34.

See Here

B olt stepped off The Heinous Hering with One R and onto the sandy shores of Omnescia. The sand was so white, it nearly blinded him, and the pristine air of the island was so free of hate, it made Bolt giddy. While penguins are, mostly, creatures of the cold and wet, a bit of sunshine can make any creature happy. Bolt smiled as the warm sun beat down on him. “I can practically smell the carefree happiness.”

While Bolt stood on the beach with a wide grin on his face, Annika’s eyes were narrowed in suspicion. She sniffed warily. “I don’t like it,” she grunted. “Bandits don’t do carefree happiness.”

Off in the distance, a group of penguins played on the shore. Bolt longed to join them. But he was here with a job to do, not to enjoy himself.

Past the sand lay a small village, with primitive huts made from wood and thatch, dirt paths, and no sign of electricity or plumbing. All the Omnescians wore white tunics and were bald, including the women.

One woman carried a large basket of fruit on her shoulder. Her eyes were closed and she walked straight into a house and then toppled to the ground. It looked painful. A man with a large jug of water also walked with his eyes closed and bumped into a tree. Bolt winced as the man fell backward holding his nose, and his jug landed on a rock and cracked in half.

“Welcome, visitors.” An incredibly tall man approached them—he must have stood ten feet tall. Most of his height came from his impossibly long legs, although they were hidden by his long tunic. He walked stiffly. In one hand he held an umbrella, even though the sky above was bright and sunny.

“We have been expecting you,” said the tall Omnescian, bowing. “The great seer, he whom we obey and honor, foretold your presence.” He raised his umbrella. “Just like he foretold it would rain today.”

“There’s not a cloud in the sky,” Annika pointed out.

The man tossed the umbrella over his shoulder. “Well, the great seer knows almost everything. I am Qvadaciuosruffinmaliwitzian.” Spittle flew from his mouth.

“Thank you, Qvadcious . . . what was that again?” asked Blackburn.

“Call me Quad.”

“Borscht!” replied Blackburn.

“No, Quad ,” repeated the man.

Two Omnescian women strode past them. Their eyes were also closed and they walked straight into each other, and fell. They scrambled to their feet, and then crashed into each other again.

“Why is everyone walking around with their eyes closed?” asked Bolt.

“Here in Omnescia we are all seers in training. We try to see with our inner eyes whenever possible. Someday we hope to share the great one’s gift and see the world, always.”

Someone howled, and Bolt turned to see four people on the ground, each holding their heads and moaning.

“Most of us still need a lot of practice,” Quad admitted. He closed his eyes. “With my inner eye I see you—six people who have traveled from far away.”

“Actually, there are four of us, and one of us is a penguin,” said Annika.

“And you have questions,” he continued.

“Sure, we want to know—” began Bolt, but Quad held up his hand.

“I know what you seek. You are curious if the groundhog will see his shadow this year. You want to know what you should buy a unicyclist for his birthday, and you seek the world’s greatest recipe for pumpkin pie.” He opened his eyes triumphantly. “Am I right?”

“Not even remotely close,” said Annika.

“Aye,” said Blackburn. “Although I do like a good pumpkin pie.”

Quad shook his fist. “I’ll get the hang of it one of these days. But enough chatting. Follow me.” Quad stepped forward and stumbled. He cursed, sat down, and unstrapped a pair of stilts that had been under his tunic. He rolled up the extra fabric of his tunic and secured it in place with a button. When he stood up, Quad was now shorter than Bolt. “Ah, that’s better.”

“Are the stilts part of your training?” guessed Bolt. “So you can see the world from a different viewpoint, or something like that?”

“No, I just like stilts,” explained Quad. “If I hadn’t become a disciple of the great seer, I was going to join the circus.” He sighed. “Maybe someday.” He left the stilts in the sand and led the group deeper into the village, past huts and small fires where people roasted lizards on spits. Some of them tried to grab the spits with their hands, but with their eyes closed. Their moans from burnt fingers were painful to hear.

Up above, the sky suddenly filled with clouds, a crack of thunder rang out, and rain fell in torrents, drenching everyone. The shower ended as quickly as it had started, the sun reappearing and the clouds dissipating in seconds.

“Sorry for doubting you, oh great one!” shouted Quad, bowing to his right and left. He bowed a few more times before straightening up and continuing to walk forward. “Come, we have prepared tents for all of you. We will celebrate your arrival with a great feast, followed by a month-long series of Mad Libs, meditation lessons, and challenging games of dominoes.”

“We were kind of hoping to talk to the seer and leave,” said Annika with a grumble. “We’re in a bit of a time crunch.”

“A shame, we get so few visitors,” said Quad.

“Will we see the seer now?” Annika asked, fidgeting impatiently.

“Oh, no,” said Quad, jabbing a finger at Annika. “You will not see Omneseus. Never, ever.”

“What do you mean?” Annika asked, mouth scowling, her hand slipping to her belt, where her knife was tucked. “We have to see him. It’s a matter of life and death!” Bolt knew she was preparing to fight.

“You misunderstand,” said Quad, bowing. “Only Bolt will see Omneseus. He is the chosen one.”

“And I’m chosen for what, exactly?” asked Bolt, leaning in, raising his eyebrows. He had heard those words often, but he was still quite unclear about what he was chosen to do. Maybe, finally, someone would tell him.

Quad shrugged. “Beats me. Omneseus just said you were chosen. I didn’t ask for specifics.”

“I want to go, too,” said Annika. She stepped toward the Omnescian, her hand reaching for her knife again, but Bolt put his hand on her arm to calm her. “It’ll be OK.” Bolt gave her a friendly squeeze. “I’ll be back soon. And then we’ll know how to defeat the Earl and free the people of Sphen.”

Annika eyed Quad, and then she eyed Bolt, her knife hand twitching. But after taking a deep breath, she slipped her knife back into her belt. “Just hurry, OK?”

“We’ll free Sphen,” said Bolt. “Whether it takes days or weeks.”

“We don’t have weeks,” grunted Annika.

“Why not?” Bolt asked.

Annika turned away. “Just because.”

Bolt was proud of Annika for being so impatient—it showed how much she cared about the people of Sphen. Why else would she be in such a rush?

Quad showed Annika, Blackburn, and Pygo to their tents, which were all quite luxurious, with full beds and ample space inside them. The covers for the beds were half on the floor. “It’s hard to make beds with your eyes closed,” explained Quad. To Bolt he said, “Come.”

The man led Bolt away from the village, down a long path that led to the base of the great mountain. “The seer lives up there,” said Quad. Bolt peered up, but the mountain rose so high he couldn’t see the top, which disappeared into fog and clouds.

“Why does he live so high?” asked Bolt.

“It is easier to see the future in solitude,” said Quad. “Also, property taxes are a lot cheaper up there.” The two began their ascent, following a small dirt path that led up the mountain.

The path inched up slowly at first, but soon grew steeper, and the dirt gave way to stone steps. The stones were uneven and chipped, making them difficult to walk on.

After fifteen minutes or so, they were still much, much closer to the bottom of the mountain than even the middle of it, but Bolt’s legs dragged. Even with his penguin-infused stamina, it was tiring to climb up a mountain, especially after fleeing three great off-white sharks.

Eventually, the path stopped rising, and two large stone pillars, crumbling and ancient, marked the path’s entrance atop a wide plateau. “Are we there?” Bolt asked, hopefully.

“If you mean are we at a large plateau halfway to the seer’s cave, then yes.”

Bolt sighed as Quad pointed to another set of stones rising up the mountain once again. Soon, they were walking through dense fog, or perhaps a cloud, as the uneven and chipped stone staircase twisted higher.

Bolt began to pant, but despite the distance, Quad didn’t even appear to be tired. “This climb is much harder when I’m wearing my stilts,” he explained.

They continued to climb and Bolt continued to pant. Finally, as Bolt feared he couldn’t take another step without collapsing in exhaustion, Quad pointed forward. The path led directly into a dark cave, just above them. Two stalactites hung from the top of the entrance like fangs, making the mouth of the cave look like the mouth of a giant and ferocious serpent. “The seer awaits. In there.”

“He couldn’t live in a cave that looked like the mouth of something happy, like a panda bear?” Bolt wondered.

“Panda bears are the most power-hungry creature in the world,” said Quad.

“I’ve heard that.” Bolt took a step up the path, although Quad did not move. “Aren’t you going in, too?”

“The seer asked to see only you.” He bowed, turned, and began the long descent down the mountain.

Bolt walked up the remaining steps and entered the dark serpent-like entrance to the cave, alone.