The Lost Code Part 31

"Very impressive," said another. Heads bobbed toward one another and spoke in low whispers. They moved slowly, almost like they were floating in air.

The soldiers moved me closer. I tried to fight. I would keep fighting, no matter what, and at least in the skull, I'd be safe for a little while. Maybe I could figure out some way to resist Paul, from in there.

The technician returned with a needle. He dabbed my arm with a cotton swab.

"Get the girl ready, too," said Paul. "We'll want to see if anything lights up in there."

My hands were almost on the skull, my secrets about to be laid bare. Its glow brightened as I neared.

"Fascinating," said Paul, watching the monitor screen beside him. "I don't even think we'll need the electrical current."

The needle pressed against my skin. About to break the surface...

Something pierced the air. A flash in the corner of my eye, glinting in skull light. It seemed to have arrived as a blur but was now frozen in s.p.a.ce.

"What was that?" asked a board member.

"I think we have a weak connection," complained another.

The hands that were holding me loosened, and I looked over and saw a silver bead of light. It hung still, and I could see that it was the glowing metal tip of an arrow. An arrow, protruding from black cloth, from Cartier's chest.

Chapter 26

THE ARROW HAD COME FROM BEHIND. LILLY thrashed free of Cartier, his body spasming, and she shoved him in the back. He toppled forward, coughing up blood and slamming into Paul, who had only just started to turn around. They crashed over onto the monitor console. thrashed free of Cartier, his body spasming, and she shoved him in the back. He toppled forward, coughing up blood and slamming into Paul, who had only just started to turn around. They crashed over onto the monitor console.

The arrow protruding from Cartier's back had tricolor feathers. It was from the archery range. I looked to the doorway. Evan stood there, bow in hand, another arrow ready. As he stepped in, Marco and Aliah followed. They had weapons. Rifles. Probably from officers they'd surprised above. They were soaked, leaving wet footprints. Creatures from the deep, come back for their own.

"Nope!" Evan shouted. He waved the bow and arrow at the officers beside me. They'd let go of my arms to try for their own weapons. "Get against the wall," Evan ordered. Standing there, dripping wet, his shoulders tensed with the bow at the ready, he looked more intimidating than ever. His eyes caught mine, and I couldn't help wondering if he was about to finish what he'd started in the Preserve.

"Come on," he said to me instead.

The two officers were obeying, especially with the sight of Marco and Aliah training rifles their way. The white-coated technician joined them.

Paul had rolled Cartier off of him and was scrambling to his feet. Evan spun and aimed at him. "You too." He motioned with the bow. "Against the wall."

Paul started to smile, to put up his hands. "Now, kids, listen-"

"Shut up, butcher," snapped Aliah. "We know what you are." She waved her rifle in Paul's direction. "Just give us a reason."

Paul's eyes narrowed, his pupils flicking coldly. "I urge you to reconsider what you're doing."

No one responded. Lilly was busy grabbing our bags from the officers. "Get Leech," she said to me.

"Right." I stepped to the bed and started shaking Leech. He stirred, his eyes half opening. "Hey, we're leaving, come on. Can you get up?"

Leech winced and started to sit up. "Yeah," he said groggily.

His fingers fumbled at the electrodes on his head and under his T-s.h.i.+rt. I helped him pull them off, then I hoisted him up and pushed him toward the door.

Paul had joined the officers along the wall. Lilly stood before them. "Guns and phones, please." She took the officers' gear and handed them to Marco and Aliah. "I'll take this, too," she said, pulling her Nomad knife from an officer's belt. She shoved Paul's phone into her pocket. "Thanks," she hissed. Then, she turned and grabbed the skull.

"Listen," said Paul, "all of you, there's another way to do this-"

Lilly uttered a teeth-clenched growl and spun. She had the skull in two hands, and she slammed it into Paul's temple and jaw. His head cracked back against the wall and he collapsed to the floor. Lilly looked down at him. "That's enough from you." He rolled onto his back, one of his eyes shooting sparks.

We moved toward the door. I pa.s.sed Evan, his bow still drawn. "Thanks," I said.

"Yup." He kept his gaze on the officers.

"This way," I said to Leech, and we squeezed through the pa.s.sage and back out onto the platform.

Lilly had started left with Aliah and Marco, heading for the stairs.

"This way!" I called to her. "We're taking the craft."

"What?" She looked at me like I was crazy.

"Trust me! It will work!" I tried not to show that I maybe thought it was crazy, too, that I barely knew what I was doing. I ran around the platform and down the stairs, Leech trailing behind me.

"What's this?" he said, like he was looking at a piece of junk.

"You draw maps," I said. "I fly this."

I saw Lilly hugging Marco and Aliah, then Evan. "Be careful!" she called to them over her shoulder as she ran around and joined us. We crowded into the little craft. Lilly uncinched her bag and stuffed the skull and the knife inside.

"This thing looks like a rowboat," muttered Leech. His att.i.tude bothered me.

"Owen... ," said Lilly. She pointed up. The officers were emerging from the skull chamber, supporting Paul between them. They glanced at us but headed up the stairs.

Above them, the CITs were nearly to the top. "They'll be fine," I said.

"Yeah, but what about us?" Leech asked.

"Watch," I said. I held my finger over the tiny gold b.u.t.ton. I looked again at the little razor-edged ring in the center of the fingerprint shape, its hollow middle, then at the tiny copper tube leading down through the bottom of the hull.

I looked up. From here, that copper umbrella hid the giant marble ball in the ceiling from sight. The officers and Paul were just reaching the top of the staircase.

"As soon as they get out of these tunnels," said Lilly, gazing up with me, "they're going to send the whole complex after us."

"Yeah," I said. I put my finger to the b.u.t.ton, felt the sharp edge. "The key is inside me," I repeated, hoping the siren meant this too. I jammed my finger down. White-hot pain shot up my hand, but I kept pressing. It would take time for the blood to drip down the tube....

"What are you doing?" Leech asked, sounding unconvinced.

Everything began to rumble. The craft shook. Dust sprang from the walls.

I looked up. "You figure, with all those tunnels we took, that we're somewhere under the lake, right?"

The rumbling increased, like there was giant machinery in the walls. The stone catwalk above us started to slide into the wall. The spiral stairs too.

There was a high-pitched grating sound from above. I leaned out from the side of the craft. So did Lilly. "Owen, that ball of rock in the ceiling is moving," she said, "and..."

I saw it rising, and then Lilly's voice was drowned out by the deafening roar of water gus.h.i.+ng in through the hole in its place. It poured down in a giant cascade, hit the copper umbrella, and sprayed out in all directions, creating a curtain of water falling all around us, filling the chamber while we sat there, mostly dry.

"Wow," said Lilly. "Okay, this could work!"

We started to rise, the water lifting the craft from the floor. The mast hit the umbrella and there was a loud click as it locked into the center. The copper rods snapped away. The umbrella rose with us, deflecting the spray.

Something slammed against the copper and then tumbled by us. I saw the obsidian ball from the map room disappear into the frothing water.

"Ah," said Leech, sounding disappointed. "Good-bye, star chart."

"Did you need that?" I shouted to him.

Leech stared at the water. "Well, it was helpful, but I'll be all right."

We were already parallel with the platform. Water rushed into the skull chamber.

We rose, cresting the walls of the lower chamber, rising up into the map room. The water swirled everywhere, and among the bubbles were papers.

"Your maps, too!" Lilly yelled to Leech.

He looked down and I thought he would freak out to see the wet pages, their ink bleeding away, but he just smiled. "It's okay," he said in his old c.o.c.ky Leech way. He tapped his head. "It's all in here." But then his smile faded as he scanned the room. "I think Paul got my case, though. Those were the best ones. But he can't make too much sense out of them without me."

The room filled. We bobbed on the frothy water, nearing the curved ceiling. Water was slos.h.i.+ng all over us, now. Spray in our eyes. The craft was getting tossed around. Its rear corner slammed into the roof. We were nearing the top, starting to rise up into the hole where the marble ball had been. The craft began to spin. Water everywhere.

"Hang on to something!" I shouted.

The craft lurched and reeled. We surged upward, spinning faster. The cascade roared against the copper umbrella. Waves drenched us. Everything was lost to spray and bubbles, light and shadows. But I could feel that we were still rising. There was brightness above us. And in a final thrust and deafening roar, we shot up out of the sunken temple, up the center eye of the whirling water, to the surface.

Waves slapped around, then calmed. The craft settled. We were drifting on the lake, not far from sh.o.r.e, off to the side of the Aquinara. Breeze. Birds. Warm sun on our wet skin. We sat there for a moment, breathing hard, but amazed by the sudden peace around us.

"Wow," said Leech, "that actually worked."

Lilly started scanning the water. "They'll get boats out here soon," she said.

"Yeah." I stood and popped open the seat compartment. I could feel the usual westerly wind coming from the direction of the city. I pulled out the sail and the short coils of rope, as I'd seen Luk do in the memory. The materials were stiff, but the fibers were amazingly still in working shape. How long had they sat down there, waiting for me?

I put my feet on the pedal rudder and angled so that we would be running downwind. I tied a guideline to a hole at one corner of the triangular sail, and then I stood and tied the sail straight off the front of the copper poles and mast with anchor-hitch knots that my fingers tied without thinking. The sail grabbed the wind, billowing out in front of us, and yanked us straight down the lake.

"How did you learn how to sail when you drowned during the swim test?" Leech asked. "Was it on all your secret nights out?"

He did know about those. I just tapped my head like he had. "No, in here."

"So, you really are the other Atlantean," he said.

"Yeah, it's the three of us."

"Great," said Leech.

Right then I wondered if this could really work. Given all we'd been through, and all the danger we were in, I still couldn't help wondering if I could possibly survive being with Leech.

"Here they come!" Lilly shouted. She was pointing to the jetty by the Aquinara. Two speedboats were peeling away from it, toward us.

We were gathering speed, a frothing wake behind us. I leaned over the side of the craft. There, beneath the waves, I could see the spinning disks of metal. With enough speed, they'd create the charge for the heat cell.

I grabbed the line and pulled in tighter on the sail, creating more resistance. We surged ahead.

"They're closing!" Lilly shouted. "They're probably going to have guns!"

I looked down at the clay pot, the little copper nozzle. Nothing there yet. I adjusted the sail and rudder. We needed more speed.

"This isn't gonna happen," said Leech, watching the boats approach.

"Move!" I pushed his shoulder and opened the compartment where he'd been sitting, pulled out the thermal and started unfolding it. I threw it up on top of the copper poles and started tying lines. There were three holes around the triangular opening in the thermal, which corresponded to a gap in the poles.

I dropped back to the rudder. The boats were coming from our left. Our speed was increasing, but slowly. Too slowly.

"Can you angle right?" Lilly called. "Look!"

She pointed ahead, and I saw other boats coming toward us. Five small sailboats tacking up the lake. If I moved right, they would get between us and the speedboats. I pulled in on the sail and angled the rudder.

"Hey," said Leech.

And then we heard the shouting. Arms were waving from the sailboats. As we closed, we saw their faces. Noah, Jalen, Beaker, Paige, Mina... all the Hyenas and Foxes.

"Cut them off!" Leech shouted, waving his arm toward the approaching speedboats.

Something started to hum in the craft. Vibrations in the floorboards. Almost there. I hauled the sail in close and tweaked our angle. "We're almost there!" I shouted over the wind.

The camp sailboats were cutting at an angle past us. The speedboats were closing in, but the sailboats crossed their path. The speedboats swerved hard. I saw Jalen yank the rudder of his sailboat and send it spinning right in front of one of the speedboats, which had to throw itself into a chaotic turn.

But the other boat was already roaring around them.

"Great! That only got us a couple seconds," said Leech.

A spark flashed on the heat cell. Then another. Popping sounds, and a little blue flame jetted from the copper nozzle on the pot, flaring to orange. "That might be all we need!" I shouted. The thermal sail began to rise, filling, forming the small hot-air balloon.

The roar of the motorboat grew behind us. I glanced back and saw it gaining, getting too close.

But then we began to skip off the waves. The balloon was growing. Two big bounces... and we were up! Airborne. We rose, the wind still filling the sail and propelling us ahead. I looked down to see our cabin mates waving and cheering, and the speedboats rapidly shrinking.

Lilly rubbed my shoulder. "Nice."