Kilenya Series Books One, Two, and Three (48 page)

“I had myself nervous!”

One of Logan High’s players approached Jacob and Teegan after almost everyone had left. “Very impressive moves, Jake,” he said. “Why’d you come play with us, anyway?”

Jacob and Teegan explained the situation with Coach Birmingham and Kevin.

“Well, my name’s Scott. If you’re interested, a few of us get together to practice on the days Coach doesn’t arrange stuff. We occasionally mentor less-experienced kids from the area, but we’d like to work with you for a couple of months. It’s all unofficial, but hey, our practices are intense, and maybe it’d help you kick this kid to the curb.”

They exchanged numbers, Scott told Jacob where they practiced, and Teegan and Jacob left the gym.

The first practice with Scott and his friends set the tone for all that followed. They played hard, intensely, and didn’t waste time. Jacob would rush home from Eklaron, throw on his gym clothes, and Scott, or one of the other guys, would pick him up for practice. Jacob found himself almost wishing he lived in Logan High’s boundaries so he could be on the same team with them. He made himself be happy with just the practices, though, recognizing how lucky he was for even this much. They helped him hone his skills and be a more valuable team player. After a while, when he was more comfortable, he showed them a few complicated basketball moves he’d taught himself over the last few years.

Back on Eklaron, the Fat Lady said the potion was coming along nicely. At the last Makalo meeting, she’d reported the bud would be ready soon and everyone needed to be on alert. Finding it, apparently, wasn’t something she could do on her own. Jacob started taking Hazel with him to school all the time, rather than leave her at home, just so he could check with the Makalos every hour. Hazel hated it at first, but eventually she got comfortable enough with the situation and even started opening up to him. He found he actually enjoyed her company—she wasn’t nearly as annoying as Early or September had been.

“Hey, Jake,” Shirley said one day in science, “You’re not moving, are you? ‘Cause if you’re practicing with Logan High . . . I don’t want you to leave.” The pouty expression on her face made Jacob want to hit someone.

He looked away, trying to focus on the assignment they were supposed to be completing. Unfortunately, Shirley had become Mrs. Wiley’s favorite student, and the teacher never stopped her from talking in class.

“But you know, it’s like, cool, ‘cause, my parents are talking about moving there too, and I really didn’t want to, but if you’re doing it, I totally would. Just ‘cause, you know, then we could see each other all the time still.”

Jacob reached into his bag to pull out his folder for choir, wanting to make sure he had the take-home test due today. “Shirley, if I moved, I’d never tell you where.”

She looked at him, her pout growing, then she suddenly smiled. “Oh, you’re such a tease, Jake. I’m so glad we’re close enough to joke around like this. Homecoming’s next Saturday, you know. Have you asked anyone yet?”

Jacob mumbled a “no,” still digging through his backpack. Where was that stupid test?

“What’cha lookin’ for?”

“Nothing. Finish your assignment.”

She scowled at him—her eyeshadow was purple this time—and turned forward. “Fine, Jake, fine.”

Jacob gave up searching, panic hitting him when realized he must have left the test at home. He wracked his brain, trying to remember. Then it came to him. He’d finished it while watching a movie with Matt and Sammy. It was still in the family room!

His hands started sweating. Miss J. wasn’t easy-going when it came to missing assignments. And he hated turning things in late. He had to get it! But how? Maybe Matt could take him home. Science had only been going for ten minutes. Would Mrs. Wiley let him leave? He had to try.

“Shirley,” he hissed.

She turned in her chair.

“I don’t know what to do. I left a test for choir at home and it’s due today. Miss J. drops a full grade for late assignments. Do you think Mrs. Wiley would let me go get it?”

Her eyes widened. “Oh, I’m sure she would. Let me go ask.” She jumped from her chair and approached the teacher’s desk. He was surprised when Mrs. Wiley listened to Shirley’s whisper, then looked at Jacob and nodded. She said something quietly, and Shirley returned to her seat. “She said to hurry back, and she’ll excuse you from the rest of class.”

Jacob’s mouth almost popped open. “Wow, Shirley. Thanks.” How’d she pull it off? Mrs. Wiley definitely would have said no to Jacob—and for good reason. Teachers weren’t supposed to encourage sluffing, or lack of attention to these kinds of things.

He grabbed his stuff, jumped from his seat, and left the room, waving bye to Tani as he did. Now to find Matt—it was still his lunch period, so it shouldn’t be too hard.

Matt was sitting with Gus and Sammy. He agreed to drive Jacob home, but only if Jacob gave him a couple dollars for gas.

They zipped from the parking lot and soon were rushing toward Mendon, windows down, music blasting on the radio. Matt slowed as his truck hit the dirt road that led to their house—it was still wet from a rainstorm that had come through. A BMW was stuck in the ditch on the side of the road. The brothers drove past it, and the person in the driver’s seat ducked low.

“That looks like Coach’s car,” Jacob said.

Matt didn’t comment—he was focused on avoiding the worst of the mud holes. They pulled up to their house, Jacob grabbed his test and was back in the truck only a moment later. This time as they passed the BMW, the driver was standing near the back of the car.

“It’s Kevin!” Matt said, laughing. “He’s sluffing school! With his dad’s BMW!”

Jacob craned his neck to see. “He probably has permission to use it.”

“No way, man—there’s only one reason people come up here. He snuck away from school with his dad’s car!”

Jacob snorted. “And now it’s stuck,” he said. “Maybe we should stop and help him get it out.”

“Are you crazy? After the way he’s been treating you? And the hay bale burning? No way, dude, we’re leaving him there.”

Jacob bit his lip. He didn’t like Kevin. At all. But still, they needed to do something. “We can’t. He’d probably help us if we were in the same place.”

“You know he wouldn’t—he got himself there, let him deal with it.”

“No. Stop the truck. I’m getting out.”

“Fine.” Matt slammed on the brakes, pushed the stick into reverse, and backed up until they were even with the BMW. He rolled his window down. “Kev! Joy-riding gone bad?”

Kevin scowled at him in response. “Get outta here, Clark.”

Jacob threw the door open, jumped to the ground, and circled to stand near Kevin. He almost smiled when he saw the flush of embarrassment cross the basketball player’s face. “Did the Beemer slide off the road?”

“Hit that patch over there.” Kevin pointed. “Fell into the ditch.”

“How were you planning to get it out?”

Kevin grunted. Matt threw a tow-rope to him, and Kevin watched it fall to the ground beside him. “Put it under the bumper in the back,” Matt called.

Kevin stared at Jacob’s brother for a second, then bent to pick up the rope. He squatted in the mud, feeling under the bumper, then looked up at Jacob. “How?”

“Here,” Jacob said, “let me do it.” He slid down the side of the ditch to the car, grabbed the cable from Kevin, and, getting on his hands and knees, peered up under the car. “Sometimes it’s hard to find . . . should be . . . here it is.” He hooked the cable, got to his feet, and sloshed around the car, Kevin following. “Oh, one more thing,” Jacob said. “Got extra carpet somewhere?”

“No. Why?”

Jacob half smiled, jogged to Matt’s truck, pulling the carpet scraps from the back where they kept them for times like these, then returned to the BMW. “Front-wheel drive?”

Kevin nodded, and Jacob handed him one of the pieces of carpet. “Put it as close behind the wheel as you can. Gives the tire something to grab onto.”

Jacob circled to the other side of the car and pushed the rug under the front tire as far as it would go. “Someone needs to be at the wheel. You’re cleaner than I am. I’m going to assume you don’t want your dad to know you took his car.”

Kevin shook his head. He stared at Jacob for a moment, then said, “I’ll drive.”

“Keep the wheels straight, and when I tell you to back up, back up. Don’t spin the tires if you can help it. Matt’s truck’ll do the hard work.”

Jacob walked to the front of the car, making sure he could see Kevin and Matt. He gave them both a thumbs-up, then bent to push the car, trying to find firm ground. The front tires spun for a second before catching the carpet. It took a few tries, but finally the truck pulled the car from the ditch and the brothers joined each other, cheering and giving one another high-fives while Kevin looked on, smiling awkwardly.

The boys turned to survey the car. Matt whistled. “Looks pretty bad.”

“I’ll bet it’s just the mud,” Jacob said. “Here, let’s take it back home and hose it off. Kevin, you can clean up there. I’ll need to change my clothes before going back to school, anyway.”

Kevin gave him a weird look. “Why are you doing this?”

Jacob shrugged. “Why not? Come on, let’s go.”

He hopped in the truck after putting the carpet away. Kevin followed them back to the Clark residence where they sprayed off the car—it had only one tiny mark where it had bumped against the other side of the ditch, and that rubbed away. Jacob changed his clothes and met Matt and Kevin out front.

“Hey,” Kevin said. “Uh . . . thanks for your help.” He still looked uncomfortable with how things had gone. “Uh . . . is there any way you could keep this from my dad? Anything I can do to keep you from telling him? I know he comes here a lot.”

Jacob frowned. He didn’t like hiding things like this from other people. But . . . no real harm had been done, and Kevin looked so humbled that Jacob didn’t want to lose the opportunity. “Let me play in the orange gym with everyone tomorrow. And no more treating me like crap.”

Kevin sighed—probably with relief. “Yeah, you can do that. But tomorrow only. And—and this doesn’t mean we’re friends or anything.”

Basketball practice with Scott’s group after school that day took on new meaning, and they worked extra hard in preparation for Jacob’s big day.

After they finished, Jacob went with the group for ice cream. It felt nice, being a part of the team.

When Teegan dropped Jacob off after, Jacob knew right away something was wrong. Matt was pacing the porch. Relief crossed Matt’s face when Teegan pulled up, and he met Jacob on the driveway, barely pausing to wave goodbye to Teegan.

“Why didn’t he answer his phone?”

“Must not have hear—”

“The Makalos need you. They’ve been trying to get ahold of you for a while, but none of us knew where you’d gone.”

“Oh, no! What’s going on? Are they okay?”

“The girl gnat said they need you to Key them to the Fat Lady’s place as soon as possible. Something’s up with her and the potion. What do you think it is?”

“I don’t know—I hope it’s the bud! Maybe it’s ready!”

“Well, let’s go find out.”

Jacob and Matt Keyed through the front door to the tree.

Kenji was pacing inside the tree and turned with relief when Jacob and Matt stepped into the room. “Hurry, Jacob. She says it’s time now.”

“Awesome!” His thoughts raced to the basketball game tomorrow during lunch—would he be back in time? Who cared, if it meant getting Aloren!

“Here, you’ll need this.” Kenji pushed hand shovels into Matt and Jacob’s hands. “We’re all going—she’ll need everyone’s help.”

Jacob tilted his head, confused. Why shovels?

Ebony, Sweet Pea, Akeno, Jaegar, Kenji, and Brojan all followed Jacob through the door to the Fat Lady’s cabin. The Fat Lady sat on her couch, and Aldo was back in his corner again.

She jumped up—how did she move that fast? But when Jacob saw how agitated she was, he understood—she’d barely been sitting in the first place.

“We only have a few hours to find it,” she said. “Just one of the trees will have the bud. If we’re too late, it’ll bloom.”

She pushed her way through the group of people, rushing to her door.