Awakened

by Ednah Walters

  The atmosphere at the dojo that evening was gloomy and depressing, but I pushed myself hard. A few times, Kenta told me to go sit in the weapon room. Mrs. D. wanted to know why I hadn’t said anything on Saturday. I couldn’t explain to her, so I just shrugged. That night, I cried myself to sleep, and the next one.

  By Wednesday, I knew I couldn’t take it anymore. As I walked toward the cafeteria, students passed me yapping about their weekend plans and the possibility of Beaver Mountain Ski Resort opening for slope junkies. The chill had settled in the valley, and the meteorologists were predicting early snow. I hugged myself, the thought of cold temperatures making me even more miserable.

  “Lil!”

  I turned. McKenzie hurried toward me, arms crossed and shoulders hunched. She wore a bulky sweatshirt that swallowed her petite frame. It was the second time I’d seen her in an oversize top covering her to her thighs. It was as though she wanted to hide her body.

  “Can we talk?” She nodded at a bathroom door.

  I followed her inside. There were students fluffing their hair in front of the long mirrors and checking their make-up. We staked a corner. “Are you okay?” I asked her.

  She didn’t speak, but fat teardrops ran down her cheeks. Soon she was sobbing, her body shaking. I hugged her, warm tears soaking the sleeve of my shirt. I wanted to cry, too, even though I didn’t know what was making her so miserable. But I hated to cry in front of people so I fought it.

  A few students stopped preening before the mirror and gawked at us. “Get out,” I snapped.

  They looked at me like I’d lost my mind. In the mood I was in, I could create a mini electric storm and fry them. I closed my eyes and took deep, calming breaths. Everyone out…go…leave…don’t come back.

  The bathroom emptied fast and I locked the door. McKenzie calmed down, washed her face then yanked a wad of paper towels to pat her face and blow her nose. “Thank you.”

  “For what?”

  “For being there for me, and for not telling Kylie and the others about what happened,” she whispered.

  “It’s none of their business.”

  “I was so scared you’d tell.” She glanced around and lowered her voice even further even though we were alone. “And I’ve been dreading running into them…you know, the guys. I just did.” Her chin trembled. “I thought I’d faint or throw up. I was shaking so hard. You won’t believe what happened.”

  “What?”

  “They saw me coming and did a U-turn. I couldn’t believe it.” She laughed, her eyes tearing again. “I…I felt so powerful. I realized then that I had nothing to fear. They do. They’re the guilty ones.”

  “That’s great, McKenzie.”

  “Yes, it is.” She pulled out more tissue, blew her nose and threw the crunched up mass in the garbage. “I signed up for self-defense at C12 dojo. I’ll start next week.”

  I was happy for her. If only my problems could be solved that fast, too. I missed my grandfather and Bran, and I had this achy feeling in my stomach that I’d never see them again. Doing nothing about their disappearance just didn’t seem right. And although my fellow trainees have been very supportive and we’d grown closer, our hands were tied. Every day we waited for news from the three remaining Cardinals and every evening they came back with nothing. No news was supposed to be good, yet the knot in my stomach kept getting tighter. Everyone was in the dumps. Bran was supposed to guide the Cardinals to Coronis Isle, but with him gone, that plan was put on hold.

  That evening, I sat on my bed with Brontë’s Wuthering Heights opened face down on my lap. I was reading it for, like, the tenth time, but this time, the plot held zero interest to me. Too bad I had to do a report on it for English literature.

  Bran. I sighed, lay back on my bed and closed my eyes. His image beamed into my consciousness. Where are you? Are you okay?

  I released a shaky breath, tried to hold back the tears sneaking past my eyelids. I was so tired of waiting and crying every night. Even if he wasn’t coming back, I wanted to know he was safe. Was that too much to ask? And Grampa. I couldn’t imagine a life without him.

  I turned and buried my face in the pillow. Sobs shook my body. How long I cried, I couldn’t tell, and the relief was only temporary. I got up, washed my face and went to the kitchen to find something to eat for dinner.

  I retrieved a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, poured some in bowl and added milk. I needed to go grocery shopping, something Grampa often did. The last four nights, I’d eaten dinner at Sykes and Remy’s. It was either that or having them eat at my place. I learned not to argue with them, but having them around had made these past days bearable. I scooped some cereal into my mouth and chewed without tasting it.

  Hey, Sunshine.

  Bran’s voice drifted through my mind like a soft breeze. I sighed, kept chewing and swallowed. I’d heard him call to me in the past few days. The first time it happened, I searched for his psi. The disappointment when I couldn’t locate him had felt like physical pain. Since then, I stopped bothering. It was all in my head.

  Turn around.

  My hand froze in mid-air. A tingly sensation rushed over me as though someone turned on a switch to activate every cell in my body.

  “Lil.”

  I whirled around, and there he was. Framed in the doorway of my bedroom, spotting that dimpled smile that made me tongue-tied and light-headed. Convinced he’d disappear if I blinked, I got up on shaking legs and searched his face. I heard a thud and a splash of wetness on my legs as my bowl of cereal landed on the floor. I wanted to touch him and prove to myself he was real and not a figment of my imagination, but I couldn’t move.

  He reached out to me—his energy touching mine and lingering. The gentle caress brought tears to my eyes. He was real. He was here.

  Then he opened his arms.

  One second I was bymy bed, the next my arms were around him. He lowered his head and our lips met. I opened my mouth and let him in. His tongue slid against mine and fireworks shot from my mouth, spiraling through every cell in my body. I felt hot and cold at the same time, and my stomach clenched with a feeling I didn’t understand. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him back, copying his movements.

  He tried to slow down, break the kiss. My arms tightened. I wanted more. He was here, with me and Grampa was….not.

  I leaned back. We were both breathing hard. For a moment we stared at each other. I tried to talk, but couldn’t. Bran’s lips curved into a beautiful smile as he stroked my cheek, my brows. His touch was gentle. I fought the urge to close my eyes and savor the blazing sensations racing under my skin. Instead, I took in a deep breath and tried to calm down.

  “I thought I’d never see you again,” I whispered.

  His dimples flashed, again. “I promised you would.”

  “What happened? Where have you been? Gavyn was here with the Goetz brothers, so I knew someone lured you away from the valley. Then Grampa and Moira went looking for you and—”

  A surge of psi energy pulsed through the room. Ah, the others were here. Before I could turn and yell out the good news, a blast of streaming air snatched Bran away from my arms and sent him flying across the trailer. Six blurry metallic objects hurtled after him.

  “It’s Bran, not Gavyn,” I yelled and locked on the weapons. They stopped in mid-air. Bran slammed against Grampa’s bedroom door and collapse on the floor. I ran to his side and turned to glare at the others. “Why can’t you guys look before you react?”

  “The psi team detected his energy and alerted us,” Remy explained, his voice apologetic. “We just assumed it was Gavyn.”

  “You could have hurt him.”

  “Actually, we couldn’t. My wind blast was meant to separate him from you, not send him to Tartarus,” Kim said.

  Izzy plucked the ninja stars from the air. “And these babies release beams that trap a demon, not kill him.”

  Bran got to his feet. He rubbed the back of his head with one hand and slipped the other
in mine. “Trap a demon?”

  “Lil’s grandfather’s left orders to catch your brother next time he showed up,” Remy explained.

  The pressure in my psyche increased as I picked up other psi energies. A glance out the windows confirmed we weren’t alone. Kenta, three men and two women stood outside the trailer, their eyes locked on the trailer. I opened the window and yelled, “False alarm. It’s Bran.”

  “Where’s he?” Kenta asked.

  Bran appeared beside me.

  “The Cardinals are on their way. Rendezvous at the HQ meeting room,” Kenta said in a curt tone. He dematerialized and the others followed.

  Inside the trailer, Remy said, “We need to know what’s going on, too. Let’s go, guys.” One by one, they left.

  “I’ve not been to the headquarters, so I can’t teleport there,” I said.

  Bran’s eyebrow lifted. “You’ve mastered teleporting?”

  “Uh, mastered it aren’t the words I’d use.”

  He smiled and reached for my hand. “Then I’ll go with you.”

  One second we were in the trailer, then next in front of a steel door. I gave the area a sweeping glance. A charcoal-gray hallway wide enough for four people to walk side-by-side extended to my right and left. Panels of fluorescent lights ran along the steel ceiling and on inserts on the floor, providing sufficient illumination. Pressure in my psyche increased, again. This time, whatever presence tugging on it was stronger and insistent. And a gentle hum seemed to emanate from our left, away from the closed glass doors near us.

  “What’s that sound?” I whispered.

  “The Psi radar, or as the Cardinals call it, the Psi-dar.”

  “What?”

  “It’s an energy source the psi team use to track demonic activity in our sector. It’s located deep inside the mountain range behind the HQ. We’d better go in.”

  The door opened with a gentle whoosh to reveal a room with a round onyx table and numerous chairs around it presently occupied by the three Cardinals, a bunch of people I didn’t recognize but I assumed were members of the High Council, and of course, the trainees. The fluorescent lights in the ceiling illuminated their tense faces.

  Janelle waved us over to two chairs by her side. We hurried over and sat.

  “Did you see Ares and Moira, Bran?” Seth asked without delay.

  “No, sir. Gavyn and I were being interrogated elsewhere.” Bran reached for my hand under the table and held it tight. “But I know the Cardinals are Valafar’s prisoners.”

  My heart stopped. Silence, heavy and oppressive, hung in the air. Then everyone started talking at once.

  “He plans to take them to Coronis Isle tonight,” Bran cut in, speaking louder to be heard.

  “Where’s he keeping them?” Janelle asked.

  “The Underground, a sub-ground facility at Bunker Hill in downtown L.A. It is owned by a dark lord,” Bran explained.

  “We must rescue them now,” I said.

  “Lil,” he warned.

  I shook my head. “We must.”

  “Of course,” Seth said snapped. “We now have Bran to take us to Coronis Isle, but it’s better to act now than later when they’re Coronis’ prisoners. Bran, start from the beginning, from when you left here. We want to know what happened, and don’t leave anything out.”

  Bran frowned. “Sir, I don’t think we have time—”

  “Then start talking. If we are to mount a successful operation, we must know everything.”

  Bran nodded. “You all know Coronis practices selective breeding to produce more powerful demons. In recent years, her breeding program has gotten out of control and Hermonites are leaving her to join other lords. She’s increased the security around her island and put her people in the human world under surveillance. When Gavyn came here to find me with the Goetz brothers, his absence didn’t go unnoticed. Coronis’ security team approached the Goetz brothers to find out what was going on. The team is led by Valafar. As soon as they learned about my plans to leave the island for good, they came up with the fake story about Gavyn killing the Goetz brothers, and lured me to L.A. But when I was brought before Valafar, he was only interested in one thing.” Bran hesitated and glanced at me.

  “What?” Seth snapped.

  “He wanted to know about Lil, the girl who froze the omnis.”

  I gulped.

  “I lied and told him I didn’t know anything about her, that we’d just met, but he kept pushing for answers. He wanted to know about her powers, her age, her parents. I claimed ignorance, or tried to, but he has ways getting information. Painful ways.” He glanced at me when my hand tightened around his. “I’m sorry I betrayed you.”

  I shook my head. “You had no choice. But why is he interested in me?”

  “You stopped the omnis,” Janelle answered. “It’s never been done before. Bet it gave him some sleepless nights.”

  “What about the Cardinals? How did you come to know about them?” Seth asked.

  “I had no idea they came looking for me until a few minutes ago. Valafar just released us, Gavyn and me. We went to Gavyn’s and learned from his employees that Valafar had captured two Cardinals. Gavyn went to the Underground to confirm it.”

  A man cleared his throat. Even seated, he appeared tall and had full head of wavy brown hair and steel gray eyes. “Your brother is your source? After sneaking into our valley and attacking one of our own, twice, are we to believe anything he says?”

  Bran stiffened.

  Seth nodded. “The chairman is right. Your brother hasn’t done anything to earn our trust. How do we know he’s telling the truth?”

  Getting annoyed, I decided to take a stance. “How can you doubt what Bran’s saying? He hasn’t given you any reason to mistrust him. We should be arming ourselves—”

  “Lil, stop,” Bran begged.

  “No. You brought us news of Grampa and Moira and all they’re doing is wasting time arguing instead of leaving to rescue them.”

  “Young lady,” the chairman said in a condescending tone. “We know how you feel—”

  “No, sir, you don’t. This Council failed my mother and grandmother ten years. You will not fail my grandfather. I won’t let you. So you better listen to Bran and do as he says or I will hold all of you accountable for whatever happens to my grandfather.”

  A heavy silence followed my speech. I didn’t care that I was rude and that my voice shook. They had it coming and needed to know where I stood. I believed in Bran. I looked at him and nodded. “Go on.”

  For a moment he didn’t speak, his emerald eyes shining with an emotion I couldn’t define. “Cardinal Falcon gave Gavyn a message.” His gaze left mine and swept the faces around the room. “He said you mustn’t try to rescue them. Instead, you should contact the other Guardians and head to Coronis Isle. Destroying Coronis must come first.”

  Silence filled the air, shock on everyone’s face. Then murmurs followed as everyone started telepathing. Nausea rose up my stomach at his words. Something wasn’t right. Grampa would never suggest this, not without a reason. I pulled my hand from Bran’s, crossed my arms and pressed hard against my mid-section. Something was very wrong.

  “Did he give a reason?” Seth asked.

  Bran nodded. “He said he and Cardinal Moira will find a way. Also, Lil must be protected. She must be moved to the house up here, pulled out of school and put under surveillance twenty-four-seven until she completes her training or until he returns.”

  Once again, telephathic commication followed. I tried to keep up with different discussions taking place with little results. I couldn’t tell who was suggesting what.

  Seth cleared his throat and the room went silent. “Then it’s decided. We follow Ares orders and prepare for battle.”

  What? I met the Cardinals’ sober expressions. Their determined expressions caused me to swallow the lump in my throat. “And risk hurting Grampa? Valafar is taking them to the island tonight.”

  “Your grandfather gave a
direct order, Lil,” Janelle said in a stern tone, one she’d never used with me before. “He knows what he’s doing.”

  “And whether he’s here or not, he’s still the leader of the Cardinals,” the chairman added.

  “He’s a prisoner,” I cried. “What’s wrong with you people? You can’t listen to anything he says. You should be thinking about storming that dungeon and getting him and Moira out there, not following his orders.” I turned to the trainees. They stared at me with worried expressions, but no one objected. “Don’t tell me you guys also think we should act like nothing’s changed? No, let me rephrase that. You should act like nothing’s changed while I’m a prisoner in a strange house.” My voice rose higher with each word, panic spiraling out of control inside of me.

  Bran grabbed my hand and tried to calm me down by using his psi energy. It didn’t work. When no one spoke, tears sprung into my eyes.

  Janelle reached for my hand. “I’m sorry, Luminitsa. It’s for your own good.”

  I moved my hand away from hers. “No, it’s not. We must rescue him,” I whispered through the lump in my throat. The thought of losing him sent bile up my throat. I slapped a hand over my mouth and teleported to the trailer. I just made it to the toilet bowl.

  For once I got the teleport thing right.

  I felt a presence behind me, then someone held my hair away from my face as I emptied the contents of my stomach. I shook with fear and anger. Everyone I ever loved always left me, taken by the same demon. Why? Tears escaped past my eyelids and slid down my face.

  I heard murmurs, recognized Kim’s voice, Izzy’s perfume. Someone pushed a wad of tissue in my hand. “How are you feeling?” Izzy whispered

  “Pissed,” I snarled, wiping my eyes and mouth.

  “Good,” she said. “We are, too.”

  I blinked at them.

  They nodded. “The old geezers out there can’t do this,” Izzy said.

  “We won’t let them,” Kim added. “Between now and first period tomorrow, the six of us will have kicked some demon butts, rescued your grandfather and Moira and teleported home like the bad-ass heroes that we are.”

  “Six?” I asked.