Aidan shuffled around in bed, trying to get comfortable. But it was no good. He got out of bed and went over to the ice bucket. The sodas were gone. Aidan frowned and stood deep in thought in the darkness. Then, he tiptoed over to his father’s side of the bed.
“Dad?” he whispered. “Dad, can I walk down to the machine and get a soda?”
“Huh?” his father mumbled. He rose slowly on an elbow and glanced across the sleeping form of his wife to the clock. “A soda? It’s eleven thirty.”
“I know, but I can’t sleep, and I’m thirsty.”
“I guess,” Mr. Thomas replied. “Take the room key, and hurry back. And don’t get anything with caffeine in it. Then you really won’t be able to sleep.”
The night air was cool. Maryland was like that in September-hot like summer during the day, but cool like fall at night. Except for the occasional whoosh of cars on the interstate, it was very quiet. Aidan trotted along the walkway. He passed hotel room doors on his left and caught luminous, wavering glimpses of the hotel’s pool on his right.
He stepped up to the soda machine and fumbled through the change in his pocket for five quarters. One at a time, he dropped them in and then scanned for a caffeine-free selection. Looks like ginger ale for me, Aidan thought, and pushed the button. As he reached for his drink he heard behind him a sound like a heavy curtain flapping in the wind. Aidan spun around, glancing toward the blue-green glow of the pool. There was no one there. No breeze either.
Aidan shrugged, uncapped his drink, and took a long sip. A warm breeze washed over him that made chills tiptoe up and down his spine. Then from the pool area came what sounded like a whip cracking. Aidan jumped, dropped his soda, and turned toward the sound. A pale figure stood very still but shimmered as the pool’s undulating surface reflected waves of light over its body. Aidan stepped barefoot into the grass, making his way toward the pale figure. It was a tall girl with long, golden hair. She was dressed in silver armor. Her skin was pale like ivory, and her eyes were luminous blue like the pool.
“Gwenne!” Aidan shouted, and he ran to her. “Gwenne! What are you-how are you… I can’t believe it!” They embraced for a moment and each had tears in their eyes when they parted.
“Sir Aidan,” Gwenne said at last with that crooked smile of hers. “It seems you were right.”
Aidan looked at her strangely. “What do you mean?”
“Before you left The Realm that night, you said to me, ‘See you soon!’ And by the favor of our King, here we are.”
“Gwenne,” Aidan said. “I’ve had visions, dreams about you. You looked frightened. And Antoinette-your twin-I fear she is in trouble!”
“And so we both are,” Gwenne replied, “in very grave danger. I have been in your world for just a short time, but I have been constantly assailed by the enemy.”
“Here?” Aidan exclaimed.
“Yes, Aidan,” Gwenne replied. “Did you think that only servants of Alleble could travel to the Mirror Realm? I’ve come by what is called The Thread. It is the last remaining link between your world and mine, and the path the visions travel. But it is traveled by all Glimpse-kind, and within it I was waylaid by those not true to the King. Aidan, it is the way you will return to The Realm.”
Aidan was stunned. “I’m going back?”
“Yes. I was sent to tell you it is the King’s will that you return to The Realm. But I also bring warning: Be wary of all you meet-in this world and in mine. Not everyone is who they appear to be.”
Aidan frowned. He felt strangely like he did the first time he met Gwenne-like everything she said was a riddle.
“What task does the King have for me?”
“I do not know, Aidan,” she said. “But the King has told me you will return on The Thread, and that The Thread has grown unstable-stretched near to its breaking point. Traveling The Thread has become a dangerous journey.”
There came a sudden, alarming sound like the crackle of electricity, and a strange warm breeze blew from somewhere behind Gwenne. And as if a bright light was slowly losing power, Gwenne began to fade.
“Gwenne, what’s happening to you?” Aidan cried. He reached for her, touched her skin, and a shock went up his arm. He immediately jerked his hand back.
“I am being drawn back to The Thread!” Gwenne cried.
“What?” Aidan blurted out. The breeze vanished, and suddenly Gwenne was completely there again. Her hands were trembling.
“Aidan,” she whispered. “Take my hands.” Aidan reached for Gwenne. This time her skin did not shock him. She felt warm.
“Gwenne,” Aidan asked, “what was that?”
“The Thread,” she replied, glancing nervously over her shoulder as if something might be creeping up behind her. “I thought for a moment that the enemy had found me and was pulling me back. I do not understand how The Thread works, so I do not know how much longer I can remain.”
At that moment three things happened simultaneously: someone called Aidan from behind, the warm wind kicked up even stronger than before, and there was a loud snapping sound like a large branch had been broken.
Aidan felt a painful quiver in his hands. It began to burn. Gwenne’s pale skin dimmed and she began to fade. “Aidan!” she shouted. “You must let me go!”
Aidan felt as if he held a white-hot piece of iron, and all the muscles in his arms began to convulse. Still he held on. He felt if he let go, he would lose his friend forever.
“Aidan!” Gwenne’s voice echoed as if she were in another place. “Aidan, let go!”
There was a bright flash, a sound like thunder, and Aidan flew backward up into the air. He landed unconscious in the pool and sank like a stone.
“Aidan! Aidan!” He heard a female voice, but it was not Gwenne’s. Aidan opened his eyes, saw a blurry night sky and then a face.
“Mom?” Aidan whispered. He stared at her. She was soaking wet. Then Aidan realized he too was drenched. “Mom?”
“Oh, Aidan!” His mother hugged him. She began to sob, and her whole body shook. “I thought I lost you. You went under so fast.”
There was a warm hand suddenly on his shoulder. “When Mom pulled you out,” Aidan’s father said, “you weren’t breathing.”
Aidan sat up abruptly, and his mother slowly released him. He was in the grass about ten feet from the pool. But for the life of him, he couldn’t remember how he got there, or how he got wet for that matter.
“Who was that?” Mr. Thomas asked. And then, it all came flooding back. Gwenne… The Thread.
Aidan grabbed his mother’s shoulders. “Mom! Did you see her? Did you see Gwenne?!”
Mrs. Thomas shook her head and burst into fresh tears. “I don’t know what I saw, Aidan! I… it can’t be real.” Her voice became a choked whisper.
By the time Aidan got out of the warm shower and dressed, his father was already fast asleep. His mom was still awake, her back toward him, apparently reading. Aidan shimmied down into his bed once again. He looked across the room at his mom, and she turned away. But she hadn’t turned fast enough to keep Aidan from seeing she was reading The Story, and open in her lap was Grampin’s diary.
12
THE KEEPER OF POWER
A idan and his father sat in the car outside the woods near Robby’s house.
“I should be getting to the office, Aidan,” said Mr. Thomas. “I called the Martins, and they said they’d be happy to have you come over if Robby doesn’t show, or… if something goes wrong.”
“The Martins?” Aidan objected. “My old babysitters? Dad, I don’t need a babysitter-”
“But you might need somewhere to go,” Mr. Thomas argued. “… Maybe I should just stay.”
“Dad, I’ll be all right. It’s just Robby.”
“I know, but what if his father shows up? If he’s directly in the service of Paragor like his Glimpse, Rucifel…”
“Then I’ll call you on the cell,” Aidan said as he grabbed his backpack and got out of the little orange car. H
e leaned in the window and smiled bravely at his father. “Besides, if Mr. Pierson showed up and got dangerous, I’d lose him on the trails. I know the woods around our fort like the back of my hand.”
“Son, I’m worried about you,” he said. “The more I’ve read of Grampin’s diary, the more I understand the evil we are up against. I don’t trust Robby’s father-not by a long shot. It’s too much of a coincidence that he shows up now. And if Robby’s Glimpse already serves Paragor, how can you be sure you can even trust Robby?”
“I can’t be sure,” Aidan said. “But I’m not alone.”
Aidan’s father had never seen his fourteen-year-old in this light before.
“Never alone,” Mr. Thomas said. Aidan smiled as he turned and walked away. “Never alone,” he repeated as he watched his son hike up the gravel road and disappear into the dark, whispering trees.
Aidan easily found the fort. He and Robby had built it between four towering pine trees in the heart of the woods. Assembled from an odd assortment of planks, two-by-fours, and sheets of plywood, the fort was as ugly as it could be, but to Aidan and Robby it had been Castle Courage, the home of truth, justice, bravery-and the largest assortment of comic books and hand-held video games known to mankind!
Aidan stood there for a few moments, letting the memories wash over him. Then he stepped over a few fallen trees, ducked under a low bough, and slid a small square of plywood away from the entrance. No sign of Robby. Aidan carefully laid his backpack on the fort floor and then walked around to the backside. There a shaky ladder stood, leading to the roof of the fort. Aidan climbed to the roof and tested his weight on the old boards. They held. It’s ugly, but it’s strong.
He brushed away some leaves, stretched out on his back, and stared at the treetops. Aidan watched a single leaf sail on a breeze and then spiral down. He began to feel drowsy.
“You fall asleep, Aidan?” Robby asked as he climbed onto the fort’s roof.
Startled, Aidan sat bolt upright. “Yeah,” Aidan said. “I wasn’t sure if you would make it. How’d you get away from your dad?”
“Aw, he doesn’t much care what I do,” Robby replied, looking into the woods. He gestured into the fort. Aidan followed his friend inside.
Sitting opposite Aidan, Robby fished out a lantern and flicked it on.
“The fort feels smaller than I remembered it,” Aidan said.
“Maybe because you’re bigger,” Robby said. He laughed nervously. “You takin’ vitamins or somethin’? I’d swear you’ve grown since the beginning of the summer.”
“My mom says the same thing,” Aidan replied.
An uncomfortable silence settled upon them. Robby began to rock a little, and the lantern cast strange shadows on the fort wall behind him.
Aidan couldn’t stand the waiting. He was alone with his best friend at last, and he wasn’t about to waste the opportunity. “I brought the Scrolls with me if you want to look at them again.”
Robby sighed. “No, Aidan. I don’t think I want to look at those again. I know that story very well already.”
It seemed to Aidan that the air inside the fort became chill. The shadows behind Robby seemed to grow. At last Robby said, “Aidan, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you.”
There was, in the way that he said it, a tone that made Aidan wish he had sat closer to the fort’s door. Aidan turned to his friend, and there was suddenly an eerie confidence about Robby that hadn’t been there just moments ago. “What is it, Robby?”
Robby took a deep breath. “The night you left for Colorado,” he began, “I waited until Mama and Jill went to sleep, and I took off.”
“You what?”
“I left-ran away, or at least I meant to. Kinda stupid, really. I didn’t even pack anything. I walked outta my house with a jean jacket on my back and about fifteen dollars in my wallet. But I didn’t care what happened. I just wanted to get away, so I left.”
“Why’d you do that?” Aidan asked.
“I don’t know,” Robby replied. “I was mad, I guess. Mad that you had to move. Mad that my life never felt good for long. Mad at everything.” He laughed. “I ran all the way up that old path near the school. You remember the one where we found all those bottles that one time? Well, I stood there in the middle of the night and just went off on the bottles. I smashed ’em with rocks, hurled them at tree trunks-all the while, screaming like some kind of loony!”
Aidan stared.
“And you know what, Aidan?” Robby asked, an eerie gleam in his eyes. “It felt good to bust up the bottles. Like I was getting back at every bad thing that ever happened to me. I got so charged up, I ran up to the bleachers behind the middle school and just lay there staring up at the stars. And for once, I felt like I was in control of things. That’s when I heard the voice.”
Voice? Aidan thought.
Robby explained. “I was thinking about you, about my dad, about all those things I wished would have never happened. And then this voice was just kinda there all of a sudden. ‘You do not have to be afraid, ever again,’ it said. And I sat up on the bleachers fast. ‘Who’s there?!’ I yelled, but no one answered. There wasn’t anyone around.
“I was about ready to bolt, but then I heard it again. It was like bein’ broadcast into my head. ‘I will teach you to control your fears,’ it said. ‘I will teach you many things.’
“I said, ‘Who are you?’
“‘In time. For now, you need know only this… I am the Keeper of Power. In my hand I hold your future. If you choose, I will make you a champion, a leader, a conqueror. So that you may know that what I say is true, I will provide you three guarantees. The first in one week’s time.’
“And then, Aidan, the voice was gone. I sprinted back home like my heels were on fire. But one week later, my soccer team won the regional championship. We beat the team from Ashburn, the one that hadn’t lost in three years. And I scored the winning goal! Aidan, it was like the voice promised-the first guarantee.” Aidan frowned.
“I know, I was skeptical at first. But the second guarantee came right after that… my dad came back home. It was not luck. It was not coincidence. Dad knew all about the voice. He knew all about the Keeper of Power. You see, Aidan, I know about The Realm. My dad taught me all about it. And now, I’ve seen it, in my dreams. I know why you wanted me to read those scrolls of yours. But the thing is, Aidan, you’re on the wrong side.”
13
WHEN LIGHT AND DARK COLLIDE
R obby’s comment blindsided Aidan. “What?” he blurted out.
“It’s what you said in some of your emails,” Robby explained. “You said you side with Alleble and serve King Eliam. But King Eliam betrayed his people-even his most trusted friends, Aidan.”
Aidan couldn’t believe what he had just heard. “No, Robby, that’s not true. King Eliam is noble and good. Paragor is The Betrayer!”
“That’s the story you’ve been told, is it, Aidan?” Robby asked. “There are two sides to every story. See, the voice promised me a third guarantee. C’mon outside. There’s someone I’d like you to meet.” Robby rose to a crouch and exited the fort.
Aidan emerged from the fort and found it strangely dark outside. Turbulent clouds raced overhead and the towering pines swayed in an unusually cold breeze. From the shadows of nearby trees strode a tall warrior. He was Glimpse-kind and wore the dark blue cape and bright silver armor of Alleble. He had no beard but had long gray hair laced with strands of black and a mustache that curled straight down to his jaw line.
The warrior presented Robby with a long broadsword. “A gift from the master,” he said. His voice was rich, almost musical. “Better, would you not say, than the one you have been training with?”
To Aidan’s amazement, Robby took the broadsword with both hands and carved a figure eight in the air. “Dad told me I’d be getting my own sword soon,” Robby said. “I just didn’t think it would be today.”
“Do you like it?” the warrior asked.
&n
bsp; “It’s not as heavy as the trainer,” Robby answered. “But tell the master I love it!”
“You shall tell him yourself soon enough,” said the warrior, and then he turned and bowed to Aidan.
“Aidan, I’d like you to meet Count Eogan. He is a former ambassador from the Kingdom of Alleble. He’s going to tell you the real story about Paragor.”
The Glimpse knight extended a pale hand. Aidan looked him in the eye, saw a glint of blue, and warily shook his hand. “Well-met, Sir Aidan,” the count said. “Ah, yes… I know your name well. Robby has told me all about you. But even had he not, I would have known you for your exploits in Mithegard and upon the Black Crescent.”
Aidan stiffened. Couched within the compliment, Aidan felt a veiled accusation.
“This must all be rather startling to you-learning that what you thought was truth… was not the whole story-very troubling, I’m sure,” said Count Eogan.
Aidan was troubled, but not in the way that the count thought. He glanced at Robby and then back at Count Eogan. “You used to be an ambassador from Alleble?” Aidan asked.
Count Eogan tilted his head, smiled, and nodded yes.
Aidan squinted at the count. He wore the armor and colors of Alleble, and his eyes glinted blue, proving his devotion to King Eliam, but something seemed wrong. Gwenne’s warning came back to Aidan, and he asked, “Do you serve Paragor now?”
“Nay, lad,” the count replied without hesitation. “I am true to Alleble and to King Eliam-only Alleble as it was intended to be and King Eliam as he once was. For that, even Paragor himself yearns.”
“Count Eogan, you don’t know what you’re talking about,” Aidan said abruptly.
“Well, that is for you to decide,” Count Eogan said. “But think on this, lad. You read The Scrolls of Alleble, the account of the Great Betrayal, did you not?”
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