*trumpet fanfare* Chapter nine! Hope you enjoy.
"It's pitch black in here," Eleanor grumbled.
"Yeah," Theodore agreed. "I wish we could see just a little."
"I wonder what's happening," Brittany whispered.
"Take another left," Simon called, peering down at his phone. It wasn't enough to light the gloom, though.
Just then, Theodore felt the gem on his pin growing warmer and warmer. He looked down to see it glowing.
"Um…guys?" he squeaked, and everyone instantly came to a halt.
"What's the matter?" Eleanor cried, frightened.
Then there was another enormous flash of light, and all the silvery shapes came out of Theodore's gem. They surrounded him and cocooned him, and he felt like he was being warmed in front of a fire, inside and out. He wiggled his nose with happiness.
Then the shapes flowed inside him, increasing the comfortable feeling of warmth. Just like that, all the light was gone, and it was pitch black again.
"Nobody move," Simon said quietly.
"Why?" Alvin asked, impatient.
"Theodore just got his powers," Simon whispered, "which means that he is in a very grave situation right now."
They all got pale.
"I forgot about that part," Theodore whispered. "But what are my powers?"
"Maybe you could try giving us some LIGHT," Brittany grumbled. "THAT would be helpful right now. I wish…"
She sighed.
Theodore rubbed his gem and focused.
WHOOOOSH!
All at once, a brilliant light appeared in the corridor.
"Whoa!" Eleanor gasped, pointing.
Everyone stared at Theodore in astonishment.
He was holding a ball of light. In his hand.
"I have light powers!" he cried.
Then the light vanished.
He gasped. "And darkness! I wished for it to be dark, and it was! But…hey. I can still see!"
"You can see in the dark?" Alvin cried. "Aww, man, no fair."
Theodore gasped.
"Nobody move," he squeaked.
"Simon already told us that," Alvin snapped. "Why not, Mr. Night Vision?"
"Because there is a humongous chasm right in front of us, and I can't see the bottom of it," Theodore replied in a quaking voice. Then he gasped. "Eleanor. Back. Up. Now."
Eleanor gave him a quizzical look.
"You take another half step and you'll probably die," Theodore whispered. "Your foot is right next to it."
Eleanor cautiously lifted up her foot and waved it around in the space in front of her. She felt nothing but empty, cold air.
Shivering, she quickly backed up.
"Hey, Theo, could you give us some light, please? We don't all have night vision," Simon said, irritation thick in his voice.
"Oops." Theodore's voice was sheepish as he focused hard and lifted his hand. Another ball of light appeared, and he shone it around.
"Look," Eleanor whispered, pointing. "The other side is too far away for us to jump."
"We are absolutely NOT going to jump!" Simon snapped. "We're going to find another way around."
"There isn't any other way around," Theodore repeated, squinting into the darkness ahead of them that the others couldn't see.
They were all silent for a while.
"Maybe one of you three can use your powers to get us out of this mess," Alvin suggested after a moment.
"I don't see how making it lighter or darker is going to help this," Theodore said after a thoughtful pause.
"Unless there's water at the bottom of that chasm, I'm not going to be able to help us any," Brittany shrugged.
"Eleanor! Can you do that vine thingy again to get us across?" Simon asked.
She bit her lip. "Sorry, Si. That only works when I'm outside. We're underground right now, with a rock ceiling and all, so it won't work."
Theodore looked around. "There are some plants growing on that wall," he pointed. "Will those help?"
Eleanor looked at them, but she couldn't see.
"I can't see past the light," she frowned.
Theodore thought for a moment. Then he twisted his hand and rubbed his gem simultaneously, and the light sphere vanished.
"Sure, THAT made it a lot better." Eleanor's sarcastic voice came out of the darkness.
"Just wait," Theodore said. He took a deep breath and then rubbed his gem again, concentrating.
Then, the passage was lit up again.
"Whoa!" Simon gasped, pointing.
Light was streaming from each of Theodore's fingertips, creating five flashlight-like beams. He shone them in the corner, where the plants were.
"Well, they're not much, but I think I may be able to do something with them," Eleanor frowned. "Hang on." She closed her eyes and rubbed the jewel on her bracelet, concentrating hard.
Then the plants began to grow.
They stretched out from the wall, turning into thicker, sturdier vines as they got bigger. They stretched farther and farther. The ones on the other wall of the chasm were doing the same thing. The two lines of plants began to stretch towards one another, growing quickly.
They met in the middle several seconds later. Eleanor focused, and they began to twine themselves around one another, twisting and tying and curling.
"There," Eleanor said, pleased, opening her eyes. Now there was a checkerboard-style net of vines stretching from one end of the chasm to the other.
"Are these strong enough to hold us?" Theodore asked nervously.
Eleanor focused. "They should be if we go one at a time," she said at last. "Theodore, you have the light, so you first."
Theodore crawled carefully across the net, being sure to avoid the gaps. His flashlight-fingers were constantly moving, and they were trembling with fear, which made the beams of light swing crazily all over the chasm.
"Sorry," he called sheepishly as he got to the other side. He stood up and dusted himself off. "It seems sturdy—just be really careful, guys." He held his fingers steady, shining them on the net so that everyone to cross could see where they were going.
Simon was next, carefully crawling across and trying not to slip. He got there faster than Theodore did, standing up.
"Britt, you go next," Alvin said softly. She nodded somewhat nervously and began to crawl. She was thinner than the other two, and her hand slipped through one of the gaps about halfway across, drawing a small shriek from her. But she managed to draw her hand back out and keep going.
Alvin went next, hurrying as fast as he could but trying not to slip at the same time.
"All right, we all made it," Alvin called.
"Good," Eleanor called back. "Here goes nothing." She took a step onto the vines and focused hard. The ones on her side instantly curled tightly around her legs, ankles, and torso, making a safe harness. Then they began to retract back toward the other wall, shrinking as fast as they had grown and moving Eleanor steadily through the air across the chasm. It was like the growing process in reverse. By the time they got to the other wall and uncurled themselves from the little chipmunk, they were just the small, springy plants growing on the sides of the chasm again.
Eleanor stepped smartly up onto the rock where the others were, ignoring their gaping astonishment.
"Shall we continue?" she asked wryly, ignoring their gawking and continuing on down the passageway.
"Wait," Simon whispered, and they all stopped. "We can't just run in here, or Adam will find us. We need a plan."
Brittany thought for a while, and then snapped her fingers. "I've got it!" she whispered. "Here's my idea…"
Jeanette stared at the wall, seeing nothing.
"It'll be all right, Miss Jeanette," Monique had whispered just before Jeanette had been pushed into the room. With Adam.
This happened every day, as he coaxed, pleaded, and threatened her to go along with his scheme. Every time, she refused, and every time, he hurt her. She was holding up, but not for long. She felt like a rock, a strong rock, but one that was being beaten and weathered by the elements. She wondered privately how long it would be before she crumbled.
Never, she told herself firmly. Don't ever give in to him. Don't give him what he wants!
But secretly, she knew that she couldn't hold out forever.
Simon, Brittany, and Eleanor crept quietly down the hallway, trying not to be noticed.
Just then, a guard rounded the corner.
"Hey!" he yelled. "You two! Stop right there!"
The three froze in confusion.
You…two?
"You two girls!" he repeated. "Don't move!" He was aiming a gun right at them.
What about Simon? Brittany wondered. They both looked over, and then did a double take.
Simon wasn't there.
Simon stood there, wondering why they weren't noticing him. Then he got a pleasantly cool, tingling feeling all over him. He looked down to see the last of the silvery stuff in his anklet slip into his body. How had he not noticed it?
The jewel on his anklet wasn't changing color—not anymore, at least.
And then he calmly realized that he couldn't see himself.
Whoa, he thought. My power is…invisibility?
Just then, he hit a stone by mistake. It skittered across the rock floor.
The guard jumped and fired without thinking.
Simon felt everything happening in slow motion. He heard the gun go off, saw the bullet hurtling through the air toward Brittany and Eleanor. And he felt himself thrust his hands out.
A shimmery blue substance flew out from his hands and formed a dome around the three. The bullet hit the dome…and bounced off.
The guard stared in astonishment. "What the…" he cried.
Eleanor focused on the plants in the corner, and vines curled around the gun and yanked it away from him.
"You know what to do," Simon whispered almost inaudibly to the girls.
"But you have your powers now," Brittany whispered back. "You have invisibility! And force fields!"
"Those will undoubtedly come in handy," he breathed. "Now stick to the plan."
Eleanor jerked her hand, and the vine threw the gun into the chasm just behind them. It clattered out of sight. Then a vine coiled around the guard's ankle and yanked on it, hard. The guard toppled to the ground.
Simon dropped his hands and the force field vanished. "Run!" he yelled to the other two, and they sprang over the guard and dashed deeper into the fortress.
"Those vines will keep him busy for a while," Eleanor murmured in satisfaction.
"Jeanette, I grow tired of asking."
"Then I suggest you STOP asking," she snapped back, refusing to face Adam.
She could almost feel the rage rolling off of him. "All right, then. This will be the last time." Menace curled in his tone, and Jeanette planted her feet a bit more firmly, bracing herself.
Just then, a guard ran into the room, remnants of vines dangling from his ankles.
"Sir!" he gasped. "Sir, we have—,"
"Spit it out!" Adam snarled.
"Sir, Simon Seville has infiltrated the fortress."
Everything was silent for a moment. To Jeanette, it felt like fireworks were exploding inside her. First she was astonished, and then she was extremely joyful. She wanted to let out a shriek and start celebrating right then and there.
Simon! Oh, Simon! He's here! He's come to rescue me!
"Impossible," Adam snarled under his breath.
"He had two females with him, sir."
My sisters! They're here, too! I'm saved! I'm going to get out of here!
Adam was frozen for a minute. Then he smiled. It wasn't a nice smile.
"You and you," he said, motioning to two guards against the wall. Jeanette had long since given up on trying to talk to any of the guards—even if they wanted to talk, it was difficult to hear anything through the heavy helmets and blaster shields that were over their heads and faces. That wasn't a problem, fortunately, because Adam was usually yelling.
"Code 879," he told them. "Simon Seville undoubtedly does not know all the traps that we have in the fortress. He will soon be heading for trap number sixty-seven, which will be less than pleasant for him." Adam grinned evilly. "Once he has been apprehended, you will take him to me."
"Yes, sir," one guard squeaked, and they both trotted off.
Jeanette was horrified. Her delight instantly turned into panic.
No!
Adam laughed quietly. "You thought your Simon was coming to save you…how touching. But he should be more worried about saving himself at this point."
"No!" Jeanette ran for the exit of the room, which was something she hadn't tried in a while. Of course, Adam got there first, grabbing her arm and yanking her back.
"Nice try," he whispered, throwing her against the wall. She hit it hard and crumpled to the ground. The remaining guards in the room instantly regrouped around the door.
"Deal with her," Adam snapped at another. "Make sure she doesn't get away. I'll be back soon."
One quite small guard hurried forward and pulled Jeanette to her feet. The guard's touch was unusually gentle, even as he chained her wrists together and then chained her to the wall.
"Are you all right?" The gruff question came from underneath the blaster helmet.
Jeanette frowned. "Why do you care?" she said bitterly.
The guard instantly backed off. Jeanette felt bad. He was one of the only two who had shown her any kindness whatsoever.
"I'm fine," she whispered after a long moment, staring at the ground.
She tugged helplessly at the chain, already knowing it was no use.
Oh, Simon…get out of here, quick, while you still can, she thought desperately.