Kilenya Series Books One, Two, and Three (59 page)

She nodded, the tears spilling over, a bright green surrounding her face—joy.

“Why didn’t you tell me? Even after I’d come back from Eklaron?”

She sniffed, her whole body shaking. “We—we wanted to avoid it until you were eighteen at least. That was always the plan. To make sure you were old enough to understand what was going on around you—why the Lorkon wanted you.”

“But I was thrown into that world—it was no choice of my own, and obviously not
your
choice. You should’ve told me.”

“If there was any chance you’d be fine not knowing, we wanted to take it,” Jacob’s dad—Dmitri—said, pacing. “We weren’t prepared yet—there were still too many unanswered questions. You’d want answers, and we wouldn’t have them.”

“That doesn’t matter. I wish I’d known.” He put his head in his hands, so overwhelmed he could barely think anymore. Then a thought came to him, and he looked at his dad. “And why did
I
go get the Key, when it’s
your
kingdom?”

“The Lorkon wanted
you
, not me. They would’ve kept trying until they got their hands on you. The Key, as you already know, was only bait.”

“But why haven’t you helped out at all? The Makalos could definitely use it, and the people of that land would be so excited if you were involved in things again.”

His dad sat down and sighed. “I wish it were that easy, son. I really do. I’ve been helping in every way I can—studying, searching for other links, trying to figure out where the Key of Ayunli is—before the Lorkon do. I’ll be involved with Eklaron again someday, but for now, Jacob, it’s
you
they need. You have magical abilities—I don’t. I can help you learn sword fighting techniques, how to defend yourself and to speak to people as an authority figure, but they’re not ready for a ruler to come in and take over—especially with the Lorkon still in the land.”

“Son, you’re exhausted,” his mom said. “Why don’t you sleep on this, and we’ll talk in the morning?”

He nodded—sleep sounded like the best escape from the emotions rushing through him. His mom gave him a hug, and something occurred to him. “What am I supposed to call you now?”

“‘Mom,’ silly,” she said, ruffling his hair and following him to his room to make sure he had everything he needed.

Jacob changed into pajamas after his mom left, then sat on his bed. He opened the window when he heard knocking, and let Early in. He sent her back to Brojan with the news that he’d finished reading the journal and had a lot of questions.

He made sure Hazel didn’t want anything, then sprawled across his blankets, the old leather book—his dad’s diary—still clutched in his hand, and finally fell asleep.

Surprisingly, he didn’t have any dreams. He stretched, enjoying the pops in his joints, then reached over to pick up the journal from where it had fallen during the night. He wanted to read over a few sections again.

As a precaution to misuse of the Key of Kilenya, we have affixed special diamonds to it, two of which are dyed with a color only Jacob—it is still difficult to call him this—recognizes. In order to get the Key to function, he will need to slide the diamonds together.

Did they intend for anyone else to use the Key, and not just him? Kenji had been surprised when it didn’t work for anyone but Jacob. And the rose color—apparently no one else could see that. That was kind of cool.

He rolled to his side, reading the next three sentences in the journal.

We’ve found that some of his abilities shine through, even though he’s just under two years old, and the potion should have stopped them all. He sees things normal people can’t. The characters of those around him, especially.

Maybe this explained why he could see the Molg, and Akeno and Aloren couldn’t. And also why he’d always been able to tell when someone was being dishonest with him.

He re-read the part where Dmitri talked about wanting to eventually return to Eklaron. Would that happen? How would Jacob’s knowledge of who he really was affect things? Would they have to move to Eklaron now? That would be both good and bad—good because it would be so cool to live in a castle, and bad because he’d basically just made the basketball team. There was no way he could walk out.

Then it occurred to him—they wouldn’t live in a castle. There were only two castles in the area he’d passed through. One was almost completely in ruins, and the other had disgusting, foul creatures in it.

For some reason, this comforted him. He wanted to stay here as long as he could—be the senior-class star of the basketball team. He hoped his parents would be okay with this. His mom had never liked living here—now he knew why. He’d always thought it had been because Mendon was such a small town. Of course, he'd never figured out the real reason—that she missed her people and kingdom.

Jacob sat up as another realization hit him. What about Matt? Where’d he come from—how was he older than Jacob? Was he the one who’d been adopted? That had to be it. And how had his parents hidden all this information from Jacob his whole life? He tried to remember what his mom and dad had told him about them growing up, but he couldn’t. He’d never been that curious. That was probably a blessing to his parents—they didn’t have to lie if he never asked. The only thing he’d ever wanted to know was where his grandparents were. He’d been told they were dead. Arien’s parents
were
dead—the journal had stated this. And Jacob remembered Dmitri’s account of when his mother died—she’d basically been killed by her husband, Dmitri’s dad.

He sighed. After reading the journal, he felt like he’d been smacked in the face by an astrologist. Though, instead of learning about his future, he was being told his past, but in a way he’d never heard before, with abilities and secrets and crazy things.

He was royalty. That was still weird. Jacob lay back down on his bed, wanting to read the journal from start to finish again, but this time, with the knowledge that Dmitri was his dad.

Math passed slowly. Jacob struggled with paying attention, and Mr. Coolidge noticed. It obviously irritated him. Class finally ended and Jacob jumped from his seat, eager to get to history where he’d be able to melt into the back of the room. Except there was a substitute.

Jacob groaned. What made him groan even more was when he found out who it was. Shirley’s mom. And Shirley had gotten dismissed from whatever class she usually had at this hour so she could come to her mom’s class—which, of course, was Jacob’s class.

“Jacob Clark! What an honor to meet you!” Shirley’s mom was plump, a little shorter than Jacob, and had the same hair as her daughter, only a short version. An olive green surrounded her—something Jacob had never seen before. He wasn’t sure which emotion it was. “Please call me Manda.” She said her name with an interesting inflection, as if she were trying to be professional while coming across as Jacob’s “best friend.” He hid a desire to roll his eyes.

Shirley bounced into the class, straight to Jacob’s side. “Mom gave me permission to sit next to you. This is going to be so much fun!”

Great. It would be impossible to get lost in thought with that girl sitting by him. He rolled his eyes. Gus snickered, and Jacob glared at him, sitting in his usual spot, Shirley close behind him.

Manda started the class with a review of what they’d learned last time, and Jacob slumped in his chair, brushing Shirley’s hand off his arm, not even caring what she’d been asking him. Something about eating lunch at her table? He shook his head at her, then looked pointedly at the substitute. Shirley turned forward, a disappointed expression on her face. Yes, Shirley, you’ll have to pay attention, even if it is your mom teaching.

The minutes dragged by, and every time Jacob’s mind wandered, Shirley did something to pull him back. Or Gus would toss paper bits at him.

About halfway through, he spotted Early on the other side of the window, waving at him frantically. Why didn’t she just come in like usual? He guessed she didn’t want Manda to notice her.

“Man—er, Mrs. Christensen? May I be excused?”

She looked at him suspiciously, her color changing to a shade of purple. “Do you need to use the restroom?”

“No, but I . . .” He wasn’t sure what to say, and didn’t want to lie.

“Then it can wait.” She smiled at him, as if that would make him feel better.

Finally the bell rang. Jacob shot from his seat, ignoring Shirley’s requests to wait for her. He raced from the room, down the hall, and outside, to where Early waited impatiently.

“The Makalos say, get your brother and come now. And hurry! The potions are ready!”

Jacob jumped in excitement, then got Hazel out of his bag and had her search the halls of the school for Matt. She’d never be seen, and he didn’t have time to search everywhere. He decided to check the cafeteria.

Matt was just getting in line to buy his pizza when Jacob grabbed his arm, put the plate back on the counter, and pulled Matt from the room and down the hall.

“Stop it—man, that was pepperoni!”

“Doesn’t matter. Potion’s ready.”

Excitement crossed Matt’s features. “Really? Yes!” He punched the air, then sprinted down the hall alongside Jacob.

Early and Hazel met them outside—Hazel looked like she was about to die from an excitement heart attack . Jacob couldn’t blame her—it’d been so long since she’d last seen Aloren. He bit his lip, hopping into the passenger seat of Matt’s truck. Would Aloren still be normal? Would she even be alive?

Matt spun his tires as he pulled onto the 101. “What’s the plan?” he asked, turning the radio down.

Jacob shook his head. “Haven’t talked to them. Only know the potion’s ready.”

Countryside blurred past and Jacob kept looking behind them, making sure there were no cops.

“We’re in a hurry, Matt, but if you get pulled over, it’d be worse than us getting there a few minutes late.”

Matt only laughed. They reached Route 23 and zipped through Wellsville. Jacob gripped the seats of the truck—not really out of fear, but more from excitement. He was glad Matt was driving—if it’d been anyone else, Jacob was sure they wouldn’t have gone so fast, and they’d never get to Mendon.

They pulled onto their road, slowing only a little when the pavement turned into dirt. Dust billowed around them, entering the windows. Matt turned the music back up for the short drive up the hill to their home. He skidded the tires when they reached the driveway, slamming on the brakes, and he and Jacob hopped out.

Mom called to them from the kitchen. “What’re you doing home?”

“Get a hold of the school and release us from the rest of our classes, please,” Jacob yelled to her. “Potion’s ready. Gotta go.”

She put her hands on her cheeks, her eyes sparkling. “Really? It’s ready? Oh . . .” She ran to the phone.

Jacob took the stairs two at a time up to his room and dumped his books out of his backpack. He put Hazel’s container into Aloren’s bag, swung it over his head and one arm, then grabbed the journal, just in case he’d need it. He also snatched his first aid kit, matches, flashlight, and a couple of pocket knives and threw everything into his backpack.

Matt met him in the hallway. “Oh, man, I forgot. We have to walk the whole way, don’t we?”

Jacob’s shoulders slumped. “Dang it. Yeah, we do. It’s going to be a long walk, huh?”

“Well, let’s get going! We can run!”

Chapter 15. The Decision

Eachan dropped a heavy metal bar across the frame of the door, then leaned against it, breathing heavily.

Duana helped Aloren to her feet—the poor girl had been flung to the floor—and looked at her father with concern.

“What is it?”

“The villagers. Something is wrong.” He stepped away from the door, thinking. “We need to fortify the town hall. I’ve got the feeling this attack will escalate and we’ll need all the protection we can get.” He turned to look out the window through the bars, but jumped back when the people rushed the porch and pounded on the glass.

“Father?” Duana moved to open the drape.

“Step back at once. Grab that table, both of you. Bring it over here and put it against the window.”