Secret Keepers: The Complete Series

by Jaymin Eve

  “Are we all in the stream?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Xander said. “When we moved closer to you, the coordinates appeared.”

  Emma let out the hugest of joyful sighs. “God, that makes me so happy. I knew we were eternally bonded. The eight of us. We’re the best family anyone could wish for. I promise I will always have your backs. Always.”

  “Same,” Callie said, quietly. “Now let’s go save our worlds.”

  “Does everyone have the coordinates memorized?” Lexen reminded us of the reason I was in a freezing stream with my shirt over my head. “We can’t use the network to figure out where it is, so we’re going to have to do this the old-fashioned way.”

  “Google!” Maya and Emma shouted at the same time.

  “The first part is easy enough to remember,” Daniel said with a laugh. “I volunteer to remember the zero.”

  Callie actually laughed out loud. “Always lazy at school, Dan. That’s the latitude,” she told him. “The equator is the center of the earth, so it’s always zero. The other coordinates are the important ones.”

  “Definitely need Google for this,” Maya said. “Nobody knows coordinates off the top of their head.”

  Xander gently pulled my shirt down and I turned to face them. “Got the numbers memorized?”

  Lexen nodded. “Don’t worry, Daelighters have excellent memories. We won’t forget.”

  Awesome. Time to go.

  My emotions were mixed in that moment. Leaving House of Royale was hard. I’d only been here for such a short time. But it wasn’t as devastating as I expected, maybe because I had recently learned the most important lesson of all. Home was people, not places. It all made sense to me now.

  Xander recruited some Royales to help us back to the round disc between the houses, and in no time at all we were standing on the edge of this water world, lacing up our shoes.

  We weren’t the only ones on the disc either, preparing to cross to Earth.

  The warriors had come.

  Chapter 18

  We made our way through the crowds toward the center of the disc. There were two small groups waiting there, one with Lexen’s dad and sister, along with another dark-haired male who bore a scar down one side of his face. They were chatting with a pair of regal Daelighters. When Chase and Maya crossed straight to them, I figured they were Chase’s parents, the overlords of House of Leights.

  Lettie and Tristall were also in that overlord group; they must have come up while we were in the sacred waters. Lettie had changed from her casual attire and now wore a floor-length dress of seaweed green, its lengths trailing across the ground behind her. The crown on her head was coral-like in structure. The protruding sections that weaved between her hair were in shades of purple and blue.

  She looked amazing. And intimidating.

  And I still hated her.

  Royale warriors stood close by, their spears and spikes held aloft, looking all kinds of scary. I wondered, for a moment, if Xander went against his mother, would she send those warriors after him? Would she force his compliance?

  She seemed like the type of leader who would do anything to get her own way. Especially if she thought it was for the good of her people.

  Daniel and Callie, holding hands, moved to take their place as the fourth overlord majors. Imperial warriors shifted closer to them as well, backing their leaders. This was the first time I’d seen a large group of Imperials, and I noted that all of them had their hair cropped or shaved just like Daniel’s. Even Callie’s hair was very short, stopping just below her ears. Maybe it was really hot down there … the underworld might have gotten its “fires of hell” myth from Overworld as well.

  “We have the location,” Lexen said to his father, and we all pushed in closer to hear the conversation. “We’re ready to find the stone and put an end to all of this. Have we figured out how to remove the secret keepers’ link to it?”

  Colita stepped away from the nearby group. “The council can do that,” she said, gesturing to the half a dozen other Daelighters she’d been standing with. “We have devised a plan that will break the bonds between the four and the stone. The moment you find it, you need to contact us. We’re teaming up with the humans. They’ve decided not to hide the starslight any longer. Instead the location will be known, and a human and Daelighter army will rotate in guarding it.”

  “They’re going to actually tell humans?” Daniel said cynically. “Is that the best plan? Humans are not known for taking news about impending end-of-world disasters well.”

  Colita shrugged. “The human government assures us that they can spin this information to keep the panic at a minimum. They’re not going to break the whole aliens-walk-among-you to them just yet. We all agree that humans—most of them anyway—are not ready for that information.”

  I’d barely felt ready for it, and I’d lived with being “different” my entire life.

  Lexen moved on, his eyes doing that flashing white lights thing. “What’s the plan for right now? Should we leave the secret keepers in Overworld until we clear Laous out of Astoria? I don’t want Emma or any of them in danger. They must be protected.”

  Emma elbowed him in the ribs. “Stop trying to leave me behind. We’re a team. I’ve told you that a hundred times. The eight of us … we’re stronger together. It’s a fact.”

  His fierce expression softened, and he nodded. “I agree with you now. I feel it as well—”

  “Finally convinced your stubborn ass,” Emma cut in.

  His chest rumbled. “Yes, you did. But I also know that if anything happens to you, I will not be able to control my Draygo side. I will destroy the worlds, Emma Walters. A missing starslight stone will be the least of the humans’ worries.”

  Roland reached out to comfort his son. “Lex, we won’t let anything happen to Emma … to any of them. Our number-one priority is to keep all of you safe. You’re our future leaders after all.”

  Lexen didn’t relax. If anything, there was an even more animalistic look on his face. He reached out and pulled Emma into his side, and she must have seen in him the same thing I had, because she didn’t fight him. He was on the edge of losing it; one more thing would push him over the edge. Not that any of us thought for a second he’d hurt Emma, but everyone else was fair game.

  “So what is the best way for us to clear Laous and the Gonzo out of Astoria with minimum casualties?” Daniel asked.

  Colita waved over the other councilmembers. “We’re coordinating with the human army,” she said as the three males and three females joined us. “Any updates?” she asked them.

  A dark-haired man answered: “They’re telling us that Laous has a lot of hostages. Pretty much the entire town has been taken. The army is surrounding Astoria, but they won’t enter until we give them the okay—apparently they have been tracking Gonzo for a long time, and they’re ready to take them down. They’re just waiting for us to come in from the inside.”

  “They’re not in Daelight Crescent, right?” Emma choked out.

  Roland shook his head. “No, I’ve got a barrier across the street. House of Darken powers it. So far it’s holding.

  “What about our friends at the high school?” Emma continued, voice wavering. “Are there any casualties?”

  Colita shook her head. “Not that we know of, but there was some resistance initially. I’m not sure what happened to those who fought back.”

  Emma started to suck in deep gulping breaths, in and out, until her panic faded. As it did, anger took over. “We can’t wait another second. If he hasn’t yet, Laous will start killing them soon.”

  “Does it have to be a war?” I suggested, for once not nervous to be voicing an opinion. Xander’s mother already hated me. How much further could I fall in her esteem? “What if we tried to make a deal with Laous? Get him away from all the innocent people by telling him that we’ll lead him to the stone? That he needs the eight of us to find it, so his best chance is to tag along with us?”

&n
bsp; “You want to lead him straight to it?” Lettie asked. “How, pray tell, do you then plan on making sure he doesn’t get his hands on the stone? The aim from the very beginning has been to keep him as far as possible from it.”

  I shook my head. “I’m not sure about you, but I’m not willing to let an entire town be slaughtered if there is something I can do to prevent it. We really don’t have a choice. And no one plans on letting him have the stone; we can fight him better when there are fewer casualties around. Fewer innocents he can use as leverage.”

  “It makes sense.” Xander backed me up. “But we can’t forget that Laous has Rao. Maybe he’s already warned him.”

  Colita shook her head. “After my dream, I’m pretty sure Rao is not sharing anything with Laous. The entire emotion I felt in that vision was regret, pain, and an overwhelming sense of guilt.”

  “We should vote on this new plan,” a tall, very blond councilwoman suggested. “Majority rules.”

  Lettie straightened as well, opening her mouth as if to protest, but Colita got in first. “Yes, in times of war, majority rules is the fallback. All those in favor of a fake alliance with Laous. We will lead him to the stone, and then take him out somewhere along the way.”

  One by one, the eight of us raised our hands. Roland followed, along with Chase’s parents, who had been quietly observing until this point. The council had a quick discussion amongst themselves, but in the end, all of them raised their hands as well. Lettie and Tristall were the last two, and for a moment I thought they were going to stubbornly refuse, even though majority ruled. Then with a single nod in my direction, Lettie raised her hand.

  My stomach went all fuzzy at that point, because it had been my idea, and my immediate reaction was to freak out about it failing. But the thought of innocents dying was even worse. We had to try something.

  “It’s settled,” a council member declared. “We will discuss a treaty with Laous, allow him to accompany the group to the stone. You will lead him to the country where the stone is located, and all of us will follow shortly afterwards.”

  Roland cleared his throat. “And while he’s with the secret keepers, we can have our warriors sneak into Astoria and start retrieving the humans,” he said in a voice filled with fire. “They will be stashed in Daelight Crescent for safety.”

  “I’ve informed the human army,” Colita cut in, and I realized she’d been doing a faraway stare thing a second before. Could they literally go in their heads and inform the humans of things? A question to ask later. “They agreed that if Daelighters can focus on retrieving the humans, they will crush the Gonzo. If we work together, in a single coordinated move, hopefully we’ll take them by surprise and have minimal casualties.”

  “What if someone informs Laous of what is happening? And he retaliates?” Callie asked. “I mean, surely he’s given his people a way to contact him, even if we take him away.”

  “I can create an electrical storm that will take out all human communications,” Roland said. “And hopefully if our attack is swift, there will be no time for anyone to tell him.”

  Xander explained that to me. “The network is quite weak on Earth, so we use human technology most of the time to travel and communicate.”

  That was a good thing, then, because human technology was not that hard to disrupt. Hell, cell phones worked only half the time on my island back home, which was why I gave up on having one years ago.

  “We should go,” Daniel said, staring toward the transporter. “I’m ready for this bullshit to all be over. I have a house to run. My people are starting to fall apart without a leader.”

  One of the council members dropped a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll have your initiation ceremony as soon as the stone is in the hands of the humans again. Once you are fully connected, you’ll be able to bring your house together.”

  Daniel nodded once, his jaw hard. Callie reached out and wrapped her hand around his, and the slightest of dimples appeared in the overlord’s cheeks. She was a very calming influence on him.

  Chase’s parents stepped forward. “More of our warriors are on the way, but we’re running out of room on the platform,” his father said. “The Galinta tell us they will guard the land here, so if any with violence in their hearts cross back this way, the trees will respond.”

  That gave me a moment’s pause. The trees will respond? I turned to where they towered far above our heads, on the edge of House of Leights. “The trees can respond?” I asked, unsure about what that meant.

  “Oh yes,” Maya told me. “The trees here are sentient. They could even move if they wanted to. Which makes me feel a hell of a lot better knowing my parents and Brad are back in Darken. I’d hate to think that they could be attacked while we are gone with most of the warriors.”

  “Our people share an energy with the Galinta,” Chase’s mom said, her voice somehow gentle and booming in energy. “We can change our shape to be more like theirs, giving us increased strength and power. The Galinta are our home … our family.”

  I shook my head. “That’s incredible. As someone who loves nature more than anything, I completely understand what you’re saying.”

  The ocean had always been my family, and to see it filled with rubbish and pollution … it killed me. A lot of humans—not all of them, thankfully—took our natural beauties on Earth for granted. It made me furious when they threw their trash and chemicals into the oceans. Or the forests. Or anywhere it should not go.

  Another group appeared in the transporter then, shuffling off into the very limited free space now. “We must start crossing to Earth,” Lettie stated, her tone suggesting this activity was akin to wading through a sewerage pipe. “Our warriors can congregate in Daelight Crescent.”

  Everyone nodded, and the council dispersed, running off to talk with the different members of the houses. “The council is supposed to be a neutral, overseeing group,” Xander told me as we watched them move about. “Our houses have rarely had reason to come together like this, so it’s good to have them here to coordinate it all.”

  “How can you handle being … a leader … having to make decisions like that … having the responsibility and happiness of your people rest with you? I’m not sure I could handle it. I just like to swim.”

  Xander grinned. “All Royales like to swim, so as long as you make that a priority, you’ll find happiness is easy to achieve.”

  I shook my head at him. “You know what I mean.”

  He shrugged then, his expression sobering. “I’ve never known anything different. I won’t lie and say it’s not scary thinking about my mother handing the mantle over to me one day, when she’s had enough of her role. But … I guess I’ll just handle it how I do everything, one day at a time, work my ass off, and learn from those older and with far more knowledge than me.”

  “It’ll be a long time before you have to worry about that, son,” Lettie said, an almost joking tone in her voice. “I’ve still got plenty of good years left in me.” Her eyes flashed to me for a moment and grew slightly chillier. “I’ll make sure you have a good match. Someone to help with the burden. So don’t stress about it.”

  Ouch. Point received, mermaid bitch.

  Xander sidled between me and his mother like he thought a chick fight was about to break out. “I’ve told you multiple times, it would be much easier if I arranged my own mateship based on what I think is the perfect match for me.”

  The weariness in his voice told me this was an old argument.

  Lettie’s expression softened. “I promise you, this is the best way. It’s tradition. And it’s tradition for a reason, because the most secure matches are ones made with your head, not your heart.”

  “We did away with the old ways years ago,” Roland said from the side. Apparently everyone was listening in now. “Our children are capable of making decisions like this on their own.”

  Tristall stepped up to stand shoulder to shoulder with his mate. “Royales have always done mateship differentl
y, mostly because it’s not in our nature to be in long-term bonds. It works for overlords because of the energy we’ve absorbed from the network. But … there is less fighting … less controversy, when the bond is chosen based on mutual benefits to the two families.”

  “Less love. Less passion,” I added bluntly. “Is it really necessary to accentuate our close ties to fish? Maybe we should try and be more like our Daelighter side.”

  Lettie sneered at me. “You’re neither Daelighter nor fish. You are a human, one who cannot even breathe under the legreto. You get no say here.”

  Her words cut, just a little … a deep paper cut. Still, I had challenged their way of life, so it would be expected that she’d retaliate.

  “Watch your tone, Mother,” Xander said, and I noticed how tense his back muscles were. “Avalon makes some very good points. I see the flaws in our mateship arrangements. I have told you often of those flaws. I have told you about the time I spend in the Darken home, and how it’s warm and light and affection is given freely. If I ever have young, that is the life I want them raised in. I also think we should be encouraging our people to change their way of bonding and raising families. A lot of them are not happy about our way of doing things.”

  “How do you know this?” Tristall asked. “No one has mentioned anything to us.”

  I edged around Xander so I could see his face. “I talk to them,” he said, some of the anger fading from his voice. “They miss their children. They want to know who their children are. Some of them have been in long-term bondings for many years, but they hide it for the shame of not changing partners often. You’re not putting the people first. If traditions are failing, we need to readdress them.”

  “Enough,” Lettie barked her command. “This is personal Royale business. Now is not the time. We will pick this conversation up later.”

  Xander reached out then, wrapping his arm around me, drawing me closer to his body. “That’s fine. But you need to apologize to Avalon.”

  Lettie inhaled sharply. “I’ll do no such thing. I spoke only the truth.”