started revolving. Trees sprouted and grew up towards
the ceiling, with birds sitting on their branches,
screeching at the intruders to our peace.
I was starting to grow weak. Mirroring all of this,
with the pain of having Lucas Adler so close, was
becoming too much.
Make it stop, Emma.
I took a breath, and pulled my hands apart.
The current burst through me with as much force as a bolt of lightning and my eyes flew open. I took a deep breath of air, and curled closer to the arms that were holding me.
“Zach?” I whispered, trying to push myself upright. He helped me, and then took me into his arms, holding me tight.
“I am so sorry, Emma. I’m so sorry I didn’t protect you.”
“There was nothing you could have done,” I mumbled. “He would have killed you.”
“No, I would have killed him.”
My eyes flickered between his, then fell onto his wounds.
“Here. . .” I touched him gently on the neck, and sent a spell to heal his wounds. The skin on his shoulder knitted back together as if it had never been broken, and his eyes opened up. “All better.”
“But you’re—”
The scars started burning.
“He’s coming back.”
The doors opened as soon as I said that, and Zach lifted me to my feet, keeping an arm around me.
“You do heal quickly, don’t you?” Lucas questioned.
“There wouldn’t be a need if it weren’t for you.”
His eyes narrowed.
“Are you going to try and fight me again?”
“We are going to fight you,” Zach amended angrily. “And you will lose. You can’t beat us.”
“I’m sure I can. She hasn’t had the time to tell you about this past week, has she?”
Zach’s grip tightened, and he felt it—my shaking.
Lucas looked at me, amused.
“Of course she hasn’t. We have somewhere to be, Emma.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“Come or I’ll kill him.” He gestured to Zach.
“And I’ll kill myself. How do you feel about eternal misery and fire?”
Lucas threw something at us, something fast, and I felt myself being pulled from Zach. Blackness swept over me.
I am the Keeper
I opened my eyes wearily as Lucas sat down in a
large chair. I was next to him on a different chair, my hands bound to the armrests.
“Finally awake, are you?”
“Where’s Zach?” I demanded.
“Fallen into a pattern, have you?”
“I’m not kidding, Lucas!”
“Don’t give me your attitude, Emma!”
“And what if I do?” He glared. “Is that all you can do? Glare?”
“Fine. Give me your attitude while you still can.”
The platform teleported, and as the gray surrounding us vanished, I spoke up.
“What do you mean?” I asked, confusion seeping into my voice without my consent.
“You’ll see. And I’d say whatever you want to say to Stone while you still can. He won’t last the hour.”
“Leave Zach alone!” I tried pulling my hands free, to use Magic, but they were tied too tightly.
“I don’t forgive and forget. He stopped me from getting you, and so now he’s going to have to pay.”
“He was trying to keep me safe! He would have done that no matter who was trying to kill me. He didn’t save me to spite you!”
“But it me he crossed, not someone else.”
“You’re not going to win.”
“On the contrary, Emma,” he murmured, and I realized we were in front of the Capitol, and a huge crowd was waiting. “I already have.”
“We’ll stop you. I swear we’ll stop you.”
“I’d like to see you try.”
Lucas looked down at the hundreds of e2ians who are standing in front of the Capitol. Abarims circled the crowd. What was Lucas getting at?
Dad, help! I Pathed.
“He’s not going to be able to hear you, Emma. All your Magic, including Pathing, has been cut off. Only I can make your Magic work now. Perk of learning how your Magic works this week.”
I didn’t answer, but looked past Lucas and saw Zach bound and gagged to a pole. My heart sank. Save him.
The crowd screamed when they saw Lucas, but he shouted for them to be silent.
“Better.” He smirked. “Now get on your knees.”
What?
No one moved, and the Abarims circled them dangerously.
“Unless you want to lose the person closest to you in your life, on your knees!”
“Don’t listen to him!” I shouted.
Everyone’s heads shot over to me.
“Fine, Emma,” he muttered. “We’ll start in the middle.” He stood, dragging me up with him. The bind transferred me from the chair to Lucas, circling around my wrist with crackling electricity.
“If you do not listen to me, she will kill you.”
“What the hell are you doing?” I demanded, looking at him.
He ignored me.
“Quans, she can kill you. She can kill you so quickly you won’t even have time to rebel, to take another breath. And she won’t have any say in it. Emma Fitch is on Level 26. She is the Keeper of the Galaxies, and her power is under my control.”
No!
“She’s the Keeper?” murmured a few people.
“He’s kidding!” exclaimed some others, “She can’t be the Keeper!”
“And this person is going to be the first killed who has crossed me. His name is Zachary Stone.”
The still-unconscious Zach was moved in front of Lucas, who continued to smirk.
“You can’t kill him!” I objected, only loud enough for Lucas to hear.
He looked at me, amusement lining his features.
“I’m not, you are.”
“No!” I shrieked, a white light radiating off my scars, blasting Lucas backwards. The blue light had gone from my wrists and the Magic holding Zach to the pole vanished. I used my Magic to shove Lucas away from me and then rushed to Zach’s side. His head slumped to the side and his eyes opened just an inch. What did Lucas use on him?
“E-Em?”
I touched his face.
“You’ll be fine.”
“Miss Fitch, we must move him to safety!”
I turned around, seeing Professor Woodkins fighting off the Abarims who kept leaping at Zach and me.
“W-What?”
“Mr. Stone cannot remain here in his state.”
I looked back at Zach, who said my name again.
“I’ll find you,” I whispered, kissing him.
Then I stepped back and took Professor Woodkins’ place fighting.
“Dintardrey!” I heard him shout.
I turned around to see Zach disappear through a window, but I couldn’t see which one.
“Professor—” I started uneasily, not wanting to be away from Zach.
“Later, Miss Fitch! We have a battle to win!”
Professor Woodkins jumped off the platform and started fighting vigilantly.
“Emma!”
I looked next to me, seeing a whirl of brown hair.
“Jessie?! Look out! Cagendo!” I stunned the Abarim that had just jumped at her.
“Thanks! Amhara!” she shouted.
Spells flew left and right at the Abarims, who aren’t doing a very good job at dodging them. I looked over to where Lucas had been, only to see him make eye contact with me before running off. I chased after him, knocking out three Abarims as they attacked me.
“Emma! Watch it!” I ducked. “Letum!” shouted the person. The Abarim that had appeared next to me dropped stone cold.
I whirled around.
“Boone!”
“Where are you going? You should be inside the Capitol where it�
�s safe,” implored Boone Lewis.
“I’m going after Lucas. I need to finish him.”
“I’ll come with you. I’ve got your six.”
I nodded and we ran to the field Lucas had run to. Lucas stood in the middle of it, his eyes trained on me.
“Bringing back up now, are we? Can’t fight me by yourself?” he asked.
“You know I can.”
“You should have left him. I’ll only kill him by the end of this. Are you ready to lose?”
“Are you?”
“Letum!” shouted Lucas.
A blood red light, veined in black, came hurtling toward Boone and me. We disappeared, appearing seconds after the spell went past us, and threw spells at Lucas, who dodged them.
“Jinka!”
It missed me but hit Boone square in the chest. He fell back against the grass and lay unconscious. I used my Magic to listen for his pulse, finding it just a bit high. I spun on my heel and threw a curse at Lucas. He deflected it, and we began to duel.
Lucas and I threw spells at each other, and every time we dodged them, sometimes at the nick of time.
“Why don’t you just give up?” he hissed, chucking another curse at me. “You’re not stronger than I am!”
We both stopped, something in his eyes shifting. Not stronger than he is?
At the thought, black thunder clouds manifested overhead, and the wind picked up to dangerously high speeds. Thunder cracked, and Lucas shot a curse towards me. I met his eyes and threw my hands into the air, the moon-and-star-shaped scars facing the sky. A single bolt of lightning struck the ground directly in the path of Lucas’s curse, and disintegrated it.
“I am the Keeper of the Galaxies, Lucas Adler!” I bellowed, bringing another bolt down closer to him. “Their Magic is mine to control, and mine alone!” I glared at him. “I am not yours to command.”
The scars on my palms grew cool, and the lightning grew fierce. Bolt after bolt of lightning struck down from the clouds I had created and hit the ground inches from Lucas, and with a seething look at me, he vanished.
Gasping air into my lungs, I dropped my arms to my sides. The wind, lightning, and clouds vanished, and it was as if they had never been here.
I turned around to see Boone staring at me with wide eyes.
“Holy
**** Emma!” cried Jessie and Thalia, running over to
me when Boone and I were back in front of the Capitol. They hugged me tightly.
“Are you both okay?” I asked them.
“Forget us, what about you?” asked Jess, looking
over me worriedly.
“I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Well. . . You—” she started.
“You’re the Keeper.”
I turned around, my eyes narrowing at the sight
of Keenan.
“So what?” I asked.
“Emma, come inside the Capitol- now.” He
turned and walked up the steps.
“Keenan—” Jessica started.
“She and I have things to discuss. She’ll be out in
a few minutes.”
Thalia slipped her arm through Jessica’s to stop her.
“Emma, now.”
I followed him.
Keenan lead me up to his office, opening the door for me before following me in. His office smelt of mothballs and wood, but also of warmth thanks to the fire crackling in the hearth.
“Sit down, please,” he said, gesturing to a chair in front of his abnormally large desk.
I did as he asked. I don’t want to be here at all. Not just because I haven’t forgiven Keenan, but because I want to find Zach and make sure he’s okay. How do I even know that someone knows he’s in here, somewhere? I don’t and that worries me. What if an Abarim got to him before they left? What if he was being tortured by Lucas right this minute?
Emma! Stop thinking like that! You would know if something were wrong.
“Emma, are you paying attention?” asked Keenan angrily.
“Yeah,” I muttered, blocking out my thoughts.
“Then what did I say?”
“I didn’t say I was paying attention before, just that I am now.”
His lips pressed together in a thin line.
“We need to discuss what Lucas said about you, Emma, down at the steps.”
“What part? He said loads of stuff about me down there,” I said.
“You know what part I’m talking about.”
“If I did, do you think I’d be asking?”
“He said that you are the Keeper of the Galaxies.”
“What about it?”
“Why didn’t you ever tell anyone?” asked Keenan.
“You can’t be serious. Keenan, listen to those words you just said- ‘Keeper of the Galaxies’. Do I have to spell it out for you?”
“I take it the Council told you not to tell?”
“Right.”
“Who knew?” he asked.
“Besides me and the Council? Only Zach. But then Lucas found out, and he told the Abarims. And everyone else. . .” I didn’t feel safe with so many people knowing. Why would he not have kept this to himself? What reason did he have for telling everyone? “After Lucas abducted us in front of school, he took us back to his house. He would break a different bone in my body every day, but he preferred my ribs. He wouldn’t stop until he got me to beg for it to be healed. But today. . . today the Abarims came and they told me to Open the Galaxies. I refused, only until they brought Zach in. They had already tortured him, and I couldn’t let them kill him.” I swallowed. “Galaxia told me that only in case of an emergency should I Open them. I saw that as an emergency so I Opened them. And you pretty much know what happened after that,” I informed.
“Why was it an emergency?” asked Keenan.
“Because I wasn’t about to let the man I love be murdered right in front of me.”
He stared at me in silence, and I refused to look away.
“Sorry, Mr. President, sir, but, there’s an emergency down on the steps. You need to come at once,” a man said, entering as he knocked on the door.
“I’ll be right down. Emma, stay here,” said Keenan, standing up and following the man out of the office, shutting the doors behind him.
I waited until their footsteps died away before standing up.
“Like I take orders from you,” I muttered, shutting the door behind me.
I walked up and down many flights of stairs trying to find Zach. But every time I opened a door, he wasn’t in there.
As I past one door I felt a sudden burst of the current and whipped around, staring at the door. I tried opening it, but it was locked, and so I reached for my Magic. When the lock slid silently into the door, I pushed it open.
“Zach?”
“Emma!”
Zach jumped up from the chair he was sitting in
and crushed me to him. I wrapped my arms around him, burying my face into the crook of his shoulder. I cringed; I had forgotten about the bruises. My bruises. . . Lucas never healed me completely, insisting I needed the reminders. Zach moved me back and his eyes flickered between mine.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I’ll be fine. Are you?”
“I’m good now you’re with me.”
“We need to get out of here, Zach. We need to go
home.”
“Wait, Em, I saw Keenan earlier, before you came
in.”
I frowned.
“The guard said there was trouble on the steps. . .” “Had to’ve been a cover. You must’ve just missed
him leaving here, too. He said he was going to go back to
get you, and then they were going to find out.”
“Find out what?” I whispered, though part of me
already knew.
“What we’re hiding.”
“How can he do that? He’s supposed to leave it
alone!”
“Yeah, I kn
ow.” He looked away for a moment,
then back at me. He kissed me. “I’m happy you’re okay. I
thought I was going to lose you.”
“You’re never going to lose me. C’mon.” I took his hand and we left the room, relocking
the door on our way out. We ran down the backstairs
and came out into the field I had been fighting Lucas in.
We went around the side of the Capitol.
“Let’s go to your house,” he said.
I nodded and we moved faster, always looking
over our shoulders for someone following us.
Secrets are a Powerful Thing
Zach and I arrived at my house fifteen minutes
or so later, only to find it empty.
“They’re probably at the Capitol looking for you,”
Zach mused, leading me into the kitchen and making me
sit down at the island. He sat next to me, not releasing
my hand.
“Probably. . . I don’t want to answer their
questions right now, though,” I mumbled.
Emma?
Galaxia? Is that you?
Yes. We heard.
O-oh. II’m really, really sorry, Galaxia. I didn’t— We know, Emma, that the last person you would tell is
Lucas Adler. Are your parents home?
No. It’s just Zach and I.
May I come?
Yes.
I will be there shortly.
I looked at Zach.
“Galaxia’s coming.”
“Now?”
I nodded and just as I did, she appeared. We said
our hellos awkwardly as I realized Zach hasn’t met her
yet.
“Zachary,” she said, “it’s nice to finally meet
you.”
“Um—you too.”
“Please tell me what happened. Everything.” Zach and I looked at each other and then did as
we were told. We also told her about Keenan’s plan. “We’ll handle Keenan,” she informed. “Just stay
inside for the weekend, Emma. The news will die down
by then—”
“Die down? Galaxia, this news isn’t going to die
down by Delos!”
“It will be calmer.” She took a breath. “We will
try to do as much damage control as possible. Still do not
tell anyone about being the Kahi. Zachary, you should be
roughly six Levels beneath Emma, now, and you will
Starlight (The Lightning Strike Trilogy Book 1) Page 14
