Heartlight by T. A. Barron

Author:T. A. Barron [Barron, T. A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781101650998
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 1990-09-27T04:00:00+00:00

IX

The Bottomless Blue

At the top of the waterfall, Kate spied the vague outline of a twisted root dangling over the edge. She stretched for it, grabbing hold just as the great falls emptied into the basin below.

As she caught the root with one hand, she felt it sliding through her palm. She twisted in the torrent and reached for it with the other hand, as the force of the cascade bounced her like a ball. The root held fast, but her grip was tenuous.

“I’m slipping!” screamed Ariella, who was clinging desperately to Kate’s waist.

“Hold on!” cried Kate above the thunderous roar.

A sudden wave crashed against them. Kate was hurled to the side of the waterfall, where she struck a rock wall and lost her grip on the root. She tumbled down to a narrow ledge protruding from the mountainside.

Amidst the spray, she lay still for a moment. Slowly, she lifted her head, then scrambled to stand. Her ankle throbbed painfully.

“Ariella!” she called.

Her eyes followed the course of the frothing falls as it descended, falling freely for thousands of feet. Finally, it merged with a towering cloud of vapor rising from its base, and she could see no more.

Ariella was gone!

Kate slumped in a heap on the rocky ledge, mortified at her fate. She had meant to risk her own life, but not Ariella’s—and now she was lost. The ring was lost. Morpheus was lost. Everything was lost.

Tears swam into her eyes, mixing with the mist of the waterfall. Suddenly she felt a searing pain in her hand.

“Ow!” she cried, jumping to her feet. “That rock is hot.”

Then, for the first time, she looked beyond the spray to the landscape stretching before her. So great was her shock that for a moment she forgot about everything else. She stepped along the ledge away from the waterfall in order to get a clearer view.

There was no Bottomless Blue!

Instead of the wide blue ocean that Ariella had described, Kate could see only a roasting red desert beneath a rust-colored sky. From horizon to horizon stretched a single reach of baked rocks and burned soil. No liquid whatsoever moistened this searing cauldron, but for the seething stream of lava Kate saw pouring from one volcanic cone in the distance. Into the burning basin flowed several powerful waterfalls like the one next to her, but none was more than a mere cloud of steam by the time it ultimately reached the desert floor.

Kate lifted her eyes from this desolate landscape to the glowing red disc above her head. Trethoniel dominated the sky. It radiated powerfully, even majestically. Yet … it seemed somehow different from here.

“Uhhhhh.”

She whirled around. What had made that sound?

There, lying in the shadows of the rocky ledge, lay the bent form of a snow crystal. She ran to see if it was—

“Spike!” Kate couldn’t hide her disappointment. “I thought—I thought maybe you were Ariella.”

“Uhhhhh,” moaned the crystal, struggling to sit up. “I’m just as glad to see you, Alien.”

Moving closer, Kate could

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