Then she remembered what Ruwach had told her. She glanced back at Xavier and Manuel. She’d be a lot safer if she stayed here, with them and with Mr. J. Ar. But her assignment was Brianna.
Suddenly, Ivy felt something new open up inside of her—the inexplicable strength she had only experienced in Ahoratos—and she knew what she had to do. So she, too, squeezed through the doors and ran out after Levi and Brianna.
“Hey!” Xavier called after her, but she didn’t respond. She didn’t even look back.
“So now it’s just the two of us?” said Manuel to Xavier in a shaky voice. “We can’t stop—that—” He pointed to the cloud of Ents that had begun a slow, massive descent toward the rec center.
“We’re gonna have to,” Xavier said.
* * *
Mr. J. Ar was outside trying to round up the last of the children when he saw his son and Ivy running after Brianna toward the big beech tree that stood near the edge of the property. The beech tree was the favorite climbing tree at the Rec; its low curling branches and wide canopy made the inside of it into a kind of fort. Mr. J. Ar considered going after them and bringing all three back into the center. But he decided against it. The tree would keep them hidden, sheltered from the attack, at least for a while.
Hang in there, Warriors, he thought to himself. Use your armor. Levi and Ivy would be okay as long as they remembered not to rely on their own strength but the strength of what Ruwach had given them. They had to use their armor. And keep their helmets on.
* * *
“Bean!”
Levi tripped over a branch and almost fell. He thought he’d lost her for good, but as he recovered he saw her just ahead of him, breaking into the canopy of the huge beech tree. Levi followed her in. It was even darker in the tree than it had been outside, but he could see Brianna, sitting against the wide trunk of the tree, turned away from him, her knees drawn up to her chest, her head buried in her arms. He heard a soft sob, like she was crying.
And then Levi saw something else really strange—a blinking light on the back of her neck. He heard a noise, a low, uneven humming, like when people are talking in another room but you can’t quite understand what they’re saying. The rhythm of the humming seemed to coincide with the blinking light on Brianna’s neck. Mr. J. Ar had said she had a Sypher attached to her, but Levi couldn’t see anything but the blinking. He crept closer for a better look. But Brianna whirled suddenly and faced him, her eyes unfocused and glazed, as if she couldn’t quite see him.
“What are you doing?” she demanded.
“You’ve got something on your neck,” he said. “It’s a Sypher. . . .”
“A what?”
“A Sypher. You brought it back from the Garden of Red, didn’t you?”
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Brianna lied, folding her arms.
“Look, Bean, that thing may have looked like something really pretty and friendly, but it’s not. You have to get it off of you and capture it. It builds the fortress of the enemy in your mind. It’s twisting your thoughts, Bean! It’s making you act this way.”
Brianna looked at Levi with a perplexed expression. She had seen Ponéros’s fortress. In Sko’tos. Across the chasm in Ahoratos. And she distinctly remembered it being destroyed by the Olethron they’d sent sailing back there. How could something that massive be created inside of her, in her mind?
“That’s silly,” she said. “Just go away, Levi. Leave me alone!”
Come with ussssssss.
The voice sizzled like hot metal thrust into cold water. Brianna looked around, wondering where it came from.
“Did you hear that?” she said.
“Hear what? Bean, the attack is about to start. We don’t have much time—”
“Don’t call me that. My name is not Bean.”
“I’m sorry . . . Brianna. Please . . . put this on—”
Don’t listen to him!
Brianna stood up, confused. Then she looked up and saw something she hadn’t noticed trailing her until this very moment. Sitting on a large branch of the tree was an enormous Ent, made of gleaming metal. It was as big as a bald eagle, its large angular wings folded up. It bent its head, its red eyes boring into hers.
Listen to me. I am your friend.
Chapter 31
The Storm Descends
Rec Center
4:15 PM
Mr. J. Ar corralled the last of the kids inside the center and shut the doors just as the massive Ent cloud descended, coating the windows and shooting darts against the glass panes. Their shrieking cries reverberated right through the walls and made the light fixtures vibrate.
“Everyone to the storm shelter!” Mr. J. Ar continued to roar as the remaining kids, frightened by his urgency, headed toward the shelter door. The shelter’s concrete walls were thick and strong, and the door was reinforced. Mr. J. Ar hoped it would withstand an Ent attack if their other defenses failed. At least for a while.
“You take the front windows. I’ll take the back.” Xavier gave orders to Manuel and then rushed over to the back windows as they began to crack from the pressure of the Ents. Xavier raised his seed in his fist, deploying his shield. Manuel raced over to the set of windows by the front door. He glanced at Xavier then copied his movement, his arm shaking as he thrust his fist out straight. He’d never actually done this before. He gasped as the shield deployed, sending a shiver like electricity down his arm. Then he smiled.
He was amazed that his seed-shield reached out to cover all the windows. The other two walls of the center only had doors—one led to the gym and the other to the office. Both those doors were closed tight. But that didn’t mean the Ents wouldn’t get through them eventually.
Xavier looked over at Manuel and nodded approvingly. “Good. Keep it steady.”
“What about them?” said Mary Stanton from the storm shelter doorway, pointing to Manuel and Xavier. “Don’t they have to come down too?” She’d been watching the two boys suspiciously for some time as she continued to herd children down the stairs. “What’s really going on here, Mr. Arthur? There’s no tornado. So what’s the matter?”
“Trust me, Mary. I’ll explain later. Right now we need to get you and the rest of the kids into the shelter.” Mr. J. Ar spoke in a loud but calm voice as he gently herded Mary down the steps. Then he shut the door tightly, standing before it with his sword drawn.
Ahoratos—The Quaritan Field
4:17 PM
“Help me, Ru!” Evan called out. He flattened his back against the rock, keeping his shield up to protect himself from the flying darts of the Ents. For a split second, he worried that his shield might shatter under the pressure. But then he remembered how it had withstood the Olethron. He relaxed a bit. But still, neither he nor Rook had any way out.
He felt something hot at the center of his back and jumped away from the rock. Where he had been leaning, a small bright spot appeared in the center of the stone. A tiny hole, filled with a light that was shining from within. And the hole got bigger. Gradually, Evan saw that it was actually a flame, growing ever brighter, burning through the giant boulder in front of him. Rocks can’t catch fire, Evan thought to himself. But this one did. The fire branched out into two trails in a circular pattern, carving a fiery circle in the rock with a dark, empty center. Like a . . . doorway.
Was he supposed to go through this ring of fire? Seriously?
He turned back to Rook, but he was so busy blocking the Ents he didn’t even notice. Evan faced the flame in the rock again. It was the only way inside that he could see. So, he took a breath.
Here goes nothing, he thought. And then . . . then . . . he walked into the fire.
Rec Center
4:17 PM
“Fire!” Manuel yelled, pointing toward the front doors. The glass doors in the front and back of the rec center looked as though they
were on fire, as if someone had thrown a burning torch against them. White flames shot into the air, igniting Ents, melting them instantly as others scrambled to escape. Neither the adults nor the kids inside the center could see that something, someone, was within the flames, standing like a sentinel in both doorways simultaneously, arms outstretched to block the Ents from getting through.
It was Ruwach.
In the fire.
Ahoratos—The Quaritan
4:17 PM
Evan hadn’t seen anything in the fire either. But indeed, there it was—there he was, Ruwach, standing inside the fiery doorway of the quaritan, his unearthly hands holding the flame.
But Rook could see Ruwach’s presence, barely visible. He moved closer to the fiery rock as the Ents began to retreat, fearful of being melted down, turned to ash. Rook lowered his sword and bent over, hands on knees, trying to catch his breath. “Thanks,” he said, glancing up at Ruwach. “So—Evan’s inside the quaritan now?”
“Yes,” Ruwach said placidly from inside the fire. “But stay alert. This is far from over. Ponéros will not give up so easily. He cannot allow Evan to succeed.” Ruwach paused. “He wants both the boy and the key.”
“But what about the others? On earth? Aren’t you going to help them?”
Ruwach’s response rang with the splendor of omniscience and eternity. . . .
“I am already there.”
Rec Center
4:18 PM
Xavier and Manuel gasped in horror when the front door of the Rec burst open. They were certain that the Ents had managed to break through the firewall on the doors. But it wasn’t Ents. It was an old man with fuzzy white hair and beard, wearing the same glowing armor as Mr. J. Ar and carrying a real, albeit rather rusty, sword.
“I see I got here just in time,” said the old man, leaning against the door to catch his breath.
“Tony!” Mr. J. Ar exclaimed, coming up to him. “How did you . . .”
“It’s Ru. He made a way for me through the fire. And . . . my granddaughter is in trouble.” He straightened up and held up his sword. “Had to rummage through the attic to find this. I haven’t used this thing in a long time. I hope I haven’t forgotten how.”
“I’m sure you haven’t,” said Mr. J. Ar. “Fortify the doors that go into the gym. In case they get through the gym windows.”
Grandpa Tony nodded, brimming with confidence. “I’m ready.”
Chapter 32
Inside the Quaritan
Ahoratos
4:18 PM
Evan gazed around at the strange new place he’d entered. He had run through the fiery door and was now, somehow or other, inside the quaritan. The fire still blazed in the opening, but he was alone—Rook had not come with him. Evan assumed that Rook was still on the outside, battling Ents.
Evan looked around. From the light of his breastplate he could see the walls of the quaritan were very lumpy and sort of purply. It reminded him of something he’d seen before. . . .
A geode! Like the ones in Manuel’s room. The inside of a geode was hollow and lined with crystals, even though from the outside it looked like an ordinary rock. So that’s what a quaritan was—kind of like a gigantic geode.
Ruwach had told him that he had to unlock the quaritan. He looked around for something to unlock, like a door or a keyhole. He wondered if the key in his pocket would work—maybe that’s why he was the one chosen for this mission. He reached in his pocket and pulled out the key. That funny shaped end was not like any key he had ever seen before.
He crept along the edges of the cave, searching for a lock that might fit the key. A secret door, an invisible door, like in the movies—that would be cool. He searched high and low, turning his body this way and that to shine the light of his armor so he could see better. Nothing but lumpy purple rocks reflected back to him.
“What am I looking for?” he asked aloud. As if in response, the orb on his breastplate began to spin, spilling instructions out before him:
Seek and you will find.
Evan sighed—that was not really helpful. He was seeking already. He did another walk around, examining the rock walls even more carefully, but still he saw no holes that would fit a key, no recessed areas that might be a hidden door, no special tiles in the floor that lit up or sank or did anything no matter how much he stomped on them with his boots.
He had another idea and took off his belt, tossing one end up toward the ceiling, hoping it would stick to something so he could climb up and see if there was something up high he could find—something his much taller brother could have done easily. But the belt just fell back down onto his head. He sighed, putting it back around his waist.
Evan got tired. He sank down to his knees, lowering his head. It was no use. He was never going to figure this out.
Seek and you will find. The words echoed in his mind. He wondered what was happening with his friends back home. Had the battle they were going to face started yet? If it had, that meant he didn’t have a whole lot of time to open the quaritan. He had to do it, somehow or other. He got up and kept looking.
And then he noticed something that hadn’t captured his attention before: a dark stone mixed in with the purple-y crystals. It was black and rounded with a flat surface. Not pointed and colorful like the crystals. A swirling design was etched into the stone, delicate silvery lines that glowed in the light of Evan’s breastplate.
Evan got up and went for a closer look. He saw that the swirling lines on the stone looked something like . . . writing.
ת
Evan put the key back into his pocket and reached up to touch the stone; after some tugging, it came loose. It was the size and shape of a baseball and sort of heavy. It reminded him of the stones in Manuel’s room. . . . What did he call them? Lodestones? Some weird name like that.
Then Evan remembered something about those stones. They were magnetic. Evan felt his heart skip a beat. Maybe this stone was magnetic! And maybe, just maybe, that had something to do with unlocking the quaritan! It was just a little clue, but it was all he had.
He stared at the design engraved on the stone. He didn’t recognize the symbol, but it had a similar style to the funny-shaped א on the Crest. Which meant this symbol could be in that same language. So how was he supposed to know what it meant? Ruwach would know what it was, but he probably wouldn’t tell. Ruwach seemed to prefer the Prince Warriors to figure things out for themselves.
Maybe Rook knew. He might even have opened one of these quaritans himself at one time. Rook seemed to know a lot of stuff. But he was outside. Evan looked up at the ceiling. Maybe if he shouted loud enough, Rook could hear him.
“Rook! Are you there? Can you hear me?”
No answer. But at least he had a clue.
Evan moved farther along the narrow cave, searching for black stones among the colorful crystals. He quickly found another black stone and held it next to the first one. He felt a pull, the two stones repelling away from each other. Just like real magnets. So these two stones didn’t go together. He simply had to find the ones that did.
Evan kept searching and soon found several more round stones. It was like once he understood what he was looking for, they were just there. Everywhere. He plucked them from the walls one by one and set them on the ground together. He began to arrange them in some order. Most of them repelled each other, but eventually he found three that actually stuck together.
אמת
Was this a word? Evan had no idea. But he figured it had to mean something. Maybe if he found more pieces, it would be clearer what this was all about.
As he got to his feet to search for more stones, pebbles and debris began to fall on him. The crystals inside the quaritan trembled slightly; he had to steady himself to keep from falling.
Give me the key. . . .
The voice Evan heard crackled like rad
io static in his ear. He pressed his hands against his ears and felt the helmet on his head heat up, the warmth running down his neck. The space around him brightened—the helmet was lighting up. The rest of the words of that hideous voice were garbled, so he couldn’t understand them. That was a good thing—he was certain he really didn’t want to hear what it had to say.
With new urgency, Evan continued to search for the stones with the odd markings. He didn’t know how many he needed, but he had a feeling that he and his friends were going to run out of time very soon.
In Ahoratos . . . and on earth.
Chapter 33
Under Cover
Rec Center—Outside
4:18 PM
Ivy stood just at the edge of the canopy under the beech tree and deployed her shield to cover as much of the tree as she could, keeping the attacking Ents from getting inside. The sound of the Ents descending over the rec center was thankfully muffled by her shield.
She was worried. Levi wasn’t having any luck getting Brianna to put on her helmet. The more he pleaded, the more she refused. Neither of them seemed to notice Ivy standing there watching. She wondered if she should try to help but decided Levi probably wouldn’t want her interfering. Besides, she doubted she would have any more luck than he was having.
But then Brianna looked up, her attention caught by something in a tree branch overhead. Ivy and Levi both strained to see what Brianna was seeing. Ivy put a hand over her mouth so no one would hear her gasp of panic.
The biggest Ent she’d ever seen was perched in the crook of a tree branch. It made a rumbling noise, as if it were actually talking to Brianna. And she was listening.
The Prince Warriors and the Unseen Invasion Page 17
