by A. L. Tyler
“And Daray very well might have told you something he hasn’t told me. Why would I not tell you if I knew?”
“Well, why would your grandfather know, for one, and I already know you’re keeping something from me.” Griffin leaned back in his seat and watched Lena squirm.
She finally gestured him forward so that she could whisper, even though she was sure there weren’t any other Silenti in the restaurant. “Last night Ben told me that Pyrallis came out against the Council’s wishes, in secret, just to see it.”
Griffin stared at her, and a wistful smile spread across his face. “He’s seen it?”
“I don’t know!” Lena shrugged excitedly. “Ben could have already been dead when he got there, and the portal would have been gone…”
Griffin picked up her train of thought. “…and he never told anyone because they would have accused him of stealing it himself.” Griffin leaned back and thought for a moment, and his smile faded slightly. “I can’t believe he never told me, but I guess it’s understandable. I don’t think he saw it, though. He would have had to open it—there’s no way he could have resisted. It’s been his dream his whole life. According to Council record, he was outraged that they never caught the murderer or found the portal.”
Griffin paid the bill and they got back into the car. When they got back to the hotel, he checked them back in to the new rooms and they walked down the hall to rooms 39 and 40. They stood in the hallway for a minute, staring at the gold numbers on the door.
“You’re sure you want to go alone?” He asked again.
Lena closed her eyes and shook her head. “No. But I will.”
Griffin put the key in the door and opened it. Just looking in the room made Lena’s skin crawl; something terrible had happened here.
Ben was sitting on the edge of the bed.
Off in a dark corner, there was a large, dark brown traveling trunk with an arched top.
Lena took a deep breath, tried to swallow her fear, and stepped over the threshold. The air went cold.
Lena looked around the room, unsure of what to do. Even though she hadn’t heard the door close, it was closed behind her. She carefully walked over to Ben; he was sitting very nonchalantly, thumbing through his notes and occasionally glancing over at the chest—the portal—in the corner. He had the curtains drawn and only one nightstand light was on. Very carefully, Lena made her way over to the portal, her heart pounding. Just as Ava had said, there was writing in Latito all over it, with the word Silenti written boldly across the top. Although the script made it somewhat ornate, it still looked very ordinary. Once again, Lena found herself doubting that it held anything special at all, much less another world.
A knock came at the door, and Lena spun around. Her heart was racing. She wished that Griffin would have come with her.
Ben rose from the bed, hiked his pants up, and walked over to the door. He tentatively peered through the peephole, and then opened the door smiling.
“Pyrallis, you old dog, you know you shouldn’t have come. I told you not to. They’d have both our hides if they knew.”
A much younger Pyrallis Daray walked into the room, wearing a slightly crooked smile. “It wouldn’t be the first time, Ben. You always find a way out for me. And this must be it.”
Lena pressed herself against the wall as Pyrallis walked over to the portal and rested a hand on it. He closed his eyes and smiled.
“Now, Pyrallis…”
Pyrallis removed his hand from the box and straightened up. He turned around and pulled a gun out of his pocket, aiming it directly at Ben.
Ben’s cheerful eyes faltered in confusion. “For God’s sake! What are you doing?!”
“I’m sorry, Ben. You’ve served me well, but there’s too much at stake here. I’m very sorry, old friend.” Lena heard him cock the gun. Ben’s eyes went wide.
“You can’t—“
BAM. Lena slammed her fists over her eyes. BAM. BAM. BAM.
Lena crouched down behind the portal for cover; blood spattered across the walls and the ceiling as she heard Ben stumble to the ground. He made horrible choking noises as the blood began to fill his lungs and sputtered out of his mouth. Pyrallis, meanwhile, had turned and crouched before the portal. Lena could see his hallow, dying eyes running over the portal as Ben still lay on the floor gasping for air. He ran his hands over it, and then gingerly leaned in and kissed it; there was a loud, screeching, terrible sound coming from somewhere.
She looked away, and straight into the eyes of Ben Collins, just as they went wide again in surprise. Even through his grimace of pain, she saw his bloodied lips twitch and smile. For both of them, time had disappeared—he saw her. He knew she was there.
Lena was screaming. Pyrallis Daray was reaching over the portal for her. She wanted to escape, but she was frozen in place. The world around her was going hazy.
“Lena! It’s okay, it’s me! It’s okay!”
She curled into a tight ball. Pyrallis was still reaching for her, grabbing at her arms and trying to pull her up. He was starting to gain ground—he was pulling her to her feet. She turned to fight him, but it wasn’t her grandfather. It was Griffin.
His eyes were wide and he watched her anxiously. “Did you see the murderer? Do you know who has the portal?”
Lena stared at him; she felt like she was going to faint. She nodded as she brushed her palms over her tear-slicked face.
Griffin pulled her into a hug. “It’s okay. It’s all going to be okay.”
She pushed away from him. “Not this time, Griffin. Just get me away from here. I want to go home.”
*****
CHAPTER 15
Lena didn’t remember much of what happened after that point; it took several hours for her long term memory to kick back on. Griffin settled Lena back into the car and then hauled the luggage out as quickly as he could. He started the car, and they drove. He kept glancing over at her, wanting so desperately for her to say anything about what had transpired in the room, but he kept his questions to himself. Lena couldn’t take her eyes off of the gray climate control duct they had settled on when Griffin had maneuvered her into the passenger seat. She wasn’t sure, but she thought her hands were shaking. Despite the paradox that had just presented itself to her, her mind had gone completely blank. She was numb.
It wasn’t until Griffin stopped for dinner, and prodded Lena to get her out of the car, that her thoughts finally engaged. She looked around; the illuminated road sign on the nearby highway said that they were in Kansas. It was already dark.
“Where are we?” She said in a hoarse tone.
“We’re getting dinner. Then we’re finding a place to stay, and then we’re going home tomorrow.” He pushed a button on the car’s remote locking device and the car beeped its report of security. He put his good arm around Lena’s shoulders and steered her into the restaurant. She wasn’t hungry.
As Griffin ate, she munched on the bread the waitress had brought out as an appetizer, attempting to distract herself with the pattern of the bottom of the bread pan that had burned onto the underside of several of the rolls. She had always known that Ben was dead; there had never been a time in her life when she had known him as being alive. But actually seeing him die—at the hands of his trusted friend—was something else. She felt raw; every sound and flash of light in the world was too abrasive. She was exposed to the world, and yet none of the happy, chattering faces around her held an inkling of what her mind was focused on.
It cut to her core with a chill she feared would never leave her. The horrible gurgling noise of blood rattling in his lungs was still fresh in her ears.
She looked across the table at Griffin, who was steadily watching her between bites. He didn’t get it. And when she told him—if she told him—he would never believe her. She wasn’t even sure she believed her own eyes. There was only one explanation, and the prospect didn’t make her happy. If Pyrallis Daray had the portal, he would have opened it. He was a false bel
iever, as Warren Astley had said; he was in love with his power, and to open the portal would have been to lose it all. Lena sighed as Griffin gave her an encouraging smile; their mission was far from over.
The danger was just beginning. When she reported back to the Council, the Daray family was going to come under more fire than it ever had before. The information Lena had would shatter the fragile system into a million pieces; God knew where Pyrallis was stashing the portal, but he probably had no intention to give it back. He would probably use it as a threat to maintain his control over the situation.
After a while, Griffin put her back in the car, they drove, and then he pulled her out of the car and put her in a hotel room. She sat on the edge of one of the queen beds and watched him unload the luggage draped over his shoulders. He had ripped his stitches again, but the blood had only spotted; it wasn’t dripping as it had done before.
“I know it’s not what you want, but we’re sharing a room tonight.”
Lena shuddered; if she’d had fewer problems to occupy her mind, Griffin’s authoritarian attitude might have sparked her into a fury again. She still wasn’t fond of him or what he had done to her, and she was almost positive that she would always carry a grain of despondency for his role in her father’s death, but for the time being she felt her own life was in greater need of her attentions. She didn’t want to stay in a room alone that night.
Griffin sat down next to her. Lena could almost feel the anticipation radiating off of him. Exhausted, she turned to face him.
“Tell me what happened.” He said ecstatically.
Lena compulsively clutched the bedspread. She glanced nervously at him. “I don’t…I don’t think I can.”
Lena watched as his face went from anxious to impassive. A small, flitting smile ran across his lips and then it was gone again. “I know it was bad. I know. But you have to tell me who—“
“No!” Lena got up from the bed and started pacing. “No. I mean, I can’t…you really don’t know, do you? He never told you…he’s been lying all these years.” Griffin watched her as she went from one side of the room to the other, and then paused before him. “It was him. It was Master Daray.”
Griffin stared at her. He laughed, then went back to staring at her. “He couldn’t have…what?”
“It was him, Griffin. He’s had it the whole time. I saw him come into the room and—“
“It’s not possible!” Griffin shot up off the bed, causing Lena to leap backwards. “It couldn’t have been him!”
Griffin’s face was turning red. He walked to the door and put his hand on the doorknob, paused, then turned and walked back to the pile of luggage in the corner. He started to mumble under his breath. “It wasn’t him. He would have told me.”
“It was him! He has it, and he doesn’t want to open it because if he does he’ll lose all of his power! He’s a fake, Griffin!”
Griffin shot her the most poisonous glare she had ever seen. He whipped out his cell phone and pushed it to his ear. “Hello? I need Master Daray. I need Master Daray! Dammit Howard, she’s fine! Just—no. No, I’m not going to tell you where we are, because they could have tapped your line! No! I can’t even tell you how important this is. Give the phone to—“ But he suddenly went very quiet. His whole demeanor changed, and he calmed to a halt. “I see. How long does he have? I see. We’ll be back tomorrow, if…I see. What’s being done?” Griffin started pacing the room. “We’ll be in touch, then.”
He hung up the phone and then collapsed onto a bed, holding his face in his hands momentarily. He looked up at Lena. “We have a decision to make.”
“It was him.” She echoed.
His expression didn’t change. “He would have told me.”
Lena sat back down next to him. “He killed Ben. I saw it. He took the portal and—“
“You don’t know him like I do!” Griffin was turning red again. “He wouldn’t do that. This religion is his life—it’s the only thing that’s kept him hanging on to life these past few years. If he had the portal, he would fulfill the prophecy by opening it.”
Lena gave Griffin a sad look, which seemed to anger him more. He couldn’t accept the truth, even when it was staring him in the face. He was blinded by his faith and loyalty. “If he doesn’t have it, then who does, Griffin? There were only two people in that room.”
Griffin looked around the room, searching for an answer. “Someone must have stolen it from him. Someone had the same idea to intercept it, and they must have taken it from him before he got it back home. He didn’t tell anyone because it was a one-shot deal—if he got it back and opened it, he would have won. But it was stolen from him, so he couldn’t tell anyone because if the Council knew what he’d done there was no chance he would ever get close to finding it again.”
Lena paused. It was a fair explanation. “Whoever took the portal was obviously not a fan of the religion. Why wouldn’t they have reported it to the Council?”
Griffin thought. “Like you said, it was someone afraid of losing their power. Someone who wanted to maintain the status quo.”
According to Warren Astley, that narrowed their suspect list to anyone who was a rich Old Faith believer. It didn’t help. “Still, Daray has to know where it is. We need to ask him what happened after that night.”
“That’s the decision we have to make, isn’t it?” Griffin looked impatient. “We can be back at Waldgrave in less than a day if we keep the stops to a minimum. He’s very ill, Lena. Further along than the doctor said he would be, and he’s in and out of consciousness. We need to know what he knows. But,” he licked his lips, “the human-borns—Rollin’s group—have apparently taken Waldgrave hostage. They know they only barely missed us last time, and the Council has reason to believe that they’re watching the roads. They’re working on how many there are right now, but Howard doesn’t want us coming anywhere near there until they get a handle on the situation.”
Lena’s eyes had gone wide. “Is everyone okay?”
“A lot of Representatives flew in for emergency Council after the initial attack, and they’re trapped as well, but I don’t think they’re interested in killing anyone else. This is political. I didn’t want to tell you before, because I thought it would worry you, but it was always political. Killing you would have been a powerful message—you’re an icon. People rally around you. I don’t recall exactly what the note said, but it had something to do with ‘your wastefully extravagant lifestyle, the failed promises of change you made to human-borns, and the false religion you represent.’ Howard’s fine, because you’re the one they want to kill. Killing you—the last chance for the heir that would open the portal—sends a message.”
Lena met Griffin’s eyes. She didn’t recall ever making promises to the human-borns; but then, she remembered Devin’s crestfallen face when she had told him she was going to find the portal. It wasn’t a religion for human-borns, he’d said, and she shouldn’t have been bothering with such a farce. The Silenti community had bigger problems than proving the veracity of religion—she was the only human-born on the Council that held a substantial amount of political sway, and she was wasting it on the religion of the rich. “What do they want from me?”
Griffin looked away. “I think they’re done with you, actually. The only good you can do them now is to become an example and die in the most public way possible. They want Council representation, and so help me, they’re not going to get it. Not after all of this.”
Lena was stunned. Her head was buzzing again, and she didn’t know what to do. The solution to one problem was the worst possible scenario in another. They needed to talk to Daray, which meant going back to Waldgrave and more possible near-death experiences. Lena needed to find the portal to gain her freedom, which meant stepping on the lives of many other people, many of which were her friends. She looked to Griffin. “What do we do?”
But he didn’t answer. Lena could almost see the conflict in his mind; he was torn between his desire to fin
d the portal and his duty to keep her safe. He sighed. “We’ll leave early tomorrow. Hopefully, we can arrive the day after tomorrow around midday, when the roads are a little busier.”
Lena doubted that the number of people on the roads would detract the human-borns if they were bent on killing her, and she knew Griffin knew it. There was never much traffic, if any, on the little back roads they needed to take to Waldgrave. But there was no point in complaining; there was no right answer. At least they had a plan. Choosing to go anywhere was better than choosing to go nowhere and watching their choices slowly and surely deteriorate until they had no choice at all.
The next day went by faster than Lena anticipated, even given that they spent most of it wasting time watching television in a motel room. Griffin had worked out exactly how far they needed to be from Waldgrave to hit the back roads around noon. Neither of them slept well that night; they stayed up talking well past midnight. Despite Griffin’s insistence that Master Daray did not have the portal, Lena still wasn’t sure. He had proven to be a surprise many times in the past, and unlike Griffin, Lena saw him without the golden halo of godliness.
The next morning, they were both tired. When Griffin popped the trunk on the sedan and told Lena to get in, her first inclination was that they might have stayed up too late.
“Excuse me?”
Griffin fixed his gaze on the open trunk. “It’s a long shot, but they might think twice about creating a scene if they can’t actually see you in the car. I’ll hide you behind our bags.”
She didn’t see what difference it made if she was behind the bags or not, because if they got stopped they were screwed anyways. But Griffin was staring into the trunk like it was a good idea, so she decided to humor him. He was already facing enough with the ordeal surrounding Master Daray.
Lena looked around the parking lot of the motel, then shrugged and climbed in. She pressed herself as far against the back of the trunk as she could, thankful for the first time that she fell short of average where height was concerned. Griffin discretely pulled the gun and a box of bullets out of his backpack and put them in the front before loading the rest of their baggage in around Lena. He asked her if she was comfortable, which she wasn’t, and told her to tell him if something went wrong and they needed to stop.
