Part 42 (1/2)

”We'll be gone before someone shows up. Come on.”

Mara stepped into the dark entrance and turned left. Ping followed. Inside, she ran around the central elevator shaft to get to the front of the observation deck overlooking downtown. Reflected blue light streaked across dozens of holographic historic photographs mounted side by side along the wall. Mara ignored them. Ping eyed them as he jogged to keep up.

She rounded the bend into full view of downtown. ”Oh, my G.o.d.”

Ping stumbled into her back. ”What?” he said, stepping around her.

Through the windows of the observation deck, hanging out over the bluff, they looked down on the business district, the Willamette River and the Oregon City Bridge. All was engulfed in a storm of blue and white light, bursting from below the arched superstructure that hung over the roadway. Bolts shot out across the river and into the sky, followed by claps that shook the observation deck's windows. Lampposts on the bridge exploded, fell away.

Main Street went dark.

Flashes of blue silhouetted downtown. Mara lifted her arm to s.h.i.+eld her eyes against the erratic bursts coming from the bridge. Even though she squinted, she could not make out what was happening.

Then the bridge disappeared into the night. No light. No sounds.

”Look,” Ping said in the dark, pointing to the bridge approach where it connected to Main Street.

”What? I don't see anything,” Mara said, whispering.

”The lampposts, the obelisks at the entrance to the bridge.”

They luminesced blue, pulsed from base to tip, base to tip, over and over, accelerating and intensifying with each pa.s.s.

”Look, the four obelisks next to the arch are glowing too,” Mara said.

”It's hard to see, but I think the ones on the far side are illuminated as well. They are becoming quite-”

A beam of light shot out of each obelisk, collided at the top of the arch, bursting into a plume of radiance and engulfing the center of the bridge. As the brilliance receded, Mara could see, floating above the Willamette River, surrounding the central arch of the bridge, a huge translucent blue bubble.

”I thought you said only a progenitor could activate the Chronicle.” Mara stared at Ping's pale blue-lit face.

”That has always been my understanding,” he said, staring at the bridge, distracted by the light display. The bubble sputtered, became hazy. Then it became cohesive again. ”It looks like she may have trouble maintaining it. It doesn't look as stable as when you use it.”

”It looks like she's figuring it out.”

”I still don't think she'll be able to transport someone from another realm. That is something only a progenitor can do.”

”She's not down there putting on a light show just for kicks. She has found a way to do it. We know she's using the obelisks as her talismans. Why would she use a bridge? Unless her followers are over in West Linn, it's not going to do much good.”

Ping's eyes widened.

”What?” Mara grabbed his arms.

”Maybe she's not going to use any special abilities to bring her people to this realm. If she can use the Chronicle to tear an opening between our realms, she could theoretically walk them over. She's creating a physical bridge between the realms. They'll cross over physically, not metaphysically.”

”That seems far-fetched, don't you think?”

”Given what you've seen in the last few weeks, I would think far-fetched might be within your ability to grasp,” Ping said.

”Let me get this straight. She's ripping a hole in the fabric of the universe, in the middle of the bridge. That way she can simply walk her serpent cult from her realm into downtown Oregon City. I think I might need a little more proof-”

Ping's eyes widened. He pointed out the window toward the bridge. ”What is that?”

A shadow emerged from the darkened arch over the bridge. Only movement separated it from the dark background as it took to the air, heading toward them.

”I can't make it out,” Mara said, eyeing it while she talked. ”Some kind of bird, maybe a seagull.”

”I don't think that's a bird,” Ping interrupted. ”It's much too large.”

Whatever it was, it dived toward Seventh Street, the road leading from the bridge directly to the base of the elevator. With the bridge and the blue bubble that encased it no longer behind it, it was impossible to see. Mara and Ping leaned into the windows, looking down on Seventh. A dark ma.s.s hurtled at them from below, flapping black wings, gaining speed.

A burst of flame enveloped the windows, cracking the one directly in front of them.

Mara stumbled; fell into the closed elevator doors. She grabbed the doorframe and steadied herself.

”Tell me, that wasn't-”

Two thuds shook the roof as something alighted above them. Claws sc.r.a.ped, s.h.i.+fted as it found a perch.

Ping gazed upward, tilting his head, listening. ”I'm afraid it was.” He looked down at Mara and said, ”A dragon.”

CHAPTER 62.

MARA CRINGED AS the metal bay door at the back of the elevator's observation deck clattered closed with a thud. She had hoped to get out of here without drawing the attention of the creature perched on its roof.

Ping turned to go back the way they came. Mara grabbed his arm, pulled him in the opposite direction. She pointed down the walkway in front of the promenade and began jogging. Ping glanced to his left, past the wrought iron into the blackened open drop-off of the bluff. He could barely make out the railroad tracks below, running parallel and a block closer to them than Main Street. From this vantage point, he could see lights streaking and reflecting off low clouds, but buildings blocked a direct view of their source on the bridge.

”Where are we going?” He looked over his shoulder to make sure someone, or something, was not following.

”There are stairs that go down the hill,” Mara said.

The walkway came to the junction of three roads and wrapped to the right back toward High Street, which they had crossed earlier. To the left, the road descended to Main Street. Mara stepped off the curb and crossed directly to a parklike area featuring a few old trees and a bench facing away from them. When they got to the other side, she pointed to a railing that descended into the ground.

”These stairs run along the hill, back the way we came, and end up at the base of the elevator,” she said, looking into the pitch black. The lights were out down there as well.

”Is it a tunnel?” Ping looked down the hole lined with gray stone.

”Yes. It pa.s.ses under the street here and comes out on the stairs. Come on.”

He followed her into the darkness. It took less than a minute to emerge. Mara paused on a concrete landing at the top of a staircase astride the bluff, wrapping back toward the elevator. Ping heard running water off to his left just a foot or so away. He stepped forward to stand next to Mara.

”Is there a waterfall around here?” He looked at her in the dark, could not see her expression. She didn't reply. ”Mara, are you all right?”

”Water, yes. There's water that runs down. It falls right here,” she said in a dry monotone, pointing over the left edge of the platform on which they stood, then tracing her finger along the ground and pointing off to the right. ”It pa.s.ses under where we are standing and continues down the hill that way.”

She didn't move. Ping leaned forward, trying to see her expression. ”Are you okay?”