Balance Keepers #1: The Fires of Calderon Read Online Free Page B

getting dimmer.
    “Man, I wish this dog would sit still,” Albert said.
    The thought of everything going pitch-dark again got Albert moving in a hurry. As the light from Farnsworth’s eyes dimmed more and more, Albert made his way expertly through the tangle of thick roots. More than once he had to climb up toward the ceiling to pass through, or slither through the middle like a snake. And just about the time Farnsworth’s pilot light went out, Albert dropped down next to the dog.
    He was about to scratch Farnsworth behind the ears again when a sound rang out from his left, where the tunnel turned sharply against the wall of dirt. It was a terrible, shrill squeal, like a door creaking on rusted hinges. Albert’s heart stopped, right there in his chest.
    A few feet ahead of Albert, where the tunnel finally ended, a ribbon of light escaped from the bottom of a closed door. There were shadows inside, moving back and forth.
    Someone else was in the tree.

CHAPTER 4
The Path Hider
    A lbert had been taught all his life not to open closed doors, especially if he did not know what was behind them.
    But he’d already broken that rule once, and given the circumstances, it only made sense to break it a second time. He revved up Farnsworth’s eyeballs, a trick he was starting to really get the hang of, and pointed the dog in the direction of the sliver of light. There were no roots to avoid on the short path between him and the door, so he arrived a little faster than maybe he’d wanted.
    “Are we doing this?” Albert whispered, looking down at Farnsworth, who was scratching at the door to get in. Albert took a deep breath, recataloged all the terrible decisions that had brought him to this moment, and reminded himself that there was no way out. He starved to death inside of a tree or he forged ahead—those were his options.
    Instead of a handle, the door had an outline of a human hand, like it had been carved in, just waiting for someone to press his palm to it. Albert lifted his hand and held it right in front of the handprint. For a second, nothing happened, and Albert let out a breath he hadn’t even realized he was holding. But just as he was about to pull his hand away, something changed. There was a hiss, then a click, and a tremble from somewhere inside of the door. Before Albert could react, the door swung open, and a strange orange light shone from within. Whoever had been there before was gone; the space behind the door was empty.
    Farnsworth stepped inside and sat down on the floor of an orange platform, wagging his tail like this was any ordinary day, in a very ordinary place. The platform wasn’t large. It seemed to have space enough to hold a few people standing side by side, and so Albert stepped on it, too.
    “Now what?” Albert asked Farnsworth. The dog barked, and as soon as he did, the platform began to move.
    Down and down it went, deeper and deeper under the forest outside of Herman, Wyoming. Wind rushed up into Albert’s face, and his ears popped the way they did on the airplane when he’d left New York. There was a very real part of Albert that began to think he was either dreaming a really unusual dream or he was the dumbest boy in the world. Those were the only two ways he could imagine ending up in such an outrageous situation.
    The platform slowed down quickly, like an elevator coming to a basement floor. Albert stepped off, and found himself standing in a room crisscrossed with copper pipes that twisted and coiled in all directions. Some of them were as fat around as telephone poles; others were thin like a garden hose, wrapped with wires and cables. Steam hissed out of the pipes, filling the place with a damp heat that made Albert’s shirt cling to his skin.
    It’s like a mechanical forest, Albert thought. He found himself frozen there in front of the platform, unable to move. Where am I?
    Farnsworth circled around Albert’s feet, yipping and hopping like he was home and couldn’t wait to