FIERY ILLUSIONS (Keeper of the Emerald Book 2)

by B. C. Harris

  “Lots of computers and other equipment,” I respond.

  “Jamie,” Michael says, “take the fly to each computer. Using the menu on your spy-pad, select the hard-drive download command. The fly will copy everything that is on the hard drive of each computer. We can analyze the information when we get home.”

  “How can it possibly store all this information?” I ask.

  “It can’t,” Michael responds. “The fly will transfer the information wirelessly to a satellite where it will be stored. Once we’re back home I can transfer the information from the satellite to my computer.”

  I stare at Michael. How is it possible that he has access to such technology?

  As the fly settles on a computer to steal the information from its hard drive, Michael shouts, “People!”

  At first, I think he means that some people have found a way into the office where we’re located, but then I realize that he means the fly has discovered some people in the tunnels below the floor of the Colosseum. I rush over to his computer.

  Is my mother there?

  Looking at the screen, I gasp. It’s Santtonnice and three others: two men and one woman. But it’s not my mother.

  Santtonnice is dressed in white, wearing a long cloak trimmed with purple. He reminds me of a Roman emperor. The other three people are also wearing white robes, but they don’t have any purple trim on them.

  Santtonnice suddenly stops talking and looks directly at the fly. Does he see it?

  He smirks as though he knows what we’re doing.

  “I think he sees the fly,” Michael says.

  We’re frozen like statues as Santtonnice reaches for the fly.

  The screen on Michael’s spy-pad goes blank.

  “Michael, get Squirt out of there!” I shout.

  - 54 -

  MORE POLICE VISITS

  It’s Saturday morning. Once again, I’ve slept at Drew’s house.

  Earlier today in Rome, the moment Santtonnice destroyed one of our nano-drones we began to shut down our mission. Fearing that he might discover Squirt or Radwin, or even our location in the abandoned office building, I told Squirt and Radwin to return.

  Fortunately their path back to the abandoned office was easier than their original route.

  During the time it took them to return, the one fly being controlled by Jamie continued to steal information from the computers in the control room that we had discovered.

  Once we felt we could wait no longer, Jamie maneuvered the fly into a stack of dusty equipment in a corner of the room where it will have to stay. We didn’t have the time to wait for it to return back to us.

  After using my emerald to take us back to Drew’s house, I then took each of my friends to their own houses where they would be asleep in bed when their parents woke up. Our plan was to meet on Saturday afternoon to assess the information we gained from the Colosseum.

  About an hour ago, Jamie contacted me on my spy-band. He told me that two police officers were at his house.

  After a great deal of worrying, while Drew was still sleeping soundly in the next room, I heard back from Jamie.

  The news wasn’t good.

  He, and his parents, were told in no uncertain terms that if he helped to hide me in any way, he would be considered as an accomplice to me, and that when I was found, and they emphasized that I would be found, whatever criminal charges I faced, he would face them as well. From the wording in Jamie’s texts, I knew he was concerned.

  From what Jamie told me, the police are convinced that I had something to do with the explosion at the DC Jail.

  Without Jamie’s support I would be lost. I wonder if his parents will allow him see me again. Jamie is more than the brains behind our mission; he’s my closest friend. He’s the one person in my group I can share my thoughts with.

  As I was dealing with my feelings about Jamie, I received a message from Michael. Two police officers had arrived at his house.

  If the police frighten Michael and Jamie away from me, our mission is doomed before it even begins.

  After Michael, the police will be visiting either Jasmin or Drew. Could Jasmin survive their questioning? With pressure from the police, and the possibility of a one-hundred thousand dollar reward, would she give up my location? Would she tell the police what we have been doing? Would they learn about my emerald?

  It was at that moment that I knew I had to take matters into my own hands. Not only did I have to worry about saving myself, but I also had Squirt and Radwin to protect. And of course, I had to stop Santtonnice.

  I wondered about the video footage that the flies captured in the Colosseum along with the information from the computer hard drives. Without Michael’s help, I had no way to learn more about what was discovered.

  By the time Drew awoke, I still had no plan, yet something in my gut was telling me that I was overlooking a very important clue to help explain what was happening.

  I told Drew that the police had already questioned Jamie; that they were now interrogating Michael, and that likely either he or Jasmin would be next.

  Drew reassured me that the police would not find out any information from him about what we had been doing.

  I thought I could trust him, or could I? Would a one-hundred thousand dollar reward be too much for him to resist?

  Finally, the expected police cruiser arrives in front of Drew’s house.

  I stuff Squirt and Radwin into my backpack that is sitting on the floor. It’s time for us to leave.

  - 55 -

  AN IMPORTANT CLUE

  It’s now mid-afternoon, the day before Christmas. I’m on the run from the police; cut off from my friends.

  Having nowhere else to go, I returned back to my house which is surrounded by police cruisers. Sitting on my bed, I know I can’t stay here. At any minute, one of the police officers might notice me moving in the house.

  I’m tired. I’m confused.

  But I’m not ready to give up.

  The only safe place for Squirt, Radwin and me is Tamor. There, we can get some food and sleep before deciding what to do next.

  Squirt and Radwin are resting on my bed, their heads side by side on one of my pillows. They look cute together. They don’t deserve to be dragged into my problems here. It’s time to return them back to their home.

  Fatigued, I dump the contents of my backpack that I brought with me from Drew’s house.

  My mother’s laptop and an assortment of snacks drop onto my bed. The laptop immediately reminds me of how much I miss my mother.

  I’ve got to find a way to save her.

  As I stare at her computer, it hits me.

  My email!

  Wasn’t there an email message from my mother a few days ago that I never opened? Is this the clue that my mind keeps searching for?

  I snatch my mother’s laptop. As I turn it on, I realize that accessing my email account might help the police identify where I’m presently hiding. No matter. By the time they’re able to zone in on my location, I’ll be gone.

  Why is it that whenever you need something quickly on a computer, it takes so long to start?

  I watch anxiously as the screen slowly comes to life.

  I move closer to Squirt and Radwin, keeping the backpack beside me as well.

  At the first sound of someone entering the house, I’ll use my emerald for us to escape.

  I lift Squirt and Radwin into the backpack. Radwin nods through his sleepy eyes while Squirt remains in a deep sleep, a silly grin on his face. I fasten the pack on my back, tightening the straps around my shoulders.

  The laptop is almost ready to use.

  I touch my emerald to reassure me that I can flee at any second.

  I hear a squeak on the floor in the front hallway. Another squeak. Some muffled voices.

  The police are in my house. They’re coming to get me.

  I have to check my email before I flee to Tamor. I have to see if the last email from my mother before she was arrested m
ight be helpful to me.

  I open my email account.

  My heart jumps into my throat. There are two police officers standing at my bedroom door. They have their guns pointing at me.

  “Don’t make a move,” One officer says seriously, “or we will shoot.” There was a strong emphasis on the word “will”.

  I glance at the laptop screen. I see the email from my mother still sitting in my account.

  I turn back to the police officers. They haven’t moved. It’s almost as if they’re afraid of me. They seem hesitant to enter my room.

  I have to read the email.

  Staring at my emerald, I say, “Contassia.”

  An energy shield appears between me and the police. I know I’m safe from them.

  There’s a slight noise at my window. Suddenly, glass shatters all over the floor.

  I open the email message from my mother.

  “Freeze!” a voice says from my broken window before I actually see anyone.

  I read the email.

  I gasp at my mother’s message to me.

  Eleven years ago, Santtonnice used the emerald to exchange bodies with your father.

  - 56 -

  KIENDA

  While my initial plan had been to go to the Land of Limnits, I made a last minute change.

  Now, Squirt, Radwin and I are sitting in a room in the underwater world of Lattisan. It’s the same room where Capurni and I have met before.

  No sooner than I blink my eyes to ensure the reality of our location, then Capurni enters through a door.

  “Emily, Squirt, Radwin, what a pleasant surprise,” he begins. “But I can see from Emily’s face that this is not a pleasurable visit.”

  I start like a shaken bottle of soda that has been opened.

  “I’ve just learned why my father disappeared eleven years ago. Santtonnice, the man who is terrorizing my planet, used the emerald to exchange bodies with him.”

  Capurni doesn’t appear to be shocked by my announcement.

  “Anything else?”

  “Yes, Santtonnice has captured my mother. As well, I believe that tomorrow he’s going to do something to cause great destruction on my planet.”

  Capurni looks at me thoughtfully. He walks towards one of the windows where he stops and gazes across his fabulous underwater world. After a minute or two, he returns and sits beside me on a couch.

  “Do you remember that I once told you about one of our great leaders, a man named Kienda, who was once the Keeper of the Emerald?””

  “Yes,” I say. “I think you told me that he left Lattisan with the emerald hundreds of years ago.”

  Capurni nods, but doesn’t say anything. It’s as though he’s encouraging me to find a connection for what he’s saying.

  Then it hits me. Could Santtonnice and Kienda be the same person?

  “Are you suggesting that Kienda might be Santtonnice?”

  “Yes. As I have thought about everything that is occurring on your planet, I believe that after Kienda left Lattisan, he eventually ended up on your planet.”

  “And he must have accidently met my parents.”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you think he used E. T. to exchange bodies with my father, and then somehow my mother managed to steal the emerald from him?”

  “Yes, this is exactly what I think. After Kienda exchanged bodies with your father, your mother must have tricked him into giving her the emerald. Once she had it in her hands, she fled with it.”

  This would explain why we moved to the United States from Britain. This would also explain why we moved so many times. My mother was trying to prevent Kienda from finding us.

  It would also explain why Santtonnice looks familiar to me. He has the face and body of my father. It’s no wonder my cousin Richard looks like Santtonnice. Richard has the same features as my father because my father is his uncle.

  “What do you think happened to my father?”

  “It’s likely that Kienda either killed your father, or he has kept him imprisoned in a cage for the past eleven years.”

  “In a cage?”

  I shudder at the thought of my father having lived in a cage like an animal for the past eleven years.

  “Emily, you need to realize that if your father is still alive, he now looks like Kienda.”

  “What did Kienda look like?”

  “Your father would now have six legs, a hairless body, and a face with bulging eyes and no ears.”

  So he looks like a mutant spider, I think. I want to cry, but no tears emerge.

  “Whatever Santtonnice is planning to do, your father and your mother are his guarantee that you will give him the emerald.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “If you give Santtonnice the emerald, he will likely promise to use E. T. to restore your father back into a human body. He will also likely promise to let your father, your mother and you go safely back to your home.”

  And if I kill Santtonnice, I think, my father will spend the rest of his life looking like a mutant spider and my mother will spend her life in a prison.

  Radwin unexpectedly jumps into the conversation. “We found seven unusual boxes that look like they might be containers for people. Somehow these boxes are part of Santtonnice’s plan.”

  Capurni doesn’t immediately respond. I get the feeling that he knows something about the boxes.

  I settle into the couch. At the moment, I’m too stressed to appreciate the massaging action of the celleria.

  “Much of my life,” Capurni begins, “has been spent studying the life of Kienda. He is considered our greatest leader. He was the master Keeper of the Emerald. It’s very difficult for me to accept what he’s doing on your planet.”

  I wait for Capurni to continue.

  Finally he sighs, and begins again.

  “Kienda had a great obsession.”

  “Like E. T.,” I say.

  “No, Capurni says, “Although Kienda had a strong interest in energy transmutation, this was not his greatest passion.”

  “What was it then?” I ask.

  Capurni settles into the couch as though he’s getting comfortable before telling me a story.

  I hope it’s not very long. I’m exhausted.

  “Emily, I’ll get you some food and a place to sleep very soon.”

  I had forgotten that Capurni can read my thoughts.

  Capurni smiles compassionately.

  “Kienda’s obsession was to create the perfect world. He wanted to create a world that was free from wars, a world free from pain and suffering, a world that was a paradise.”

  “That certainly doesn’t sound like what he’s doing on my planet. Death and destruction have already been left in his path. I fear that soon he will destroy my entire world.”

  Capurni shakes his head as though my words trouble him.

  “Unfortunately, Kienda believed that death and destruction are essential parts of creation. In order to create the perfect world, Kienda believed that death was an acceptable part of the process.”

  I don’t understand what Capurni is telling me.

  “Every planet was born out of chaos. The Creator, the God, who designed the very fabric of our worlds set in motion a continual cycle of death and destruction. The foundation of growth, the reality of evolution, is based on the survival of the fittest. After observing the laws of nature that surrounded him, Kienda believed that massive death and destruction could be used to speed up the process of evolution and help him create a paradise.”

  “In other words,” I say, “Kienda is going to destroy my planet to help him create a paradise.”

  “Yes. The seven boxes that you saw are going to be a part of his attempt to create a paradise.”

  “What are they?” I ask.

  “Time capsules.”

  “Time capsules? What do you mean?”

  “Kienda believed that a time capsule could be constructed to preserve a person in hibernation over a long period of time. From my st
udies of Kienda, I think he is planning to set in motion some sort of disaster to destroy all advanced forms of life on your planet. While this is occurring, Kienda and six of his most devoted followers will each remain in a suspended state of hibernation inside the seven boxes. The boxes will be programmed to reopen at some point hundreds of thousands of years, or even more, into the future. When Kienda and his followers are resurrected from their time capsules, they will awaken to a new paradise, a virgin world with no pollution or wars. Kienda will be the master of this new world.”

  My dazed look inspires Capurni to continue.

  “After Kienda left Lattisan hundreds of years ago, it’s possible that he used the emerald to travel throughout many galaxies before he discovered your planet.”

  “And he decided that my planet would be the perfect place to create his new paradise,” I say.

  “Yes,” Capurni replies, “but Kienda didn’t look like anyone on your planet. He had six legs and a head that looked nothing like a human.”

  “So he used E. T. to exchange bodies with my father.”

  “Yes. After Kienda arrived on your planet eleven years ago, somehow he met your father and mother. Although he used E. T. to exchange bodies with your father, your mother escaped with the emerald.”

  Did my Aunt Kelly know what had happened to my father? Is that why there has been such secrecy in my family? Is my great family secret that Santtonnice stole my father’s identity? When my mother discovered that I could use the magic of the emerald, did she hope I would find a way to save my father? Is this why she told me that if I killed Santtonnice I would be killing her? Has she been hoping that I would somehow return my father back to her?

  “Can I use my emerald to transfer my father back to his original body?”

  “Yes,” Capurni says. “I will teach you the command that you will need, but the most important thing for E. T. to work is that your father and Kienda, or Santtonnice as he is now calling himself, must be touching.”

  Touching? How will I ever manage to get them to do this? I don’t even know where my father is.