Lily Wong Ch. 42

Chapter 42

Separated

"Blast it all!" roared Bluestone. In a fit of rage, he smacked his fist against the wall. But all that gained him was torn skin and a stinging pain.

Alejandro, the rest of the library helpers and Tanja hung back in silence. No one was sure what to say. 

Quickly remembering he was not alone, Bluestone took a few deep breaths to calm himself down, straightened up and fixed his necktie before turning to face the students.

"Ahem! Right then . . . Now, I'm sure you are all reluctant to listen to me. I did betray your trust, after all. But I promise, if you follow me, I will get you all out of here."

There was silence, and then -

"You had my face literally ripped off!" said Melody. "I don't even want to hear your voice anymore."

Bluestone winced. "I deserve that."

"With all due respect, Director," said Alejandro, "even knowing why you did all that evil stuff, it's still hard for me to believe in you now. But . . ."

He glanced back at the others. They all nodded back.

" . . . you know this place best, which makes you our best bet of making out of here alive."

Grateful, Bluestone said, "Thank you."

Then the parrot, Warren Bluestone, cut in and said, "Still, how are we going to find our way out? That blasted dragon mixed up the whole layout of the underground lair. It's completely unrecognizable now."

Bluestone rubbed his beard thoughtfully and then knelt down, placing his hand flat on the floor. He closed his eyes to concentrate. A few seconds later, he straightened back up and sighed.

"No good," he said. "Thanks to Lin cutting my connection to the building, I can't sense anything anymore."

"Can't you just use that fortune telling you're so proud of?" asked the parrot. "It's your specialty, isn't it?"

Bluestone shrugged. "I guess it's worth a try. Lucky I have my Magic Eight Ball with me."

As he reached into his pocket for the toy, the library helpers exchanged looks.

"Seriously?" went Hassan. "You're using a Magic Eight Ball for fortune telling?"

"I'd use tarot cards, but those are hard to figure out. Now let's see what this says." Bluestone kept his eye on the plastic black billiard ball as he spoke. After giving it a good shake, he turned the ball to see what showed up on its window. "To your right, you will find a wild card who leads the way. The key to victory is unity."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked George.

"I guess maybe we'll find some help if we go that way," Melody said, pointing down the hall.

"But who? Do you know, Director?"

Bluestone answered, "I have an inkling." He put the toy away. "Come on. Let's go."

He started walking, but just a few steps later - 

BOOM!

A section of the wall burst and through the hole walked a man.

"Mr. Lin!" Everyone cried out in joy.

"Boy, are you a sight for sore eyes!" said Tanja. "But I thought you'd be stuck keeping all those creepy skeletons busy."

Mr. Lin took a look around. "Sorry, but that's not me. That's the original. I'm copy number nine."

"Hold up!" Hassan cut in. "Copy number nine? You made more of yourself?"

Mr. Lin, the ninth clone, nodded. "Original me and Copy Number Two multiplied a bunch for an all-out war with Fafnir. That rotten piece of cotton candy's been throwing pretty much everything at us. Sorry, but not sorry for smashing all your stuff, Bluestone."

But Bluestone was not bothered and said, "Don't be. I was going to get rid of it all, anyway. But how goes the evacuation? Can you see or hear what's going on with the clone sent up to the surface?"

"Sure," said Mr. Lin. "We're all just one mind sharing lots of different bodies, so all of us knows what each and every clone's doing."

"Wow, that must feel weird," said Tanja.

"Oh, really weird," said Mr. Lin. "That's why I don't like multiplying myself, except in an emergency like now. Anyway, the evacuation's no good. Copy Number Three never made it out. He's still trying though. But enough about that. Where's Lily?"

"Fafnir got us separated," said Alejandro. 

"I was afraid you'd say that," Mr. Lin grumbled. He fell quiet for a bit. "Okay, here's the plan. While the other mes keep Fafnir distracted, I'll take you all back up to the surface and take over Copy Number Three's job to warn everyone else go get out of the school. In the meantime, some of my copies will make more copies to look for Lily and the others."

"Just how many of you are running around the place?" asked Warren.

"Seventeen. No, wait. Twenty-three now."

"I was being rhetorical."

"I've no idea what that means," said Mr. Lin.

"Of course you don't."

"Anyway, that's enough time being wasted." Clumps of rock flew up and clung to Mr. Lin, piling up together to make his Stone Man armor. "The chaos the other mes are causing should keep Fafnir off our backs and make it easier to get to the surface, but likely not for long."

And then he jumped up, crashing through the ceiling. With a flap of Warren's wing, a stone staircase grew out of the floor. One by one, everyone climbed up to the next floor.

**********

Meanwhile, pacing back and forth with her hands clutching the sides of her head, Viv muttered, "What do we do? What do we do? What do we do?"

"Calm down, Viv," Oliver said, trying to sooth the young girl. But his effort only made Viv snap.

"Don't tell me to calm down!" she angrily yelled. "Lily and Safira just fell down a hole to who-knows-where! There's no telling what could happen to them!"

"I'm sure they're fine. They've got the magic bracelet to keep them safe." Again, Oliver tried to calm his friend down, but it was no good.

"That magic bracelet's no help here! She was no match against the Schemer with it! And that same Schemer couldn't do a thing about that cloud-dragon-thing!"

"She's right, Oliver," said Eddie. "We need to find them and fast!"

"I know that," said Oliver. "But panicking's not going to help."

"Then what do you propose we do, huh?" Viv snapped.

"Well, for starters," Oliver answered, "we should check out those boom noises down that way."

He pointed down the hall to sounds of destruction echoing off the walls, followed by what sounded like a man going, "Bawk! Bawk-bawk-bawk-bawk! Bawk-kaw!"

"Something tells me, we'll find someone who'll be of huge help."

**********

Down and down, and down Lily and Safira fell. Everything around them was all pitch-black except for the blue glow from Lily's bracelet. Lily couldn't even see the bottom. But she knew that it would only be a matter of time.

So before the bottom came in sight, she called out to the bracelet, "Flying broom! Quick!"

Light flashed from the jewels of the bracelet and a broomstick popped out and fell alongside the girls. Lily reached out and grabbed the broom, pulling it close to herself in a hug and jerked to a stop mid-air. Safira, however, continued to fall.

Lily tipped the broom downward and zipped down, propelled faster by a sonic boom from the broom's brush end. She snatched hold of Safira's hand with her own right hand and pulled the broom up with her left hand, stopping them all from falling further.

Safira glanced down to the seemingly bottomless abyss and nervously swallowed. "Thanks."

"No problem," Lily answered back.

With the magic broomstick, the girls slowly and safely drifted down to the bottom until their feet touched solid ground. 

Safira looked around and wondered, "Where are we?"

"Not sure," Lily said, taking a look around herself. Everything was still dark around her. "Don't think it matters though. Not with that rotten piece of cotton candy rearranging the whole building whenever he wants."

"I've been meaning to ask, but what's cotton candy?"

Lily opened her mouth to speak, and then paused. "Never mind. I'll tell you later."

Safira gave her a funny look and then shrugged before kneeling down to sit on the floor. With a sigh, she said, "Well, one bit of good tiding is that I don't feel that dragon's eyes on us so we can probably rest for a bit. He must be distracted by something."

"That . . . doesn't sound good to me," said Lily. "It just means that he's busy messing with the others."

Safira's face fell and she cast her eyes down with a soft, "Oh."

Lily regretted her big mouth and quickly tried to reverse Safira's crestfallen mood. "I-I'm sure the others are okay. My Uncle Viceroy's really good at distracting people. He's probably doing all sorts of shenanigans that got Fafnir's full attention."

"But wouldn't that mean your uncle's the one in danger?"

"Well . . ." Lily hesitated. Honestly, she'd rather not think about it, but Safira was right. Fafnir was just a cloud of smoke, but he had control of an entire magic building and all its deadly traps. Even Uncle Viceroy can't get out of all that unscathed, can he?

Safira stood back up. "I was wrong. Now's not the time to be resting. I must hurry and stop the dragon right this instant before he can hurt Father, Brother and the others."

"Whoa! Hold your horses!" Lily put her hand on Safira's shoulder to stop her from running off. "Just how do you plan to stop Fafnir? You heard what he said earlier, right? That trick you used on him last time's not going to work again."

"Well, I have to try!" Safira shouted. "We cannot let that monster run free, especially now that he's got the power of the Bluestone family under his control. There's no telling how many people he'll hurt with it!"

"I know that!" Lily snapped back. "But there's no way I'm letting you freeze yourself in a jewel again. Not after all the trouble I went through to get you out of one."

"Do you have any better idea, then?"

"Well . . . " Lily faltered again.

How are we going to defeat Fafnir? She wondered. It was hard to imagine anything hurting a cloud of smoke of all things. Trapping him somewhere he couldn't do any harm would be more realistic. Maybe the bracelet could help with that?

And then a lightbulb flashed over her head.

"Wait, that's it!"

"What's it?" Safira asked, startled and confused by Lily's sudden outburst.

With a grin, Lily replied, "I got an idea. We got a dragon spirit to beat! Show us the way, bracelet!"

At her command, light shined from the bracelet. It trailed down her left and she took off running after it.

"Wait!" Safira cried, rushing to catch up. "What's this idea you got?"

Over her shoulder, Lily replied, "I'll tell you on the way!"

<== Chapter 41                                                                         Chapter 43 ==>

Lily Wong Ch. 41

Chapter 41

Divided

"Okay!" Uncle Viceroy rubbed his hands together. "Now that I got a full picture of what's been going up to now, next order of business is getting you kids out of here, 'cuz there's no way the school's safe now that it's got the spirit of an evil dragon under it."

Safira suddenly stepped forward. "I'm sorry, Mr. Lin, but I cannot leave. I must stop that evil dragon before it can hurt anyone."

Arms folded over his chest, Uncle Viceroy asked, "And how exactly do you plan to do that?"

"By trapping it with me in stone again," was Safira's answer.

Dismayed, Director Bluestone cried out, "No! No way, no how! I'm not going to let you sacrifice yourself again! I've lost you once, Safira. I am not losing you again!"

"But it's my fault that Fafnir was revived!" Safira argued. "I have to make this right!"

"No," Lily cut in. "I should be the one to deal with Fafnir. It's my fault that he's freed again."

"Neither of you are responsible for this," said Director Bluestone. "I am, as both the head of the Bluestone family that revived him and as the one whose plans freed him. I should be the one to take on the evil dragon."

Uncle Viceroy snapped his finger and a deafening clap of thunder was unleashed along with a flash of lightning within the gray fluff of a storm cloud hanging over his head. 

"No one's going to sacrifice themselves," he said with finality. "I won't let any of you have the chance."

"Neither will I."

Everyone looked up and around, startled by a loud, deep voice that boomed from both nowhere and everywhere.

"It's Fafnir!" cried Safira.

"The one and only," the voice boomed again. "I applaud your bravery, children of the Bluestone family. But you are fools if you think I'll fall for the same trick twice!"

The whole room suddenly shook.

"An earthquake?" cried Hassan. "Here?" 

"No," said Director Bluestone. Color drained from his face. "That's no earthquake."

Fafnir's voice continued to speak. "I got to thinking, you see. I do want a physical form again, but human bodies are such . . . fragile things. Not to mention hard to control, as the child of Bluestone proved two hundred years ago. So why not possess something sturdier and easier to control?"

Director Bluestone turned pale. "Oh no! Don't tell me . . ."

It took only a quick second for Oliver to figure out what he was thinking. "Did Fafnir just possess the school itself!?"

"Correct!" Fafnir replied with a laugh. "I have taken control of the entire school and everything in it! And I must say, as far as schools go, this one is impressive. There is so much magic power seeped into the walls and enough weapons buried beneath it to topple entire kingdoms! Yes, this will do nicely. The only gripe I have is that there's not enough treasure! But that can easily be corrected."

Light flashed from Lily's bracelet and Director Bluestone's voice suddenly rang out. "Warning! Danger detected! Danger detected! Danger Level Alpha!"

Startled, Lily cried out, "Huh? What? What does that mean?"

BOOM!

Stone and wood were blown to bits as medieval suits of armor burst into the room through the walls. Books flew out of the shelves and circled around the ceiling like a swarm of bees.

"What better way to start my new treasure horde than with the bracelet that freed me?" 

Lily instantly realized what bracelet Fafnir was talking about, but was slow to react. Both the armor and the books streaked past everyone and headed straight for her.

Uncle Viceroy was quick to act. He pulled the chain off from Director Bluestone and swung it around himself and Lily. Fire spread from Uncle Viceroy's hand to the end of the chain and cut the armor and books like knife to butter. The fire clung to the cut edges of the hostile enemies and ate them to nothingness.

"Bluestone, get everyone out!" Uncle Viceroy shouted. "This place is not safe anymore!"

More suits of armor appeared alongside skeletons armed with spears and swords. They were held back by a line of fire that Uncle Viceroy drew around the room with a swing of his chain.

Director Bluestone nodded. Now freed, he leaped to his feet and grabbed Safira's hand. "Quickly! This way, students!"

He pulled Safira along and rushed to the exit. But before they could reach it, bricks appeared and covered up the doorway.

Bluestone tackled the the brick wall a couple of times and soon gave up. "It's no good!" he cried. "Fafnir's blocked off the way out! We're trapped!"

A book jumped up near Melody and she shrieked. It went flying to her face, but was cut in half by Uncle Viceroy's whip attack. And then with a sharp jerk, he made the chains fly back wrap itself around his hand and forearm.

"Out of the way!" he shouted at Bluestone. He balled his chain-wrapped hand into a fist and charged at the brick wall. With a mighty yell, he punched the wall and blew open a way out. "GO! GO! GO!"

Everyone ran out with Bluestone taking the lead. But partway down the hall, he slowed to a limp and stopped, bent down and wheezing.

Worried, Safira asked, "Father, what's wrong?"

Bluestone didn't answer. He couldn't while gasping for air.

"Let me take a look." Warren landed on her shoulder and looked the old man up and down. "Blast! I knew this would happen."

"What? What is it?" asked Lily.

The parrot explained, "Father's life force is tied to the school itself. The energy the school makes is how he's lived for more than two hundred years. But he can't tap into that energy anymore now that Fafnir's taken over. Worse still, the dragon's draining whatever energy he has left."

"Well, make it stop!" Safira shouted.

Bluestone shook his head. He was still out of breath but spoke. "No, it's okay. Just leave me. Save yourselves!"

Lily's stomach twisted into an unpleasant knot as she watched the headmaster's health rapidly decline. Safira looked absolutely devastated.

But cutting through the gloom as if it didn't matter, Uncle Viceroy snapped, "Oh, don't be so dramatic! Hi-yah! Yah!"

He karate chopped the air around the old man and his breathing quickly became less ragged.

"There! I cut the connection," he told parrot and girl. "He ain't immortal anymore, but at least he's not gonna croak anytime soon."

Bluestone stared at Uncle Viceroy dumbfounded. "Just how much more absurd can you get? Is there anything you can't do?"

With a shrug, Uncle Viceroy said, "Probably bringing back the dead. Not that I've ever tried. Now get moving!"

He gave the old man a nudge and waited until everyone had run past him before pulling out a bolt of lightning which he flung at a gang of approaching skeletons and living suits of armor, blowing them all to pieces.

As he watched a smoking, blackened skull rolled to his feet, Viceroy grumbled to himself, "Those skeletons had better be fake like last time."

And then he turned and followed the others down the hall.

Very quickly, Oliver noticed something was wrong and called for everyone to stop. "Hold up! This isn't the hallway leading to the way out!"

Eddie looked around. "You sure about that?"

"Positive," Oliver said. "The walls were never like this before."

"You're right," said Bluestone. "This hall is nothing like the one that usually leads to the magic teleportation circle."

Lily couldn't tell the difference herself, honestly. But she took their word for it with dread and asked, "What does that mean?"

Oliver opened his mouth to speak, but it was Fafnir who answered instead.

"It means, Lady Sapphire, that you have no way out!"

"No way!" moaned Tanja.

Fafnir cackled. "Now run!" he shouted. "Run and run, and run! Try your hardest to survive and entertain me! Entertaining me is the only way to delay your doom!"

He laughed and laughed, and laughed.

Viceroy had enough and yelled back, "Oh, put a sock in it, you rotten piece of cotton candy!"

Fafnir ignored the history teacher's insult and kept on laughing. More skeletons came pouring down the hallway, their jaws going clackity-clack as if to mirror their master's mood.

Annoyed, Viceroy clicked his tongue. "Bluestone, find a way to get these kids out of here. I'll hold them off!"

"What!?" Lily cried out in dismay. "Uncle Viceroy, no! There's no way you can handle this many skeletons!"

Oliver added, "And they've got suits of armor, flying books and metal tigers too!"

Viceroy scoffed. "Pfft! Please! I'll be fine. This'll be easy compared to the time I had to beat up a whole village to stop them from tearing each other apart in a fit of mass hysteria caused by a secret government mind ray machine."

Oliver blinked. "I'm sorry, what?"

As Viceroy ran straight into the crowd of spear-wielding, sword-drawn skeletons, clumps of rock flew off the walls and stuck onto him until they covered him from head to toe. Fully armored in stone, he bulldozed through the crowd of enemies and crushed their shattered pieces beneath his feet with thunderous stomps while all the while, roaring like a monstrous beast.

"RAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"This way!" Bluestone shouted, snapping the children out of their stupor. "Follow me!"

Lily was reluctant to leave her uncle, but bitterly followed the others while being pulled by the hand by Viv. They all followed the director take a left turn and then a right turn. And then he took them up some stairs, but that way led to a dead end.

"Blast it all!" Bluestone cursed and smacked the wall with his fist. "He's completely rearranged all the halls and floors! I can't figure the way out!"

"Now what do we do?" moaned Viv.

"Don't worry, guys," said Oliver. "I'm sure we'll think of something. Everything'll be okay as long as we stick together."

"Well, now we can't have that," Fafnir's voice cut in.

And then the floor and stairs dropped, becoming one big, smooth slide.

With no platform left to stand on, everyone went sliding down back to the bottom in a scattered heap. And then a wall sprouted up from the floor and another dropped from the ceiling, splitting everyone into two groups. Lily, Eddie, Viv, Oliver and Safira were in one group. The rest were in the other.

"Safira! No!" Bluestone moved to grab Safira, but it was too late. 

Safira threw herself at the wall, hammering her dainty fist against solid rock while calling out to the director. "Father! Father!"

She tried pressing her ear against it, but didn't hear any answer back.

And then Fafnir spoke.

"It is futile, Sapphire Princess," he said, spitting the last two words out in blatant mockery. "Your father and the others have been transported to a completely different section of the school's underground. Too bad. I hoped you enjoyed your reunion, however brief it was."

Safira threw an angry, tearful glare at the ceiling where she felt the voice came from. "A curse upon you, foul demon!"

But Fafnir just laughed. And as he laughed, the stone wall morphed and stretched out, edges turned jagged like the fangs of a snouted animal. Lily pulled Safira away just in time before the jaws snapped.

"Go away!"

Blue light enveloped Lily's hand and she used it to punch the snout, which shattered on impact along with the wall itself. But through the gaping hole left behind, there was nothing but an empty hallway. True to the evil dragon's words, Bluestone and the others were no longer in the same hallway.

"Come on," Lily said to the others. "We need to find the others."

Oliver shook his head and smacked both sides of his face. "Right," he said. "Think you can use the bracelet to find them?"

"I think so," Lily said. She gave the bracelet a glance which, without needing to be told, shined a light away from the destroyed wall. "Looks like it's this way. Figures, they'd be on the opposite end."

She led the others away, following the ray of light wherever it pointed. But then it turned where there were none and flipped back and forth, up and down.

"Hey! What's going on?"

Oliver rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Fafnir must still be switching around all the halls and floors of the place. Or they could be running around any random way."

"Could be both," said Viv.

Oliver nodded grimly in agreement.

"Great!" Lily groaned. "Now what do we do?"

"The only thing you can do," said Fafnir. "Run!"

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Hands popped out of the wall and grabbed at Lily.

"Eek!"

Frightened, Lily jumped out of the hands' reach. Oliver quickly moved between her and the hands and shoved her more away from them. They and the others fled as more rows and rows of hands appeared.

"It feels like we're in a horror movie or something!" Eddie complained.

To which, his sister snapped, "Less yapping, more running!"

Suddenly, right in front of them, a giant boulder dropped down and rolled.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" screamed Lily.

She and the others turned around and ran. It looked like they had no choice but to go back straight to the horror hands waiting to grab them. But then a way opened up at the side.

"This way!" Lily screamed.

She led the others into the opening and dove into the new hallway, where they stopped to catch their breaths and collapsed in heaps on the floor, unable to stand any longer. Lily could feel her clothes clinging to her while wet from sweat. She wiped some of it from her forehead before turning to sit down. Safira laid on the floor next to her.

They were not given much time to rest. 

"Aw, tired already?" Fafnir mocked. "Want to take a break?"

Eddie answered back, "That would be great, thanks. Ow!"

Viv punched him in the arm.

"Well, too bad!" shouted Fafnir. 

CRACK!

Lily turned and looked down on the floor where a huge, jagged crack appeared. Smaller cracks branched out from it and spread outward to their feet. Pieces of the floor fell down and created a hole that quickly expanded.

"EVERYONE RUN!" she shrieked. She scrambled back up and pulled Safira to feet. They all sprinted away as fast as they could out of the hallway and turned. But the floor beneath their feet continued to crumble away with the hole ever close at their heels.

Lily and Safira weren't fast enough and their feet sank down.

Viv happened to glance back, saw the two girls stumble and then watched with horror as they dropped out of sight.

"Lily!" she cried.

She turned and reached out to grab her friend, but Lily and Safira had already fallen too far deep. Not only that, the floor quickly pieced itself back together and completely sealed the hole up as if it never existed, so Viv could not go after them even if she wanted to. 

Lily and Safira were gone.

<== Chapter 40                                                                            Chapter 42 ==>