Kendra Kandlestar and the Crack in Kazah (22 page)

HAVE YOU EVER FELT like you’ve experienced a situation before? There’s a French expression to describe this sensation, déjà vu, which means, “already seen.” Well, there was no doubt that Kendra was experiencing a strong sense of déjà vu as she reached the menacing walls of Krake Castle. She had been here before. She had already snuck through its gloomy corridors. And yet, here she was, about to do it all over again.

With a deep breath Kendra slipped through a grate and plodded up the drainage system towards the castle’s core. Eventually she ended up in a large, warm chamber. She remembered this place; it was right above the royal hatchery, where hundreds of the Queen’s enormous eggs were waiting to crack open with a new brood of Krakelings. Just thinking of it caused Kendra to give her braids a nervous yank. But here was the problem: last time she had found her way to the dungeons by going to the hatchery first.

I’m not doing that this time,
Kendra vowed.
For once, I’m the one who doesn’t want to think about eggs.

Then Kendra realized there was one thing different from before. This time she had her wand. Holding it in her hands, she found a dark corner and closed her eyes in meditation, just like Uncle Griffinskitch had taught her. She let the sensations of the dungeon come to her. Soon she could hear it, see it, smell it, all in her mind. It wasn’t difficult; there was a lot to be felt in that wretched place. She could hear desperate whimpers and wails, smell the fetid stench of the dungeon cells, even feel the onerous weight of chains.

A few minutes later, Kendra opened her eyes and let the wand guide her towards the despair. Part of her was screaming to turn and flee that place of anguish. But she was determined. She needed to find the dungeon. She needed to find Oki.

She snuck down passageways and across chasms, all the while feeling the temperature grow colder. In due course, she arrived at the colossal doorway that was the entrance to the dungeons. The door was meant for creatures larger than herself, so she easily slipped underneath it and into the dark tunnel beyond.

After one more nervous pull on her longest braid, she crept ahead. On one side of the passage she could see the prison cells that held the would-be gladiators as they awaited the next rumble. There were all sorts of strange creatures, just like last time—fierce ones, ones that could gobble her down with a single gulp. Many of them clutched at her as she slipped past; she kept to the far wall and followed the curve of the passage as it spiraled downwards.

The first prisoner she found from the circus was the peryton. He stared at her from his cell, but now his eyes no longer held the slightest glimmer of arrogance. One of his wings hung limply at his side; Kendra guessed it had been broken in the shipwreck.

The peryton looked at Kendra in earnest warning and whispered, “Careful. A guard comes.”

Kendra hugged the shadows, knowing enough to trust the peryton’s keen instincts. Sure enough, a Krake soldier soon came scuttling around the bend of the passage. In one claw was a ring of rusty keys and in the other, hanging upside down by his tail, was Oki. The Krake was just about to toss the mouse into a cell when he spotted Kendra.

The creature’s eyes widened in surprise, but in an instant Kendra raised her wand and unleashed a bolt that caused the Krake to collapse, dropping both Oki and the dungeon keys. The bird-like beast gave his head a shake, then picked himself up to glare at Kendra, as if contemplating a fight. All it took was for Kendra to brandish her wand and the Krake instantly fled down the corridor.

Kendra helped Oki to his feet. “Are you okay?”

“It’s like a nightmare,” he moaned. “How did we ever end up back here?”

“It’ll all be over soon,” she assured him. “I’m going to get us out of here.”

“Then you must hurry,” came a voice. “The guard will sound the alarm and you’ll soon be overrun by these dreadful monsters.”

Kendra turned to see her mother standing in the cell next to the peryton. She looked worse than ever, for her face was streaked with grime and her eyes were heavy with dark circles. Quickly, Kendra snatched the keys that the guard had dropped and hurried to unlock her mother’s cell.

“What are you doing?” Kayla demanded. “You must leave. There’s not a moment to lose.”

“I have Kazah,” Kendra explained as she found the right key and turned it with a satisfying click. “I can jump anytime.”

“What’s the use?” Oki said in a despondent tone. “We can’t jump physical distance. Even if we jump back to when your mom was a Teenling, we’ll still be
here,
in the castle.”

“That can’t be helped,” Kendra said. “We’ll have to make our way back to the Forests of Wretch from here.”

“How?” Oki squeaked. “It’s across sea and forest and . . .”

“We’ll just have to do it,” Kendra insisted. “It’s the only way.”

“No,” Kayla declared, stepping out into the prison corridor. “There may be another.”

“What are you talking about?” Kendra asked.

“In the time you remember, you survived the Rumble Pit,” Kayla said. “Your uncle was there, and your friends. Right?”

Kendra and Oki looked at each other, then nodded.

“So you must try and return to that time,” Kayla said.

“What are you talking about?” Kendra asked. “Does that time even exist? Isn’t it erased? How can that timeline be there until we go and fix it?”

“It’s still there,” her mother answered. “Look.” She hunted around the straw spread sparsely around her cell, found three twigs, and arranged them so that they looked like a sideways Y. “See?” Kayla said. “It’s like this. Once I read your letter, time branched into two separate lines. Now this time and the one you know—the one you remember—are both moving forward, running parallel. Both timelines exist. Two alternate realities.”

“It makes my head spin,” Kendra groaned.

“I know,” Kayla said. “But this alternate timeline still exists. Trust me. You must keep it real in your mind. And you must jump to it.”

“This is
kolookookoo
,” Oki exclaimed. “It’s not jumping backwards
or
forward. It’s like . . . jumping
across.
”

“Exactly,” Kayla said. “If you jump backwards in this timeline, we have no idea what kind of situation you’ll be in. But if you can jump to the timeline you know, there’ll be someone there to help you. This much is certain.”

“Are you sure this jump is possible?” Kendra asked.

“The mysteries of Kazah are deep,” her mother said. “Nearly thirty-five years have passed since you met me as a Teenling. Since then, I’ve devoted my life to the study of Kazah magic. And I think this jump can be accomplished. But it will be complicated. You’ll need to find a quiet, safe place to concentrate.”

“But—”

“There’s no time to argue,” Kayla interrupted and, as if to punctuate her warning, the squawks of approaching Krakes now filled the corridor. “See?” Kayla said. “They’re coming.”

“Eek! We’ll never escape now!” Oki squealed.

“Yes, you will,” Kayla announced with sudden vigor in her voice. The keys were still hanging from her cell door, but she snatched them with a jangle. “I’m going to release the prisoners. All of them. The Krakes will have a real rumble to deal with—right here in the dungeons. That will give you two a chance to flee and enact the magic of Kazah.”

“But—,” Kendra started to say, when her mother grabbed her and hugged her tight.

“Listen,” Kayla said, looking her straight in the eye. “I love you, Kendra. But you have to go.”

“Wh-what about you?” Kendra asked.

“Don’t worry about me,” her mother replied. “I have a whole gaggle of slurp-sucking bird-brains to keep me amused.”

“That’s not what I meant!” Kendra persisted, even as the sounds of the approaching Krakes grew louder. “What’s going to happen to you in this timeline? Shouldn’t you just come with us?”

“No—I don’t belong in your time any more than you belong here,” Kayla said. Then she reached inside her robe and pulled out the tiny ragdoll rabbit.

Kendra had to blink. She couldn’t imagine how Kayla had managed to hang onto the toy through all of their misfortunes.

“I want you to have this,” her mother said.

“I’m a little old for dolls,” Kendra said. “And, besides, that’s not mine . . . it’s the other Kendra’s.”

“I made this for someone I love with all my heart,” Kayla declared. “And that someone is you.” She tucked the ragdoll rabbit inside Kendra’s robe, and then, without another word on the matter, turned and thrust the keys into the door of the peryton’s cage. “GO!” she yelled over her shoulder, and there was such command in her voice that at once Kendra clutched Oki by the paw and scampered down the passageway.

Even as they rounded the corner, Kendra could hear the clangs of opening cages and the cheers of escaping prisoners. Only a moment later those cheers turned to shouts and screams, which could only mean one thing: the Krake guards had arrived on the scene. Kendra paused to listen as the passageway behind them reverberated with the sounds of battle.

“Come on,” Kendra told Oki, wiping a stray tear from her eye. “We’d better hurry.”

It’s difficult to pay attention to what’s ahead of you when there’s certain danger snapping at your heels. That’s why Kendra didn’t see the ventilation shaft in front of them. She and Oki tumbled into it headlong. Mercifully, it wasn’t a straight drop; they slid at an angle, hitting a corner here and a bump there until at last they struck the ground. They found themselves in complete darkness.

“Where are we?” Oki wondered.

“I’m not sure,” Kendra answered.

With a flourish of her hand she caused her wand to glow, but it did little to vanquish the surrounding darkness. Kendra cocked her head and listened; she could still hear the din of the battle raging far above, but the sounds were muted and distant.

“I guess we’re safe enough,” Kendra said, slipping Kazah onto her finger. “This place is as good as any. Come on, put your paws over the ring.”

“Why? What’s that going to do?” Oki asked.

“This is a difficult jump,” Kendra explained. “I need your energy too. We both need to remember what it was like when we were in Krake Castle last time.”

“How could I forget?” Oki grumbled, placing his paws on the Kazah stone.

Kendra shut her eyes and began to breathe deeply. Her mind eventually became quiet, and she let her imagination take her to the time when she had first found herself in Krake Castle. She not only had to imagine the things she saw, heard, smelled, touched, or tasted—she had to connect with her feelings in a way she never had before. That was the tricky part, and she knew that’s why she needed Oki’s help. He was good at feeling.

At last, the stone began to glow; Kendra could sense it even through her closed eyes. Then it began to tremble on her finger. It had never behaved that way before, but even though Kendra desperately wondered what was happening she didn’t dare open her eyes to risk disrupting the magic. Now her whole body was quaking; she thought the ring might fly right from her finger. She felt herself spinning, as if something was swinging her round and round, with such force that tears began to run from her eyes. Suddenly there was a thunderous crack—it felt as if for a moment Kendra had left her stomach behind—and the next thing she knew, she was sitting in something warm and soft.