CHAPTER SIXTEEN

 

 

Hitting a Snag

 

Arvin and I stood in awe on the outskirts of a gleaming city floating among the clouds. Silver and glass buildings stretched high into the sky. Their twisted shapes reflected sunlight at every angle. Catty-cornered to each other, some were bulbous, and all were beautiful. Throughout the city, crystal minarets scraped the sky, like obelisks of splintered glass tearing through clouds as they passed. The largest minaret was easy to spot. It sat like a heart in the city center, pulsing light from bottom to--.

“Look at that,” I said, pointing out something yellow covering the top half of the massive minaret. “Looks like Nico’s plan worked after all.” The balloon’s rounded rubber edges flapped in the breeze, repeatedly striking the glass minaret.

“It must have floated near the city and then popped on the minaret,” Arvin said.

“How did it get here?” I asked. “This can’t be the same place, can it?”

“I think we need to find our slithering stalker. I’m tired of guessing. I want real answers.”

I nodded my head. “Let’s get closer.”

As Arvin and I walked, the city grew larger in our eyes. Buildings which were delicate at a distance became resilient structures of fused glass and bolted steel. Bubbling water fountains and colorful flowerbeds lined the way into the city. The smooth walkway gradually changed as we approached, transitioning from crystal clear, to gray, to black. We passed under a steel archway ten times my height. The walkway became a typical paved street, full of people going about their business.

“Excuse me,” a woman said, bumping into me as she passed. Her pet ferret peeked out of her purse, squeaking at me as she continued on her way.

“Pardon me.” “Get out of the way.” “Either walk or get off the sidewalk.” “Move out of the way.” “Step aside.” “Don’t stand there.” “Can’t you see we’re walking here?”

“Look at all the people, Perry,” Arvin said.

“Arvin, let’s get out of the way.” I pulled Arvin through the crosswalk to the other side. Our wet silk slippers made squishing sounds with every step.

We examined the crowd as the crowd examined two filthy boys in ripped tunics. It was quite the spectacle to see so many colorful characters. Their bright clothes looked haphazard and childish, crisscrossed with multiple silver zippers, gold buttons, flared pants, orange and pink ruffles, and a rainbow of feathers from peacocks, parrots, ostriches, and roosters. Glitter and rhinestones sparkled on their wide belts and pointy hats. Men, women, and children of all shapes and sizes went about their business dressed like I had gotten into Mom’s old clothes boxes and dressed myself with one hand - in the dark. Their hairdos were wild and twisted, spiraling out in every direction. I wondered how, with thousands of glass buildings around, nobody could find a mirror.

Our royal silk tunics, pants, and slippers looked lifeless in comparison. I wasn’t sure to be more embarrassed for our sorry look or for their strange one. When I saw the rhinestones, I knew Arvin saw potential.

“Perry, they’re incredible,” Arvin said, his eyes widening. “Can we find a clothing store?”

“And pay with what? I don’t think your silk underwear will be worth much to them. But I’ll make you a deal. If we find our snake, I’ll help you glue rhinestones to its back.”

“Deal,” said Arvin, moving off with me towards the balloon-draped minaret.

Hundreds of people passed as we strolled down the sparkling avenue like two blue blobs walking amongst metallic flowers.

WOO-WOO, DING-DING, BOING, RAZZ-POP

A chorus of sounds blared out of an open doorway ahead on our right. Multicolored lights flashed from within the room as kids our age stepped in and out in pairs and in groups.

“Sounds like an arcade,” I said. “Let’s check it out.”

“You and those video games.”

“You and those rhinestones.”

Arvin smiled at me. “Us and those magical gewgaws?”

“Perhaps. But there’s something I don’t understand. We refused The King’s rings. We gave our pendants to our albino friends. The animal pelts were ruined in the Pod. We didn’t use those, but we used the balloon, rock, stick, figs, bones, money, and the shields. What’s the connection? Gewgaw or no gewgaw, it’s the same over and over.”

“Sometimes a gewgaw is a gewgaw,” Arvin said, nodding his head.

“Quoting Halvor, again?”

“Iwa and Halvor were right about a lot of things. I wish I could--”

“No. Don’t say it. Don’t even think it.”

“Oops. You’re right. First things first.” Arvin spotted an open circular hole like a rain spout at the bottom edge of the building. He knelt down on both knees and whispered. His voice echoed in the opening. “Here, snakey-snakey. Here, snakey-snakey. Come out so I can glue rhinestones to your back.”

I laughed at Arvin whispering into the rain spout, calling a snake out to fight. “Maybe he doesn’t like rhinestones.”

Arvin winked at me. “Proof he’s evil.”

A rainbow-clad group of two girls and two boys stepped out of the arcade, laughing and tugging on each other’s arms. If Arvin were wearing his swim trunks and tank-top, he could’ve camouflaged himself among them. Arvin stood up before they could see his attempt to start a grudge match with the waterspout.

“Excuse me,” I said, stopping the rainbow brigade. “Can you tell us what happened to the large spire over there?”

“You must be new,” one boy said. He was my height. He wore rainbow shorts and a matching shirt. Stitched all over his outfit, pink teddy bears rode yellow poodles. Rhinestones encrusted his shoes, and some were glued to his cheeks. I couldn’t see the color of his hair or eyebrows under double layers of green and purple glitter.

“Yes, we are. My brother and I arrived a few hours ago.”

“Welcome to Aurabash. I’m Devon. This is my girlfriend Lucy, and Jeddi and Liz.”

“I’m Perry, and this is my brother, Arvin. Can you tell us about the yellow thing?”

“Yeah. You guys missed a great show.”

“The greatest show,” Lucy said.

“Right. The greatest show. The city was hovering in its usual place when all the sudden this yellow thing floated up. It was the size of the city.”

“It was bigger than the city,” Lucy said.

“Right. Bigger than the city. The whole sky looked like a yellow blob monster was about to eat us. We thought it was going to pass.”

“But it didn’t,” Lucy said.

“Right. It didn’t pass. The city’s main power spire--”

“The big one in the middle,” Lucy said.

“Right. The city’s main power spire, the big one in the--” He turned to his girlfriend. “Lucy, can I tell the story?” She huffed and stood back with Jeddi and Liz, crossing her arms and scrunching her face. “The yellow blob got caught on the spire and popped.”

“It sounded like thunder,” Lucy said, blurting out from behind.

Devon growled at her. “Yes, it was loud. The blob blew out so much air, it knocked the city out of place, dragged us into a storm, flooded streets, started fires, and froze several water storage tanks.”

“You missed the best part,” Lucy said. “Everything’s fixed now.”

“Everything’s fixed except for the main power spire. They’re still trying to unravel some burnt ropes from the power converters up there. That’s why it’s flashing. The yellow blob melted an ancient fuse or something.”

“Ancient?” Arvin asked after patiently waiting his turn - unlike rainbow Lucy over there.

Devon said, “Yeah, that spire may look new, but it’s actually quite old. They refurbished it to match the newer buildings, but it still uses some old copper wires to keep it going. I don’t know why they haven’t bothered to replace them yet.”

“Dad says it’s because of budget cuts,” Liz said. “Anyone rich enough to own copper has probably moved to a newer city by now.”

Devon said, “And the city’s main communication terminals are still without power, so we can’t call for help until they’ve found enough copper to repair the fuse.”

Did you see a repair team on your shuttle?” Lucy asked. “Maybe they found some copper.”

“Sorry, I didn’t see a repair team on the shuttle,” I said.

“Thanks,” Arvin said. “We should get going. We don’t want to be late.”

“No problem,” Devon said, leaving with his friends.

“What ridiculous clothes,” Lucy said, grabbing hold of Devon’s hand as they walked away.

We continued down the street, approaching the spire to get a better look. Arvin began to pull his twisted wire out to examine.

“Stop, Arvin. Don’t take it out in public,” I said.

“Why not? All this copper must be worth a fortune.”

“That’s why you can’t let anyone see it. How long until someone tries to take it from you?”

“Did you learn that in the pod?” Arvin asked.

“Didn’t you?” I asked.

“I learned we can’t depend on everyone, but we can rely on our friends.”

“You sound like my dad.”

“Do I? I had a dream about him in the mudflat.”

“You said you had a dream about swimming in chocolate.”

“Oh, yeah. Sorry. I didn’t want to upset you by talking about your dad,” Arvin said, scratching at his growing hair.

Wow, I’m a jerk, I thought. “You were right in the albino’s cave. I was a jerk - even before you left.”

“Yes, you were. But so was I. I wouldn’t listen to you when you tried to tell me about the snake and the wishing. And I shouldn’t have embarrassed you about Emilia.”

“Arvin, what would I do--”

SLAP-SLAP

The humongous balloon’s thick rubber smashed against the spire and released, flying into the air and over the city’s outer edge, disappearing out of sight.

TWEEK

The spire’s tip broke off and fell through the air. It hit the street with a deafening BOOSH! as it shattered, throwing shards like spears through store windows. A thousand people ran in every direction, knocking Arvin and me onto the ground.

We were lucky to be a couple hundred feet away from the glass spire, only to cut our hands on broken rhinestones dropped by the crowds as they ran. Arvin and I sat up, dusting the rainbow rhinestones off our clothes. Arvin giggled, pointing at my face. I turned to see my colorful reflection.

“Oh, no. I look like Devon.” I said.

“Trust me,” Arvin said, “it’s an improvement.”

“Hardy-har-har.” I dusted the glitter out of my hair and pulled the rhinestones off my cheeks.

Arvin pointed over to a slender woman examining the spire’s shattered pieces. “Let’s go talk to that woman.”

“Why her?” I asked.

“She’s the only one not running.”

He was right again. “Lead the way,” I said.

Arvin walked ahead and got to the woman first. She was pretty and probably in her early 30s. Her blonde hair was tied neatly in a ponytail which rested against the white collared shirt on her back. She wore matching white pants with silver vertical stripes. Silver-laced white work boots completed her uniform. Rhinestones and glitter were stuck to her boots and pants at the ankles, but it looked to me like she had stepped in it like Arvin and I had done. I stayed behind to let Arvin do the talking.

“Excuse me, Mam. Are you ok?” asked Arvin.

“I’m fine. You two should back away. It’s not safe this close to the spire. We don’t know if another piece will break off,” she said, standing up, looking at us through dark blue eyes.

“Why aren’t you running away like everyone else?”

“I’m responsible for the upkeep and repair on this spire. This whole area is going to be sectioned off until we can figure out how to fix it for good.”

“We heard you need a lot of copper to fix it. Is that right?”

“Sadly, yes. It’s too rare and expensive to keep it in stock. So unless you have six inches of 5-gauge copper wire, you boys need to get out of here.”

“Will this work?” Arvin asked, pulling the wire out of his pocket.

The repair woman gasped, seeing Arvin holding a short, twisted fortune. “Where did you get that?”

“I’ve been saving it for a special occasion. Can you use it?”

“Of course. What’s the catch? How much do you want for it?”

“To know your name, lovely lady,” said Arvin, handing the wire to the much older woman. “We also want to see how you’ll repair the spire. It’s almost as beautiful as you.”

“Geez, Arvin,” I said, clenching my teeth, “focus on the mission.”

“I’m Leora,” she said, twisting the wire around her finger. “Knowing my name is free, but be serious. You could buy your own shuttle with this. Why would you give it to me?”

“It’s what we do. We help people, Leora,” Arvin said, reaching out, closing Leora’s fingers into a fist over the copper wire.

“Arvin,” I said, my teeth clenching harder, “mission.” I had to take over. “Leora, you can have the copper wire for free. We want to see how this thing works. Can we watch you repair it?”

“Wait here for a moment,” Leora said, walking into an entrance at the base of the spire. She returned carrying three hard hats. “Most of the damage is outside, so it’ll be safer inside anyway. You can watch the repairs, but we have to wear these.” We put on the hard hats and followed Leora into the spire’s repair entrance.

The inside wasn’t glass and shiny silver like the outside. The spire’s frame looked like a tornado of wires spinning around various pipes, going into wall panels with flashing red lights, up the side of an elevator, over rusted steel girders, and looping around a spiral staircase leading from the base to the top. This thing was a mechanical monstrosity under the beautiful glass and steel facade.

Lucky for us, we didn’t have to climb all those stairs. Leora walked over to a small panel on the wall and opened its small beige cover. I hoped to see colorful touch-screens and information displays. Instead, there were eight analog dials with little black arrows. Each had a green dot on the right, a yellow dot in the center, and a red dot on the left. All the arrows were stuck on the red dots. There were eight circular plugs like electrical outlets at home - each one under its own dial. Two holes were in the center of each plug. Copper wires passed through each hole in a loop from one to the next. The center plug was cracked down the middle. Its copper wire was burnt black and useless.

I thought, What’s this junk?

Leora reached into the panel and pulled out the old burnt wire. “Boys, this is what you wanted to see. Better come closer to get your money’s worth.”

Arvin and I watched as Leora took the loop of copper wire off her finger, straightened the ends, and plugged them into the socket.

“Let’s see,” Leora said, pushing the flashing red button at the top of the panel.

ERRRRRR

Nothing happened. Leora pushed the button again.

ERRRRRR

She put her right hand over her left shoulder, squeezing her tense muscles. “I was afraid of this.”

“What happened? Why isn’t it working?” I asked.

“Do you see the metal receptacle in the middle? The one holding the wires?” she asked.

“Yes, I see it.”

“Well, it’s cracked. I hoped it wouldn’t matter, but looks like I was wrong again.”

“Do we need more copper?” Arvin asked.

“No. The receptacle is made out of another rare metal called palladium. It was used in old TTSs. I can get one, but I’ll have to take my son’s.”

“TTSs?” I asked.

“You have a son?” Arvin said, disappointed she was old enough.

“Transmogrify-Transdimensional Sequencers, of course. They let you change form and travel to other dimensions without being noticed. My son loves his TT-Sequencers. The one I need is a family heirloom from his great grandfather. He’ll be heartbroken.”

“Change form? What kind of form?” I asked.

“It depends on the unit. The newer ones will let you change into anything you want. The older ones have a set shape embossed on the sequencer. Everybody loves them. Don’t you have a TTS of your own?”

“Maybe. Does your son have a snake-embossed TTS?” I asked.

“How did you know? He didn’t tell me he’d made new friends since we moved.”

“We’re certainly not his friends,” I said, “but I think we have something of his.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out the coin and handed it to Leora. She looked it over and smiled.

“I see you got an old one from your great grandparents, too. Why did you pretend you didn’t know what it was?”

“We weren’t pretending,” Arvin said. “Perry, tell her.”

Leora turned the coin over in her hand several times as we told her our story. I started with Dad giving me the coin two years before, the balloon and the island, the rock and the volcano, and everything we’d experienced up until we’d met her at the base of the spire. For every place we went, every gewgaw we found, every pain we told her about, the more furious she became until she looked like my own blonde dragon back home. Her face grew a deeper shade of red. Her teeth clenched, grinding against each other. She made two fists, took a deep breath, and hollered at the top of her lungs.

“Levi!”