by Melissa Frey
Kayla reached Holun and placed a hand on his shoulder. He slowly looked up at her. The moment their eyes met, she knew. Without him having to say anything, she knew Na-um was almost here.
She jumped back as if Holun had shocked her. Her eyes were wide as she stared at him. The world slowed down, and the only thing her mind could register was the sound of Grady’s voice in her head.
Kayla . . .
The world started to spin on its axis, disorienting her. But it wasn’t the disorientation that sneaks in just before passing out. She had that heady feeling that comes just moments after realization, and just moments before that realization turns into reality.
Then the world suddenly sped up.
The Four jumped into action, almost as if they’d known what to do all along. They lined up next to Kayla, all facing Holun and the entrance to the cave. Kayla’s voice came with a resolute determination. “Na-um and his men are close.”
The Four acknowledged her comment, but not by any outward gesture. Kayla just somehow knew they’d heard her, and they were ready.
Grady reached for her hand. Kayla didn’t realize until Grady touched her that she was trembling. He held her hand tightly, then looked at their tiny guide standing between them and Na-um’s army. “Holun, go.”
Holun shook his head furiously.
Grady took a step toward their young friend, dropping Kayla’s hand. “Holun, we can’t fight them with you here. We can’t worry about you while we’re fighting. We can’t let you get hurt.”
“I take care myself.” Kayla could’ve sworn his chin rose up a full inch.
She started to worry. They didn’t have time to fight this particular battle, especially not when a much more dangerous one was imminent.
But Grady, diplomatic as always, just nodded. “I know you can, Holun. But we couldn’t live with ourselves if you were hurt because of us. Can you understand that?”
Holun hesitated, then nodded reluctantly. “Yes.” His shoulders slumped. He turned around to walk away, but froze in his tracks.
He was staring into the eyes of Death itself. Na-um had arrived.
“Holun, go.” Grady’s voice was a growling command, and Holun didn’t argue this time. He snatched up the book, then turned and ran for the wall. He was out of sight in less than a second.
“So nice to see all of you again.” Na-um’s voice was sickeningly sweet as hundreds of his men flowed into the room like the crashing waves of a violent river. Na-um smirked.
Grady stood unwavering, a step in front of the other three. His hands were out at his sides, palms facing backward as if trying to shield them.
Na-um’s mocking laugh echoed throughout the room. “Your show of arrogance will not stop me. You cannot stop me.”
Now it was Grady’s turn to smirk. Kayla took a step around him and stood at his side. Mandy and Justin followed suit.
Na-um’s smile faltered.
No. It couldn’t be. Surely they didn’t . . .
But looking at the four Americans standing in front of him, Na-um saw it. It was undeniably obvious, painfully so. He saw it on their faces, in the glow of their skin, in the assuredness of their stance.
They had found the Codex.
“NOOOOOOOOO!!” Na-um growled, his voice the sound of the devil himself. “HOLUN! You have BETRAYED your FAMILY! COME OUT AND FACE US!”
Holun cowered behind the rock formation in the middle of the room, out of sight, hugging the Codex close to his chest. Na-um’s voice reverberated off every surface in the cavern. The sound chilled him to the bone.
But he wouldn’t come out. He wouldn’t leave the shelter of these rocks. If he did, Na-um would certainly tear him into pieces, gouge out his eyes, and feed him to the nearest jaguar.
Something he would definitely like to avoid, if possible.
Justin was grinning. Na-um was furious, and he was enjoying every minute of it. But this would soon get ugly, and he had to be ready.
He thought back to everything Kayla’d told them about the powers of the Codex—which was painfully little. But given the symbol on his book . . . he should be able to control fire, right? Made sense. He could harness one of the four elements of nature—fire—and use it against his enemies. Of course.
But how? Did he just think it and it happened? Did he have to concentrate, or would it just come naturally? Could he call it from anywhere, or did some fire source have to be nearby? So many questions needed to be answered, but he knew they wouldn’t have time to even ask the questions. When this fight started, using their powers correctly would come down to trial and error.
Their lives depended solely on trial and error. Great.
Na-um turned back to the Four, nostrils flaring. A guttural sound rose up from between his clenched teeth, making the hairs on the back of Kayla’s neck stand up a second time. He would attack soon, she was sure of it. And an attack would almost certainly hurt at least one of them. So to protect herself and her friends, she needed to attack before he had the chance.
She took a deep breath then and held it. She concentrated as hard as she could; her eyes squeezed shut, her brows furrowed. Tiny beads of sweat broke out on her forehead. She held her hands out at her sides, palms out, facing Na-um’s army. She released the breath she was holding, then began pulling air in and out in a slow, hypnotic rhythm. Her breathing gradually sped up, her chest rising and falling with each gasp. Then, as she summoned all the power of the Codex within her, her body rippled, shuddering once. A quick burst of energy shot through her body to her hands. Her eyes flew open. She could hear it in Grady’s thoughts: her eyes were the light brown color of sand.
Grady gasped, but she barely registered it. The Power was flowing through her; she could feel it. Now she just had to release it.
She slowly lifted her hands in front of her, turning her arms so her palms still faced out. Between her outstretched arms, she spotted at least fifty soldiers. After a quick breath, she tightened her arms, straightening them out in one sudden motion. As she did, energy—it couldn’t really be explained any other way—shot out from her hands toward the soldiers in front of her. At once the ground underneath the men disappeared—and amid the sound of rushing sand came the screams of several dying men. The earth swallowed them almost instantly. Then their cries for help abruptly cut off.
Kayla slowly lowered her hands. She looked over at Grady, who was staring at her with his mouth open. She blinked a few times, clearing the sandy coloring from her eyes. She knew the moment it did; she could hear it in Grady’s thoughts.
She smiled briefly at him, then turned back to look at Na-um. Her less-than-subtle display of power was intended to set Na-um off. He and his men were trained in warfare; the only chance they had was for him to retaliate, react out of anger rather than calculated precision. Perhaps then he would make a mistake, and the Four would have a chance.
Grady was still shocked at Kayla’s brutal display of power, but he understood why she’d done it. He could hear her plan as clearly as if he’d come up with it himself. He nodded slowly, fighting to regain his composure, and turned to face Na-um and his men by her side.
Justin was off to the right, still staring at the bare patch of earth that had only seconds earlier held nearly fifty men. He was surprised by Kayla’s harsh actions, but quickly realized that she hadn’t really had a choice. If she’d waited for Na-um to attack, it could be one of them lying under the ground right now. It was kill or be killed, the most primal of human instincts.
Justin looked over at Kayla and Grady, who were now facing Na-um together, waiting to see how he would react. He wished he knew what the plan was. That would be helpful.
He looked down for a split second. It was the wrong thing to do. All at once, hundreds of flaming arrows filled the room, heading toward the four of them. If he had been looking, he might have seen them aim, might have been able to anticipate the attack, and dodge it. But he’d missed it, and now there was nothing he could do.
Everything
flipped into slow motion. He stared as the arrows arched through the room, leaving trails of light in their wake. His stomach dropped as he saw three of them headed right for Mandy.
Mandy, who had moved to the right side of the room during Kayla’s attack, saw the arrows coming for her. If only she could call her power, like Kayla had, she may be able to fend them off somehow. It seemed right to her, although she didn’t quite know how. She just needed to figure out how to release the power inside her.
She tried to concentrate as Kayla had, tried to replicate what she had seen. But nothing happened. She should have known that it would work differently for her. Of course, that didn’t really help anything now. The flaming arrows were headed for her, and she couldn’t call her power. There was nowhere to run, and she couldn’t stop them.
The second before they hit, she gasped. She felt as though something had hit her, but not the arrows. Almost as if she’d been hit by a brick wall. She staggered back, falling down. The arrows fell, lighting up the ground around her. One arrow grazed by her thigh, setting the leg of her shorts on fire. She screamed.
Justin was already next to her, tearing off his shirt. He threw the shirt over Mandy’s leg and smacked it frantically, snuffing the fire out. He pulled the shirt away carefully. The fire had burned a hole through the shorts and had scarred Mandy’s leg. Mandy winced.
Justin pulled her close, keeping an eye on the army before them. He would know if they started to attack again.
“What happened?” Justin whispered into her hair without looking at her.
Mandy shook her head. “I don’t know. My power’s not working; something’s blocking it.” Whatever she’d felt just before the arrows fell, it was preventing her from being able to use her power. She was certain of it.
She felt Justin freeze against her. Mandy froze in response. She couldn’t see Na-um or his men. Were they going to attack again? She looked around Justin. Nope, nothing. Kayla and Grady were still standing their ground in front of them. So what was wrong?
Then Justin relaxed against her. He leaned in and breathed a quiet “I love you” in her ear.
She certainly didn’t expect to hear that. “What?” She choked on the word as it came out.
“I need you to know that I love you.”
“I do know that, Justin. Why are we talking about this now?”
“Because you need to trust me again.”
“Why now?” She repeated her question.
“If something happens here tonight, I need you to know how I feel. And I need to know how you feel.”
It was the perfect opening; Mandy knew that. All she had to say was that she trusted him, that she loved him. But she still wasn’t sure herself. She couldn’t lie to him, couldn’t lie to herself. “Justin . . .” her voice cracked.
His grip on her loosened slightly. He pulled far enough away to look at her face. “Why can’t you trust me?”
Mandy shook her head. This was too much. Her leg felt as though it were on fire, and an army of men was about to attack them. She couldn’t deal with this right now. “Justin, we can talk about this later.” She put a hand on the ground and tried to lift herself up. It didn’t work so well. She stumbled; Justin’s arms were the only thing that kept her from falling hard on the rocks below. She let him sit her back down. She needed to think.
Kind of difficult considering she was only a hundred feet or so away from hundreds of men who wanted her dead.
CHAPTER 45
Battle
Justin positioned himself between Mandy and the army, his back to the mercenaries. Screw Na-um and his army. This was the most important thing now; he could feel it. This was why their powers weren’t working. She didn’t trust him, and it was blocking their powers. They needed the Power of the Four for their powers to fully work, and Mandy was cutting herself off from the Power by not trusting him. And his power was blocked because of what he’d done to lose her trust.
It shouldn’t have made sense. He knew that. But it was the truth. He could feel it deep inside his soul. If Mandy couldn’t trust him, they could never tap into the full power of the Codex, and would never be able to win against Na-um and his men. Kayla and Grady couldn’t fight them alone, especially not at full strength.
He looked over his shoulder at Grady and Kayla. They were keeping Na-um at bay, so far. Kayla and Grady were standing on what could’ve been the only uncluttered patch of dirt in the whole room—the rest was littered with the remains of spent arrows, including the place where he and Mandy were sitting. Justin watched as Grady drew in a deep breath, then shot his hands toward the rock face on the left side of the large room with a jerk. Justin’s breath caught as a flood of water burst out of the side of the rock and poured out over at least a hundred of Na-um’s men, drowning them almost immediately. The waterfall grew even larger, catching more and more men in its wake. Na-um was losing men quickly.
But that would change unless he and Mandy could work this out. He was hoping against hope that it would be soon.
Mandy sat there, staring at Justin but not really seeing him. She was thinking.
She’d trusted Justin once; what had changed? She still loved him, she was sure of that. But trust? That was a lot more complicated.
She wasn’t quite sure what had happened. She couldn’t pinpoint a specific moment where she had stopped trusting him; she just had. And she didn’t know why.
So how could she fix something when she didn’t know why it was broken?
She sighed. She needed more time. She’d thought she’d have more time. But sitting here, staring at the hundreds of men who wanted to kill her, she knew the time was up. The decision had to be made, yes or no. Could she trust him?
Instantly, she knew. Despite everything that had happened between them, she was willing to trust him. It was no longer a question of if she did trust him; it was if she could trust him. Asking the question that way, the answer was obvious. The difference was small, but crucial. She knew she could trust him, and, whether it was now or later, she was willing to try.
That was all it took. At once she could hear him.
Justin, I love you. I’m sorry.
Mandy, I will always love you. With all my heart.
I’ve always loved you. I know I can trust you; it may just take awhile for it to be automatic. But for right now, here tonight . . . She paused, drawing in a breath. I trust you.
Justin smiled and got to his feet, reaching for her hand and helping her up. The power coursing through her veins had numbed her leg; she could barely feel the burn on her thigh. Maybe this power would come with some beneficial side effects, like faster healing. She could hope.
Justin laughed out loud at the thought. Mandy smiled at him as she grabbed his hand. She pulled him along as they ran toward Kayla and Grady. Their friends needed their help. No sense in making them win this alone.
Grady heard Mandy and Justin come up on his right. He was still controlling the waterfall; he’d tried to let it go, but it had started to dissipate. He sighed. It was going to take him a while to learn everything.
Then, suddenly, something occurred to him. He hadn’t really “heard” Mandy and Justin come over, not in the normal sense. He had heard their thoughts as they came running up. He flashed a glance at Kayla. She could hear them, too. Was that supposed to happen?
Kayla simply shrugged in response, but kept an eye on Na-um. He had positioned his army between them and the entrance, blocking any chance of escape. Kayla had been systematically taking out his men with her earth-moving trick, but they were quickly catching on. Once they realized what she was about to do, they just ran to another spot. And they could run fast.
So she decided to try something else. If she could make the ground disappear, why couldn’t she also raise it? If she could, she could block Na-um’s path to them. It might at least buy them time to regroup, get a plan together. It was worth a try.
She raised her outstretched arms, this time with her palms facing up. Na-um’s
men looked a little confused. Good. She tightened her arms again, this time throwing her arms upward, forcing the power of the earth up instead of out.
It worked. A large mound of dirt started growing between them and Na-um’s army. She raised her arms further, coaxing the mound of dirt higher and higher until it nearly reached the ceiling. There. An effectual wall stood between them and Na-um’s army.
But Kayla could already hear the men shouting, trying to find ways through the sand wall. They would be here soon.
She turned—with one hand outstretched toward the wall to ensure it stayed standing—to Mandy, who was standing next to her. “How are you?” She looked down at the burn on Mandy’s leg. It was hard to miss.
Mandy shrugged it off. “It looks worse than it feels. Doesn’t even hurt. I’ll be fine.”
Grady came over, the waterfall beyond the sand wall abandoned for now. “You can fight?”
Mandy flashed a pointed glance at Justin that Kayla didn’t quite understand at first. But once she heard the story flash through Mandy’s mind, she got it. “Yeah, our powers are good. We can help.” She grinned at Justin before turning back to the group. “What’s the plan?”
Grady looked over at Kayla, who nodded slightly. He turned back to Mandy and Justin. “Can you both hear us?”
The couple turned toward each other, brows furrowed, then Kayla watched as their faces relaxed simultaneously. It would have almost been comical if there wasn’t an army waiting to slaughter them less than a hundred feet away.
They must not have even noticed in all the confusion. Seemed like it would be hard to do, but Kayla understood. Once she’d been able to hear Grady, it seemed normal. She wondered if she’d start worrying if she couldn’t hear Grady anymore, like before. Probably.
