Gabriel Stone and the Divinity of Valta (11 page)

Cedric quirked a brow. “Why are we going
there
?”

“We just have to see about something, that’s all,” Gabriel answered, reluctant to give Cedric more information.

Cedric smirked.

“What’s with the smirk, Morley? Something you wanna tell us?”

“No, butthead, I just wanna get home. You guys are the ones keeping secrets. You still haven’t told me why Brent’s hands get all crispy.”

“Don’t hold your breath, Morley. I guess we’ve all got secrets, then,” Brent said.

After a couple of hours, they arrived at a beach. Whitecaps crashed against the shore and rocks, spraying angry waves high into the air. Along the shore, a steep, narrow path zigzagged up the side of a cliff.

They edged up the path, which was no more than two feet wide. Piper looked over her shoulder toward Gabriel. “How much farther?” she asked, pulling her lip between her teeth. Gabriel knew Piper well enough to know that chewing her lip meant she was really worried. But before Gabriel could answer, Piper stumbled over a few loose rocks.

Gabriel lunged forward and caught her elbow. “Careful, Piper.”

She nodded once and blew out a breath. “Thanks.” Piper pressed her hand against the cliff face and continued walking. They climbed higher and higher, leaving the beach far below. As they neared the top, Gabriel’s foot slipped, his ankle twisting in a deep crack, and he stumbled over the edge. He yelled, barely managing to grab onto the rock face. He hung by his fingers, dangling over the sea far below.

Brent and Piper, who had walked ahead, hadn’t noticed him fall or heard his shouting. He watched them continue around a corner, out of sight. Only Cedric stood there, looking down at him, his lips curled in a mischievous grin. Gabriel dug his fingers into the stone. “What’s wrong with you? Pull me up!”

Cedric leaned over the cliff’s edge, and relief rushed through Gabriel. But instead of helping him up, Cedric reached his hand out toward the crystal which dangled over Gabriel’s shirt.

“Cedric!” Gabriel roared. His heart slammed against his ribs. He had known Cedric was trouble, but never in a million years did Gabriel think he could be that much of a jerk.

Piper came back around the corner just in time to see Cedric lean over too far. Cedric overbalanced and fell, and snatched the bottom of Gabriel’s pants, just as Piper caught Gabriel’s arm. Piper jolted forward, barely managing to stay on top of the cliff. She struggled to pull them up, yanking at Gabriel’s jacket until it began ripping along the seam.

“Brent!” she screamed over her shoulder. But he didn’t come. “Brent!” she yelled louder, panic flashing across her face.

Finally, Brent raced around the corner and gripped firm hands around one of Gabriel’s wrists. Together, they pulled until Gabriel’s upper body sprawled across the path. Cedric clung to Gabriel’s pants, still dangling off the edge.

“Come on! Pull me up,” Cedric moaned. Brent and Piper dragged Gabriel farther onto the path as Cedric scrambled to grasp the cliff’s edge. Cedric’s glossy eyes grew wide as Gabriel twisted around and pulled him onto the path.

“You were gonna let me fall!” Gabriel yelled.

“No, I wasn’t!” wailed Cedric. “I was trying to help! I couldn’t see, ‘cause of the rain.”

Gabriel knew Cedric was lying. He’d seen Cedric’s eyes widen at the sight of the crystal.

“No, honestly, I was just trying to help,” gasped Cedric.

Gabriel and Piper exchanged a look that said Cedric was a lost cause.

Gabriel got to his feet. He pointed at Cedric. “Let’s just go.
You
will lead the way.” He shoved Cedric in the right direction. As they walked, Gabriel whispered to Piper, “He was going to let me fall. I saw him. He was reaching for the crystal. He was trying to steal it!”

“You think he knows what it is?” Piper asked.

“Not sure. But why else would he be after it? Other than just to be a complete tool, of course.”

Piper laughed. “Well, yeah, but how could he know what it is?”

Gabriel shook his head. “Dunno.”

They reached the top of the mountain, out of breath and exhausted. Rain poured down in torrents, and thunder crashed all around them. Lightning lit up the sky. Piper pushed her soaked, black hair away from her eyes. “I think we’d better find shelter, guys.”

Brent pointed to a small white house in the distance. “Look there. That looks like a place to take shelter. Let’s get out of the rain and check it out, shall we?”

Piper chuckled and mimicked Brent’s weird voice. “Yes, we shallll.” She laughed again.

Brent ran toward the house, and they bounded behind him. They knocked on the door, but nobody answered. After knocking several times, Brent shrugged. “Mustn’t be anyone home. We can’t stay out in this weather. Let’s just go inside. When they come home, I’m sure they will understand.”

Piper raised her eyebrows. “Mustn’t? You hit your head or something? What’s with the lingo?”

Brent ignored her and opened the door to a small, sitting area. There was nobody inside the cold room. A little wooden table, four chairs, a small sofa, and a rocking chair beside an empty fireplace took up most of the space in the room. On the wall above the fireplace hung a portrait of a scrawny little man with a large mustache, bad skin, and dark, menacing eyes.

“If this is
his
house … ” Piper pointed to the picture, “then I don’t want to be around when he gets back.”

“Oh, I’m sure he’s fine. You can’t always judge a book by its cover now, can you?” Brent grinned.

Cedric rubbed his arms. “It’s freezing in here.”

“At least it’s dry,” Gabriel said. “We’ll stay until it clears up outside.” They took seats around the room, watching the storm.

“So, Gabriel, how much farther ‘til we get where we’re going?” Brent asked. “Where
are
we going today, anyway?”

“Supposed to be Parma, according to the map—”

“Oh right, the map,” Brent interrupted. “Can I have a look-see?”

“A ‘look-see’?” Gabriel arched a brow and threw Brent the map.

Piper rolled her pointer finger in small circles by her temple.

Gabriel nodded, then scrunched his shoulders to his ears.

Brent’s eyes widened as he eyed the map. “The Tandem Wood? You are going to the Tandem Wood?” The room went quiet and everyone stared at Brent. “I mean
we
are going, I mean … never mind.”

Piper touched Brent’s shoulder. “You feeling okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine. Just waterlogged, I guess.” Brent chuckled and sat down.

The sinking feeling in Gabriel’s gut told him something wasn’t quite right. That
Brent
wasn’t quite right.

“Where is your rock necklace, Gabriel?” Brent asked, staring at him.

Gabriel’s eyebrows snapped together. “My rock necklace? Do you mean my crystal? Why?”

“Oh, I was just wondering. I’d like to see it, that’s all. I’ve never had a chance to hold it myself, you know?”

Piper looked at Gabriel, her mouth forming a perfectly shaped O. “What’s gotten into you, Brent?”

“Hey, it’s okay, Piper,” interrupted Gabriel. He trudged over to Brent and plopped down beside him. “We’ve all had a rough day, right?” He faced Brent and extended his hand. “Our handshake, bro?”

“Yes, yes, handshake it is.” Brent grabbed Gabriel’s hand and gave it a firm shake.

Gabriel glowered at Brent. “No, Brent. I mean
our
handshake.”

Brent’s eyes narrowed, as if trying to comprehend what Gabriel meant.

Gabriel jumped from the chair, backed away from Brent, and stood in front of Piper. Cedric leaned against the wall, gnawing on a thumbnail. “Don’t come near us,” Gabriel screamed. “Whoever you are … I know you
aren’t
Brent.”

The front door swung open behind them, and they all screamed. It was Brent—another Brent—and this one’s hands flamed red.

“Dude. Don’t you dare touch them. Get away from them
now
.”

The Brent imposter shot off the sofa and, to their amazement, shook violently. His eyes bugged out from his head and he moaned like a wounded animal. Before their eyes, he transformed into a skinny little man with a huge handlebar mustache and pock-marked skin.

Piper screamed, a look of horror plastered across her face. “The man in the picture!”

Again, the man trembled and moaned until he changed shape—this time, into the form of an enormous eagle. The shape-shifter snatched the map off the floor, flew toward Gabriel, and glided out the front door. Brent shot a fireball at it, which missed and exploded against the wall. He chased the eagle outside, hurling more. Gabriel and Piper followed. One fireball grazed the eagle, and the bird shrieked and crashed into a tree. It plummeted like a stone, its feathers blazing. Just before the bird shape-shifter hit the ground, it pulled itself together and bolted into the sky, a fireball barely missing its tail feathers.

“Your aim sucks, Hercules,” Piper teased.

“Yeah, whatever.”

“The map!” Gabriel shouted, but it was pointless. The eagle was gone, and the map with it.

“What
was
that?” Piper asked.

“I think we’ve just seen a shape-shifter,” Gabriel said. “Empress Malina came to me in a dream and said things aren’t always as they seem.”

“But how?” Piper asked.

Brent picked up a rock and whipped it through the air. “He tied me up—that stupid thing. Then he stared at me, and changed into me. I mean, there I was, standing right in front of me! It was me, but not me.” Brent balled his hands into fists. “He laughed when he saw how shocked I was. Then he called you guys and took off, but I was trapped. I so wanna blow him up!”

“So that’s why you disappeared back by the cliffs.” Piper nodded. “Shoulda known. He was talking all grand and stuff. Nothing like you,
dude
,” she teased.

“We can’t stay here. You know he’ll be back,” Gabriel said.

“But, Gabe, he knows where we’re going now that he has the map,” Piper cried.

“Yeah, and what’s worse is we
don’t
know where we’re going. How are we gonna find our way now?” Brent said.

It took a second, but then Gabriel remembered the compass his father had given him and tugged it out of his pocket. “Well, let’s think about it. We remember from the map that Malgor’s castle is north, right?”

“Uh huh,” Piper mumbled.

“Wait,” Brent said. “If that ocean we just passed is the same as Willow Creek’s Bayside Beach, then we should head
that
way then, right?” Brent pointed toward the left. “That’s north, for sure. I know that beach and recognize the mountains—minus the weird girly glitter, of course.”

Gabriel looked at the compass, then gazed around at the mountaintop. The flat ground spread out for what seemed like miles. Straight ahead, the edge of the mountain dropped off in a soaring cliff—the same cliff Gabriel had almost fallen over and become a pancake. Gabriel chewed the side of his lip, thinking. “But everything’s totally backward here compared to Willow Creek.” He shrugged. “I know the landscape looks the same as Willow Creek, and if we were still there, we’d go left for north. But here in Valta, we’d actually be heading south if we go left.”

“Genius,” Piper said.

Brent laughed. “Now, if he can just pull out that magical brain in math class, he’ll be golden.”

Gabriel rolled his eyes, but laughed along with the others. “Anyway, joker,” Gabriel said. “The compass doesn’t lie, right? Instead of trying to figure out the directions by relying on the landscape, and since that freak stole our map, let’s stick to the heading that shows north on the compass.” Gabriel pointed to their right. “That way.” He let out an exaggerated sigh. “But first, let’s go get trouble.” Gabriel ticked his head toward the house. “Cedric’s waiting.”

Piper snorted. “More like
hiding.”

Gabriel tucked his compass back into his pocket as they headed back inside. Cedric sat, staring off into space, dazed. Gabriel clapped his hands in front of Cedric’s face. “Snap out of it, Morley. Let’s go.”

They headed out, and Gabriel prayed his theory about the compass was right. Who knew if the laws of physics even worked in a place like Valta?

Maybe this is really all just a bad dream.
He could only wish that were true, and that he’d wake up to see the stupid Spiderman night-light.

A cold wind blew against them as they struggled across the rocky cliffs. If it were only his life at stake, he would’ve given up. But his friends looked up to him, and Zigzag waited for him. It was his fault they’d ended up here in the first place, and Empress Malina believed in him. Gabriel didn’t have the right to feel sorry for himself. Creatures were dying in Valta without the Divinities, and he had to find them—no matter what.

He inhaled a deep breath, and released it. He missed home. As he walked, he imagined his mother’s smiling face encouraging him to keep moving.

Chapter Fourteen

They kept moving until the rain stopped and the skies cleared a little. It had rained for so long that the ground had turned into deep mud. Their feet made slurpy sounds as they slugged and pulled their legs through the sludge.

Cedric moaned. “I feel like some mud monster puked all over me.”

“I’ve never felt so gross in my entire life,” Piper agreed.

They were so covered in mud, they decided to clean up in a river they spotted up ahead. After dropping their backpacks, they all jumped in.

“We just have to hurry and get going,” Gabriel said.

A sharp snap, like a tree branch breaking, caught Gabriel’s attention. “Shh, wait,” he whispered, holding a finger to his lips. “I hear something moving in the trees.”

“Where?” Brent’s gaze followed Gabriel’s, to a man, darting behind a tree. “I totally see the little freak. It’s the man from the house before. He’s following us!”

Gabriel stared in the man’s direction. It took him a second to notice he was seeing him straight through the tree he hid behind.
I can see through the tree? That’s impossible.

“It
is
that creep. He still has our map. Come on, Brent, let’s go get it. You two stay here, so he doesn’t know we’re onto him.”

Gabriel and Brent crept from the river, leaving Piper and Cedric behind. Gabriel focused on the tree, his vision piercing right through its trunk to the other side. The man peered around the trees, watching Piper and Cedric in the river, the map grasped in his hand. Gabriel motioned for Brent to follow.