Jack Staples and the Ring of Time (5 page)

After five days in the forest outside Ballylesson, Alexia decided enough was enough. Whether he wanted to or not, she would take Killer back to the circus and demand that the circus master reopen the show. Just as Alexia was about to try to corral the lion, she heard someone scream. Killer immediately bolted away to see what was happening.

Furious that her lion friend wouldn’t listen, and afraid of what would happen if one of the townsfolk saw him, Alexia chased him through the woods. Before long, she came upon two boys who were running for their lives, desperate to escape the pursuing lion.

Chapter 7

THE CHOICE OF A BEAST

“What are you doing?” the girl in red yelled at Jack. “You need to run!”

But Jack was far too stunned to move. “It’s the second lion,” he whispered.

As the beast roared again, its eyes stayed locked on Jack. Five days earlier, the golden-maned lion had died saving him, and though Jack had thought about it many times since, he still didn’t understand why.

“Whatever you do,” the girl spoke in a hushed tone, “don’t—”

With a fierce snarl, the lion pounced, landing on top of Jack with its massive paws pinning him to the ground.

“Don’t look him in the eye.” The girl’s voice was tight with fear. “If you do, he’ll see it as a challenge.”

The lion’s growling grew even more threatening as it brought its head close to Jack’s chest and inhaled deeply. When the beast roared again, Jack squeezed his eyes shut, trembling at the hot breath on his face.

“You need to help him,” Arthur screamed at the girl. “You have to do something!”

“What do you think I’m doing?” she shot back. “If you had run away like I told you, this wouldn’t be happening.”

The lion continued its study of Jack, ignoring Arthur and the girl. Jack wanted to scream as the beast snapped its jaws just in front of his nose. He tried to stay calm as another, lower growl erupted from deep inside the lion’s chest.

“Boy, just don’t move. I am going to try and …” The girl was suddenly speechless as the lion shook its head, uncurled its tongue, and began licking Jack on the face.

“What?” the girl said, gasping.

The beast’s tongue slid roughly across Jack’s cheek and forehead, then down his neck. As it licked him, the lion began to purr loudly. The tongue continued to slide over his face, and Jack didn’t move. He was frozen in fear with no idea what was happening. A moment later, the beast snarled at the girl, then gave Jack a knowing look before bounding away to disappear into the forest.

Jack lay flat on his back, trying to comprehend what just happened. For a long moment he didn’t move, and neither Arthur nor the girl said a word. As he sat up, he touched his face in disbelief.

“Well, that was weird,” Arthur said, turning to the girl. “What on earth are you doing with a lion? You know they’re dangerous, right?”

“She was the one who walked the tightrope on the night of the fire,” Jack said. “I told you about her.”

“You were there?” the girl broke in. “You were at the circus?” She turned to Jack with a dangerous look in her eyes.

“I was there,” he said slowly. “I’m the boy the other lion saved from the fire.”

The girl threw out her arm, pointing her finger in accusation. “It was you!”

Jack stepped back from the girl’s sudden rage, blinking in confusion.

“You killed him!” she screamed as she grabbed a sling from her belt and spun it around threateningly. “That lion was my best friend, boy! I knew I’d find you someday. Prepare to die.” The girl glared at Jack, spinning the sling faster.

“He was your friend?” Jack felt sick to his stomach.

The girl didn’t answer but kept her sling spinning.

“I think he … I think he could have escaped. I’ve thought about it many times. I think he could have gotten away from the fire, but he didn’t. He chose to save me instead.”

The girl’s face contorted in rage.

“I’m sorry you lost your friend. I’m sorry he—”

Thwang
. The stone hurtled from her sling, flying directly at Jack’s head.

As the girl’s stone flew toward him, something quite strange happened. From behind a nearby bush catapulted a much larger stone, also flying toward Jack’s head. When the girl’s stone was about to strike Jack flat on the nose, the larger stone collided with it, deflecting it away at the last possible moment.

Jack blinked and shared a look of shock with both Arthur and the girl. All three children turned to look toward the bush. None of them moved or said a word, even when the slight whooshing sound came from above. Jack looked up to see a small stone dropping toward the girl. The girl was squinting directly into the setting sun, so she never saw the stone that struck her on the top of her head, knocking her unconscious.

Jack and his best friend stared at the girl, then at each other. “What had just happened?” Jack breathed.

“My, my, isn’t she a wild one?” Walking spryly from behind the bush was Mrs. Dumphry. In her hands was a sling only slightly longer than the one still clutched in the girl’s hand.

“Mrs. Dumphry?” Arthur croaked. “What are you doing here?”

Mrs. Dumphry snorted loudly as she walked over to the girl. “Do you think to question me, child? Does the badger waste its breath on the bear?”

Arthur opened his mouth to speak, then promptly closed it again, unsure how to respond. Mrs. Dumphry knelt and placed a hand on the girl’s forehead, wiping off a bit of grime.

“I don’t know what’s worse—young Mr. Greaves ignoring my instructions or …” As she was speaking, Mrs. Dumphry placed her thumb under the girl’s eye and pulled it open. The second she had it opened, she whipped her hand away and hissed sharply.

“Mrs. Dumphry, what’s wrong?” Jack hadn’t thought anything could shock his ancient teacher. But she didn’t answer; she stayed kneeling with an unbelieving look painting her face. “Mrs. Dumphry?” Jack asked again.

“Silence!” Her voice held a note of alarm. “Who is this girl? Speak now, and speak truthfully.”

“I don’t know her name, but she used to work at the circus. She was the one who walked the tightrope.”

After a moment, Mrs. Dumphry’s hand hesitantly made its way back to the girl’s eye. With her index finger she once again pulled at the skin, bringing her face closer to get a better look. “It’s not possible,” she whispered. “Two children born without scales?” For a long moment, she sat unmoving. Her eyes were squeezed shut, and Jack was beginning to wonder if she’d fallen asleep. By the look on Arthur’s face, it was clear he was thinking the same.

Just as Jack opened his mouth to speak again, Mrs. Dumphry’s shoulders began to shake. It seemed to Jack that she was both laughing and crying at the same time. Arthur glanced at Jack and raised an eyebrow.

“It’s time to go,” Mrs. Dumphry said. She stood and began walking toward the schoolhouse.

After a moment Jack called after her, “We can’t just leave her here!”

Mrs. Dumphry turned and looked back. “Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools speak because they have to say something. Which are you, child?”

Jack shuffled his feet. “It’s just … I don’t think we should leave her.”

“Well, of course not. But a true leader does not need to be asked to do the right thing; he does it.” She turned and continued walking toward the school.

Jack watched her go, utterly confused.

“I guess that means we have to carry her,” Arthur offered.

Both boys lifted the girl between them, one of her arms over each of their shoulders. With her feet dragging along the forest floor behind them, they stumbled forward, doing their best not to lose sight of Mrs. Dumphry. But within the first minute, their ancient teacher was nowhere to be seen.

Chapter 8

THE BIRTH OF THE ASSASSIN

Darkness had fallen by the time Jack and Arthur stumbled into the schoolhouse, dragging the red-cloaked girl between them. She was covered in mud from when the boys had dropped her, face-first, into a puddle. It hadn’t been on purpose. A rabbit had been scared from its hole and leaped out in front of them. Both boys had screamed in fear and dropped the poor girl without thinking.

Once inside, Jack was glad to see a fire already burning in the hearth, though Mrs. Dumphry was nowhere to be seen.

“You don’t think she went home for the night, do you?” Arthur’s voice trembled slightly.

“I don’t think she’d leave us here.” Jack was skeptical. “Maybe she just went to fetch some wood or something.”

With fear weighing heavy on his mind, the firelight made the once-familiar schoolhouse more unnerving than warm. Shadows jumped and danced as the light shifted continuously. More than once, Jack was certain he saw dark fog slithering across the floor, yet each time he looked, there was nothing there.

As the boys carried the girl to the fire, they tracked thick, muddy footprints across the entire length of the room. And as he passed Mrs. Dumphry’s desk, Jack noticed a large number of odd-looking papers scattered across it.

“Why do you think she hates you so much?” Arthur motioned to the muddy girl as they laid her next to the fire.

“I told you already—she thinks I killed the lion.”

“You’d think she’d be happy you killed the lion!”

“I didn’t kill it,” Jack said angrily. “I ... I don’t know what happened.”

“I’m just saying she’s mad, that’s all.” Arthur glanced at her as he sat on a nearby chair. “Anyone who considers a lion to be their ‘best friend’ is as loony as a loon.”

Jack had to agree; she did look rather mad with her face all muddy and the firelight casting deep shadows on one side.

“Either way, she’s Mrs. Dumphry’s problem now, assuming she ever comes back,” Arthur said.

Too agitated to sit, Jack made his way to Mrs. Dumphry’s desk. There was something odd about it. His teacher was the most orderly woman he’d ever met. Her voice rang in his head,
“An unordered desk points to an undisciplined mind.”

“The thing is”—Arthur sat facing the fire with his back to Jack—“this girl isn’t right. Just look at how she’s dressed. It’s not proper!”

The flickering firelight only partially illuminated the desk, so at first, Jack had trouble understanding what he was seeing.

“A girl should wear a dress, not trousers.” Arthur’s voice became higher by the second as he rambled on.

Quickly pushing Arthur out of his mind, Jack stared at a large number of cracked brown pages scattered across Mrs. Dumphry’s desk. The papers looked haphazard, overlapping one another and covering most of the surface, leaving only the edges bare. It seemed to Jack as if this had been done purposefully, though he couldn’t imagine why. Even though every page was a separate piece, they were linked in a way he didn’t understand. Covering the pages was a strange picture.

“It can’t be,” he said, though he was speaking to himself.

“That’s what I’m saying,” Arthur said. “You’d think she’d at least speak like a proper girl. And can you believe she carries a sling? A sling for goodness sake! And, I ask you, what kind of girl goes about climbing trees like that?”

Jack didn’t hear a word Arthur was saying; he was much too engrossed in the pages. The longer he looked, the more sure he was that it wasn’t a picture; it was a map of some sort. Great mountain ranges had been drawn, crossing several pages. Yet where the pages overlapped one another, the mountains seemed to rise upward, almost as if they came off the actual pages.

It reminded Jack of the pop-out book he’d seen at Mr. Hamilton’s bookstore last summer. When he’d opened the book, the characters inside had quite literally popped out, though they had been made of paper. Yet that book was nothing like what he was seeing now. The mountains linking the pages looked real. He was sure he could see snow falling on their peaks! As the mountains carried on into the middle of the pages, they once again became normal drawings.

Surrounding the mountains were large bodies of water. And where the pages overlapped, waves crashed, sending sprays into the air. Jack’s jaw dropped. The water was the color of … he didn’t know. He’d never seen anything like it. It wasn’t just one color—there were hundreds of them, and Jack couldn’t have named a single one. He began to laugh. The colors were dancing with one another as they spun in intricate patterns.

When Arthur heard him laugh, he glanced back in irritation. “Well, I don’t think it’s funny at all,” he said. “She could have killed you with that stone!”

Jack ignored his friend. He scanned the map and began to grin. It was so beautiful! The longer he looked, the giddier he felt. He placed his hands on the desk, leaning in to get a closer look. As he leaned in, Jack had a vision. Whether it was in his head or he was watching it play out in the center of the map, he couldn’t tell, but a scene began to flash before him.

There was a being made entirely of light. It was brighter than the sun and standing on the topmost peak of an enormous mountain. Whoever or whatever this being was, it was far too bright for Jack’s eyes. Even when he squeezed them shut, he could still see the blinding light. As he tried to turn away, the being’s voice boomed inside his head.

“I WILL ASCEND THE UTMOST HEIGHTS OF SIYYON.” It was the most beautiful voice Jack had ever heard—every word sounded like a magnificent symphony.

“I AM BELIAL, THE LORD OF HARMONY. EVEN THE GREATEST DRAKEONS TREMBLE IN MY SIGHT. THE STARS BOW DOWN AND WORSHIP ME!”

The voice was so bewitching, so melodic, it took his breath away. Although the voice was echoing inside his head, Jack was sure the being wasn’t talking to him.

“IF I RISE UP, THEY WILL FOLLOW. IF I MOVE NOW, I WILL UNSEAT THE AUTHOR HIMSELF!”

Although he didn’t understand what they meant, Jack knew the words were wrong. Whoever Belial was, he had to feel it too. It was like the time Jack lied to his mother about eating the apple pie. When he told her he hadn’t done it, he’d felt the words as they left his mouth. He’d known they were wrong before they formed on his tongue. Whoever was speaking, his words were like that. Except these words made Jack feel infinitely worse. Surely this strange being must feel it too.

“NOTHING IN ALL CREATION CAN BEAR TO LOOK UPON MY GLORY.”

Then, Belial began to sing. If his speaking had been both beautiful and terrifying, his singing was infinitely more so. It made Jack want to dance and weep at the same time. The song had such beauty, such foreboding, that it felt as if all of creation were holding its breath.

As Belial sang, Jack collapsed onto the desk. When he opened his eyes, he was no longer in the schoolhouse in Ballylesson, Ireland, but was now on the top of a great mountain, standing behind Belial himself. Belial was still singing the same song.

Jack looked around in wonder. There was no sun in the sky, yet light radiated from the mountain. Every tree, rock, and blade of grass vibrated with the most beautiful light. The mountain was so high that Jack could see forever, and he stood on the edge of a sheer drop.

Although Belial was still bright, something had changed. His light was turning dark. It wasn’t fading, but shifting to a different sort of light altogether. And in the sky above, tens of thousands of stars rained down.

As Jack watched the stars, images flashed in the sky. There were so many that he struggled to take them in. One was an image of himself. He was cradled in the arms of a creature with milky white eyes and black wings.

Next, he saw the girl in the crimson cloak running for her life. He couldn’t see who was chasing her, but there was no doubt in his mind that she would be captured by something terribly evil.

In another vision, Arthur Greaves stood at the entrance to a city of nightmares. Then, Jack saw his father hiding a small wooden box beneath a pile of stones; next, his brother, Parker, appeared, standing on the edge of a cliff as a number of trees glided toward him.

More images flashed, but Jack could barely make them out. A wild-eyed boy holding a bow; a beast that was part wolf and part snake; a city made entirely of chambers and bridges; a small log cabin on the sea; a young girl with emerald eyes; a feathered pen that had been snapped in two; a mountain crumbling into the sea; a young girl with whimsical eyes; a dark cloud that swallowed the sky; and still more images flashed, faster and faster.

“YOU ARE LIKE … HIM!” The voice exploded like thunder.

Jack turned from the vision to see Belial standing a few paces away and looking directly at him. In Belial’s eyes was a look of both hunger and fear. Yet he had changed with the singing of the song. His light had fused with darkness, and though he was still bright, Jack could look directly at him. It wasn’t just Belial that had changed, though; the entire world was different. It felt somehow more … dangerous.

“YOU ARE LIKE THE AUTHOR HIMSELF.” Belial was studying Jack, and though his voice was filled with rage, there was wariness in his eyes. Lifting his head, he screamed at the heavens, “THIS IS YOUR PLAN? THIS IS HOW YOU FIGHT BACK? A CHILD?”

Jack wanted to run, to hide, but he was already backed up against the edge of the cliff. One more step and he would fall to his death.

Belial looked at Jack and grinned. “I HAVE GREAT PLANS FOR YOU. I AM BELIAL, THE LORD OF HARMONY, AND I MARK YOU AS MINE.”

Belial reached out and placed his finger on Jack’s chest. And where his finger touched, a small trail of smoke began to rise. Screaming in pain and blinded by fear, Jack leaped from the cliff. As he plummeted downward, Belial called out.

“I AM COMING, BOY! YOU CANNOT HIDE FOREVER.”

Jack hit the ground hard, biting his lip as his chin bounced on the floorboards. He was lying beside Mrs. Dumphry’s desk. The fire crackled and popped. Arthur spoke loudly.

“Which is why you’d think she would just put on a bonnet or some kind of dress to—” Arthur stopped midsentence and leaped to his feet when he saw Jack lying face-first on the schoolhouse floor.