by Bar Sagi
They finally arrived at a set of double doors guarded by royal guards. The doors were carved with ancient battle scenes, and were, like everything else, red.
Gloriana nodded to the guards, and the opened the door.
Yasmin entered the room alone, the door closing behind her.
The room was dark and dimly-lit only by a portal in the center of the room, which was glowing gold. Yasmin stepped closer to the portal, feeling drawn to it in some way.
The levels of magic coming from that portal were insane. She had never felt such a high level of power before. It was almost like she was standing next to the sun, which warmed her and burned her at the same time.
Stepping closer to the portal, Yasmin studied it, amazed. Not only was it much more powerful than any other portal, it looked completely different from any other portal she had ever seen!
For one thing, no portal was gold. They were clear at first, then showed the place you wished to go. Normal portals were almost like windows. Stepping into them was like stepping through the window into another world.
This portal was pulling her toward it. Physically and mentally. It was pulling her thoughts toward it too, and the gold portal was hypnotizing. Yasmin had almost stepped through when a hand grabbed her.
“What do you think you’re doing?” David demanded, his blue-green eyes furious. “Are you crazy? Without a clear destination in mind, you could get killed!”
Yasmin swallowed hard and glanced at the portal again. Was that really what could have happened?
David was still talking. “You can’t die right now, all of Atlantis needs you!”
Yasmin looked at David, her gaze clear. “Just Atlantis?” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she regretted them.
She had no idea why she had even said them. But she didn’t react, because she secretly wanted to find out more.
David’s grip tightened on her arm, almost as if he was making sure she wouldn’t be swallowed up by the portal again. “I—” he began, but just then Gloriana, Violet, and Lucas burst into the room.
Yasmin wrenched her arm out of David’s grip, blushing for some reason. She wasn’t able to look at David as Gloriana explained that Lucas had gotten lost, and that’s why they had been late.
“And we have to go now,” Gloriana said, looking tense and angry. “I want to arrive there a while before the rebels are supposed to, so we are going to get to know the area by heart.”
Gloriana stepped through the portal, and Yasmin followed.
Everything was gold. The magic intensity of the portal was burning her veins, filling her with magic and taking it away at the same time. It was a tingly feeling, like being encased in a bubble of magic.
Yasmin stumbled on the grass, blinking in the bright sunlight. She was standing on a hilltop overlooking a town.
She could see why people had been afraid of the rumor the rebels would burn the town, because the town was made completely of wood.
It was quite small, almost the size of a village. On the right of the town, a large forest grew, probably where they got all that wood.
Yasmin took a deep breath, reveling in the fresh air. While Atlantis hadn’t been that polluted, there were still some cars here and there. But this, was wow!
The breeze stirred up Yasmin’s hair, and she closed her eyes, imagining that she was flying. She felt as though she was letting go of her worries, letting herself go, and just being blown away from the breeze.
“You okay?” Yasmin opened her eyes and saw Violet looking amused.
Yasmin grinned, looking around. David was standing a little ways away, talking to Gloriana.
Lucas on the other hand, was staring at the town, his face pained. But why? She wondered. He is stopping the rebels. They killed his parents. He should have, at the least, not looked like doing this was the last thing he wanted to do. Was he scared? But they weren’t even fighting!
“Everyone!” Gloriana said, taking out three glass beads and handing one to each Yasmin and David. She tucked the last one in her pocket. “We’re going to split up. We can’t search this entire village together, so David and Violet are going to search the left side while Yasmin and Lucas are going to search the right. As for me, I’m going straight ahead and searching everywhere I think rebels might be.” She glanced at all of them, making sure they understood. “Okay?”
Everyone nodded, and Lucas looked even moodier as he did so.
Yasmin’s heart sank. Did he really hate the idea of being with her so much?
“Let’s go,” David said to Violet, and she nodded as he led the way. They headed down the hill, David walking just slightly ahead of Violet, even as she rushed to keep up.
Yasmin looked at Lucas again, he was deliberately looking away from her, staring at the town. “Lucas?” she asked, touching his arm.
He jumped, looking at her with wide eyes, like he had forgotten she was there.
Yasmin drew her hand back. What had happened to the Lucas she had known? The engaging, fun guy who was full of life? All she saw in front of her was a moody teenager who looked like he wanted to be far away from her. “Are you coming?”
Lucas nodded, and they headed in silence down the hill.
As they entered the town, Yasmin couldn’t help glancing around. The town looked so peaceful, And small. The wooden buildings were never more than three stories high, and there were few things not made of wood. As they passed the church, without a single sign of a rebel, Yasmin stopped.
Looking around she realized in panic that Lucas wasn’t with her.
“Lucas?” She called out, running back to the fountain they had passed a while back, with the merman.
She spun around desperately, wondering where he could have gone. Had a rebel taken him? But she hadn’t heard anything, nor had she seen anything! “Lucas! Where are you?”
Feeling a sudden chill, Yasmin rubbed her arms.
“Lucas?” She called out uncertainly. “Is that you?”
Pain burst in her skull, and she fell to the ground, unconscious…
Chapter 23
The betrayal
David and Violet were searching the town, and David tried to hold back his twinge of annoyance. Why had he been stuck with this idiot?
Violet couldn’t stop smiling, and she was sticking to him like glue. It drove him crazy! Why did she try to act perfect all the time? He knew she fought perfectly well. Why was she always trying to hide part of herself?
But then again, who was he to talk? He was always hiding the person he was under a stone mask too.
There were few people in this world who had met him as he really was: kind, playful, and happy. Because he was never happy in Atlantis.
Why couldn’t he have been paired up with Yasmin instead? He thought grumpily as he made a face. But then, it was probably for the best.
Yasmin hated him, and besides, he shouldn’t get to close to her, either. He couldn’t get her hopes up. No that wasn’t right. He shouldn’t get his hopes up.
Yasmin would never be his again. She would probably hate him forever. But there was a reason. A really stupid one, but still. And David wasn’t going to destroy his hard work of the last six months.
***
Yasmin opened her eyes, her head aching as she tried to move. Her hands were bound by tight ropes, and she was tied to a chair. Even her legs were tied together, so tight it hurt.
Groaning, she tried to remember what had happened. She remembered a bursting pain in her skull, then… nothing. She must have collapsed.
Yasmin looked around with a growing horror. She had been kidnapped, right? She was in one of the houses probably, but an abandoned one. It was covered with dust and the ceiling had a hole in it.
Who had done this?
“So you’ve finally woken up,” a familiar voice said, and Yasmin felt terrified.
Not because of him, but because of who he was.
Because of the fact that she had trusted him, had cared for him, only to be stabbed in the back.
“Lucas,” she whispered, as he stepped forward, a neutral expression on his face. “Why?” She managed to get out, feeling like she would cry.
Lucas looked away, guilt covering his face. “You wouldn’t understand, Yasmin.” She saw a tear slide down his cheek and watched in shock as he buried his face in his hands. “He… I have no choice.”
“You work for the beast.” Yasmin realized, looking at Lucas’s crying face.
The sunlight streaming in from the hole in the ceiling made his hair glow, and with the dust swirling around him, he looked like a defeated angel.
Like someone who had been broken for a while now. Instead of feeling anger, Yasmin just felt pity. And then she felt anger, but not at Lucas. At the beast.
The whole reason she had come to Atlantis was because she wanted to prevent another Abby, but in the end, she was just as helpless as she had been half a year ago. “But why?”
“He has my parents.” Lucas looked at her, his eyes wild. “He forced me to choose, Yasmin. And I can’t let them die.”
“Your parents?” Yasmin felt like she was staring at a puzzle with half the pieces missing. “But they died!” she protested.
“No, they didn’t.” Lucas looked at his interlocked hands, his head down, like a wounded dog. “The beast kidnaps people from places he attacks, then uses their family members as spies, warriors, anything. He has a couple thousand of them locked up, probably.”
“How horrible,” Yasmin said, trying to wrap her mind around it. “A couple thousand? And you’ve been spying for him?”
She wanted to ask, if he had done more? But the words wouldn’t come out. She couldn’t bear to think that Lucas, her Lucas, had hurt people.
“Yeah, I have. But soon the beast’s second-in-command will come, to take you to the beast. I don’t know why, and they wouldn’t tell me.” Lucas swallowed, unable to look her in the eye. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”
“I’m not mad at you,” Yasmin said with shock, realizing it was true.
Lucas stared back at her, stunned.
“But I can’t trust you.” She wished with all her heart she could help Lucas, but the only way to do that was to turn herself in. And she wasn’t going to do that.
“So the rebels won’t be attacking?” Yasmin asked Lucas, watching his face carefully.
“Only one is coming,” Lucas said, standing up and walking over to the doorway. “It was a trap. And you fell for it.”
Yasmin cursed silently as she tried to find a way out of her binds. Twisting and turning, she nearly fell over, and her wrists only hurt more.
“Don’t bother,” Lucas said, as he turned back to see her nearly hit her head. “I tied those ropes so well, you have no chance of getting out.” He looked unhappy as he turned back.
Maybe I can’t twist free, Yasmin thought as an idea struck her. But maybe I can magic my way out of here. Shaking off her growing fear, she tried to summon a lightning bolt to her fingertips, thinking it would fry the ropes.
After a few attempts brought her nothing, she changed her tactic. If lightning wouldn’t work, then how about fire? If she cupped her hands and made a fire, the heat would burn the ropes.
Gathering her courage and praying for a normal fireball, Yasmin made a fireball. Focusing on making it grow, and making it hot, she felt her ropes burn little by little. Yes! She thought with excitement. It worked.
As the ropes fell to the ground, Yasmin took another glance at her surroundings. Her magic was still rusty, and she didn’t want to electrocute Lucas.
A wooden plank a few feet away from her seemed perfect. If she knocked Lucas out, she could get away without killing him.
Untying the ropes around her legs as quietly as possible, Yasmin stood up and inched toward the plank.
She picked it up, wincing. Splinters dug into her palm, and blood rolled down her hand. Sneaking up behind Lucas, she positioned the plank and gathered up her courage. She had never hit someone she cared about before.
Lucas whirled around, fear and confusion on his face as he saw she was free.
He opened his mouth, maybe to tell her something, she didn’t know.
On instinct, Yasmin swung the plank as hard as she could.
It connected with a sickening crunch and Lucas collapsed.
Yasmin dropped the plank in shock and winced as it hit Lucas on the stomach. “Sorry, Lucas,” Yasmin said, feeling sad.
“I know you understand why I had to do this. I hope your parents won’t die because of me.” Yasmin shut up, because she was starting to feel stupid, talking to an unconscious person.
Taking one last glance at Lucas’s sleeping face, Yasmin ran out the door, searching for David and Violet…
Chapter 24
The second-in-command
Yasmin ran around town, looking for Gloriana. She had to tell her, and fast. She had to tell Gloriana that this was all a ruse, a trick. That the rebels weren’t coming to burn the town.
A she stopped to catch her breath by a statue of a crown, she saw David and Violet in the distance.
“David!” she called out, hands on her knees. “Violet!”
They walked over, confusion on their faces. “What’s going on? Where’s Lucas?” Violet asked, growing concerned. “Did something happen?”
“Well, a plank hit him in the stomach and it knocked him out,” Yasmin said, feeling awkward as she straightened. She glanced at David, who blushed. Weird.
“Oh no!” Violet gasped, hand over her mouth. “What happened?” She reached out and took Yasmin’s hand, a comforting gesture. “Are you okay?”
“I hit him,” Yasmin explained, feeling awkward. David snorted.
“What did he do, come on to you?” David shut up as Yasmin glared at him. “Sorry,” he mumbled.
Yasmin nodded and continued. “He was working for the rebels. His parents are being held hostage there. If he didn’t do what they told him to do, they would have killed them.”
Yasmin watched horror grow on their faces. “But we have to find Gloriana and tell her.”
“Tell her what?” David asked. “What happened?”
“The rebel attack,” Yasmin said. “It’s all a trap.”
She felt anger bloom in her chest. This whole thing, this civil war, it was horrid! She clenched her fist in anger. “Only one person is coming here. We don’t have to stay.” Yasmin felt eager to leave.
“Wait a minute.” David held up his hand. “Who’s coming to pick you up?”
“Umm, their second-in-command, I think?” Yasmin said, trying to remember what Lucas had said.
David’s eyes looked like shattered glass. “We’re staying.” He had a murderous look on his face, and Yasmin took a step back.
She had never seen David like this, and it scared her. She wasn’t afraid of him, but afraid of what caused him to look like that.
Yasmin hugged herself, resisting the urge to hug him. “Why? Why is their second-in-command so important?”
When David didn’t answer, Violet piped up, “There is a rumor that the second-in-command is someone who supposedly died two years ago.” She also looked mad. “His name is Varley Aldred. The old king’s best friend and high counselor.”
Yasmin raised an eyebrow, in understanding. If someone close to her father had gone over to the side of his killer, well, she’d probably be this angry too.
“We still need to find Gloriana. We have to tell her.”
Violet nodded, her eyes promising murder. Apparently her ladylike ruse was gone.
David glared at her, obviously annoyed at being delayed. “Fine. But let’s do it fast.”
Yasmin glared back at him.
“Look, if someone like the rebel’s second-in-command is coming, Gloriana needs to know. We can’t defeat someone like that alone, no matter how much we try. We need both her power and experience.” Yasmin put her hands on her hips, ready to argue. “You know I’m right.”
David glared at her again. “I just want him to pay for what he did.”
“And he will,” Violet said, pulling David’s arm.
Her eyes showed concern for David. “But let’s go back to the hill first, I see Gloriana there.”
Yasmin looked up at the hill overlooking the valley. A distant figure that could be Gloriana watched them, waiting.
She squinted. Had Violet really seen that far?
They began walking up the hill in silence, an awkward energy surrounding them.
Yasmin tried to break the silence several times, to say something. But the words wouldn’t come out, no matter how hard she tried.
“Where’s Lucas?” Was the first thing that came out of Gloriana’s mouth when they got to her.
Yasmin felt awkward, not wanting to explain something again that had been so hard to say the first time.
“He was working for them.” Was all David would say.
Yasmin looked at him gratefully, but he just stared at the horizon, far from her reach. She felt lonely.
Gloriana nodded, even though it was obvious she still had more questions. But she changed the subject, and Yasmin was grateful for that.
“Have you guys seen any rebels? This town has not one rebel! It’s crazy! When are they coming?”
“They’re not,” a male voice said from down the hill.
Yasmin whirled toward the voice, startled.
She saw David’s eyes widen, and his face contort in horror.
He must be Varley! She realized in horror. But he doesn’t look like a traitor! Indeed, with thinning white hair and a slight slouch, Varley looked like someone’s caring old grandpa.
Aside from the smirk on his face, he could have been a nice old man at the senior center, playing cards all day.
