Seven Wonders Book 3 by Peter Lerangis

Author:Peter Lerangis
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2014-03-19T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

THAT’S GNIZAMA

“WHOA, WHO TURNED on the black-and-white filter?” Cass asked in a low voice.

I turned, forcing my eyes open. I was too dumbstruck to answer. We were only three steps into the Mausoleum, but there was no Mausoleum. No marble ceiling, no grand tiled floor, no fancy walls.

I spun around. Our door—the one we’d come through with Skilaki—was gone. We were outdoors, in a dry, rubble-strewn field that stretched into a dense fog in all directions. It wasn’t nighttime anymore, but twilight, and everything seemed drained of color, like a charcoal landscape.

“I was expecting a palace,” Aly said. “Not the anti-Narnia.”

Skilaki was walking ahead of us, on a path of gray soil flecked with patches of gray grass. I was supporting Professor Bhegad, who leaned on my arm as he took tentative steps forward. “Courage,” he said.

“Skilaki, how far are we going?” I called out.

“As far as necessary,” she replied.

Professor Bhegad loosened his hold. He was walking on his own. “Fascinating. It’s some kind of underworld.”

“Easy, Professor!” Aly cried, as she and Cass rushed to help.

“No, no, it’s all right.” He gave us a baffled look. “My chest feels significantly better.”

“Really?” Cass said. “That’s gnizama.”

Aly glared at him. “No, it’s not, Cass. It’s weird. It’s disturbing. This place gives me the creeps.”

“Just trying to be”—Cass gulped as he looked around—“positive.”

I felt my feet touching the ground, but all our footsteps were muffled, nearly silent. On either side of us were distant groves of leafless trees. Their gnarled black branches reached upward into a dull, dirty-white sky. I blinked my eyes, hoping to see it all clearer, but nothing changed.

Skilaki was slowing now. She stopped at a place where another path veered off toward the woods to our left. I couldn’t help noticing there was no castle in sight, no trace of a building.

“Where’s Artemisia?” I demanded.

“Impatience,” Skilaki replied, “is meaningless in Bo’gloo.”

“Is Bo’gloo another name for Hades?” Cass said. “Tartarus?”

“Hades and Tartarus, always Hades and Tartarus!” Skilaki shook her head, and I ducked to avoid a flying skin flake the size of a bookmark. “This obsession with mainland Greece! They are . . . related. But Bo’gloo has its own dreadful merits, as you will see.”

“I haven’t noticed any yet,” Aly muttered.

Skilaki was studying Professor Bhegad. A strange smile twisted her withered lips. “You are called Radamanthus,” she said. “You know, don’t you, that Radamanthus was one of the three judges of souls who entered Hades?”

“Of course.” Bhegad’s eyes brightened. When he spoke, his voice sounded disturbingly eager. “Shall I meet my namesake today?”

Skilaki laughed. “Of course not! Radamanthus has no sway in Bo’gloo. Only Queen Artemisia.”

“Wait,” Cass said, “I thought she wasn’t technically a queen— ”

“She is queen here!” Skilaki shot back. “But let me explain all as I show you our home.”

“You told us you would take Professor Bhegad to Artemisia,” Aly said. “People are waiting for us. We don’t have time to sightsee Bo’gloo.”

“Time,” Skilaki said, “will not be an issue.”

I glanced at my watch. It was perfectly still, stuck at 3:17 A.

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