Ted grimaced in frustration, looking away and fingering his wand. Finally, he turned back. "You go," he said reluctantly. "I'll guard Corsica, but we won't leave until you come back, understood? Besides, it's just Petra down there, right? You'll be able to talk sense into her. She'd never hurt anyone."
James nodded, but he wasn't at all sure that Ted was right. Ted hadn't had the dreams. "Right. Let's go." He took a deep breath and turned toward the ancient stairway.
"And James," Ted called, "tell Petra the same thing she told me! This isn't the way! Tell her I said that, all right?"
James nodded, and then plunged down the stone steps, his friends following closely.
19. THE SACRIFICE
James illuminated his wand as he trotted down the ancient stone staircase. Rose and Albus followed, eyes wide, with Zane and Ralph in the rear. James' phantom scar had been aching ever since that horrible burst of pain when he'd moved to kiss Petra; now, as he entered the dark chamber, the ache increased to a throbbing pulse.
"I was in the Chamber of Secrets once before," Rose called, her voice echoing in the dark, cavernous space. "Years ago, when it was still on the Hogwarts tour. My parents refused to go down with me because they'd already seen it of course, and didn't want to relive any of that, so I went with Uncle George. There wasn't much to see, really, since they'd taken the dead Basilisk out years ago. It was just an open space underground. Most of it had caved in."
James gasped and stumbled to a stop, throwing out one hand to warn the rest and holding his wand high in the other.
"Was this a part of the tour when you were here, Rose?" he asked breathlessly.
Rose stopped behind him, her eyes widening. Behind her, Ralph and Zane clambered to a halt as well.
The floor ended at James' feet as if it had been broken away. Beyond it, seamless black space indicated a chasm of unimaginable depth. Ominous whooshing sounds wafted out of the blackness, and as James raised his wand, its light glinted off the edges of huge, swinging blades.
"No," Rose breathed. "This was definitely not a part of the tour. Where did it come from?"
"I'd say it was opened only recently," Zane said, pointing. "Look!"
James saw what Zane was pointing at. A pair of huge stone doors stood open on either side, overlooking the depths of the chasm before him.
"How did Petra open those?" Rose asked incredulously. "They must weigh tons!"
"I'm more interested in how she crossed that," Ralph said, gesturing at the chasm and the huge swinging blades. "We'll never be able to follow her!"
James stooped down and hefted a medium-sized rock. He weighed it thoughtfully in his hand, and then heaved it out over the chasm as hard as he could. It tumbled into the darkness, turning slowly, and then there was a flash and a spark as one of the magical blades swooped down. It pulverized the rock in midair, and then sucked back up into darkness.
James looked aside at Rose and Ralph, his eyes wide. Ralph shrugged helplessly.
Albus drew a deep sigh. "I think I might know a way to cross that," he said, as if he dreaded admitting it.
"What, Al?" James asked, but his brother had already turned. He walked a few paces away until he stood at the base of the stone steps again. He glanced back.
"Dad taught me this one," he said. "It saved his life once. Maybe we can use it to save Lil." He turned back to the stairs, raised his own wand, and as loudly as he could, shouted, "Accio broomstick!"
Almost a minute passed, and James had begun to doubt the spell had worked when an exclamation of alarm echoed down the stone steps.
"No!" Tabitha's voice cried. "Not my broom! You can't!"
Ted called over her, "Incoming!"
The broom dipped down the stone steps and halted next to Albus. James, standing nearby, could hear the faint hum of the broom. He remembered it well from his doomed attempt to commandeer it last year.
"You can't be serious," Zane said, stepping forward and examining the broomstick. "This is Tabitha's broom! The bogus Merlin staff from last year. You're not going to try to ride it across that chasm, are you?"
"It's my broom now," Albus said grimly. "Tabitha gave it to me, although she may well be regretting it."
Rose proclaimed, "But you can't just fly across! You saw what happened to the rock! I don't know how Petra made it across with Lily, but there must be some other way!"
Albus strode to the edge of the chasm and straddled the broom. "This is no ordinary broom, Rose. I don't know where Tabitha got it, or how it works, but it knows where it needs to be. In a way, it's kind of the reverse of James' Thunderstreak. It knows where to go, and it puts it into the mind of the rider. The broom won't let us get chopped. And besides, we don't have a choice. Hop on behind me, James, and hold on as tight as you can."
James gulped and climbed onto the broom, wrapping his arm tightly around his brother's waist.
"Wait!" Rose cried. "This is mad!"
"That's why we can't wait, Rose," James said, gritting his teeth. "If we wait, we'll realize how completely daft this is. Go, Al!"
James felt Albus tense. Together, they coiled, and as Rose reached forward to grab James, her face terrified, Albus threw himself forward, taking James and the broomstick with him.
The broom plummeted under the weight of both James and Albus, and James squeezed his eyes shut, hugging his brother as he leaned over the broomstick, struggling to pull it upright. The broom corrected swiftly, angling upwards and accelerating. James still had his lit wand in his fist. He gripped Albus with his left arm and held the wand aloft, fighting the force of their momentum. Wandlight flashed off a long, steely blade as it dropped alongside them, scything the air. Albus lurched sideways as the broom banked away, and James nearly dropped his wand, fighting to hold on. The air hissed on all sides as huge, curved blades sliced the darkness, dropping like swords and barely missing them. Amazingly, the broom seemed to determine the course on its own, dodging with lightning speed through the flashing, deadly barrage. James struggled to hold on, trying to keep his body as close to the broom and Albus as possible. There was a high, rasping sound as one of the blades sliced a neat seam in his robe, and James felt the chill of the metal whoosh past his skin. He yelped and leaned away, pulling the broom slightly off course.
Albus swore, trying to correct, but it was no use. The broom seemed to have lost its bearing. It pushed upwards beneath them, and James had a sense that they were nearing the other side of the chasm. Suddenly, a rough stone wall loomed into view, as if it were falling on them. Albus pulled up, trying to help the broom to reach the ledge, but it was too high. The broom struggled, flying nearly straight up, still weaving past falling blades. And then, suddenly, there was light and space, and James was spinning off the broom, flailing for something to hold onto. He landed hard on stone, rolled, and scrambled up, his chin scraped and bleeding but otherwise unhurt.