Chapter 6
WRECKAGE
Ihopped on the magic elevator, taking it all the way to the bottom of the Monolith.
From there, I ran. I ran and I ran and I ran, retracing my steps all the way back to where I’d last seen Conner and Kato.
I spotted the room Capricorn had directed them to earlier.
I’d expected a meeting room or some other small room. What I found was a cafeteria.
Or at least what was left of a cafeteria.
The damage was extensive. Toppled chairs were everywhere.
Tables lay in pieces on the floor. Many of the large, glossy marble floor tiles were cracked.
The windows were cracked too. So were most of the glass display cases in front of the serving kitchen.
And a metal fuse box on the wall. I didn’t even know those could crack.
Plates were shattered. Cups were broken. Cutlery was scattered everywhere. The menu board dangled precariously from one steel cable, groaning as it swung slowly from side to side.
Kato and Conner were leaning against a refrigerator that was, miraculously, still standing. I hurried over to them.
“What happened here?” I asked them.
They both stared at me, their eyes wide. They looked so confused.
“He found us.”
“He? He who?” And then I realized what Kato was talking about. “The Masked Metamorph. Where is he?”
“Gone,” Kato told me.
“We fought him off,” Conner said. “Then he left.”
I breathed a sigh of relief.
Kato blinked, rubbing his head.
“Are you hurt?” I asked him.
“No.”
He was sure acting like he’d hit his head. They both were. But at least the black lines on Kato’s skin had faded. Conner must have managed to heal him before the Masked Metamorph had attacked them.
“I wonder what he wanted here,” I said.
“To steal magic. He had this on him.” Kato showed me something in his hand: a squishy ball. Light swirled around inside of it, pulsing.
I frowned at the ball. “That’s…weird.”
“Yes,” Kato agreed.
“The Monolith was made by the spirits. There have to be lots of powerful magical objects stored in this building, and the Masked Metamorph tried to steal this. Why? Why this object?”
Kato shook his head. “I do not know.”
Kato and Conner looked at each other, bewildered. It was so unlike them. So I took a closer look at both of them. That’s when I noticed the bruises on the backs of their necks and the cuts on their arms. It must have been a brutal battle.
“You’re bleeding,” I told them.
Conner touched his forehead. Kato did the same. Each one looked at the blood on his hand, then wiped it on his shirt.
“We’re fine,” Conner said.
“No, you’re not. Where are the medical supplies?”
Conner pointed at a pile of debris. Fantastic.
I grabbed their hands. “Ok, new plan. I’m taking you to Killjoy.”