Alina's Crossing: Guardians of Terrin (4 page)

‘What did I do before?’
I racked
my brain, trying to quickly replay the events in the storage room where I found
the tablet.

“Alina, please hurry. We have
only seconds before the Shadow can reach us!” pleaded Jeb as he backed away
from the door.

It was almost completely inside
the room, it’s black mist moving and agitating in a way that made me think it
was getting ready to attack.

I shook my hands at him
urgently, gesturing for him to leave me be. He was breaking my concentration.

Then, in a flash, I remembered.

I grabbed my necklace and bent
over the tablet. The stone now hovered over the tablet and started to twitch. I
reached out and put one finger on the tablet. The letters started to glow.

 
I saw Jeb look over to me and smile,
encouraging me to continue. I then placed my whole palm on the tablet and the
portal re-appeared, the small opening of the portal becoming wider with every
rotation as it started to take shape.

I turned to Jeb, giving him a
huge grin. He grabbed the tablet in one hand and my hand in his other, pulling
me towards the portal opening.

It was then that I remembered
my recurring dream. This looked like the exact portal my grandmother had taken
me into.

I had the sudden feeling that
my dream hadn’t really be a dream.

“Ok” I yelled, dragging my feet
to a standstill. I looked behind me to the advancing smoke monster that was
still trying to catch us.

 “I realize I have to go
in there but I am not going to be able to do it. You are going to have to drag
me Jeb! I'm am really, really freaked out right now!” I said.

Jeb's eyes softened and he
squeezed my hand for reassurance. He looked behind us at the approaching Shadow
and without a second thought, pulled me into the portal behind him.

I squeezed my eyes as tight as
they would go.

It was dark in there and much
cooler. I had thought I would be twirling, tumbling, and flying all over the
place, only to be pleasantly surprised to discover I was wrong. I hesitantly
opened my eyes, one at a time, squeezing Jeb's hand to make sure he was still
there next to me. He flashed me a cheeky grin and winked at me.

The portal was surprisingly
stable. I was walking on a hard surface, but could see nothing below our feet.
Whatever it was that was holding us up was almost gliding us along. It was
circular shaped inside, like a tube, with millions of colors swirling around
us. The colors were dancing together in a rhythmic display, seeming to
intertwine with each other, creating a harmonious mosaic that was in constant
motion.

It was spectacular.

I could tell that my ride
inside the portal was about to come to an end because I saw the proverbial
light at the end of the tunnel. I was disappointed because I wanted to have
more time in this awesome portal, but I knew Jeb wanted to get me to safety,
and I had to admit, after that encounter with the Shadow thingy, I wanted to be
safe too.

We exited the portal as easily
as we entered it and ended up somewhere I hadn't expected.

“Umm...where are we?” I asked,
looking around.

I had expected to be somewhere
else. Somewhere magical.

“The docks.” he said simply.

“The docks? Like...by the
water?” I asked.

Clearly I hadn't heard him
correctly even though my eyes had registered all the water that was surrounding
us.

“Yes, we need to get to a
boat.” stated Jeb simply.

I was stunned by the sudden
change in locals. Five minutes before I stepped out of the portal I was in a
museum that rested inside one of the world's busiest cities, and now, all
around me was crystal clear, turquoise water. It was warm and horribly muggy
but breezy at the same time. I saw endless white sand beaches and tall palm
trees, their branches swaying majestically in the light breeze. There wasn't
any of this in New York. As I continued to survey my surroundings I saw a sign
that caught my attention.

Welcome
to the Bahamas.

‘Bahamas? I am in the Bahamas? Wait, did he say we need to
get to a boat? I hate boats.’
I thought
erratically.

“Oh no, no way, not gonna
happen! I hate boats! I am deathly afraid of boats. I am not getting on a boat
with you!” I exclaimed.

 I felt like I was going
to have a panic attack. I bent over, putting my head between my legs. The smell
of the sea air was making me feel nauseous and I felt as though bile was coming
up into my throat. The thick air from the sea mingled with a rotting fish
smell, the bright sun and my absolute terror of boats and everything I had just
experienced was all coming to a head.

I believed I was going to pass
out.

I noticed Jeb was walking
quickly towards a rather nice looking speed boat that was waiting innocently to
be stolen by us. I didn't think it was his. First, we steal a priceless
artifact from the museum, which absolutely guaranteed I would not be getting
that internship and then to top it off, I was committing grand theft motor
boat.

‘This can't be happening.’
I
thought.

“Alina, listen to me.” he said,
turning back and walking towards me again.

“We are still not safe. You
WILL get on this boat and we WILL get to safety. The Shadow is still out there
and as long as we are in this realm unprotected, it can and
wil
l find us. You don't want it to. Can
you please just handle the relatively short boat ride we need to take? Please?”
he begged.

“Why can't we just use the
portal to get to wherever we need to go?” I asked, my tone whiny.

“Because where we are going to
crossover is in the middle of the ocean and I am very new at portal jumping. If
I'm wrong by even a fraction, we may end up in the water and no way to know
where we are or how to get back. This is the safest way to get where we need to
go.” explained Jeb gruffly.

He was getting frustrated with
me again. I was giving him a hard time and all he was doing was trying to
protect me.

I slowly stood up, trying to
adjust
.

‘I was at the docks in the Bahamas and I was about to steal
a boat. I magically created a portal and there is a black smoke monster chasing
me. I am now going to cross over into another realm.’
I rationalized.

After I ran all those events
through my mind, I decided it was best to not think about what I did or what I
had to do, I was just going to have to do it.

 I curtsied to him,
indicating my compliance, albeit reluctantly.

There was no smile on my face.

I could see the corners of his
mouth turn up for just an instant and it changed his face completely. It was
nice to see and I made a mental note to try to make him smile again.

We made it onto the dock with
no run ins of any sort with the blobby smoke monster or the police.

I also decided that if I made
it out of this day alive, I would never wear heels again. My feet were
screaming from all of the running I had done in them and it was forcing me to
rethink my footwear choices immeasurably.

‘Wedges. I would change to wedges.’
I decided.

Jeb led me to the motorboat he decided
to steal. It was a beautiful boat, long and sleek and black. The seats and
benches were made of white waterproof vinyl and looked extremely comfortable.
There was a canopy over the two captain's chairs that would provide shade while
we were on the water. It had two motors and there was a cabin below the deck.
Jeb had already jumped on board, started the engine and unraveled the ropes
anchoring the boat to the dock, preparing it for our getaway.

He certainly seemed to know his
way around a boat.

“Come on Alina. You will be
fine.” he said, holding his hand out to me.

I gave him the tablet, which he
settled in a storage unit underneath one of the bench seat towards the back of
the boat. He then held out his hand to me again.

I grabbed his hand and put my
foot on the side of the boat, hitching my skirt up a little. The second my foot
made contact with the side of the boat, the boat started to sway from a sudden
surge of waves and my foot slipped. Jeb had a hold of me however, and I
stumbled into the boat and into his waiting arms. He was quite sturdy and
didn't fall, his footing sure.

He stood me back upright and
started looking up and down my body.

“What are you looking at?” I
asked, offended and insecure all at once.

“I'm really sorry but that
skirt is dangerous. Turn around.” He said, quickly spinning me around. He bent
down and a few seconds later I heard a ripping sound.

‘Did he just rip my skirt?’
I wondered, aghast.

“Can you walk and run better
now? Do you have more leg room?” he asked.

I stretched my legs some and
had to admit that his alterations were a little better. I smiled at him in
thanks.

“Maybe you should lose the
spiky shoes, too.” He said as he took off my shoes, one by one and threw them
over board.

I hurriedly ran to the side of
the boat, not wanting to believe what just happened.

“Those were six hundred dollar
shoes Jeb!” I screamed, hanging off the side of the boat.

I was stretching my arms over
the side of the boat, but the boat was too high above the water line. I
couldn't reach my shoes.

He threw my precious and
extremely expensive shoes into the ocean.

He wouldn’t need to be afraid
of the Shadow that was chasing us because I was going to kill him.

 “You might want to sit
correctly. It’s going to get windy.” he said.

Jeb throttled the engine to
life and took off while I hung off the side of the boat and grieved. I was
helpless as I drove away from my bright red shoes.

They were gone forever.

CHAPTER
3

SHAEL

“I am not pleased with this
turn of events.”
thought Shael, King of
Terrin.

I needed to know how Jeb had gotten to Alina so quickly and more
importantly, why I wasn’t able to detect anything. I discovered that two
portals were opened on the other side and I knew nothing about either one of
them. This meant that there was a severe breach in my intelligence line and I
meant to fix it quickly.

Everything I did every day was motivated by my current
station in life. I was the King of Terrin. I had absolute authority and power
over the kingdom I inherited from my father. I did not take that lightly. If
there was even the tiniest threat to my kingdom, I extinguished that threat.

I sat in my chair by the window, taping lazily on the old wooden
desk that was once my father's. I hadn't changed anything in the gathering room
from the way it was on the day he died. I kept it as a shrine and a daily
reminder of the man I needed to be.

The room was large and three stories high with book cases that
went from floor to ceiling on three sides of the room. Ladders had been
installed on every level in order to access the books. My father, Romel, loved
to read, his nose always buried in some book. He constantly invited authors and
scholars to the palace to do readings and lectures, with some taking up
residence for months at a time.

My father had been a scholar as well as the King, but he
preferred his academic pursuits to his Royal duties. He did the bare minimum,
the running of his Kingdom at the bottom of his priority list.

My father was also born magical, but didn't use his magic
and had no interest in refining his powers. He saw them as a hindrance, not a
gift.

 
I felt differently.

 
His desk was the only thing that had been changed by me. It now held my
“looker”, as some of my more uneducated underlings put it. The “looker” was
actually called a Davvi. It had a large silver base that looked like a tree
trunk with silver branches that held a large clear globe of magical glass that
allowed me to see whatever I needed to see, whenever I needed to see it.

 
I differed from my
father, relishing in my magical gifts. They were a necessity to me, in order to
rule my Kingdom.

 
The
Davvi held a picture of Jeb and Alina on a boat. I deduced that they were on their
way to Jeb's secret hideaway. I could never seem to find where Jeb hid no
matter how hard I looked. Even my magic was unable to uncover its whereabouts.

I was very frustrated.

Jeb and his people always seemed to be one step ahead of me.
I don't enjoy being outsmarted, not with all the tools, powers and magic I have
at my disposal. Jeb and his group had no magic in their circle that I knew of
and, yet, somehow they kept slipping away from me. I discovered, quite by
accident that Jeb found Alina before I even knew she had found the tablet.

‘Before I could even confirm
her identity!’
I fumed.

Alina, one tiny, insignificant girl, had quickly become the
most important person in my life. I had been told long ago that she was the key
to my ultimate demise and I wasn't going to let it happen.

I knew of her. I had
always
known of her.

I knew that her family had smuggled her over to the other
side, into the 1st Realm, many years ago as a young child. I knew that she
would one day come back here and she would challenge me. The fact that Jeb was
helping her was not good news.

This meant that things were going to start happening. Challenges
would arise. I wasn't as prepared for them as I was supposed to be.

I should have had more time and I should have had more notice.

I had neither of those things.

I was so normally controlled. I was beginning to feel the
first rise of something I wasn't accustomed to.

Fear.

I stood up in a fit of rage, toppling over the heavy wooden
chair I was sitting in. I stomped over to the window, my heavy black boots
pounding the wood floor with every angry step I took. I flung the window panes
open and closed my eyes, forcing fresh air into my body.

I turned angrily towards the sound of someone knocking at
the door. I didn’t want to see anyone, but I was the King and disturbances were
part of the job.

“Enter.”
I said through gritted teeth.

I relaxed significantly when I heard my mother Mirra enter.
She was a stark contrast to me in appearance, but had always been my biggest
champion and constant supporter. What I needed right now was to calm down and
formulate a plan and if anyone could help me do that, it was my mother.

Mirra is small and slight, with light blonde hair that was
just starting to lose the luster of her youth. She loved color in her wardrobe.

 
'Just because people consider me an evil
witch, doesn't mean I have to dress like one.'
she always said.

 My mother walked slowly over to the Davvi wearing a
long and flowing light blue dress. She frowned when she saw the image inside the
crystal globe.

She had once been Queen when my father had been King, but he
wasn't King for very long. My mother had seen to that. She saw how her husband
paid no attention to anything other than books and scholarly endeavors. He
couldn't be swayed to rule the Kingdom if it took him away from his hobby.

 
The way I had become
the King of Terrin was all my mother's doing. She was very powerful and
possessed some of the oldest and most powerful magic in the 2
^nd
Realm, the Parigella line.

The Parigella family was the second oldest line of magical
blood that existed in the 2nd Realm, besides the Shaye line, which was the
oldest. The Kings and Queens that ruled since recorded history of Terrin began
had not ever been magical. In fact, magic was not known to exist in Terrin
until some brave members of the two families showed themselves eons ago.

It was a peaceful existence in the 2
^nd
Realm,
between the magical and non-magical people. That is how magic entered the
current Lariko royal line. A magical woman from the Shaye Line, Bellar, married
the prince of the 2
^nd
Realm and installed magic in the Royal line,
myself a culmination of the sixth generation of that union. 

Mirra had been a perfect match for my father, when it came
time for him to marry. My father was magical so it made sense for him to marry
someone else magical. My father wasn't first in line to the throne. He was
behind his sister, who had been the Queen from a very young age when their
father died.
 

My mother had wormed her way into the royal line by marrying
my father and that was only the first part of her plan. When my mother wanted
something, she got it. No matter the cost, no matter how great the challenge,
she always seemed to get her way.

The second part of her plan was to overthrow the Queen and
place her husband in the big chair. Once their footing on the throne had been
established and no one could contest their rule, my mother now the Queen, had a
vision that showed her the power I would come into as I got older.

I once overheard my mother having a conversation with one of
her confidantes about me.

 
“You can see the blackness in Shael's soul
through his eyes. It is the first thing you notice about him.”
the strange lady said to my mother.

 
They were in my
mother's sitting room, around a blazing fire. I was supposed to be taking a
nap, but I slipped away from my nanny, making my way to my mother's part of the
castle.

“He will be strong with the
dark magic you seek, if you can find it. And you will win.”
the lady said.

“Yes,”
my mother said, a small knowing smile crossing her face.
“And I
will find it.”

I hadn't known then that my mother had a plan for me, it was
only later, once I matured that she revealed her vision. I didn't object to any
of it, because I too thought my father was a terrible king.

I could do better.

I could be better.

Since both my parents were magical, it was inevitable that I
would be born magical. However, I now possessed an even greater source of magic
that enhanced my natural abilities.  Inside my body, housed the Shadow,
the primary source of power that I possess.

It was pure, concentrated evil that lived within my eyes. They
swirled a constant hurricane of black and grey that everyone could see and that
everyone feared. This enormous power was a gift to me from my mother. Where she
got it remains a mystery to me and she will tell no one where she acquired it.

This power, the evil that lives within me, was the
culmination of everything my mother planned for me. It was what she was talking
about to her ladies.

It was the reason I am now the King.

I asked her why she wanted this immense power for me and not
her. She responded as only a loving mother would.

“Wasn't every mother supposed
to do everything they could to help their child advance in life?”
was her reply.

 
My
mother killed my father, after repeated refusals to succumb to her idea of what
a magical King should be. She placed me on the throne as his successor. I had
been grateful to my mother. My father had a conscience and let the people of
this land walk all over him.

He was weak.

My mother and I thought differently.

The people in this kingdom would fear their leaders, and
would not run the Kingdom in place of the King. They would not have any say in
the choices I made for them, nor have any opportunity to take it away from me.

The only obstacle I would face was the vision my mother had.
It appeared as though someone would eventually try to overthrow me. It took
many years for my mother to clearly see who this enemy was. We had worked
tirelessly together to locate this person, never having any success in until
this day when
we
figured out it was
her
.
 

She was in the 1st Realm, about to crossover into the 2nd
Realm. The person we never expected was the person we had been looking for the
whole time.

 
“This is the girl then?”
she said more as a statement, rather than a question.

“She is prettier than I thought
she would be.”
She said as she
absentmindedly touched the smooth glass of the Davvi. She shrugged and strode
toward me.

I merely nodded and looked back out the window, leaning
against the stone wall with my head hanging down.

“She doesn't look very strong
does she? We have a window Shael. We must act quickly if we are going to take
advantage of it.”
she said, gently
.

Mirra had come over and put her hands gently onto my arm.
This gesture, however loving it meant to be only made me feel worse. I yanked
my arm away, letting out a strangled growl.

“Please mother, not now. I have
a serious problem on my hands. For all my powers, as far-reaching as they are,
this one....annoying.....group of misfits always seems to get the better of me
and now they have her.”
I said loudly
through clenched teeth and balled up fists.

“My intelligence has failed me.
I was to be made aware the INSTANT that tablet was found. The INSTANT the girl
was found. The fact that she was so well hidden that even MY powers couldn't
find her says something is broken. It says that I have a terrible weakness
somewhere and I should have none!”
I yelled.

I was thrown off guard by this failure. I have killed people
for way less.

“I know dearest. You are a wise
and powerful king, just as I always knew you would be. We just need to regroup
and see if we can catch her before she crosses over. You saw how quickly the Shadow
found her once we were alerted to her presence. Why don't you send it out
again? This time we will get it right.”
She
said.

“I cannot travel to the 1st
Realm, mother. You said the Shadow would stop them and it didn't. The Shadow
isn't as strong in the other realm as it is here, but you said it would hold
enough power to stop them. It has never missed a target until now, and, when I
needed it most, it failed me. Now they will reach the safety of their little
haven and I will be ruined!”
I roared in
frustration.

I found the nearest piece of furniture, kicking it until it
toppled over, breaking it with my act of aggression.