Final Quest (14 page)

- 37 -

DREW

Jasmin grabs me. “We’ve got to find him,” she says.

“Can you locate the scream?” I ask Jamie.

He nods, but doesn’t otherwise reply.

Once again, a bloodcurdling cry erupts.

“Drew is being tortured,” Jasmin says frantically. “We’ve got to save him.”

Jamie is playing with the controls on his spy-pad. Although I don’t know exactly what he’s doing, I guess that the tiny nano-drone can be programmed to follow a sound.

There’s a crystal clear picture of Drew on the screen of Jamie’s spy-pad.

He’s bound to a chair.

A menacing creature, similar to the one who appeared at our door a few minutes ago, is a few steps away from Drew.

Drew screams out in terror once again.

It takes a few agonizing minutes to comprehend exactly what is happening, I arrive at my conclusion at the same second that Jamie whispers, “The Stapol has a control in his hands. When he touches the buttons on it, it inflicts pain on Drew.”

Drew looks like he hasn’t slept or eaten in days. If he has been suffering this kind of torture since he was captured, it’s surprising that he’s still alive.

“Emily, we’ve got to get to him before he’s killed.”

Jasmin is frantic.

“Yes,” I say. “Ensure that you’re touching me. We’re going into the room.”

I immediately feel the hands of my friends on my arms.

“Sandarium, room with Drew.”

The inside of the room is covered with mirrors. The vile creature who was torturing Drew immediately turns in our direction.

“Abruella!” I shout as I point my emerald at the cruel being before me.

A bolt of lightning drives the macabre monster back into a mirrored wall, shattering the mirror into thousands of pieces.

“Abruella! Abruella!”

Multiple bolts of lightning strike the Stapol whose face reminds me of one of the walking dead in a horror movie.

The beast goes up in flames leaving it looking like a crispy hot dog wiener that was left on a barbeque far too long.

Jasmin is already untying the ropes around Drew.

He looks too dazed to even recognize us.

- 38 -

TRAGIC THEMES

After any of our adventures, there’s always a sense of relief to return back to school, however boring it might be in comparison to our journeys to other places. School is a safe haven for us.

I have read about soldiers dealing with post-traumatic distress order as a result of the horrors they witnessed in war. As I look at Drew, who at the moment seems to be in another world, I wonder what effects his captivity in Zelares is going to have on him.

After we rescued him, we returned back to his house. He was unable to speak. We thought of taking him to the hospital, but what were we going to tell them?

Jamie, Michael and I returned back to our own homes. Jasmin stayed with Drew for a few hours. Once my mother fell asleep, I returned back to Drew’s house and spent the night with him. Throughout the weekend, Jasmin and I took turns being with him.

By this morning, he seemed to be back to normal, although he refused to talk about what had happened on Zelares.

Was he constantly tortured? What did the Stapols learn from him? Will he ever be the same again?

Drew’s eyes look vacant. It’s almost as though he has journeyed to the world of the dead and returned.

A few times during the past hour, Drew looked at me in a manner that made me feel very uncomfortable.

Our English teacher is Ms. Cassidy. While not the most exciting teacher, she is pleasant and appears to be an expert in her subject area. English is my favorite subject because I love to read and write stories, although I think there’s a tendency to study too many depressing novels in our English class.

Does a book have to have a theme of tragedy before it can become a classic, or be worthy of study? Even the current popular novels that we have been introduced to are depressing. Cancer. Poverty. War. Abuse. Bullying. Couldn’t we for once read something that was uplifting? Something that challenged us to think, rather than cry? Something that gave us heroes instead of victims, although I have heard Ms. Cassidy argue that victims are often heroes. I guess my definition of a hero is a little different than hers.

We have been reading
A Farewell To Arms
by Hemmingway. Not exactly a page-turner. And the tragic ending is not even sad; it’s plain depressing.
A Farewell To Arms
was Hemmingway’s first bestseller. Based on everything we have been studying in English, I’m beginning to come to the conclusion that if I wanted to write a best-selling novel, I would fill it with sadness, broken relationships, pain, death, disease; whatever I could think of to make it as depressing as hell. Whatever happened to adventure, fantasy and well – have English teachers ever heard of comedy?

Although it wasn’t exciting reading, I got the point of Hemmingway’s book. War is not exciting. I understand Hemmingway’s thoughts about the drudgery of war. The action filled Hollywood version of war is not the war that Hemmingway experienced. I believe that his point of view is more accurate than that of Hollywood. But here we are at the end of the novel, and after Frederic and Catherine have survived the horrors of the war, couldn’t they find happiness together?

After they overcame every obstacle that the war threw at them, they finally found peace living a life of solitude in the mountains. But of course, for the book to be a great book, it can’t end on a happy note so Hemmingway manages to conjure up one more depressing chapter where a pregnant Catherine delivers a stillborn son and then hemorrhages causing her death.

Why couldn’t the story end with Catherine giving birth to a healthy baby and together they lived a life of happiness? Are the people who select novels for awards all living such desperate lonely and tragic lives that they gravitate towards the most depressing and pessimistic literary works because these books offer validation of their own lives?

I look again at Drew. Perhaps Drew would make the perfect character in a Hemmingway novel. He could charm his way to happiness and success, but I suspect he’d eventually reveal his demons.

Drew catches me looking at him. Although he stares back at me, his thoughts are somewhere else. His eyes are dark and troubling.

Ms. Cassidy moves to the front of the class. We have all been reading on our own. I know she’s going to ask some questions.

Ms. Cassidy is about my height. She has long brown hair. She’s very good looking with high cheek bones. She tends to wear tasteful makeup.

“Do you think there’s any parallel in the tragic ending of this novel in comparison to Hemmingway’s own suicide?” Ms. Cassidy asks.

Duh, I think. If Hemmingway couldn’t find any peace in his own life, then why would he insert anything hopeful into his writings?

Before anyone can respond to Ms. Cassidy’s question, the class ends.

“We will begin with this question tomorrow,” she says.

I arrive at the door at the same time as Drew.

“You saved my life,” he says, in the manner that I suppose someone who had been saved from drowning might thank his rescuer.

I smile, although there’s something in Drew’s voice that puts me a little on edge.

Drew touches my arm. Actually more than just a touch. His hand grips my forearm and then slides down to my hand. I jerk away.

Knowing that Jasmin is likely standing outside the class, waiting for Drew, I let Drew get a step ahead of me. I’ve been caught in the middle of Drew and Jasmin before. I have no desire to go there again.

True to form, Jasmin is waiting for us, or at least waiting for Drew.”

“How was English?” she says to him.

He shrugs as though he didn’t even know he was in an English class.

As we begin to walk down the hallway, Jasmin attempts to hold his hand, but Drew rejects her.

Here we go again, I think.

In another few steps, Jasmin disappears into her art class while Drew and I continue along the hallway. I’m off to business class while Drew is heading for auto.

Although we are walking in silence, Drew continues to brush against me. My gut is warning me to be careful.

Reaching the door of my business class, Drew says, “We need to talk. It’s important. I’ll come over to your place at 7:30 tonight. No one else needs to know.”

- 39 -

COMPLICATIONS

Why can’t my mother ever be home when I really need her?

Drew is sitting downstairs while I get chips and soda for us. There was a time when I would have been thrilled to be alone with him in my basement. That time has passed.

Complicating matters, Michael contacted me in our S O S chat room about fifteen minutes ago saying we needed to get together. It was very important, he said.  Drew has something important to tell me. Michael has something important to tell me. And in the back of my mind I know I have to return back to Elpis Island on Drapesia because I left Capurni stranded there.

Only problems are going to arise from me letting Drew into my house. I should have refused, or I should have had one of my other friends over at the same time.

When Drew arrived, he had that love-starved puppy dog look on his face. I can’t stay in the kitchen forever. I’ve got to return to the basement and get him out of the house as quickly as possible.

I force myself to walk down the stairs and enter the basement once again. Drew is lying on one of the couches.

My heart flutters.

I sit on a different couch and place the chips and soda on a table.

Drew smiles at me: the kind of smile that would seduce any girl in my school. I think of Jasmin. I know I’m already going to face a difficult problem explaining to her how Drew ended up alone at my place. I can’t let this situation get any worse than it already is.

No sooner than I sit down, then Drew pulls himself up from his couch and steps towards me. On the way he snatches at the two cans of soda, accidently knocking one over. Although he manages to turn it upright quickly, a little soda spills on the table.

I rush to a nearby bathroom and return with a wet towel.

As I wipe up the small spill, Drew touches my shoulder.             

I think I’m going to die.

Maybe I’m fantasizing about what I want to happen although I don’t want to admit it. Maybe Drew isn’t the least bit interested in me romantically. Maybe he really does want to talk.

When I’m finished, Drew hands me one of the sodas. I’m so flustered that I almost drink the whole can.

I sit down once again on a couch.

Drew sits close beside me. Too close.

Although every cell in my body is telling me to sit somewhere else, it’s as though I’m being controlled by an unseen force.

Drew is leaning against me.

He puts his arm around me. I feel his strength and warmth.

Before Drew arrived, I told myself that this wasn’t going to happen.

My mind goes numb. My heart is racing.

Drew tries to kiss me. I pull away from him.

“What was it that you wanted to talk about?” I say.

Drew doesn’t respond.

He pulls me closer into his body.

I panic. What if I can’t stop Drew from doing what I think he wants to do? He’s much stronger than me. We’re all alone. He’s my friend. How can I stop him?

I push Drew away, but it’s a feeble attempt. He has me wrapped in his arms.

Drew tries to kiss me.

I resist.

“Drew, we can’t do this,” I say. “You are my friend. I don’t want to kiss you. I don’t want to cause problems with Jasmin.”

As I pull away from him, I feel a tightening around me neck.

It’s the chain from my emerald necklace.

I realize what is happening. Drew is holding my emerald in his hand.

“Sandarium, my bedroom,” he unexpectedly says.

Before I can respond, a green light flickers in my emerald.

We’re lying on Drew’s bed in his bedroom. He’s still holding my emerald, almost strangling me in the process.

I snatch the emerald back from Drew.

He smirks at me, an evil kind of smirk.

I’ve got to get out of here.

I roll away from Drew, falling off the side of his bed.

The moment I hit the floor which is fortunately carpeted, I say, “Sandarium, my basement.”

- 40 -

MICHAEL AND JAMIE

My body is trembling as I find myself on a couch in my basement.

Drew successfully used my emerald. How did he know which command to use to take us back to his house? But more troubling, why did my emerald listen to him?

The doorbell rings.

I step towards the monitors above my computer.

I’m not sure what I’m going to do if it’s Drew again.

It’s Michael and Jamie.

I race up the stairs, taking the chips and two cans of soda with me. After placing the snacks in the kitchen, I approach the front door. I can’t tell them what happened. They would never understand.

I shut off the alarm system and open the door.

Jamie looks worried. Behind Michael’s perpetual grin, he looks concerned.

“Come on in,” I say.

As they step into my house, Jamie says, “You okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

If only they knew, I think. I’m beginning to feel nauseous from what happened with Drew.

“Oh yes, I’m fine. I was replaying our visit to Zelares in my head, and I think that frightened me.”

“We need to talk about Zelares,” Jamie says in an ominous voice as he and Michael follow me into the kitchen.

The bowl of chips is sitting on the kitchen table.

“Supper?” Michael jokes as he eyes the chips.

I blush. I start playing with the ends of my long hair.

“We found some disturbing images in the Palace of Peace,” Jamie says.

I know he’s referring to the video that Michael’s nano-drone took while we were in Zelares rescuing Drew.

“Have a seat,” I say. It’s not often that my friends and I sit at the kitchen table together.

I grab some soda from the fridge.

Michael digs into the chips.

He’s always hungry.

“What did you find?” I say as I place several cans of soda on the table.

“The Zelareans are preparing for a major war,” Jamie says. “The video that Michael’s drone took inside the Palace of Peace shows hundreds and hundreds of what look like small fighter jets.”

I remember looking at some of these air vessels with Michael.

“Yes, I saw these aircraft when I was inside the Palace of Peace with Michael.”

Michael and Jamie look at me, their eyes anxious.

“What you might not have seen,” Jamie continues, “were three humungous air vessels that were located at the back of the Palace of Peace. Each of these aircraft is larger than two or three football fields placed together.”

I remember looking at one of these objects briefly with Michael.

“A large hatch on the bottom of one of these mammoth structures was open,” Michael says. “As the drone entered it, the images showed row upon row of the smaller aircraft loaded inside.”

Jamie continues, “It looks like the Zelareans are preparing to attack another world. The number of aircraft that they have is far too great to attack anything on their own planet.”

“And some other planet,” Michael says, “is going to be annihilated by the Zelarean weapons.”

“We need to get this information to the leaders of the Forgotten People. Maybe they know who the Zelareans are planning to attack. Maybe they can warn the people on the other planet before it’s too late,” Jamie says.