The Magenta (The Legendary Keepers Book 1)

by Cassidy Bennett

  “My parents drowned on the Ayam Laka,” Gabrielle said. “My only sibling was killed in battle.”

  “Mine don’t know who I am.”

  I jumped at the sound of Steven’s voice. It was wistful and quiet, as if he wasn’t sure whether or not he wanted us to hear it.

  “Why not?” Tom challenged, raising an eyebrow. “You’re their kid. How could they forget?”

  “It wasn’t exactly their choice,” he said with a cold, bitter tone. “They wouldn't have decided to forget their own child like that.”

  “I wonder what it feels like,” I mused aloud, “to forget about someone close to you.”

  To everyone’s surprise, tears made their way silently down Steven’s face. Shakily, he took several deep breaths to steady himself. He was unsuccessful.

  Gabrielle placed a hand on Steven’s shoulder. After a moment’s hesitation, she asked, “What’s wrong?”

  “M-memories,” he answered after a few deep breaths. He wiped the tears from his cheeks. “Dark, d-dark m-memories.”

  Gabrielle wrapped her arms around him soothingly. He didn’t struggle or pull away. “But those memories aren’t the only ones you have,” she told him gently.

  “Light or dark, memories are powerful,” Steven said, regaining control over himself and pulling himself out of Gabrielle’s embrace. “They were never meant to be messed with.”

  Chapter 13

  We sat there in the safe room for what felt like hours. It was long enough for my feet to fall asleep and the rest of me to feel stiff.

  “I think it’s safe now,” Regina said, getting to her feet. “I don’t hear them anymore.”

  She was right. The Leather Book showed an empty forest and our ransacked headquarters, but no living thing moved around in either.

  William got to his feet and stretched. “There’s no reason to stay down here any longer, then,” he said.

  Gabrielle muttered something, and the rock that closed off the entrance to the safe room removed itself from its position. One by one, we climbed up the ladder and out of the safe room. Tom simply flew out. The sun was setting. When we arrived back at headquarters, we saw that the damage was worse than expected. The Attackers had left nothing unbroken. Gabrielle sighed and put a rusty, overturned lamp back into its correct position. “Looks like we’re going to have some work to do.”

  “What did they want?” I asked. I motioned toward a demolished chest. “They were obviously looking for something.”

  I heard the thud of multiple pairs of boots hitting the ground behind me.

  “Not something,” a voice behind me corrected, “someone. You, to be precise.”

  Before I could even react, everything went black.

  ◆◆◆

  “Felix!” I called into the Darkness, ignoring its usual whisperings. “Potato Brain! Where are you?”

  His hand wrapped around my wrist and pulled me to the ground next to him. “This is bad, Miss Magenta,” he said as he released my wrist. “This is really, really bad.”

  “What happened?” I asked, hugging my knees to my chest. “Who was that?”

  “Mallum,” Felix answered bitterly. “Mallum Frond. No one knows why he has been hunting you for the past two years, but he has been determined to capture you. Now he has.”

  “How did he knock us out?”

  “He didn’t,” Felix explained. “He can’t use magic. On the other hand, his sister, Esora, is especially gifted in magic. I would guess that she’s the one who cast the sleeping incantation.”

  “What’s going to happen to us?” I asked timidly. “Mallum captured us; now what?”

  “I don’t know, Miss Magenta.” His voice shook just the slightest bit. “All I know is that this won’t be any picnic.”

  The silence that followed was unbearable. Finally, I decided to pursue one of the topics I’d wondered about earlier.

  “Potato Brain, what happened to your mother?”

  “One of the Lulin Raids. I told you about this in the safe room, remember?” he responded.

  “Lulin?”

  “Terrible creatures. Cool, but terrible. For the past few decades or so, they’ve raided Dimensions for…” He trailed off and thought for a moment. “...actually, I don’t know what they’ve been looking for, but if they’ve been searching for this long, it must be important.”

  “What makes them ‘cool’?” I asked, crossing my arms.

  “They can shoot lasers from their eyes.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Honestly, Potato Brain, will you ever grow up?”

  “I’m serious!” he protested. “They have glowing gold eyes—well, other than the Lulin King’s, his are red—and they can shoot lasers from them!”

  “How do you know?”

  “I was on the receiving end of one of their lasers. His name was Sygopsis, if I’m remembering right.”

  After another moment of silence, Felix cleared his throat and said, “If I had to guess, I’d say the Attackers taking us to Emparadroy. That’s where their headquarters is, after all.”

  Clever boy, the Darkness hissed. But you miss the big picture, as they all do. They all overlook it...or just don’t want to face it.

  Taken aback by the sudden change in the Darkness, I exclaimed, “You don’t just amplify fears!”

  I don’t amplify fears, young Magenta, the Darkness corrected. I am fear.

  On that happy note, I awoke.

  Chapter 14

  My eyelids fluttered open. Gabrielle leaned over me, muttering something under her breath. She stopped mid-mutter.

  “Valida, you’re awake!”

  “What happened?” I rubbed my head as I sat up. I was in a dark, gloomy, prison cell made of iron bars distanced about two inches apart from each other. My hands slid against the dirt on the cold, stone floor. My head had been protected from the ground with a stiff pillow, but the rest of me was covered in dirt.

  “We were ambushed,” Gabrielle explained. “The Attackers...they didn’t really leave. They were waiting for us.”

  “What are they going to do to us?” I questioned, hugging my knees to my chest. “They obviously don’t want us around.”

  Gabrielle shrugged. “I have no idea. They haven’t done anything since throwing us in here.”

  “Where are the others?”

  “Different cells, I’m assuming,” Gabrielle answered. She pulled a pen out of her pocket and clicked the top. The pen crackled with static. She pushed and held down the top, speaking into it. “Legendary Keepers, are you there? This is Gabrielle. I’m with Valida. We’re okay, for the time being. Over.”

  She released the top. Regina’s voice crackled over it.

  “This is Regina. I’m with Selene. We’re okay. Over.”

  “This is William. I’m with Tom. He’s still waking up, but we’re fine. Over.”

  The last Legendary Keeper to check in was Felix. He sounded panicked, and there was an unidentifiable noise in the background.

  “This is Felix. I’m with Steven, but there’s something wrong with him. He’s awake, but his eyes are glazed over and he keeps shaking me and screaming something about being sorry. I think it has something to do with this Kai Alia, or whoever he thinks I am. I don’t think he’s okay.”

  Gabrielle and I exchanged worried looks. “You have to snap him out of it,” Gabrielle told him. “Do you have any water?”

  “I already tried that,” Felix said. “I splashed him with water, but he didn’t even flinch. Now he’s screaming and wet.”

  “What’s wrong with him?” I asked Gabrielle.

  “He’s reliving memories,” Gabrielle answered, “and I know which ones. Felix, do your best to snap him out of it, but he might be in too deep. If he is that far into his memories, we’re going to have to wait this out.” After a moment, she added, “And those memories? He’s remembering his sister, Kyalia.”

  The pen burst into static, like it had been dropped. Felix shouted, “Steven! Don't step on the—”

/>   It was too late. “Felix?” Gabrielle called into the pen.

  No response.

  Gabrielle clicked the top of the pen again and sighed. “That was the only pen left between the two of them. Steven broke his during the last Lulin raid, and now Felix’s is gone too.”

  “Is there anything we can do?” I questioned.

  Gabrielle shook her head. “Not really. I mean, unless we get out of here, somehow find the others, and take a portal back to Destiny Forest.”

  “Why can’t we just take a portal out now?”

  “These cells are portal-blocked,” Gabrielle explained. “It’s a complex spell, but it can be done. Within a certain range of the spell’s casting, portals won’t open. It complicates things.”

  “Oh.”

  A boy in his late teens showed up just outside our cell. He had spiky, dark brown hair the same color as Esora’s, and his eyes were honey-colored like hers as well. “Well, if it isn’t the famous Magenta herself,” he sneered.

  “What do you want, Mallum?” Gabrielle demanded. I realized with a start that this was the first time I had ever heard Gabrielle say anything remotely rude.

  I looked back at Mallum. This was the Hunter. This was the infamous Mallum Frond.

  I crossed my arms and looked him square in the eye. “You don’t scare me, Mallum. They may call you the Hunter, but I am not easy prey to intimidate.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Hunters don’t intimidate, Magenta Valida. They kill.”

  I gave him a once-over, then said, “Just because you can kill, doesn’t mean you should.”

  For just a moment, he was taken aback. I got the feeling that few prisoners ever talked back to him, especially ones with a response as childish as mine. Even so, he recovered quickly and retorted with, “I’ll be the judge of that.”

  “Leave us in peace, Mallum,” Gabrielle commanded in a calm, but firm, voice. “You have us in your custody, just as you desired.”

  “Very well,” Mallum relented. “I have other matters to attend to.”

  Without another word, he spun on his heel and left. The next few minutes were quiet and peaceful.

  Then, Gabrielle’s pen beeped, like a phone ring tone. She clicked the top. “This is Gabrielle. What’s up?”

  “This is Agent Lambda, an Eikosi Tessera agent,” an unfamiliar voice said over the pen. “I've zeroed in on your location. I'm bringing Agents Delta and Kappa with me.”

  “Copy that, Agent Lambda,” Gabrielle responded. “How long will it take you to get here?”

  Our cell door was thrown open without warning, a tall, teen boy standing in the doorway. He was dressed in all black, from the hood hiding his head to the black boots on his feet. His hood was attached to a cloak that reached his ankles. An insignia, the letter “a” surrounded by flames, was stitched on it. A black mask hid the bottom half of his face. In his gloved hands, he held a battered, but usable, sword. His arms hung loosely by his side, and his sword with them.

  “How's that for timing?” he asked slyly.

  “Even better than last time,” Gabrielle answered as we made our way out the cell door. “Valida, meet Agent Lambda. Agent Lambda, meet—”

  “We’ve met,” Agent Lambda interrupted without hostility. “More than once, actually.”

  “Hey, Lambda,” another agent said, also clothed in black, but a couple inches shorter than Lambda. “Hurry up. We can catch up later.”

  “Chill, Delta,” Lambda responded. “Kappa is getting the other Legendary Keepers, right?”

  “Well, yeah, but according to my calculations—”

  Lambda cut him off. “Delta, I need to tell you something very important.”

  Delta paused and looked at Lambda curiously. “What?”

  “You need to chill out before your head explodes.”

  “Ha ha,” Delta said sarcastically, rolling his brown eyes. “Now are we going to rescue these two or not?”

  Another agent, this one a female and dressed like the Lambda and Delta, joined us. The other Legendary Keepers followed closely behind. “I've got the others,” she reported. “Let's get out of here while we still can.”

  “Aye, aye, Kappa,” Lambda joked.

  “You're an idiot, Lambda,” Kappa commented with an eye roll.

  Gabrielle did a quiet head count, her brow furrowing. “Where's William?”

  “He was just here!” Tom exclaimed. “He was right next to me when Kappa came to get us!”

  “Great,” Delta groaned. “Just great. We lost a Keeper! Beta is going to kill us!”

  “You’re worried about Beta?” Kappa said. “What about Alpha? If anyone will be mad, it’ll be Alpha.”

  “We’re almost out of time,” Lambda said. “My sleeping enchantment will wear off any moment now. We don’t have time for another search.”

  “We can’t just leave William behind!” Selene insisted.

  “We also can’t risk losing the rest of you again,” Delta stated matter-of-factly. “We’ll come back for William. As for now, we have to get past the portal-blocking.”

  Selene’s dark green eyes began glowing primary green. She swayed in place, staring off into space. Then, she recited something that sounded like a poem of some sort.

  Traitor betrayed with a single phrase

  Oblivious to the murderous craze

  Mistaken motives until wolves fall

  Not all for one, but one for all

  With that, Selene’s eyes rolled into the back of her head and she collapsed. Gabrielle muttered stuff under her breath, waving her hand over her face every so often.

  “Hmm. One Keeper lost, another one unconscious from reciting a creepy riddle thing,” Felix said. “Sounds legit. Who wants to be next?”

  “Alarm!” a voice shouted. “Sound the alarm, you fool! The prisoners are escaping!”

  “And that,” Lambda said, pointing toward the sound, “is our cue to leave.”

  Following his lead, we sprinted down the corridor, just to run into Attackers at the end of it. Fast as lightning, Lambda skidded to a near stop and turned around.

  “Other way!” he shouted, sprinting right through us.

  I was much less graceful, but it didn’t matter much. Lambda skidded to a stop and slowly backed up as more Attackers appeared from the other side and surrounded us.

  “This is bad,” Delta stated.

  Sarcastically, Kappa said, “Oh really? I didn’t notice, Sir Obvious.”

  Simultaneously, the Eikosi Tessera agents drew their weapons, and the Legendary Keepers summoned their Objects. With a loud “CHARGE!” given by Felix, all chaos broke loose.

  The Legendary Keepers and the Eikosi Tessera agents made a protective circle around me, Tom, Regina, and a waking Selene and dueled with the Attackers surrounding us. Steven’s Object was the Lightning Bolt Amulet—which actually shot lightning—and he used that to fight off the oncoming Attackers. Gabrielle dueled with the Gilded Sword, which sliced through the other swords like they were soft butter. Felix slammed the Copper Shield into the ground. Each time he did, a shock wave would hit his opponent.

  Felix’s latest victim went flying across the room, her hood falling off and her dark brown hair sticking in all directions. Unlike the others, she wasn’t unconscious. She didn’t even appear injured. Her honey-colored eyes were filled with an unmistakable, fiery madness. I recognized her as the woman from the picture in the Leather Book I’d seen in the safe room. Felix had mentioned her name, but I could not recall it now.

  “You messed with the wrong Frond,” she growled, rising to her feet. With a mighty roar, she cast a fist-sized ball of energy at Kappa, breaking into the protective circle of Keepers and Eikosi Tessera. Kappa hit the wall and crumpled to the ground, moaning. The Attacker woman covered the distance between them in just a few strides and formed another energy ball, readying it for the final blow. Just as she released it, it vanished, harming neither Kappa nor the Attacker woman.

  “Agent Lambda,” the woman said, a
s if the name was bitter on her lips. Her lips curled into a sinister smile, one that sent chills down my spine. “I see you’ve been practicing.”

  “You could say that,” Lambda responded.

  The woman muttered something under her breath and the Attackers froze, just like robots would after being given the order to abort a mission. “You have become stronger since I last defeated you.”

  “Maybe I’ve become strong enough to defeat you, Esora,” Lambda said.

  Esora. That was her name.

  “Is that a challenge?” she asked.

  “Lambda, are you insane?” Delta demanded. “Why in the infinite Dimensions would you challenge Esora Frond?”

  “Deeds like hers are not easily forgiven.”

  “What a pity,” Esora spat. “Poor Agent Lambda can't handle being alive. Maybe the Elven should have left him to die.”

  Kappa slowly rose to her feet, her entire body shaking with effort. “Don't let her in your head, Lambda. That's how she gets you.”

  “Silence, you insufferable peasant girl!” Esora snarled.

  Before another word could be said, Kappa screamed and fell to her knees. She shook violently, gasping for breath and screaming. Her face turned more and more purple by the second. The more intense Esora’s facial expression was, the more Kappa screamed.

  “You’re the l-leader of this m-mission; d-do something!” Steven pleaded with Lambda desperately. “P-please, just m-make it stop!”

  Lambda extended his hand and muttered something under his breath. A blast of light hit Esora in her right eye. Her shriek was horrible, a wordless scream that shook me to my core.

  “What have you done?” she shrieked, lunging blindly at Lambda, angry tears streaming down her cheeks.

  He dodged her easily. She hit the wall hard and fell to her knees. Lambda shrugged. “A simple zela spell. You know, to shine some light on the situation.”

  “You blinded my eye, you fool!” she screamed at him, letting her hand fall to her side. Her entire eye was white.

  “Oh.” Even though the bottom half of his face was covered in a black mask, his grimace was obvious. “Well, uh, have fun with that. Let's get out of here!”