Behind the Canvas (30 page)

Claudia closed her eyes and took a deep breath, like the women in her mom's yoga class at the gym. She tried to open her mind, to feel around her with her thoughts.

And she found something. Pinpoints of substance, just out of reach of her normal senses. They felt so real, so tangible, as though she was touching them with her hands. She peeked through her eyelids but there was nothing there, and her arms were still at her sides. Closing her eyes, she quickly found them again. She pushed at them with her thoughts, followed them for a few feet, and returned. Just like Pim said, they were threads that stretched out in front of her. Intuitively, she knew that those threads were connected to the horse they had just painted.

She concentrated harder now, wrapping her thoughts around as many threads as her mind could hold, and pulling, pulling—

The wall cracked.

Claudia's eyes snapped open to see a fractured outline around the painting of the horse.

Loping footfalls echoed through the cave.

“Concentrate!” hissed Pim. “And hurry!”

She closed her eyes and continued pulling, yanking on the threads so hard that her head hurt.

The sound of breaking stone continued. “Yes, yes!” Pim shouted.

She couldn't keep her eyes closed any longer. She opened them but continued to pull with her thoughts.

Pebbles and dust were falling from the crack around the animal. Then the head of the painted horse tore itself from the stone wall, moving under its own strength. With effort, the horse wriggled and writhed, kicking and straining with its newly formed feet, shaking its head to gain momentum.

Claudia concentrated harder than ever, focusing on the threads that would pull loose individual pieces of the stone creature's body.

The horse shook free its torso, then its rear legs, and finally its tail whipped loose.

Between the lines of pink and purple and red polish, the body of the horse was filled with the stone of the cave wall. But it moved with the lithe fluidity of a natural creature. It stamped its feet on the ground and shook its head like a dog after a bath, releasing excess dust and gravel. Claudia stood in awe of their creation, life breathed into stone and canvas with the stroke of a tiny brush—and magic. Magic that had come from within her.

Artisti
.

And then with a terrifying shriek the Fireside Angel was upon them, rushing toward them from around a bend in the cave.

Pim picked up the staff and turned to face the Angel. Claudia grabbed the torch and stood beside Pim. The Angel scared her down to the core—the powerful arms, the bonewhite head. The creepy thing growing out of its leg, with snapping jaws and a single scraping claw. But she had just pulled a horse out of a stone wall. And that counted for something. She raised the torch.

The Angel charged. Pim swung at it with the staff. The Angel lithely spun and dodged the blow and struck Pim in the stomach with an elbow. Pim flew backward and slammed against the wall of boulders.

Claudia jammed the torch into the Angel's side. He shrieked and spun around as Claudia leaped back, brandishing the torch. The Angel looked at the flame, eyes wide. He raised his arms in front of his face.

Was he afraid of fire? With a name like Fireside Angel?

Claudia swung the torch back and forth. With each swing the Angel whimpered and backed away. Then she raised the torch like a flaming club and struck at his head.

The Angel caught the fire end of the torch in its massive claw. It grinned wickedly, flames licking through its grotesque fingers.

Not afraid of fire.

The Angel yanked the torch from her hand. He tossed it to the ground, scattering embers and flame.

Then Pim was behind him, raining down blows from the hefty staff on the Angel's head.

The Angel leaped to the side and roared. He circled for a moment and then lunged again. Pim brought the staff up in a vicious swing, but the Angel ducked and backed away. For a creature built like a bizarre, colorful gorilla, it was frighteningly quick.

The two of them circled each other slowly, crouching and shuffling their feet, Pim obviously trying to stay between the monster and Claudia. The horse whinnied and pranced by the cave wall.

Pim swung the staff and the Angel ducked the blow once again and backed away. He circled for a moment, and then the thin creature protruding from its leg gave a squeal of laughter and the Angel charged.

It came like a bull to the matador. It was done playing. There was no way they would come out of this fight on top. Claudia turned to the horse. They would have to run and hope for the best.

As the Angel rushed forward, there was the brisk sound of snapping plastic. Claudia turned to see the beast take another step, then another. Then it stumbled and fell with a roar. The speed from its charge carried it forward and it spun out of control on the stone floor, rolling with a crash into the cave wall.

Claudia sprang forward, avoiding Pim's reach as he grabbed for her. The Angel had stepped on and broken something plastic. It had to be something from her backpack.

Please, not the ointment
. Without the ointment …

She scanned the floor for the yellow mustard bottle, retracing the path of the Angel. Instead she found the plastic bottle of nail polish remover. The Angel's heavy step had popped the top right off, cracking the neck of the bottle. Fluid had run out over the cave floor. But instead of forming a clear puddle—

“Claudia, now! Let's go!” Pim hauled her to her feet.

She looked over at the Angel, who was still on the floor, moaning in pain—and reaching for its foot as though it had stepped on the cutting edge of a knife.

“We need the ointment!” she said.

Pim dove for her backpack. He snatched a few of her belongings off the ground and shoved them in. “It's here! I have it!”

Claudia picked up the bottle of nail polish remover, carefully avoiding any of the fluid. She found the lid and used the edge of her shirt as she twisted it back onto the bottle. Some of the fluid soaked into the shirttail, and as she watched—

Just like the cave floor.

Pim shoved the backpack into her hands and she slipped the plastic bottle inside.

Then Pim lifted her quickly onto the horse, pulling himself up behind her, staff in hand. He cried out and kicked the stone horse with his heels.

Behind them, the Fireside Angel rose to its feet and roared.

They charged through the cave in darkness.

The putrid air of Colossus's cave whipped past her face. Heavy hoofbeats echoed across the walls. The movement rattled Claudia's body, making it hard to concentrate. But there was something about what she had seen.

Back there on the cave floor, where the nail polish remover had spilled … And then again where it had touched her shirt … Claudia forced herself to think through what had happened.

There was a muddy puddle, but not one made out of dirt and liquid. It was the type of puddle you'd get by mixing a thick dab of paint and water and smearing it with your fingers. But the floor of the cave was solid rock. How could nail polish remover melt solid rock? And then behind the mess of melted rock—

Claudia gasped. Behind it she had glimpsed the unmistakable texture of canvas. Dirty and worn, but canvas.

She had found a way to break the staff.

 

C
HAPTER
27

T
HE NAIL
POLISH
remover. That was the answer and she'd had it with her the whole time. It was a solvent, it dissolved things. It made perfect sense—in a bizarre, mind-blowing way.

The stone horse charged through the cave with its two riders. A quick and powerful earthquake shook the cave walls, and Claudia's thoughts of discovery were pushed aside. Dust and shards of stone showered down on them in the darkness.

“Celebes.”

“Yes,” Pim said in her ear. “He's cutting off our only exit. They mean to trap us in here.” He dug his heels into the sides of the stone horse repeatedly, urging it to move faster.

The ground and walls trembled again with a distant
boom
. The cave was brighter now and Claudia could make out the frantic bobbing of the horse's head. They turned a bend and the whole cave opened up before them in the light of the evening moon.

A great horned tail swung across the opening, crashing high on one of the inner walls. The cave shook again and chunks of rock tumbled in their path. A hedge of debris partially blocked their exit. One more good swing and they would be trapped.

“Hold on!” Pim shouted. Claudia crouched low over the stony mane. The horse charged forward, crushing smaller stones with its hooves and deftly leaping over debris in its path.

Forty feet from the exit. Twenty.

Celebes's horned tail swung again, slamming into the cave wall. The terrible sound of breaking stone took Claudia back to the horror of the viaduct. But this time the stones were raining down in front of them and around them and all but upon them as the horse leaped through the opening of the crumbling cave.

The great metal elephant was already rearing its tail for another strike as they touched the ground. Pim pulled the mane of the horse to guide it, but it was unnecessary. The horse swerved mid-stride and tore off past the beast toward the tree line at the top of the rugged terrain.

But the elephant's trunk! It swung as they passed, clipping a hind leg of the horse. The stone beast stumbled and fell and Claudia flew off its back. The ground slammed the wind from her lungs as she tumbled through the undergrowth.

She forced herself to her feet, head spinning. The horse was already up, prancing, as if waiting for them to get on its back. Pim was scrambling a few feet away, shouting something, staring at the ground by the elephant's advancing feet.

The staff.

Before the beast reached it, the staff rose into the air as if drawn upward by a string. Celebes came to a halt. Then the staff shot off to the other side of the basin—and into the outstretched hand of Nee Gezicht. Her mismatched eyes shone triumphantly in the torchlight.

“No!” Pim shouted. He would have charged forward, but Claudia lunged and caught his arm. She pulled him toward the horse. “No!” he cried again, and there was heartbreak in his cry.

“Let's go!”

Pim hesitated, his face twisted and pained. Then he mounted the horse and hauled Claudia up behind him.

“Claudia!” Nee Gezicht called out across the basin.

Claudia dug her heels into the side of the horse and it sprang forward. Holding tight to Pim, she couldn't cover her ears, and she braced herself for what Nee Gezicht might say next, for a command that would make Claudia's body betray her own will.

Then Celebes trumpeted, and Nee Gezicht's words were lost in the thunderous noise. The horse charged up the ridge and into the trees.

Fresh evening air whipped past Claudia's face, a welcome sensation after the stifling cave.

But her heart was in her throat and she couldn't breathe. They had been so close. They had stolen the staff from the witch—and Claudia had found a way to break it.
She had found a way
. She should have stopped Pim back in the cave and destroyed it once and for all, Fireside Angel or no. They would never have that chance again.

So close.

She squeezed Pim tight. He would never escape. He would never get to redeem himself. He would never stop Nee Gezicht from enslaving the people of this world.

It was all for nothing.

They rushed through the trees. Claudia and Pim had drawn the horse well—it moved so swiftly that clinging to its back was both thrilling and terrifying. Claudia strained to hear sounds of pursuit—the rumble of Celebes or the shriek of the Fireside Angel. Did the Angel even escape from the crumbling cave? Did it matter? Nee Gezicht had reclaimed the staff.

All Claudia could hear was the pounding of the horse's stone hooves and the rush of leaves and wind. The trees began to thicken and they plunged deeper into the forest, where the light of the late-evening sky didn't follow. Darkness surrounded them. Yet the horse veered around trees and leaped over obstacles as though daylight reigned, never slowing, never missing a step.

They rode until Claudia's backside became sore and, in the random thoughts that passed through her despondent mind, she wished they had drawn a saddle. She considered telling Pim about the nail polish remover, but decided against it. Discussing it would only drive home how close they had come to succeeding, and how impossible that was now. She couldn't get the picture out of her mind of Nee Gezicht holding the staff once more, a look of triumph on her face.

“Where are we going?” she finally shouted over the wind, although she already suspected the answer.

“To the window-caves. We're taking you home.”

“There has to be another way to beat her.”

“We had our chance,” he said bitterly over his shoulder. “We lost.”

As if to accentuate his point, the shriek of the Fireside Angel rose in the distance. Even from far off, it still laced her heart with despair. There was another sound, too—the beat of hooves, perhaps. Or was that just an echo?

“Do you think they're following us?”

Pim nodded. “Nee Gezicht won't just let you go.”

Claudia glanced behind them, half expecting to see Celebes come crashing through the trees. But there was only dark foliage.

They continued in rapid silence until Pim pulled at the horse's mane. They slowed to a stop in a rare patch of moonlight that escaped through the canopy above. The echo of horse hooves faded quickly in the forest. Pim looked around carefully, straining in the darkness.

“What's wrong?” she asked.

Pim continued to search. “I haven't been through this forest for a long time. I think we've been heading in the right direction, but I'm not entirely sure where we are.”

“We're lost?” Claudia's heart rose into her throat. She again looked behind them. This wasn't good, not with Nee Gezicht in pursuit.