The Two Worlds

by Alisha Howard

  ***

  I’m so warm. This must be what heaven feels like. I snuggled into the warmth and smiled. At least I wasn’t cold anymore. My body felt light. I shivered despite the warmth and clenched my fist, which seemed to be gripping it. Music floated around me, and even that seemed warm.

  “Mmm,” I murmured to no one in particular. “Mmmmm.”

  “There, there, Kathleena,” a soothing voice said. A clammy hand patted my forehead. “You’ll be all right. But right now you must get up and fight.”

  I squinted with my eyes closed. I didn’t want to fight. Who was this person?

  The clammy hand patted my forehead again. “Kathleena.”

  I sighed and opened my eyes. My vision blurred against the figure in front of me. Once it cleared, I saw it was Mimi. What was she doing here?

  “I’m here to help. I’m a healer.” She reached out her clammy hang again, and my eyes closed. So warm. So good. “Kathleena!” My eyes popped open and met Mimi’s stern voice and equally stern face. “You must get up this instant! Your friends need you!”

  My friends I turned my head and noticed that Rena, Nia and Jala were battling with Jarem. Nia was creating what looked like big boulders suspended in air. Rena was Awakening them, and Jala was aiming them at the KaKonian. Together, they made a great team. Why did they need my help?

  “Get up!” came the voice behind me again. I was getting tired of her. But she was right. I should be trying to help.

  I rolled over to my side and instantly regretted it. Sharp pains shot up my right leg, and I fell a few times before I was able to stand. Squaring my shoulders, I hobbled over to Rena, who, up close, looked extremely afraid and very tired.

  “Kay!” she exclaimed. “I’m so glad you’re okay1” She never took her hands off the task of Awakening boulders, though.

  I nodded and looked at Jarem. He wasn’t even struggling to defend himself, but the constant attack by our side was making it hard for him to make a move. Thinking fast, I hobbled quickly over to Nia and grabbed her shoulder.

  “You and I are one, a source of incredible energy,” I began. If Grandpa’s legend was true, I was able to create great things, right? I was willing to find out. Nia was losing energy, and the boulders were slowing down. “We are the Akearman Stars.” Nia’s shoulder began to warm, but she didn’t seem to notice.

  “Nia,” I said, “create a star.”

  “What?” she shouted, frowning.

  “Create a star!”

  Nia immediately stopped making boulders and moved her hands, swiftly forming the shape of a star in the air. As it materialized, Rena gave a loud shout behind me. The boulders had stopped all together, and the KaKonian gave a blast from his hands. Out of my peripheral vision I saw Rena fly past me, her body bouncing off a wall like a rag doll.

  “RENA!” Jala and I shouted. Jala ran towards Rena, but Senior Lynch sideswiped her, and they both went tumbling down. I refocused on my sister, whose star was becoming bigger and bigger.

  “You and I are one, a source of incredible energy,” I began again. Where was this coming from? “We have the power to create and destroy. We are the beginning and end of this story. We are the Akearman Stars.” Nia sobbed and kept moving her hands. The star began to pulse with energy. On my left, Kris and Grandpa fought hand to hand with the KaKonian. Grandpa was holding his own, but Kris was giving Jarem a real run for his money. I hoped this would work. I didn’t know much about this, but it was worth a try, right?

  “This star is our hope. It is a symbol of all that is good.” The star pulsated bright white in response. “From this star, we will find our victory.”

  My hand that the ring was on buzzed. I looked down and noticed that it was glowing. Streams of golden energy were moving and weaving around us, and I felt very light. And nauseous. Refocusing, I continued.

  “Power of the Akearman Stars, come to me. Help us defeat this evil, so that you may shine brightly again.” Kris came flying in the air at me, landing squarely at my feet. He groaned and stood up. His face had more color, and he was panting, sweating. Was he...? Grabbing his hand—much to his surprise—I returned to my chanting. Kris looked at the star, at Nia, and then back at me before shifting his eyes to my right. I followed his gaze and saw Grandpa lying on the ground, his face bruised and eyes closed. Swallowing, my attention shifted to the KaKonian who was marching towards us at an alarming rate and moving his hands as well. Was he making a star, too? No. A shape began to materialize, and I realized he had created a door.

  The door took form a lot faster than Nia’s star and fell to the ground with a sickening thud. The handle turned and the door flew open, revealing tons of snarling KaKonians staring at us. One stepped out and stood up. We all raised our gaze to take in the height of this beast. He snarled and lunged at us.

  Nia and I screamed, and Kris ran around us, meeting the beast head on. The beast took a mighty swipe at Kris who ducked, materialized a sword in his right hand, and thrust forward. The beast roared and staggered back, swiping at Kris again. This time he was successful, and Kris went toppling over tombstones before hitting the ground.

  “Okay, star, here’s your chance.” I closed my eyes and hoped that when they opened I would still be alive. “Star, gives us your power.” The star glowed so brightly Nia closed her eyes as well. We heard the beast roar in surprise. I squinted and attempted to look into the light, but had to shield my eyes from it again. Suddenly, I felt warm, very warm. Hot. I reached for Nia’s hand and found that she was just as hot as I was. I forced myself to open my eyes again and found that we were hovering above a swarm of KaKonians, with more spilling out of the door every second. They were all jumping and trying to get to us. An arrow flew straight at me, hitting my stomach.

  “Ahh!” I screamed and instinctively reached down to hold my wound. I pressed against my stomach and realized there was no blood. Nia looked over at me. Her eyes were glowing the same golden color as the energy around us, and she seemed so relaxed. She placed her hands on my forehead, and I felt my body relax as well. We had nothing to fear. Akearman Stars. Moving as though someone else was operating my body, I raised my hands with Nia noting that my ring was now glowing so brightly it was almost blinding, and the energy moving within us increased. Everything seemed to slow down. I thought about Grandma and allowed the energy to take over.

  A huge blast of white light came from between us, blinding me. I opened my mouth but didn’t hear a sound. My whole body pulsed and hurt. Tears streamed down my face. Below us was a roar so loud I was sure the dead were awake by now. My body continued to throb, and the roar reached a loud pitch before being cut off all together. I smelled smoke, but the white light was still extremely bright. Suddenly, with a whoosh of cool air, the white light disappeared, and Nia and I slowly came back down to the ground.

  I fell down with Nia beside me, and we both lay on the cool grass. The cemetery was back to its eerie quietness. My body hurt and felt weak at the same time. I cried, kept my eyes closed, and let the darkness wash over me yet again.

  “I knew you could do it,” said a voice above me. Why on Earth was I not able to become unconscious in peace? I opened my eyes and looked up at Kris. He was grinning—the best he could, anyway.

  “What?” I croaked.

  “I knew you could do it. Here.” He pulled into a sitting position ignoring my groaning. I looked around. KaKonian bodies were everywhere, the door they had come out of gone. Jarem was nowhere to be found, but Senior Lynch was very visible, laying on the ground with his eyes open and no movement. I licked my lips. “What happened?”

  “You won.”

  “But how?”

  “Apparently the Akearman Stars aren’t just a legend anymore.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Epilogue

  I plopped down wearily on the couch next to Kris. He had come home with us once he realized the cemetery wouldn’t be his home anymore. We were still trying to figure out what had happened to him. Was he really alive?
And why did my ring seem to come alive? What was the energy that had been flowing around us? Was it magic or something else? My head began to throb and I promised myself I would look into it more after I rested. The warm fire that Rena had Awakened was blazing. Grandpa and Jala had gone to the local inn for the night. Nia fell into the armchair on the side of me. Rena stretched out face down on the floor.

  “My body aches,” Rena moaned.

  “Mine, too,” Nia chimed in.

  “Mine three,” I agreed. Kris remained silent. We all sat quietly, soaking up the warmth the fire had to offer. Rena rolled over on her side, propping herself up with an elbow.

  “So.” She cleared her throat and looked over at me. “What happened?”

  “I don’t know,” Nia answered for me. “I don’t remember much.”

  “Me either,” I admitted. “What did you see?”

  Kris spoke up. “The legend stated that you would have to have Death on your side before you could overcome evil. You, Kay, did. You made me alive again, essentially winning over Death. Once that happened, you fulfilled the prophecy and were able to somehow channel that power from the original Akearman Stars to wipe out the KaKonians.”

  “Cool,” I muttered. My body throbbed in agreement.

  Kris looked annoyed. It was becoming a permanent look of his. “Cool? Cool? No, it’s not just cool. It’s a miracle. You know what this means, don’t you?”

  Both Nia and I shook our heads.

  Kris sighed. “It means you really are the most powerful beings on this planet. Practically undefeatable. Which means now everyone will try to get rid of you. You two are a threat to all that is normal here. It doesn’t matter if it’s right or wrong. Change is largely feared here.”

  I swallowed and sat back. I felt like crying again, but I didn’t have enough energy to muster up the tears.

  Dia stepped in. “Kris, I think that is enough dramatics for one night, don’t you?” Kris opened his mouth to respond, but Dia became very warm and he thought better of it. She continued, “I think we should all be very grateful that we won this battle and can rest peacefully tonight. You’re back home, thank goodness, which means you’re safe.”

  Kris huffed, and we fell quiet for a few more moments. Finally Rena broke the silence again. “Do you think we’ll still have to finish our court punishments?”

  I shrugged. Any punishment the Counsel gave us had to be better than what we had just been through. Nia yawned and stretched, before giving me a lazy grin.

  “I’m not worried about it,” she said.

  I raised an eyebrow. “You’re not?”

  “Nope,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m starting to realize that everything isn’t as black and white as it seems to be on this planet.” I smiled at her. “I’m really interested in learning more about this legend of ours.”

  “Agreed.” I stretched out on the couch. “It was pretty cool to learn that I have this new power, though.” Nia and Rena nodded in agreement. Bringing the dead back to life could be very handy. Or very gross. I wasn’t too sure. My grin widened as I thought about all the dead toads in science class that could have their revenge. “I can’t wait to see what Mrs. Temely thinks about it!”

  Kris snorted in obvious disgust, which prompted Nia and I into rounds of laughter that lasted until we all passed out, exhausted.

  Turns out, Mrs. Temely would be more trouble than I thought.