But Jonah could hear JB calling from the lighter part of the cave, “Angela! What happened?” before breaking off to warn Katherine, “Young lady! Really—you can’t press any of those buttons! You don’t know what they do!”
“What’s going on?” Jonah hissed at Angela. “Tell me!”
She grimaced.
“There isn’t time to talk. Besides, you should hear it from the experts, not me.” She nudged him. “Go on.”
Jonah started to back out of the darkness.
“A-hem,” Angela said. She stepped in front of him and moved her hand over his so that the end of the Taser was pressed into her ribcage. “Don’t you dare set that off now—you’re too close,” she whispered. “But please, make it look like it’s possible that you captured me.”
“Angela?” JB called again, sounding even more worried.
Angela dropped her hand from the Taser. Together, Jonah and Angela stepped out into the light.
“He got your weapon?” JB said incredulously. “He overpowered you?”
“He’s a very strong young man,” Angela said defensively. “Stronger than he looks.”
Well, that was an insult, wasn’t it? Jonah dug the Taser more deeply into Angela’s ribs. He shoved her forward, more roughly than he’d intended.
“Maybe not quite so realistic,” she muttered.
“Give the ropes to Chip,” Jonah ordered.
“Uh, Jonah, I’m not a Boy Scout,” Chip said. “My dad said he didn’t have time for all those camp-outs, so I don’t know anything about tying knots, and—”
“Here,” Jonah said, slapping the Taser into Chip’s hand. “Shoot her if you have to.”
Anguish spread over Angela’s face. Jonah could tell she wasn’t acting now, either, because it was Chip holding the Taser, and there was no way Jonah could signal Chip to let him know that she was really on their side, without JB’s seeing as well.
Jonah tied Mr. Hodge’s and Gary’s wrists and ankles. They lay calmly now, their eyes half-closed. Jonah couldn’t tell if they were still dazed, or if they were faking it, biding their time. He tied the knots as quickly as he could.
He walked toward JB, ropes still dangling from his hands.
“Not me, too?” JB asked, with an ingratiating grin. “I think you’ve gotten confused. Remember—I was the one trying to save all of you.”
“What were you saving us from?” Jonah asked in a dull voice. “What were you saving us for?”
“Tell your sister to give me the Elucidator, and I’ll explain,” JB said.
“Explain, and maybe we’ll decide that you deserve the Elucidator,” Jonah said.
He looped the rope around JB’s wrists and tied his firmest knot yet. JB didn’t resist. Then Jonah tied JB’s ankles and Angela’s ankles and wrists.
Someone was sniffling behind him.
“Oh, please.” It was Ming, the girl who’d temporarily been a human shield. “Just open the door and let us go to our parents. My cell phone isn’t working—I’ve been trying and trying to call the police—once we’re out of the cave, I’m sure it will work right….”
Jonah hadn’t even thought about cell phones, but now he noticed that just about every kid had one out. One boy near the back bench kept stabbing a finger at his phone three times, waiting, stabbing three times again, waiting….
Nine-one-one, Jonah thought. Of course. His knees almost gave way at the thought that a bunch of police officers in dark uniforms would soon come swarming into the cave, saving them all, saving Jonah from having to make any more choices, any more mistakes.
Then Jonah realized that the reason the boy kept stabbing at the phone was that none of his calls was going through.
“Sure,” he told Ming. “You find a way to open that do#8744; we’re all out of here.”
“No! Don’t!” JB shouted.
“Oh, let them try,” Gary said groggily from the ground. “There’s a keypad by the entryway. The code is twenty-one ST.”
Was it a trick?
Jonah turned back to JB.
“What will happen if we try that code? If we open the door?” he demanded.
“You’ll see…. You’ll find out too much, all at once,” JB said. “It might scare you.”
“It might scare you”? After everything that’s already happened, JB’s worried about scaring us?
Jonah decided to take his chances.
He rushed toward the entryway, and it was as if he’d become the Pied Piper now. Most of the other kids shoved in behind him. His finger shook as he pressed in 2 1 and then ST. An image was growing in his mind of what he might see when the door slid back. Maybe, somehow, Gary and Mr. Hodge had already slipped them into the future. They’d step out of the cave, and all the trees would be go#8800; the newly built houses would be ancient and falling down. That would be scary, but Jonah was braced for it.
The door began moving, slowly this time, like it was an ancient boulder covered with a thousand years of moss. As soon as there was a crack between the door and the wall, Jonah darted toward it, peeking out. He peeked out and saw…
Nothing.
THIRTY
Behind him, other kids began to scream in terror, but Jonah could only stare. It wasn’t dark beyond the cave door—darkness would be something; darkness would mean that, with a little light, there’d be plenty to see. Darkness would be comforting, actually. This was so much worse. There was just enough light filtering out from the cave to show that there were no trees anymore, no houses, no path, no rocks, no clouds, no sky. Nothing. It was like being deep in outer space, so far away from everything else that he couldn’t even see any stars.
“We’re in a black hole!” someone screamed behind him.
Automatically, instinctively, Jonah hit the keypad again: 2 1 ST. He hoped it was like the garage-door opener at home, where the same code worked for opening and closing. Mercifully, the door began to roll shut again.
“It’s not a black hole,” another kid was explaining, sounding perfectly rational. “In a black hole the gravity would crush us.”