“What would we get out of it?” Queen Alani questioned.
“Assuming we win said challenge,” William responded, “safety. The Attackers are conquering the Dimensions, one by one. Sibolana might be next if we don't stop them.”
Kaikayn spoke up. “He has a point. I don't want my province of Numelua taken over by anyone, and I definitely don't want to lose the entire Dimension.”
“But it would be dangerous,” another king, this time with a crown made of celery and carrot sticks, pointed out. “A challenge isn't the same as a Food Fight. We could actually die.”
“He has a better point,” Kaikayn commented.
“You have fought in past wars, haven't you, King Victor?” William inquired.
King Victor, the king with the crown made of celery and carrot sticks, was older than the rest, probably in his early twenties.
He nodded. “Yes, I have. I fought in the war we had with Mekaz, and it still haunts me. We don't need another war.”
“I think we should help them,” Buttercup cut in.
“All in favor of an alliance with the Legendary Keepers?” Makeki asked.
Only Alani, Colton, Buttercup, and Makeki raised their hands. The other five—Victor, Alani, Colton, Kaikayn, and a queen whose name I didn't know—did not.
“I guess it's settled,” Victor remarked.
“King Victor.” I started at the sound of Steven’s voice, which, for the first time since I’d met him, sounded confident. “Please reconsider. The Dimensions depend on it. Please,” he pleaded, looking Victor in the eye and holding eye contact, “for the sake of all that is good, reconsider.”
“Steven?” Gabrielle stared at him in disbelief.
Steven broke eye contact with Victor and glanced at Gabrielle before returning his gaze to the ground. “I h-had to try,” he said, barely audible.
Gabrielle smiled and put her arm around Steven’s shoulder. “You did well.”
Victor was frozen in place, shocked, as if Steven had reminded him of something. Once he regained his composure, he said, “I can’t promise anything, Steven. I care about my people. But I will think about it. I just need some time.”
“In that case,” Queen Buttercup announced, “we will adjourn until further notice.”
No one objected as the leaders of the Food Kingdoms filed out the double doors, leaving us with just the Candy Queen and Malianna.
Makeki sat back in her throne, snapped her fingers, and said, “Lollipop.”
Malianna sighed and rolled her eyes, but handed Makeki a lollipop, as she was told to.
“Thank you, peasant,” Makeki said.
Malianna didn’t even bother debating her this time. “You’re welcome, Your Majesty.”
The graham cracker doors collapsed in a pile of crumbs. Attackers filed into the castle. One was a female archer with caramel brown hair styled into a French braid that reached just past her shoulders. Her amber eyes were sharp and striking, like the arrows in her quiver.
She moved with the speed of lightning as she shot an arrow right through the center of Makeki’s impractically large candy crown. The arrow hit the wall, bringing the now-crumbling crown with it.
Makeki’s jaw dropped, her eyes wide at the archer. “You shot my crown,” she finally stated in disbelief.
“I am Kelsey Balker,” the archer introduced, powerful confidence radiating in her voice, “and that-” she nodded to the crown tacked to the wall by way of her arrow-“was nothing.”
“Your Majesty, are you alright?” Malianna asked, concerned.
“She shot my crown!” Makeki said in way of response, pointing at Kelsey.
Kelsey nocked another arrow, this one aimed directly at Makeki. “What are you going to do about it? Throw lollipops?”
“No,” Makeki scoffed. “That’s ridiculous! Malianna, send word to the other Food Kingdoms.”
“Meaning…?” Malianna prompted.
“Kelsey shot my crown!” Makeki reminded her. “THIS MEANS WAR!”
“I guess we got allies after all,” Felix muttered.
“Wonderful,” one of the Attackers groaned. “We get to wage war on a bunch of eight-year-olds allied with the Legendary Keepers and the Magenta.”
Makeki threw her sticky lollipop at him. “I’m fourteen!”
“Could’ve fooled me,” he retorted, peeling the sticky lollipop off of his cloak. It left stubborn pink residue in its place.
“It did fool you,” Felix pointed out.
“Enough,” Kelsey told the Attackers. “You know our orders.”
I stepped forward, my sword in hand. “Well, forget them or you’ll have to go through me.”
Kelsey smiled as she nocked another arrow. “Stab away, Magenta. Just remember that my arrow always hits its mark.”
Felix narrowed his eyes menacingly. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” he threatened.
“What are you going to do about it?” she challenged.
Felix summoned the Copper Shield and held it at ready. “Do you really want to find out?”
I put my hand on his shoulder, but continued to speak to Kelsey. “What do you want, Kelsey? What are your orders?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Kelsey asked. “My orders are to capture the Magenta, of course.”
“Oh,” I said. “In that case...bye!” I spoke the spell for a portal as fast as I could. “Opatay clekavra Akezo Tavello’s house in Nightmare County!”
I leapt to the side and ran through the portal, missing Kelsey’s soaring arrow by a mere two inches.
Chapter 20
“You’re here early,” the man told us. An old feather duster was in his hand, sweeping down the sides of his five-shelf-high black bookshelves. “I highly doubt Magenta Valida is sixteen years old already.”
“I’m not,” I confirmed. “I’m fourteen.”
The man put the feather duster down on the small table next to one of the bookshelves. He had a noticeable limp. His eyes, bright green, were sorrowful, like he was mourning a loved one’s death. His hair was jet black.
“We had to bring her here earlier than tradition dictates,” Regina informed him. “The situation was dire.”
“Very well,” he said. “You're here for the Silver Mirror?”
William nodded. “Yes, we are.”
He led us into the dining room, where there sat a silver, handheld mirror, beautifully decorated. He held it up for me to see, but my reflection wasn’t at all what I thought it would be. My skin was cream-colored, paler than my usual skin tone. Longer, but still close to the blonde it has nearly always been, my hair had a new luster, like golden thread. Most shocking of all were my eyes. They held their shape, but not their color. Replacing their electric blue irises were glowing magenta ones.
“Dude, I look good,” Felix said, peering over my shoulder. “I mean, not that I didn’t look good before—”
Steven cut him off in his usual shaky, quiet voice. “W-what exactly is it d-doing, Akezo?”
Akezo smiled. “It’s showing the inner person. When someone gazes into it, they are shown their true self, if it were all they were. For Magenta Valida, I presume, it probably shows glowing magenta eyes in the place of her blue ones. That is the mark of the Magenta.”
“I thought the whole magenta-colored-blood-thing was the famous ‘mark of the Magenta’,” William responded. “You know, according to the legend.”
“According to the legend, the Magenta is practically undefeatable,” Akezo retorted bitterly. “It just shows how much storytellers can stretch the truth.”
“Undefeatable?” My jaw dropped. “How on Earth could I be undefeatable? I’m a teenager! I can’t even play dodgeball without getting smacked in the face!”
Felix grinned. “I nailed that shot!”
“Nailed my face, more like,” I responded.
Tom chuckled. “I don’t know what dodgeball is, or what you’re referring to, but I think I would enjoy that story.”
“It isn’t very long,
” I said with a shrug. “I played dodgeball with Felix. 3 minutes and 3.76 seconds into the game, he threw a ball that hit me in the face. Therefore, I am not invincible.”
“You know the exact time?” Selene raised an eyebrow. “I heard the rumors of your mind skills, but I didn't know your mind was a stopwatch, too!”
“It's not,” I corrected. “Abigail timed it on her watch.”
“As far as invincibility goes,” Akezo started, bringing us back to our original topic, “you don’t have it and cannot obtain it. You may become difficult to defeat, if trained properly in your abilities, but will never become truly undefeatable.”
“What exactly do you know about my ‘abilities’?” I inquired. “You know, other than that they are ‘superpowers’.” I enclosed the word in air quotes.
“They are guarded by the Guardians, who are scattered throughout the Dimensions. Each one has the ability to awaken one of them,” Akezo answered.
Regina summoned the Leather Book and skimmed the page. “One of these abilities,” she added, “you have already awoken. Or, more accurately, Sekarra has.”
Surget flammak, I recalled from my encounter with the Sphinx. Those words reminded me of—
Oh.
They reminded me of Latin. Flammak was like flamma, which means “flame” in Latin.
“Fire,” I said. “I can control fire.”
Regina nodded. “With a little training, that could become a valuable skill.”
“We’d never have to build a campfire again,” Felix mused. “Endless hotdogs and s’mores!”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Potato Brain,” I warned. “I can’t control it yet. I might accidently set you on fire.”
“Flaming Felix,” Akezo chuckled. “Now that would be something.”
Tom snorted. “More like Baked Potato.”
That earned him a weird look from Akezo, which he ignored.
“Anyway.” Akezo cleared his throat. “You are all welcome to stay here and rest up. I doubt you’ve gotten decent rest in a while.”
“After Makeki?” Selene said, yawning. “I could sleep for a week.”
◆◆◆
The Darkness was, as usual, a hostile place, full of whisperings that creeped into my mind. Failure. Fool. You could never save the Dimensions.
“Well, I see you haven’t changed much,” I told it, doing my best to block out its mind games. It had gotten easier since the last time I visited.
Half-monster freak. You shouldn’t even be alive, much less with a fool like the Magenta.
“You, Darkness Guy,” Felix informed it, “are absolutely peachy today.”
My name is not “Darkness Guy”, the Darkness told him. I am the powerful—
Put a lid on it, Darkness Guy, an echoing female voice cut in.
Don’t call me that! the Darkness hissed. This is my territory, Rekala! Get lost!
This is not your territory, Rekala corrected. The Magenta’s mind is no place for a dark being like you. You get lost.
“Wait! Time out!” Felix made a time-out sign. “I’m in Miss Magenta’s brain?”
That’s not the point! Rekala sighed. Darkness Guy here—
NO SPOILERS! the Darkness shrieked. NO HINTS, NO CLUES, AND NO SPOILERS!
“I want spoilers!” I piped up.
“Me too!” Felix said.
Absolutely not! the Darkness shrieked. NO SPOILERS!
“Valida!” Regina's voice echoed in my mind. “Valida, wake up! We're under attack!”
Chapter 21
Even under the possibly fatal circumstances, it was hard to fully grasp the urgency of the situation. “Huh?” I asked, still half-asleep. “Who’s attacking us?”
“Lulins!” Regina answered urgently, frustration evident in her voice. “Honestly, you’re as bad as Felix! The Lulins are practically at our door!”
That woke me up. “Okay, I’m up.”
“Tom is trying to get the others, but I doubt he’s having much luck,” Regina reported.
We went room by room, waking the inhabitants that weren’t already up. Then, we came to the room that Felix and William shared.
“Get up!” Tom told Felix, yanking his blanket off. “The Lulins are raiding Nightmare County!”
“Wake me up tomorrow,” Felix groggily groaned, taking his blanket back and pulling it over his head.
“Make like a banana and split, Potato Brain!” I told him.
From under his blanket, he said, “I prefer potaters.”
“Then make like a potato and split!” I amended.
“That doesn’t make sense, Valida,” Tom commented.
“We’re in mortal danger,” I pointed out. “It doesn’t have to make sense.”
Felix moaned and sat up. His hair was tousled and stuck up in every direction. He yawned and stretched. “Fine, I’m up. What’s for breakfast?”
Tom facepalmed. Regina rolled her eyes with a sigh. “Seriously?” they groaned in unison.
A loud crash sounded downstairs, followed immediately by Akezo shouting, “GET OUT OF MY HOUSE, VULIKS! IT’S THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!”
“We are under orders from the king himself,” a raspy voice hissed. “The Magenta is here, in Nightmare County.”
“This isn’t Lunaka, General Sygopsis,” Akezo growled. “King Bimaedonis has no power here. Now GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!”
“Difficult, this one,” Sygopsis hissed. “Must be hiding something.”
Looks were exchanged among the Legendary Keepers, each one worried. “We’re goners,” Selene whispered.
The sound of feet pounding up the stairs scared me. Sygopsis hadn’t come alone, and there was nowhere to hide. It only took a minute or two for the Lulins to get to our door and kick it down.
Lulins were hideous. They were solid black, from their pointed ears to their thick-skinned, pointed, barefoot toes. Only their eyes, which glowed gold, broke the pattern. They were each about five feet tall.
“We meet again Legendary Keepers,” the one in front, presumably Sygopsis, said.
Felix groaned. “Great. This guy again. Sygopsis, can you and your buddies come back in, like, two hours? I just woke up! I haven't even eaten breakfast yet!”
“Lulins know no mercy,” Sygopsis responded, shooting a golden laser from his eyes. It hit Felix’s arm.
He cried out and his hand shot up to his arm. “What is it with people and re-injuring my injured arm?”
“I thought it healed,” William commented.
“Well, it didn’t stay healed!” Felix finally got all the way out of bed. He cradled his bad arm with his good one. “What do you want, Laser-Eyes?”
“Hand over the Power,” Sygopsis ordered. “It belongs to us!”
“For the record,” Akezo shouted from the hallway, “it is a she.”
“The Power?” Tom raised an eyebrow. “What exactly do you mean by that?”
“We seek the Legendary Power,” one of the Lulins behind Sygopsis hissed. “According to legend, it is the nearly undefeatable.”
“You guys seem to base a lot of decisions off legends,” I observed. “Especially on the topic of invincibility.”
“It is not your place to judge us, Magenta,” Sygopsis snarled. “We have searched long enough! Give us the Power or die!”
Selene reached for her sword, but it wasn’t in its usual spot by her side. “Wonderful,” she grumbled. “I’m unarmed.”
“We’re dead,” William stated.
“Give us the Power!” the Lulins hissed in unison.
“W-we don’t h-have it!” Steven told them. .
Sygopsis glared at him. “Then die.”
The Lulins attacked, shooting their eye lasers at us from all directions. Felix summoned the Copper Shield and used his uninjured arm to hold it, casting a forcefield around us.
“Now would be a good time for some Magenta-level firepower,” William remarked.
“How in the world do I use it?” I questioned, examining my hands. They didn’
t look like they could shoot fire. “I’ve never used it before!”
“You can’t hide behind your little forcefield forever, Keepers!” Sygopsis hissed. “Even the Objects have to recharge.”
“Yeah,” Felix acknowledged, “but I can keep my ‘little forcefield’ up for at least twenty-four hours before it requires a recharge.”
“Valida,” William addressed, “try focusing your energy on shooting fire from your hands. Feel the energy flow down your arms and out your fingertips. You know, like in the movies.”
“By all means,” Selene stated sarcastically, “let’s base life-changing decisions on movies.”
I thrust my hand out, commanding the fire to shoot out of it. Nothing happened. I looked at William for a better idea.
“You didn’t do it right,” he insisted. “You have to feel the fire’s energy before you try to shoot it! You and the fire must be one!”
“That doesn’t make sense!”
“We’re in mortal danger,” Tom recalled, “it doesn’t have to make sense.”
I glared at him. “Thanks plenty, Tom.”
“You’re welcome,” he said cheerfully.
“Nice comeback,” Felix complimented. “Consider yourself high-fived.”
I held my hand out again, this time finding the fiery feeling inside of me and pushing it out. A fireball shot from my palm to the inside bubble part of the forcefield, where it vanished.
“I did it!”
Felix grinned. “Okay, when I let down the forcefield, roast some laser-eyed Lulins! Disarming in three, two, one…”
The forcefield vanished and I shot a fireball at Sygopsis. It was intercepted by a giant stream of water. The fire and water joined together to make steam. Sygopsis had a beautiful ring on his black finger, which shot water like a hose. A few lasers shot my way. I dodged them, but banged my head against the side of William’s bed. Sygopsis motioned for his little squad to hold their fire.
“I will capture the Magenta myself,” he insisted. “King Bimaedonis wants her alive.”
The others backed out of the way, but still kept their glowing eyes on the Legendary Keepers. The Keepers exchanged worried looks amongst themselves.
The Magenta (The Legendary Keepers Book 1) Page 9
