Gabrielle hit the floor with a thud. Mallum reverted to his original form and collapsed next to her. A few tense seconds later, his eyes opened. He looked around and, seeing Gabrielle collapsed just a few feet away from him, gasped.
“Gabrielle…?” he began, looking up at Lena. He felt the back of his shirt and realized it was ripped. His expression only grew more horrified.
Lena explained what had happened. Afterwards, I took the opportunity to look Lori right in the eyes and say, “This is why we are here. Umarek’s plans for the future are even worse. Everyone in the Dimensions will go dark, including us, your loved ones, and even you. We need to stop him, and you are the only one that can help us navigate the Labyrinth of the Lost. Now, are you in, or are you going to let him win?”
Lori glanced at Gabrielle, then said, “Fine. I’m in, but that doesn’t mean I’m happy about it.”
“Likewise,” I informed her coldly. “Believe me, we’ll help you get back here as soon as we can.”
“When do we leave?” she asked.
“As soon as possible.”
Chapter 8
It didn’t take Lori very long to grab a few things from home and meet us at the Shapeshifter Shack, so we returned to headquarters before the sun set on Destiny Forest. Before going through the portal, I made sure to give her the seafoam green stone that I had gotten from Denayka and explain what she needed to do. Darren took a different portal and returned to Eikosi Tessera headquarters.
Mallum had carried Gabrielle, who was still unconscious from our encounter with Umarek, through the portal with him first. The rest of us didn’t follow in any particular order. I arrived on the other side to see that Mallum and Gabrielle were surrounded by the Legendary Keepers who had stayed behind.
“Is she going to b-be okay?” Steven asked, concerned and pale.
“What happened to her?” Regina demanded.
Mallum explained what had happened at the Shapeshifter Shack—with Lena’s help to fill in the gaps, of course—and gently laid Gabrielle on her bed in the girls’ room. Steven sat on a rickety stool next to her. We all knew better than to try to convince him to move, so the rest of us retired to the living room.
“You know what this means, right?” Mallum asked as he took a seat on the sofa.
Silence.
“Umarek is trying to take over her mind and control her,” Mallum explained after a few moments. “She isn’t letting him. Gabrielle is strong, but she can’t hold him off forever. And if he wins…” He trailed off with a shudder, unwilling to finish his statement.
“She dies,” Lori finished for him, her voice barely audible. From her tone alone, I knew that she finally understood the gravity of our mission. I hoped she would cooperate with a better attitude from here on out.
“How long do you think she can hold him off?” Selene looked nearly as pale as Steven did.
“Not long,” Lena answered. “He’s going to constantly bombard her mind until her defenses crumble. She may last days, or she may last weeks...I can’t tell for sure.”
“What are we going to do about it?” Felix questioned. “We still have to find the Zemayta Stone, bring it to Fate’s clearing, and now save Gabrielle? And all as soon as possible! How in the Dimensions are we supposed to do that?”
“As much as I hate to say it,” I said, “I have no clue. What I do know is that we need to get some rest if we’re going to tackle all of this tomorrow. It’s way past the time that we usually go to sleep and we’re going to need all the shut-eye we can get.”
“Agreed,” Lena seconded. “Everyone, get to sleep. Our minds will be clear—or, at least, clearer—in the morning.”
No one protested as we all trudged to bed. Lena even managed to convince Steven to go to bed too. I climbed under my blanket, remembering how Gabrielle had finished sewing it only days before the victory celebration. It was a simple, but warm and comfortable, patchwork quilt that she had been working on just for me. Almost every single Legendary Keeper had one on their beds. I wistfully glanced over at Gabrielle’s unconscious form under her own patchwork quilt before closing my eyes and drifting off to sleep.
In holding up his end of Gabrielle’s bargain with him, Umarek didn’t trouble me in my dream that night. Unfortunately, that didn’t mean that my dream wasn’t troublesome.
◆◆◆
A certain boy, tall and blond, was already there when I arrived. I didn’t know exactly where “there” was, but that’s where we both were. When he saw me, he froze, and with good reason. I remembered him all too well. William Johnson, the Legendary Keeper who had betrayed us all. The one that let Lythacan to fall to the Attackers.
“Traitor,” I growled, every emotion from his betrayal returning in full force. “What were you thinking? You could have gotten us all killed! Didn’t you care about us at all?”
“Why are you showing me this?” William shouted at the sky. Or what would be the sky, if the world around us wasn’t entirely gray. “Why, Kristina?”
The scenery around us changed from a dull gray to a circular, cave-like room. In the center of it was a pedestal that was intricately decorated with tiny gemstones and lined with precious metals. On top of the pedestal sat a ruby-like stone with strange, glowing symbols. A ghost girl hovered just inches in the air, her black hair flowing to the middle of her back. Her eyes, their color unclear, were sorrowful and full of pain.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“My name is Kristina Jackson,” the ghost girl replied. Haunting her voice was sadness and regret. “I preceded Magenta Valida Smith. I...I failed. I was killed by Zykno Frond in an official challenge, so Roy had to take matters into his own hands.” She made eye contact with me. “Although I have failed as the Magenta, I cannot allow you to. Mallum the Hunter, descendant of Zykno himself, must rid himself of Umarek before it is too late. Gabrielle, the purest of heart, battles Umarek in her mind at this very moment. They can only be saved by touching the Heart of Maserai, located in Zajahan.”
“What happened to Gabrielle?” William demanded. “Why does she need saving?”
“Essentially, she bargained with Umarek to save Mallum and to make sure Umarek doesn’t try anything,” I summed up, not sure why I was explaining it to him at all. I turned my attention back to Kristina. “How long does Gabrielle have?”
“Not long,” Kristina answered. “I do not know exactly how long she has; it varies from person to person. She may have a few days or a few weeks. Nothing is certain.”
“Okay, so we need to get Gabrielle and Mallum to the Heart of Maserai,” I summed up. “Anything else?”
Kristina nodded. “In order to protect the Legendary Keepers and their allies against the Darkness, you must cut small pieces of the Heart for all of them and you. That includes the Hunter. If worn, whether on necklaces or some other manner of jewelry, it will protect you against Umarek. He will be unable to invade your mind. It is your only hope to defeat him once and for all.”
“How do we find the Lost Dimension?” William asked.
“‘We’?” I questioned pointedly.
“You must seek out my brother, Lono, in Sibolana,” Kristina answered. “He will know how to guide you to Zajahan.”
“Noted,” William said.
“I swear if we see you, Selene will probably kill you,” I warned him with a glare. “And if she doesn’t, Regina probably will.”
“Didn’t Regina get killed by a manticore?” William questioned, furrowing his brow.
“She’s alive. We just found her,” I corrected. “All the more reason for you to stay away from us.”
“Look, Valida, I didn’t—”
I woke up before he could finish his statement.
◆◆◆
“Why doesn’t this surprise me?” I groaned as I got out of bed and retreated to one of the bathrooms to get dressed. I summoned the Diamond Ring, one of my Legendary Objects, and filled the basin with cool, refreshing water. I dismissed the Diamond Ring and splashed so
me water on my face. I looked at myself in the mirror. I had bags under my electric blue eyes from lack of sleep. My straight blonde hair was frizzy, tangled, and messy. My facial expression was of both exhaustion and annoyance. I groaned and thought, I’ve looked better.
“THOMAS AYAMO JONES, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?” Regina screamed, presumably at Tom. I jumped, splashing water all over the front of my shirt. “THE KITCHEN IS ON FIRE!”
I wiped the water off my face with a towel and dashed into the kitchen, not bothering to change my wet shirt beforehand. Tom and Regina were desperately trying to smother the flames that had erupted from whatever was in the pot on the wood-burning stove. Tom was wearing Gabrielle’s stained apron and was hitting the flames with a well-worn rag, which quickly caught fire as well. He shrieked and dropped it. The burning rag hit one of the wooden chairs, which also caught fire.
I summoned the Diamond Ring and willed water to blast from the ring and onto the flames from the rag and chair, as well as the flames in the pot that I assumed started the whole ordeal. Both Tom and Regina got soaked in the process of my fire extinguishing, but the fire was put out successfully.
“So, Tom,” I began, dismissing the Diamond Ring and crossing my arms, “how did you catch our kitchen on fire?”
Regina glared at Tom and answered for him. “This arrogant fool was trying to cook.”
Tom turned red. “I was just trying to be nice and make breakfast, okay? Believe it or not, I try to be nice sometimes!”
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Regina responded coldly.
“That’s enough,” I told them firmly. “Just give me a minute to brush my hair and change my shirt, then I’ll help you make breakfast.”
“Okay,” Tom agreed.
“I’m going to go check on Steven,” Regina announced. “I think he’s sitting next to Gabrielle again.”
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
◆◆◆
Thankfully, my parents taught me how to cook, so I knew how to make breakfast and was able to teach Tom a few recipes. Although it wasn’t nearly as good as Gabrielle’s cooking, it was still edible and tasted pretty good, especially considering that it was Tom’s first time cooking.
I looked around the table at my friends, all of whom ate their breakfasts without much excitement. I noticed that I wasn’t the only one with bags under my eyes. Lori didn’t look like she’d had a good night’s rest either.
Halfway through breakfast, Selene asked, “What are we going to do about Gabrielle? We can’t just leave her at the mercy of Umarek. We need to find some way to wake her up and get her back to normal.”
“Agreed,” I piped up. “I had a weird dream last night that might be of some use. A ghost girl—she said her name was Kristina Jackson—said that to save Gabrielle, we need to find the Heart of Maserai and make her touch it.”
“Hold your seahorses for a second,” Felix interrupted with his mouth full. “Kristina Jackson appeared to you in a dream as a ghost?”
“Wilson, don’t talk with your mouth full,” Tom scolded. Regina rolled her eyes at him, but didn’t say anything.
“Yeah,” I said to confirm Felix’s remark. “Why?”
“Cool,” Felix commented after swallowing. He didn’t say anything else, so I continued.
“Anyway, she said that her brother, Lono, would know how to find Zajahan, where Mount Maserai is located. Lono Jackson is in Sibolana as King Kaikayn’s advisor, right?”
Selene nodded. “I talked to Kaikayn at the victory celebration. He mentioned Lono at some point, I think.”
“How are we going to get Gabrielle to Maserai?” Lori questioned. “We can’t just carry her everywhere, especially not up a mountain!”
Lena was the one who proposed a solution. “I know a spell that will put Gabrielle in one of my amulets. That will both keep her alive and make her travel-sized, so we won’t have to worry too much about her. She’ll still be fighting Umarek in her mind, but physically, she’ll be fine.”
“Sounds like we have a plan,” Regina said, “but what about the Zemayta Stone? If we don’t get that, all of us turn dark, including Gabrielle.”
“If we need to, we’ll split up,” Tom responded. “For now, let’s just focus on learning the location of Zajahan. It’s called the Lost Dimension for a reason. I don’t think we would be able to find it without Lono’s help.”
“Is anyone opposed to talking to Lono in Sibolana?” I asked.
No one spoke.
“In that case, we leave as soon as we’re ready,” I decided. “It’s time to return to Sibolana.”
Chapter 9
After the rest of our preparations were made, I went with Lena to the girls’ room where Gabrielle lay. Steven was still by her side, his eyes bloodshot and his shoulders slumped. He looked completely and utterly drained. Knowing him, he probably hadn’t actually slept last night when Lena sent him to bed.
I rested a hand on Steven’s shoulder. “You okay?”
He didn’t take his eyes off Gabrielle for a moment. “I’m f-fine.”
“I need to put Gabrielle in here for the trip,” Lena informed him gently, showing him the amulet. It was a beautiful, emerald amulet, with an intricate, silver framing around the gem. It hung from a silver chain.
Steven turned to see the amulet. Then, with a heavy voice, he asked, “Gabrielle is d-dying, isn’t she?”
Lena nodded, a pained look in her eyes. “If she doesn’t surrender to Umarek, he’ll destroy her from the inside. If she does surrender—”
“—then she’d b-be better off dead,” Steven finished. He moved aside. “Do what you have to d-do to save her.”
Lena placed the amulet on Gabrielle’s stomach and took a step back. She muttered something under her breath. A green light emitted from the amulet and enveloped Gabrielle. With a flash, both the light and Gabrielle were gone, leaving just the amulet on the bed. The amulet glowed for a second, then dimmed. Lena fastened the amulet around her neck. I could see Gabrielle’s slumbering silhouette in the emerald.
“Let’s get the others and go,” Lena suggested. “I don’t know how long Gabrielle is going to last against Umarek. Every second counts.”
Once we had all gathered in the living room, I opened the portal to Sibolana. “Opatay clekavra Sibolana!”
The portal opened. One by one, we stepped through it.
◆◆◆
We exited the portal in front of Queen Makeki of Kalolana and Queen Alani of the Fruit Province of Olakina. They were arguing with Malianna, Makeki’s advisor.
“...Four-foot-ten is a midget!” Makeki argued. “Therefore, I’m not a midget and neither is Alani!”
“You are four-foot-ten!” Malianna countered.
“No, we’re both four-foot-ten-and-a-half,” Alani corrected. “That makes us taller than four-foot-ten, so we aren’t midgets!”
“Greetings, food people!” Felix said to them. “We need to talk to Lono. Does anyone know where he is?”
The argument stopped in its tracks. “Isn’t he at the Cone Castle?” Makeki asked. “He is Kaikayn’s advisor, after all. They’re rarely separated for long.”
“Good to know,” Felix said, starting to march off toward Numelua, the dairy province. “Onward to the Cone Castle!”
“Not so fast,” Malianna said, rushing forward to grab his shoulder and stop him. “Lono has been acting really weird since the Battle of Saviena. He barely sleeps, his appetite is practically gone—which is especially weird for him, trust me—and he rarely speaks to anyone, even Kaikayn. I don’t know if you’ll be able to speak with him.”
“We have to try,” I insisted. “Thanks for the heads-up, but we aren’t giving up on Gabrielle and Mallum so soon.”
“Wait,” Malianna said. “Isn’t Mallum the Hunter? You know, the guy that wanted you dead?”
“Originally, yes,” Mallum clarified. “To make a long story short, I’ve got Lena back, I switched sides, and now Umarek
is in my brain as well as Gabrielle’s.”
Malianna took notice of him for the first time. “Oh!” she exclaimed. “I didn’t recognize you without the Attacker uniform. You usually come with your entourage.”
“Those days are over,” Mallum assured her. Then, turning to the rest of us, he said, “We’d better try talking to Lono.”
“Whatever floats you like a gummy ring,” Makeki said.
“I wish you the best of luck,” Malianna added.
“Thanks,” I responded. “We’re going to need it.”
◆◆◆
“We need to speak to Lono,” I told Kaikayn as we approached Cone Castle. He was making an ice cream fort not far from the entrance.
“Lono isn’t having visitors at the moment,” Kaikayn informed us, pausing construction on his ice cream fort. “How can I help you?”
“We need to speak to Lono,” Mallum said, repeating my statement. “It’s urgent.”
Kaikayn’s eyes widened with recognition and terror. “The Hunter? What in the Dimensions is going on here?”
“It’s a long story,” Mallum sighed, then repeated the summary he had told Malianna about changing sides.
During this conversation, I didn’t even notice Lono approach us until he said, “I know what they’re here for, Your Majesty. Kristina sent them.”
“How did you know?” I asked.
“You aren’t the only one that has received dream messages from her,” Lono said simply. “I would have communicated with you sooner, but I had no way to unless you came here. I have never been very good at communication magic. Or magic at all, really.”
There were dark circles under his bloodshot eyes, and he walked as if he barely had the energy to stand. He seemed to have it worse than the Legendary Keepers did after the Battle of Saviena. Were that many people in the Dimensions as exhausted as we were?
“Can you tell us how to find Zajahan?” Mallum asked.
Lono nodded. “Near the center of the Labyrinth of the Lost, there is a dark purple portal. Going through the portal takes you to Zajahan. The only way to find this portal is with the help of someone with the gift of navigation, and they must hold this stone.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a glowing pebble. It was a beautiful, dark purple. “It is the same color as the portal. As long as the navigator holds this, he or she will be able to see the path to the center of the maze clearly.”
The Stone of Power (The Legendary Keepers Book 2) Page 4
