Part 42 (2/2)

”I don't know. I guess hearing the water reminded me.”

”Reminded you of what?”

She turned away. ”Reminded me that I am terrified. You think she picked the bridge because of the obelisks or to use it as a pa.s.sageway between realms. Do you know the real reason she picked it?”

Ping shook his head.

”She picked it because she knows I'm terrified. It's the one place where she knows I can't go.” She looked down. ”I'm not sure I can go out there on that bridge.”

”I believe you can do it if you need to. I'll stay with you the whole time.”

”Until something startles you and you disappear in a puff of dust.”

”I wish I could tell you there is nothing to be afraid of, but that's not the case.” He put a hand on her shoulder, turned her to face him. ”What I can tell you is this. You have the ability to fix this. You are the only one who can. You can shape reality. Believe in yourself as much as I do, as much as your mother and Sam do, and you'll figure out how to get through this.” He paused for a second. ”And I promise you, when and if you need me, I'll be there for you.”

”I'm going to hold you to that.”

The height of each step varied as the staircase wound down the side of the bluff, making it difficult to rush, especially in the dark. After stumbling several times, they slowed so they would not pitch over the railing and end up splayed across the railroad tracks. They came to another small landing that marked a sharp turn in the stairs, pausing for a few seconds. Trees and brush grew closer the lower they went. So did the rocky side of the bluff. Mara eyed an outcropping.

Ping caught up to her. ”Something wrong?” he said.

”No, just paranoid.” She looked down the final flight of steps. It ended at a stairwell leading into a tunnel that pa.s.sed under the railroad tracks allowing pedestrians access to the elevator from Seventh Street. She looked up into the sky, through the branches and foliage. Blue bands of light strafed the clouds, but there was no sign of the dragon. A thunderclap shook the air, bounced off the bluff wall, jolting Mara into moving.

She stepped off the small landing to the next riser onto something soft that gave way under her weight. Sliding forward, she grabbed the railing. She put her other foot forward, thinking the next step would be clear. It too settled onto something mushy.

”Mara, look behind you, up the stairs,” Ping said. ”Something is running down the steps.”

Mara turned. Something thick and mudlike glistened and flowed down the stairs behind them. It swamped the small landing and poured over the edge toward them, overwhelming the steps in a river of sludge. Something wet slid against her ankle. She looked down to her feet.

”Come on, we'll have to outrun it. We don't have far to go.”

She took five exaggerated steps, straining against the suction of the muck on her feet. As she approached the suspicious outcropping on the face of the bluff, she paused to check on Ping. He was right behind her. The mud flow had deepened and now reached halfway up her calves. She had to hold on to the railing to get enough leverage to move. Reaching back to help Ping, she lost her balance. She maintained her grip on the railing but the insistent push of muck slid her body out from under her, twisting her around to face downward toward the wall of the bluff.

Two yellow eyes floated in the dark several feet below her. Someone clung to the face of the bluff off to the side of the stairs.

Mara stiffened, resisted as sludge rose to her knees. The ma.s.s acc.u.mulated behind her legs, exerted more pressure, trying to buckle her legs and sweep her down the bluff. Ping hugged the railing. The flow had pulled his feet from under him; he lay on top of the mud as it advanced below his backside. If he lost his grip, he would sink.

A loud crack reverberated off the bluff face.

A football-size rock fell out of the night, landing a foot away in the mud with a wet smack, spattering Mara's face and torso. A smaller rock and tree limb followed, landing even closer. The bluff rumbled from above. Rocks clattered and branches snapped. The stairs shook; the mud vibrated, rippled. Wet slapping sounds surrounded them.

Mara tightened her grip and tried to find the yellow eyes again.

Debris, rocks and brush cascaded out of nowhere, pummeled them. Another crack, this one closer, shook the air. The outcropping of rock snapped off the face of the bluff. Now a boulder, it slowly broke away, arched into the air above Mara's head, blocking out the avalanche of debris raining from higher above. As a black shadow slid over her, Mara raised her arm and said, ”Stop.”

The barrage ceased.

She turned to check on Ping. He nodded to her.

She swung back around, looking for the eyes. They were still there. Staring.

A flame spit out from below them, lit a large branch-a makes.h.i.+ft torch-and illuminated a wet, scaly face.

Suter.

”You are too late, Ms. Lantern. There's nothing you can do here,” he said.

She glanced upward. The torchlight bounced off a frozen wave of rock and branches, led by the boulder sheared from the bluff. The giant rock hung in the air, suspended ten feet above her. The barrage of sticks and stones dangled in the air motionless, waiting for gravity to rea.s.sert itself.

”You know, Special Agent Suter? Considering all that you have done these past few weeks, threatening my family and friends, stealing the Chronicle and G.o.d-knows-what-else, there is one thing I can do here, and I'm determined to do it,” she said.

”What's that?”

”I want you to spend just one moment in my shoes. You know, see how it feels.”

A flash of light enveloped Mara and Suter.

Both disappeared and immediately reappeared in each other's place.

Mara held the burning branch, lifted a foot and wiggled it at him. He tried to move but was stuck in the mud. He wailed into the air, turned toward Ping and spewed fire at him.

Ping dissolved into a cloud of dust.

Mara raised her hand to the night.

”Good-bye, Suter.”

The avalanche resumed.

Mara looked away as the boulder smashed down and the debris blew over the staircase sending a cloud of dirt into the night sky. When the ground stopped shaking and the dust cleared, she pointed her torch toward the huge rock sitting on the stairway. A four-fingered claw, covered with scales, extended from beneath it, unmoving.

A moment later, Ping rea.s.sembled himself next to her.

”Hopefully that will be the last of our delays,” he said, looking down at Suter. He turned to look at Mara in the flickering glow of the torch. ”Are you okay with this?”

”He started it,” she said.

A baritone screech from the sky drew their attention. The silhouette of the dragon circled above in the riot of blue strobes radiating from the bridge.

”Would the dragon still be here if Suter had conjured him? I had hoped it would be gone once Suter was gone,” Mara said.

”I don't think the dragon was conjured by Suter. I think it crossed over from Diana's realm,” he said.

”That means it's real,” Mara said.

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