It was no longer a surprise to Sky to hear Nathan speak so strongly to the Ambassador when he was in this state. Probably when they were dismissed and left the Board Room, was when Nathan would switch back to his quiet, kind self. Right now, he was still in that deadly, focused state.
“You can’t get proof?” Axel repeated, questioningly.
Nathan shook his head. “The house blew up. There was no time. But there is no doubt in my mind.”
While Axel nodded slowly, Sky spun his head towards Nathan. This was the first time he was hearing of the explosion at the Perth townhouse. Nathan didn’t meet his gaze, however, so Sky looked over to Matu, who gave him a short nod before turning his attention back to the Ambassador.
“Anything else?” Axel asked.
The four Asters shook their heads.
“All right. We’ll be sending in cleaners to the Brown’s house and Jasman’s cottage to clean everything up. We’ll send in our stronger Affinite soldiers to oversee the cleaning of the Jasman cottage in case any Disciples are still lurking around.”
Sky sniggered, knowing that Jacob Henderson would most probably be one of those Affinite soldiers. The odds that any Disciple was stupid enough to hang around was small. Sky could picture Jacob now: being sent through one of the static portals in the castle, just to stand around in that humidity and enjoy the lovely smell of decaying bodies while being stung by mosquitos.
Axel chose to ignore Sky. “We’re working on new protocols. You will learn whatever new information Kelly and Hauser get from the Disciple in a few hours.” Axel looked at his watch. “It’s six p.m. now. You may do whatever you like until you hear from me. Make sure you eat and change. You are all dismissed.”
In any other circumstance Sky might have taken this opportunity to joke about Axel’s phrase of them being allowed to do whatever they liked, but even he knew that he’d joked around enough already, and that Axel had reached the end of his patience. Now wasn’t the right time. A parent and a child from three Affinite families had been taken, and they had no way of finding out where they were. The only thing they now knew for sure was that they were in the South American Underworld, and not in the African one. Sky didn’t want to think about his foolish idea to storm the African Underworld when the abducted Affinites had never actually been there. How those Disciples managed to get those Affinites to South America so quickly was anyone’s guess. A King attacking Affinites on other continents hadn’t happened for years; it had never happened in the time Sky and his siblings had been active Asters. So why were the other Kings allowing the South American one to do it? He was trespassing, and yet there was no retaliation, as far as they knew. Why?
Sky grunted as the four boys exited the Board Room. It wasn’t their job to figure it out. Unless Axel specifically commanded them to do so, they would not involve themselves further in the case. Sophie might; Sky knew it would eat her up inside not knowing how the South American King had done it. She would want to know.
Without speaking, the four boys headed in the same direction.
The children’s care centre was one floor higher on the eastern side of the castle. It was the side that wasn’t inside the cliffs, but looked out over the island and the Norwegian Sea beyond. There were floor-to-ceiling windows that gave a panoramic view of Saluverus.
The centre took up three floors in one of the larger circular south-eastern towers. It didn’t take long for the boys to find Sophie. She was on the middle floor, sitting at a small round table next to Banyu. Her Band was glowing golden. They were whispering softly to each other. Banyu smiled at something Sophie said.
Sky was glad to see the child had been given a thick jumper and that a blanket had been placed over his lap. Banyu had stopped shaking, at least, though he still looked extremely tense. His eyes flitted across the room at every sound and movement around him.
“Excuse me,” came a voice behind them.
The boys all turned around to see a small, plump woman standing in the doorway, holding a steaming plate of food. Sky didn’t recognise any of the ingredients aside from the rice. And it didn’t smell anything like any food from Europe.
“Stop staring,” Katina Ivanov, the Russian Affinite and head of the child’s centre, said. “It’s called pepes. Figured he’d rather eat something he knows.”
She probably added the last bit of information at the sight of three of the four boys staring at the food as if it was utterly alien. Only Lian seemed to be unfazed by the pile of green-brown ingredients on the plate.
Katina shrugged as if it was the most normal business in the world. “That’s what you get when you have children from all over the world come here. The kitchens have to be prepared for any cuisine, you see. And cutlery,” she added in her high-pitched, chatty voice. She held up her other hand that was holding not only a knife and fork, but also a spoon and a set of chopsticks.
Katina stepped past the boys and was about to head over to Banyu and Sophie when she turned around. “Is there any reason for you to be here? Looking like that you might scare the children. Never mind the smell.”
Sky looked around the room and found that there were another four children between the ages of five and eight in the room. All four of them were staring at the four Asters, their eyes wide and their mouths forming an O.
Katina hurried along to the small round table and placed the food in front of Banyu. The boy’s eyes grew wide and he gladly accepted the spoon amongst the cutlery that Katina offered him. The head of the centre then leaned over to Sophie and whispered something in her ear.
Sophie looked past Katina at the four boys, a smile growing on her face. Then she turned back to Katina, nodded, and whispered one final thing to Banyu, before standing up and heading towards the door. Katina took Sophie’s seat beside Banyu to keep the boy company.
The four Asters went ahead of her and waited for her in the hallway.
“She wants us all to leave,” Sophie told them.
“Yes, according to her, we stink,” Sky said, acting offended on purpose.
Sophie wrinkled her nose. “She’s not wrong.”
The five of them headed through the castle’s corridors, which were almost completely deserted. Most of the castle’s inhabitants would be in their rooms after a hard day’s work, or already in the dining hall for their dinner.
The Asters headed for their common room. They were in desperate need of a shower. They were still covered in blood and sweat from their battle in the Indonesian heat.
“What did you find out?” Matu asked Sophie.
Sophie looked across to her brother. “A lot, actually. The attack didn’t happen all at once. The Disciples first went into his mother’s room, where his Aunt had also been sleeping for the past few weeks. When his sister—”
“Citra, right?” Lian interrupted.
“Yes. So when Citra heard the sounds she forced Banyu to hide under his bed in the false bottom. She told him that he shouldn’t come out, even if he heard something. Or heard nothing. She told him to wait until someone found him, and she hoped it would be one of us,” Sophie explained.
“Smart girl,” Sky mused.
“How old is she?” Matu asked.
“Fifteen.”
“That’s quite an age difference,” Matu observed.
“Banyu wasn’t planned. When Amisha found out she was pregnant it was soon after Taman had died. She doesn’t believe in abortion, but even if she had, she wouldn’t have done it.”
“And you know this, how?” Sky asked.
Sophie shot him a look that told him enough. Sophie knew goddamned everything. Whether it was through a book or through her own magic. Sky never knew where her own research ended and her magic began.
“What else?” Matu asked.
“Citra told him she’d pretend he was sleeping over at a friend’s house. Then she closed the fake bottom and left. From what I could see Citra was very smart indeed. She somehow even had the presence of mind to make up Banyu’s bed to make
it seem as though no one had slept in it that night. I assume the Disciples broke into their room right after that and took her downstairs to where her mother and aunt were already being tortured.”
Sky let out a long breath.
“I know,” Sophie sighed, knowing exactly what he meant with his sigh. “How has it come to this?”
“It feels like we’re always a step behind,” Sky muttered.
He saw his brothers nod beside him.
“Like it’s been planned for so long, and we’re only just catching up,” Lian added. “But then I suppose they have had nearly eighteen years to do so.”
“It doesn’t feel like we’re catching up, though,” Sky almost growled. “We’re running around and appearing exactly where they want us to, when they want us to. No action was our decision; we’re only reacting.”
“Do you want even more bad news?” Sophie asked.
Sky rolled his eyes to his sister. “Not really, but shoot.”
“The Disciples that attacked us were from South America.”
Sky shook his head. “So? Nate said the ones in Perth were, too.”
Sophie’s eyes flew open in shock at that piece of news.
“What?” Nathan asked. “What’s so bad about that?”
Sophie sighed, obviously annoyed that none of the boys had any idea what she had concluded. “South America was Astaroth’s territory.”
“So? It’s not anymore. He’s dead,” Lian said.
It was true. The worry Sky had felt at seeing those legendary axes he’d only heard about in stories and seen drawings of in books, had gone as quickly as it had come, because Astaroth was indeed dead. Ever since the war twenty-five years ago, which had concluded with Tomas Mendosa killing Astaroth, the only Original King left was Kirnon, the King of the Asian Underworld. But he had never been a real threat. No one had heard anything from his territory in decades. The Asian Underworld was practically a ghost town. But there was one other territory that they also hadn’t heard anything from in years… actually they had never heard from that territory for exactly twenty-five years…
“Oh, crap,” Sky said, realizing what Sophie had meant.
Sophie nodded at her brother in approval. “We have no idea who the King of the South American Underworld is.”
“Jahamanu,” Matu swore.
A Disciple born on the day of Astaroth’s death would be born with the dead King’s magic and would become the next King himself. Why they were always male, Sky had no idea, but they were. Usually after a new King was born, word got out quite fast. The Affinite Mergers in the Underworld got the news very quickly, and because of them, so did the Small Council and the Asters of that generation. But in the past twenty-five years there hadn’t been any news on who the new King of the South American Underworld was. Absolutely nothing.
“So we have no idea what we’re up against,” Lian concluded, “or what kind of following this new King has.”
“We know he has the same magic Astaroth did,” Matu said.
“But we have no idea in what way he will wield it,” Sophie said. “And if the Perth townhouse was attacked on the same King’s orders, then I would bet anything it was also that King who ordered the attack on the Okoth family. There is only one King who has been daring enough to make a play for Gayle Mendosa and her magic, and it’s a King we’ve never faced before.”
“And know absolutely nothing of,” Nathan added quietly.
They had made it to their common room and stepped inside. The fire in the large fireplace was burning fiercely, and it filled Sky’s cold bones with warmth.
Sky shuddered once. “How the hell are we going to save those Affinites, and protect Gayle Mendosa at the same time?
Sophie opened her own bedroom door. “We’re not.” All four boys stared at her in confusion before she added, “Axel didn’t tell you? Our parents are coming.”
It was after they had finished their meals in the dining hall that the Asters were called back to the Board Room. At dinner, Sophie had explained to the others how Axel had planned to bring in the Asters of the previous generation, known now as Ceders, as back-up for their operation to keep Gayle safe, and the Affinites held in the Underworld from getting killed.
Sophie had only spoken to her mother on the phone less than a week ago. It was strange to think that both of her mothers would be coming in from London for the mission of all missions.
Sophie had been told her parents’ love story a million times. Same-sex marriages had been approved of years earlier, yet it had still caused quite some commotion when Katherine Griffiths had arrived on Saluverus after a holiday, showing off her new Canadian girlfriend, Ivana. Sophie loved hearing the story of the Canadian country-girl Affinite falling for the famous Aster of Health and Knowledge. She never tired of hearing how her two mothers fought off prejudice and judgment, even against some of Katherine’s fellow Asters at the time. Each time Sophie went home to London in weekends and holidays, she was reminded again and again that you should never give up a fight you know you want to win. Even if everyone at the time believed you shouldn’t.
There had been questions at the time of how Katherine’s magic would continue to live on. There were of course ways for Katherine to have a biological child, but the two women had decided to adopt instead.
Every Aster had the ability to pass on their magic once without losing it themselves, either through the birth of a child or through a spell. Most of the time that spell was used when an Aster died, to pass on the magic running through said Aster’s veins, and place it into another living soul to carry on the lineage. In Katherine’s case they used the spell when she was still alive. It had worked perfectly, and Sophie had gained the magic of Health and Knowledge; but from that moment Katherine would never be able to pass on her magic again. In the past there had been attempts to create more Asters with the same magic, but those had all ended in failure.
So, Sophie wasn’t either Katherine or Ivana’s biological daughter, but she felt it nonetheless. None of her brothers had ever given her a hard time about her home family being different than theirs. Even better, they would angrily stand up for her if anyone else showed her such disrespect. Though that hadn’t happened in years, Sophie still clearly remembered Sky even going so far as breaking the nose of an Affinite who had made a small joke about the adopted Aster with the lesbian mothers. It had earnt him two weeks in detention, but Sophie had sat alongside him in the detention centre all that time in gratitude.
When the five Asters stepped into the Board Room they were met with a surprise: the four Ceders were already there. Madeleine Mayne, Sky’s mother, stood tall and proud at the window, with her blonde hair hanging straight down past her shoulders and her blue eyes sparkling as she beheld her son walking in. It struck Sophie again each time she saw Madeleine, how much Sky looked like her: the same blonde hair, the same dark blue eyes; even the shape of their nose and mouth was similar. Madeleine was wearing a very chic, deep-blue pantsuit and black high heels. Obviously, she hadn’t had time to change before being summoned there.
Diallo Madaki, Matu’s father, stood next to Nicholas Nelson at the corner desk. The Ceder of Strength towered over the Emissary with his tall stature, broad shoulders and gigantic chest. Nathan’s mother, Rose Radbourne, sat at the round oak table in the middle. It was hard to imagine that Nathan’s tall, strong frame came from this small, delicate woman. Unlike Sky and Madeleine, Nathan and his mother had no features in common.
Sophie spotted her mother standing next to Madeleine at the window, and headed over to give her a hug.
“Good to see you,” Katherine Griffiths whispered in her ear.
“You, too,” Sophie whispered back. She then straightened and turned around.
Of all the Asters of the previous generation, only the Ceder of Speed, Strength, Flora and Health were here now. Yoshiko Fai, the Ceder of Analgesia and Lian’s mother, had died a year ago, while Tomas Mendosa, the Ceder of Endurance, was of course away from Saluverus
. There had never been an Aster of Endurance in the current generation because Tomas’ child had been born the reincarnation of Queen Aiyana, and possessed her magic instead. Gayle Mendosa’s parents were both Asters, but her mother didn’t come from any of the six Aster magics that Aiyana had created five hundred years ago. Cara Mendosa was now the Ceder of Mind, and had become an Aster in a very unique way. But that was a whole other story.
Sophie went over to stand by Lian, who was unnecessarily confronted by the knowledge of his parents no longer being with them.
Axel Reed cleared his throat and everyone in the room turned to look at him. “Good to have you all here on such short notice.”
Though the Ambassador was only a few years older than the Ceders they all had the utmost respect for him. They didn’t complain about being summoned even though they were no longer the active generation of Asters. If they were called upon, it was for a very good reason, and they were never to doubt it. And they didn’t.
Aside from Axel, only Sylvia and Nicholas from the Small Council were in the room. Jackson and Felix must still be in the Frozen Dungeons interrogating the Disciple Nathan had managed to capture in the jungles of Makassar.
“You have all been brought up to speed,” Axel continued, addressing the Ceders. “No Affinite on the Surface is safe until Gayle is safely behind Saluverus’ Curtain. New protocols have been set, and as of this moment, Affinites from all over the world will be coming here or to Viria or Auro, for protection. We have been in contact with Tomas and Cara and they have also been briefed on the new developments. It seems as though the new King of the South American Underworld is making his appearance at last. And although we know nothing about him, it won’t change what we are about to do.”
The room was utterly silent as he spoke. Sophie could feel the tension in those present. Her generation of Asters had never been involved in a mission this important before. Their parents had been part of a war and had seen the worst of what the truly evil, and most powerful King in history could do. Sophie had a horrible feeling they were just seeing the beginning of what that particular King’s reincarnation was capable of.
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