It took her a moment to find her voice. “Ah, hi, Daddy,” she called timidly. “I thought you were working this afternoon.”
“I was supposed to, but I received a very disturbing call from Angus McCrady,” he hissed.
“R...really? How’s Mr. McCrady?” she asked breathily.
“You know damn well how he is since you single-handedly destroyed his store,” he spat.
It wasn’t looking good for Erica. Loren only swore when his temper was near the boiling point.
She changed ploys and her head dropped. “Yes, Daddy. I know. I really didn’t mean for that to happen. It’s just, I remembered that story you told me about you and King Wells using bursting bubbles in the palace’s toilet, and well, I just wanted to be like you, Daddy.”
Xavier had to hand it to Erica. She really knew how to sweet talk her way out of trouble, but it appeared that her father wasn’t buying it this time.
“Really? And do you remember what happened to the king and me as a result of that little indiscretion?” her father asked. But, he didn’t wait for a response as he continued, “King Wells’ the senior whipped the pair of us until we couldn’t sit.”
Erica looked flustered. “Oh, I forgot that part.”
“How convenient!” he growled. “I think I have a solution for your lapse of memory, my daughter. A swift, memorable punishment will fit the bill.”
She opened her mouth to rebut, but Loren waved away the unspoken complaints with his hand.
“I don’t want to hear any more excuses, Erica. Now, as I said before, it’s time to start dealing with your father. Come on.”
Erica looked pleadingly at Court, who simply shrugged. Deflated, she waded out of the water and slunk over to her father, who took her by the arm and led her away from the lake.
The group stared after them in complete silence for several long seconds when suddenly Court stood and raced into the wood.
“Court? Where are you going?” Xavier called.
“Where else?” he answered and disappeared into the woods after Loren and Erica.
“Crikey, he’s right! This is a once-in-a-lifetime moment, and I for one don’t want to miss it,” Beck hissed.
Almost in unison, the group sprinted into the forest after Court. But when they entered the palace, there was no sign of Court, Erica, or Loren.
“What are you lot up to?” Ephraim asked from the dais next to the royal residence.
“We’re looking for Court. Have you seen him?” Xavier asked.
“No, I haven’t. I thought he was with you,” Ephraim stated.
“He was, but he went tearing off,” Garrett answered.
“Sorry, I can’t help you but, Xavier, your father’s looking for you,” Ephraim called.
He felt his stomach drop. “He is? Did he say what he wanted?”
“No, he didn’t, but he’s in the residence now if you want to ask him.” Ephraim suggested.
“Naw, we were just about to cook hot dogs at the lake. Tell him I’ll check in with him later,” he blurted and raced down the hall with the rest of the group following.
“How come you don’t want to see your dad? Are you in trouble too?” Garrett asked.
“I don’t know. I might be,” he grumbled as they walked back out into the sunshine.
“What’s that supposed to mean? How do you not know if you’ve done something wrong?” Beck snorted with laughter.
Fed up with his snide comments, Xavier turned on the other boy and growled, “You know, I’m getting sick of your put-downs, Beck. Shut the hell up before I punch you!”
Beck held his hands up and snickered nervously. “Okay, okay! Geesh, I was only teasing!”
“Hey, there’s Court!” Harry interrupted, pointing toward the stables. “Hey, Hardcastle! Over here!”
Court waved and jogged over to them. “Hey. What are you guys doing here? Why aren’t you at the lake?”
“Why do you think?” Beck asked. “Where else would we be on a historical day like this? We wanted to witness Erica getting pummeled by her old man. Lord knows, she’s managed to land all of us into major trouble at one time or another when she’s always gotten off lightly.”
Court grimaced and shook his head pitifully. “She didn’t this time.”
“You mean it’s already happened?”
He nodded.
“How do you know?” Melissa asked. “You weren’t even in the palace.”
“Yeah, I was. Well, sort of. I snuck into the secret passage that runs to Erica’s room.”
“So, you saw?” Beck asked.
He nodded. “Yeah, but, guys, I don’t think she needs to be ribbed about it...”
“What? Not rib Erica? Why on Earth not! She always teases us about our punishments...calling us babies...” Beck spat.
“No, Wilson!” Court stated firmly. “I’m not asking. Not a word about it. Got it?”
“Come on, Court. If we’re not allowed to rib her, at least tell us what happened,” Beck pleaded.
“You know what, Beck? You’re a right foul git sometimes, you know that?” he spat. “No, I’m not telling you a bloody thing, and if you rib Erica, I’ll pound you into the earth! Got it?”
With a groan, the group turned and made their way to the rear of the palace to return to the Wood. Court and Xavier lagged behind just out of hearing of the others.
“Is she okay?” Xavier asked.
“Yeah...but I have never seen Loren that angry or actually hit anyone before.”
“I have,” he muttered.
Court studied his friend. “Yeah. It’s kinda disturbing to see him like that, huh?”
He nodded.
“Well, Loren was definitely right; Erica will remember that punishment. Heck, I’ll remember that punishment. I’ve never seen her cry before.” His voice faded. With a small jerk, he continued, “Anyways, I don’t think we’ll be seeing much of her for the next few weeks. She has to work every day after school at Wellington Bookstore to help pay for damages.”
“Wonder how long that will take,” Xavier thought aloud.
He shrugged. Then, for no other reason than to change the subject, he asked, “So? What’s up with you and Robbie? Why is she ticked?”
“Ah...” He grabbed Court, pulling him to a halt and watching the others slip into the shrubs to the secret door before continuing. “Look, I’ll tell you, but Court, you have to promise me first not to tell anyone, especially my dad. Okay?”
He gave him a wary look, but nodded. “All right, I promise. Now what’s going on?”
“Well, I’ve been having trouble controlling my abilities lately.”
“Trouble controlling your abilities? How do you mean?”
“Well, remember the camp out when I threw the girls into the water?”
Court nodded and grinned. “Yeah, that was fantastic!”
“Well, I didn’t mean for it to happen. I just couldn’t turn off my powers. Afterwards, my abilities, all my abilities went silent. I couldn’t have conjured a single thing even if my life had depended on it. That’s why I didn’t know that the girls were still hiding in the bushes, spying on us when we got out of the lake,” he explained.
Court stared at him with alarm. “What? Wait a second! Is that what happened at the movie theater too?”
He nodded. “Yeah, and it happened again today with Robbie. She was teasing me and I got angry. Then, before I knew what was happening, an electro force the size of a bolt of lightning flashed out of the sky and struck the ground beside her. It nearly hit her! So, now she’s pissed at me, and I don’t blame her.”
“Tell King Wells, Xavier! You have to! You might be sick! It may have something to do with how you took LeMasters’ powers. Maybe it affected yours! Tell him!”
“NO! I’m not telling him and neither are you! You promised, Court!” he blared at his friend’s apprehensive face. “If you tell him...I…I’ll give you a beating that will make Loren look like a sissy!”
“Doubt that
,” he muttered dryly.
“If you tell...I’ll tell Erica you spied on her and saw her dad spank her.”
“Geez, Xavier! That’s a low blow.”
“Yeah, maybe, but I’ll still do it.”
“But, X, if you’re having trouble controlling your powers, nothing you’ve done is your fault! Why don’t you want to tell him?” he asked exasperatedly.
“Because...because it’s embarrassing! I’m the future King of Warwood; I’m the Chosen for crying out loud! I’m not supposed to be weak...I’m not supposed to have fading or uncontrollable powers!” he hissed. “Besides, it’s probably only temporary. Are you going to keep your promise or not?”
Court didn’t look convinced as he muttered, “Aye, I’ll keep my promise, but I’m telling you, you’re being stupid by not telling the king.”
Xavier didn’t see Robbie for the remainder of the day. Sure that she’d told his father about the earlier incident, he sat down to dinner that evening with trepidation and anxiously awaited the king’s wrath.
“Your new school uniforms arrived this afternoon. Emma put them in your closet. Did you get new socks? What about shoes? I doubt your old ones would fit anymore,” his father began as he forked at his salmon and scooped a bite into his mouth.
“Ah…no. I didn’t think about that,” he murmured, confused that his father would want to talk about trivial things when he’d broken the Codes of Warwood. Maybe he was waiting for him to confess.
“Well, we’ll take care of that tomorrow when we go out to get your school books,” the king continued. “It appears we’ll need to get your books from the used bookstore this term. Wellington Bookstore was vandalized and much of the store and its books were damaged.”
“Yeah, I heard,” he muttered.
“Erica’s lucky her father was able to talk Angus McCrady into not filing charges against her. I don’t know what Loren said to Angus to work that out, but I’m sure his daughter will think twice before pulling a stupid stunt like that again.”
“Yeah, I guess she will.” What was up with all this chit-chat? It was driving him insane. He wished his father would just get to the point and start yelling at him.
“Oh, and I won’t be home Friday night. Lana and I have a business trip. We leave for New York Friday, but we should be back sometime Saturday evening. I want you to mind Mrs. Sommers while I’m gone. If you have any problems, both Ephraim and Loren are just down stairs,” he continued.
Enough! He couldn’t take it anymore! “Dad? What did you want to talk to me about?”
His father gave him a blank look.
“Ephraim said earlier that you wanted to see me.”
“Oh, that! I just told you. Lana and I are going out of town on a business trip next weekend.”
So, he didn’t know. Robbie hadn’t told him. The tension melted from his body and a strong sense of giddiness wiggled into its place. He grinned at his father.
“What’s the grin for?”
“So, you and Lana have a business trip, huh?” he questioned, knowingly.
His father’s face went crimson.
It wasn’t until the next day at Sunday mass that he saw Robbie again. She sat in a pew next to Erica, whispering feverishly. Bits and pieces of the girls’ conversation managed to pierce into his thoughts without any effort on his part.
“He nearly hit me with his electro force…he blamed me…he wouldn’t even say he was sorry…”
Sighing, Xavier shuffled toward the girls. Erica saw him first and nudged Robbie.
“Hey, Robbie,” he greeted tentatively, but she didn’t answer and turned away.
“Guess you’re still mad at me,” he commented, crowding into her thoughts.
“Get out of my head, Xavier Wells!” her voice snapped so loudly that he clutched his head with a grimace.
The exchange didn’t go unnoticed by the king. “Are you and Robbie having trouble, son?” he asked as they settled into the front pew to wait for the sermon to begin.
“I…well…we kind of had a fight yesterday,” he muttered, grumpily.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Lana asked. “Maybe we could help?”
“No!” he barked before continuing more calmly. “I mean, no thank you, Lana.”
His father’s brow rose at his anxious response.
Eager to keep his father from prying into his memories and thoughts, he blurted the first thing that came to mind, “Dad? How big were you at my age?”
He glanced at Lana with a smile before turning to him. “I probably wasn’t much bigger than you. Does this have something to do with the fight you had with Robbie?”
He nodded. “All my friends are taller, bigger, and stronger than me! Aside from Garrett, I’m the runt! Even Robbie is taller,” he grumbled. “It’s embarrassing when your girlfriend can kick your butt. It should be the other way around!”
Jeremiah did his best not to laugh. “Xavier, I know it’s hard to be small for your age, but you won’t always be. You’ll have a growth spurt...”
“When? When will I have a growth spurt, Dad? When I’m ninety?” he spat.
“Xavier, these things usually run in families. Most likely, your growth spurt will occur around the time your father’s did,” Lana responded as she leaned across Jeremiah’s lap to give his hand a squeeze. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. You’re going to be tall and strong just like your father.”
“Yeah? Well, I just wish it wasn’t taking so long,” he muttered.
His father snickered, earning an elbow in his side from Lana.
Xavier looked at him. “When did you have your growth spurt?”
“Well, let me think,” he began, leaning back in the pew trying to remember. “I believe it was between year two and year three in school, so I would have been about fourteen. I grew close to six inches in eight months. My father had to buy me new uniforms three times that school year. He complained about it, but I could tell he was pleased that I was growing tall.”
“Why would he care if you were tall or not?”
His father sighed, “I guess he thought I’d have a more powerful aura as king if I was tall, large, and imposing. He wanted citizens to quaver and cower at my feet. He wanted men to respect me and children to fear me.”
“Mrs. Sommers told me a little about him. He sounds like a jerk to me,” Xavier muttered.
“I guess he could be, but he did the best he could with the enormous task of raising a future king. It takes a strong man to rule a kingdom, to instill loyalty in his subjects, and when necessary, to command obedience. However, your grandfather and I had different opinions on how to achieve that. He believed in physical prowess, fear, and steadfastness. I believe in truthfulness, compassion, and communication. A kingdom is no more powerful than its lowliest peasant. Warwood is stronger when its citizens have a voice in what goes on at the executive level of their government, including what bills become laws. I believe citizens are more loyal and have more confidence in my rule if they have a legal means to challenge me without fear that I’d have them beheaded.”
“Beheaded? Really?” he snorted.
His father nodded. “It was still a law up until ten years ago.”
“So, the High Council?”
He nodded again. “Yes. The High Council provides citizens with a say in what I do and gives them a means of questioning me, legally.”
His father’s eyes trailed to the pulpit where Father Reinhart stood ready to begin his sermon. The new priest was a much better preacher than his predecessor. He didn’t scream at the congregation the way Father O’Brien had. He was more involved with the community and wasn’t afraid to do his fair share of hard work. He had eagerly pitched in with cleaning and rebuilding the kingdom.
As Father Reinhart began his sermon, Xavier’s mind wandered to his father’s philosophy on being a king. Being king meant being truthful and communicating with people. He looked at Robbie, who sat deep in thought. She was right. He never really said he was sorry. He had
selfishly worried that she would tell his father about his rogue powers. God, he acted like a complete jerk! She deserved better. She deserved an apology.
After services, he spotted her sitting on the low wall separating the church from the street. He walked over to where she sat, rehearsing his apology in his head. He had never felt this nervous to speak to Robbie before in his entire life.
He stopped behind her and took a deep breath.
“Robbie?”
She visibly stiffened and started to stand.
“No, don’t go. Please, just hear me out. I hate it when you’re mad at me. I know I deserve it. I know I was a jerk. I’m really, really sorry. I...I’ll do anything to make it up to you. It was an accident! I’d never, ever intentionally hurt you. I’d die before I’d let anything happen to you.”
Slowly, Robbie turned, looked at him, and sighed. “I’m not mad anymore. I would have forgiven you yesterday if you had just said you were sorry instead of jumping down my throat like it was my fault.”
“I know. I was a jerk,” he muttered, sitting next to her so that their legs brushed against one another. “To be truthful, it scared the hell out of me when the electro force came so close to you, and I felt guilty. Then I got angry, but I wasn’t really angry at you. I was angry with myself for losing control of my powers and nearly killing you. I acted like a complete idiot. I am so, so sorry.”
She gave him a feeble smile. “It’s okay, but I’ll take you up on your offer.”
He frowned at her. “What offer?”
“God, Xavier! Not five seconds ago, you pledged that you’d do anything to make it up to me!” She laughed.
He laughed with her. “All right. I think I might regret this, but what can I do for you, Miss Minnows?”
“Oh, my! So many choices!” she teased. “Well, first I think you should start by giving me a kiss, Xavier Wells.”
“Man, I like your thinking.” He laughed and kissed her just as a flood of people spilled from the church.
“Hey, you two! This is consecrated ground! Watch that you don’t incite the wrath of God,” Loren joked from the door, his hand clutched firmly on Erica’s shoulder. It looked as though Loren intended to keep a short rein on his trouble-seeking daughter.
The Prince of Warwood and The Rise of the Chosen Page 12
