I pulled on the ropes binding my wrists. They were snug and scratched my skin, but there was enough room to wiggle my way out.
Leandro tugged on the cords. “Not too tight, boys?” Charlie and I both shook our heads. “Good. Now if this plan only works.”
A trumpet blared through Cypress Woods, ringing like a battle cry and different from the other horn we’d heard. With that call, every sound grated on my nerves. The breeze roaring in my ears. The twigs crackling beneath my feet. And the breaths of my friends heaving in and out, like the very mountain itself was breathing us in with a great groan.
“What’s happening?” The shadows revealed nothing, but grew bigger as if stalking us too.
“It’s Hekate’s horn,” Sam said. “It always brings trouble.”
“And vapes,” Charlie said. “Lots of vapes.”
I gulped hard, then I remembered. “In the power mill I heard her say the word ‘tomorrow’ to the Child Collector, like she had something planned,” I said.
“And tomorrow is here,” Leandro said. “Let’s hope for more tomorrows.” He scanned the sky that held the cold blue sun high over our heads, pale against the purple background. All of our eyes followed his, watchful for more threats, and then I looked at my friends across the blowing fog. One tall, dark, and loyal. One short, pale, and daring. One strong, battle-scarred, and determined. How did they see me?
“Sam, come with us,” I urged, a growing anxiety filling me for what we were about to do.
“No. I told you I’ll be recognized in the castle,” Sam said.
“What if we can’t get the codes?” I said.
“Do as I told you and you will.”
Reluctantly, I nodded.
“Light of Sol go with you, Joshua,” Sam reassured me.
“Ahh, soliel,” Charlie said with a tired smile. “It means sun in my French.”
“For us too,” Sam said.
Leandro pulled us along. “Be safe, Sam.”
I turned and looked back as we trotted behind Leandro toward the castle. Sam held his hand up in goodbye. Would it be the last time we saw him? The trumpet sounded again, and we ran faster. I shot a final glance back, but Sam was already gone.
***
The castle had seemed so near when its towers first poked through the treetops, but it wasn’t. Charlie tripped at times, and I quickly helped him up. He shot me grateful glances as the trumpet called again but more faintly. Soon enough the woods thinned out and the road was easy to see between the trees. We stepped out on to it, the dirt hard beneath my feet after the forest moss. Out in the open I imagined fire-breathing cadmean beasts, ready to toss us up in the air as a snack.
Leandro stopped and pulled us off the road and down behind a bush. The castle stood before us, a desolate monster of crumbling torch-lit stone shrouded in mist. Its two wooden doors rose as tall as my house and a giant shield with a sun was etched into them, while a thick iron bar twisted across the sun, slicing it in two. Torches lined the front, spitting smoke that curled like fingers in the mist. Windows cut deep into the castle rock, their sightless, black holes watching us as craggy spires hovered above. The whole castle hunched over, broken and abandoned looking.
Four guards paced before giant doors with vapes held tight, pointing them outward as if expecting an attack.
“Put your heads down and don’t speak,” Leandro said in a low voice. His long hair grazed my face as he leaned in, smelling of pine and leather. Then he stepped out from behind a bush and tugged us out on the road. “Come along, you nasty Reekers!”
I lifted my head enough to see the guards stop pacing. They pointed their vapes at us. “Who are you, and what filth are you dragging along there?” The ugliest guard sneered at us.
“Name’s Evander,” Leandro said. “I’m a Child Collector from the Arrow Realm and got a request from the castle for two Reekers.”
He shoved us toward the ugly guard who twitched his head at Leandro. “Show me your gate key.”
Leandro pulled out the Lightning Gate key and popped it open.
“Getting a lot of these buggers in today.” The guard grunted with a nod. He leaned into Leandro and spoke in a low voice. “Heard anything about a threat to the king?”
I snuck a look at the guard. His bumpy, red nose dripped with snot and I nearly choked from his stinky-meat breath.
“Only that Hekate is unhappy with the way things are going here in the Lost Realm,” Leandro said, sliding his flattened gate key away and shoving me and Charlie together. Our heads cracked painfully into each other.
“Humph, aren’t we all?” The guard leaned further in. “She says she can drive the mist away and bring the bright sun back to our land.”
“I’m all for that. Then I won’t have to grab these Reekers for a living anymore,” Leandro said.
“Ha, I hear you there. Hate relying on these stinkers, eh?”
Leandro jolted our ropes hard. “That’s the truth. But can Hekate do it?”
“She’s wily,” the guard said. “Some say she’s an Ancient One with magic in her fingers. Maybe she’s got a spell in there to fix things.”
“Maybe.”
“And there’s rumors the Oracle lurks here.”
Charlie and I glanced at each other. Not me, I mouthed.
“Eh, the Oracle is just a myth,” Leandro said with a shrug.
“Hekate sensed it, they say. She would know.”
“Guess we’ll have to wait and see.”
The guard clapped Leandro on the shoulder with a great snort and turned to the other guards. “Open the gates, boys. Another two for the king.”
The gates creaked open.
“Move it, Reekers,” Leandro snarled at us and yanked us along then knuckled me on the head. Did he really have to do that? He grinned out of the corner of his mouth, obviously enjoying this.
“Stupid Reekers, aren’t they?” The red-nose guard roared with laughter.
“Indeed, of the most ignorant Barbaros kind,” Leandro agreed.
I tilted my head as we passed into the castle to read the large letters over the door: To enter these doors is to gift thyself to the great King Apollo and regard him with splendor of the sun. Be steadfast in the dark and seek glory in the light that cometh soon.
Anger boiled inside me. Yeah, well. I’m no gift, and I’ll seek glory in my own freedom, thanks very much.
Past the guards, we entered a dimly lit hall, and the stone walls closed further in on us. Wall torches spewed smoke, and its bitterness stung my tongue when I sucked it in. With a tug, Leandro turned us around with him and called back, “I can’t wait to be rid of these stinkers and get me a pint of bacon beer.”
“You got that right, my friend.” The guard laughed again. “When you dump them off, go find the kitchen for some. There’s a pretty maid there who’ll give you all you need.” He winked at Leandro and they laughed together.
Then the guard pointed down the hall. “Turn right at the bend, follow that a bit, and you’ll find yourself in the grand hall. King Apollo’s throne is there.”
Leandro nodded and pulled us along through the drafty corridor.
“We’re in, boys,” Leandro said, tucking the rope around his hand.
I jerked it back. “So when do I get to smack you in the head?”
“If that happens, I’ll be dead and this will have all been for nothing,” he said with serious humor.
“Not if you find your family first,” I said.
“Yes … but who will I be by then? And what purpose will I have?” He said it under his breath as his feet slowed, and it seemed more like spoken thoughts to himself rather than to us, so I left it alone.
A huge clang echoed behind us as the doors slammed shut, and Leandro picked up his step again. Bolts clicked into place. Shadows loomed all around us. We were locked in.