Nine Lives (The Katran Legacy) Read online

  “Wow, I look like a galactic princess.”

  Holly listened to someone in her headset. “They’re ready. Let’s go.”

  “Aren’t you going to tell me how the costume works?”

  She kept walking toward the stage. “Don’t worry. You’ll get instructions later.” Then she stopped dead in her tracks. “I forgot the finishing touch.” She pulled out a small shaker bottle and sprinkled me with pink glitter that matched my shoes. “There, you’re perfect.”

  Yuck. As if looking like a glam space girl hadn’t been bad enough, she managed to get glitter in my mouth. Holly signaled for me to follow her. The rings from the dress cast a soft pink glow on the walls as we quickly walked down a long hallway toward a huge set.

  A familiar voice shouted, “O.M.G T, it’s you! Can you believe we we’ve been picked for the Cloud Nine Contest?”

  Celery stood facing me in the exact same outfit. The pink rings of the dress made her green hair even more shocking. I ran up to hug her, but Holly held me back. “Don’t crush the costume!”

  Instead, I squeezed Celery’s hand. “I’m so glad I know someone here.”

  “Me too.” She smiled. “There are two more people you know.”

  Celery pointed toward stage left. There stood Skater Boys dressed in iridescent white pants and shirts that had basketball sized pink rings circling around their sleeves.

  I did a double-take. “How did they get in? Aren’t the people who play the contest supposed to be smart?”

  She nodded. “Maybe Mrs. Schwartz gave them a double dose of brain food.”

  We burst out laughing as Mr. Palmer walked toward us. “Girls, this is serious business. To be chosen for the Cloud Nine Contest is an honor.”

  His heels sounded like castanets hitting the floor as he led us toward the main stage. Celery walked behind him, holding her fingers up like antennae over his head. I bit my lip to keep from laughing.

  When I caught a glimpse of the cavernous set, I sucked in a breath. The space was so vast I couldn’t see where it ended. I waited for a response from the amulet. Nothing. Oops, I totally forgot it was gone. Celery walked past giant purple and blue glowing panels that formed a striped backdrop against one large curved wall. In the center of the mirror-finished black tile floor sat an insignia of a huge fluffy white cloud with the words “Excellence is Life’s Reward” in blue. My jaw dropped when a two-story high picture of an enormous spacecraft appeared.

  Mr. Palmer stopped in his tracks. “Girls, quit gawking!” He waved his hands like a farmer shooing away chickens. “Move along.”

  We hurried over to the podium with our team name blazed across the front in silver glittery lights. Blaine yelled, “Dudes, we’re in the contest. Did you see our team name? Galaxy. Totally rad!”

  Austin waved us over. “I’m so glad to see you guys.” He pointed a shaky finger toward the far wall. “Did you get a look at the other team?”

  Behind a purple podium with the words, “Team Force” in gold neon stood something to be scared of—five kids wearing helmets dressed in glittery black Darth Vader costumes. Could anything be worse than a faceless opponent?

  I tried to lighten the mood. “I bet they’re wearing those because they’re covered in zits.”

  The guys had a good laugh, but Celery tapped her pink glitter shoes on the floor. “Jeez. You can’t even tell what sex they are.”

  Austin nodded. “Not only that. They’re so tall.”

  I surveyed the team. The shortest seemed about my height. “No worries, guys. Have you ever met a smart basketball player?”

  The gang laughed but our fun didn’t last long.

  Mr. Palmer walked out onto center stage. “You can let them in,” he said, pointing toward two men standing on either side of a pair of large metal doors at the back of the building.

  A stampede of high school kids rushed down the aisles. In mere minutes, every empty seat disappeared. The place buzzed with kids’ voices until Mr. Palmer held up his hand. “Everyone, quiet down. We’re about to start the show.” The sound of trumpets filled the air. “And now, here’s our host, John Tribble.”

  The crowd went wild shouting out, “John, John, John!” A man dressed in gold lamé with slicked-back silver-grey hair walked out onto center stage. Video cameras zoomed in when he stopped in the middle of the insignia. “Welcome to the second edition of the Cloud Nine Contest!”

  “O.M.G Tribble is here?” A look of shock crossed Celery’s face. “He’s the MC on my mom’s favorite game show. He must have croaked.”

  He basked in the glory of the moment. Like the rest of us, he appeared very much alive.

  “Beats me. I’m not much for daytime TV.” The name didn’t mean anything to me. “Looks like he’s popular.”

  “You never watched Match Up?”

  “Nope.”

  “Total must-see TV.”

  Mr. Tribble glared at us. “May the best team win!”

  I whispered to Celery, “They never told us how the contest is played.”

  She glared at me like I lived on another planet. “You’ve never watched the contest?”

  “No. I’ve only been here three days.”

  Celery gave my hand a squeeze. “Just follow my lead. Every contest is different, but I figure stuff out pretty quick.”

  The announcer moved over to a giant screen showing the Milky Way. “This contest we’re starting with a little scavenger hunt in outer space!” A swell of applause rose from the audience. He motioned for the crowd to quiet down. “To complement our space theme, the contestants this time are Team Galaxy and Team Force.”

  Video cameras scanned the audience as they roared and waved signs with the team names. I turned to Celery and put my hand over the microphone. “Where did those signs come from? They didn’t have anything when they first came in.”

  “Stuff like that happens all the time here.”

  I thought back to all the bits of magic I had witnessed since I arrived. “You’re right. I guess I should be used to it by now.”

  The announcer began again, “Team Force won the coin toss, so they’ll start first.”

  Austin yanked my arm. “Hey, did you guys toss the coin when I wasn’t looking?”

  I shook my head. “No.”

  Celery’s face turned red. “I knew that guy smelled fishy. Palmer set us up.”

  Mr. Tribble gave us a disapproving look as he faced the purple podium. “Team Force, to begin the contest we need to pick your team captain. Whoever answers this question first wins the honor of being your leader. ”

  The Vaders pumped their fists in the air. “We’re ready, sir.”

  “Your question is… approximately how old is the Earth?”

  I yawned. “This is the great contest everyone’s talking about? We’re just going to have to answer a bunch of stupid questions like on Jeopardy? Snooze fest.”

  Celery shrugged. “Guess they decided to mix things up.”

  A buzzer sounded from the other team. The tallest Vader leaned forward and in a mechanical voice said, “four thousand, five hundred and sixty-seven billion years.”

  A row of lights in the floor in front of their podium lit up as Mr. Tribble said, “That’s correct. Good work, Spencer. You’re the leader of Team Force.”

  Strange. How did he know his name? We weren’t wearing nametags.

  The crowd chanted “Go Force. Go Force” as I nervously played with one of the rings on my costume. Was something far more challenging headed our way?

  Mr. Tribble turned to our podium. “Team Galaxy, how many mammals are there on Earth?”

  I nudged Celery. “Man, these questions are hard.”

  The buzzer rang out from the podium. Blaine leaned forward toward the camera lens. “I think it’s four thousand six hundred and twenty-nine. There might have been another extinction since I croaked.”

  The crowd burst out laughing.

  A frown formed between Mr. Tribble’s eyebrows. “You are correct, but keep t
he jokes to yourself.”

  Austin patted his friend on the back. “Way to go. Had no idea you were that smart.”

  Celery moved closer to me. “How the hell did an airhead like him get that right?”

  I shrugged. “Maybe the brain food really works.”

  A scowl crossed Mr. Tribble’s face. “Team Galaxy, no talking.”

  Mr. Palmer hovered by the back of the stage with something glowing in his hand. It made his silver pinstripes even gaudier.

  Mr. Tribble walked across the floor toward the big screen. “And now, contestants, let me introduce you to Starship Cloud Nine.”

  With a wave of his hand, the huge picture screen disappeared. A mockup of the inside of a spaceship the size of a city block took up the entire back of the stage. In fact, the stage seemed to have grown three times deeper. A gasp escaped from the crowd as Mr. Tribble flipped switches and giant wheels began to spin menacingly over the middle portion of the spacecraft. He pointed toward Cloud Nine.

  “In this ship we’ve hidden four gold fuel rods. Also, there are two clues to the next contest. The team that has the most fuel rods wins the first round. You’re also competing for Fan Favorite. So be sure to wow the crowd by your performances.” He turned toward our podiums just as a giant digital clock appeared above the ship. “You have exactly fifteen minutes to complete your mission. Ready, set…go!”

  My feet were glued to the floor. The glowing red lights of cameras were everywhere. “They’re watching everything we do.”

  Celery grabbed my hand and ran toward the ship. “It’s reality TV.” She waved at the camera stationed over the entrance. “Team Galaxy is going to rock this. We’re going to find all the rods!”

  Skater Boys ran up behind us. Austin pointed toward the spinning wheels. “I bet they hid a few in there. They’re always trying to make things super hard.”

  Blaine grabbed Austin. “Look. Team Force is already inside the front of the ship!”

  The team captain disappeared behind a mesh wall. One of the Force members cut in front of Blaine. He tagged the Vader in the stomach and the guy slipped on the floor and hit his head on a steel beam.

  I turned to Celery. “Skater Boy doesn’t mess around.”

  The Vader got up and adjusted his costume.

  “That’s totally unfair. They have helmets. A blow like that would have killed…oops. Sorry, I keep forgetting we’re already dead.”

  Celery continued to move toward the middle of the spacecraft. “We can still get hurt. They give certain teams an advantage with their costumes, but I’ve never seen something so obvious before.”

  “Are you telling me the contest is rigged against us?”

  “Looks like it. We have to prove they picked the wrong team.” She pumped her fist in the air for the cameras. “We can win this thing.”

  I threw my fist up. “Yeah! Go Team Galaxy!” Giant razor wheels spun above Celery’s head as she moved to the middle section of the ship. My hopes of winning quickly faded. The feeling only got worse as we headed farther into the hull. Just like back at the toyshop, we were now entering a cavernous holodeck. The air reeked of rusted metal. Every part of the ship felt real. Austin followed Blaine to the far section. “We’re going to check this part out.”

  Celery jumped up and down, waving to get my attention. “Over here. I think I see something shiny.”

  I raced over to the back wall and, sure enough, a tiny glint of gold shone just behind a massive pile of steel containers. Celery’s curvy body couldn’t fit in such a small space, so I quickly scrambled to the top. Not stick thin, I still managed to wiggle behind the grid and slowly climbed toward the fuel rod. Now I knew why they wouldn’t let us wear jewelry. The amulet necklace would have surely caught on one of the containers.

  Something tugged on my foot. I looked down. A black-gloved hand was wrapped around my ankle.

  “Cel, help!”

  She raced over to the top of the pile. “How did he get in there?”

  The Vader’s mechanical laughter echoed against the walls. “You guys are so lame. There’s a door just behind me.”

  Celery sprang into action. I tried to shake the guy off, but soon Celery had made it through the doorway and hit him over the head with the gold rod. He collapsed onto the floor.

  She beamed. “This thing makes a great weapon.”

  “Good score, Cel. We better see if we can find another one. Not much time left.”

  “Right. I’m on it.” A camera light blinked on as Celery dug furiously through the containers that lined one side of the walkway. She threw up her hand. “I’ve got something.”

  Balancing the rod on the edge of a container, I yelled down to Celery, “Don’t touch anything. It might be a trick.” I scrambled down the pile, dragging the rod behind me.

  Celery held up a small tablet-type computer. “Look, I think this is one of the clues for the next contest.”

  She handed me the device. “Okay.” I turned it over and checked out the control panel. “It‘s not ticking or anything. Looks harmless enough.”

  “It’ll be safe here.” She stashed the computer down the front of her dress in her cleavage. “Either that or I’ll be blown to pieces.”

  “That’s the spirit.”

  A voice boomed over a loudspeaker system. “T-minus ten minutes.”

  “Celery, I think we need to split up and find more rods if we stand a chance of winning.” I pointed toward the front of the ship. “I see one of Team Force is headed this way. We need to move out of here.”

  Celery grabbed the rod and ran in the opposite direction as the clock ticked down. I needed to do everything possible to win. Schwartz must be watching. I hit a button near one of the doors and it slid open. Inside the compartment stood hundreds of storage containers. It’d take days to open every one. Flipping open the first container, I faced stacks of thermal blankets. The next three I tried to open were locked. Crap.

  I ran over to another row of containers shaped like domed steamer trunks. The first one opened easily. Inside sat some kind of strange machinery. I began to close the lid when a hint of gold sparkled. Pulling with all my might, I managed to get the rod loose.

  “T-minus eight minutes.”

  Gripping the rod close to my body, I ran toward another door. Punching hard on the button, the door slid open. Inside, the light glowed so intensely I shut my eyes. Pungent air filled my lungs. The overwhelming smell of sulfur made me nauseous. I opened my eyes and they slowly adjusted to the powerful light. The compartment stood at least thirty feet tall and every square inch of the glass ceiling glowed with miniature stars—real stars. I dropped the rod. The sky mimicked the one in my high school planetarium, but I didn’t recognize any of the constellations. The beauty of the glowing points of light were mesmerizing.

  “T-minus five minutes.”

  I scanned the compartment for the merest glint of gold. Nothing. Not even the glow of red camera lights. Was this section of the ship not part of the contest? A tiny point of light twinkled at the end of the compartment. Maybe it was a clue. I raced over. A headset just like the one Mr. X wore sat nestled in a crack in the wall. Who would leave this behind? I put the headset on and listened.

  All thoughts of the contest vanished when a male voice called my name. “Taylor, you found it!”

  The person knew my name? This had to be some kind of trick. “Do I know you?”

  “No, but we’ll meet soon.” Then a touch of urgency filled his voice. “You must hurry. Move to the far wall. There’s a rod hidden behind the panel in the corner.”

  “Why are you helping me? Isn’t that against the rules?”

  “Very. Now go!”

  I moved to the corner and fiddled with the panel. My instincts were on fire. How could I trust an invisible man? Then something hit me. What if he created the park?

  A reassuring voice filled my ear. “I know you can win.”

  How could I not believe in someone with so much faith in me?

&nbs
p; “T-minus four minutes.”

  Crap. No time for speculation. I tucked the rod between my knees and yanked hard on the panel. It fell to the ground. Inside the space a flash of gold glowed from the bottom. I grabbed the new rod and quickly picked up the other one. With only two minutes left, I moved back toward the front of the spacecraft, the cameras once again following my every move. I managed to juggle the rods while dodging through several doors. I had just one more section to get through before I could rejoin Celery and the team. Then a flash of silver blocked my path.

  Palmer snapped his fingers and the camera lights shut off. He reached up and ripped off the headset. “Where did you find this?”

  I rubbed the side of my face. “Sorry, sir. I didn’t mean to…”

  “Did you hear anything?”

  My hopes of ever returning home to Earth vanished. “No, sir. Nothing but static.”

  He grabbed ahold of my wrist. “One more move like that and you’re out.”

  I grimaced in pain as he tightened his grip. My wrist grew hot and quickly turned red.

  “Do you hear me?”

  All the energy drained out of my body as I tried to answer him. “Yes… understood.”

  He let go of my wrist and the pain made me dizzy. I collapsed onto the cold metal floor. My vision blurred as I fought to stay conscious. Mr. Palmer vanished. Footsteps echoed against the floor then a flash of green hovered over my face. “Cel?”

  She leaned down next to me. “What did that creep do to you?”

  Chapter Ten

  The Truth Hurts

  I woke up feeling a bit seasick as the hammock rocked me back and forth. The air had the familiar scent of marsh grasses. A small grove of maple trees gently swayed back and forth as if welcoming me back home. Yet something foreign lingered in the air—Palmer’s aftershave.

  A fuzzy halo hovered over my head. “Can you hear me?”

  The halo moved closer. “It’s your...”

  From the corner of my eye I spied the familiar gingerbread-covered porch. “Gram? Am I alive…I mean dead…oh, forget it.”