The Lost Heir

by Allison Whitmore

  “Why are you talking about your uncle like that? I thought that if the violet fire died, I would die and empathy would be lost or whatever that means.”

  “He's weakening it, but he can't kill it that easily. Your great-grandmother protected it with enchantments he doesn't fully understand. We think it’s weakening because you're close to your debut and because Jack has gotten to it. But you can restore it with the lost heir by your side. It's the only way.”

  “Why did you not say anything before?”

  “You have more enemies than we can count. Someone will betray you. Someone in the Midnight Brotherhood.”

  “What? The Midnight—what?”

  “I cannot see any more than that.”

  Isabella felt sick, afraid, unsure. “If you know so much, then tell me who the lost heir is. If you know who he is and I need him to save the Fire against Jack, who I am supposed to suddenly distrust, then who is it?” Her fear gave way to anger and frustration as Pythian hesitated. “Tell me!”

  “Colin Timothy is his name,” the young boy said finally. “He’s your brother and the leader of the Midnight Brotherhood. He’ll be coming for you, and then it's up to both of you to save the violet fire. But you'll have to take steps first. You'll have to complete your duties as a debut in order to get closer to your power, and then you'll be ready.”

  “You just said the Midnight Brotherhood were bad. Now you are saying someone will come to me—Jack will come to me—and I will be killed?” she shouted.

  “If you don't protect yourself, yes,” Pythian said firmly. “But you have to, so you can save the Fire and everything you care about.”

  “So I have to stay here with these people and complete their sideshow initiation to restore the violet fire?”

  “You’re not very good at listening,” said Pythian. Was he referring to the fact that she’d just asked another question? He looked anxious as the light around them began fade. “You'll need to see the Sages in the city on the day for debuts. You'll just have to stay away from Jack. And remain guarded around the Midnight Brotherhood when you are among them…”

  Isabella's heart clutched. Jack Heel was trying to kill her. He was the one who these people were worshipping, the man who’d spoken in the tunnels that day.

  She tried to steady her breathing. She had a brother. And someone in this Midnight Brotherhood would betray her? And what the heck was a sage?

  She wanted Seth. She needed Seth right now. Where was he?

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  The Midnight Brotherhood

  With that, the white light faded, and the fire burned out. Darkness inked the night, and, without the fire, Isabella could barely see anything around her. Then a cry arose, and a body collapsed onto the ground several feet away. A whip of wind carried through the night air, and then another body fell. Pythian was torn from her, and she screamed, but her voice was drowned out by the tormented cries of everyone around her.

  Then someone gripped her arm. “Get off me!” She kicked blindly and seemed to hit a leg.

  “Ow!” a deep familiar voice cried out.

  Relief washed over her. “Seth?”

  “Damn it, Izzy! That hurt.”

  “How did you get away?”

  “Thor over there crumpled, and I came straight to you.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her to the right. Her eyes adjusted a little to the blackness. Before the two of them could reach the trees, several men in dark hoods swarmed into the clearing. They swept over the Greens of the Valley, knocking out the ones who didn’t scatter like vermin and sending them to the ground.

  “Get the girl and the other one,” she heard a cool voice say.

  “Seth, we have to make sure Pythian is okay.”

  “Who?” Seth asked with a harsh hot whisper.

  “The kid.”

  “We can’t.” He pulled her away.

  “We have to.”

  Seth stopped, and they both looked around.

  The earth rumbled, but they kept their hold on each other. “I don’t think this is an earthquake,” Seth said. “Somebody’s doing this.”

  “There!” She pointed to the little boy dashing into the trees across the clearing.

  “Come on. He’s fine.”

  “No! He’s so young. He could get hurt out there.”

  Seth hesitated for a moment and then sighed. “Damn it. I hate when you’re right. Just keep hold of my hand.”

  Before they could follow Pythian, one of the hooded men snatched Isabella from Seth’s grasp and covered her mouth. She struggled against him as Seth lunged at the man’s thick shoulders.

  “Let her go!” was the last thing she heard before she blacked out.

  ***

  “I guess they’re really tired,” she heard a familiar female voice say. “It’s been a whole day!”

  “Sleep is Seth’s true love, so he may not wake up ‘til the New Year,” another voice said, this one male. They both sounded like teenagers.

  “If you don’t think they want their breakfast, I’ll take it,” said a second boy’s voice.

  “Don’t even try it, Xander. You remember how hungry you were when we got here.”

  “I was not!”

  “You ate a whole roasted chicken and a pound of mashed potatoes.”

  Isabella opened her eyes and smiled. “Guys, oh my God.”

  “Izzy!” Xander’s voice bounced through the room. Isabella sat upright and drank in their faces. “You’re awake!” He beamed as Micah and Cleo shushed him, fighting their own smiles.

  “What’s going on?” She heard Seth’s groggy-sounding voice from a few feet away.

  Micah left Isabella’s side to stand next to his brother, leaving a clear space for her to see Seth in the next bed. He squinted and slowly sat up. He was wearing a white T-shirt—no creepy, ceremonial cloak. She looked down to see she had on roughly the same thing. She checked beneath the covers. Soft, gray linen pajama pants.

  “Don’t worry. I dressed you, and Micah took care of that one,” said Cleo, pointing at Seth.

  “Dude!” Seth cried as if his energy gauge had jumped from zero to about two hundred. He threw off his covers and tackled his brother with a bear hug. Everyone burst into happy laughter and shared quick embraces. Xander and Micah were also wearing white shirts and linen pajama pants. Xander’s were camouflage-print and Micah’s were black, like Seth’s. Cleo had on a shiny pink robe. Was that silk? White pajama pants peeked out beneath it. ”How the heck did we get here?” Seth asked Micah.

  “Welcome to the nerve center of the Midnight Brotherhood,” Micah said. “Or, as the Brotherhood calls it—Night Base.” Isabella froze. The Midnight Brotherhood. She held her breath as she took in the cavernous, stone-walled room. Beds, about five on each side, lined both walls. The ceiling vaulted high above their heads. On the south side of the room, there was a large flat-screen television with a sofa and a cluster of chairs. The north side looked like a computer lab. “This is our room,” Micah continued, enthusiasm bubbling in his voice as he looked between his brother and Isabella. “The main hub is a floor above us.”

  “The last thing I remember was being knocked out in the middle of some freak-a-zoid child-killing ceremony,” said Seth.

  “What?” said Cleo.

  “He’s kidding,” said Micah. “You’re kidding, right, Seth?”

  “Well, they didn’t really say they were going to kill anybody,” Isabella amended. A shiver ran through her body as she thought about what Pythian had said about Jack Heel coming for her and the lost heir. It must have been true. But he also told her to keep her eyes open amongst the Brotherhood. She wasn’t sure who—beyond Seth and her friends—she should trust at this point.

  “Those freaks were about to kill us all.” Seth gave her a look and then slumped down on his bed. “Man, I’m really tired.”

  “Well, it’s no wonder, after all you’ve been through,” said someone from the door. It was that guy from the street below the hotel, the curly-hai
red, caramel-skinned guy with the droopy, intellectual eyes. He was the one who’d snatched Xander’s backpack from those bullies and told Seth to watch out for her.

  Her brain went through its catalogue of names and connected it to the face. Colin. Colin Timothy. Her breath stuck in her throat. What was she supposed to do? Did he know? Was it even true? How could she have a brother? But Pythian had said he’d come for her, and there he was. He didn’t look like her except for maybe the hair. He was really tall, too. Why wouldn’t her parents tell her about a brother, if she had one?

  “You want to give them their food?” Colin asked, looking at the other kids as he entered the room. “I’m sure they’re starving.” He was wearing what looked like black tactical gear—cargo pants and a loose-sleeve shirt zipped from chest to collar.

  The two men behind him matched. To her surprise, she recognized them both. One was named Max Sepulveda and the other was Franklin Vanderpole. She remembered Max from Cake ‘n’ Honey, and she and Seth had practically been adopted by Franklin’s parents at dinner the other night. If he’d been connected to good people, why hadn’t he helped her? She wanted to yell or scream or call them out as spies, but she kept her mouth shut. Her head was spinning, and she was just happy she was back with the other kids.

  Xander picked up a breakfast tray and brought it to her bed. “Sit back and enjoy, Izzy. The food here is delicious. I wish we could stay here forever, but they said there’s this portal thing that closes at the New Year. Bummer, right?”

  Isabella shrugged, eyeing the tray in front of her. “What is it?” she asked warily.

  “Food, Izzy.” Xander laughed. “Don’t you trust me?”

  Isabella smiled at her friend, a boy she’d once hated for being so rambunctious and irritating. But this boy and his family knew and loved the Foxworthy Hotel as much as she did. When she was still living with her parents, Xander, Cleo, and their mother and father occupied a permanent residence at the hotel. In fact, other than their boarding school in Switzerland, the Foxworthy Hotel was the only home the Antonelli twins had ever known.

  “Of course I trust you, Xander.” At least she thought she did. He could have been brainwashed by these people for all she knew, but she was hungry, so she decided to take a chance.

  Xander smiled and put the tray down. “OJ. Potato pancakes, eggs, sausage, and pecan pie.”

  “Pie!” Seth exclaimed. “Hurry up with mine, dude!” he called out to his brother, who was balancing the tray meant for Seth a little less steadily than Xander had.

  Soon they were both devouring their meals without any indication that they'd been poisoned or drugged. Isabella sighed with satisfaction as she finished two mouthfuls of food and four gulps of juice. After several minutes, she realized that the three men who stood less than five feet away from her bed were watching and waiting.

  She looked over them one at a time. Each man wore a small pin above their hearts. Franklin’s and Max’s were silver; Colin’s was gold. He was obviously the leader. She shot him with a scrutinizing gaze, not ready to fully accept him, if he was indeed Colin. Maybe she’d gotten the name wrong. She wanted to ask, but she was a little afraid to at first, so instead she asked something else that she wanted to know. “Where’s Pythian?”

  “Who?” Colin asked.

  “The boy who was about to be cut into tiny pieces by those freaks in the woods,” Seth said. “I think she wanted to adopt him or something.”

  “Shut up, Seth. I seriously want to know what happened to him.”

  “You should be more concerned about resting and getting some food in your body,” Colin said.

  “Why would you care?” she asked, a little irritated that she had no idea what was going on. If he was her brother, where had he been all this time?

  “Whether I care or not is of little consequence. What’s most important is that you two are out of the hands of Jack Heel and his little minions. And here.” Colin threw a small, green velvet pouch toward Isabella and another toward Seth. Isabella looked inside of hers. There was some sort of gem inside of it, and judging by the way Seth's eyes grew large, he must have received the same thing. She noticed a similar pouch hanging from Cleo's wrist.

  “They're gems. We have one each,” Micah started to explain. “They help us guide our natural abilities and provide some sort of power here.”

  “Power specific to you,” Colin said.

  “Isn't that wild? We have powers here!” Cleo bounced on her toes.

  Isabella snorted and pushed away her tray with the pouch still on top.

  “What color did you get, Seth?” Micah asked.

  “I think this one's yours, Izzy.”

  “What makes you say that?” asked Colin.

  “It's… well, it's girly looking, so it has to be hers.”

  “Ah. You must have gotten the rose quartz. It means you live by the heart.”

  “What? No.” Seth shook his head in disagreement. “This is definitely Izzy's.”

  Micah, Xander, and Cleo burst out laughing.

  “Isabella, you should check yours,” Colin told her.

  “I already did, and don't want it. This is stupid.”

  Cleo moved to snatch her pouch, but Colin held up a hand to stop her. “It’s hers.”

  The kids all looked at her expectantly. “Your turn,” said Seth.

  Sighing, Isabella picked up the small, green bag. Into her hand fell a crystal as clear as glass, save for a dust of glistening purple at its center. “I guess this is kinda cool,” she admitted. A faint smile grew on her face.

  “I think that one's mine.”

  Isabella covered the stone with her hand and then clutched it to her heart as Seth continued eyeing it.

  Colin looked back at Franklin and his other goon. They shared nods.

  “What?” Isabella asked. “Why are you nodding like that?”

  “Get some rest.” He turned to leave.

  “Wait,” Isabella called out. “I want some answers.”

  Colin turned back, arms folded.

  “Those crazy people in Wish Valley worship Jack Heel. Why?”

  “People like that always worship their masters. How evil their leaders are doesn’t matter to them.”

  Terror chilled her body. He wasn't lying. Colin looked at her pointedly, as if he knew what she was thinking, but instead, he waited for her to speak.

  “And don't think I don't remember you—all three of you. Have you been stalking me or something?” Isabella shot an accusatory stare at the three men.

  Neither of the men other than Colin uttered a word; they clung to silence. “It’s our job—it’s my job—to protect you,” Colin explained.

  “All of a sudden?” She just couldn’t accept that her parents may have kept such a secret from her. It would make sense that a brother’s job was to protect his sister, but it was just too ridiculous to think a brother would abandon her like that and then just show up and say nothing. He hadn’t tried to hug her or say anything. Not that she wanted him to.

  “We are the Midnight Brotherhood. That is our job, and as their leader, I consider it my own obligation as well. We protect the diadem children and their purpose.” Colin’s tone was stern but sincere. “We also protect their cohort,” he said, his hand waving in front of him to indicate the rest of the kids.

  “Izzy,” said Xander. “We can trust them.”

  “Really, Xander? They didn’t even protect Pythian! They just left him there. Isn’t that right? Isn’t that what you did?”

  “Isabella.” Colin’s voice sounded hollow. “I did not abandon anyone.” Her brow furrowed. Was he listening to her thoughts? Was he reading her emotions? His voice broke through her fears.

  “Pythian is fine,” Colin said.

  “How do you know that?”

  “We have eyes everywhere. Trust me,” he told her. “He escaped smoothly right before we grabbed you.”

  “You really ought to believe him, Izzy,” Cleo said. “The Brotherhood has been sea
rching for you since we got here. We asked them to find you.”

  Isabella heard three quick buzzing sounds. Colin looked down at a small, rectangular device that could have been a phone but likely was something a little different. ”I need to go. After they’ve had a little R & R, Cleo, please show them where to wash up and get them some clothes. Oh, and Merry Christmas, as some of you sky-side people like to say.”

  Isabella pushed down the warmth she felt from Colin. It still didn’t seem possible. Her head fell into her hands. Saving the Violet Fire was one thing, but accepting that her life was basically a lie wasn’t something she was sure she could do. And Franklin Vanderpole and that guy Max. She couldn’t believe that, either. Spies.

  “What day is it?” Seth asked.

  “The twenty-fourth,” said Micah.

  When Colin and his goons had vanished from sight, the other kids chatted, explaining what had happened to them since they’d been separated. Apparently Micah, who’d been first to crawl after Seth and Isabella, had gotten his shoelace stuck in a random crevice before settling himself into the tube that had taken them underground. He’d lost sight of Seth but assumed his brother would select Port 1, though he could not see Seth in front of him. So Micah had punched Port 1, which had led them immediately to a train depot. Cleo and Xander had followed him. Not more than five minutes passed before Colin Timothy had arrived and told them they needed to go with him; he’d offered what felt to them like a sincere form of trust.

  “Colin is the smartest, most gorgeous guy I’ve ever met,” Cleo added.

  Isabella wanted to gag. “So you’re basing all this trust on a guy’s hotness, Cleo? I would have thought you were smarter than that.”

  With those words, Isabella felt Cleo’s mind pump with anger, and this filled Isabella with great joy, because for the first time since her connection with Seth, she could feel another person’s emotions with purity. She had thought being underground was suppressing her ability, but it seemed more localized. Seth did have a keen ability to block his emotions. She didn’t think Cleo cared about exercising that, which was why her burst of anger came on so suddenly.