The Forgotten (The Lost Children Series Book 1)

by Jennifer Sivec

“I don’t know, Bella, but that is no longer my concern. Go back to the safety of the Pyto with the others, before you can no longer go, but swear to me … you won’t say anything to anyone or anything about what you have seen. If you’ve ever loved me at all, you won’t say a word. I’m sorry to do this to you Bella, but I won’t be able to speak with you any longer.” Kyla felt a pang of sadness that left as quickly as it came. Bella had been her favorite of all her sisters, but now it was time to let her go. She couldn’t take Bella where she was going; she certainly not dare. Her destiny was to be Human, to be with the Governor, and nothing else was important any longer.

  Kyla was happy to have made the deal with the Ubilez. It had been much easier than she thought it would be and the price wasn’t as hefty as she’d imagined. She had known all along she would pay any price to be Human. She also knew that she was in control. If the Ubilez wanted to resurface again, they would have to accept anything she was willing to give.

  It was the only choice they had.

  ANABEL AND SAIYA

  “I said that I want to go outside, right NOW!” Saiya had been sick for days and this was the day Mama promised that she could go outside with Sister and play. Saiya was bursting to get out of the house and just run. She wanted to feel the cool grass between her toes and the sunshine warm on her face. She was anxious to visit the horses in the barn and see the newborn colt that was just a few days old. She was frustrated that she had missed the birth and Mama promised she would be able to see it today.

  Saiya was tired of being pent up in the house. She loved running outside for hours and would wander even as far as the middle of Tamaryn, which was a few miles behind their modest little home. She would explore for hours, often alone, even until the light went down and the darkness came, even though she had been scolded numerous times for being out too long. On the day she promised, Mama refused to let Saiya go out, even though she knew how stir crazy her little bug was, and even though she promised. It didn’t matter how much noise Saiya made, Mama knew that she just couldn’t risk it.

  Mama looked at Saiya sympathetically and smiled a half smile that didn’t reach her eyes. Under different circumstances she may have been angry or amused with her youngest daughter, but today was different. She stared long and hard at Saiya as she pushed Saiya’s hair back from her deep, hazel eyes that were fringed with long dark lashes. Mama was proud that Saiya’s eyes looked so much like her own, but Saiya’s eyes were far more mischievous, and Daddy always said with affection that he could see a devil doing somersaults in them.

  Saiya pulled away from Mama in frustration. She didn’t want Mama touching her hair because then she would want to brush it. Saiya’s long, dark brown hair was constantly tangled and wild because she refused to let it get tied up and she didn’t like to be encumbered in any way. She was hoping on this day that no one would notice that she hadn’t tied her hair up. Mama wasn’t herself today and had hardly noticed anything.

  Mama was a sweet, pretty woman who was a little plump in all of the right places and perfect for hugging. She was usually generous with her smiles, but today Mama’s face was tight with worry. "I said no, Saiya! Not right now! Your father has gone to see what is happening. You'll stay in the house where I know you are safe and that is final."

  Mama’s tone was sharp and Saiya rarely heard her voice sound that way, even when Saiya was purposely testing her patience. Maybe it was the look on Mama’s face, or the tone in her voice, but Saiya immediately stopped being angry. There was no use arguing with Mama. Not when she was like this.

  Mama went back to straightening the house, dusting things that were already dusted and keeping busy so that she wouldn’t worry the girls. The last thing that she wanted was for the girls to know how upset she was. The world was changing in a way that neither she, nor any of the other Olders could explain. She whispered quietly, earnestly asking the Patronus to protect them.

  Saiya decided to turn her attention to Sister, her favorite person in the entire world. Anabel was quiet, sitting cross-legged in the window seat, the plain every day blue cotton dress tucked neatly around her long legs. She had been still and looking outside intently all morning.

  "What are you looking at?" Saiya asked in her high-pitched little voice, looking out of the window with curiosity. She was trying to figure out what was so interesting that it would keep Sister staring out all morning.

  Saiya couldn’t imagine sitting so still and thought Anabel was acting so strange. Saiya had never seen her stare out the window for so long, especially when there was nothing there to look at.

  "I don't know yet, little bug," Anabel said quietly, yet with great affection, patting Saiya's cheek before resting her hand on Saiya’s small shoulder. Anabel didn't want to worry Saiya, but there had been a strange knot in the pit of her stomach all morning. Anabel was a more serious thirteen-year-old version of her five-year-old counterpart, with the same thick, chestnut colored hair and big hazel eyes. Unlike Saiya, Anabel preferred to keep her hair tied up and neat, just like everything else about her. In many ways, the girls were opposite of one another, but that didn’t keep them from being extraordinarily close. Anabel had been protective of her sister since the very beginning. Everyone held the belief that this had started when Anabel saved Saiya's life when the younger sister had been born.

  Saiya’s birth was a hard one, and eight-year-old Anabel was the only one home with Mama when she started to cry out from the labor pains. Mama was a Midwife and was trying to talk Anabel through, but when the baby wasn’t coming she told her to check and see if the baby was turned. Anabel didn’t know if she could do it. She didn’t know if she was strong enough to do what she must do.

  “Do it fast Anabel,” Mama panted, trying not to lose herself in the pain. “There isn’t much time.”

  Anabel knew that if she didn’t, she could lose Mama to the Great Beyond. Anabel took a deep breath, reached in and carefully turned her sister, saving them both. When Anabel was finally able to get the baby out, Saiya was still and purple and Anabel felt tears spring into her eyes, blinding her. Mama was too weak to talk and Anabel had to think quickly on her own. She had been with Mama delivering babies for as long as she could remember. Quickly, Anabel breathed the first breath into her sister and continued until the tiny body finally turned pink. They were forever bound together by the gift of life, and nothing that Saiya could ever do from that moment on would ever lessen Anabel’s love for her.

  "You’re staring at something. What is out there, Anabel?" Saiya demanded firmly yanking on Sister’s sleeve.

  Anabel paused, unsure if she should tell Saiya what she had been staring at all morning, but she knew that her stubborn sister would just keep asking until there was an answer. Anabel sighed and spoke in a low, quiet tone, "There's no wind, Sister and there hasn't been any wind all day. I’ve been staring at the trees and the grass to see if they will move. They haven’t, not one bit, and there is nothing living out there, like there usually is. There are no birds, no insects, and no wind.”

  "So? Why does that matter? Why do we need to have wind?" Saiya asked already frustrated, not understanding. She thought how nice it was not to have insects. After all, they annoyed her and she hated when she got stung or bitten by one. Why would Anabel care if there were no bugs?

  "It's weird, that’s all," Anabel said trying not to sound as worried as she was. There wasn’t another house for a half a mile, and Tamaryn was flat. Even when the wind blew softly, they could see it rustle through the grass and the big trees that lined the road in front of their house, but this day was different, and as Anabel continue to peer and squint out the window, there was not so much as one blade of grass that moved.

  Saiya stared and stared, waiting for the familiar sway of the leaves, or to see a robin or a bee. It was unusually warm for early spring so everything started waking up early. "I don't see anything either," she said squinting her eyes. She understood what Anabel was saying and thought it was odd that nothing outside wa
s moving, nothing at all.

  They sat in silence for a long time, staring out the window, both sisters aware that there was something strange happening. Saiya reached over quietly and grabbed Anabel's hand, holding it tight.

  Saiya didn’t know why, but the hairs on the back of her neck suddenly stood up and she felt as though she was in danger. She became very, very afraid.

  MAMA

  Kell was a tender soul. He was all rough and tumble male who liked to beat up on his big brother, yet he possessed a sweetness that didn’t come naturally for most boys. When he was a small baby and he lay on his Mama’s chest, he would stroke her face while looking into her eyes with pure adoration. He easily melted her heart with his love and a smile that could turn pure night into day in an instant.

  Jakob, the eldest and darkest of the two brothers, held Mama’s affections close. Not as forward with his bursts of adoration, his approach was far subtler than his brother’s as he would stand close to her whenever the chance would arise. Always carrying the weight of responsibility that the eldest son of the Governor held, he expressed his love for her more like a suitor, bringing her gifts and doing the smallest deed to please her. He was often rewarded with kind words and small affections that Mama knew wouldn’t embarrass him or compromise his serious nature in front of his peers.

  She loved her two boys for their similarities, but mostly for their differences, amazed they both came from her. She felt a deep connection with both from the moment she knew they were growing within her womb, and every day after they were born, she looked for even more reasons to adore them. She found she loved Kell for his sweetness, and Jakob for his passionate strength. They were as unique as they were different, and she encouraged their love for each other by pushing them closer together, even as young boys.

  Something inside of her whispered repeatedly and steadily that they would need each other one day.

  She could see that Jakob would influence others with his strength of heart and mind. He had a way of imprinting himself on those around him, even as a young child. His energy was infectious and his ability to overcome obstacles was apparent from even his earliest moments in life. Whether it was puzzles, blocks, or barriers, he learned to overcome all of them with a swiftness beyond his age which couldn’t be contained. Mama could see Jakob’s mind constantly working behind his deep gray eyes that were so much like her own, and she expected that he would be resourceful enough to find his own way. Jakob was the spitting image of the Governor, though his eyes were darker and his spirit lighter. Mama reveled in how much he reminded her of his father, who loved him so much.

  Kell was harder for her to figure out, but she decided that if he and Jakob were always together that Kell would be all right. Kell was a lover, and he was far tenderer than Jakob. He cried when he thought he was being spoken to in harsh tones, and he was easily hurt at the mere hint of rejection. He was slow to anger, but fearless when made angry, and Mama was surprised at his fierceness when he was pushed too far. Jakob often shielded him, even from his parents, and made sure that he felt loved and included in nearly every situation. In return, Kell loved Jakob fiercely, and aside from his parents, no one on earth was more important.

  Kell’s heart was open and he remained closely connected to his Mama even long after he grew inside of her body. There were times when he could feel what she was feeling, and he empathized with her sadness and with her joy, almost as though it was his very own. He had a way of materializing in her arms when she needed him, and of sharing laughter with her when there was an abundance of it. He had a special gift of knowing when to love, and from that Jakob also found benefit.

  Jakob was such a focused little boy that he sometimes forgot to have fun, but Kell kept him grounded, and Mama knew that Kell would help keep Jakob’s demons at bay. The whispering voice within that told her that their bond would need to be strong became louder with each passing year.

  But so did the intense fear that burned in her gut and grew stronger and stronger as each day came and went, though she was unsure of what to be fearful of.

  Mama watched her babies grow into toddlers, and from toddlers into young boys. When Kell was still a young boy of seven, and Jakob was on the precipice of being a young man at twelve, after the bright light came and the Darkness fell, the earth stood eerily still.

  Before Mama disappeared, her last comforting thought was that at least her sons would have one another.

  And then …there was nothing.

  THE UBILEZ

  “Now … there is finally a real chance,” they hissed at one another. “A real chance to make it back to the top. A double guarantee with ‘she’ and the other.”

  The mood in the dark depths of the earth was as close to excitement as there had ever been. Collectively one, they were anxious to make it to the top, and had been for as long as they could remember. There had never been another goal, and while many Creatures had promised to bring them to the top, none had been strong enough to survive what it took to get them there.

  “Will she come through?” one voice screeched while the One who moaned did so continually.

  “She’s not like the others who have come to us before and have given up so easily. She wants it baaaad. She and the other one will finally free us because his heart is black like ours,” the wisest, and oldest of them all said, his voice sliding and hissing above the rest.

  The others hissed in agreement, none of them ever silent, always fighting with the others to be heard.

  They twisted their long, gnarled limbs, entangling them in one another as they so often did, their bodies helplessly connected. It was dark where they were, in the deepest part of the earth. Few ever travelled there, or even knew the path in which to get there, and even fewer made it back out alive. Long banished by the Warriors of Tamaryn, they yearned for the day when they would be freed. The Ubilez had nearly destroyed the Land, leaving only ruin and desolation with everything they touched. Only the breath and voice of the Yashwa brought it back to life, joining the Warriors to force the Ubilez down below. The Ubilez vowed if they ever made it back, they wouldn’t make the same mistake and overlook a powerful Creature like the Yashwa. They would destroy everything the next time.

  The Ubilez missed the warmth and the brightness. In the blackness, they had shriveled into nearly nothing, the only thing remaining and keeping them alive was their longing to live on the Land again.

  The Ubilez were black to the core, and despite their longing for the light and the warmth, they remained weak and dying, as they had been for an endless amount of time. In the depths, they were haunted by the fear that they would never again get to be powerful and dominant over everything.

  Now, the daughter of the Great Yashwa had come to them, asking for help, for a trade. They had almost killed her upon sight, but then she begged them to give her life as a Human, in return for the greatest thing she could give to them. The One Thing that would allow them to return to the Land forever. It was the One Thing that not even the Yashwa could take away from them once it was theirs.

  They agreed with glee, though they restrained themselves. They knew it was not time yet to celebrate, not until she brought it to them in her hands. But they could envision it, almost taste it, and smell it, and they knew she would do it for them. After all, she had been so desperate to be , that manipulating her had been entirely too easy.

  “Easy, easy, too desperate and too easy,” they said to each other.

  They acted as though what she asked of them was a huge ordeal, too much to ask even. But it was easy for them to turn her into a Human, though they didn’t expect it to be so easy to get her to agree to the One Thing that would set them completely free. It was clear that she didn’t know the price she was about to pay, though she assured them repeatedly that she did. They acted weak, as though she were asking them to do the impossible, that silly Little Yashwa.

  “We will need to watch her,” they said.

  “Yessssss,” they agreed.

&n
bsp; “She could back out and not go through with it,” they spoke meekly.

  “Yes, she could back out. But if she does, she will end up like all of the others who either backed out, or didn’t come through.” They reminded one another, remembering with delight the fate of those who failed, and their untimely end. The endings always fascinated the Ubilez, who reveled in that part.

  “Yes, but what she has asked for will upset the Balance. What she has asked for will change everything to a degree that we cannot predict. A Creature like her cannot become Human and then make another Human disappear without there being a shift, a chasm, in Tamaryn.” The wisest One who only rarely spoke, reminded them. “Even I can’t foresee what will happen.”

  “Then it must be,” they agreed collectively nodding at one another. “We have no other choice than to accept this possibility. This is what must happen.”

  They spoke over one another as they often did, agreeing and disagreeing with one another about how successful the Little Yashwa would be. For the first time the blackness in their hearts was accompanied by something else. It was something they hadn’t felt in centuries.

  Hope.

  They only allowed themselves to have it because the Little Yashwa wanted to be Human so badly, and they hadn’t seen many willing to trade with them so vigorously. But what she offered was the most powerful thing they had ever bargained for, the power within her promising more than she realized. Now there were two who wanted what the Ubilez could give, two at the same time who were willing to trade so much. Both seeking freedom and a life that didn’t belong to them, both knowing the Ubilez could give them what they didn’t deserve in exchange for … much.

  The Ubilez collectively sighed.

  They missed Tamaryn and they were anxious to return. If the Little Yashwa didn’t give them what they asked for even after she promised, they would take it from her instead. By trade or by force, they would get what they wanted.