Chapter One part Two

and time again. She was scared of virtually nothing, only space. Outer space, that is. She had set her mind on being a part of green peace as soon as she was of age. She was a good friend and lived life to the fullest. Although, she can get a bit feisty, and especially when it comes to protecting the planet and arguing with Marcus.

Ryan had quite long, shaggy blonde hair. He had light blue eyes and huge pupils. His hands were covered in red, itchy eczema, especially on the first joints of his fingers. When he woke up from a night's sleep, his hair would be a mass of knots, as it was now. He had a big smile, which made his cheeks look huge in photos. Since the recent sleepover he had with Summer, his eyes were deeply shadowed. He had a mass of orange freckles around his nose and a long scratch ran down his nose, one he had attained when he went walking through bushland last week.

Ryan was quite a big supporter in Summer's save the environment theory, but really, he couldn't be bothered. He was also a supporter in tennis and loved reading, especially books like Wolf Brother, Harry Potter and Eragon. He had quite a talent for writing, too. He had quite a knack for

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breaking the rules and catching colds, unlike Marcus, who was obsessed with hygiene and health.

Marcus had relatively long, brown hair with faded blonde foils. He had brown eyes and small

pupils. He had a mole at the back of his ear. He had brown studs of eyelashes and quite a small smile. He had bushy eyebrows and seemed to have a dent on the left side of his face. He had a wide face, but small chin, and a fine moustache.

Marcus would prefer to read than play violent video games and watch the television. He had poor eyesight, but didn't need glasses. He didn't have a talent, rather amused himself by what he called painting. He wasn't good at it, but he found it fun. His ancestors came from Japan, thus he decided to learn Japanese at school when they started in five weeks time. He was a kind-hearted young boy once you got to know him. And strangely, even though he is literally obsessed with germs, he can't help but get sick. Most likely because he has the worst immune system imaginable, what with it never having anything to deal with or toughen it up, which quite contradicts what I said earlier. But, anyway, who cares? You get what I mean.

Our story starts as these four friends climb over a rise in the unnaturally snowy landscape.

“We're almost there,” Ryan muttered.

“I should hope so!” Lydia snapped, “Marcus is slaving away back here because you woke me up in the middle of the night when I should be getting some well-deserved rest after a week of continual labour every night at Woolworths!”

“Don't use me as an excuse for you slacking off!” Marcus scolded, pushing Lydia over.

“Um, excuse me, but I'm really falling behind back here,” Summer shouted. Ryan continued walking, then turned back toward the exhausted figure of Lydia and asked, “Why do you even have a job, anyway? You're not even fourteen yet. You shouldn't even be allowed to have a job.” Lydia closed her eyes, as if pretending to be asleep, and muttered, “I don't want to talk about it.” But Ryan refused to give up.

“What, are you doing some kind of community service or something? You are, aren't you! What did you do? Is it 'cos of that time you--”

“Ryan, shut up!” Marcus snapped, “She said she doesn't want to talk about it, so just leave it at that! Every time she talks her head vibrates and it's driving me up the wall!”

“Oh, just because you're--”

“Guys, stop fighting!” Summer cut in, “We're supposed to be friends, and friends don't fight like this. Take a deep breath in... Very good, and out... Good again. Now, if Lydia doesn't want to talk about why she has a job at Woolworths, then so be it. Perhaps it's just because her mother is the manager--”

“Oh yes, of course you'd agree with her, granny!” Summer swerved around.

“Has someone followed us?”

“I mean you, Summer.”

“Is this because I play lawn bowls?”

“And badminton, and croquet!”

“At least I'm not a young man who dances ballet!”

“Oh, you're on the tip of the ice burg, Summer. In fact, I think you've fallen off the ice burg, and it was carried away by a wave and is now only a tiny dot on the horizon!”

“Oh, Marcus I didn't mean it. You just got on my nerves. I'm sorry, I must learn to turn the other cheek.”

“Well sorry just isn't good enough, Summer.”

“Well maybe it has to be sometimes.”

“Back in the sixteenth century, when the Black Death was on rampage, did the germs say 'sorry' and did that make the people better? No, it didn't!”

“We're here!” Ryan cried. While the friends fought they had climbed up a large hill and were now overlooking an enormous valley. Eucalyptus trees lined the perimeter, but grew no further than ten metres in from the edge.

“What are we supposed to be looking at?” asked Lydia, who had been standing on her own two feet ever since Marcus and Summer started arguing. Marcus and Summer now looked down

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disapprovingly at the valley.

That was before Summer's caught up, and she got a better look at the valley. Her face lit up, and she cried, “Oh my! Oh my! This is so exciting! Can you believe this natural occurring phenomenon? Can you see the way those eucalyptus trees fringe the valley, but seem unable to grow any further? This is so very amazing! Let us go and--”

“Shut up, Summer,” Ryan scolded as he pushed Summer over, “I just don't get it. Where on earth has it gone? It could not have just disappeared!” His friends had no idea what he was on about.

“Well, Ryan, my friend, I have not got a clue what on earth you are talking about. If you cannot see, I shall explain. The phenomenon has not gone, however, the trees have. That is the phenomenon. That is why you brought us all here.” She started down the slope, dragging her left foot behind her.

“Is there still nothing but something attached to your foot?” Ryan asked.

“Oh no, you don't get it. There is something stuck on my foot, but there's nothing stuck to my foot.”

“Just shut up and keep going, Summer. You don't what you're talking about.” Summer shrugged, and continued down the slope.

Ryan continued to stare in puzzlement. Where had the palace gone? It can't have just disappeared. But then Ryan's gaze was directed to the horizon.

The sky was getting lighter. It was dawn.

Ryan glanced at his watched. It read: one zero eight. So, eight past one, am. So why was the sun rising?

Marcus was also sure it was too early for the sun to be rising. Oh how he longed for a watch right now! And what was so important about an empty valley? Summer was getting all worked up about nothing.

Lydia thought this was an utterly stupid idea. There was absolutely no point to what they were doing. Ryan, that idiot! Why did he lead them out here to see an empty valley? Wow, that's so amazing. Well, at least Summer thought so.

Redeenka waded through the dark water, the moonlight showing her the way. She didn't care that her dress was getting wet, nor did she care that it was as cold as Hell in the water. Her parents sure did choose a great caravan park to stay in for the weekend. They were right next to the Great Barrier Reef. It was beautiful. And now Redeenka couldn't keep herself from it. She waded further out, the reef in sight. The sand underneath her feet thinned, and so she was standing on a rock. She waded farther and farther along the rock, until she reached an open abyss of water. She leaned over, and saw two colonies of coral branching out from a crag in the rock. Below them was a golden twinkle, barely visible underneath so much water. She took a deep breath- and dived underneath, slowly drifting down, down, and she passed through the coral...

And she was falling, down, down, down... and she was standing in front of a giant palace. And she could breath. She was standing not in water, but in air. She could talk, walk, breathe. And now she would explore this golden palace. Let the others have their fun, this was much better.

Summer struggled down the hill. Ugh! Whatever was attached to her foot, it was so annoying! Summer so enjoyed these beautiful eucalyptus trees. She passed underneath two eucalyptus trees, and raised her head to see she was in the shadow of something big, and heaving.

“Oh my! I didn't see this from up the top!”

Marcus, Lydia and Ryan heard Summer's scream, and ran down the hill, to see her standing just past the eucalyptus trees they just passed through. They looked up, and gazed in wonder.

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The glare was blinding. Drops of water fell onto their amazed face. They all squinted in the light.

“What the hell...?” wondered Lydia as she stared up at the heaving wall of ice. But then she felt why Summer had screamed. Around their feet was a puddle of water. The ice wall was falling down on them.

With a deafening groan, a split ran down the wall of ice. An ear-piercing creak a shard of ice fell down, and they all leaped back, the shard piercing the ground, just where Lydia used to be standing. Summer screamed and made the sign of the cross. Marcus did as well. Lydia wiped the sweat off her forehead.

“Oh my! I can't believe... Oh my! What on earth is that?” Summer asked. They all looked up to where she was pointing. There was a chunk of ice that had fallen off, and a huge gash gaping in the wall. Behind the ice was a shining gold surface.

“Oh my god!” Lydia exclaimed.

“That's amazing!” Marcus marveled.

“Oh my!” Summer wailed.

“So that's what it looks like from the outside!” exclaimed Ryan. That caused the others to frown confusedly.

“That's what what look like from the outside?” Summer asked.

“The palace! That's what I'm showing you!” Summer was obviously disappointed. But Lydia and Ryan weren't.

“Oh my god! That's, like, so cool!” Lydia exclaimed.

“We had better get back up the hill. When the ice melts it will kill us all,” suggested Ryan. The others nodded, so they headed back up the hill.

When they arrived at the top, Summer glanced at the rising sun. Was that a man standing in front of it, his hands raised into the sky?

Summer blinked and he was gone.

Lydia stamped her foot on the ground.

“Aargh! It disappeared again! How are we supposed to know when the bloody ice melts!” Lydia cried.

“Oh, Lydia, calm down. We shall go down and check it out, shan't we?” Summer said. Lydia nodded reluctantly.

“I guess you are quite right, Summer. Let's go!” So they all ran down the slope, through the two eucalyptus trees and stopped.

All of the snow and ice was gone. It was amazing.

Golden turrets rose high in the sky, until they were obscured by clouds. Two giant oak doors rose in front of them. The two handles were also a dragon-shaped and a serpent-shaped knocker, ruby eyes unnervingly piercing. Mosaiced windows stretched out all over. They could all tell that if they were inside the light that was spilling through the windows would create beautiful imprints on the floor.

Ryan cheered. Lydia's mouth dropped in shock, obviously not expecting she was being guided to a palace.

“When you said you were taking us to a cool place, I didn't think it would really be cool,” she gasped, “But I was obviously mistaken.” They all just stood there for a moment, taking in the breathtaking sight. Marcus was the one to break the silence.

“Redeenka should be here. Why on earth did you not let her come? She would've been great fun!”

“Oh, shut up about her!” Ryan scolded. They all slowly stepped slowly forward, snow crunching underneath their boots. A light wind stirred their clothes slightly as they walked. Summer pushed her hair behind her ears. Lydia tossed hers behind out of her eyes. Marcus pulled his beanies lower, nearly covering his eyes. And Ryan rubbed his eyes, an imprint of the stunning light reflected off

the palace. Soon they had reached it.

Lydia rushed to the huge oak doors and started pulling on the brass knocker. When the door

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didn't budge, Marcus rushed up to her, took hold of her waist and started pulling. Ryan and Summer did the same on the opposite door and soon the doors were sliding open, slowly but surely. The doors creaked open, swinging over the rocky ground.

That was when Marcus noticed the rocks on the ground. They were black, some red, some blue. But they all seemed shards of something larger. They were definitely not rocks from Canberra. And there was also no ground covered with rocks in the bushland of Canberra. It was all so very strange. He looked up and was about to tell the others, but the three had already dashed inside, the doors slowly creaking shut behind them. Marcus quickly ducked through the small gap, getting through just in time.

“How didn't I know this was here?” Lydia asked.

“I have no idea. I've never seen it in my life,” Ryan said.

“Did you guys notice the ground outside? It's covered with all these shiny rocks,” Marcus asked, nearly running to keep up with the others, except Summer of course, who he left to struggle behind the crowd.

“What the f*** are you on about?” Lydia asked.

“Oh my! Lydia, I am astounded that you would refer to such vile language!” Summer scolded, covering her mouth with her hand in shock. That was disgusting of Lydia.

“F*** f*** f*** f*** f***--” Summer covered her ears and the sound was gone.

“Well that shut her up.” Marcus and Ryan laughed. “C'mon, let's ditch her,” Lydia suggested. Ryan and Marcus laughed and rushed up the beautiful corridor.

Beautiful chandeliers hung from the ceiling, which was hidden behind a black abyss. About every five metres were two doors parallel from each other Light streamed through the moisaiced windows, creating dazzling displays of light through the air and on the red carpeted floor. The mosaics seemed to tell a story, but Ryan, Marcus and Lydia were too impatient to stop and check it out. When Ryan, Lydia and Marcus reached the end of the corridor, they turned around and saw Summer, just about at the door, struggling to walk, dragging her foot behind her.

“Hey you guys,” she called with exasperated breaths, “Wait up. This is really hard work. It might not look like it, but it is.”

“Oh, Summer, give us a break and shut up, will you?” Lydia shouted back, “We'll leave you behind.” A large creak rang out through the corridor.

Ryan, Marcus and Lydia froze in fear. Summer halted in her tracks. A bubbling sound, like the lava bubbling inside a volcano. Black goo started pulsating through eyes of humans in the mosaiced windows, which were glowing with black and white light. Another creak rang out. The mosaiced windows seemed to be moving, and the goo started gushing out. For a split second, time seemed to stop, and the goo hardened into jet black steel. More goo started gushing out, and hardened over the steel.

Summer screamed, and ducked into the nearest door, just as steel hardened over it. Marcus, Lydia and Ryan did the same, leaving the room to be filled with black steel.

Ryan collapsed, panting, on to the ground.

“What the heck just happened?” Lydia asked. A few strands of hair had fallen out of her ponytail. She brushed them out of her eyes.

“We need to find Summer,” Ryan said. Marcus ran ahead of them. “Well? What are we waiting for? Let's look!” Lydia got a chance to properly survey the room.

It was a simple, stone corridor, dimly lit by torches hanging on the wall. That meant there must be humans in the palace apart from them. That gave Lydia a cold shiver down her spine.

“Guys, look at the torches,” she remarked. She suddenly slipped on something on the floor, knocking her head on the stone wall. She shakily stood up, holding her throbbing head. Ryan leaned towards her.

“You alright?” She nodded, and steadied her gaze on Ryan.

“Good, now let's get going.”

Lydia paused, and looked at what she had slipped on. Whatever it was, it was gone, but in it's place was a shiny trail, like that of a snail. Lydia shook her head.

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“Ugh, I'm going mad. Hey guys, wait up!” She ran to keep up with the other two.

“Hey, Ryan I just realised,” said Marcus, “If Summer went through that door., it probably went to some hall like in Harry Potter, and there'd be windows at the front. Summer could easily break through them and escape. So all we need to do is find a way out of here.”

“Well, Marcus, maybe this palace isn't like the Harry Potter castle at all,” Lydia snarled, “Then, we would leave Summer in here to die.”

But Summer was having the time of her life. Frolicking through fields of grass, up to her waist. Whatever had been attached to her foot earlier on wasn't bothering her anymore.

Beautiful trees grew all around her. Weeping maples and willows, oaks, birch, rowan, etc. A babbling brook lay on the edge of the field, and directly in the centre of the field was a strangler fig. Strangely, apart from the trees, there was no life in this beautiful environment. Summer could spend days in here, just the moonlight to guide-- Moonlight?

Whatever happened to the sun? It was rising when they came into the palace. Summer felt a wrench of dread, as if someone had plunged a knife into her stomach and was twisting it. This palace wasn't normal. Now Summer truly understood. What had happened in that nightmare of hers...

Crack!

A branch snapped to her left. Clouds shadowed the moon. This place gave off an eerie effect.

A tap on her shoulder.

Summer swerved around. The fields were empty. The breeze that had once seemed so comforting now chilled her to the bone.

Breeze? In a palace?

Crack!

Summer screamed. Laughing... It was mocking her.

More screams...

Screams, blood-curdling screams...

Hooded figures...

The nightmare people...

Grasping death at her heel...

Laughter...

Darkness...

It was all over the second her head hit the ground. The root had pulled her to the edge of the field, to the base of a weeping maple tree. Blood streamed in the water, only to be swallowed up by the haunting blackness that was the water. Summer's body rested in a crag of the overground root system.

It was time. Time for the strangler fig to use her and the poor weeping maple as a host.

It was happening once again.

Lydia, Ryan and Marcus were deep in the palace now. They had been through a labyrinth of rooms, all unusual in their own way. A banquet room they had passed through had mounted heads hanging on the walls. But they just weren't normal.

Scaly beasts, with horns and formidable jaws, a furry elephant with tiny ears, A long, crocodile-like head, but obviously a mammal, just to name a few. Dinner was set on the long table at the centre of the room, as if a group of humans were just about to eat dinner, but decided not to.

Another room had a beautiful golden fountain in the middle, little drops of water splashing out onto the white floor.

One room appeared to be a grand sleeping quarters, with a soft four-poster bed laden with pink quilts in the middle. Lights that had been left on gave a stunning glow, lighting the way in such a dark room.

The room they were in now was a bone-chilling freezer room. The steady, chug, chug, chug, of a furnace reverberated off the metal walls, sounding much louder than it actually was. Blocks of ice

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were stacked up against the wall, and a river of ice was frozen in time in front of them. It led off into the darkness of this never ending room.

“It's freezing!” cried Marcus. And he was right. With only a small furnace in the corner to keep them alive, this room was unbearable.

Chug, chug, chug...

“Why the heck would someone put a furnace in a freezer room?” Lydia asked through chattering teeth.

...chug, chug, chug...

“Maybe it wasn't supposed to be a freezer room. Maybe something happened in here that made everything freeze,” Ryan suggested, pulling his scarf tighter around his neck.

...chug, chug, chug...

“Let's get out of here,” said Marcus, shivering uncontrollably, “Or we might get frostbite.” the others agreed, and they started making there way down the tunnel.

...chug, chug, chug...

They took a few more steps, their bodies stiff from the cold.

...chug, chug, chug...

Marcus noticed hundreds of little pipes all over the ground criss-crossing over each other, puffs of warm air steaming out every now and then.

...chug, chug, chug...

Ryan, Lydia and Marcus continued walking through this cold, cold room. A creeping sense of dread crept down Marcus' spine.

...chug, chug, chug...

He shivered, and shook the feeling off. That was when he heard something. It was kind of like... like a whistling sort of noise, quite like wind, although Marcus couldn't tell, because it was muffled by the ice.

...chug, chug, chug...

“Ugh, what's that?” he asked.

...chug, chug, chug...

“What's what?” asked Ryan.

...chug, chug chug...

“That noise. What is it?” said Marcus.

...chug, chug, chug...

“Oh, you mean the furnace?” Lydia asked, turning to look at Marcus.

...chug, chug, chug...

Marcus pulled his beanies down further. “No, not that noise. It's coming from up ahead. Let's check it out.”

...chug, chug, chug...

The other two nodded, two cold to speak, and the ran as best they could to see what the noise was. It had grown considerably colder in the room since when they entered.

...chug, chug, chug...

Soon Ryan could hear whatever noise Marcus could hear. It was a kind of whistling noise, like wind, but it was muffled by the ice. Gradually it got louder, until soon, Marcus felt biting cold at his face. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. It was as if the cold had frozen his voice box. He turned to see Lydia and Ryan with their mouths gaping open like fish, and pushing their heads forward slightly, a frustrated expression on their face. Marcus could tell they were trying to speak.

...chug, chug, chug.,.

They walked farther, and farther still, the room always getting colder. Walking now seemed like an impossible task, and every now and then, Marcus realised he wasn't walking, but looked down to see that he was. They had to get out of here, and soon.

...chug, chug, chug...

The noise was growing louder, and so was the biting cold on Marcus' face. Suddenly their

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footsteps seemed to be much louder than they were before. They echoed through Marcus' steps as they moved forwards, always forwards, down a seemingly never-ending room.

...chug, chug, chug...

A beautiful warmth settled over Marcus. He couldn't feel the cold anymore. Couldn't feel his toes or legs. Couldn't feel his fingers or arms. All he could feel was that warmth...

...chug, chug, chug...

...a warm, comforting breeze...

...chug, chug, chug...

...he was on an island...

...chug, chug, chug...

...the waves lapping over his feet...

...chug, chug, chug...

...warm waves...

...chug, chug, chug...

...but the waves were shrinking back, out of his reach...

...chug, chug, chug...

...they were gone...

...chug, chug, chug...

...no more beach...

...chug, chug, chug...

...no more sand...

...chug, chug, chug...

...no more water...

...chug, chug, chug...

...only heat...

...chug, chug, chug...

...only burning heat...

...chug, chug, chug...

...death.

Marcus screamed in agony. His arms were wrapped around Ryan's neck, his head resting on Ryan's shoulder. His feet were dragging along the cold, cold ground. His face was black, and it seemed to have a sheen of wax painted over it. Ryan and Lydia had nearly lost hope in him, until now.

Chug, chug, chug...

Marcus screamed again. Ryan and Lydia heard it echoing through the valley.

...chug, chug, chug...

The noise Marcus had heard when he was still conscious was actually wind blowing into the room from a shattered window. The wind was incredibly cold, for they were at such a high altitude.

...chug, chug, chug...

Lydia lay on the floor, too cold to even shiver.

...chug, chug, chug...

Ryan took a horrifyingly hard step, his foot seemed to weigh one hundred tonnes.

...chug, chug, chug...

Another step, closer to Lydia.

...chug, chug, chug...

Another step, and Ryan was standing next to Lydia.

...chug, chug, chug...

Now Ryan kicked Lydia. It wasn't with much force at all. But to Lydia, it felt like a knife was being stabbed into her.

...chug, chug, chug...

It may have hurt, but Lydia knew it what it meant. She tried as hard as she could to stand up.

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But she couldn't.

...chug, chug, chug...

She screamed inside her mind. She was frozen. She couldn't move. Ryan still had a chance. She didn't like to think negatively, but it was hopeless. For Marcus and herself. They would die here, in this palace that they didn't even know existed.

...chug, chug, chug...

The only thing keeping them alive is that idiotic furnace, as it is.

...chug, chug, chug...

'This is a nightmare,' she thought.

...chug, chug--

Now it's a nightmare.

There is a reflex every human has. It is called Fight or Flight. What it basically means is, if someone is faced with danger, they will either stand and face it, or they will run as fast as they can to escape from it. This is what happened just when the furnace stopped.

Lydia stood up, despite the cold, and glanced down the room. A wave of ice was roaring towards them. Lydia and Ryan screamed and ran. Ryan was lagging behind, for he was carrying Marcus.

“Drop him!” Lydia screamed, “He's dead!”

Suddenly, Marcus screamed again. His hands pulsed with heat around Ryan's neck. Ryan nearly dropped him, but stumbled back to balance, and kept running.

All of a sudden, another wave of ice came into view, roaring towards them from the opposite direction.

They screamed, and turned, running towards the side of the room. A door came into view, and Lydia breathed a sigh of relief.

But it wasn't over yet.

Ice started growing from the ceiling, and the two dodged icicles falling from the ceiling, as sharp as a butcher's knife. The door was getting nearer. So was the ice. And, more icicles were falling. It was looking like they weren't going to make it.

Now, they were bending low to the ground, the ice from the ceiling pressing against their backs, their backs wet and cold. They were at the door. Lydia swung it open and ducked through. But Ryan still had about three metres to go.

Time seemed to slow. Ryan ran, pushed himself as hard as he could to get to the door. A groan from up above. Marcus was awake.

“Where am I?” he mumbled. Ryan turned to look at him, and then it all happened so fast.

Marcus slipped off Ryan's back. Ryan caught that last glimpse of Marcus' panic-stricken face, and tumbled through the open door. The door slammed. The strange black steel coalesced over it.

It was all over. Ryan had made it. Lydia had made it. But Marcus was dead.

Ryan collapsed on the ground, weeping shamelessly. He had lost his best friend... and it was all his fault.

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