Juniper Berry (12 page)

Chapter 14

A
FTER MOVING THE ABERNATHYS
safely into the house, they made their way back through the woods. On the way, Juniper told Giles all about Theodore and the balloons and what exactly they stole. They knew it wouldn't be easy, but they had to somehow get past Skeksyl, find out where that hall beyond his table led, and hope they could find the balloons. It wasn't much of a plan, but it was all they had.

It was a damp and dreary night, and any search for stars would prove fruitless, as the sky was nothing but a cloud of fog. The tree, however, was in sight, and Juniper's and Giles's futures, as well as their parents', were in grave question. Their stomachs churned with dreadful anticipation. Above them, the raven was perched ominously upon its usual bough, head bobbing side to side in sadistic glee. As was always the case, all other birds kept clear.

Juniper found the mark on the tree and the stairway opened up. “Ready?” she asked.

“No.”

Juniper smiled for a moment, then fixed him with a look. “I'm not ready either, but those balloons aren't going to just float up here themselves.” She took a step forward, then stopped. She looked back at Giles. “I'm glad you're with me,” she told him. “I couldn't do this without you.”

He gave her a shy smile and said, “Me neither.”

With that, Juniper and Giles placed their feet on the cracked steps and journeyed back down beneath the tree, Neptune gliding past them to guide the way they were all too familiar with. Unfortunately for Giles, the raven squawked a barrage of words that assaulted his ears.

“The words are stronger down here,” he told Juniper as they descended the stairs. “It's telling me to convince you to take a balloon this time. It's practically begging. He wants you.”

“They want us both,” Juniper said. “Just like they took my parents and the Abernathys. We can't give in to Skeksyl's temptations. No matter what.”

They made their way down the steps and hall and past the six carved doors and found Skeksyl waiting for them at the table, the two chairs already in place, as if all were normal and expected.

“Ah, my friends,” he squealed, his two hands meeting at the fingertips. “I was hoping to see you again. Please. Please, have a seat.” Without rising, he offered them the two empty chairs with a swipe of his hand and a slight bow of his hooded head.

Once seated, Juniper spoke up. “I . . . I couldn't wait any longer.”

“Yesssss.” He stretched the word, again his yellow smile shining through the cloaked darkness. “Precious time has been lost already, dear girl. But . . .” He stared at the writhing shadows on the wall. “You're not here about the writing business, are you? No. Not this time. It's something else now. Yes, I'm sure of it. There are no secrets between us, Juniper Berry. Your parents aren't well, are they?”

Juniper froze in her seat. She was not expecting this. Giles, too, stared blankly at the gaunt figure across the table.

“I know what has happened to them, Juniper. They can't be saved. It is much too late for them. They will be lost to you, dead, without my help. But there is hope, Juniper, and I can give it to you. I can give you the power, the knowledge, to save your parents, bring them back from the void, even rekindle the love you have been denied all this time.”

Juniper and Giles were rooted to their seats in shock. But Skeksyl wasn't finished. “And not just that. I'll make a special deal with you. I'll give you everything. For just one balloon, I'll give you everything you ever dreamed. It's wisdom, Juniper. You seek wisdom, enlightenment; the world defined and explained. A voice to tell you what is what. Why are you the way you are, what has happened to your parents, and what can you do about it? You want the answers in your lap because with them you will know how to fit in, how to belong. But, most of all, you will know how you can finally have your family back.”

“Yes.” The word escaped before she could stop it. Was she really considering this? The more she thought about the offer, the more her feelings morphed into genuine yearning. And the more she admitted it, the more the yearnings burrowed into her heart.

How were they to get past Skeksyl, anyway? It was impossible. But saving her parents, herself—that was something she could do, right here, right now. With such a gift she would never be lost again. She would know true happiness.

“I can give it to you. Easily. Your very own cheat sheet to the world. No more running to your books, no more running to your spyglasses or Giles or even to me. You'll never have to seek answers ever again, for you will see the reasons in everything. I'll give you the world, Juniper, in black and white. You'll have your parents back, and nothing will ever trouble or scare you again. You want to feel like you belong somewhere? And save your parents, no? This is the only way.”

“Please.” Suddenly she couldn't have such a gift soon enough. Skeksyl understood. He always had. And as much as Juniper feared his terrible power, she knew there was no other way. She had come down here to save her parents, herself. And now she could. For just one balloon.

Skeksyl reached into his cloak. “Tell me, Juniper, what is your favorite color?”

“Yellow,” she answered.

And out from Skeksyl's cloak came a yellow balloon, which he placed directly before him, and a red balloon, which he placed before Juniper. “Red is mine,” he said, to which Juniper replied, “I know.” His head tilted at a slight angle upon hearing these two small words, as if he didn't understand them. But he was eager and shrugged them off. Then, from within his cloak, he procured a quill and immediately wrote the word “wisdom” on the yellow balloon. Fervently, he brought the latex to his mouth and blew it to size. “The stuff of dreams,” he told her as he attached the string, sealing in whatever it was he breathed into it.

Finally, grinning, he handed the quill over to Juniper. “Your turn.”

With her hand quite still, she grabbed the quill, marveling at how comfortable it felt in her hands.
One balloon
, she thought.
Like Giles. I'll only do it this once, then never again. I won't become like my parents
.
One balloon and everything will be right again
.

The quill touched the balloon, creating a small black dot.

Across the table, Giles called out to her. “Juniper . . .”

She raised the quill.

“Quiet, boy. Let her finish,” Skeksyl snapped, refusing to take his eyes off Juniper. “We'll get to you soon enough. Go ahead,” Skeksyl told her. “Sign your name.”

Juniper set the quill back to the latex, concentrating on her parents.

Giles interrupted yet again. “Juniper, wait.”

She knew he was attempting to stop her, to remind her of why they came, but she couldn't budge.

“Boy, you will get your turn,” Skeksyl said with a voice of ice. “Sign your name, Juniper, and the deal will be done. Your parents will be filled with life; they will love you again. Sign your name. Do it.” He grew impatient, like Juniper had never seen him before. He was on the edge of his seat, leaning far over the table. “Do it!”

The quill began to tremble in her hand.

“Sign your name!”

The ink flowed as the quill moved elliptically upon the red balloon, forming a jagged
J
.

Giles stood. “Juniper, don't!” He took two steps toward her before Skeksyl's staff shot out and blocked his path.

Neptune screeched as Skeksyl rose to his feet, sending his chair flying out from behind him. In an instant he was looming menacingly over Giles, seizing him by the throat. His pale fingers nearly overlapped around Giles's slight neck. “That strength getting to your head, boy?” He lifted Giles several feet off the ground and slammed him against the wall. “Perhaps it's time you knew real strength.”

Juniper could only watch, the quill now frozen in her hand.

Giles kicked and gagged and turned blue, and Skeksyl laughed. “Look how pathetic you are. And now Juniper will sign her name and finally see you as you truly are.”

But Juniper disagreed. She already knew exactly who Giles was. He was her friend, the best a girl could ever have.

“Tell me, boy,” Skeksyl went on, seething, “what could a pathetic wretch like you possibly offer someone like her? You are still so very weak. Useless flesh and nothing more.”

“Ju . . . June . . .” Giles choked.

Juniper looked at her friend struggling in Skeksyl's grasp, barely breathing, and something shifted inside her. Giles was fighting for her, and knowing this, she no longer cared for the answers Skeksyl offered. The weak boy filled her with a strength she never knew she had.

Quickly, with Skeksyl's attention diverted, Juniper reached into her pocket and found the balloon Theodore had given her. She smoothly swapped it with the one on the table.
I'll find my own answers
, she thought.
I like them better
.

And she made the switch just in time. Skeksyl tossed Giles to the floor, and his head shot back around to her just as her hand returned to the quill. “Enough!” he shouted. “Sign your name!”

As Giles slowly recovered on the floor, Juniper put the quill to the ordinary balloon and signed her name in full. Skeksyl grinned and giggled madly. “That's it. Good girl. Now finish it.”

Juniper brought the balloon to her lips and blew it to its fullest, her eyes never leaving Skeksyl. Even though his face was shrouded in its usual shadows, she could feel how greedily he watched her. He had been waiting for this moment, aching for it.

Skeksyl snatched the balloon away from her before she could even seal it with a string. “Yours will taste best of all,” he hissed. A sharp tongue darted out of his mouth, licking his pale and cracked lips. His hands, like the rest of his body, were trembling violently. He had to set one on the table before moving on. His breathing became rapid, strained. Odd noises and squeals escaped uncontrollably. His smile grew and grew.

Finally, urgently, he opened the balloon, brought it to his salivating mouth, and inhaled its contents.

Juniper and Giles watched with utmost horror and tension as he greedily engulfed her breaths. The air rushed from the balloon, shrinking it in seconds. Skeksyl's neck pulsed with Juniper's sweet air. He savored every breath.

When the balloon was completely deflated, he sat back in his chair, smiling wickedly. His body went limp. The balloon slipped from his fingers and fell to the floor. “You fill me warmly,” he told her. “It feels like nothing I ever experienced. So pure. So true.”

The room fell silent. Juniper's mind raced. She was out of options.

Suddenly Skeksyl's body shot forward. He became rigid. His hands, stiff and clawlike, grasped at his neck. “What . . . what did you do?” He gagged and retched, yellow mucus flying from his mouth and sizzling on the wood table. Beneath the cloak, his body bubbled. His staff dropped at his side as he fell to his knees.

Alarmed, Neptune flew around the room, screeching like Juniper had never heard, as his master doubled over in severe pain.

“Now!” Juniper yelled. Giles ran from the room and down the dark, forbidden hallway. But before she joined him, Juniper took her yellow balloon with the word “wisdom” written on it, held it before Skeksyl's shadowed face, and popped it.

Chapter 15

J
UNIPER CAUGHT UP TO GILES AMID THE SHADOWS
of the hall. “June, you did it! You switched balloons! How'd you know that would happen?” he asked her.

“I didn't,” she responded. “But he had to be using specially made balloons for a reason, right?”

“For a minute there, I thought you were going to sign your name on the one he needed.”

“For a minute there, so did I.”

They hurried down the hall, not knowing what they would find or where the balloons would be stored, but Juniper felt more alive than she had been in a long time. She nearly floated through that suffocating darkness. If Giles could see her, he'd see her smiling.

The hall seemed to go on for a very long time—the dark tends to have such an effect on the senses. Juniper couldn't help but wonder what part of the world sat above them and what was going on there. Maybe one day she'd walk that very spot, the Earth stretched out before her, the horrors below long forgotten. There was so much waiting up there for her. But she first had to safely escape and save her parents.

When she and Giles finally emerged from the hall, what they saw was astonishing.

Before them was an underground world, so large and so vast. There was a multitude of torch-lit hallways shooting off in various directions from the immense cavern they stood within. There were staircases twisting and turning overhead, leading to gaps in the ceiling of the cave and to who knew where. Everything seemed to stretch for miles with no end in sight, a subterranean labyrinth of immense proportions.

“What do we do?” Giles cried, his voice echoing like the loudest thunder. “Where do we go? He'll be coming for us soon!”

“I don't know! I don't know! The balloons can be anywhere!” She felt the panic rising up inside her. They only had one shot at this and if they failed . . . no, she couldn't think about that. Her hands slapped at her thighs in frustration, and that was when she felt it. Her monocular. Quickly, she pulled it free, extended it, and brought it to her eye.

She traced the underworld, looking for some type of sign, a clue to set them on the right path. But each hall led to a staircase or another hall or a dead end; some stretched so far they could have been endless. Throughout, there were doors with markings on them similar to the one she entered to find Theodore. If they were to try each hall, each door, they could spend a lifetime searching for the balloons. It seemed utterly hopeless.

Then, through the lens, Juniper's eye came upon something.

In the middle of one long hall, the floor was aglow, and, in this light, the ground actually appeared to be moving. Every other hall she peered down was identical to the next, one after the other, all but this one.

This had to mean something. It was their only shot. And so they ran toward it.

The glow intensified with each step, and when they reached it, they discovered the floor was made up of a continuous stream of sparks, similar to the ones in Theodore's room. They were all running beneath the same carved door.

The image on the door consisted of hundreds of flies circling and settling on a thin crown with roses blooming within its center. It made no sense to Juniper, and she had no time to ponder its oblique meaning. That would have to be left for another day. For now, she just had to get inside and hope the balloons were there.

“We can't waste any more time,” Giles said.

He reached out with the tip of his sneaker and was about to step down on the sparks when Juniper suddenly stopped him. “No,” she said. “We shouldn't block their path.”

Giles looked down at the sparks. “Block their path?”

“They seem alive, don't they?”

“They're sparks,” Giles pointed out.

Juniper bent down and pulled out her magnifying glass. Inspecting them closely, she saw they were the tiniest of black-eyed creatures, almost human in appearance, with small wings rubbing together and creating a glow.

“Amazing,” Juniper whispered. “Just amazing.”

“Why are they all going in there?”

But Juniper didn't respond. She reached out her hand, gently cupping it, and several of the sparks crawled into her palm. “They tickle. They don't burn at all.”

“June, your hand's glowing.”

She looked at it and indeed it was. The glow slowly stretched up her arm, and she was filled with tremendous warmth. “They're beautiful,” she said, “magical. What are they doing in a place like this?”

Soon enough, after a gentle buzzing, the stream of sparks ended and the hallway was left bare. She returned the sparks she held to the ground and they, too, disappeared beneath the door.

“Hurry,” Juniper said, rising to her feet. “Let's see where they lead.”

Giles stepped in front and, with ease, swung open the heavy door.

Inside, at the center of the room, was yet another tree. This one glowed white, a thousand sparks covering nearly every inch, moving about, buzzing with great intensity. There, tied to each branch, were dozens of balloons, all different sizes, with sparks running up their strings.

Juniper looked on in awe. “It's like Theodore said. The souls inside the balloons are ripening. That's why some are bigger than others. They must have been here longer. The sparks must be caring for them.”

As Giles reached for the nearest balloon, the attached sparks scattered. He pulled it down and examined it, only to see a name he didn't recognize written across its face. “How am I going to find mine?”

The fact was, he didn't have to. His balloon found him. On a midlevel branch, one balloon was pulling itself down toward him. Giles inspected its red face and found his signature written in dark ink. “There you are,” he whispered. Gently, he untied the string from the branch and gazed past the surface of the balloon, looking for something inside, a part of himself, perhaps. “It felt good to be strong,” he said, more to himself than Juniper. “I'm going to miss it.” He paused a moment, then undid the knot and reclaimed his soul. His body seemed to shine brighter than the room, and the sparks buzzed with excitement.

“Help me untie them,” Juniper said.

“There're too many. It's going to take us forever to find our parents' balloons.”

“No, we have to free them all,” Juniper said. “Each one.”

Hurriedly, they untied the balloons, one by one, gathering fistfuls of strings in each hand. Any more and the two friends might have floated to the ceiling. The sparks quieted with the removal of each balloon and, with nothing left to ripen, fled the tree.

Once every balloon was untied and the tree was left completely bare, Juniper and Giles turned to leave. Except their exit was blocked by a wall of sparks.

Juniper, unsure how to proceed, addressed them. “Please, I'm sorry. We have to do this. There are people in great need.” She stepped toward them and the sparks pulsed with movement. Shifting her balloons into one hand, she stuck out her free hand to touch them as she did before, to move them, ease her fingers through their glowing wall.

This time, however, there was a terrific burn, as if she had placed her hand directly into a blue flame. Quickly, she yanked her hand free and shook it cool. The pain immediately faded.

“Please,” she cried. “I have to save my family.”

A lone spark left the wall and traveled up her body. This one didn't hurt, not at all; it felt like the ones outside the door, pulsing with warmth. The spark crawled up her neck and settled on the rim of her ear. Inside her head, she heard a lovely, almost angelic voice. “We can't let you leave with those balloons,” it said. “You must trust us. It's for your own safety.”

“But . . . but . . . I don't understand.”

“We know you have a good heart. Upon touch, we can tell such things instantly. That is why we must stop you. If every single balloon is taken from this room, such an act will unleash them.”

“Unleash them?” Juniper's voice cracked.

“His legion, his slaves, will come for you. They will fill these halls in seconds. They won't let you escape.”

“Please, we have to try.”

“We are trying to save you. Take whatever balloons you need, but leave the others. As long as there is still a balloon on the tree, you will be spared.”

Juniper considered this compromise. She could just take hers and Giles's parents and retie the rest to the tree. That was what she had come for, was it not? But in her mind she saw another girl like herself, another boy like Giles, and how they suffered the same fates. It wasn't fair. Leaving a single balloon behind, she wouldn't be able to live with herself. “I can't,” she told the spark. “We have to take them all. Every last one.”

“And why is that? Do you know all these people?”

“No.”

“And yet you would risk your own lives for them, knowing full well that there will always be more balloons, more sacrifices?”

“Yes. Yes, we would.”

“I see. Very well. It is rare for us to come upon someone like you down here. Your light glows brighter than all of ours put together. We will do our best to delay the beasts. You must hurry, though. Pray they never reach you. Good luck.”

“Thank you.”

The spark left her ear and joined the others. Together, each glowing creature rose to the ceiling and vanished. Juniper turned to Giles. “Let's get out of here.”

They ran from the room with balloons in tow like colorful clouds, strings pulled tight into the palms of their hands, back in the direction they had come. Juniper expected to see Skeksyl leading an army of ghouls at any moment, and if that was to happen, she wasn't sure what she and Giles would do. She glanced back, to the sides, into the distance, but there was no sign of anything. Perhaps the sparks could hold the beasts at bay.

Yet there was no time for relief, however momentary. They raced down the hall, pulling the balloons away from the ceiling lest they pop. To Juniper, they seemed to act as a parachute blowing behind her, slowing her down. Her arms ached immediately. Running like this, they were such easy prey.

They made their way into the massive cavern from which all points led, and it was there that they heard the noise.

Throughout the cave, down all the halls, each and every door was swinging open.

“They're coming for us!” Giles shouted.

For an instant, Juniper saw things emerge, things she couldn't identify but that chilled her to the core. Grotesqueries on two legs. It turned her voice into a desperate wail. “Run! Run faster!”

The strangest, most hideous noises grew behind them, a mélange of nightmares, but she and Giles refused to glance back. The forbidden hallway leading back to the staircase and to their homes was just ahead.

Entering it, they wished for light. The darkness was complete; anything could be in there waiting for them. Juniper expected to run right smack into one of the monstrosities pursuing her, but still she bravely pushed forward, the balloons bouncing together behind her, sounding like an absurd orchestra.

The tunnel stretched and stretched, and moments later, overwrought with fear, Giles tripped and fell to the ground. “The balloons!” he screamed. He had let them go and they were immediately consumed by the darkness. “I'm sorry,” Giles uttered. “I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.”

Juniper heard the anguish in his voice, but there was no time to lose. “Hurry, we have to get them.”

They could feel the strings dangling across their faces like spiderwebs. Frantically, they grabbed what they could, swiping through the black air like blind men. All around them, the noises grew. “We have to go!” Giles yelled.

“There might be some left,” Juniper cried.

And just then, there was light. The sparks sat in the ceiling, revealing the few remaining balloons. Tears in her eyes, Juniper thanked them again and retrieved the last dangling strings. The lights dimmed out, then took off down the hall while Juniper and Giles continued in the opposite direction.

Perhaps
, Juniper thought,
Skeksyl's still at the table, frozen. Maybe we can run right by him, far past whatever's behind us, and he'll never bother us again.
But when they came out of the darkness and into the room, Skeksyl was nowhere to be seen.

“He's looking for us!” Giles called. “Go faster! We're almost there!”

They ran down the hallway, the stairs getting closer and closer, the noises falling farther and farther behind them, and that was when Juniper came to a screeching halt. Silent, she stared at one of the carved doors.

“What are you doing?” Giles called. “Why are you stopping?”

In a panicked hush, she replied, “I have to rescue Theodore.”

“June, we have no time. We have to get out of here. He'll catch us. Our parents, the rest of the people in the balloons, they'll be lost.”

“Giles,” she said softly, “I have to do this. I have to try. No one deserves to be trapped in a place like this.”