. The light from the stone shot out of the ring and lit up the flower-filled cavern, making it look as if they were standing inside a giant Christmas tree. The ring grew wide as the musical notes bounced off the walls. As always the entire event took only a few seconds. When it was over, Mark and Courtney were left looking at a ring that had returned to normal, with Bobby’s next journal lying beside it.

They had been so focused on the event, they hadn’t noticed the dark shadow that had been swimming toward them underwater. The shadow moved to the center of the pool and silently surfaced directly behind them.

Mark picked up the rolled-up parchment and said, “At least we’ll have something to do while we wait to see if anybody comes for us.”

That’s when the shadow spoke, saying, “No need to wait.” Mark and Courtney jumped in surprise. They spun quickly to the sound of the voice to see…

Treading water in the middle of the pool was a guy wearing a clear air globe that was form fitted to his head. He pulled off the globe and it instantly returned to its normal, round shape. Now that the globe was gone, Mark and Courtney saw that the guy had long black hair that fell almost to his shoulders. His eyes were almond shaped and he had a dazzling smile that lit up the cavern.

“You must be Mark and Courtney,” the guy said. “Sounds as if you’ve found yourselves in a bit of a tum-tigger.” Mark stammered, “A-Are you-“

“Who else would I be?” the guy laughed. Courtney uttered, “Spader?”

“Hobey-ho, mates,” the Traveler exclaimed. “Welcome to Cloral.”