Birthright

by A. P. Jensen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Cibrian stared moodily out of the window and he wasn’t the only one. Levi stared ahead at nothing, mouth set in a thin line.

  Kelly took her seat beside Heath. “Shopping, anyone?”

  Heath and Levi jerked as if they’d been shot. Heath glared at her.

  “It’s going to be a lot more difficult to walk around tomorrow after the Declaration Ceremony,” Kelly said reasonably.

  “What’s the Declaration Ceremony?” Levi asked

  “Every teen that’s been Awakened is Declared to our world. The Gem will put you into the best school that will mold you for your destiny. That’s why there’s so much traffic,” Heath said pointedly to Kelly.

  She ignored him. “Does anyone want to be dropped off at the hotel?”

  The carriage lifted into the air and Jordan watched as they left Mary Ann’s rooftop behind. Everyone seemed lost in thought. The only ones not affected by the visit with Mary Ann were Kelly and Knight. Cibrian sat beside Jordan, unusually somber.

  “You okay?” Jordan asked.

  “Yeah.”

  He didn’t meet her eyes. Ten minutes later, the carriage settled on the roof of The Aquarium. The same two uniformed men ran towards the carriage and opened the door. They all hopped out of the carriage and Jordan paused when she saw Mr. Parker and Gideon walk onto the rooftop. The younger uniformed worker bowed so low, his nose touched his knee.

  “Guide Parker and Sorcerer Parker,” he said reverently.

  “Be at ease,” Gideon said.

  The man backed off to give the group privacy.

  “How was Mary Ann?” Gideon asked stiffly.

  “She’s great,” Kelly said.

  Gideon didn’t look happy about that.

  “Where’s Polly?”

  “I sent him back to Paradice to cool off,” Gideon said.

  “What are you two doing up here?” Kelly asked suspiciously.

  “I assumed you would bully Heath into taking you shopping,” Mr. Parker said and frowned when Kelly tried to look mystified. “I know you too well. You’re not going without me.”

  “You’re going to shuffle me past all the good stuff! And how do you think we’ll be able to move through the crowd with you there, Almighty Alexander?”

  “I have my Dunghao mask,” Mr. Parker said.

  “You always have something up your sleeve! And are you coming too, Guide?”

  Gideon held up his hands with a chuckle. “No, I’m here to take the Valor back to the room and then I have stuff to do.”

  Jordan and the Valor stood apart from the group. The cat mirrored her unconscious, defensive stance. Gideon looked at his granddaughter’s face. He would have passed her and never known she was part of his bloodline. After the talk he had with Donovan, he knew the girl had every right not to trust them. That didn’t help his overprotective instincts that wanted to gut anyone who even looked at her wrong.

  “Come, Valor,” Gideon said and the cat bared his teeth and hissed.

  “Go with him, Knight,” Jordan murmured.

  Knight huffed and nudged her with his body, making her stumble forward two steps. He looked at her with a threatening, admonishing look on his face before he walked away. Gideon and the Valor disappeared inside The Aquarium and Mr. Parker jerked his head at the guards who immediately followed.

  “You have a Dunghao mask? Let’s see it,” Cibrian said, perking up.

  Out of his coat Mr. Parker pulled out a tribal mask made of wood with black, red and white markings over the cheeks and forehead. There was no discernible design and tiny slits for eyes. There was no string to hold the mask on his face.

  “They’re still going to notice you,” Jordan said, pointing out the obvious.

  Mr. Parker placed the mask over his face. Black eyes gleamed through the slits in the mask. Nothing happened for a moment and then the mask shimmered. Jordan let out a stifled scream as the mask liquefied and sank onto Mr. Parker’s face. Before her eyes, the wooden mask disappeared and Mr. Parker transformed into an old man with age lines around his eyes and mouth. Mr. Parker’s dark hair disappeared to be replaced with white curly hair that fell to his shoulders. He gave her a crooked grin and a gold tooth winked in the sunlight.

  “What do you think?” Mr. Parker asked as a seventy year old man.

  “Nice,” Cibrian said.

  Levi and Jordan stared, mouths slack. Only Mr. Parker’s features changed. His eyes remained the same, obsidian black and watching Jordan with amusement.

  “How?” she stammered.

  “Dunghao masks are useful. Most masks you can buy off the table at the market, but they only last five minutes. If your mask is made specifically to fit your face like mine is.” Mr. Parker gestured to the aged features. “It’ll last for six hours at a time.”Mr. Parker grinned broadly at Kelly. “I brought yours too, honey.”

  “No,” Kelly said.

  “Do you want to go shopping?” Mr. Parker asked reasonably, as if he were speaking to a child.

  He pulled another mask from his coat. This mask was similar to Mr. Parker’s, but the lips were outlined in bright red. Kelly crossed her arms mutinously across her chest.

  “You got the Dunghao mask maker to create something hideous, didn’t you?”

  Mr. Parker smiled and Jordan saw that most of his teeth were gold. He jiggled the mask in front of Kelly while Heath snickered.

  “Come on, Aunty, let’s see,” Cibrian said eagerly.

  Kelly shot him a stinging glance and snatched the mask out of Mr. Parker’s hand. She held the mask up to her face and once more, the mask shimmered. A minute later, an old woman around Mr. Parker’s age with short salt and pepper hair and gold, silver and bronze teeth scowled at her husband who howled with laughter. Kelly stalked over to one of the carriages and stared at her face and let out a stream of curses. Kelly’s face was even more withered and lined than Mr. Parker’s. Her eyes nearly disappeared beneath the folds of skin.

  “You’re devil’s spawn, Donovan Parker!” Kelly yelled.

  Heath and Cibrian leaned against the carriages for support while they cackled. Jordan wasn’t sure whether to be horrified or amused. Kelly looked scary with her shiny, sharp teeth and scowl.

  “And now I can’t take it off for six hours, you ass!” Kelly screeched.

  “Which is why I’m glad you got your visiting over with before you put it on,” Mr. Parker said easily.

  Cibrian recovered enough to peek under Kelly’s chin. He screwed up his face and reached out to touch her neck, but Kelly slapped his hand away.

  “Even your neck is wrinkly and veiny and-”

  Kelly reached for Cibrian and he darted away, laughing.

  “It only affects you from the neck up,” Mr. Parker said.

  Kelly looked ready to explode. Jordan walked away as Kelly’s shouting blasted those around her. She walked towards the edge of The Aquarium, which was one of the buildings surrounding the city center. In the heart of the city was a canopy of trees made of ice that shielded a garden from view. Surrounding the canopied garden was an igloo tunnel responsible for most of the traffic. The crowd rushed in and out of the ice tunnel, pushing sleds filled with bags.

  The heart of the city was as big as Central Park and Jordan stared down at the people that milled around like ants. Jordan took several steps back when people dashed across her vision. Jordan watched a pair of blonde women gab as they flew through the air as calmly as if they were on a bus. There were three lanes of traffic in Wintra. There was ground traffic with carriages and normal pedestrians. About twenty feet above the ground traffic were people that flew, mimicking the lanes of traffic below. Above the flyers were the carriages that bounced from rooftop to rooftop. Balconies with no rails jutted out from different floors of buildings, launch pads for those who could fly.

  “This is crazy,” Levi said, coming up beside her to take in the view.

  “Yeah,” Jordan said and her chest felt
tight with excitement and fear.

  “You two ready?” Mr. Parker asked.

  Jordan nodded and paused, struck again by his face. Mr. Parker grinned and without warning, hauled her into his arms.

  “What are you doing?”

  Mr. Parker’s smile widened as he stepped off the side of the roof. Jordan let out a scream and her stomach dropped. They were so close to the side of The Aquarium that if Jordan reached out, she could touch the aqua colored ice. Mr. Parker dropped through flying traffic without incident and a foot from the ground, slowed. Their feet touched the ground with a light thump. Jordan was torn between punching him in the face and getting away from him. She pushed and he set her down, but kept her close as the crowd pressed in around them.

  Jordan looked up and saw the rest of their group floating down. From the concentrated look on Kelly’s face, Jordan assumed she was manipulating the air around them. Jordan tossed another glare at Mr. Parker, which he ignored. The Aquarium was so tall, it seemed to touch the sky. Carriages hopped from building to building like frogs and people zipped around in dizzying patterns. At ground level, everything was overwhelming and slightly nauseating.

  People walked around her, normal and yet… not. As Jordan began to examine the people she noticed most of them had blonde hair and violet eyes. These people were tall, elegant and pale skinned. Another prominent race had varying shades of red hair and blue eyes. These people had a flow to their walk, a fluidity that wasn’t normal. There was a distinct third race with brown or green eyes and brown hair. These people had darker toned skin and were hippy-ish with dreads and dressed in earth tones.

  Jordan blinked as a man with very dark skin and orange eyes passed. People cleared a path for him. Like Heath, he wasn’t bundled up against the cold. He had on a black shirt and jeans with a thick leather belt. This man seemed to take great pleasure in the outright fear on people’s faces as he passed. Several men of similar coloring followed in his wake, similarly built like weight lifters and expecting people to make way for them. Bullies.

  “Come on,” Mr. Parker said and moved into the fray with Jordan.

  Kelly appeared on her other side. Mr. Parker and Kelly looked like two eccentric grandparents taking their grandkid shopping. As if he could read her mind, Mr. Parker glanced down at Jordan and scowled at her. Mr. Parker navigated his way through the crowd to the igloo tunnel made of hundreds of arched openings. The igloo dome continued to the left and right in an endless circle. People ran in and out of the tunnel and it took a lot of effort for the three of them to stay together. Jordan glanced back and saw Heath, Levi and Cibrian standing apart from their group so no one would know they were together.

  The smell of food cooked in oil filled the air, distracting her. People yelled out their wares while others called out for two of this or five of that. Kids darted through the legs of adults with harried parents following in their wake.

  As they walked through an archway, Jordan saw thousands of booths carved of ice, side by side. Using their flying abilities to their advantage, several blonde haired, violet-eyed merchants showed off their products ten feet in the air. A woman with brown hair and green eyes had a booth made of flowers. To her fascinated onlookers, she explained that the flowers had a lifetime guarantee of blooming forever. Jordan’s eyes almost bugged out of her head when she saw a booth that sold baby polar bears for the Wintra crowd. When Jordan saw a booth selling magic carpets, she forgot all about Mr. Parker’s hold on her and started walking in the opposite direction. He yanked her to a stop.

  “What are you doing?” he yelled over the cacophony.

  “I want to look at that booth.” Jordan gestured towards the carpets, which came in all shapes and sizes.

  Mr. Parker shook his head, but Kelly clapped her hands together.

  “Great eye, Jordan. Off we go.”

  She pulled Jordan’s hand out of Mr. Parker’s and started for the booth.

  “Don’t mind him,” Kelly said airily.

  They approached the carpet booth that full-blooded Thishe passed with disdainful sniffs. The owner, a man with brown hair and violet eyes, showed off a piece of material made of orange silk. He snapped the material out in midair and the silk rectangle went taut. As Jordan watched, a woman who looked like a robust Viking jumped on the thin piece of silk which took all of her weight without wavering in the least.

  “This one will take up to seven hundred pounds. I have several sizes. The biggest I have will carry about six or seven people and up to two thousand pounds. Of course, those are a bit more on the pricey side, but you have a lifetime guarantee. They’re fire proof and will never fray.”

  The carpet maker showed off what looked like a shaggy pink rug for a little girl who sank her hands into the material with a look of delight.

  “Maybe until you get the hang of flying, we can get you a magic carpet?” Kelly asked thoughtfully and started towards the many colors and prints of the carpets.

  “Now you’ve done it,” Heath said, appearing behind Jordan.

  “Did what?”

  Jordan watched Kelly hold up a zebra print carpet to examine it closely. The merchant bustled forward and paused when Kelly smiled at him. He recovered quickly and held up a carpet made of fur, one of wool and another made of cotton.

  “She’s going to be there for an hour,” Heath grumbled.

  Cibrian sniffed the air and rubbed his stomach while Levi stared dumbstruck at the products. Levi watched a man wave a wooden spoon theatrically. The orange-eyed merchant gave the ice counter a whack with the spoon, which transformed into a knife.

  “You can keep this in the kitchen and an intruder would never know what it is!” the merchant said proudly to the wary crowd. “Or how about this?”

  The merchant pulled out a small black comb from his back pocket. He brushed a dark finger down the bristles of the comb and snatched his hand back as the comb transformed into a machete. Two fascinated boys were forcefully dragged away by their horrified mother.

  “Get a fortune bracelet for the Declaration Ceremony! This bracelet could be the key to a great destiny!” a man shouted over his fellow merchants.

  There seemed to be a lot of adults around a booth with charms in the form of rings, pendants and bracelets. One booth had a wide crowd around it. As Levi went on his tiptoes, he saw that it was a tattoo booth. An intimidating man covered in tattoos splayed his hand over a client hunched over in a chair. Black ink spread from the tattooed man’s hand like spilled water and began to form a design.

  Although Jordan tried to keep her place in front of the magic carpet booth, the surge of the crowd moved her further and further until she lost sight of Kelly. Trying to find her bearings, Jordan looked up and saw a protruding piece of ice that had an advertisement of a beautiful woman drinking a green drink that made her hair grow four inches in two seconds. The advertisement passed and grainy footage from a store camera replaced the model.

  Everything around Jordan faded. All she could see was the video. There was no sound and vertical lines covered the screen, but Jordan saw the girl scrambling down aisles, over bodies and fallen merchandise. A moment later, the video showed a male prowling in her wake. Black blood covered the floor and a moment later, the picture winked out. Jordan’s stomach lurched and she broke out in a cold sweat. Jordan didn’t need to see the girl’s face- it was impossible with the bad quality of the video, but she remembered every shallow breath, every second of terror.

  The video changed and a woman’s voice boomed out over the crowd. Some people looked up distractedly, but most ignored the blonde reporter who wore a white shawl over her hair.

  “With the assassination of William Stan, Guide of Autumis, the government’s Council has become unbalanced. Those responsible for the assassination have yet to be captured and the Council is keeping what they know close to their chest. The video of William Stan chasing a teenage girl in an Ignorant Walmart may be a manufactured video, my sources say. But others questi
on what Guide Stan was doing there and everyone wants to know, who is the girl in the video and what happened to her?”

  The reporter disappeared and a video of a church filled with people weeping and bowing their heads appeared.

  “Although the truth of his death is unknown, thousands turned up to show their support of William Stan’s reign in Autumis and to honor him as a hero-”

  She remembered William’s face streaked with her blood, could hear echoes of herself pleading for death. She remembered the desperate hunger in his eyes and the way his power grated on her nerves as it raised hell in her body. She could feel his hands around her throat, squeezing. Panicked, she reached up to tear away a grip that wasn’t there.

  She felt a surge of heat bloom in her chest and spread. Her heart stopped. It’s back, she thought. She closed her eyes as power slithered through her veins, reacquainting itself with her. It was familiar, but… not. She waited for the pain that always accompanied her power, but it didn’t come. Her heart raced.

  On the icy screen, a woman with short red hair stood with her arm around William’s waist. She was very beautiful and stared up adoringly at William. Jordan’s stomach dipped.

  “William’s wife, Grace died mysteriously the same week-” the reporter continued.

  Did William murder his wife because of Jordan? An avalanche of power assaulted her, savaging her insides. Jordan bent over, panting. She tried to keep her power contained, but when a man brushed against her, he jerked back when his coat began to smoke. He let out a stream of curses. When he looked up to chastise the girl, she was gone.

  Jordan ran. Her mind was completely blank as she wove her way through the masses. She couldn’t hear. She wasn’t aware of anything but the need to get away from everyone. With each step, she felt the ice dip as it melted under her feet. She pushed her way through the crowd until she broke into a clearing lined with benches and trees made out of frosted ice. She stumbled to a stop and braced her legs apart as power ricocheted within her, merciless and demanding. It wanted to be used, to consume as it had in the past. Jordan closed her eyes and braced herself for pain as she denied her power.

  “You’re exquisite.”

  Jordan’s eyes flew open. A man stood three feet from her. He was middle aged and average looking with a long emerald green trench coat and a cap shading dark eyes. His admiring tone reminded her of the Master’s “she’s sublime.” Every hair on her body stood up.

  “Who are you?” She hated how weak and frightened she sounded. She was on an overload of emotion and power. Her body trembled in shock from the sudden return of her power. She felt like she was going to be sick.

  “Did you just Awaken?” he asked gently.

  Jordan took several steps back. “Stay away from me.”

  Something about the man drew her in, even as that same something repelled her. He cocked his head as if listening for a soft sound.

  “Your power sings to me.”

  She was too seasoned a survivor to stand there like a petrified deer before a hunter. Jordan bolted off the path and dodged between ice sculptures. When she couldn’t run anymore she fell to her knees and tried to push away the fear that didn’t let her function. She took deep breaths, clouds of cold air swirling in front of her. Her head pounded and she didn’t notice the circle pendant flash with lightning.

  “Jordan!”

  An old man stood on the path, scowling at her. At first, she was puzzled and then remembered it was Mr. Parker in disguise. For the first time, she became aware of the utter silence. She was on her hands and knees beneath a canopy of frozen trees. Beautiful ice figures lined the path and she focused on a nearby cherry tree made of ice. Each cherry and leaf was carved in intricate detail.

  “Jordan,” Mr. Parker said carefully.

  She turned dilated eyes on him. Her sapphire eyes flickered between blue and black and her face was utterly bloodless. He was reminded forcibly of the first time he’d seen her in Mr. Penn’s office. He walked forward, noting the melted the sidewalk around her. She knelt in an inch of water.

  “Are you okay?”

  She stared at him with blank eyes.

  “Your power’s back.”

  She shook her head as if waking from a dream. “I don’t know where I am.”

  “You’re in the Gardens of Wintra. The Ice Tunnels surround this garden.”

  Jordan hands curled into the ice. “I think I’m losing my mind.”

  “Why’d you take off?”

  She thought of the video of herself running from William and gagged. Her mind touched on the man in the green trench coat. He hadn’t followed her, but something about him triggered her impulse to run and she obeyed without thought. Looking at Mr. Parker, she knew she couldn’t explain her reaction to the video or the stranger.

  “I don’t know,” she whispered.

  “When we’re in the city, you make sure you stay with one of us. Got me?”

  She nodded and swallowed to coat her dry throat. Mr. Parker reached out and caught the circle pendant that swung back and forth in front of her. She jerked upright, senses still too raw to take his proximity. He dropped the pendant and squinted against the blast of heat she threw at him. He could feel her anxiety rising into total panic.

  “It’s okay, Jordan,” he said calmly, “It was only a matter of time before it came back.”

  Jordan leapt to her feet. “How can you say that?”

  Mr. Parker didn’t react, which made her angrier.

  “They’re calling him a hero! Do you know what he did to me?” Her voice was raw with anguish and her eyes glistened with tears. The cherry tree began to drip as it melted. “What little good I had, he took! I can feel his power in me. I can’t get the images out of my head- everyone was screaming. There was so much blood.”

  Her hands clenched and unclenched. Little streaks of lightning sparked on her fingertips, but she didn’t notice. She stared at Mr. Parker, wanting him to see her for what she was. She would never be normal no matter how hard she tried. She would never forget.

  The haunted look in her eyes, the fear slapped at him. “You need to learn how to control your power.”

  He gestured at the dripping statues. The detail artists spent hours chiseling were being melted off. Jordan looked down at her crackling hands and shook them as if trying to shake off ants.

  “Use your pendant,” he instructed.

  She cupped the cold circle between sizzling palms. The circle warmed instantly and absorbed a portion of the anger and fear in her chest. Fireworks burst within the circle and Jordan relaxed ever so slightly. For long minutes, she focused on the pendant, letting it absorb the awful emotions that threatened to push her over the edge. She felt as if she’d had a long cry. When she looked up, she saw Mr. Parker sitting on a nearby bench. He tugged on his jowls like a beard.

  “Your power reacts to your emotions and mind. If your emotions are out of control and you aren’t paying attention to what you’re thinking, your power will run riot. You need to be aware of your power at every moment to make sure you contain it.”

  “I don’t know how. I didn’t think it would come back.” Had seeing William in the video triggered it back to life?

  “You need to use your power.”

  She looked at him with weary eyes. “You saw what I can do.”

  He sneered at her, showing a mouthful of gold teeth.

  “I saw what you can do when you’re not focused and panicked. I haven’t seen you try to do something on purpose.” When she said nothing he continued, “If you want to fly, you have to picture in your mind how to accomplish that. Some people picture themselves on a platform they can stand on that will carry them; others see themselves as if they’re walking on a moving escalator. It depends on how you think.”

  She nodded.

  “The next step is to bring your power into it. Pull that heat from your belly up to your chest; imagine it flowing into your fingertips-” he stopped. “You think I like ta
lking for my health? Do it.”

  “Whenever I try to use my power, I destroy something.”

  She looked at a now faceless ice sculpture. Mr. Parker plucked a misshapen ice cherry from the tree and tossed it to Jordan.

  “You can handle fire and water. Examine the cherry closely.”

  She raised her brows, but did as he instructed. Jordan examined the cherry, which was the size of a large marble and lay heavily on her palm.

  “Melt the cherry. Gather your magic and pull it up to your chest. Picture it flowing to your fingertips. Feel the burn in your palms.”

  Jordan stared dubiously at the cherry and then closed her eyes. She pulled that banked heat up from her belly and it immediately rushed to her chest. Her breath seized and she fought the immediate panic.

  “In your mind, imagine the ice melting slowly. If you don’t control your power, you could set your clothes on fire.” He didn’t sound too concerned about that possibility.

  Jordan forced the painful heat into trembling hands. She opened her eyes and looked down at her palm, which shook. The cherry rolled from side to side as it melted and trickled to the ground, hissing.

  “You remember what the cherry looked like?”

  She nodded.

  “Make it back into what it was.”

  Jordan gaped. “What? That’s impossible!”

  He grinned, the image of a crazy pirate. “With all you’ve done, I’m pretty sure you can make a puddle of water into a frozen cherry.”

  Jordan looked down at the meager drops of water on the ground. She walked over to the cherry tree and peered up at the delicate cherries she hadn’t managed to melt.

  “Whatever you see in your mind, your power will copy,” Mr. Parker mumbled.

  Jordan closed her eyes, pulled power into her chest and forced it into her hands. So many emotions rushed to the fore. Dealing with power reminded her of darker times with William and the things he forced her to do- A deluge of water drenched her as a bunch of cherries melted from the tree.

  Mr. Parker sighed. “It’s a good thing Heath made you that pendant.”

  “I’m sorry.” Jordan fanned herself to stop the heat she generated.

  “Don’t panic,” the old man snapped. “You’re going for fire because it’s what you’re familiar with, but fire is too unpredictable to work with. Think cold. Ice. Snow. Picture it in your mind. Do it now.”

  Jordan obeyed, remembering the walk into the winter wonderland at Tolly House. Instantly, her body temperature cooled. Mr. Parker scowled at the now bare cherry tree. She cringed when the angry pirate turned on her.

  “You’re going to replace every cherry you melted,” he instructed.

  “But I don’t know how.”

  “I told you how.”

  Jordan paced away from him towards a nearby statue of a woman dressed in a toga with a bow and arrow. The woman towered almost seven feet high. Her features were intent, focused and confident. She wasn’t posing for a picture, she was a warrior sure of herself and her target. Jordan walked away, afraid to destroy anything else.

  “Think cold,” Jordan said to herself and closed her eyes again.

  Jordan gathered her power into her chest for the third time and pictured the world she was in. Ice. Cold. Winter. In her mind, she imagined all of the individual drops of water gathering in a small pool. Using her hands, unconsciously imitating Cibrian’s way of managing water, she made a get-together motion so the water would seep into one area. She imagined a small ball of water removing itself from the pool. It whirled in the air. Cold, she thought and in her mind the ball turned clear as it froze over. She remembered the delicate cherry, the lines in it and the stem. Slowly, the ball of ice mimicked what she remembered.

  The whole process took over ten minutes. When Jordan opened her eyes, a frozen cherry identical to the one she melted floated in front of her stunned gaze. At her feet, three gallons of water sloshed in a misshapen pool, reluctantly obeying her will. She felt the water pushing at her, wanting to be set free.

  “Now what?” Jordan said.

  “Attach it to the tree.”

  Jordan touched the tip of the stem and imagined fire for a brief instant. Ice sizzled and she snatched the cherry from the air and pressed it to a branch. The cherry stuck to the tree as if it never left.

  Mr. Parker clapped his hands once. “Three hundred left.”

  Jordan wasn’t sure how much time passed, but she repeated the process over and over until the tree was redecorated with perfect cherries made of clearest ice. By the time she finished, her breathing was labored and her power was a distant memory.

  “How do you feel?” her critic asked.

  “Feel?” Jordan repeated. “Fine.” She actually felt better than she had… ever.

  Mr. Parker got up and walked to a statue of what had once been an intimidating figure, but was now a sallow faced man with no nose and a drooping lip. He stared into the sculpture’s one surviving eye and she watched threads of water travel up the figure, adding detail Jordan wiped away. Delicate drops reformed a hooked nose, fingernails, a button on his blazer and a crooked mouth that had a scar down the middle.

  “How do you know what he looks like?” she asked.

  “I knew him.”

  He stared into the figure’s face before moving onto the next sculpture and began reshaping its form. “Channeling your power relaxes you like nothing else will. It’s important for you to understand that. Letting it build up, not letting it out is just asking for trouble.”

  Jordan nodded and stiffened when a group of adults walked up the path. She crouched down guiltily, praying they wouldn’t notice the melted figures. They didn’t. They were too focused on their conversation to look around and notice the destruction.

  Once they were gone from sight she asked, “Is everyone here for the Declaration Ceremony?”

  “Yeah. The city isn’t usually so crowded. The Ceremony’s a big deal. It can take you from being a nobody into somebody. Or the Ceremony could kill any dreams you have of being someone great,” he said with a cynical sneer on his face as he reformed a mini dollhouse.

  “I want to be normal,” Jordan said.

  Mr. Parker raised bushy white brows. “You know that’s not in your cards, right?”

  “Why not?” she asked stubbornly, though she already knew.

  “You’re from my bloodline. You woke up the Valor for God’s sake.”

  “So?”

  “So? Not just anyone can do that. Waking up a Guardian means trouble’s coming and you’re a part of it. Knight’s here to protect you from whatever’s coming.”

  “But-”

  “No buts. It is what it is. The Ceremony will settle a lot of questions tomorrow. The Gem will put you into the school that best suits your destiny. If you’re meant to have a big destiny, the Gem will put you into the school that will give you the connections you need. If not, we’ll deal with that.”

  “I don’t understand how this Gem can just choose a school for me.”

  “The Gem just is. When you feel it tomorrow, you’ll know.”

  Mr. Parker limped towards a bench like a weary senior citizen.

  “The Gem sees your potential, not necessarily what will be.”

  Jordan settled beside him. “What school do you think the Gem will put me in?”

  Mr. Parker’s black eyes blazed, at odds with his old features. “I pray for your sake you don’t go to The Academy.”

  “Why?”

  “They’ll never leave you alone. If you go into a different school, people may think you aren’t as powerful.”

  Jordan twisted her hands. “How did Gideon know about Wi-” She stopped when the old man turned on her, hissing. “Well, how did he know?”

  “Your papa,” he said deliberately, “is powerful. He has some talent for tracking power through Grounders, but I wasn’t sure it would work on you because you were Quiet.”

  “Mary Ann asked me about the pill.�
�

  He ran a hand through his Einstein hair. “Mary Ann’s a hound. She can smell every pill you’ve taken as long as they have plants in them. She’s a genius. She’s probably going to give me a piece of her mind the next time I see her.”

  “Do you think my power will affect the Gem?”

  “Without power I wasn’t sure you’d be Declared but now that its back, we’ll let tomorrow worry about itself.”

  Jordan opened her mouth to respond when Cibrian braked to a stop on the path in front of them, wearing a pair of ridiculous white shaggy skates that flared out from his knees.

  “We’ve been looking for you two!” Cibrian exclaimed.

  “I’m an old man. I need peace from the crowd,” Mr. Parker replied before Jordan could say anything.

  Cibrian turned to Jordan. “You’re missing out. I bought these silk ties that change colors throughout the day and these shoes you can turn inside out into different styles and-”

  “Yup. He’s a girl. Clothes and shoe shopping. What’s the world coming to?” Heath came up behind Cibrian and pushed him out of the way.

  Kelly came up the path with Levi carrying two bags full of food. Heath frowned when he noticed the circle pendant glowing on Jordan’s chest, but he didn’t comment. Kelly blew Mr. Parker a kiss he ignored. Levi set a dozen bags on the ground and Kelly pulled out white take out plates and handed them around. Jordan popped the box open and stared at the foot long sandwich loaded with vegetables and seasoned chicken. Jordan glanced at Levi’s sandwich loaded with steak slices, Cibrian’s with meatballs.

  Levi and Cibrian sat across from Mr. Parker and Jordan on a bench while Kelly floated in midair. Heath sat at the foot of the cherry tree and leaned back against the trunk as he ate his sandwich filled with salami. Jordan blinked when Kelly pulled out a sandwich that eclipsed her hands filled with dripping ribs.

  For several minutes they ate in silence, watching the passersby who looked startled to see such a big group there. Jordan ate her sandwich and relaxed. The fear she felt when she was confronted by the man in the emerald coat seemed like a figment of her imagination now. With her power depleted for the moment, she felt almost normal.

  “So tomorrow’s the big day,” Kelly said excitedly. “The three of you will find out what school you’ll go to for the next six years. All of us,” she said and gestured to the adults assembled. “Went to The Academy. As you can see, we’ve all turned out to be upstanding citizens.”

  Heath snorted and Mr. Parker choked on his sandwich

  “The Declaration Ceremony is one of the biggest events you’ll have in your life. You’re being Declared to everyone in our world.”

  Jordan stopped eating. In front of everyone? She pictured herself being told which school to go to in a dark room, not in front of others.

  “Tomorrow will be an early day for all of us. Jordan, do you want to get some new clothes and get your hair done for the Ceremony?” Kelly asked and licked sauce from her hands.

  “Um, uh-” Jordan said.

  “I think she needs a break, Kelly,” Mr. Parker broke in.

  Kelly looked sympathetic. “Oh. Sorry, honey. I get a little too into everything. Levi, Cibrian? Clothes? Hair?”

  Cibrian fingered his hair. “Nah. Just got it cut a week ago. I wouldn’t say no to a new pair of-”

  “You didn’t shop enough?” Heath said in mock horror.

  “And you boys?” Kelly said, looking at the adult men who scowled at her. “Especially you, Almighty Alexander. You’re going to be all over the papers. Your hair is getting kinda long.”

  “I don’t give a rat’s ass-”

  Kelly waved Mr. Parker into silence as a mother pushed her kids along in an ice stroller. When they passed, Kelly began a mental itinerary for the following day.

  “So we’ll all be up around six. Breakfast, get dressed. We should probably leave The Aquarium at seven thirty. The Ceremony itself won’t start until eight thirty. It’ll probably take around four hours to get everyone announced-”

  “Four hours?” Levi repeated, sandwich suspended in midair.

  “Well, there are over three thousand kids, I think,” Kelly said thoughtfully.

  “How do they know who all the teens are?” Jordan asked.

  “The Seers compile a list of all the students who will show up in Wintra for the Ceremony,” Kelly said.

  Jordan and Levi glanced at one another and then back at Kelly.

  “Some Seers see what will happen, others see what can happen and there are those that see both. The Seers confer with each other to confirm that they all have the same vision. The list comes out only a few hours before the Ceremony.”

  “And they’re always right?” Levi asked skeptically.

  Kelly smiled. “Always.”

  “So you never told anyone that we’re coming? They’re just supposed to know?” Jordan asked, incredulous.

  “I don’t know how they know. They just do.”

  A crowd of people filed into the garden on a tour, chattering excitedly with cameras raised. After the crowd passed, they cleaned up. Heath grappled with Kelly’s shopping bags with a resigned look.

  “I think we all need to take a break. We’ve been up since three this morning,” Mr. Parker said.

  “But-” Kelly protested.

  “If you still want to shop, Heath will stay with you. I’ll take the kids back to The Aquarium so they can rest. You only have about three hours left with the Dunghao mask so be back at the hotel before then,” Mr. Parker said.

  “Kids?” Cibrian repeated in an offended tone.

  Mr. Parker grinned. “When you get to my age, everyone seems like a kid. You’re lucky I’m not calling you babies.”

  While Cibrian made gagging sounds, Heath gratefully handed Kelly’s bags to Mr. Parker. Heath and Kelly headed back to the Ice Tunnels while Mr. Parker distributed some the shopping bags between himself, Cibrian and Levi. He turned to Jordan and clamped his free hand around her arm.

  “Okay, kiddies, hold hands,” Mr. Parker said.

  Levi and Cibrian looked mutinous, but when Mr. Parker eyed them with his black stare, they complied. Cibrian reached down and pressed something on his shoe for the blades of his skates to retract so he could walk normally. He grabbed Jordan’s other hand while Levi stood at the end of their line.

  “Now, stay with me,” Mr. Parker said.

  Mr. Parker led the teens through the Gardens of Wintra back to the Ice Tunnels. With every step away from the garden, the noise escalated. Too soon, they were back in the crowd, being jostled like fish in the sea. Cibrian lost his hold on Jordan several times and had to shove his way through the crowd to find her again. By the time they reached the side of The Aquarium they were breathing hard with the effort it took to stay on their feet and not get trampled by the crowd. Mr. Parker looked over the exhausted teens and encircled them within his arms, making sure he touched each one of them, shopping bags and all. Mr. Parker met Levi’s worried glance with a raised brow.

  “Hang on,” he said.

  They shot up like a cork out of a bottle. Levi and Jordan let out cries of alarm while Cibrian raised his hands as if he were on a roller coaster ride. They landed on the edge of the roof and the same uniformed workers stared and frowned. Cibrian stepped forward, straightening his coat and loose red silk tie.

  “Gentleman,” Cibrian said with a nod at the workers.

  The workers nodded and frowned at the old man leaning heavily against Jordan.

  “He’s harmless,” Cibrian assured the men and started towards the door that led into the hotel.

  Mr. Parker kept up the pretense until they closed the door behind them and stood once more in the hotel. Jordan stared down the aquarium tunnel with bright fish and sea life and hissed when she saw three round discs waiting for them.

  “What are these things?” Jordan said irritably.

  “Transporters for those that can’t fly. They’re convenient.”

&nbs
p; Mr. Parker shoved her onto one of them and climbed on after her. Levi and Cibrian claimed one for themselves and they were off. Two minutes later, Jordan hobbled off the disc and opened the door of their hotel room. She stopped when she saw Knight sitting in the middle of the room, obviously waiting for her to get back. He rushed forward and circled, rubbing himself against her in welcome. She wrapped her arms around him. He sniffed as if he could smell her power and growled in approval. Their power melded and she felt his power calm her own which began to stir again, rejuvenated in the short time since she used it in the garden. She buried her face in Knight’s fur and wished it never returned.