by D P Rowell
Silence.
“So what do we do now?” Cameron finally said.
“Well, we can’t stay here,” Trilo replied.
“But what if we’re supposed to?” Cameron said, “Like, everything that Ace and I have done so far has led us up to this point, where, apparently, Grandpa knew we’d be years ago.”
“We’ve already wasted so much time,” Sebastian said, “there’s bound to be a slew of witches closing in on us.”
“Dad,” Ace said, turning to his father, “what do you think?”
Every eye in the room went to Colton Halder. The middle-aged man scratched his stubby beard and sighed. He folded his arms and shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t think your grandfather was planning on us getting cornered by a bunch of witches. What good does it do for us to wait here? We don’t know what his plan was keeping us here. The risk is too great.”
Ace nodded, then turned to the rest of the group. “That does make sense. We don’t know what Grandpa wants us to do. All we know is he knew we’d end up here. We don’t know much else and it’s not worth risking fighting off an army of witches to find out.”
Heads bobbed up and down.
“I think you’re right,” Cameron said. He grunted and raised his arms, interlocking his fingers over his head. “I wish there was some way we just knew what to do. Why did Grandpa have to make everything so mysterious?”
Sebastian stepped slightly out of the circle. “Well, we can only do what we know to do. I’m gonna round up the others.”
“Hey,” Colton said, Sebastian stopped and looked in his direction. “You get your crew, I’ll give the pirates their orders.”
Sebastian hesitantly nodded at Colton, then turned the other way. Trilo turned and followed Sebastian. Colton gathered Ace and Cameron together and placed a hand on each of their shoulders.
“I’m so happy I’ve found you two. So glad we’re together. As a father, I couldn’t be more proud of both of you. The way you’ve looked after one another and stuck together, the way Halders are supposed to. Before we get going, I wanted to restate my apologies from before. I realize how silly my feud with your Aunt Kaitlyn is now. I became obsessed with it and I took it out on you two.”
“Dad, it’s oka—” Cameron was cut off.
“No, it isn't okay,” Father said. “It was never okay. A father should be proud of his children. And I am. More than you could ever know.” Father’s eyes began to well as he continued. “I promise I’m going to do better for you two from now on. I won’t I let this poisonous battle with your aunt possess me anymore. Halders first from this day forth.”
Ace enjoyed the first time he’d felt relief since his journey began in New Eathelyn. How long had it been since he’d heard those words from his father?
As a father, I couldn’t be more proud, Ace replayed it in his head. The broken pieces of their family were coming together again.
No longer will I let this poisonous battle with your aunt possess me.
An idea struck him like lightning.
Possess me.
“That’s it!” Ace yelled.
“What’s it?” Father said.
Ace didn’t respond, due to the thoughts racing through his mind at light speed. He recalled the changes in Uncle Marcus’ face. The day he’d seen Uncle Marcus mouth the words, help me. The strange changes in behavior.
Ace darted from his family reunion to the other room.
“Ace, what’s going on?” Cameron yelled from behind.
Ace ignored his brother and sprinted. He nearly ran into Trilo, but stopped just in time, grabbed the male fae by his arms, and spoke frantically. “Trilo!”
“Ah! What?”
“When you were controlled by the witches in Gathara, during Rio’s attack on the city, were you still aware of your surroundings?”
Trilo furrowed his brow and looked around, then back to Ace. “What’s the point of this?”
“Just tell me!”
“Alright, alright, sheesh. Could you give me my arms back?”
“Sorry.”
“Thank you.”
Colton and Cameron jogged into the room, following Ace.
“Well,” Trilo said, “yeah, I was aware of my surroundings. It’s like I saw everything they saw, felt everything they felt, but somehow had no control over it. I couldn’t even really think on my own. It was like every time I tried to think, they would think for me instead.”
Ace half smiled, then turned to look behind him. Uncle Marcus was still tied to the wooden slab and bound by his anti-magic cocoon. Ace looked back to Trilo, then to his brother and father standing beside him.
“Uncle Marcus isn’t a parcel,” Ace said.
“What?” Cameron said.
Ace shook his head. “He’s under the spell of a witch controlling his body.”
“What makes you think that?” Trilo said.
“Because,” Ace said, “there’s been a few times where his face has changed talking to me. He’s trying to communicate to me, I just know it.”
“How do you know he’s not deceiving you?” Cameron said.
“I just know.”
Trilo scoffed. “That’s not good enough for me.”
Ace shook his head violently. “He’s a distraction! Can’t you see?”
The others in the room traded awkward stares.
“He’s a distraction from the actual parcel. We’re closing in!” Ace said. He spread his arms wide and displayed the army of hunters before them all. The pirates, Easley and Juneg, Sebastian and Trilo. “We’re making progress! We didn’t do it the way we thought, but we’re recruiting people. We have a small army now. The parcel knows we’re closing in on him and is getting scared, trying to get us unfocused.”
“Unfocused how?” Trilo said.
“If we kill Uncle Marcus, we’ll think we’ve stopped a parcel and pat ourselves on the back with a job well done. But imagine . . .” Ace looked at Uncle Marcus, then back to the others. “Imagine if we freed him of the spell. Trilo, if Uncle Marcus has been observing everything from his own eyes as the witch has been controlling him, who knows what information he’d have for us.”
“Julie and Tamara!” Cameron shouted.
Ace smiled at his brother. “Exactly.”
“Woah, woah, woah,” Trilo said. “This isn’t about your personal mission to save your cousins.”
“Well, it’s got us this far hasn’t it?” Ace demanded. His face went dark and cold.
Trilo's eyes narrowed at Ace. “They’re not the mission.”
“Yes they are!” Ace said. “Grandpa knew this is what I’d go after and look where it’s gotten us. We have an army now!”
“You want to put the whole team in jeopardy because you believe your uncle might be a good guy?”
Ace hung his head. After a minute, he lifted his head and gently placed his hand on Trilo’s shoulder. “Trilo. I’m asking you to trust me. I wouldn’t risk all of Yutara if I didn’t truly believe this was the case.” Trilo’s eyes spoke of his conflict between remorse and hesitancy.
“I believe you,” said a voice. Ace turned behind to find Sebastian with his arms folded, leaning against the wall. “Besides, there’s an easy way to test it, right?” Sebastian stepped close. “Just do to your uncle what you did to Trilo and Easley and see if you can get the witch to come out.”
Ace frowned and hung his head. “Well, about that.” He lifted his head and looked about the room. He caught eyes with his father at the moment, then looked at the others again with sad eyes. “I’ve kinda lost my elyrian abilities,” he said.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Volumes
The mood of the room hit rock bottom. Ace watched hope drain from the eyes of his friends and family. It felt like someone hit everyone's deflate button.
“How did you lose your elyr?” Cameron said.
Ace shook his head with a frown. “I don’t know. It started to fade when we were heading into the Colosseum. By the time we’d
reached Uncle Marcus, it was gone.”
No one responded right away, but as Ace scanned the room, he caught a hint of pride in Sebastian's eyes. He recalled their conversation in the hotel the other day. Sebastian had tried to reach out and figure the problem. The pale elite must have suspected something like this would happen to Ace.
“How do you get it back?” Father said.
Ace looked at his dad. “I—well—I don’t know.”
“What?” Trilo said, his face reaching a new level of anger.
“How can you possibly not know? How’d you get it in the first place?”
“The stone gave it to me,” Ace said.
“Okay . . .” Father said as he looked around the others in the room. “So we need to get the stone back.”
“No,” Ace said, “that won’t help. When I first discovered I could wield the power of the Light, my light was faded and dim. Kareena had to teach me how to use it. I had the stone then, though. I also was able to use it for a long time after Rio had taken the stone from me. It has to do with me, not the Emerson Stone.”
“Whatever we do,” Sebastian said, “we must leave soon. The longer we stay here, the greater a target we become.”
“Where can we go?” Cameron said.
A light, humble voice spoke from behind them all. “Dorneg in the Rolling Hills.”
“Dorneg?” Sebastian said. “The city guarded with a steel wall to keep out the giant beasts?”
“Woah,” Trilo said. “Giant beasts? I don’t like the sound of that.”
Juneg nodded. “Yes, but it safe in city, and there train that runs between Doreng and Naraka. The beasts not issue.”
Ace stepped close to Juneg. “If we go there, would you know of any places we can hide?”
Juneg nodded confidently. “Easley and I hid in several spots in city. We made some new friends. I sure we could work something out.”
“What do you mean you hid in the city?” Sebastian said. “When were you in Dorneg?”
“I mean we were homeless, if you must know,” Juneg said to Sebastian with a sharp stare. “We were in Dorneg Summer's Eve and returned Late Spring. Acquaintance of ours told us something there worth money. After month and half, we didn’t find it and came home.”
After everyone stared at Juneg without saying another word, Ace said, “Anyone have any better ideas?”
Sebastian sighed and buried his head in one of his hands. He shook his head and looked at Juneg. “Pack your things.” The young jag nodded with half a smile and turned away.
Father looked at the pirates, lazing around by the corner of the room, then looked back to Ace. “You’ll have the pirates as long as you have me,” Father said.
Ace smiled and nodded. Father patted his shoulder and marched to his army to gather them together. A moment later, Sebastian walked to Ace, grabbed his shoulder, and leaned into his ear.
“You better find your light soon somehow. What awaits us in the Rolling Hills will be the end of us. We won’t last long. The sooner you receive your elyr back, the sooner we can flee from danger.”
Ace shoved Sebastian’s hand off his shoulder. “I know what’s at stake, Sebastian. I have a friend who might be able to help.”
After a bit of scrambling through his things, Ace eventually found the video disc he’d brought along for the trip. Before they began their departure to Dorneg, he found a secluded room away from the others and told everyone he needed a minute. The pirates’ safe-house had a few small rooms burrowed out from the other large rooms they spent most of their time in. Ace picked one and grabbed his disc. He laid his palm across its slick, metal surface. Blue lights lit around his palm and a hologram reading “DIALING . . .” in blue pixels projected upward. He set the disc on the ground and watched the dots next to the words appear and disappear as it rang silently.
C’mon, c’mon, pick up, thought Ace.
The buttons continued to flicker until it stopped, and the hologram faded away. Ace grunted with frustration and dialed again. The same image appeared a moment and Ace leaned forward with anticipation. Soon, it faded once again. Ace sighed and leaned his head against the wall.
C’mon, Kareena. I really need your help.
His heart sank a moment as he wondered of her progress. Had she been recruiting a lot of people successfully? What if she’d been captured or hurt and that’s why she wasn’t picking up? Ace grabbed his shirt as a stabbing pain struck his heart. Was she okay? Maybe she’d tried to call him a bunch while everything else was going on and he didn’t pick up and now she was mad! What if she . . .
BEEP.
Ace looked to the video disc lying on the floor beside him.
BEEP.
It rang again, this time a blue light flashing in the middle. Ace scurried to it and placed his palm on the disc. Instantly, a projection of the fae’s face shot up in a blue hologram.
“Ace!” Kareena said with joy in her eyes.
“Hey, Kareena,” He said, unable to control the grin on his face.
“Is everything okay? Where are you?” Kareena said.
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Ace said. “I was just about to ask you the same thing.”
Kareena smiled. “We’ve been recruiting in the mountains and have just started to spread out to the surrounding towns. Apparently, the disappearance of the witches you and Rio caused in Hillrun when you visited there has spread so far as the suburbs of Gathara. We’ve many of the small towns recruited now. Ihana is leading a few young volunteers on a craft headed to Gathara as we speak to begin training.”
Ace’s face lit up. “That’s great news!”
“Yeah,” Kareena said, “I thought so too. However, there’s a few cities we haven’t had much luck in.”
“Yeah?”
Kareena nodded and scratched her chin. “It was almost like the witches knew we were coming. Like, somehow, they had seen two hunters at a basketball game in Naraka and suspected something. So, they had plenty of time to deceive the whole town.”
Ace’s face went completely still and bland. First time he’d ever used Kareena use sarcasm before. It didn’t suit her. “You saw me on TV, didn’t you?”
Kareena eyed him with just a hint of anger. Any emotion across her face was rare, and as a result, powerful. “What were you thinking?” she asked.
“I was thinking about my family.”
Kareena sighed and her emotionless face returned. “Well, I’m glad you’re okay at least. But recruiting is going to be extremely difficult outside of the Gathara suburbs. The council is now alerted to our motives and bound to be looking for us in all Yutara. Yours and your brother's faces have been all over the news since the game.”
Ace nodded with remorse. “I know.” After a moment of silence, Ace spoke once again, “Kareena, I need your help.”
She looked at him with her pure eyes and Ace had to gather himself before he spoke.
“I’ve sorta—well—you see—I kinda—I don’t have the elyr anymore,” Ace said.
Kareena’s face fell slightly. Her eyes told of the hope fleeing her heart, and the sting in his chest told of the guilt jabbing his.
“I told you revenge was going to take you,” Kareena said.
“It’s not revenge,” Ace said.
“What is it, then?”
“I don’t know. That’s the thing. I can’t figure out where this block is coming from in me. But, it’s not revenge. I don’t want to make anyone pay, I just want to save my family. I feel so mixed up.”
Kareena’s eyes glossed over. She went to speak, hesitated, then spoke again. “I think I’m partially to blame for this.”
“What? How?”
“Well, the night outside my house, when the Light brought us together in Shywater . . . I didn’t actually think it was because he wanted us to make a plan.”
Ace felt as if someone shot his chest with a flamethrower.
Kareena hung her head. “I—I was having dreams about you and your family. And your mom especiall
y. I wanted to ask you about it when we were in Shywater, but I—I mean, you looked so sad and I didn’t—”
“It’s fine.” Ace looked away from her. “I wasn’t entirely honest with you either. And you were right, I don’t want to talk about it. I just want you to help me get my elyr back.”
Kareena spoke with cracks in her voice. “I lost my opportunity to help. There’s nothing I can do for you.”
Ace jerked his head back to her with fire in his eyes. “But you just said it was partially your fault. If you could’ve helped me before, why can’t you now?”
Kareena kept her face still as a tear fell along her right cheek. “Because I made a mistake and I wasn’t bold enough to do what Emery wanted when he wanted it. Ace, I want to help you but I—”
“I’ve lost my light, Kareena. Yutara depends on me having my light. You have to help me get it back.”
“That’s not how the elyr works, Ace. The only way to receive your gift back is for you to determine your inner turmoil, confront it, and heal. I was assigned to be a gentle guide . . . and now I’ve set the process back much further. I’m sorry, Ace. I truly am.”
Did nothing go his way anymore? All he wanted was to save his family. The same family held captive by a dangerous parcel because of his doing! How was he supposed to redeem himself if he had no elyr, and his only elyrian friend wouldn’t help him get it back?
Ace scoffed at Kareena and turned his head.
“I’m sorry, Ace I wish—”
“No you’re not!” Ace said. “You’re the only chance I have at finding my light again and you don’t even seem to care. All Yutara is depending on me right now, Kareena! I need your help!”
“Ace,” Kareena stepped back and wiped the second tear from her eye. “There’s nothing I can do. It has to be—”
“Me! I get it, alright? Everything has to be me! Well then, we’re done for because I’m no good, you got it? I’m the reason we’re in this position in the first place. I’m the reason a parcel has the Emerson Stone, and I’m the reason my family is being held hostage! I can’t do this Kareena! The Emerson Stone made a terrible mistake and the entire world is going to suffer because of me!”
