FIERY ILLUSIONS (Keeper of the Emerald Book 2)

by B. C. Harris

  The moment Capurni appears, I begin to talk about what has been happening.

  “Capurni, my mother’s in jail. She’s being charged with the death of a man, the attempted murders of my grandmother and another man, and the kidnapping of my best friend Jasmin, who you’ve met before.”

  Although Capurni begins to reply, I cut him off.

  “But that’s not all. The police in my world are chasing me because they say that I can’t live on my own. In addition, I’ve discovered that my father had a sister and that her family lives in another country. I just met two cousins that I never knew existed.”

  “Oh my…” Capurni says, but I stop him from continuing.

  “And everywhere I go, there are evil people trying to capture me.”

  I stop to catch my breath, which gives Capurni a chance to speak.

  “So many troubling things are happening to you. What about your cousins? Was this a good experience for you?”

  “At first it was good. I met my cousins Lucy and Richard. They were both very nice, although like me, they were shocked that our parents had never told us about each other. When their father, who would be my uncle, came home he fiercely denied that we were cousins. Before I could explain things any further, he practically threw me out of their house.”

  Capurni shifts in his chair and looks deeply into eyes.

  “Emily, I sense there is more.”

  Looking through a window, I’m momentarily mesmerized by the incredible underwater world that stretches before me. The buildings made of celleria are pulsating with an array of beautiful colors.

  “Yes,” I begin. “When I met my cousins I discovered a most disturbing thing, something that I can’t get out of my mind.”

  “What is it?”

  “The last time I was here I told you about a horrible man who was establishing himself as a new god on my planet, the same man who tried to steal my emerald a year ago.”

  “Yes,” Capurni replies, his eyes encouraging me to continue.

  “Well, you’re not going to believe this, but my cousin Richard who is probably eleven or twelve years old, looks exactly like this horrible man. His eyes and mouth are identical to the alien who is causing havoc on my planet.”

  “I agree,” Radwin adds as he hovers nearby. “Their facial features are almost identical.”

  Capurni gazes at me as though he’s deep in thought.

  “Do you have an explanation for this?” he asks.

  “Maybe.” I shudder. “The only thing that makes sense to me is that the alien who has invaded my world, the malevolent monster who once tried to kill my mother and me, is somehow related to my cousin, which makes him also related to me.”

  - 37 -

  BLACK WIDOW

  Before I left Lattisan, Capurni taught me some new commands to use with my emerald. In his recent research he discovered that the word Akem is the command that can be used with my emerald to find another person. After practicing several new commands under his supervision, I’m ready to take on anyone who tries to harm me or my friends.

  I also asked Capurni about the mission that a year ago he said was waiting for me. He told me this could wait until I had resolved the current problems I was facing on my own planet.

  The instant I arrived back home, I looked out through a small crack in my boarded-up front door. Sure enough, as I expected, there was a police cruiser sitting in front of my house, hoping I would return. What they didn’t know was that I had a powerful emerald that allowed me to come and go as I pleased.

  The security system that had been installed throughout my house was now gone. Gaping holes were left in the walls where video cameras and monitors were once mounted.

  Squirt, Radwin and I had to be unusually quiet in the house. I was exhausted. I needed some food and sleep. After that, I could decide on my next course of action.

  That was hours ago. Now we have all eaten. We have had some sleep.

  I know that school is over for the day. I need to connect with Jamie or Michael to see what has been happening. Without my computer or cell phone, I’m not sure what I should do next.

  I could use the emerald to go to Jamie’s house, but I think this might not be my wisest move. If his parents saw me this could cause some problems.

  I remember by mother’s laptop. It’s still in my backpack.

  I take the laptop out of the backpack and turn it on.

  A minute later, I’ve entered our S O S chat room. No one is there. I’m not sure whether I should post anything.

  Suddenly there’s a beep on the laptop. Someone has entered our chat room.

  It’s Jamie.

  WISDOM: You okay?

  Jamie’s message is short, to the point. Perhaps he suspects that someone might be monitoring our chat room, although Michael had previously ensured me that this couldn’t possibly happen.

  Taking no chances, I decide to keep my response brief.

  GLOW: I’m okay. Everyone else?

  I’m sitting on a couch in my basement. Squirt has fallen back asleep again beside me. Radwin is perched on the arm of the couch, watching the TV which I’m surprised wasn’t ripped out by the police.

  WISDOM: Everything is good? Have you heard about the Black Widow?

  Black Widow? What’s he talking about? Isn’t a black widow a spider that eats its mate to protect its children? Is he trying to tell me something?

  I’m about to ask him for some clarification when my mother’s picture appears on TV. I snatch the remote from Radwin and turn up the volume a little.

  “In the Washington area this morning, a woman who has been nicknamed the Black Widow was formally charged with the murder of an elderly worker at the Splendid Gardens Long Term Health Facility last Saturday. She has also been charged with the attempted murder of her own mother-in-law, a frail ninety-one year-old, the attempted murder of a hotel security guard, and the kidnapping of her daughter’s best friend – a fifteen year-old girl. The police have now reported that that the woman’s fifteen year-old daughter is missing. In a further twist, the police have reopened an investigation into the disappearance of the woman’s husband eleven years ago.

  Suddenly my picture appears on the TV.

  “The police have issued a nation wide AMBER Alert for the Black Widow’s daughter, Emily Sylvester.”

  Black Widow’s daughter? Are they now calling my mother the Black Widow?

  This is very bad news. It will be impossible for me to to go anywhere without being recognized.

  WISDOM: Still there?

  I type.

  GLOW: Yes. Just saw something on TV on what you were talking about. Nasty lies. We need to meet.

  Jamie’s response comes back immediately.

  WISDOM: Agree. Where?

  GLOW: How about here? I’ll get you.

  WISDOM: Perfect. I’m ready. No one else is home here.

  “Radwin, I’m going to get Jamie. I’ll be right back. Don’t leave this room, and don’t make any noise. If Squirt wakes up, tell him that he has to be quiet.”

  I stare into my emerald focusing on an image of Jamie.

  “Sandarium, my friend Jamie.”

  In an instant I’m at Jamie’s house. We hug briefly, then we return back to my house. I’m getting good, very good, at using the emerald. I can’t wait to show my friends what else I can now do with it.

  It feels good to be with Jamie. He’s the one person in this world who I completely trust.

  “Where’s your computer? What happened to the walls where the monitors used to be?”

  “The police took everything. They smashed the front door to get into my house. They removed all the security equipment. There’s even a cruiser sitting in front of my house, so we have to be quiet.”

  “I can’t believe the police did this,” Jamie replies, lowering his voice. “You have rights.”

  “Apparently not when my mother is being accused of murder.”

  Jamie shrugs in anger.

  “Where have y
ou been? The police were all over our school looking for you.”

  “England. London, actually. I found my aunt’s family. I discovered I have two cousins: Lucy, who is about fourteen and looks exactly like me…”

  “Amazing. Why didn’t your mother ever tell you about them?”

  I ignore Jamie’s question.

  “And Richard, who is about eleven and looks exactly like Santtonnice.”

  My comment catches Jamie by surprise. He almost falls off the couch.

  “Santtonnice? How could your cousin look like him?”

  - 38 -

  MORE MIRACLES

  Something on the TV about Santtonnice performing miracles catches my attention.

  “Throughout the day,” a male African American TV announcer states, “Santtonnice has been performing more miracles. Thousands and thousands of people are lined up to enter a tent at one of the Colosseum entrances to be healed.”

  The program shows a pre-recorded video of a massive line of people waiting to meet Santtonnice, although the camera never enters the tent where he’s supposedly doing the healing.

  The camera pans to the other side of tent where joyous, exuberant people are exiting. A reporter in the street is standing beside an elderly woman.

  “How many years were you blind?” the attractive female interviewer begins. She brushes her long blonde hair with her hand momentarily drawing more attention to herself than to the older woman being interviewed.

  “Since birth. Eighty-three years,” the white-haired woman says in perfect English. Her eyes radiate with happiness for supposedly being able to see for the first time.

  “It’s a miracle. It’s amazing,” the old woman says. “Santtonnice is God Himself. He has come to rescue our planet from the horrors of war and famine. He has come to save us. He has come to bring peace.”

  The old woman’s testimonial sounds too good to be true. To me, it seems rehearsed. Like she’s been hired by Santtonnice to tell world what a great guy he is.

  “Fake,” Jamie whispers.

  Nice to know that I’m not the only person who doubts what is being said.

  Suddenly, a beep on my mother’s laptop almost causes me to jump out of my skin.

  It’s Michael.

  COMIC MAN: Where are you?

  I type as Jamie looks over my shoulder.

  GLOW: My library.

  I hope Michael understands what I mean by my library.

  COMIC MAN: I understand.

  GLOW: Available?

  COMIC MAN: Yes.

  I hold my emerald in front of me and focus on forming a picture of Michael. I imagine going to his house.

  “Sandarium, my friend Michael.”

  Instantly I’m standing in Michael’s bedroom. He gives me a big hug.

  “I’m glad to see you,” he says. “I was worried about you.”

  I’m pleased with Michael’s sincere expression of his friendship with me.

  “Michael, take my hand. We’re going back to my house.”

  I hold my emerald and Michael’s hand.

  “Sandarium, my basement.”

  Once we’re in my basement, Michael grins as I look at him.

  “Emily, if I didn’t know better, I might think that you are Harry Potter reincarnated as a girl.”

  I laugh, then say, “I’m going to get something for us to drink and see if we have any cookies. Jamie, why don’t you explain to Michael about my cousins.”

  As I start to walk up the stairs, Squirt jumps onto my shoulders. Even though he was sleeping, the mention of cookies brought him quickly back to life.

  “Cookies, cookies, cookies,” he squeaks as though they are the best thing that ever happened to him.

  In the kitchen I find some cookies and give one to Squirt whose mouth is hanging wide open like he hasn’t eaten in weeks.

  Opening the fridge, I grab some bottles of water and soda.

  Placing the cookies and drinks on a tray, I turn to return to the basement.

  Suddenly a pounding on my broken front door causes me to jump. I almost drop the tray of food.

  I know it’s the police. Do they know that we’re in the basement? Have they heard us? Or, have they discovered my location because I used my mother’s laptop?

  I freeze.

  The basement goes silent.

  - 39 -

  UNDER ATTACK

  The pounding on the front door continues as I tiptoe down the stairs with Squirt on my shoulders.

  Jamie, Michael, and even Radwin have a look of horror on their faces.

  They have turned the TV off.

  “Is it the police?” Jamie whispers.

  “I think so. We need to leave. We can’t let them catch us.”

  A siren screams outside the house. Then another.

  The squealing of car tires announces the arrival of more police officers.

  The pounding on the front door ominously stops.

  I hold my breath, waiting anxiously for what’s going to happen next.

  There’s a noise at one of the basement windows.

  The police have us surrounded. I’m certain that they are they’re outside the two basement windows as well as the front door. I guess they are also positioned at the back door.

  Another siren pierces the nervous solitude.

  Suddenly there’s a loud crash upstairs.

  I know the boarded-up door has been smashed.

  Within seconds I hear the eager footsteps.

  I grab my mother’s laptop and jam it into my backpack.

  “Get in!” I say strongly to Squirt and Radwin. “Take my hand,” I say to Jamie and Michael.

  I’m already focusing on our next destination when the cops reach the stairs.

  - 40 -

  AN AWKWARD TOGETHERNESS

  Déjà vu. I’m sitting on a couch in Drew’s living room again, only this time I’m joined by Jamie and Michael. How embarrassing is this? Jasmin and Drew are already here.

  Jasmin looks stunned to see us. Drew looks amused.

  I didn’t know where else to have the emerald take us, so I chose Drew’s house. It was the first thing that popped into my mind.

  While it appears that Drew and Jasmin might have just been sitting on the couch, watching TV, it is none-the-less an awkward situation.

  “Sorry,” I mutter. “I couldn’t think of anywhere else for us to go.”

  Drew uses a remote to turn down the TV.

  “You have some nerve, Emily,” Jasmin attacks, her long black hair swaying as her head bobs back and forth. “Isn’t it enough that your mother kidnapped me? Now, I have the Black Widow’s daughter in the same room as me.”

  My first impulse is to lash out at Jasmin.

  Then I remember the urgency of what is happening.

  Squirt unexpectedly jumps out of my backpack. At the same second, Radwin flies above me.

  “Jasmin, Jasmin, Jasmin,” Squirt says, breaking the icy glare of my once best friend.

  “Squirt,” Jasmin says affectionately as he jumps onto her lap, instantly enjoying her hand stroking his back.

  It’s impossible for all of us not to smile at Squirt’s big silly grin.

  Jamie seizes the moment.

  “Drew, Jasmin, we need your help. We need to work together the same way we did last year on our mission into the Land of Shade.”

  “How can I possibly work with someone whose mother kidnapped me?” Jasmin sneers.

  Jamie counters, “You’re forgetting that it was Emily who rescued you at the hotel. Forget about Emily’s mother. Whether we realize it, or not, we’re caught in a new adventure. We’re part of a new mission.”

  “Not me,” Jasmin snarls.

  “What’s the mission?” Drew asks. “I thought it was to find the Stalker who abducted Jasmin. We all know that this woman is Emily’s mother who has been arrested. What else is there to do?”

  How can Drew be so sure that my mother is the woman who kidnapped Jasmin? What if he’s wrong? I’m sure my mo
ther is innocent. Before I react, something inside me tells me to shut up, to let Jamie take control of the situation.

  Before Jamie responds to Drew, Radwin begins to talk in his gruff voice as he hovers above us. “I’ve been listening and paying close attention to everything that has happened. I have also been paying very close attention to everything that has been said on the television device.”

  It has been so long since Radwin said anything that we all listen to him. He flies a little closer to me and smiles; actually there are two smiles, one for each of his two heads.

  “Your planet is facing a grave problem,” Radwin continues. “From what I have seen and heard, I’m certain that Santtonnice is going to unleash a horrible war throughout your planet. He’s gaining millions of followers every day.”

  Radwin pauses as though what he has to say next is going to be very important.

  “And Emily’s mother has been arrested for crimes she didn’t commit.”

  “But I was kidnapped by her,” Jasmin protests.

  “No, you weren’t,” Radwin confidently replies. “Emily, does your mother have a tattoo, a circle with a dot in the middle, on one of her fingers?”

  “No, of course not,” I reply.

  “And does your mother have a scar on the left side of her neck?”

  “No.”

  Radwin looks satisfied.

  “The woman who kidnapped Jasmin had a tattoo on her finger and a scar on her neck. I know this because I saw the tattoo and scar when she entered the room at the Westside Hotel. The woman who kidnapped Jasmin, with her bright red lipstick, short black hair, and the large dark glasses that she’s always wearing, resembles Emily’s mother, but she is not her.”

  I want to hug Radwin.

  “Yes,” Jasmin says. “I remember the tattoo on her finger. Emily, are you sure that your mother doesn’t have a tattoo on her finger?”

  I roll my eyes.

  Then I say, “Did you tell the police about the tattoo?”

  Jasmin shakes her head with embarrassment.

  My mother is in jail because Jasmin failed to give a complete description of the woman who kidnapped her. I’m ready to strangle her.

  Michael steps between us, sensing my anger.