The corridor was pitch black. Luckily, it was also straight, so the humans could feel their way along the wall. Mush, feeling sorry for Medda, found her at the rear of the line. "I think I scared him off," she said miserably.

"You're really—" Mush began in surprise.

"I don't know!" she wailed softly. "I'm old enough, shouldn't I?"

"Um, you're askin' the wrong person," Mush said uncomfortably. "I ain't like Race and Blink."

"I know. Actually, I don't want to talk about that right now. So, do you think we're ever going to get home?"
"Sure," Mush replied. "At least, I hope so."

"Don't talk!" came Jerl's quiet, sharp command.

Medda sighed and Mush patted her shoulder awkwardly. "Don't feel bad," Mush whispered. "You don't know for sure. And you can talk to me if you ever want to."

"Thanks."

Bellavia was actually more like a cat than she realized. She had night vision, for one thing, and could see the rock walls clearly. She felt sorry for the humans, who had to keep one hand on the rough wall. She was also mad at Jerl. He was treating the humans as if they were dirt. Sometimes her mate just didn't understand these sorts of things. So, because of these things, Bellavia scouted ahead, looking for something that could be used as a torch.

That was when her sharp eyes caught a small glimmer of light. "Hey, everybody!" she hissed excitedly. "There's a light up ahead!"

"Good," Gardrania sighed. Soon they could make out shadows, then they could see once again. They stood in front of a metal door.

"Great," Snipes said bitterly. "We came all that way and now we can't get in any way. What a waste of time. Life sucks."

Blink was about to agree when he looked down. "Think again, Snipeshooter." He reached down and turned a handle. The door swung open, leading into an empty room. Blink walked in cautiously. He wiped his forehead and pushed his hair back. "God, it's hot!" He walked to the center of the room, where there was a hole. "Heat's comin' from over here…. It's just a big furnace room! Hey, you guys, c'mere!"

Snipes bounced over to his side. "We don't got nothin' like this at home. How'dja know what it was?"

"I looked at the furnace at the lodgin' house," Blink replied.

"That place gots a furnace?" Snipes asked incredulously.

"Yeah, but it don't work."
"No wonder it's so cold there in the winter!"

Blink rolled his eyes just as everybody else came over. "We have to be careful from now on," Bellavia informed them. "These are everybody's private quarters. There will be a lot of people sleeping, so please, try not to make a sound. This might be a big joke to all of you, but our fate, as well as yours, will be determined here. I'll bet you don't know what's going on here."

The newsies shook their heads.

Bellavia nodded. "Alright. Listen up. I'm only going to say this once." She took a deep breath. "About fifteen years ago, a man came to these mountains. He was strange looking, and he brought with him many things we did not understand. Later, we learned his name. Daniel Kelly."

Blink and Mush glanced at each other. "Kelly?" Blink asked, his mouth dry. "Daniel Kelly? What's he look like?"

Bellavia gave him a wondering look. "Brown eyes, brownish blonde hair; humans would call him handsome. But, I digress. Let me finish. At first he captured dragons, mostly our kind, and a couple of feral dragons. Once or twice an Emerald showed up. But they all escaped. Then, a couple years ago, he started looking for a girl that "heard dragons." He hasn't gotten her yet. This man is from the future. Almost two thousand years from now. He wants to take over the world, and he'll stop at nothing. By the time you get home, he already will have. I assure you, your lives will be completely different. Chances are, you'll end up building a palace for one of his descendents. Now do you see why you shouldn't talk?" The humans nodded.

Blink looked out a window in the door. "Coast is clear. Should we go?"

"Wait a minute," Mush said. "You said this guy's from the future. But if that's true, then he's gotta have ancestors, right? So, what if this guy meets a girl and they get married and have kids, and then his descendents meet his ancestors and they have kids, then he'll never have been born. But then his descendents couldn't'ave met his ancestors and he couldn't'ave taken over the world, which means we wouldn't be here, but we are here and all of this has actually already happened, but since we're here it couldn't have happened."

"What?" Snipes asked in confusion.

"I believe it's called a paradox," Mush replied, grinning.

Blink shook his head in amusement. "Ya lost me. But I got a feelin' we've been lucky so far. Luck don't hold out long. Let's get outta here before the wall start movin' in."

Mush was about to say something when, all of a sudden, he froze. "Where's Crutchy?"

--

Actually, Crutchy was on the other side of the mountain, waiting impatiently for Kris to punch in the entrance code. That was when he got his second big surprise for the day.

"Kris! I thought I'd never find you!" a voice gasped from behind him.

Kris turned around. "Blazer, you better not have been seen coming up here."

Crutchy looked at this Blazer thing. "Uh, that—that animal is talkin'. How's it talkin'? Why's it talkin'? Am I losin' it or somethin'?"

Blazer walked up to Kris. "Of course I wasn't seen. This is from Jade."

Kris picked up the small roll of paper that Blazer had dropped at his feet.

When are you coming home? it read. Do you need any help?

Kris turned the message over. No, he wrote. And I'll be home soon. "Here," he said, giving it to Blazer. Bring this back to her. Don't lose it."

"Thank you for ignoring me, Kris. It always makes me feel good about myself," Crutchy suddenly said sarcastically.

Blazer looked at him as if noticing him for the first time. "Who are you?"

Kris motioned for Crutchy to come over by the door. "Be quiet, Blaze. Go away."

"Okay."

Crutchy watched Blazer run away. "Who was that?"

"A friend of mine's son," Kris replied as the door opened.

"What, is your friend some kinda freak or somethin'?"

"Not a human!" Kris said in exasperation.

"Oh."

--

Gardrania led the party of five out into the hall, past a great multitude of rooms. After a while, it started to get boring. Room, after room, after room, Snipes thought. I wonder what it would be like to have my own room? That's somethin' that's never gonna happen.

Suddenly, Gardrania held up her hand, signaling them to stop. They could see yet another door, but, strangely enough, this one was open. "It's the light at the end of the tunnel," Blink snickered. "I must be dead!"

Mush elbowed him, hard. "Shutup, Blink."

Blink's shocked look turned to offense. "Sorry. I guess I didn't realize that would offend you."

Behind them, Snipes whispered to Race in mock sadness, "The end of a deep an' lastin' friendship."

"Yeah," Race agreed. "But maybe Blink'll be shocked inta silence."

"I wouldn't count on it."

Gardrania turned around and glared at the four of them. "Can't you four take anything seriously! This isn't just some joke! You all think you can just stroll right in here, do whatever you want, and stroll right out again without anything happening! Crutchy's somewhere because of all of you!"

The newsies looked at each other uncomfortably. No one had actually ever said that to their faces before.

"Um, sorry?" Snipes attempted timidly.

Gardrania whirled around and stormed on. The rest of them hurried to catch up.

Medda wasn't sure whether to comfort them or agree with her. In a lot of ways, Gardrania was right. Her friends, well, most of them, still acted like they were about ten years old. Mush was the most mature; at seventeen, he should be. But Blink, his elder by four months, could have easily passed for a twelve year old. Crutchy and Race acted more like adults, but they had their moments. And for the most part, Snipes acted like a precocious six year old. Medda decided she'd stay neutral. After all, she didn't want to start a fight.

Just then, a blonde haired boy stepped through the open door. His head was turned away from them, which gave the New Yorkers just enough time to realize they were completely weaponless, unless Gardrania had something they didn't know about. The boy turned around and stopped in his tracks. He looked nervously from face to face, his gaze finally resting on Gardrania. He pointed. "I know who you are."

Blink and Race exchanged glances with raised eyebrows. "This is interesting," Blink muttered.

Race nodded in agreement. "Very."

The boy came up to Gardrania. "I tried to get your dragon out."

"She's here?" Gardrania interrupted.

Qik looked a little surprised. "Of course! But," he paused, "she's under lock and key. Dad doesn't want her getting out."

Blink leaned over to Race. "Did I miss something? What's he talkin' about?"

Race shrugged and mouthed, How should I know?

Qik looked around for anyone that might be listening to the conversation. Satisfied that there was no one, he said, "Did you actually think you could get in here? Just through that door is the watch tower, and after that….well, after that you'd be in the dungeon."

Gardrania sighed and knelt down in front of Qik. "Qik, we need your help. Will you help us?"

Qik smiled. "Sure, Drania."

"Just a second," Blink said as loud as he dared. "What is goin' on? Someone ain't tellin' me somethin'. I hate that. You two're actin' like you know each other!"

Gardrania looked surprised. "We do."

Blink's mouth dropped open and even Race looked a little surprised. Since Blink's mouth was incapable of forming words at the moment, it was left up to Race to stutter, "How?"

"He's my brother," she replied, grinning. She introduced everyone and then said, "How's Mom?"

Qik looked down as he told her sadly, "She—got sick, and, Dad wouldn't send for a doctor, and, well—"

"She died, didn't she?" Gardrania asked quietly. Qik nodded. "Does he want me to take her place?"

"There are plenty of women here to keep him satisfied. Besides, his new thing is saying you're a witch."

Gardrania snorted. "He would. So, Qik, how do you propose we get in?"

"You're going to by my friends from town that want to have a look around to see if they want to join the crusade against the 'dragon girl'."

"He'll recognize me."

"Not if he doesn't see you."

"How true."

Snipes looked blankly at Blink. "Are you followin' this?"

"Uh, no."

Qik suddenly began staring at Blink. "Are you sure they can be trusted?"

"Yes," Gardrania replied simply. "They're my friends. So you're going to have to trust them."

"Okay," Qik sighed. "I guess they can't be all bad."