by D P Rowell
“‘I thought you weren’t being followed,’ Rio said to Kaitlyn.
“‘I—I wasn’t being fo—’
“The drake used a spell to pull me through the trees and paralyze me. He pinned me to the ground and got in my face, and fire spurted up around me. I thought he was going to kill me, but he didn’t. He said that my death along with your mother’s would be too difficult to explain away. So, he just took my memory. I woke up the next morning with a powerful headache. Vague pieces of the memory were still there, but it felt like a dream. I’m not sure what they did to me to act normal throughout the rest of the evening, but I barely even remember being there. The dream of seeing my wife and Rio in the woods eventually became a recurring each night. I would ask her about it, thinking she could help me understand why, and she told me to stop worrying about it; that it was just a dream and I was being ridiculous. Well, one day, just over a couple months after you all had left for your yearly vacation with Marty, Rio shows up at our front door. He’s got Julie and Tamara tied up. I lost my cool. I remembered him from the dream. I knew it was real then. But it was too late. Rio had the stone in his hand and he granted Kaitlyn her powers. Julie and Tamara—” Marcus choked, and a few tears spilled from his eyes. “Tamara turned into her slave and she commanded her to take over my body. The drake said Julie was too young and he knew a place he could take her to remain secret until she was ready. He swore he wouldn’t hurt her, that was part of their agreement. I don’t know where he took her.”
That’s why Rio took Julie and Tamara, Ace thought. He was delivering them to Aunt Kaitlyn as a prize. He thought about Jakka’s words on Earth. How the jag told him Rio worked inside his family to try and get them to hate each other. Now he knew how the drake did it! The slimy, evil thing knew he couldn’t use magic to sway their minds, so he deceived Aunt Kaitlyn, making her to believe if she helped him get the Emerson Stone, she could rule with him. Then . . . then . . . Ace choked on a few tears as the thought passed through his head. Then Rio had Aunt Kaitlyn poison his mom and blame it on Julie, so Ace would hate her.
Marcus sobbed, burying his face in his right hand and shaking. Everyone gathered close and grieved in silence. Ace wasn’t sure how to respond to it all. His heart shattered. Turned out, Peppercorn blood wasn’t bad blood at all, it was Halder blood. How did Aunt Kaitlyn, a descendant of Marty Halder, become so wicked? They traded glances to one another quietly.
Ace finally stood and broke the silence. “Rio didn’t grant her powers” he said, “he cursed her. She fell for his deception. He used her corrupt heart, bent on the rivalry with her family, against her. It blinded her from seeing the truth. The Emerson Stone protected us from spells and witchcraft when it belonged to Grandpa Marty. By us, I mean all his children and grandchildren. She’s no Supreme Witch, she’s his slave, and so are Tamara and Julie.”
“Not Julie,” Cameron said. “She’s too young, we can still save her.”
Ace looked at his brother and nodded. “You’re right. We can, and we will. But not if we just sit around moping about it. We at least have Tamara in our grasp, and she can still turn back.” Ace swallowed and choked on his next few words. “In the meantime, Tharuach is still in the palace somewhere and Julie is somewhere in Yutara, and they need our help. We only have one last hope. We can only help them . . . We can only help Tamara . . . We can only help the rest of Yutara if we get the stone back.” Ace leaned close to Uncle Marcus’ fearful eyes. “So, Uncle. Where’s the Emerson Stone?”
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
The Stone's Keep
Uncle Marcus stood to his feet, patting the dust off of his pants. “I’ll take you there.”
Cameron jerked his head toward Uncle Marcus. “Wait a second,” he said. “The day you captured me and my brother, you asked him where the Emerson Stone was. Why would you ask if you knew where it was the whole time?”
“Because,” Marcus said, “I was battling for control that entire time, trying to warn you it wasn’t actually me talking. I was able to get a few words out, but Tamara was still controlling my tone and my body language. I was trying to tell you the Emerson Stone’s location. She fought me hard and it came out as a question, so she could distract you from it. The same thing just happened a moment ago. I was fighting Tamara the whole time to get here, and it took me longer than I’d hoped, but I finally got here.”
“Why would you even come down here?” Trilo said.
“My only hope was Ace seeing through it and saving me from it . . . and clearly it worked,” Marcus replied.
Ace agreed with a tip of his head. He remembered his uncle acting strange at the time outside his cell and in his office in Naraka.
Trilo brought a pale flame to the tip of his fingers and glanced at his Uncle. “Touch the flame.”
“What good would that do?” Cameron said. “We had Aunt Kaitlyn touch it but the elyr didn’t burn her.”
Uncle Marcus placed his hand over the white fire and it didn’t burn him. He turned to the others and said. “The reason the elyr didn’t burn your aunt is because the stone is Rio’s and she is Rio’s witch. The stone is protecting both of them from the elyr.” He eyed Ace. “If you want the elyr to work on her, you need to get the stone back.”
Ace grunted with anger. “Then we have no choice.”
“How do you even know this?” Trilo said to Marcus.
Uncle Marcus looked at the scarred fae and pulled his hand away. “I was here when Rio brought Kaitlyn here and made her queen. He told her there was no fear of the elyr working against them anymore.”
Ace paced the floor with his hands on his hips, deciding what and who to believe. Though his uncle hadn’t entirely gained his trust, they were running out of time. He turned to the others. “Someone needs to take Tamara away from here.”
Father stepped forward. “Where to?”
“Gathara,” Cameron said. “It’s the safest place.”
Father nodded with a determined look and gripped Cameron’s shoulder with the hand not holding his AMR. “We’re her family. We’ll take her back.”
“Great,” Ace said. He turned back to his uncle. “You ready to take me to the Stone’s Keep?”
Uncle Marcus said, “If getting that stone back can truly help my daughters, I would give my life to help you get it back.”
Ace held his hand out before his uncle and helped him to his feet, then turned back to Father and Cameron. “How are you two going to get out of here?”
Father grabbed Tamara and hoisted her over his shoulder. She shrieked but he paid her no mind. “We’ll find a way. Don’t worry about us.” Tamara continued to shriek and bite and twitch. It tore Ace’s heart to pieces.
“I think I know how we can do it,” Kareena said. Everyone turned to her. She'd remained quiet in her cell for so long, Ace almost forgot she was there. “I can cause a distraction. I can propel myself to the surface and use the elyr to have everyone chase me and you all can come after me.”
“No, that’s not gonna happen,” Ace said.
“Why not?” Kareena said. “It’s a great plan.”
Ace stepped close to her, grabbed her arm and said quietly in her ear. “Your father would kill me if I let you do something this dumb. If Aunt Kaitlyn catches you she’ll kill you.”
She placed a hand on his face and quietly said back, “And what will she do if she finds my father? I can’t sit idly by, knowing there’s something I can do to help. And you can’t stop me either.”
“Kareena . . .”
“I’ll go with her!” Trilo said. “I can cause the distraction and she can find her father and keep him safe.”
“And I’m with you,” Sebastian said to Ace. “I can help cover you and Marcus as he leads you to the stone.”
Ace grunted with anger.
“We don’t have time!” Uncle Marcus said. “We’ve wasted too much already, someone is bound to come back down here any minute.”
Ace glanced back at Kareena and placed the other hand
on her face as well. “Be safe.”
“You as well,” she said.
Ace pulled away and hurried to the stairwell. “Let’s go!”
Everyone else gathered their things and fell in behind him. Once they reached the bottom of the stairwell, Trilo and Kareena stood in the middle. “I don’t think my elyr is strong enough,” Trilo said.
“Then hang onto me,” Kareena replied. Trilo locked his arm with hers, and Ace couldn’t decide how he felt about it. She glanced at him with a thin line of gloss in her eye and said, “Find the stone, Ace. Only you can take it back.” With a burst of white fire beneath them, she and Trilo thrust up through the winding stairs.
“Let’s go!” Ace shouted. Everyone burst up the stairs, but before Ace could begin, he felt a tug on his arm. He turned to find his older brother.
“Once you get the stone back,” Cameron said, “capture Aunt Kaitlyn and get her to talk. She knows where Julie is.”
Ace nodded and they rushed up the stairs. Screams of residents and angry guards sounded from above as Trilo and Kareena had begun their distraction. Ace winced inside. What if something bad happened to Kareena? He couldn’t live with himself if he let Tharuach down. But regardless of Tharuach, he couldn’t live with himself if he let anything bad happen to her anyway. When they reached the top. Father and Cameron split away from them with Tamara, and Ace begged the Light to get them to Gathara safely. Luckily, Kareena and Trilo’s distraction had the residencies cleared of all palace faes, and he watched Father and Cameron get to the end of the residencies unharmed and out of sight.
“C’mon,” Sebastian said. “We need to hurry before we get found out.”
“Right,” Uncle Marcus said. “Follow me.” He led them through the residences to the end. They peered around the wall to find one of the main halls where fae citizens evacuated and fae guards helped. They looked like bees in a shaken hive, buzzing wherever they could for safety. Uncle Marcus led them across the hall, fast but quiet, to not draw any attention.
They had almost reached the door Uncle Marcus led them to, but Ace’s heart sank when he heard a guard shout, “Hey, stop those three!” Sebastian turned around and fired his AMR at the guard.
“Go! Go!” Sebastian said. Ace and Uncle Marcus rushed through the blur of gold armor and flying anti-magic. Something grabbed Ace’s legs and he fell face first to the ground. He turned around to find Aunt Kaitlyn bursting into the hall, pulling him by his legs with a magic spell. Ace thrust the elyr at the Fae Queen in a wave as big as one of the palace walls. She let go of the spell and fell to the ground.
Uncle Marcus grabbed Ace under his arms and pulled him to his feet. “Let’s go! C’mon let’s go!”
Aunt Kaitlyn stood back to her feet. She went to attack Ace with another spell but was met with a bullet on her shoulder. Sebastian fired another shot and turned to the boy. “Go, Ace! Now!” He turned back and continued to fire at the Fae Queen. She dodged a few and leapt in the air.
Ace and Uncle Marcus turned back and sprinted to a door, which led to a tunnel of crystals on the other side of the hall. “Almost there!” Marcus said. He led the boy through the palace labyrinth; a maze of elegance. Each hall led to a stairway further down to the heart of the gorge cave. They ran through dining rooms and residencies where guards escorted the royal faes. Several guards tried to attack them but Ace used the elyr to escape their clutches. Sometimes temporarily blinding the faes and making a swift escape, other times using the force of the elyr to send them flying across the hall. This happened a few times before they finally reached the darkest hallway at the bottom of the longest staircase. Couches sat on either side of the hall, as well as bookshelves and coffee tables. The whole way, Ace had let his mind wander about Kareena and Trilo and Father and Cameron. What if they were caught? What if Aunt Kaitlyn didn’t wait for the press conference to execute them this time?
“This is the last hall,” Uncle Marcus said as they crossed through the lounging area. “Just down these stairs and through the red door is the stone’s keep!” Uncle Marcus stopped. “There’s bound to be guards down there.” he whispered.
“I can take them.” Ace whispered back.
“That’s not the point,” Marcus said. “They’re chasing us now. If we spend too long fighting them, we’ll be caught before we can get the door open. Hide behind the couch in here. I will pull the guards from their post and then you can run in.”
Ace had no time to argue, his uncle was right. He rushed to the lounge and ducked behind the couch. The thunder of chaos went about the entire palace through the walls of crystal and stone. He calmed himself and prepared to end it. Once he had the stone in hand, all would be fixed. Crashing sounds bounced on the walls from outside. Moments later, Uncle Marcus burst through the lounge, followed by two guards. Uncle Marcus led them outside the lounge and further into the palace. Ace crept out from hiding behind the couch after the guards chased him away. He peered around, making sure the coast was clear, then ran to the hall. The stairs led downward to a crystal wall with a red door. He rushed to the door and prepared to burst through but . . . he noticed something. A crack? He gently touched the red door and it creaked open. He stepped inside to a room like the inside of a sphere, lit perfectly by the crystals. Rounded until the back wall, which curved inward and glowed a deep red. The roof of this room had a halo opening, shining a spotlight of sun over a concrete slab with the inscription The Emerson Stone. An eerie quiet stirred the air. For the slab with the inscription lay empty.
No, Ace thought. It can’t be. It has to be here!
He stepped closer and squinted at the sight of a shadowy figure on the other side of the room. Someone had come before him and taken the stone! He stepped closer and picked up his pace. The shadow turned slowly. It was . . . Sebastian? The elite’s face was pale and clammy.
“Sebastian! What are you doing here?” Ace said, “Where’s the Emerson Stone?”
Sebastian grunted a few times, as if words wouldn’t escape his mouth. Ace looked down and found Sebastian’s feet not standing on the ground, but floating. He then noticed a dark shadow wrapped around his waist. Ace’s body went cold. He turned back around at the sound of a roar. The door had slammed shut. And in front, stood a wretched face he’d grown especially irritated of seeing lately.
“Hello, Ace,” said Aunt Kaitlyn “Looks like you’re too late.”
“How did you get in here?” I watched Sebastian shoot you with anti-magic!”
She laughed a shrill laugh and stepped forward. “Truly you don’t understand the power of the Supreme Witch! No amount of anti-magic can take my powers from me; you haven’t seen real magic yet. And I think you’re not paying attention to the obvious around you, little nephew.”
Ace glanced around the dark room, lit only by the spotlight over the empty slab. He looked back at the wicked Queen with a snarl, unsure of what she meant. She spoke next with a dark, slithery voice. It crawled through the air and along the walls and crept Ace’s ears. It touched his heart, making it like freeze. He’d never understood evil like the evil in her voice before. “This room is draped in shadow,” she said. “And from the shadows I emerged.”
CHAPTER FIFTY
Again
Ace made a great flame appear on both hands and stood in position. “Where’s the stone, Aunt Kaitlyn? You can’t hide it from me.”
“No,” Aunt Kaitlyn said, “I guess I can’t.” She flexed her arms and Sebastian hovered toward him, whining and wincing. The witch shut her eyes and breathed through her nose. “You’ve losst! Yess. I can ssensse their presence in the palace. I know your fae friend with the scarred face has just been captured by the guards of Breen. I know your fae girlfriend and her father will be killed for their crimes any minute by my loyal minion. I believe you met her in Dorneg. I know your uncle is now in the hands of the fae guards and is going to be tried for treason. I know everything here, Ace. You were foolish to come. Rio cannot be stopped. Yutara belongs to him! He will take down the In
dies. The Israh . . . and I . . . I will destroy the Elyrian.”
“Let him go, Aunt Kaitlyn!” Ace made the Light in his hands brighter.
“The darkness has already won, nephew. Don’t you understand? We
knew your play all along. We knew you’d try to grow the Light, rather than come after the drake. He knew his power as a warlock would be discovered and you wouldn't have the guts to face him. So, we played defense. We’ve grown the darkness to a powerful size, and now your precious stone is so small it can’t even be seen.”
Ace looked at the empty concrete slab. He squinted and saw a small glimmer of a red dot. He swallowed a lump in his throat. He couldn’t believe it. No way was it true!
Aunt Kaitlyn continued to rant. “Take a good look. See what’s left of your ‘movement.’ We’ve been one step ahead of you each place you’ve been. Rio led you to Naraka, tricked you with your uncle, and had the chasers in Dorneg tell me of your every step. You’ve been playing my game all along. Your precious elyrian army of faes belongs to me now. Soon, Emery’s soul will be the new source of our magic, and Rio will rule all! The council will bow to him!”
Ace thrust his arms down. “You’re lying! You’ve taken the stone, it hasn’t shrunk!”
Aunt Kaitlyn smirked at Ace. “You can’t fool me, nephew. I hear your thoughts. I feel what you feel. I know you sense it here. The stone is in this room, is it not? Close your eyes. Reach out and feel it. You know it’s here.”
Ace’s lip quivered. He battled his thoughts. In a sense, Aunt Kaitlyn was correct. He did feel the stone’s presence. He knew he was close. But . . . was it just a trick of the mind?
The Elyrian lowered his gaze at the evil Queen. “I don’t believe you. I don’t believe anything you’re saying to me. You’re trying to get me to give up hope. Give up on the Israh. But you know we’re growing, you know we’re after you and you’re panicking, you’re resorting to magic! In all of this, you failed, Aunt Kaitlyn. You and that wretched drake. Because he taught me one thing all too well before he betrayed me. A witch’s most powerful tool isn’t magic, it’s deception.”