Jack Staples and the Ring of Time (19 page)

As he arrived at the edge of the woods outside his house, he stopped. There, in the front yard, was his mother lying flat on her back. Jack could see himself, the Jack from the past, lying unconscious on top of her. Sitting beside her body was Alexia, and standing over her was Mrs. Dumphry.

Jack circled around, being careful not to be seen. As four Oriax burst from the woods, Alexia picked up the Jack from the past, placed him on her back, and ran toward the house.

Off to Jack’s left, Wild sprinted past. Wild was so intent on the rushing Oriax that he didn’t see Jack. A moment later Arthur stumbled into the scene. He had a cloth wrapped around his head, pulled low over his eyes.

Jack crumbled to his knees as all hope left him. Through teary eyes he saw Wild loose his arrows at the Oriax and Alexia dive to the ground. Mrs. Dumphry sent streams of fire into two of the beasts, burning them to a crisp. And somewhere far in the distance, Jack heard the ring of Time. A moment before he felt himself flying backward through the air, Jack had one, final thought.
I must warn myself not to come back here!

Chapter 25

AN ENDING TO REMEMBER

Jack opened his eyes to the ringing of bells. He was lying on the forest floor, feeling hollow inside. He tried to remember what he had just been doing, but nothing came. As he sat up, he saw himself sprinting through the woods with the Shadowfog pursuing close behind. The Jack from the past wasn’t watching where he was running, but had turned to look behind him. Jack barely had time to think before the fleeing Jack tripped over him and landed flat on his face.

A moment later the Shadowfog flowed over both Jacks like a mighty ocean. Jack’s mind cleared as he crawled arm over arm, making his way to himself. The black sword was still in his hands and was the only thing keeping the Shadowfog from touching either of the two Jacks.

As he crawled, Jack wept uncontrollably, unable to find a coherent thought. Yet he must warn himself. He knew he had to say something! Reaching out, he grabbed the other Jack’s shoulder. The Jack from the past cried out in fear as he turned to look at him.

“You have to listen to them, do you hear me?” Jack screamed. “You have to listen! It’s you who kills them! You kill them all, don’t you understand? Mother, the town, Agartha! It’s all your fault!” Even as he said the words, he knew they were wrong. He knew the other Jack wouldn’t understand them. But he couldn’t think straight.

He rolled on top of himself. The only thought in his head was that if he killed the Jack from the past, maybe he could stop it all. The other Jack wrestled with him, trying to keep his hands from choking him as the Shadowfog crashed over them, whipping earth and branches into the air. As Jack choked himself, the other Jack’s eyes began to roll back. And then he heard it, the ring of Time.

“No!” he screamed through blinding tears.

And once again Jack was flying backward through the air.

When Jack returned to Agartha, it was a city in ruins. Collapsed bridges, pulverized chambers, and diluted streams were all that was left of the once-grand city. While he walked through the destruction, he passed many of the Awakened who’d lived through the battle, but he barely saw them. Jack felt more lost than ever before.

When Arthur spotted his best friend stumbling aimlessly, he ran over and wrapped Jack in a fierce hug. But Jack didn’t hug him back; he couldn’t. Arthur’s head was bandaged, his arm wrapped in a sling. How could he hug his friend? It had been Jack who led the Assassin to Agartha and to Ballylesson. For all Jack knew, Arthur’s parents might have died in the attack.

“Everyone thought you were dead!” Arthur cried as he hugged his friend yet again. “Andreal said you’d left the Awakened and joined the Assassin. But I told him he was wrong! Giant or not, no one is going to accuse my best friend of such a thing! I knew you were alive; I knew you wouldn’t leave us!”

Jack didn’t know what to say. He had left them. He had failed his friends.

“Where have you been? We’ve been searching for you for hours now.” Arthur was both excited and concerned. “Are you hurt?”

“No,” Jack said numbly.

“Well, you don’t look right.” Arthur grabbed Jack’s arm. “Come with me. I need to take you to the Council. Everyone’s been looking for you! And if you’re hurt, they’ll know what to do.”

Jack let Arthur lead him through the rubble.

“I don’t know about you,” Arthur continued, “but I missed the entire battle.” He threw his arms in the air. “After you didn’t jump—what were you thinking by the way? The jump wasn’t that far. Anyway, just after we landed, Alexia ran off acting all crazy. She killed a Shadule, Jack! Can you believe it?” His voice was filled with wonder. “The only other person to ever kill a Shadule was Mrs. Dumphry—at least that’s what I’ve heard.”

Arthur was becoming more animated by the second. “I don’t know how she did it—Alexia, I mean, although I guess I don’t know how Mrs. Dumphry did it either—but, when they found Alexia, she was lying on top of the Shadule, and it was as flat as a pancake. She won’t tell me what happened. Maybe she doesn’t remember. I don’t know, but I spent the entire battle locked in one of the lower chambers. Wild just threw me in and left me there!”

Jack was barely listening. He no longer had the energy to care about any of it. Nothing mattered anymore. Arthur led him toward the Council Chamber, talking continuously, telling Jack of the little he’d seen or heard of the battle. After more than an hour of walking, they ran into Alexia who was walking stiffly with Wild at her side. Wild had a black eye and a few cuts on his face, but otherwise seemed okay. As they walked, he was trying to help Alexia, but she kept pushing him away irritably.

When she saw Jack, Alexia smiled and wrapped him in a hug. “I knew you were all right,” she whispered. But Jack just stared at the ground, unable to meet her eyes. Without a word, she and Wild turned and joined Jack and Arthur on their walk to the Council Chamber.

“They found Mrs. Dumphry on a bridge far below,” Arthur continued. “She must have fallen or something. But she’s alive, although she’s in a terrible mood and has been snapping at everyone.”

At least I didn’t kill her too
.
There’s one thing that’s not my fault
, Jack thought glumly.

When he refused to respond, Arthur finally quieted. As they walked, Jack began noticing the citizens of Agartha. Everyone he saw had an injury of some kind. Heads, ribs, arms, and legs were bandaged. And everyone they passed stopped to stare. There were some who stared at Jack and his friends with wonder, yet most also had fear in their eyes.

As they passed a group of men and women standing on a small bridge, Alexia snarled, “What are you looking at? Get out of here!” All of the adults quickly turned and ran. Alexia gave Jack an embarrassed look. “It’s only gotten worse since the battle. They’re afraid of us, Jack. Even the Council seems afraid.”

“They should be,” Jack said bitterly. “The city was destroyed because of me. I am the one who will destroy them. They should run as far from me as possible.”

Everyone went silent at this. Although they should have been able to arrive at the Council Chamber rather quickly, they kept finding bridges that had been destroyed. Each time they came to one of these, they had to search for another way.

Throughout the city, many of the bridges and chambers were gone, yet somehow, impossibly, the city hadn’t collapsed. In some places, half a bridge had gone missing, though the other half stayed standing. A chamber supporting six bridges was completely destroyed, yet the bridges stood strong. It didn’t make sense, but Jack was far too exhausted to spend a moment thinking about it.

An hour and seven minutes later, Jack, Arthur, Alexia, and Wild walked across the half-crumbled bridge to the Council Chamber. As they arrived, Jack noticed that all the tapestries and the massive structure of interlocking silvery rings had been completely destroyed. Only five of the Council members were present.

Mrs. Dumphry was the first to see the children. When her eyes fell on Jack, she clasped her hands together and sighed. “The Author be praised,” she said. At the same moment, Elion murmured, “Jack Staples lives.”

There was no wall or door to speak of, so Jack and the others simply walked over the ruined entry and into the chamber. Aias was there, though his left arm now ended at his elbow. The fire-haired giant, Andreal, was also there and had a large bandage wrapping his ribs. Miel knelt by his side, her hands moving in a strange pattern over a deep gash in the giant’s leg, and as she moved, the gash began to mend itself.

When the children reached the center of the chamber, Elion walked to Jack and wrapped her arms around him. Her eyes glowed, shifting colors constantly as she spoke. “It is good to see you, Jack. I prayed the Author would keep you safe, but I must admit, I was beginning to fear the worst.”

Jack didn’t hug her back, and he didn’t cry. He just stepped back and spoke numbly, “He was right.” Jack glanced at the giant. “You should have let him kill me. All of this was my fault.”

Elion smiled sadly as she looked at Jack. “Sit down and tell us what happened.”

Jack told them everything. He didn’t care anymore. He didn’t hold anything back. He told them about his mother, the town, the Shadule, and the Assassin—all of it. When he finished the horrific story, for a moment, no one said a word. They all just watched him with wide eyes.

Jack could feel the accusations in their stares. He knew what they were thinking:
It’s you; you are the child who will destroy us!
Too exhausted and numb to think straight, he waited. He was sure any minute now one of them would pick him up and throw him off the edge of the ruined chamber.

When Elion spoke, she sounded thoughtful. “There is a reason the Assassin is also known as the Destroyer of Hope. There is a reason we call him the Father of Lies. You need to think, Jack. I know you are tired, but you must hear me. The Assassin has arranged things to make you believe this was your fault. He is the Deceiver, and the moment you choose to believe him, you are lost.”

Jack couldn’t meet her piercing eyes.

“You did not lead him to Ballylesson. He must have found it before you took him there, otherwise your journey never would have begun. The Father of Lies could only arrange things to happen the way they did because he had already discovered it. He may have found it after the circus fire or some other way. We may never know how, but hear me, none of this was your fault.”

After a moment, Jack looked at her. Elion’s eyes were fifty colors at the same time.

“Every choice you made was to try to save those you loved, and that is a noble thing. Your only mistake was to give yourself to your anger. Although it is right to fight evil, we must never fight evil with evil. Even in the fiercest of battles, your heart must stay pure, and your love must not waver. You will learn that love has a far sharper blade than rage.” Her eyes shifted to Alexia. “This is a lesson you both must learn.”

Alexia wiped a tear from her eye, though she nodded at Elion’s words.

“The Deceiver has spun his webs with the hope of causing us to fight among ourselves. It is his desire that some might be ignorant enough to blame you, Jack.” As she said this, she met Andreal’s eyes. “Yet evil only has the power that we allow it, and we will not give the Assassin this power over us.”

Aias stood slowly, and when he spoke, he sounded lost. “So what now? Where do we go, and how do we fight? It’s not just the city we’ve lost, but many of the Awakened.”

Elion was measured in her response. “This war began long before Time was born, but on the day of her birth, the war was brought into this world, and here it has stayed.” She turned to look at Aias and the rest of the Council. “What now, you ask? We must end it. We don’t have time to rebuild, and there is no stopping what’s coming. We must take the journey and meet with Time. We need her wisdom now more than ever.” Elion smiled as she turned to Jack and Alexia. “I think she will be very excited to meet you both.”

Elion turned back to Aias. “Have courage, Aias! You have been on this earth far too long to let the loss of a city make you lose hope. And though we mourn those who have fallen, we also have reason to celebrate. Not only did Jack and Alexia both kill a Shadule, but Jack has done the unimaginable. He has wounded the Assassin himself! We are at war, and it is inevitable that cities will fall and many will die. And before this war is over, the darkness will grow far stronger, but these children have accomplished more for the Awakened in this one battle than any have accomplished in thousands of years. We’re not the only ones who are hurting. Even as we sit here, the Assassin hides in the shadows like a wounded dog. And though we have lost much, thanks to Jack and Alexia, so has he.”

Elion’s eyes gathered even more light as she placed a comforting hand on Jack’s shoulder. “We must find an Oasis for the Awakened to heal and continue their training, and we must gather the Lambs who are newly awakening. This battle was nothing compared to the storm that’s coming. And we must take the Children of Prophecy to the Forbidden Garden where they will meet with Time.”

Every eye turned to Jack and Alexia. Jack was so tired he could barely stand. All he wanted was to lie down and sleep for a year. Yet he had the sinking feeling that his journey was far from over.