by Jaymin Eve
“Did you know you were born here, in Overworld?” That casual question took me completely by surprise.
I sort of gasped, stifling the sound. It was enough, though, to let him know that I had been very unaware of that information.
“Born in the sacred legreto of the House of Darken, actually.” His voice was a slimy coo. Barrel man was enjoying this. “This legreto was blessed by the starslight stone, the same one from the pact. The stone which was stolen by the humans. Its energy fills your blood. Blood that I need.”
I swallowed roughly. “You killed my parents.” I was the secret keeper. It had been me all along. How was this possible?
He nodded. “A Draygo stumbled into House of Imperial, not the one who buried the stone, but one who knew a little about this secret keepers business. He told me that there are four humans, born in this world, one for each house. Darken first, then Imperial, Leight third, and last Royale. The four would lead me to the stone I sought. The hardest part was finding the first, but eventually I figured out a way by using the energy of the overlord minors.” I knew he had sent them to Astoria for a reason. The piece of shit. “The power of the four houses led me to your parents. I thought one of them was the first, so I took his blood, and then disposed of him so he would not inform the council.”
Disposed, like my father was trash that needed to be thrown away.
“Only it turned out I was wrong.” Laous still sounded shocked, even though this event had been months ago. “His blood held no properties from Overworld. Nor the wife’s, which I took as a precaution. That was when I figured out where I went wrong. It was you I needed. You and a key, apparently. Which that useless Draygo had neglected to tell me the first time I questioned him.” His eyes were boring into me and I wanted to gouge them out. “He didn’t make that mistake again.” His chuckle was low and raspy. “Once I finally figured it all out, it was easy to lure you to Astoria. Then just as easy to get you here in Overworld. All without drawing any attention to myself.”
Not exactly true. Daniel had noticed, and he had told the other overlord minors. They would be able to go to the council … hopefully it wouldn’t be too late for me by the time they convinced them.
“Now that I finally have the right blood…” Laous scowled at me, like it was my fault he screwed up. “It should lead me to the key, and then that will lead me right to the other three.”
He flicked his fingers and two of the men in the middle of his line of defense stepped forward. I tensed, taking my first step back, arms falling from across my chest to rest at my sides, loosely held, ready to protect myself.
“It’s in your best interest to help us, human.”
Those words had me blinking at the overlord. “Oh yeah, I’m sure it’s totally in my best interest,” I replied, sarcasm strong.
A pop nearby blasted through us, my ears doing that weird ringing sound again. As the prisoners tumbled out of the egg about twelve feet from me, a single tear tracked down my cheek. Sara and Michael could barely drag themselves along the ground as they tried to move closer to each other, their emaciated forms weak, near dying.
“I will do whatever you need – please just help them,” I said in a rush, never taking my eyes from my guardians.
Laous chuckled, another psycho switch of emotion. “Your parents’ oldest friends, who’ve spent their lives trying to track down my world. Your parents caused that, you know, telling them stories that they shouldn’t have, opening their eyes to the wonders beyond Earth.”
Sara’s dark eyes were pools of pain, locked on me. I returned that gaze with my own, barely able to stop myself from rushing toward them. I needed to be smarter than that. There were a bunch of assholes standing in the way who could knock me out with one blow. Now was not the time for rash actions. Whatever happened, I was determined that Sara and Michael would be safely returned to Earth.
“If you need my blood, then just take it,” I demanded, my voice vibrating with emotion.
“Oh, I will.” A bark of words in return. “But it would be much easier for me if you just told me where the key is, rather than the tedious task of tracking it down. It will be something very special to your family, something which you feel a tie to.”
“Release my guardians first.” For once there was not an ounce of fear in my voice. Mostly because I was very serious about rescuing Sara and Michael. I owed them so much.
Sara lifted her head as high as she could manage, her dark curls matted and bunched on one side. “No,” she called out in a reedy voice. “Don’t … Em … no…”
My chest was hurting so badly, not the ribs this time, but right around my heart. I had to help them. I had to save them.
I eyed Laous again. “If you don’t send them home, they’re going to die, and I will never help you. You can torture me until I’m dead. I will never reveal where this key location is, and I will fight you for my blood. I will fight you the entire time.” My threats were somewhat empty, because these guys could overpower me in a second. And I had no idea what this key was he talked about. My parents hadn’t been precious about any of their things; they didn’t care about stuff. Besides, if there had been anything, wouldn’t it have burned up in the fire? Still I had to try to convince him it was better to let the Finnegans go.
“If you release them,” I continued, my voice confident, “send them back to Earth, show me evidence of them safe, and then give your word that you will never touch them again, I will help you with whatever you need. I give my word, which is worth as much as yours.”
He observed me for a few long moments. I was practically holding my breath, praying he would accept my terms. Finally he nodded. “I agree to your stipulations. You provide me with the key, and in return I will not harm your guardians. They’ll go right back to Earth, free to go wherever they please.”
“No…”
I ignored Sara and Michael’s pleas. “Are you sending them back right now?”
His eyes flicked across to the Finnegans, coming back to rest on me. “I’m going to give you three a moment to catch up, a chance to say goodbye. I want you to remember how much they mean to you.”
Lexen’s face flashed through my mind. I was eternally grateful that it seemed like House of Imperial knew nothing about my fondness for the Darkens. This dickbag would no doubt threaten anyone I cared about.
I could protect them from this. All of them.
The line of guards parted and I realized I was allowed to go to Sara and Michael. I started to cry as I hurried toward their frail forms. Neither of them could do much besides hold their heads up off the ground. I had no idea how they were still alive. Panic was very much taking over my body as I worried it was already too late. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered over and over as I knelt between them.
There was no way this was just starvation. They’d only been missing for a bit over a week. Laous had done much more than just starve them.
“Em…” Sara’s low murmur caught my ear, and I leaned down so I was resting my head next to hers. Our eyes locked on each other.
“Escape. Can’t … gii-ve … the key.”
Every word was a struggle for her; her chest wheezed as air sucked in and out. Tears fell down my cheeks but I managed to hold my sobs inside, even though my throat ached like it was in a stranglehold.
“It’s going to be okay,” I whispered back, placing my hands on hers and Michael’s. “I love you both so much. You saved my life this year. This is just a small thing I can do to return the favor. When you get back to Daelight Crescent, go straight to the guard and tell them you need to speak with a Darken. Make them contact Roland or Lexen. They will protect you.”
I didn’t know where this key was, so I had to hope they could get to safety before Laous decided to go after them again. I was giving them a chance; it was the best I had. I heard footsteps coming closer. My time with them was up.
I pressed a kiss to Sara’s cheek first, and then to Michael’s. “Please don’t search for supernaturals
any longer,” I added as I pulled back. “Promise me that once this is all over, you will go and live normal lives.”
Sara struggled, her eyes red as she sobbed. There were no tears, which probably meant she was too dehydrated to shed them.
I gave their hands one last squeeze before standing. “It’s going to be okay. I will fix this. I have allies. You don’t need to worry about me.”
The empty promises I made crashed to the ground, shattering around us. No one believed me, that was clear, but it felt like the right thing to at least try to settle their concerns. I had to turn away then, away from their frantic eyes, away from the anguish of knowing this might be the last time I saw them. Laous knew exactly what he was doing giving me these few moments with my guardians. Motivation to provide him with everything he wanted.
Some of the Imperial guards brushed past me; I heard a mild struggle before an echoing silence descended. The air changed after Sara and Michael were gone. Everything felt darker, more painful. I was alone again … always alone. But it was okay because I was keeping people I cared about safe. Sara and Michael. Lexen … all of the Darkens.
Laous was waiting where I’d left him, right near my egg prison. “I will not give you one thing until I see evidence of Sara and Michael, free and healthy,” I said, no inflection in my voice.
The healthy part was what had me most worried. Laous just nodded, a half-smirk on his face. I turned and marched myself into the egg. New walls immediately closed around me and I sank into the center, wrapping my arms across my legs. I felt sick, my stomach churning over and over until I felt like I would throw up. If I’d had anything to eat recently, it would definitely be making a reappearance. How could my parents not tell me I was the secret keeper? It was one thing to hide that information when it was about them, but if it was my burden to bear, then I really should have known about it. About Overworld and Daelighters. About everything.
I sat in that same huddled position for what felt like hours, my mind racing with everything that had happened to me in the last little while. Everything I could blame Laous for, all the ways he had ruined my life.
An ear-ringing pop signaled that my cage was open again. An unknown Imperial entered. He had red tattoos all the way up his face and across his neck. He held a small device out to me. It had a screen on one side and I grabbed it, pressing my face closer to watch my guardians. They were in our house on Daelight Crescent. My breath caught again as one of my hands lifted to brush against the screen. They both looked perfect. Healthy, strong … alive.
“Prove to me that this is footage from right now,” I demanded, knowing it would be easy to manipulate me with old footage.
As if he’d been expecting it, red tattoo pressed a small black button on the side, and then we had audio.
“We need to get her back!” Sara’s voice sounded desperate as she paced across the tiny living room. “They’re going to kill her, just like they did Chelsea and Chris.”
Michael moved forward to comfort his wife, his normally jovial features tight and drawn. “There is no way for us to get back to Overworld. We can’t use that transport light thing. We did as she asked. For now we have to wait.”
I was relieved they were being circumspect about talking with the Darkens. Maybe they knew Laous would be watching the house. Michael’s paranoia was coming in handy.
“How could Chelsea and Chris hide this from us?” Sara sounded desperate. “Tell us just enough to hook us but never reveal that Emma was so important. Even though we were always going to be the ones to care for her if they couldn’t…”
I’d always wondered how a straight-laced teacher and accountant became such great friends with supernatural hunters, and now I knew. There was nothing normal about my parents, and whatever they had been involved in, it had influenced the Finnegans, causing them to jump into this crazy life of hunting down Daelighters. It got my family killed, and almost the Finnegans too.
Was I next?
“Are you satisfied?” His gruff, heavily-accented question was hard to understand, but I got the general idea.
I nodded. “Yes. I will help you in any way I can. But you need to tell Laous that I have been trying to think of a key my parents would have treated reverently and I’m drawing a blank.”
Red tats smirked, and I was immediately wary, stepping back while keeping my guard high. Thankfully, he didn’t move toward me. He just shut off the cameras and gave me a simple wink, which somehow felt as intrusive as if he’d touched me. “You better think harder, grubber. Laous does not take well to being denied what he wants.”
Then he was gone, walking out of the egg; the walls snapped into place with a twang, like a rubber band flinging back into place. Some of the relief at seeing Sara and Michael returned to good health – through some sort of alien magic obviously – faded away as I realized that I could no longer stall Laous. He wanted to know where this key was, and apparently I was the only one who could help him. It might have been a little easier if I had an idea what sort of object it was. Was it a literal key, or something less obvious?
I could not remember a single time my mom had mentioned a key or secret keeping, or anything like that to me. How could they do this? A burst of anger had curses flying from my mouth, one after the other.
Energy boosted me to my feet, and using my temporary rush of emotion, I kicked out at the walls again. Again they shifted away so I couldn’t touch them. “Come on!” I shouted. “You stupid piece of crap, open the hell up. Let me out!”
By this point I’d clearly lost all semblance of sanity, morphing into a screaming banshee. There was no real reason for it, I knew that, but it felt cathartic all the same. I’d had a really long, shitty in some ways – amazing in others – week, and I really needed a release.
When I got that out of my system, I decided to stand and glare at the walls for a good twenty or thirty minutes. Then I started to sing. I chose the most annoying, ear-piercing song I could think of, humming it at first, then breaking into a full-on ballad. High notes included.
The truth was, fear was eating me up inside. Fear. Worry. Pain. So I would just sing my songs and pretend I wasn’t being held prisoner in hell.
Literally Overworld hell.
My song died off as the walls burst open. Laous stood on the other side, beady eyes drilling a hole through my face.
“Yes, can I help you?” I asked, like he’d just popped in for a chat.
“Do you have the location of the key?”
Sucking some air through my nose, I shook my head. “I’m trying to figure it out, but I’m almost positive that there was nothing like that in our house. We didn’t collect things.”
His face was going red, the tattoos blending into his skin tone. I wondered briefly why his marks were red while Daniel’s were black. It didn’t really matter, it just struck me in that moment as odd.
He took a step toward me, so I quickly said, “Is it a literal key? Did you check the house before you burned the damn thing down … you probably destroyed it.” That would be a nice sort of karma.
“This object would not burn.” That was all he said, before he turned and flicked his head. A guard appeared at his side. Whatever joy I’d gathered from singing vanished in a puff of terror. The guard, again one I had never seen before, held chains in his hands. Before I could blink, or fight back, he was on me, trussing my hands behind my back.
“I’m telling you the truth!” I said to Laous.
He nodded. “I know you are. I’m very good at discerning truth from lie, but that doesn’t change the fact that the information is within you … somewhere. Trainer here is going to see if he can’t give you a little incentive to figure it out.”
Incentive? Everything clenched in my body; my legs seized up and wouldn’t move. This didn’t bother Trainer. He lifted me with one arm, half dragging my body out of the egg and across the room. I started struggling as hard as I could with my arms restrained.
I could not move him at all. I might
as well have been fighting a rock. He was silent as he hauled me between what looked like hundreds of egg prisons. I kicked out, aiming for the back of his knees. He avoided the strike with ease. Shit, I really needed to work on my self-defense skills, even though something told me I wouldn’t have much hope of beating this guy, even if I were the best trained fighter in Earth.
I tried to calm myself, tried to think again of what this key could possibly be. Keys were designed for locks, right? So it had to be something which could be used in that manner. Something metal, maybe…
Could the answer be hidden in the stories mom told me? Like the one about the boy and his dragon. Did they hide it here in Overworld? My frantic trip down memory lane was interrupted when we reached an arched doorway, stepping from the white egg room out into … the underworld.
I had a perfect view from where we stood. The egg level, was sitting right above everything else. Then there were multiple … platforms … dropping down like a giant staircase, each step spanning off into the distance. I could barely see the ends of most of them, and yet somehow I could still see some detail from all the different levels.
Each level had a different version of hell on it. One was a land of fire and flame, red slashing across black, ringing with screams of pain and panic. Another was a land of monsters, giant beasts screeching in the air and on the land, ripping into each other and Daelighters. Right at the very bottom I was catching glimpses of an oasis, but it looked like you had to get through six or seven levels first before you had a shot at the oasis.
The Cascading Justices. It had to be.
Lexen had briefly explained it to me, but I couldn’t remember if everyone who came here had to fight for their peaceful existence. Had he said something about good and bad deeds being weighed?
The guard startled me by growling in my ear: “Laous thinks you are our salvation, but you’re our curse. The treaty cannot fall. I’m giving you a chance. If you make it through the justices, you will find escape.”
