Witch and Wizard - James Patterson [30]
Celia nodded. “We held him down and tickled his little weasel belly until tears came out of his eyes. In the end he was begging to tell us everything he knew. I don’t think he wants to come back here now.”
“I don’t blame him,” said Whit. “If I could get out of here, I wouldn’t come back either. Not in a million years.”
“Speaking of which, baby,” said Celia to Whit, “it’s about time for us to go. We have to risk it… the Shadowland.”
I nodded, but my mind was somewhere else. If Whit and Celia could be together now, why couldn’t they be together forever? Somehow, some way, I wanted to bring Celia back from the dead for Whit.
Could a witch do that?
Chapter 50
Wisty
“WE’VE GOT TO HURRY,” said Celia. “I can’t stay in your world much longer. We have to get you two out of this god-forsaken place.”
“Oh, why didn’t we think of that?” Whit cracked, and Celia just smiled.
I don’t know how she does it. Things Whit says that make me almost scream in frustration just make Celia laugh. Did I mention how much I like her?
“As soon as we get the door open,” Celia went on, touching Whit’s cheek with her hand, “you have to jet out of this cell and run like crazy for the nearest portal to get to the Underworld.”
“The Underworld?” Whit asked. “Celia?”
“Sorry. I keep forgetting—you’re new to all this. The Underworld is everything that isn’t the Overworld,” Celia said, as if it were as obvious a concept as, say, peanut butter and jelly. “Or at least it was till the New Order started messing with things.”
Celia was faced with our two blank stares.
“Sorry. Let me be clearer. The New Order now controls almost all of the Overworld—that’s the, uh, regular world that you’re used to. The Underworld contains the rest of the known universe—the Shadowland and other dimensions. For the moment, the N.O. doesn’t run the show in all those places. But they’re trying. The One Who Is The One is after total control.
“Somehow, the two of you are in his way. That’s a puzzle you have to solve.”
“Okay,” said Whit, looking determined. “Where’s the portal? Is it in the bathroom?”
“No, that one’s gone already,” Celia said. “It took me a while to find another.”
“And so the portal you used is,” I prompted, “like, where exactly?”
“End of the hall,” Celia said. “Past the dogs, unfortunately. Then you just rush toward the wall and throw yourself into it. You’ll go through.”
“You’re kidding me,” Whit said. “C’mon, Celia. Get real.”
“No fair,” I whined. “Isn’t the definition of a portal, like, an opening? In fact, I’m pretty sure my fourth-grade teacher would’ve called a brick wall an ‘antonym’ of the word ‘portal.’ ”
“Wisty, please trust me on this. I know you won’t want to run into a wall at full speed, but it’s the only way you’ll escape. You’ve got to do what I tell you.”
I looked at Celia, hoping this wasn’t an elaborate hoax. Was she really the Celia that Whit and I had known? What if this was a trap?
“We can run through the wall,” Whit said, sounding grim but very determined. The old QB was back. “When is all this supposed to happen?”
Celia looked at us. “In about a minute.”
Chapter 51
Whit
OKAY, IN TERMS OF emergency preparedness, “in about a minute” never, ever falls under the category “enough time.”
What choice did we have, though? It was either run through a wall or get executed.
I looked at Wisty. “Got your drumstick?”
She held it up. “Check. Drumstick.”
I picked up my journal, stuffing it into my jumpsuit. “You think you can do anything about the devil dogs?” I asked lightning girl.
Wisty shrugged doubtfully. “I’ll try, Whit. But I’m still learning this stuff.”
“Okay, here’s what we can do,” I said. “Once we get out of here, we’ll run like mad to that hallway. You’ll have a couple of seconds to try something with the dogs. If you can’t pull it off, then I’ll just tear through like I usually do to get food. I’ll hold your hand. You run as fast as you can, even if we get bitten. It’s okay to scream but not to stop!”
Wisty swallowed, looking a little freaked but resolute. “Gotcha. Scream. Don’t stop.”
Celia nodded.