Secret Keeper (My Myth Trilogy - Book 2): Young Adult Fantasy Novel

by Jane Alvey Harris

  I know my Purpose! It’s to keep Jacob and Aidan and Claire safe, to keep us together. But Dad will be back in a matter of days. He’s going to waltz in and take my little brother and sister, and no one will lift a finger to stop him.

  We will do far more than lift a finger, Maiden. We will do far more than stop him.

  We?

  What stands in your way?

  Everything! I’m weak. I’m gullible. I’m afraid. And I don’t know how to be anything else.

  Crush your weakness. Sacrifice your doubt and your innocence and your fear on the Warrior’s Altar. Take up your shield, your gauntlet, and your dagger. Train as a Warrior with targeted persistence. Annihilate anything and anyone who stands in the way of your ability to accomplish your Purpose. Now. What is your Purpose?

  To stop my father Drake from hurting the people I love.

  How will you stop him?

  I’ll destroy him if I have to.

  Not if, Shield Maiden. We will rip him limb from limb. We will kill him.

  Darts of silty sunlight pierce the waves weighing me down, revealing tumble-smooth shells and billowing seaweed in the shallows surrounding me. Weightless, I shift to find I’m submerged in less than a foot of water. All it takes is turning my body up toward the light and opening my lips to swallow a mouthful of morning.

  A deep breath saturates my lungs with sea salt and wood smoke. Waking on the sand, I’m without Obsidian, but her ruthless Voice still rides the tides, captivating me with its promise of violence and vast power. Her words press in on me everywhere, imprinting me with determination.

  I will train until I have the authority to use my power to accomplish my Purpose. I need to be a warrior. I will train to be a Champion, a Shield Maiden.

  Beside me, Teagan stirs. I match my breath to hers until my heart rate slows.

  Embers crackle lazily as bark transforms to ash in the stone ring, shifting the foundation of our spent bonfire. The scent of pine needles and berry resin mingles with kelp and hot coal.

  I’ve never in my life spent an entire night out in the open under the stars.

  “Are you cold?” Teagan whispers. I swivel my head slightly to see her peering at me with one tawny brown eye. “Your wings are trembling.”

  “How did I never notice before?” I ask but don’t wait for her answer. “Your eyes. They’re like a cat’s. And your lashes, so… Wow.”

  She says nothing, only smiles and scoots closer, burying her head in my shoulder and I can’t help but think how delicate and lithe and lean she is, how small and feminine and fresh, like the lilt of a breeze here and gone…yet she anchors me to this moment more solidly than a metric ton of Gabes or Kaillens or Bradys ever, ever could.

  And so I settle back into the grooved place running beside the marrow in my bones and fully inhabit this determined new body lying pressed up against hers. I match her breathing as she falls back asleep. I’ve never been so sure of myself and my place in the world as I am right here, right now. Obsidian’s thunderous words ring in my ears.

  “I am Emily Ava Alvey,” I murmur, too quiet for anyone but me to hear. I’m the person I’ve been looking for.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Everyone’s awake. No shuffling about or pulling the blankets up or begging for someone else to please stoke the fire and brew a tin of coffee. There’s enough Blaze in the air to electrocute an innocent passerby.

  Not that there’s any possibility of that. We’re constrained on the west by the Pacific, the north by the cliffs, the south by tide pools, and the east by the forest, and Minali has wards set to alert us if anything bigger than a squirrel crosses the borders she’s set.

  “The Queen’s guard didn’t even blink!” Chloe fist bumps me, hard. Her enthusiasm is contagious. “I can’t believe it was so easy!”

  “We’re hardly in the clear,” Teagan reality checks us. “They’ll find us if they look hard enough. But we’d have plenty of warning. Do you think they’ll come after us?”

  “It’s not a question of whether they will or they won’t.” Minali’s voice is all authority. “It’s a question of how soon. The Queen isn’t going to let precious Lady Alvey flit off on her own to live deliberately in the woods. What, and give up her new shiny new toy?”

  Why is Minali even here? She obviously can’t stand me, and surprise: I’m not her biggest fan, either.

  “She’s not wrong, Emily.”

  I spin around at the sound of that voice to see Twist sauntering across the beach toward us. “Oh. My. GOD. Twist!”

  What the actual f…! My mouth twitches as it tries to drop open and split into a grin at the exact same moment because HOLY SHIT. She’s shaved half of her head and dyed the other half silver and spiked it in a delicate mohawk; I’ve never seen anything more perfect in my life. Plus, her wings have regrown…not fully…but it’s the first time I’ve seen them since she sacrificed them for me, and they are spectacular.

  She grimaces as I launch myself at her, wrapping my arms around her and squeezing extra tight. She grunts in consternation, but I know she’s just as happy to see me.

  “OMFG, you look FIERCE,” I gush stepping back and taking in the black under-armor spandex suit she’s wearing. It’s just like Kaillen’s, just like the High Queen’s, except she’s sliced slits in the back to let her wings through—obviously she doesn’t give a flying fig if she looks like a whore. Sword breakers encircle her waist, and two scabbards crisscross her back, sheathing short swords between her wings. A pair of scimitars with blades at least two feet long are secured across her lower back. She has throwing stars strapped to both arms, and daggers tied to her ankles.

  “When did you get back from the Seventh Kingdom? Is Kaillen back, too?” I regale her with questions, not giving her any time to answer. “Why are you covered in knives? OhMyGosh, I’ve missed you so much! Hey, how did you know where we were, and how did you get past the wards?”

  “She has the codex,” Minali answers for her. “They’re her wards, actually. This entire mission was her idea.”

  “Mission?” I’m confused. “What are you talking about? This isn’t a mission. I ran away and you guys followed me. I didn’t ask any of you to come with me.”

  “I’ve been thinking about the wards.” Twist ignores me. “I’ve got an idea that should prevent our discovery indefinitely.” Her tone is beyond confident. “Think about it. Both the Queen and Kaillen will send scouting parties as soon as they discover Emily’s missing. Who will they send?” Her question is obviously rhetorical, but she waits for an answer, anyway.

  “The Queen will dispatch her Honor Guard and the General will send his First Rank,” Teagan replies.

  “Exactly,” Twist says. “The Honor Guard is comprised entirely of maidens, and Kaillen’s First Rank—with the exception of me—is all elves. Right now we’ve placed separate wards, one set to be tripped by maidens, and one set to be tripped by elves. But if we have Emily combine the flows…”

  “Holy shit, you’re right.” Minali’s eyes go big with realization. “The only way they’d get through is either with an Ovate who can detect both flows, or with an elf and maiden weaving together to form a Third Eye! The Queen has every Ovate except Emily locked up in the caskets in the Crypt—and maidens and elves are so suspicious of each other they’d never agree to work together!”

  “You’re brilliant, Twist!” Chloe practically jumps up and down.

  Twist is brilliant, but I’m still pissed she seems perfectly content to keep me in the dark.

  “Will someone please tell me what’s going on? What’s this about Ovates in caskets in the Crypt? And since when did me running away turn into World War III? I was never leaving forever. I have to go back and submit to the Queen. If I don’t, she’ll hand Aidan and Claire over to Drake.”

  “Submit?” Twist spits the word like it’s curdled milk. “That’s exactly the problem, Emily! You act weak. The Queen will continue to treat you like you’re fragile and damaged as long as you
keep acting like you are. She’s manipulating you. Do you really think she’ll hand children over to a monster?”

  “I don’t intend to find out,” I shudder.

  “Well, we’re not letting you go back.” Twist shakes her head.

  “It really isn’t up to you, Twist,” I flare. Maybe I didn’t miss her quite as much as I thought. “I know I’m weak. I’ve been a victim and that needs to change. I’m asking for your help.”

  “You aren’t weak, Emily.” Teagan grabs my hand, lacing her fingers through mine. “You’re extremely brave. We all know that, don’t we, Twist?”

  I glance at Twist, my best friend now that her twin sister is gone. Her shoulders are hunched and she’s digging a hole in the sand with her boot, but she grumbles a response.

  “Yes.” She rolls her eyes. “Gawd, I said she acts weak, okay?”

  Teagan tucks a strand of my wind-raked hair behind my ear. “You’re acting like there’s something wrong with you. And there isn’t.”

  My eyes sting. The ocean is suddenly loud in my conch shell ears. If only Teagan knew the truth. If only she knew how I long to be touched, to be consumed, to be controlled, to be desired. By anyone in general. By her specifically. If she knew how whole I’d felt lying in her arms during the night, she wouldn’t be trying to convince me there’s nothing wrong with me.

  “You don’t believe me, do you?” She brushes my cheek with one gentle finger, reading my doubt.

  I shake my head, and try to look away, but there is no away. I’m encircled by maidens. “There is something wrong with me, Teagan. The Queen saw it. She says I’m addicted to attraction. She says my unchecked ‘ability to connect’ makes me a threat to everyone I care about.”

  Chloe nods like it all makes sense now. “It happened in the Crypt. We saw it.” She gestures to Minali who nods, too. “The Convicted connected with you immediately. They didn’t even ask permission, did they?”

  “So you did know they were alive?” I ask and she nods. “And they’re all Ovate, like me?” She nods again and I make a mental note to have them explain that later. “Well, it probably wouldn’t have mattered even if they had asked permission. Their attention felt good,” I admit. “And I’m not very good at saying no.”

  “Well, that’s definitely something I can help with,” Twist says. “I personally commit to staying out here beating you over the head until you learn how to say ‘no’ and mean it. Until you learn how to shove ‘NO’ down the throat of anyone who doesn’t ask.” She flicks my earlobe. She’s not angry anymore. Just fierce.

  “Thanks.” I smile and rub my stinging ear, heartened by their support, but hardly carefree. “Drake is only a few days out. I’m not asking any of you to help me confront him, but I’m a hot mess and you guys are badass. I’d love it if you’d whip me into shape…if you even think it’s doable. If you think there’s enough time.”

  “You forget we’re renegade maidens.” Twist dons a mischievous grin, and hefts a large prickly-dragon-hide bound book from her satchel. “Gather round, bitches! I’ve stolen the elves’ Big Book of War. Time to get our warrior on.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  The very first line in The Art of Combat says: ‘The foundation of a warrior’s strength is hewn from the unbreakable granite forged in his heart before birth. Singleness in devotion to the Warrior’s Way results first in mastery of self, and second, in mastery of the elements.’

  We’re all seated in a cozy little circle in the sand, listening to Chloe read.

  “This is complete garbage.” Minali flops down onto her back. “You stole a useless book of nonsense, Twist.”

  “Oh my God, Minali.” Teagan pokes at her with a stick she’s been whittling. “Just because the first paragraph is absolute drivel doesn’t mean the whole book is useless.”

  “Hmmm.” On my left, I watch Chloe flip through several pages of closely packed uniform writing. “It does seem to go on like this for quite awhile. Don’t you think it’s interesting that this part is almost word-for-word the exact opposite of what we maidens were taught growing up?”

  “Oh wow,” Teagan says. “You’re right. I can still recite the verses they made us memorize. Like this one.” She puts on a high prissy voice: “‘The source of a maiden’s life-force springs from the eternal well founded in her heart before birth. Subduing the erratic fountain of untamed emotion results first in mastery of her mind and second, in mastery of her countenance.’”

  “I haven’t heard that in ages.” Minali sits back up. “That’s from the First Form, right?”

  “It’s so gross,” Twist groans. “Elves are ‘unbreakable granite’ and maidens are ‘erratic fountains’? Is that like, a reference to menstruating or something? I guarantee you no maiden wrote that drivel.”

  “Ha! I bet you’re right, Twist,” Chloe says. “I never realized that before. It was just something we said. I can’t believe our mothers made us repeat it.”

  “We learned some good stuff, too,” Teagan interjects with optimism. I can’t help but adore her more for it. “Remember what Lady Blake used to say? ‘Elves are like mountains, and a mountain only has one trick: being big and unmovable. It’s strong, but that’s it. Maidens are like water. Water is more powerful because it flows. It’s flexible. If something gets in its way, it just goes around.’”

  “Yeah, that’s way better than ‘singleness in devotion to the Warrior’s Way,” Minali says. “Honestly, I don’t think we need their top secret book. Look at the schematics…they have no style. We can definitely do better than this.”

  “They’re so ‘singular’ in their devotion they’ve completely forgotten the real secret to slaying is fashion,” Teagan laughs.

  “You guys are missing the point.” Twist stands, brushing the sand from her suit of black spandex under-armor. “This isn’t funny. At all. It’s insulting and it’s been used to repress us for eons.”

  “What’s got your panties all in a twist, Twist?” Teagan taunts, straight-faced.

  We all erupt in giggles, Chloe even snorts, but Twist silences us with a glare.

  “Think about it,” she says. “The crap about ‘untamed’ emotions. It’s got to be a huge reason maidens don’t Channel anymore.”

  “Maidens don’t Channel anymore?” I ask. I guess I assumed they all went around baking bread and sweeping-up with Blaze. But now that I think about it, even though I felt their Blaze crackling in their wings ever since we arrived, I never actually saw a maiden Channel in the Royal City—not even the Queen—just like I never saw any of their wings.

  “Nope. These days maidens only Channel if they’re soldiers in training, or if it’s for something really important,” Minali says. “Like healing, or childbirth…”

  “Since when?” I ask.

  “Since about the time the Seventh Kingdom was destroyed,” Chloe says.

  “So it’s against the rules for maidens to Channel now?”

  “No,” Chloe answers. “There aren’t any actual rules. It’s just been drilled into us that we need to ‘master our countenances’ since we were toddlers…”

  “What does that mean, exactly, ‘mastering your countenance’?”

  “It means we’re taught that feeling and expressing strong emotions is un-maiden-like,” Minali says. “That it can leave you vulnerable to the Plague. But Channeling without emotion is pointless, so no one really bothers.”

  I do a quick mental inventory of my own experiences Channeling. I’ve never done it just for fun or just because I could. It’s always been for something important, and I’ve always had stronger than usual emotions.

  “Maidens hold a finite amount of Blaze in our wings,” Chloe says. “When we Channel, it depletes our power…think of it like losing blood through a wound.”

  “Or your period,” Twist mutters.

  “Gosh, there’s a lot of menstrual metaphors here, aren’t there?” Teagan notes with a smirk.

  “Yeah, okay. That works, too,” Chloe agrees, paying Teagan
no mind. “Your body replaces what you lose, but it takes time. We’re depleted when we Channel, and personally, I don’t like the idea of making myself vulnerable that way unless I have to.”

  I remember how I was depleted and vulnerable, too, after I pulled down the sky and broke the Seal. I couldn’t Channel and I was terrified my powers were gone for good, until I realized I could still See with my Eyes—and my Heart assured me that my powers would come back.

  Twist stalks the perimeter of the wasted bonfire, animated. “Do you see what they’ve done? Ælfwig adopted his son, King Foster’s, rule and made it illegal for maidens to study combat after he banished the Seventh Kingdom. He said it was so you guys wouldn’t get hurt, right?”

  “Right,” Minali confirms. “Because his first wife died fighting a Dragon of Legend, and because Queen Rhyannon’s death introduced the Plague and he wanted to protect us.”

  “That doesn’t even make sense,” Twist exclaims. “Do you know how many elves have died in battle or been infected by the Plague?”

  “What’s your point, Twist?” Teagan asks. “Are you saying the edict wasn’t to protect us?”

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying. Think about it.” Twist drops to her knees and holds up three fingers on her right hand one by one as she talks. “One: we’re forbidden to learn how to defend ourselves; two: we’re constantly being told strong emotions should be locked away, and three: maidens don’t Channel unless we’re desperate because we’re afraid of being vulnerable. The way you’ve been raised since Ælfwig kicked us out was never about protecting you. It’s about controlling you. It isn’t just Emily who’s been manipulated. It’s all of us.”

  “But why?” Teagan asks. “What are they afraid would happen if we weren’t controlled?”

  “I don’t know,” Twist admits. “But I think it’s high time we find out.”

  “Oh hey, finally something I’m good at,” I joke. “Losing control.”

  “Holy shitballs, Ems, you’re right!” Twist’s eyebrows climb to her hairline. “Who better to lead us than the strongest Ovate in the entire First Realm?”