“Yes, luckily the rocks missed us, and we were able to find an alternate route.” He paced back and forth. “Right now, I am trying to recall what Renee said about the location of the keyhole, so that you or your brother can open it. At this juncture, we don’t see a thing.”
“So you’ve never been inside?” asked Isabella.
“Oh, no. I’ve just known its location since I was a child. Renee entrusted me with it at the age of fifteen. Just the age you are now. Yes, for a time she trusted me more than her own children, it seemed. But no, I have not ventured down here. It seemed a betrayal to come without much of a reason. But enough of all that—let’s search, children.”
Everyone searched the contours of the wall for an orifice large enough for the key to fit. The rock was smooth; Isabella touched the surface, scanning it with her hand. She felt a light pulsing as she touched the same spot again and again. The pulse beat through her, and the orb glowed in her pocket. She continued to follow the pulse until she reached the far left corner, where the faint line of a keyhole appeared. Isabella took the key out of her pocket and turned toward her friends. “I think I found it. Colin, do it with me.”
He put his hand on top of hers. The orb grew brighter. They knew this was right. Together, they turned the key to the right. Click. Slowly, the sound of the door scraping across the ground filled the air as the earth rumbled beneath their feet. At last, the confines of the Foxworthy vault were revealed before them. Gold bullion. Violet velvet boxes filled with she had no idea what. Photographs and paintings in gorgeous frames that surely belonged in a museum. Then she saw it: the place where the orb was supposed to sit, the place that would restore the Fire.
“Thank you, Isabella.” A deep voice poured down her back, ice and fire all at once. She turned, flanked by her friends, Colin, and Theophilus, and saw him, standing there as boldly as ever.
“Jack.”
Chapter Forty
The Orb
Jack grinned. Isabella's hand slid into her pocket, and she clutched the orb. His eyes followed her movement, but he did not react. Without thinking, she pinched her eyes shut, and in desperation, shouted, “Stop!” But the waves of her magic bounced off the walls and time beat on as usual. He'd blocked her powers.
Jack curtly barked a laugh and shot a large blast toward her with a wave of his hand. Theophilus, Colin, and Neeta stopped it in time with what looked like a protective shield, but the power of his fury still managed to knock her to the ground. When the effects of Jack's blast dissolved, Isabella stood up as Theophilus, Colin, Neeta, and Seth surrounded her. She pushed past them, however. She did not want to hide. Cleo, Xander, Franklin, and Micah inched close to the center. They stood as one.
Jack laughed again. “So you attempted to use a bit of your power, young diadem girl. But something so rudimentary could never stop me.”
“Obviously your henchmen can't say the same,” Seth snapped back. “Why don't you guys do something?” he muttered to Theophilus, Colin, and Neeta.
“Stay still,” commanded Colin. “We have to be strategic.”
Jack tsk-tsked. She hated him with everything inside her. His cold eyes played only on hers.
“Sadly, the neat little trick of yours did confuse them for a time.” Jack snapped his fingers and Satrina, Key, and Cast appeared. “But nothing's ever permanent, is it?” They slowly approached, Satrina wearing a sick smile, Cast looking eerily pleasant, and Key completely cold. Isabella tried to spread her calmness to others, but she felt nervous. Seth grabbed her hand and nodded. She felt calmer until Jack raised his hand and ordered his minions, “Go! Don't fail me, again!”
Isabella sucked in her breath.
Without prompting, Micah slapped his enchanted whip at Key, slicing his forearm, while Seth, to Isabella's surprise, was able to form a shield around his brother just as the adults had done only minutes before. The orb burned hot at her side. She touched its pulsing form, and suddenly a flash of disjointed emotion seared through her body. Then it all seemed to separate into distinct sections. She made out Seth's protectiveness, Cleo's determination, Xander's imagination and Micah's strategic mind calculating his next move. It all connected to her. They were one but many. Her cohort.
With this new feeling of collective power, Isabella turned to see Neeta forming a bow and arrow from mere light to stop a blast from Cast, while Theophilus, with Cleo tucked just behind him, worked at keeping Satrina at bay. Colin held his hands up like a clam opening its shell. A visibly powerful energy shot out, aimed at Jack, but it bounced off him like rubber smacking cement. The rejection of power sent Colin stumbling back. Then Theophilus made swift eye contact with her and shouted, “Isabella! Get inside the vault!”
Before Isabella could make a move, though, Jack slinked past the others toward her. Seth muscled his way between them, but Jack flipped his hand, emitting a blast that sent Seth to the ground. Isabella cried out and tried to lunge at Jack, but the cold man's gaze bore into hers, seeming to lock her in place. “Your guardian is talented,” Jack sneered. “Powerful. More so than most. But you, you have more than what he can give. What they can give.” His voiced faded, and she fell further into his black eyes.
The air thickened, and she felt herself suddenly lulled into a dreamlike state. She saw Key and Cast approach half-snarling; purple and green lights formed in their hands. A black cloud enveloped them as an ominous glow illuminated their eyes. Key twisted into a purple tornado; Cast changed into green lightning.
The black cloud expanded, and within it the most hideous demonic face appeared: a creature with fangs, a pointed chin, and dark, slanted, hollow eyes. It wore a black cloak around its face and neck, and it grew taller and taller until it towered at least twelve feet above her. Claws extended from where hands should have been, and a frightening growl howled into the cave.
The creature taunted Isabella, its hot eyes declaring war on her. Then the ground shook, cracked, and parted, shrouding the cave in darkness. She tried to force herself to break through Jack's mind-manipulation. She pinched her eyes shut and attempted to see beyond the black smoke. She could make out the others just beyond it, fighting for their lives. Colin was the furthest from her.
Ice hot anger enflamed Isabella as she gripped her necklace tightly in her hands. The orb lifted from her pocket and floated before her. The necklace gently burned her skin as blue swirls of wind and spurts of water whipped around her. Her heart pounded. Oxygen left her body, but for some reason that did not stop her from inching forward. She wasn't walking, though. Her feet remained together as she moved… She was gliding. The ground parted as she floated across the now gaping chasm.
Her friends still cried out to her, but the sounds of their voices grew smaller and smaller until finally silence swallowed her world.
In her mind, the creature grew fiercer, hungrier, but did not attack. In her vision, Key and Cast shifted back into their human forms.
She had to get back to the others and save the Fire. She had to break this spell. She closed her eyes and reached for her necklace. Trust your instincts, Isabella. That’s what Nano would have told her. This was just an illusion. It was in her mind; she knew that.
“ISABELLA!”
Her eyes snapped open when she felt Franklin and Colin clutching each of her arms, pulling her inside the vault. She heard Seth cursing and shuffling behind them. “She will be safe with us,” Colin tried to impress on Seth, who came around to look at her.
Isabella was confused, and she felt so weak. What had happened? Jack made her see all those things. But where was he now?
“We promise,” Colin assured Seth. “He can't get in here. There are certain lines of energy prohibiting him from doing so, even with the door open.” They pulled her fully inside, and she saw the center of it a well-lit cavity; beneath that, the inkling of purple flames.
“The Violet Fire,” Isabella whispered.
“I'm the one who got her away from him,” said Seth as he followed the two other men who pulled Isabella deeper
into the vault on the other side of the fire. “I'm not leaving her.”
She could see Theophilus and Neeta fighting Satrina and Jack beyond the vault doors. The real Key and Cast shot blasts of purple and green at the twins and Micah. Then the earth jolted sharply again, and a black cloud, as in her vision, covered the scene outside.
“Jack's attempting to break the shields with his energy,” Colin said.
They could no longer see the action outside the vault.
“Dude, you better watch out for your kid brother,” Franklin told Seth. “We've got this.”
“I'm her guardian!” Seth shouted. “I have to stay close to her.” At that moment, Micah cried out in apparent agony. Seth looked between Isabella's weakened body and the action outside of the vault. As the smoke cleared, they could see Micah stumble back, nursing his knee while Cleo and Xander blocked a new attack from Cast.
“Go,” she whispered. “This is almost over.”
Before she could blink, Seth cupped her cheek and brushed his thumb back and forth over it. He nodded, eyes cooling her emotions while at the same time stirring them. He looked at her lips for a moment. “I'll be right outside.” He kissed the corner of her mouth softly and then placed a second kiss on her cheek. Then, before she could register what had happened, he was gone. She stared after him for a moment. Why had he done that? He had almost kissed her, but not quite. What did that mean? That couldn't matter right now, but it did matter. The black smoke from Jack's attempts to get inside appeared again.
“Come on, kiddo. We've got work to do,” said Colin, patting her shoulder. At that, the orb glowed brighter and brighter.
“Is it working? Is he breaking down the shields?” asked Isabella.
“The orb is too strong for him,” said Colin as she felt its magic pulsating throughout the room. “It's invigorating the protections. The only way he can get in is if the fire goes out.” Colin looked over the chasm that held the Fire. “And, well, it doesn't look good. We have to hurry.” They neared the end of the vault. There stood a golden receptacle of some sort. It looked like it was missing an object in its central chamber. “This is it.”
“Here.” Isabella smiled as Colin took the orb and placed it in the receptacle. Nothing happened. She and Colin looked at each other. “Now what?”
“Hmm, I think we're missing something.” Colin walked around the room, studying the objects; Franklin hovered close and then placed his hands onto her shoulders.
“Just don't touch anything—this place could be booby-trapped or something,” Colin clarified.
“Wait, what does this say?” She was looking closely at a poem etched into the golden holster that held the inactive orb. “Maybe we need to read it?”
Colin shrugged. “Let's give it a shot.” They read the words off the golden scroll in unison. As each verse was completed, a sound could be heard within the chamber, and lights shot from the walls. As they read the final words of the poem, the orb lit up and spewed particles of light and magic around the vault. As the lights danced around the orb, its essence jumped from the receptacle and entered Isabella's necklace. She turned to the Fire and looked down.
A powerful stability, strength, and serenity engulfed her in that moment as the Violet Fire roared to life. All that Jack had taken from her when he’d invaded her mind seemed to return to her.
Colin smiled. “We did it,” he said softly. Isabella hugged Colin, who grunted. He was injured from fighting outside. How could she have not noticed? She looked at him, and he looked a bit paler than before. He patted her head as a loud screech from outside shook the inside of the vault. Isabella looked to Colin in alarm.
“It's okay. You and Franklin go find your cohort and the others. I will rest for a bit. Jack will be flushed out of here, now that we've restored the Fire.”
She wanted to protest, but Colin insisted that she go. Franklin clapped his strong hands onto her shoulder again, so she gave her brother a small smile.
“I'll help her out if you want to grab what you were looking for,” Franklin said cryptically.
“What? What are you talking about?”
“It's nothing. Something that'll be good for the Brotherhood. I was once told it was buried somewhere in the vault.”
“So that's why you helped me? So you could find some treasure?”
“No, it's not, Isabella. You trust me, don't you?” Colin asked, smiling warmly at her.
“Okay. Franklin, let's go find the others.”
Chapter Forty-One
Going Home
When Isabella and Franklin reached the opening of the vault, they could not see. As Isabella carefully moved forward, she tripped over a rock. With a gasp, she slipped and met with the cold, dark earth. Franklin reached down to help her, but she held up her hand. The temperature in the cavern rose, but at least she found that she could breathe easier than when Jack was present.
"I'm fine." She got up, slightly embarrassed. "Anyone out here?" When no one replied, her stomach twisted. "Hello!" Still nothing. She turned to Franklin. "Where the hell are they?"
Before Franklin could answer her, a young man, face covered in soot, jogged toward them from the shadows. Isabella took a step back toward the cave, but Franklin did not.
"Max," Franklin said to the member of the Brotherhood Isabella knew but had rarely seen since her arrival underground. "You made it."
"How did you get here?" asked Isabella, noticing Max had a small cut on his cheek.
The lanky boy she'd met working at the Cake n' Honey turned out to be a clandestine warrior. He handed his buddy Franklin a blue key.
"Here's what Colin asked for, dude. Sorry I didn't make it sooner."
"Why don't you take it to him, man?" asked Franklin. "He's inside already."
"Hold on!" Isabella cried before Max could make a move. "What are you two up to? Where are my friends? They should be here. Seth wouldn't just leave me like that."
Max's dark eyes shifted between her and Franklin. "They're all right. Chillax."
"What happened?" Isabella demanded.
Max sighed. "She's really what all the fuss has been about, huh?"
"Just tell us what happened," said Isabella.
"Fine. So I got here and found your friends and Neeta and Theophilus fighting off Jack plus that freaky Satrina chick and those little weird dudes. The blonde girl—Chloe, I think…?"
"Cleo," Isabella corrected him, pressing her back teeth together.
"Well, she fell and got hurt pretty bad, but the tall kid held them back with a shield. Kid's got mad skills, better than even me as a debut. He kept the crazies back while that chubby kid and the dorky one helped out the Cleo girl."
"But where are they?" Isabella asked, trying to connect with them through her being.
"Like I said, they're fine," Max repeated. He had to be right. Nothing too alarming was coming through. "Theophilus and Neeta tried to, like, keep Jack and Satrina away from them, but when their backs were turned, they were nearly attacked by the weird little dudes. So I jumped in. It was getting intense and then all of a sudden Jack crumpled to the ground. Satrina shrieked like the crazy I don't wanna say that she is and set off a light-blinder, so we couldn't see. When the light disappeared, the crazies were gone."
"That doesn't explain where the others are."
"Isabella…" She heard faintly.
She turned to her left and moved toward the sound. "Ouch!" she cried, running into something thick and hard. "There's a wall here." She rubbed her shoulder.
"It fell right after Jack and his crazies left. I managed to slide under it in time. I was off to the side down there." Max pointed further down the cavern as he shined his light on the wall. Isabella could see it clearly now. It was made of brick. "It must be here for protection. The others are on the other side of it."
"Then how do we get to them?"
"I have no idea."
Franklin sighed heavily. "Just get the stone to Colin, so he can get Gaut's book."
&nbs
p; "Right," Max said, before disappearing inside the vault.
"I need to find my friends, Franklin. I have to."
Isabella, she heard again. It was Seth. No—Micah. She heard it one more time. She closed her eyes and tried speaking to them in her mind. I'm okay. Where are you?
When no one replied, she grabbed Franklin's hand. "Get me out of here now!"
"It's fine. Don't worry," Franklin muttered, taking her back around where they'd come from.
They moved along the wall that had appeared after the Fire's resurgence.
"What if he got some of them?"
"Let's just worry about that when the time comes," said Franklin. They continued down a dark hallway.
"Maybe we should just wait for Colin."
"No, I think we can get around the wall easily," Franklin insisted. Isabella suddenly had a very sick feeling about all of this.
"I want to turn back."
They came upon another wide-open space, not much different than the area in front of the vault. It was just as dark, but the air was thinner and it smelled like rotting onions. Isabella looked up, hoping to see Theophilus or Seth approaching with a flashlight of some sort, but it wasn't either of them. The face in front of her, menacing and calm simultaneously, seemed to hover without a head.
"I can always count on you," Jack said, coming fully into the light. He smiled at Franklin.
Isabella gulped. She couldn't breathe. Fear ate at every part of her body. It was Franklin whom Pythian had warned her about. She wanted to cry out, but instead, with her body cold, she watched as Franklin bowed to Jack.
"As requested, my master."
Franklin straightened and said, "I always knew Key, Cast, and Satrina were damn fools and weaklings, master. I am glad you got my message to retreat before the fire was ignited."
Jack nodded and reached his hand out to Isabella. His energy didn't seem as strong as it had before but still managed to lull her again into a dreamlike-state. She clutched her necklace. No. This time she would resist him. His magnetism pulled her in as if pulled by a mammoth. Then she felt her feet lift from the ground. Her heart clutched.
The Lost Heir Page 33