Airabelle volunteered. “I’ll go with you.”
“Thank you. I’d really like both of you to come with us later on if you don’t mind. It might be asking too much for me to ask you to go twice. Thank you for offering though.” She turned and spun the Passageway. As soon as it opened, Bev disappeared.
Airabelle looked at Airasten as they said in unison, “She’s up to something.”
Once on the other side of the Passageway, Bev reached into her pocket and pulled out the bronze button. She smiled to herself. I’ve still got it. Airabelle didn’t even see me take this out of Carson’s jacket that was on the back of his chair. She returned it to her pocket.
She made her way to the Hub floor. Bev began to walk energetically in order to blend in with the other pedestrians. She hadn’t lied to Airabelle. She really couldn’t sleep and really was craving an espresso. Bev walked into the café then ordered a favorite drink she used to get every morning before work. It was better than she had imagined. She drank the beverage and threw away the cup.
Bev noticed there was an unusual fog in the Hub. It didn’t seem to bother the crowd on the street. She once again blended in with the pedestrians and briskly made her way to her destination.
Once Bev reached the statue, she glanced around to make sure no one was observing her actions. She pulled the button from her pocket and put it into place. The secret doorway behind the statue slid open and once again a cool gust of wind brushed her face. It made her eyes water. She blinked and took her crystal out of her pocket. Now what? I’ve thought it through this far but what next? Should I take the button or leave it here in case Carson comes? If I leave the button, will the door remain open or will it close? If it closes, where can I hide the button so Carson will see it? Can the button help me get out of the tunnel? Bev walked over, grabbed the button and sighed as she put it back in her pocket. I won’t be gone long enough for Carson to miss me. She made it through the entrance just in time, as the door sealed shut. She instantly wished she hadn’t come on this quest by herself as soon as the last crack of light disappeared. Waiting for Dimitrios’ opinion was out of the question. The button was found in her family’s set of journals, so it was up to her to solve the mystery.
She took out her crystal and commanded it to glow, creating enough light for her to see a few steps ahead. The air was chilly in the tunnel’s entrance. She buttoned her sweater. Bev cautiously stepped down the uneven stone steps to the floor of a tunnel. She turned back, held up her crystal and studied the walls built of stone. She frowned. I don’t see a place to put the button to get out of here. I hope I didn’t make a huge mistake. Suddenly I feel a little like Todd must have felt when he entered the Incident Passageway. I hope I don’t need to be rescued. Carson won’t be happy if he wakes up and I’m not there.
Bev decided to explore, since she was captive for now. She held up her crystal and carefully walked forward. She commanded the crystal to leave a continuous trail behind her that only she could see. Bev wanted to return to the same door where she entered. She turned back several times to make sure the crystal was doing what she requested it to do, and was pleasantly surprised to view a trail of light. She tested it by looking over her glasses to check that the trail had vanished. She kept walking forward. After several paces, Bev noticed that torches had suddenly appeared high off the ground, along the walls. She was certain she couldn’t reach them.
As Bev walked through the corridor, she noticed that murals were painted on the walls. Bev recognized the enchanted paintings from the descriptive entries she had read in her family’s journals. She vaguely remembered how to open them. She studied each painting as she came to it. She opened her mind trying to imagine what the art was depicting. The first couple of times she tried concentrating on the murals, Bev didn’t believe she received the full effect. Finally as she stared at the painting currently before her, Bev had the impression that she succeeded. She watched the scene and opened her mind. A hidden wall opened and blocked off the path she had been on.
It startled her. She took several steps backward to move out of its way, touching the wall that had been behind her to steady herself until the room was completely open. She looked around the enormous room.
She heard a voice from the opposite dark corner. “It’s about time. I was beginning to think you’d never find this room. I resigned myself to the fact that I’d remain alone for eternity.”
Bev held up her crystal trying to discover who was speaking, but she couldn’t see anything. She squinted. “Who are you, and where am I?”
The voice scoffed, “If you don’t know who I am and where you are, then you should leave at once!”
Bev regained her composure. She said a little too sharply, “I’d like to depart, however the wall just blocked the only way out. Who are you anyway, and why are you here?”
She thought seriously about her question then decided maybe she didn’t want to know the answers. Maybe this person was up to some kind of mischief, and might try to harm her. She thought: I hope I’m not in serious trouble. I don’t even know to whom I am talking. Why did I do this in the first place? I should have waited for Carson.
The voice could sense her uneasiness, and in a different tone said, “I’m not going to harm you.”
Bev held up her crystal. “Then come out so I can see you.”
No response.
Bev said, “Are you still there?”
“Yes.”
“You can’t come out of the shadows can you?”
The voice didn’t respond. Bev walked around the room with her crystal and illuminated each of the corners. Nothing. She sighed. “Are you still here?”
“Yes.”
Bev quietly said, “I’m not supposed to do magic anymore.”
“Then you’ll never know what you’re missing will you?”
Bev rubbed her temple. “It’s been a long time.”
“It comes back to you. Focus.”
“I’m not even sure I want to do this.”
“Then you’ll never get out of here.” A cool breeze whipped around the room. “You came to me, not the other way around.”
Bev took off her Sojourner glasses and put them in her sweater pocket. She then grabbed her hair to keep it from being messed up by the swirling wind that seemed to be pulling at it.
“No, I promised… Leave me alone.” Bev swatted at the air trying to keep the fingers of the wind from her hair.
“You’ve been drawn here for a reason that you can’t explain. I can help you, but you have to help yourself, daughter of Theia.”
The wind hardly seemed to matter anymore, after the recognition of who she was. As Bev stood up straight, she quit fighting and let the wind undo her hair. She put her crystal in her sweater pocket. Once her hair was loosened from the French twist, she reached up and took ahold of her wand that her hair had been wrapped around, letting her hair cascade down her back. Her long hair was now free to blow in the wind.
The diamond on the tip of her wand lit up the room, revealing things that couldn’t previously be seen. She stood with her wand glowing and pulsing in her hand. She commanded the wind to cease. It suddenly went still.
She commanded, “How do you know my mother’s name?”
“She hid you with Dianna all those years, didn’t she?”
“Once again I’m going to ask, who are you?”
“It was for your own good. They would have eventually found you. I’m sure Dianna told you the story.”
Bev pointed her wand in the direction of the voice and suddenly a ghost-like form emerged from the shadows. As it neared her, the image began to resemble the form of a man walking toward her. Then it suddenly vanished.
Bev slightly lifted her chin in defiance. Her hand shook. It was hard for her to hold on to her wand, but she feared letting go. She knew she might not get the wand back if she released it. When it became too much for her, Bev tilted her head to gaze upward toward the heavens and began speaking in a voice that was
barely audible, but nonetheless was heard throughout the universe by those like her.
The voice demanded, “Claim it. Claim your birthright.”
She forced her wand to her side. As Bev began reciting the words she was taught as a young woman, she slowly raised her wand from her side. She fought an invisible resistance trying to keep her arm down. The wind picked up and blew at her trying to push her to the floor. She paid no attention to it as she continued to speak. An ominous mist crept into the room from nowhere and stayed low to the ground. Bev kept repeating the words she learned from Dianna, as she stood still in her trance-like state. Finally she grew strong enough to pull her arms all the way above her head. As she completed the motion, a burst of energy created a circular white flame around her. The wind began to howl outside the flame, but where she was standing the air was still.
The voice said, “Ah, you do remember. How quickly it all comes back.”
Bev looked around the room that was now illuminated with light from the flames surrounding her. The mist in the room seemed to swirl along the floor.
“You are much stronger than you wanted me to know. Not many sorceress can do what you just did, only a very learned one in the old ways would even attempt it.”
Bev remained silent.
The voice said, “Look around the room. What do you see?”
Bev looked around the room. “What are you the guardian of?”
“Tell me what you see before you?”
Bev had heard the stories of A Thousand Years. She knew exactly what was before her.
The voice said, “Take it.”
Bev shook her head. “I will not. There is one that comes after me; one who is greater than all of us.”
The guardian eyed her suspiciously from the dark corner. “Liar.”
“I just saw it for myself.”
The guardian said, “You can’t change the prophecy.”
Bev remarked, “I’m not trying to.”
The guardian demanded, “Reveal your sight to me.”
Bev refused.
“Then you shall stay here with me, until Xidoran’s wand is claimed!”
“You’re not strong enough to make me!”
Bev whirled her wand through the air. With confidence that she hadn’t felt in years, Bev wielded a spell that would, if delivered properly, and if the Goddess of the Universe chose to hear it, would trump a guardian’s imprisonment. It all came back; breaking down the barriers she had purposely put in place to keep her promise.
It was flooding her senses, as her mind flashed and transformed her back to when she was a little girl. She was standing in the study in front of Dianna after the conclusion of hearing the stories of A Thousand Years. Dianna had taught her a secret spell that one of the characters used when a guardian, similar to this one, wrongfully trapped the heroine. In Bev’s mind, Dianna just finished saying the exact spell she was currently delivering to the Goddess of the Universe. It was a humble plea for mercy and freedom from the wrongdoing of the guardian the goddess had put into place long ago. Bev could picture Dianna and hear her every pronunciation of the words as she mimicked her recitation. Bev was well aware of the danger if she happened to make a mistake. It would mean her entrapment there with the guardian until the rightful owner came to claim the wand of Xidoran.
When Bev finished, she saw Dianna smile in adoration for her. Her hands were clasped together with her chin resting on the back of her fingers. “Congratulations, my dear. That was perfection.” Dianna then clapped her hands.
Bev blinked and was now back in the confines of a room without an escape. The room suddenly began to wildly spin. She could hear her own heartbeat racing in her ear. She became fearful that the goddess had denied her plea, that she would be forever trapped. Bev was sorry she hadn’t listened to Carson. She wanted more than anything to take back her mistake and be in her own kitchen with Charles as he ate breakfast before school. She longed to spend the day with Carson just as they had planned. The room continued to spin around her ring of fire. She watched as a vision, of the Goddess of the Universe, appeared before her in the room. Bev passed out.
When Bev awoke, the only thing she knew was that she was on the cold stone floor. She was no longer in the room of the guardian but instead in the corridor she had been in previously, with her fingers wrapped tightly around her wand. The torches that she couldn’t reach were now lit in only one direction, which she guessed was leading to the way out of this treacherous place.
Bev thanked the Goddess of the Universe for granting her freedom. She was still dizzy as she stood and cautiously walked in the direction the torches led. She took a deep breath and fumbled for her Sojourner glasses. Bev put them on and noticed that the trail the crystal left was on her current path. She took her crystal out of her pocket. Once Bev reached the entryway, she recognized the stairs where she had entered.
She put her wand in her mouth as she finger combed through her hair to get the tangles out. Bev began rewrapping her hair around her wand in order to hide it. Once she was finished, she felt the twist to make sure the wand was hidden. She pushed the diamond tip of the wand down to hide it. She brushed herself off and straightened her posture. She said the magic words she remembered Dianna teaching her that would open a door to freedom.
When the doorway opened, Carson was standing at the entrance wide-eyed. Bev’s eyes began to tear up. She pushed the thoughts about what might have happened to the back of her mind as she walked up the stairs, through the doorway, and into his arms. Bev smiled up at Carson as he hugged her.
He reached up, gently wiped dirt off her nose and straightened her glasses. As they walked away, Carson put his arm around her and asked, “So how was your morning?” The doorway slowly closed.
When they walked through the Passageway and into the office, Airabelle breathed a sigh of relief. She thought: This family is out of control.
Carson broke the silence by saying, “Time to get back to work everyone. Play time’s over.”
They had several pressing things that needed to be worked on. Carson began going through the list.
Chapter 55
Dimitrios sat at his desk looking through paperwork. He decided to head over to the control room to check on the Surveillance Intelligence Drone System. The Hub scientists began the drone program years before. They created drones that resembled minuscule flying insects native to the Hub called drolah. These drones were unobtrusive to the citizens of the Hub. The authorities had launched several hundred drones during the past six months. Lately the authorities believed they had picked up important information from the latest surveillance. He thought: Anjoleah has finally decided to share. How nice. Let’s see if she can play well with others. He stood, picked up a couple of files along with his technology tablet from his desk and walked to the door. On the way out he spoke to Cassia about the daily agenda. When they finished their conversation, Dimitrios walked out the door.
Farther down the hallway a councilman greeted him. The man walked alongside the prime minister’s assistant conversing about the day and events coming up. Once they reached the lobby, the councilman stopped and thanked Dimitrios for insight into a project he was leading. The councilman shook his hand. While they shook hands the man secretly palmed an information chip to Dimitrios. He then placed a hand on Dimitrios’ shoulder and casually strolled away. Dimitrios inconspicuously put his hand in his pocket. He dropped the chip there. He hoped that if the transactions were being monitored in the busy lobby no one would notice the exchange.
Dimitrios turned, walked out of the lobby and down the steps to the sidewalk. He walked a couple of sector blocks when he spotted Wayland across the street. He had to wave to get Wayland’s attention. Dimitrios stopped and waited for the young man to catch up with him.
Once the two men were face to face, Wayland said, “Good day.” He nervously looked around scanning the crowd.
Dimitrios glanced around searching for his daughter. “Hello. Natalie’s not with you?�
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Wayland asked, “Are you pressed for time? I’d like to talk with you a moment.”
Dimitrios pointed. “I have a meeting in the control building scheduled in five minutes.”
Wayland took a step in that direction. Dimitrios followed, wondering where his daughter was.
Wayland said, “It’s imperative that we talk.” Dimitrios glanced at the young Journeyman. “Somewhere private. I have something to tell you of importance.”
Dimitrios thought about his schedule. “Come to my house in half an hour. This meeting shouldn’t take very long.”
Wayland agreed, and left him outside the building. Dimitrios walked up the steps then entered the building. He headed for the control room to find out what information Anjoleah had attained from the drones.
Anjoleah greeted Dimitrios as he walked in the door. She invited him to have a seat. Once he sat down, she sat next to him. On the table in front of them were several of the encrypted drones. Each of the drolahs looked like a tiny native scavenger bug. He had helped design the prototype. Dimitrios thought: These particular drones are so lifelike that they fool even the real bugs that they resemble. Since their first launch, the drones had been able to gather an incredible amount of information. Dimitrios picked one of them up that was labeled with prison surveillance during a range of recent dates. He set it on a device that scanned and read the encrypted information stored inside. These tiny drones were just one way they extracted information from across the border in the “Unknown” sector. They were very effective. He looked at the drolah. It was smaller than a gnat on Earth and was the largest of all the drones they used in their missions. Only five people knew about their drone initiative.
When the scan completed its download, they turned and watched the huge screen as Anjoleah began extracting information. Dimitrios crossed his arms as he sat back. Anjoleah and Dimitrios watched the information intently. He slowly sat forward to get a closer look as something immediately caught his eye; even Anjoleah hadn’t been aware of what was happening. His dull headache pounded behind his eye. Dimitrios was having a hard time concentrating as he asked her several times to replay a certain scene or manipulate the information in certain ways. Anjoleah thought she knew what he was after, but in actuality he was viewing something completely different. He was dual purposing, leading her in another direction as he tried to sort out his thoughts. He kept those thoughts to himself. As Dimitrios watched the rest of the footage, he contemplated the next step. When they finished viewing the information, he confirmed that the mission was a success. The affirmation pleased Anjoleah. He requested a copy to be stored on his technology tablet. When the task was completed, Dimitrios walked out the door and headed home.
Return of the Clonsayee Page 28
