Balance Keepers #1: The Fires of Calderon (11 page)

“A Tile of unknown origin?” Professor Hagglesworth seemed to take this news with a mix of concern and curiosity. “I guess we have a mystery on our hands with you, Albert. Time will tell!”

Instead of cheers, Albert heard whispers rise from all around, and felt everyone’s eyes on his back. They were craning to get a good look at his Tile. All he wanted to do was rip it off and toss it into the water for the turtles to snack on. He quickly slipped it inside his shirt, then sat down in his chair and forced himself to look brave. Why did he have to get the dud? Why couldn’t it have been someone else?

Across the table, Hoyt was laughing his pig-faced head off.

“No worries, Albert.” Leroy lowered his voice. “They’re just jealous, all of them.”

“Leroy’s right,” Birdie whispered. She gave Albert a big grin. “I’m sure of it.”

“Keep your head up, Flynn.” Grey nodded to Albert. “A good Balance Keeper always stays positive.”

The way they were smiling at him, nodding their heads in encouragement, made Albert feel a little better. He took a deep breath and turned back to listen to the announcements.

“As you all know, tomorrow begins the first official day of Competition.”

The dining hall erupted into cheers. Albert, Leroy, and Birdie joined in. Across the pool, the companion creatures began to howl and hiss and chirp and blow fire. Farnsworth’s eyes lit up like they’d just been plugged into a light socket.

“Now, now, calm down, calm down,” Professor Hagglesworth said, his eyes changing to a calming blue. “I must remind you all. This year we have a new Apprentice: Mr. Trey Link, who will be assisting Professor Flynn. He went through several grueling rounds of competition to earn this coveted spot.”

Trey stood up from his table across the water, and the cheering started all over again. He looked as proud as ever. Almost all of the girls in the room watched Trey with googly eyes. Albert couldn’t help but be a little jealous at the way his dad looked up at Trey, like he was the son Albert could only dream of being. Albert wondered how many years his dad and Trey had spent together in the Core, training and bonding inside of the
real
Realms.

Terran put a hand on Albert’s shoulder. “He’s proud of you, Albert. He talks about you all the time, you know. He’s been waiting for you to come here for years.”

“Thanks.” Albert sighed. “I just want to figure out my Tile
.
”

“We’ll do some research and figure it out,” Leroy joined in. “Someone here is bound to know something! You’ll see.” They turned back to Professor Hagglesworth.

“You’re a lively bunch this year,” the Professor continued. “Don’t let the news I’m about to tell you dampen your spirits.”

Professor Flynn rose to his feet, his towering presence hard to ignore. “Let me tell them, if you please.”

Hagglesworth’s eyes turned red as fire for an instant, then dialed back to a more calm shade of orange.

“As you wish. It is
your
Realm, after all.”

Clearly, Professor Hagglesworth didn’t like Albert’s dad.

“Professor Hagglesworth wanted to have the Calderon Realm, but your dad beat him to it,” Grey explained to Albert. “They’re not exactly best friends.”

Albert didn’t know a person in the world that didn’t like Bob Flynn. Apparently there were power struggles at play inside the Core that Albert knew nothing about.

He watched as his dad shared the news:

“It has come to our attention that Calderon is in more trouble than we’d expected.”

The room buzzed with whispers.

Professor Flynn smiled comfortingly, the way he used to do when Albert was little and skinned his knee. “Remember, this is what we train for. It’s what we prepare for. And it still may not be as bad as we think.”

Albert remembered the ash clouds in New York City. He found Trey in the crowd, but his expression was a mask of calm. Grey and Aria sat still as statues, not giving away a hint of concern.

“We will continue to keep a close eye on Calderon, and Belltroll and Ponderay, too. But Balance Keepers, remember as you train: you may be called on to serve at any time. Work hard; be ready.”

“We’ve got to get our act together,” Leroy muttered beside Albert.

“Now, dinner is done!” Professor Flynn shouted. “Tomorrow marks the start of classroom hours for
all
students, not just Balance Keepers.”

Everyone groaned together.

Professor Flynn smiled. “Oh, come on, now. After dinner is free time. Now the
real
fun begins!”

The room erupted into hoots and hollers, and everyone started doing some strange clap in unison. Albert tried to keep up.

Leroy, remembering this was the last meal of the day, stuffed his pockets with rolls.

As they rode their turtles across the water and started the long walk back to the dorms, Albert couldn’t keep his mind from wondering: With a Tile like his, would he ever be of any use?

“I
don’t know about you guys,” Birdie said, “but I’m ready to kick some butt in the simulation today.”

“Aren’t we all?” Leroy sighed. It was the next morning, and the three of them met up at the same bridge again. They had regular class before Pit training.

“So, where
is
our first class?” Birdie asked. She was holding up a circular map of the Core that Ellery, Birdie’s Second Term roommate in Treefare, had loaned her. Albert looked over Birdie’s shoulder. No matter which way she turned the map, Albert only got more confused.

“I wish we didn’t have to go sit in a boring class,” Albert groaned. “This is summer. Not summer
school.
”

“I’m looking forward to a little reading and stuff. Less dangerous for a change,” Leroy said.

“How can you think about reading when we could be training in the Pit? The Pit is awesome!” Birdie said, giggling. The two of them went at it again, arguing like siblings.

Farnsworth howled, as if his dog ears couldn’t take it anymore. Albert got in between his friends. “Come on, guys, cut it out! We should get to class right now anyway. Do either of you know
what
our first class is?” He’d been so exhausted last night that he hadn’t bothered to look at the schedule.

“It’s Core History, with that little dwarf guy,” Birdie said. “I was hoping to get my hands on some sort of sword or shield or something, but Ellery said this class is totally lame.”

“Hey, I like lame. Lame is safe,” Leroy said. He motioned for Albert and Birdie to follow him down a dimly lit tunnel. “Come on. We passed Bigglesby’s room yesterday. I remember where it is.”

The three of them set off, Leroy and Farnsworth in the lead.

At the end of a winding tunnel, Professor Bigglesby’s door stood ajar. Students were filing in slowly, taking their places in chairs before a large stage. There was a teetering pile of books that reminded Albert of the post office back in Herman. He grabbed one and scanned the room for an open place to sit.

“Hey! Flynn, over here!” someone yelled from the back. It was a small boy with black hair and bright, tiger-orange eyes.

“Who in Calderon is
that
?” Leroy asked. Farnsworth scurried away and greeted the strange boy, licking him all over his face.

Albert shrugged, but he and his friends went to see the boy anyway. They sat down beside him, Albert the closest. “Um . . . hi?”

“Hey. I’m Petra. I know all about you, Albert Flynn. I know all about
everyone
in the Core.” The boy looked at Birdie and Leroy. “And you must be his friends. I’ve heard all about you, too. Sorry your first day didn’t go so well.”

“Who are you again?” Leroy asked, leaning past Albert to get a good look at Petra. “What Realm did you say you’re training for?”

Petra’s face fell for a second, but his smile came right back. “I’m not a Balance Keeper or anything. Just a regular Core kid, born and raised.”

“So you’re, like, a Pure?” Birdie asked. “Cool!”

Petra nodded. “Not all of the Pures get to be Balance Keepers. Some of us are destined for different things. I’m on cleanup duty with my mom, at night. Sometimes Professor Bigglesby lets me clean the weapons!”

“Hey, that’s pretty cool, too,” Albert said. He imagined Petra brandishing a massive spear ten times his body size, and held back a laugh. The kid seemed pretty interested in everything around him. Petra probably knew loads of secrets about the Core.

“So, do you have any dirt on Hoyt?” Albert asked. “He’s a Pure, too, right?”

“Yeah,” Petra said. “That’s something else you should know—just because I’m a Pure doesn’t mean I’m a fan of Hoyt. I’ll be rooting for Hydra in the Competitions; you can count on it.”

“Hey, thanks, dude,” Albert said. It looked like he had yet another friend in the Core already.

“I think class is starting.” Birdie clapped her hands.

The room hushed down as Professor Bigglesby waddled into the room. He was as short as a yardstick, but the sword he carried at his side was the same one Albert noticed the other day. It was at least twice his size, and had to weigh far more. The blade dragged behind Professor Bigglesby on the floor.

“Good morning, students. As you might have guessed from my sword, this term we will master a variety of weapons.”

“Yes!” Albert gave Birdie a fist bump. Leroy let out a little whimper.

“But today,” Professor Bigglesby continued, “we brush up on the exciting topic of Core History! Please turn to page three-fifty-six in your textbooks.”

Everyone groaned, except Leroy, who pulled out his book with a fat grin. “Now that’s more like it,” he whispered.

At the front of the class, Hoyt shouted out a complaint. But Professor Bigglesby carried on as if he hadn’t heard anyone at all. He turned on some sort of ancient, windup projector, and began to show old photographs of the Core. It turned out that the Core had been there for thousands of years.

Albert didn’t really like school that much. He couldn’t stand studying, his grades weren’t that impressive, and most of the time he got in trouble for not paying attention to his teacher. He couldn’t even count on his fingers the number of disciplinary letters that had been sent home to his mom.

Compared to school back home, though, this class wasn’t so bad. At least he got to see historical pictures of everything. In the back of a picture that showed the building of the triangle bridges, Albert thought he saw two familiar, glowing eyes.

“Hey! That’s our dog!” Albert whispered to his friends. Farnsworth’s eyes lit up at the sight of his photograph. His tail thumped against Albert’s boots.

Leroy flipped through to a new page in his textbook. “The Canis Luminatis can live up to one thousand years. Farnsworth is probably still a puppy!”

They followed along as Professor Bigglesby talked all about Core History. Albert sat dumbfounded as he learned that the ancient Greeks had discovered the entrance to the Core centuries ago.

Professor Bigglesby went on. There was some pretty cool stuff going on here, but soon Albert felt his eyelids drooping. He wished he were back in his bed in Cedarfell, listening to the birds chirp as he fell asleep.

That’s when the alarm bell went off.

It was loud and awful sounding, like a cat screeching after being sprayed by water.

“Something’s wrong in one of the Realms!” Petra squeaked.

He stood up and ran across the room to Professor Bigglesby’s side.

Everyone looked like they were about to panic. Students stood up, ready to rush from the room. Hoyt turned around and gave Albert an awful look.
Scared?
he mouthed.

No,
Albert mouthed back, but he felt like his heart was going to leap right out of his chest.

Farnsworth howled and ran from the room. Leroy was mumbling something about feeling sick, Birdie was running her fingers nervously through her ponytail, and one girl at the front of the room was actually crying.

After a few moments of chaos, the bell shut off, and the room fell into complete and total silence. Professor Bigglesby raised his tiny arms into the air. “Only a drill, students, only a drill. But I daresay the real one is coming. Better be ready when it does.”

His eyes seemed to stare at each student in the room until they landed right on Albert’s black Tile. His brow furrowed. For a second, he looked almost . . . afraid.

“The Balance Keepers must be especially prepared for such a time. That’s enough for today. Class is dismissed.”

As the room cleared, Albert and his friends hung back. Petra came to see them off, a worried look on his face.

“You three should train extra hard,” he said, pacing nervously. “If you hear that alarm again, you have to be ready. It will mean bad news.
Very
bad news.”

“Well, I guess that’s perfect timing for us to go and practice, then,” Albert said.

He looked at the giant, round clock on Professor Bigglesby’s desk. It was almost time for the first head-to-head Competition. At least they knew they wouldn’t have to face Argon today. They’d be up against the other Calderon training unit, the Third Termers called Ecco. The thought helped clear some of Albert’s dread from the alarm. In fact, he found he had a spring in his step. Today was his day; he could feel it.

When Team Hydra reached the copper door to the Pit ten minutes later and opened it, the Pit looked like an entirely new place. There were no cables or rings of fire, and the black Melatrix wasn’t bouncing around, waiting to pulverize Leroy. Instead, there were floating orange ledges scattered around. At the very top, on both sides opposite each other, sat two large metal buckets. And where there had once been bouncy ground at the bottom, there was now a sea of blue.

“Oh yeah.” Birdie smiled, looking down at the water. “This is good news, you guys! My Tile can help us win!” She held it up to her mouth and planted a big kiss on the water-droplet symbol.

“I wonder what those buckets are up there for,” Leroy mused aloud.

They walked along the ledge to the other side of the Pit, where Trey and Professor Flynn sat waiting. There was already a huge crowd of Core workers gathered to watch the action. Petra was among them. He gave Albert, Leroy, and Birdie a big thumbs-up.

“You’ve arrived early,” Professor Flynn said, smiling at Albert. “I like the dedication.”

“We wanted to scope out the scene before the other team got here,” Albert said to his dad.

“About that,” Professor Flynn started. “James from the Ecco team had an unfortunate run-in with a Jackalope last night, so we’ve rejiggered the schedule. You’ll be up against Argon again today.” Albert, Leroy, and Birdie exchanged defeated glances.

There goes my good feeling,
Albert thought.

“But not to worry! Today’s challenge is a good one. Especially for you, Birdie.” He pointed down at the water. “A little hint for you three, if I may? Watch your back. You never know what might come after you.”

Before Albert could ask what his dad was getting at, the door of the Pit opened and Hoyt and his team walked in. Leroy groaned.

“Don’t let them see us sweat,” Birdie whispered. “I’m going to pulverize them!”

“
We’re
going to pulverize them,” Albert reminded her. “We have to work as a team, remember?”

“That’s not how it works on the swim team,” she said.

“But if we work together, we can win,” Leroy added.

“Fine,” Birdie said. “But if you two boys slow me down . . .”

Leroy rolled his eyes. “Girls,” he whispered to Albert.

Professor Flynn had everyone line up around the edge of the Pit while Trey explained the challenge.

“As you saw yesterday, you’ll need mental and physical skills to navigate the Realms. In Calderon, you’re going to come across some pretty scary stuff. There are a lot of high obstacles you’re going to have to scale. Sometimes, you won’t be able to figure out a clear way to reach the top, and you might have to problem solve.”

“Ooooo, Synapse Tile time!” Leroy said, elbowing Albert.

Professor Flynn spoke up. “Grey, Aria, and Terran have also recently reported that they suspect the source of the current Imbalance in the Calderon Realm is a problem in the large body of water there, so we thought we’d give you some swimming to do today.”

“Told you my Tile would come in handy!” Birdie whispered to Albert.

“Today’s challenge will help you hone those mental and physical skills, but even more important, your teamwork skills, which you started to work on yesterday. There’s a reason we send Balance Keepers into the Realms in teams: the more you work together, the more successful—and safe—you’ll be. So, today’s challenge is this: Go to the bottom of the lake, find the tokens that spell out a secret word, then place the tokens in the buckets. Grab as many tokens as you want while you’re assembling the word, but once you have your word, only two tokens may be placed in the buckets at a time, and only two tokens can be carried by any one player at a time. Whichever team completes the challenge first wins.”

“That’s it?” Albert asked. It seemed easy enough. The secret word might be a little tricky, but together, his team could figure it out.

“That’s it,” Trey said, but he had a mysterious gleam in his eye.

Trey blew his silver whistle, and two platforms with diving boards appeared, one on each side of the Pit. Albert, Leroy, and Birdie took the one to their left, and Hoyt, Slink, and Mo took the right. As the diving boards began moving down deeper into the Pit, Albert thought of how badly he wanted to win. He grabbed the Tile around his neck.

“Let’s hope this Tile does something today,” he said, to no one in particular.

The platforms stopped a few feet above the water and Professor Flynn called down to them.

“Are both teams ready?”

“Ready!” all six Balance Keepers shouted at once. Leroy took a deep breath. Birdie rocked back and forth on her heels. Albert cracked his knuckles.

“BEGIN!” Trey shouted. He blew his whistle, and the Pit came to life.

All the ledges overhead began to move, up and down, left and right. And
fast.
The other team didn’t waste any time. Slink dove headfirst toward the water. Mo sat down on the edge of the floating platform and waited for Slink to come back up.

“Figure out the secret word! I’ll wait for you up top!” Hoyt shouted to his team. When he saw Team Hydra looking at him, he grimaced. “See you later, newbs!” Then he bent his knees, took a
big
leap, and landed on the next platform up like it was no more difficult than playing hopscotch.

“That was ridiculous!” Leroy screamed. “He just jumped up five feet, four inches without even breaking a sweat!”

Albert looked up at the platform. It did seem a little high from where he was standing now, but if Hoyt could do it, he figured he could, too. He thought again of how he’d jumped across Herman, Wyoming. He’d thought that was adventure, but this—
this
—was adventure. He wasn’t about to let a little leap stop him now.

“Birdie.” Albert turned to her. “Get underwater. Start looking at the tokens and see if you can figure out what the secret word is.”