CHAPTER 63.

MARA STEPPED FROM the stairwell into the tunnel, a wide underground ramp below the railroad tracks, leading from the elevator doors and up to Seventh Street. Waiting for Ping to catch up, she turned right and leaned against the elevator doors. From the mouth of the tunnel, indirect light flashed and flickered, reflected off the white tiles lining the walls. Whatever was happening was just one block away-Seventh Street became the bridge immediately after it crossed Main.

Ping took the final step into the tunnel, turned to Mara. "You've been using your abilities quite a bit recently. Are you feeling tired?"

"I'm fine. Let's keep going. We're almost there."

"Maybe we should take a break and let you rest before we continue."

"Straight ahead, one block." Mara tilted her chin up the dark ramp. She pushed off the doors and started up the sloping floor.

Ping fell in step beside her. Looking out of the corner of his eye, he could not tell if she was flickering. The pulsing blue lights flooding into the tunnel made it impossible to tell.

"Mara, we don't know the ramifications if you overextend yourself. We don't even understand what happens to you when you wink out. We don't know where you go, if anywhere."

"I'll rest after I get Mom back."

Mara stopped at the end of the tunnel, at street level. Light flashed, receded and then intensified. Building facades appeared, disappeared in a blink. One minute the street was ablaze, the next obscured in night. Her eyes could not keep up; ghost images lingered from one burst of light and were overwhelmed by another. She rubbed them, trying to focus.

A rumble, a subtle quaking, rippled through the ground. Something eclipsed the light. A shadow enveloped them, and Ping pulled Mara back into the tunnel. She dropped the hand shading her eyes, looking irked at Ping. Wide-eyed, he gazed into the street.

With a roll of its armored shoulders, the dragon lowered its wings, allowing ambient blue light from the bridge to flood back over the entrance to the tunnel, illuminating its countenance.

Mara gasped, staggered back a step and placed an open hand against the wall to steady herself.

The ribbed wings loomed over its ma.s.sive back, folding into a leathery dome spanning Seventh Street, arching more than two stories into the air. It stood in the center of the street, facing the tunnel. It lowered its head, peered into the opening.

A brow of bone partially eclipsed the dragon's red half-moon eyes, sweeping up its skull, erupting into a crown of swept-back horns. Every feature ended in a point. Webbed spines flared from its jowls forming a gristly mane around its face. Spikes bearded its pointed jaw. The face of a reptilian goat. Viscous lips, stretched back to its scaly cheekbones, glistened and roiled, flashing glimpses of fangs the size of pickets. Its nostrils flared, expelled two streams of vapor.

A three-toed talon crashed down in front of the tunnel, turning a curb to gravel and spidering cracks across the sidewalk. A nearby parking sign listed and fell to the ground with a clatter. The creature craned its head toward the noise and bellowed, rattling shop windows on both sides of the street.

The dragon lumbered forward, knocking down a darkened lamppost with its right wing. Turning, it swept its left wing forward, and flattened two signs and a parking-payment kiosk. The creature jutted its face toward them, dipping its head lower as if to get a better look, sampled the air with its damp snout, parted its jaws and let loose another scream-this time directly at them, spewing flame across the front of the tunnel entrance.

A hot wind knocked them farther into the tunnel before flames could reach them. Staggering to their feet, they pulled halfway back to the elevator doors.

"It looks like this path is blocked," Ping said in the dark.

"No. There's no other way," Mara said. "My mother is out there, and I'm not leaving without her. Besides, our only other option is to run back up the stairs, and who's to say that thing won't come after us anyway. We have to face it."

"What do you propose?"

"The dragon looks slow on the ground. I'm pretty sure I can outmaneuver him if I can get out of here. I just need to make sure I don't get toasted."

"You can't run out into the open."

"That's exactly what I'm going to do. You keep saying I can shape reality. If I can't shape this reality, what's it good for?"

"That doesn't mean you can't get killed," he said.

"I know that, but we don't have any other option," she said, turning toward the end of the tunnel.

Outside, the dragon backed up a step and sat on its haunches in the middle of the street, staring down. Mara stepped out of the tunnel, crossed the sidewalk and walked into the street directly in its path. It did not move.

Its eyes tracked something over her shoulder.

She glanced back.

Ping bolted out of the tunnel, running to the right side of Seventh Street.

The dragon stood up and roared, blew fire and stomped after Ping, sending tremors through the asphalt. Storefront windows shattered. Gla.s.s cascaded into Ping's path. He zigzagged along the sidewalk, holding up his right arm against flying gla.s.s and his left against the creature stalking him.

"I'll keep him distracted," Ping shouted, bending to pick up a toppled green-and-white road sign off the sidewalk. "Hurry."

Mara ran after Ping. He waved the street sign at her. "No, go down the other side of the street. Go to your mother."

"I can't just leave you here," she said and ran to him. Ping pulled her back toward the building where they crouched under a canvas awning. He lifted the heavy sign and charged out into the open, waving it like a sword, smacking the dragon's underbelly. The dragon reared on its hind legs, spread its wings and blew a torrent of fire that engulfed Ping. His body split the flame into two streams that licked at Mara. The awning evaporated in a puff of ash. Ping exploded into a cloud of dust.

The dragon dropped forward, extending its head into the spreading cloud and blinked. It sniffed the air, tilted its snout sideways and inhaled deeply, drew in some of the particles. c.o.c.king its head, it swallowed, a large bulge bobbing up and down its scaly throat. It jutted its head deeper into the cloud and inhaled, using both its mouth and snout. Soon the cloud was gone. The dragon swallowed again.

Closing its eyes, the dragon sneezed and snorted while shaking its head. After a low growl and a wet cough, it opened its eyes, glared at Mara. It sidestepped, centering itself on her, roared and spewed a torrent of fire at her.

Mara dived into the center of the street and rolled until she hit the curb on the far side, just below a darkened streetlight. She could feel the steps of the dragon reverberating the ground. She looked up to see it turn toward her. The dragon spread its wings and screamed into the sky. Lowering its head, it fixed its red eyes on Mara and lumbered toward her, sending shivers through the street. She backed up and fell over a fire hydrant. She scooted along the sidewalk, crab-walking on her hands and feet as the dragon swept a wing toward her, striking the streetlight, causing it to fall into the street like a felled tree.

The dragon reared its head into the air, inhaling, its chest expanding. Mara raised her arm and looked around for somewhere to hide. The fire hydrant caught her eye. It blurred into a lattice of pixels. The dragon jutted its head forward and spewed fire across the sidewalk. Swinging its head back and forth, it swept flame over the fronts of three shops. Windows exploded and hot air blew back toward the street. The fire hydrant disintegrated, and a geyser of water exploded into the air, showering the smoldering jowls of the dragon. It shook its head, backing away from the fountain of water. Roaring with confusion, the dragon flapped its wings, kicking up a tempest that blew down another streetlight and several more street signs. Holding up her arm to block flying debris, Mara staggered to her feet, but a wall of wind pushed her back the way she came until her calves struck a bench that stood off to the side of the entrance to the tunnel leading to the elevator. She collapsed onto the bench, ducked her head against the wind and held on.

The bench began to shake.

Mara raised her head, looked down Seventh Street. The dragon, its wings swept behind its body, its head tucked down almost to the pavement and its lips pulled back in a snarl, charged toward her. It emitted a scream and leaped into the air, flinging itself at her. A ball of flame blossomed before the low-flying serpent as it approached.

She jumped to her feet and held her hands in front of her.

The dragon froze. It hung suspended in the air, hovering over the road's center line, behind an unmoving, unfurling ball of fire, stopped in front of the elevator tunnel as if it were an exotic tractor trailer waiting to make a turn onto Railroad Ave.

Mara walked up to it, reached out to touch the frozen flame, jerked back her hand. Hot. She rubbed her fingers and looked down at them. They flickered several times. Movement out of the corner of her eye distracted her. A flame at the edge of the suspended fireball flitted back and forth in the wind, like a candle. Then something emitted a low, almost imperceptible swooshing sound.

Mara's eyes widened, and she dropped to her knees.

The fireball flew over her back and slammed into the cement wall at the front of the tunnel, exploding into a cloud of smoke and ash, into which the dragon flew, crashing into the wall, sending tremors through the ground as the wall and the tunnel collapsed. A roar shook the air. Dust and smoke billowed up the side of the bluff, then rolled over and fell onto Seventh Street. Flapping and sc.r.a.ping sounds came from the haze. The tangled metal bench she had just sat on now flew out of the cloud, landing in the center of the street with a clang next to a downed streetlight.

Mara backed away, looked over her shoulder through the spray of water still spewing from the hydrant toward the blue lights and the bridge. The way was clear. She turned and ran for it.

After pa.s.sing through the fountain of water, Mara slowed to step over a fallen streetlight and to dodge the remains of a parking-payment kiosk blocking the center of the street. As she cleared the debris, she looked around. The roadway had been gouged and clawed into ribbons; the curbs and sidewalks lay in piles of rubble. Shop awnings hung in smoldering tatters. Gla.s.s littered the street, reflecting flashes of blue from pulses emanating from the bridge on the next block.

The ground shook three times and stopped.

Mara turned back toward the elevator. The dust and smoke was clearing, but with the indirect light, the spraying hydrant and the haze, it was impossible to see the dragon. It wasn't making another dash at her. She continued toward the bridge, keeping her eyes down trying to navigate the uneven terrain. Her shoulder b.u.mped into the charred remains of a small tree rooted in a sidewalk planter, smearing charcoal on her sleeve. She wiped at it absentmindedly when something ahead eclipsed the light from the bridge. A quake rippled through the ground, setting off a clatter of debris. A stiff wind blew down the street. Mara raised her arm to block dust from her eyes.

The dragon stood in the intersection of Main and Seventh, directly in front of the bridge. It screamed into the air and spread its wings, knocking the traffic light-suspended on a metal arm over Main Street-off its foundation, sending it tumbling into a beige brick office building at the corner. Bricks and masonry showered to the ground; dust wafted into the intersection. The dragon craned its head out of the billowing cloud and spewed a torrent of flame down at Mara.

She raised her hands and grimaced as the blaze flowed around her, not touching her skin. Her arms flickered; she began to feel light-headed. The fire abated as the dragon took another breath, its head rearing back. Mara kept her arms outstretched, stared up at the creature, focused on its head. One of its horns blurred. The dragon howled and shook its head, sending a smattering of pixels flying into the street. It stomped in place, sending cracks shooting across the pavement to the base of another traffic light, toppling it across Main. Jutting its face to within ten feet of her, the dragon spewed flame again. Mara raised her hands. An image of the spinning bowling ball came into her mind's eye. She spread her fingers, turned her palms inward and pantomimed holding a ball in front of her. The flame arched before her, filled the s.p.a.ce between her hands and spun in the air, forming a ball of fire. She raised it above her head and heaved it, sending it drilling into the dragon's chest. A fountain of light and flame burst from the wound, shooting into the sky, igniting power lines above the street.

The fire in the dragon's chest spread throughout its torso, consumed its body until it appeared to be a winged pyre bent on the destruction of downtown Oregon City. It rose into the air, hovered twenty feet above the business district and exploded into a shower of glowing orange cinders.

When the remains of the dragon had fallen away, a cloud of dust continued to swirl in the smoky air, descending slowly to the intersection of Main and Seventh. Mara could barely see it, but her heart skipped a beat. The particles coalesced, became more distinct. They took the shape of a man but continued to swirl, refused to solidify. The dust dispersed again, scattering in the air above the street. After swirling for several seconds, the particles organized again, moved in waves like two flocks of birds headed in opposite directions. It spread out over the width of the street, coalesced and darkened.

It solidified.

Into the dragon.

It raised its head and spewed a column of flame into the sky. Turning away from Mara, it swept its tail across the sidewalk where she stood, knocking her across Main into the side of the beige brick office building. The dragon dashed down Main Street sending shocks through the pavement and launched into the air, flying straight up, arching vertically and swooping back toward the elevator. After two strokes of its wings, it landed on the observation deck at the top of the bluff.

Mara looked up at it. "Good-bye, Ping."

It wailed and spit a plume of fire at the night.

CHAPTER 64.

FOG AND DUST swirled around Mara's legs as she crossed Main Street to approach the narrow entryway to the bridge. It was barely wide enough for two cars traveling in opposite directions to pa.s.s simultaneously. Stepping over a toppled weight-limit sign with an ill.u.s.tration of three different size trucks, she stared up at one of the glowing obelisks pulsing atop the heavy cement bal.u.s.trade that ran along the right side of the bridge. Gla.s.s crunched under her feet. The remains of large metal-and-gla.s.s light fixtures littered the pavement. She made a point of not getting too close, wondering if the column emitted something more dangerous than light. A subtle hum rose and fell as light moved through it. A matching column glowed across the street, less than thirty feet away, on the other side of the bridge's entrance. Mara stepped between them onto the yellow line dividing the narrow road that rose between a green stucco restaurant on the right and a brick office building on the left into the open air that spanned the Willamette River.

She could see only a short distance up the ramp. Vapor filled the road between the bridge's walkways and bal.u.s.trades on either side. The pulsing of obelisks and strobes coming from the center of the bridge illuminated the mist, making it even more opaque.

She stepped onto the bridge now, staring intently at the center line, trying not to think about the river below as she walked up the rise. Something skittered along the cement bal.u.s.trade to her left, beyond the pedestrian walkway. Her head snapped toward the sound; whatever it was scurried over the edge, out of sight. A clicking sound emitted from the mist. Another something moved to the right, stirring the fog, sending eddies of dust swirling toward her. At first she saw nothing; then two pins of red light pierced the gloom and grew more defined, into floating orbs. They peered at her, tracked her. They stopped when she stopped. A high-pitched cackle sliced through the air. Mara shivered. The eyes bobbed up and down, in sync with the rhythms of the taunting laughter.

After a few more steps, she lunged into the fog toward them.

A foot-long black salamander crouched on the cement bal.u.s.trade, staring at her. It reared onto its hind legs, flicked its tongue and hissed. The sides of its head flared into a bloodred fan two feet wide. Mara tensed. The creature bound away toward Main Street.

Stepping back onto the road, something wriggled beneath her foot. A red python writhed under her shoe; its tail whipped around, slapping her calf. She jumped back, releasing its head. The creature coiled, then jutted into the air, less than a foot from her face, its flicking tongue inches from her nose. She raised a hand.

The snake dissolved into a shower of pixels.

Clicking and scratching surrounded her. Caws and screeches came from farther away. Something wet slid around in the fog.

It occurred to her that the thunderclaps they had heard earlier had stopped at some point. The blue lights coming from the center of the bridge, above the river, reflected more steadily in the mist. They were no longer coming in bursts of blinding intensity. Looking back, she could see the silhouette of the dragon perched at the top of the elevator, spreading its wings but not launching into the air.

She continued along the yellow line.

Until it disappeared.

At first she thought the wisps of vapor had obscured the fluorescent line, then supposed it simply had not been painted the entire length of the bridge. When the roadway rippled, she understood. An undulating carpet of snakes filled both lanes between the raised walkways flanking the bridge. The leading edge reared up from the pavement. Dozens of diamond-headed serpents-some barely more than worms, others thicker than tree trunks-jutted forward, fangs exposed, tongues flicking. A chorus of hisses fused into a loud drone, punctuated by spits, snaps and rattles.

Mara raised her hands.

The sea of serpents parted. Snakes flowed over the raised walkways, writhing en ma.s.se up the cement bal.u.s.ters on each side of the bridge. The hard edges of the bridge now writhed. Wrapping themselves through openings in the bal.u.s.trades, larger serpents levered their heads into the air high above the road, creating a lattice for the smaller snakes to climb. They wove themselves together into a serpent-lined dome arching and glistening over the road ahead.

"Great," she said aloud.

She edged into the glowing blue fog, crouching through the writhing pa.s.sageway. Heads separated from the undulating roof, bobbed and weaved toward her, stretching downward to get a look or a whiff. All she could see clearly was the yellow line on the asphalt, the wet scaly sheen rippling in the archway above and the bright blue light ahead.

The light intensified.

The fog thickened.

She quickened her pace, was about to break into a jog when something low on the road ahead moved; a shadow shifted in her direction. She stopped so suddenly she pitched forward into the gloom and caught a glimpse of a large gaping mouth lined with teeth. Getting her balance, she stepped backward onto something soft. The tunnel of snakes had closed behind her. It was now a wall.

A large ma.s.s skittered, scratched on the road ahead, heavily enough that Mara could feel it thumping through the pavement. A jaw snapped, up from the ground. Leaping out of the fog two feet ahead of her, a flat-headed, craggy-skinned alligatorlike thing flung itself forward, growling. Picking itself up on stubby legs, it ran for her feet, snapping. She backed up into the writhing mat of snakes, felt several wind themselves around her shins. She kicked, screamed. Something slid from behind, around her waist. The alligator-thing lunged forward again.

She raised her hand to ward it off and a bolt of lightning shot out of her palm, striking the creature on the head. It exploded in a ball of flame and disappeared in a cloud of ash.

She turned on the ma.s.s of snakes behind her and held out her hands. Bolts flew from both palms. Dozens ignited, exploded in a hail of sparks and flame. The rest pulled back, retreating to the walkways and farther down the road.

"Enough." The command echoed in the gloom ahead.

Mara recognized the voice. It was her mother's.

CHAPTER 65.

THE PAVEMENT SHOOK beneath Mara's feet as she advanced through the glowing mist toward the center of the bridge. Trembles came in waves, powerful enough to cause her to hold out her hands for balance. A metallic screech echoed as a streetlight fell across the roadway, extending beyond the edge of the bridge and snapping in two. The bottom portion lay in her path, propped over the road by the bal.u.s.trades. She stooped to pa.s.s under the metal pole, keeping her eye on two serpents slithering across it.

After she cleared the obstacle, she looked beyond, peering through streams of mist. Before her stood a transparent blue barrier, a wall of static between her and the center of the bridge. From a riverbank or some other vantage point, she was sure it looked like a giant blue bubble encasing the bridge, but from this perspective, it was a wall of blue light that prevented her from moving forward.

Just inside the bubble stood four obelisks, two on each side of the road, strobing from base to tip like the pair at the entrance, thrumming in time with the waves of illumination coursing through the fog wafting outside the electric barrier. In the center of the road stood a block of stone, six feet wide and four feet tall, the same gray as the bridge's superstructure, equidistant to the obelisks.

An altar.

More metal and gla.s.s shards littered the roadway at its base, the remains of light sconces previously mounted to the obelisks. The metal fixtures and gla.s.s clattered, jangled against the asphalt as quakes rippled through the bridge.

Mara reached out and touched the barrier with her fingertips. An electrical snap split the air. A gaseous ripple of darker blue expanded in circular bands through the wall from where she had touched it. Ozone filled the air. Mara could feel the hair on her arms rise, but felt no shock. She pressed her palms against it. She sensed a resonance, heard a deepening hum the harder she pushed. It resisted her.