Worlds Explode. Shane Hegarty
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Название: Worlds Explode
Автор: Shane Hegarty
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Детская проза
isbn: 9780007545759
isbn:
Growing in it was a small crop of crystals.
“Could they be …?” asked Emmie.
“The same crystals that make gateways?” queried Finn. “They can’t be. They only grow on the Infested Side, don’t they? These have to be just ordinary, everyday crystals.”
“Ordinary, everyday crystals in a cave marked on a map hidden for decades in a missing Legend Hunter’s painting?” she replied.
“OK, maybe not,” admitted Finn.
They lay flat on the ground to examine the crystals more closely, and saw that these didn’t have the diamond purity of the ones that had been brought to Darkmouth by Legends. Their reflections were instead dulled by the coating on each of them, a thin layer picked up from growing through what seemed to be fine dark red dust in the hollowed-out rock at their roots.
But, under the torchlight, another quality became apparent.
“It’s alive,” said Emmie, pressing her beam up to the tallest crystal. Inside was a smokiness that writhed slowly, rising to the top, falling gently again, in constant motion.
Finn reached out to pull at the crystal.
“Should you do that?” asked Emmie.
Finn shrugged. “I don’t know what more could go wrong.”
Actually, in his head, he had a lengthy list of things that could go wrong, but thought twice about sharing it.
Finn took hold of the crystal. He expected it to resist, but instead it came away easily, softly releasing itself from the cave wall as if ripe, like an apple ready to be plucked.
He stood up straight, holding the crystal high under the torchlight. Within it were tendrils of smoke, gentle in their movement. The finest coating of scarlet dust clung to the sweat of his palms. He touched the dust with a finger: it seemed dried in, more like clay than sand.
Emmie lay beside the hollow for a few seconds longer before pushing herself up from the cave floor too.
“Do you think these might open a gateway, to help us get to Dad?” asked Finn, still examining the crystal.
“It’s probably impossible,” said Emmie, pointing her torch up under Finn’s chin, so that long shadows were cast from his ridged brow. “But we should definitely try it.”
“Maybe we should bring it back to the library,” he suggested. “Dad went through a gateway there and that would open it to the same spot on the Infested Side. He might be waiting there for us. But you can’t tell anyone, Emmie. Not a soul.”
“I’m afraid that’s a bit too late,” said a voice in the darkness.
“Besides,” the voice went on, “I can’t begin to tell you how many rules it would violate.”
Emmie swung her torch and illuminated Estravon the Assessor.
“Well, I could tell you how many rules it would violate, but we’d be here all day,” he said. “All that matters is that you have to hand that crystal over. Now.”
Estravon stepped forward so quickly that Finn hardly had time to close his grip on the crystal, and instead found surprisingly strong fingers prising it from his grasp. Finn felt immediate shame at the struggle being so short, his prize so easily lost.
“You can’t take that,” protested Emmie.
“I have to take it,” said Estravon, indignant, “according to rule 43b of section 5 of the, oh, stop rolling your eyes, young lady. The rules matter. There’d be anarchy without the rules. There’d be people running around doing whatever they wanted without recourse to the proper procedures and, if you doubt me, then just have a look at where we’ve all been led this morning.”
“I need that crystal,” said Finn. “It might help me get to my dad.”
Estravon stood back, examining the crystal under his torch’s light. He appeared genuinely curious, as if this discovery was as much of a surprise to him as it was to Finn and Emmie. “Well, that is an odd one. Some town this, isn’t it? Full of surprises. I found that ice-cream shop on the harbour too. Tasty. They do an amazing nutty chocolate sauce.”
“How did you know we were here?” asked Emmie.
“Finn told me,” answered Estravon, still closely examining the crystal. “Well, his watch did. There’s a tracking device in it.”
Finn felt the fat watch on his wrist and then disgust ran through him at having fallen so easily for the Assessor’s camaraderie. Finn had led him right to them. He really needed to be more careful in future.
“I’ll be honest,” Estravon continued, “I wasn’t sure you would find anything, but when doing an assessment it always pays to be a couple of steps ahead just in case. I did have to sleep in my car on a country lane outside the town while I waited, though. A mission like this requires a little subterfuge, you see. And a measure of discomfort and physical sacrifice. Plus, the only hotel in Darkmouth has been closed for years so I didn’t have much choice.”
Estravon pulled a small plastic bag from his suit, placed the crystal into it, zipped the bag shut and put it back in his jacket pocket. He then looked at his hands and the blood-red residue left behind.
“Do you think it’s one of the gateway crystals?” asked Finn, feeling helpless now, and switching to a softer approach in the hope of persuading the Assessor to let him try it out. “Because there are more. We could use them to send in a rescue party.”
“More of the crystals?” said the Assessor, interest piqued.
Finn had immediately failed in treading more carefully.
The Assessor motioned them to move aside so he could stoop to examine the hollow in the rock. “There’s only one more here,” said Estravon.
Finn frowned – but Emmie shot him a look while putting a finger to her mouth.
Bending down, Estravon pushed at the crystal with his bare finger, examining the powder on the tip of his finger. “Did you ever have sherbet?” he asked them, a grin filling his face. “I doubt this tastes too good, though. There we go.”
He eased the jewel-like object from the rock with little effort. The hollow was bare of crystals now, except for a couple of tiny buds poking through the film of red dust that clung to the rock.
“So?” asked Finn. “Do you think we should use them to send a rescue party?”
“Oh, СКАЧАТЬ