Destiny Series Boxed Set

by Bronwyn Leroux

  Chapter Thirty

  Kayla woke with a start and a horrible nagging feeling she had left something undone. Squeezing her eyes shut, she tried focusing on what had happened before she fell asleep. That thought was enough to send her brain careening down another path. How could I fall asleep? Wasn’t I only awake a few hours?

  Opening her eyes, Kayla glanced out the window. Sunshine painted the world in vivid colors. How long did I sleep this time? She glanced around the room. Empty. Where is everyone? Did they decide I was well enough to leave me on my own? Even my parents? I can understand Jaden leaving. We were . . . oh yes! That’s what we were talking about! The third map!

  Kayla’s eyes skittered to the bedside table. The book was where Jaden had left it. Reaching for Awena’s book, she smiled when the leather warmed her hands. When it felt like the book’s very soul called to her. It never failed to amaze her, this connection she felt to it. How did Zareh do it?

  She was spiraling again. Kayla grunted with annoyance, clenching her jaw and forcing herself to focus on one thing. The book in her hands. They needed to find something else in here. There had to be another clue that would confirm or deny Tarise’s claim.

  Running her fingers over the leather, she found the carved lines mesmerizing. A tactile euphoria urging Kayla to trace the patterns for hours. But sating that desire was a luxury they couldn’t afford.

  Concentrating, Kayla began examining each line, every whorl and indentation, allowing her fingers to explore as much as her eyes. Minutes later, she confirmed there was nothing to find. If it hadn’t been for Iri, Jaden would never have found the opening at the back of the book either.

  Kayla opened the book. It seemed years since she’d read Gedrin’s story, since she had looked at the book for what it was. A cautionary tale. Would we have carried on if we knew then what we know now? Come to think of it, did we even have a choice? If Zareh had selected them centuries ago like he claimed, it was unlikely. Sighing, Kayla started reading the story again, remembering first time she and Jaden had laid eyes on this book. How much they hadn’t known then. How much had changed since then.

  Her eyes roamed the pages, absorbing the gorgeous artwork again, the written words that replaced a typed font. She reached the page where the splotch marked that first destination it had sent them to. And then, a few pages on, the second splotch. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she realized the splotches were chronological. So anything for the third destination should be from this point onward.

  Paying closer attention, Kayla scrutinized everything on every page. She had given up on finding anything by the time she reached the last page. The one with no writing, only the image of Gedrin’s headstone and the mountains in the background. The mountains in the background! Kayla squinted, trying to make them out more clearly.

  “What are you looking at?”

  Kayla about knocked the pen she was chewing on into the roof of her mouth. “Don’t scare me like that!”

  Jaden’s grin widened. “Someone woke up cranky.”

  “No, I didn’t. You gave me a fright. And I hate getting frights.”

  Sobering, Jaden nodded. “Sorry, you know that wasn’t my intention.”

  Kayla reached a hand toward him, trying to soothe the irrational anger she always felt when someone scared her. She regretted wiping that smile off his face. “I know. I’m sorry too. Knee-jerk reaction.” The smile returned as Jaden ambled over. Kayla noticed the chest in his hands. More like an insulated metal box to be exact. “What’s that?”

  “Something I’m hoping might cheer you up.”

  He took his time setting it on the bed. When he made no move to open it, Kayla reached for it.

  “So impatient.” Jaden’s eyes brimmed with laughter.

  Kayla ignored him, pulled the chest closer, and flung the lid wide. Her mouth dropped open when she saw all the medallions. There must be hundreds here. Raising her eyes to Jaden, she found him frowning. “What now?”

  Instead of answering, Jaden put his hand in the chest and moved the medallions around. The crease between his eyes only deepened. Then he looked at her, his face grim. “I think you were right.”

  “About what?”

  “Guessing that Slurpy has your medallion.”

  “Why would you say that?”

  “Because, when we opened this chest before, the medallions floated out and found their owners.” At Kayla’s wide-eyed disbelief, Jaden explained how the riders who had been with them had received their medallions.

  “Just because they floated out and found people to attach themselves to doesn’t mean the medallions belonged to them,” Kayla countered.

  “I disagree. Zareh told us the medallions would always find their way back to their owners. Somehow, they would just reappear to the next person in that family if the previous family member tried to get rid of them—or lost them.” He suddenly chuckled.

  “You know, you’re really starting to annoy me with all those things going on in your head that you aren’t explaining!”

  “Sorry,” Jaden said, still grinning. “It just occurred to me. Remember how our moms were so adamant about us not losing our medallions—about taking good care of them?”

  Kayla got it and giggled. “It wasn’t necessary. The medallions would’ve found their way back to us, no matter what we did.”

  “Exactly.”

  Kayla glanced around the room. “If that’s true . . .” She scooted towards the edge of the bed and swung her legs over.

  “Whoa! What are you doing?”

  The alarm in Jaden’s voice made her snap at him. “Getting out of bed. I’m not an invalid!”

  Jaden was shaking his head and pushing her back onto the bed. “No, you can’t. Atu said you needed more rest. You have to—”

  Kayla wasn’t sure whether to sweep his arm away or laugh. The thought of her getting up made him so agitated, it was funny. No, it was endearing. Actually, it was annoying. She cut him off. “I’ve slept. I’ve rested like you asked. Now, I’m getting out of this bed!”

  Eyes wide, Jaden stood motionless, looking like he had stopped breathing and not uttering a syllable. Kayla started laughing. It was too much. “Yes, you can help me get out of bed.”

  Relief washed over his face as he put his arms around her waist, bracing her whilst she stood. On her feet at last, Kayla took a moment to assess. No dizziness. No nausea. Her legs were a little shaky, but she’d expected that. Moving more of her weight off Jaden and onto her feet, she assessed again.

  “You can let go.” Kayla pushed off Jaden and took her first step in . . . days? It was a little wobbly, but the next step was firmer, and by the third, she was stable. Despite this, Kayla used slow, measured steps as she walked to the end of the room, then turned and did the set back to the bed a little faster. Jaden hovered next to her the whole way.

  When she reached the bed, she knew she’d be fine. “I’m okay. You can leave me to walk by myself now.” Jaden’s face was pained, but he reluctantly agreed. Kayla began an even gait away from the bed and back again, increasing her pace for each circuit. By the time she’d completed three, the anxiety had left Jaden’s face. Curiosity took its place.

  “What made you get up?”

  Jaden’s unexpected question made Kayla pause. If she stumbled or looked even a little unsteady on her feet, Jaden would banish her back to bed, which was the last thing she wanted. Why did I get out of bed? Then she remembered what they’d been discussing. “I thought I would check the drawers and closets to see if my medallion had somehow found its way here.” Kayla turned in time to catch Jaden’s eye roll. “What?”

  “You could’ve just asked.”

  “True, but then I wouldn’t have raised your heart rate by getting out of bed and walking around.”

  A smirk touched his face, and Jaden’s eyes glinted. “There are better ways of increasing my heart rate.”

  Kayla giggled. “There certainly are.” She moved so she could wrap her arms around his neck
. Lifting onto her toes, she craned her neck and kissed him. The moment his lips brushed hers, current sparked her blood and raced along her veins. Leaning into the kiss, her body melted into his when he deepened the kiss.

  Coming up for air, Kayla again clutched at straws as she tried to remember what they’d been discussing. Catching sight of the sun outside when she snuggled against Jaden’s shoulder, she dredged up one question. “How long has it been since you rescued me?”

  Jaden’s arms tightened. She shouldn’t have reminded him she hadn’t been here. His voice was gruff when he answered.

  “Almost a week.”

  Kayla did the math. That meant she had slept for another day and night. “Aren’t you tired of me sleeping yet?”

  Jaden curled a finger under her chin and lifted her face towards his again. “Only when it means I can’t do this.” He kissed her again.

  When he released her this time, Kayla sank onto the bed. Whether it was his effect on her or weakness after her ordeal, she wasn’t sure. But she didn’t want him worrying. “Whew, a girl’s gotta sit after that!”

  Jaden laughed. “Nice try.”

  Kayla shrugged. “It was worth a shot. I don’t want you fussing over me all day.”

  This time, the laugh was heartier. “I didn’t plan to. I brought the chest, hoping your medallion would be in there.”

  “But it’s not. So—” Kayla made to rise but Jaden stopped her, shaking his head.

  “Don’t bother. I’ve checked this room, your backpack, and had someone check your room back home. There’s no sign of it.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Kayla’s blood ran cold. “Now I understand why you agreed with me about Slurpy having my medallion. What does that mean for our mission?”

  “For starters, that unless we get it back, we can’t use the medallions to finish this thing.”

  “Why?”

  “We had hundreds of medallions in that chest. If that many together didn’t make the Gaptors disappear, then it can only mean one thing—that we need all the medallions for their magic to work.”

  “We have to get mine back then. But how? How do we cross into that other world?”

  Jaden grimaced. “I have no clue. But I’ve been wondering if there’s a way to use the arcachoa to cross into that world. If it allows us to cross timelines, perhaps we can cross worlds.”

  “I assume you’ll tell me what you’re thinking if and when you figure it out?”

  “I will. When I’ve had time to think about it more. When I’ve worked out whether it’s viable.”

  Angling her head, Kayla studied him. “You’re not going off on your own again, are you? I thought you’d learned that lesson.”

  This time, Jaden grinned. “No, ma’am. Learned and dealt with. I’ll share any plans with you and the others. I just need to figure out some details. If it’s even an option.”

  Kayla crossed her arms. “So much for ‘learned and dealt with.’ Last time you thought you had it all figured out, but you didn’t. Why not share your thoughts now—uninformed as they are? More minds attacking the problem will yield faster results, and better ones at that.”

  A muscle along Jaden’s jaw flexed, and his blue eyes flashed. But to Kayla’s surprise, his voice remained calm when he answered. “Will you trust me on this?”

  “Considering you’re impressing me by not unleashing that temper of yours, I’ll cut you some slack. But only for a day or two. Then I expect you to share.”

  “Fair enough.”

  Still preoccupied with thoughts about her medallion, Kayla wasn’t troubled when his voice remained flat. “You’d think if Slurpy had all those medallions in that box, he would’ve taken them to his world long ago and destroyed them.” Jaden studied her. Kayla slashed a hand upward. “Oh, for heaven’s sake! I’m just wondering why he didn’t take them—not fishing for what you were thinking!”

  Jaden sighed. “I wondered the same thing. Since I’ve had more time to think about this, here are my thoughts. First, I believe that when Zareh created the medallions, he put some safety mechanism on them that would prevent them from crossing the breach—or rather, that someone other than a seeker couldn’t take the medallion across. Which brings me to my second point: I believe you still had your medallion with you after the crash, when the Gaptors took you to their world.”

  “You don’t think it’s possible my medallion could still be at the crash site?”

  Jaden paused and studied her. “No. Finding their way back to you, remember?”

  “Oh. Yes, I suppose if I lost my medallion at the crash site, it would’ve turned up somewhere here.” Kayla saw the tension in his face ease a little. She needed to think more before she spoke. Any more silly statements and he would chain her to her bed. “So, what else?”

  “Hmm.” Jaden still looked at her as though he was deciding about something.

  “You were saying I still had my medallion with me when the Gaptors took me?”

  Jaden resumed theorizing. “Yes. Third, you were still wearing your medallion, so that allowed it to cross the breach. That was what caused the safety mechanism to fail. It’s how your medallion ended up with Slurpy and why it can’t cross back.”

  “Because it has no seeker to carry it across the breach!”

  “Exactly.”

  Jaden’s grin was the happiest Kayla had seen today. She almost hated to ask her question. “Do you think Slurpy’s experimenting with it? Trying to see if there’s a way he can figure out what the medallions do—or a way to break their power if he already knows their purpose?”

  As expected, Jaden’s grin faded. “It’s what I would do if I were in his position. We have to hope we can retrieve your medallion before he destroys it.”

  Jaden didn’t need to complete the thought. If Slurpy succeeded, would they even have a chance of victory? That reminded Kayla. Picking up the book, she said, “Here’s something that might cheer us up.”

  Taking a seat next to her, Jaden glanced at the book. “You found something?”

  “Perhaps. I was looking at it when you walked in with the chest.” Flipping the book over, Kayla opened it from the back, to the page she’d been examining. “Tell me if I’m crazy, or if you see the same thing I do.”

  Jaden peered at the page. “I don’t see any splotches.”

  “You’re not looking for splotches. Look at the picture.” His sudden sharp intake of breath had her grinning. “I’m not seeing things, then?”

  “I never noticed that before.”

  “I know, right? They were just mountains in the background. Or so we thought. But you agree they’re volcanic mountains?”

  “Yes.” Jaden’s voice rose with excitement. “Those tiny little dents at the top aren’t noticeable until you really look. Why didn’t the artist have lava spouting from the top? It would’ve made it so much easier to recognize.”

  Kayla laughed. “Yes, right! Zareh—remember?”

  At her repetition of his words from earlier, Jaden chuckled. “How could I forget?”

  Taking his hand, Kayla said, “Then again, just because they’re volcanic mountains doesn’t mean they’re the ones we’re looking for.”

  Jaden squeezed her hand before releasing it to lean in closer and inspect the volcanoes again. “Actually, I think they are.” When Kayla frowned, he pointed at the most prominent volcano. “See that little kink along the side there?”

  Kayla squinted. “I suppose. It’s tiny.”

  “I bet if I got the ultramagnifier, it wouldn’t be the only differentiating factor we’d see. Hold on. I’ll fetch it.”

  “Bring Atu and Iri along,” Kayla called after him as he dashed out the door.

  Minutes later, Jaden returned, the ultramagnifier in hand and Iri and Atu in tow.

  “Jaden says you might’ve found something,” Iri said.

  “We’ll see,” Kayla replied as the four of them crowded around the book and watched Jaden run the lens over the volcano.

 
“Here,” Jaden pointed, “and here.” He pointed at another spot. “And here.”

  Atu frowned. “Curves on the side of the volcano?”

  “Yes, notice the way they kink. Not like those on any of the other volcanoes around it.” To prove it, Jaden moved the lens over the other mountains. Moving it back over the kinks, he had pointed out, he said, “Remember those.”

  Jaden flipped to the back cover. Running his hands along the spine, he pulled up the silver rectangle, then opened the map using that finger trick of his.

  Kayla gaped. All the kinks and curves were in exactly the same places. She raised her eyes to the others. They were as astounded as she was.

  Jaden grinned. “I’d say we’ve found the place.”

  “Not quite.” Atu scowled.

  “What do you mean?” Jaden asked.

  “Well, the map and the image in the book are the same. But did you forget where you found this book?”

  Kayla’s excitement was doused as thoroughly as a bucket of water dumped over a fire. “In the myths and legends section of the library.”

  “Meaning it might be impossible to figure out where this story took place,” Jaden concluded miserably.

  Kayla couldn’t take the disappointment. Not again. “We’re saying we can’t find it before we’ve even tried? Didn’t Awena appear when we needed her last time? I say we go to the library in Daxsos and see if she appears again! We have nothing to lose.”

  A quiet knock on the doorframe startled them. Markov stood there, his face set. From the way Jaden reacted, Kayla knew something was wrong. Terribly wrong. She suspected it had something to do with whatever Jaden was keeping from her. When Jaden exited with Markov and returned a few minutes later, his face pale, her apprehension grew. “What?”

  “There’s something I have to tell you.”

  “Something you should’ve told me yesterday—or first thing when you walked in this morning?” Kayla couldn’t help snarling. She had known he’d been hiding something, but she hadn’t wanted to push. Now she wished she had.