The Candlestone (21 page)
Chapter 15
How could you do such a thing?” Ashley stormed back from the cave room, stomping across the lab. She sat heavily at the master control panel, making her chair spin half way around to avoid looking at Doc. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and heaved an angry sigh. “It’s despicable! It’s criminal!”
Dr. Conner called from across the room as he approached. “And it was keeping your grandfather alive!”
Ashley didn’t know what to say. The whole world was crashing down on her. All her brilliant plans were falling apart. And they were good plans, plans that would have helped a lot of sick and elderly people.
But now Ashley despised herself. She stood as an evil, mad scientist, holding children captive as lab rats, performing dangerous experiments on them, disintegrating an angelic girl to get a devil out of a crystal chamber, and now . . . and now, this!
And all for what? Nothing worked! Her photoreceptors had failed, Bonnie was trapped with that demon, and her grandfather was dying! Ashley broke down and sobbed.
Dr. Conner’s hand fell gently on her shoulder. She jumped to her feet and spun away, holding her hand up for him to stop. Her body stiffened and her face flushed. “Just . . . just stay away from me!” She walked backwards toward the girls’ dorm. “I’m going to get Karen. We have to get Bonnie out of there!”
“Yes,” Dr. Conner said, nodding slowly. “Bonnie and Devin have to come out. It’s the only way for your grandfather to survive, the only way to keep our research going. I’m glad you finally understand.”
Ashley’s blood boiled, and she exploded in rage. “No! Don’t you get it? We can’t keep using people to get what we want! I’m not doing this for my grandfather; it’s for Bonnie!”
“Fine, fine.” He waved her away with his hand. “Whatever. Go ahead and get Karen dressed; we’ll use her one more time.”
Ashley sprinted toward the dorm hall. She stretched her key coil and pushed the key into the lock, turning it absentmindedly. Something felt different. There was no resistance, no opening click. Hadn’t Bonnie locked it?
She hurried down the hall toward Karen’s room, still pondering Doc’s words. “We’ll use her one more time.” She paused in front of Karen’s sign, “Red and Pebbles.”
Use her? No! That’s not right!
She swung the door open and stuck her head in. Quiet.
Could they both be in the bathroom?
She stepped back into the hall and listened to the eerie silence. Where were all the little-girl noises she’d grown accustomed to? She bolted into the room and threw open Karen’s closet door.
Her coat’s gone!
She dashed to Stacey’s and Beck’s room.
Empty!
She flew down the hall, ready to shout the terrible news, but as she passed by her own open door, she suddenly stopped and glanced inside. The lamp on her desk was on and pointed toward her bed, the bright light shining on a three-ring binder that lay on the neatly made spread.
Bonnie’s journal?
She stepped inside and sat on the bed, picking up the journal and setting it on her lap. A note taped to the front said, “The girls are okay. Trust me.” The finger-worn binder flopped open to the first page, a hand-written title page decorated with squiggly doodles and a half-dozen or so smiley faces. In beautiful script, the title spelled out:
Silver Tokens
My Hopes, My Prayers, My Dreams
Ashley turned the pages, drinking in Bonnie’s beautiful prose. Though a rush of thoughts shouted to sound an alarm, Bonnie’s simple words held her back. “Trust me.” Ashley’s gifted mind raced through Bonnie’s flowery sonnets, exciting stories, and tender dedications, each one garnished with a dash of spiritual insight.
When she reached the end, she found an entry with today’s date, and she read it more slowly, savoring each word.
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
Ashley, I know you will understand this verse, and I pray that the heart of its message will fill yours. Daddy’s dream may yet be fulfilled, though perhaps in a way you do not expect. You may think no one understands you, but God knows everything about you. He knows who you really are.
“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the
Lord
though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
Red will be made white
Darkness shall become light
Faith will be made sight
Squire shall become knight
May God bless you as he speaks to your heart.
Bonnie was right; Ashley did understand, perhaps at a deeper level than Bonnie could possibly have intended. Not only did Ashley now understand the heart of Bonnie Silver, a heart of pure refined gold, she knew what it all meant to her own heart; she knew what she had to do.
There was no need to sound the alarm, no need to recapture the scarlet-haired symbol of her dark experiments; all remnants of her selfish desires had to be purged, even if it meant sacrificing herself to save Bonnie.
Ashley looked up, the eyes of her mind seeing through the ceiling and dozens of feet of earth, and a feeling of peace descended on her like a dove flittering down to alight. Her thoughts drifted, and for a moment she focused on the invisible world outside.
It must be snowing up there.
Billy stepped cautiously down the dark stairway. Karen had told him to look for a flashlight on a hook just inside the door, but it wasn’t anywhere around. He guessed that Palin took it when he went to get his shield and hadn’t put it back.
It was good to get out of the bitter wind and snow, but tiptoeing down a pitch-black staircase into the unknown wasn’t much better. Every few seconds he let out a puff of fire to light his way, quickly memorizing the fifteen or so steps in front of him during the brief seconds the flame endured. Though the stairway was straight, every now and then a stair would be slanted or broken, and he needed the warning to keep from stumbling on a misshapen board.
He finally reached the bottom of the stairs and followed the gently curving corridor. The narrow, level tunnel was easier on his legs, but darkness still ruled the stuffy cave. His puffs of fire revealed a rocky ceiling with sporadic crossbeams less than a foot above his head and close, wood-framed walls at each side.
A door at the end of a long straightaway appeared, and a faint light emanated from its borders. When he reached it, he stared at its dark panels and weighed the possibilities.
Would anyone be able to hear him if he opened it just a crack to peek in? His dragon senses whispered warnings of danger, feelings of stark dread that ran from his tingling toes to the hairs standing up on his neck. The fire in his belly heated up again, ready to spew something more substantial than a temporary flashlight. Taking a deep breath, he dropped his hand to the cold knob.
As he turned it and pushed, he listened, hoping the hinges would behave themselves and not whine to alert those inside. The door inched open in silence. From the other side a low hum drifted through the gap. Billy shoved the door open wider, enough for him to poke his head through.
The huge room inside was dim with only a few blinking lights in the middle, enough to show a hint of movement. Near the lights a man’s shadow hunched over in silence—watching, studying. A glow cast a white light into his face, but the angle and distance kept his features indistinct.
Billy nudged the door open just far enough to squeeze his body through. Hoping his boots would stay quiet, he tiptoed forward. When he came within about ten feet of the man, he spotted a large metal box on the floor. He crouched behind it, peering over the rim. The man sat at some kind of control panel watching a display screen that ran streams of changing numbers above a series of wavy lines.
At regular intervals, the man looked up at something in front of the panel. Billy traced his line of sight to a pedestal in the middle of a bunch of equipment. A red laser beam shot directly into an object perched on top, a sparkling gem.
The candlestone!
As the man stared at the crimson ray, Billy recognized his short red hair and strong jaw. Dr. Conner slipped on a headset and adjusted a series of dials on the panel, then spoke into a microphone. “Devin? Conner here. Can you hear me?”
Devin? So he is in the candlestone! And Dr. Conner can talk to him?
A static-filled reply sent shivers across Billy’s skin. He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth until the horrible buzz died away and transformed into a voice, the voice Billy had grown to despise.
“My good doctor, it seems that you have failed again. Your daughter is trapped in here with me, and I am not able to approach her. There must be some kind of polarity factor that repels me.”
“I know of no polarity issues in your energy matrices that would cause that,” Dr. Conner replied with an air of scientific precision. “According to these readings, you should be perfectly matched. But now we have to get both of you out if we’re going to make the crystal pure again. The candlestone is worthless to me in this state.”
The sinister voice returned. “We could get her to try the dive again. I could force her into the abyss where I dumped all the animals you left in here, and then your little genius, Ashley, can try to get her out that way. I have not yet exhausted my arsenal of ideas to make her go willingly.”
“I’m not going to risk my daughter’s life any further. I only let her dive in because that’s been tested so many times, but that exit channel has never been tried. I notice you’ve never volunteered to go through it.”
There was a short pause before Devin continued. “Do you have the mongrel?”
“The Bannister boy? Yes. Palin came down to get a shield from the weapons cache and went back topside to get him. They should both be here any minute.”
“Good. You can lock him up in my old stockade in the cave.”
“That’s what I was thinking. The chains and locks are still in working order.”
“Of course they are!” Devin bellowed. “At least one part of my fortress didn’t fall prey to your precious lab project.” He settled down again, his voice becoming slow and meditative. “With the mongrel out of the way, my colleagues and I can storm the mountain and find that cursed Clefspeare. He is the last one, the very last one.”
“Yes,” Dr. Conner replied. He coughed, covering his mouth with his fist. “The last one.”
“But first thing’s first,” Devin continued. “We need a diver.”
“I thought I should try Karen again. She’s the most experienced. Maybe she can pull both of you out.”
“She translates badly, always has. She comes in so out of phase, I couldn’t even see her until her last dive. Your adjustments aren’t working. I’m growing impatient with your constant tweaking. It’s time to try someone different. Send in the mongrel.”
“But the male chimp came back as a blithering idiot.” Dr. Conner’s voice gave away a hint of fear. “All the males lost more than half their brain function during restoration.”
Devin shouted, loud static punctuating his words. “What do I care about his brain function? Just make sure he’s in phase!” The static died away. “If I can attach, it won’t matter if he’s as dumb as a salamander. You pull him out, and I’ll hang on. I know what causes male brain damage, and it can’t happen to me.”
“Just be sure to bring Bonnie, too.”
“Yes, yes,” Devin snapped back. “Don’t worry. Just get moving.”
“But we need a good anchor. Derrick is sick and exhausted. It would be too dangerous to let him—”
A new voice interrupted. “I’ll do it!”
The female voice came from the other side of the room. Billy squinted into the darkness to find the source.
Dr. Conner spun around. “Ashley? What did you say?”
“I said, ‘I’ll do it!’ I’ll be the anchor.”
Walter opened the driver’s door for Mrs. Bannister and then got in the back. He leaned forward between Mrs. Bannister and the professor, watching the
Barbara’s Market
sign as they pulled out of the parking lot. “She wasn’t much help, was she?”
The professor sighed. “Not much, Walter, but we do have a few clues. We know the lab is about thirty minutes away and that there were rumors of a secret construction project up near Camp Misery.” He unfolded a map and set his finger next to the image of Flathead Lake. “We can drive up into these mountains and ask the locals about the rumors. It may not take long to narrow down the possibilities.”
“Maybe, but it’ll be like finding a needle in a haystack.”
The professor raised his index finger. “Not exactly, Walter. You see, needles and hay have a similar appearance, making visual discernment very difficult, while a laboratory in the mountains would have a unique—”
“Prof!” Walter said, rolling his eyes. “It was just an expression!”
The professor slowly lowered his finger. “Sorry, Walter. My mind is in analytical mode. Even idioms are not spared.” He turned to Mrs. Bannister and pointed at a road to the right. “Marilyn. Proceed eastbound on highway eighty-three. We are looking for Echo Lake Road on the left. Obviously a secret lab will not be labeled, so we’ll have to be on the lookout for a newly forged road, perhaps a crude path for construction vehicles or a foot trail with a security gate.”
The professor’s cell phone rang, and he grabbed it from his belt, snapping it up to his ear. “Charles Hamilton here. . . . Yes. I am the professor. . . . Yes, Karen. Go on.” The professor snatched a pen from the dashboard and scribbled on the map. “Yes. We will find it. . . . No, I’m not sure how far we are. Can you put the owner on the phone? . . . Thank you.”
As he paused, Walter and Mrs. Bannister glanced at each other, then back at the professor. Goose bumps popped up on Walter’s arms, and he leaned back, drumming the seat with his fingers. Finally, the professor continued. “Yes sir. We are on highway eighty-three. . . . Very good. I believe we can be there in about twenty minutes, if the snow doesn’t delay us any more than that. . . . Yes, it might help if you plow the road. Thank you.”
The professor put the phone back in place and smiled, his wild white eyebrows lifting in delight. “A young lady named Karen is at a farmhouse near Camp Misery. She said that William is free from his captor, and she will take us to him.”