by Lynette Noni
It was lunchtime on Saturday and there was a definite feeling of anticipation in the air. At least for the fourth years, anyway, as they were soon to experience their first taste of Hunter’s Stealth and Subterfuge class.
“I think I’m going to visit my parents,” Alex said. “They’re probably waiting for an update and I don’t want them getting antsy about not hearing from me.”
Bear nodded. “Sounds like a good idea.”
“Say ‘hi’ from us,” D.C. put in kindly.
“Will do,” Alex agreed with a smile. “Where are you guys meeting Hunter?”
“Right here,” Jordan said. “He’ll arrive after everyone else has cleared out.”
Alex looked around the quickly emptying food court. “That’s my cue to leave.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to try out with us?” D.C. asked. “It might be fun.”
Alex laughed at the thought. “Not by my definition, Dix. But you guys enjoy yourselves.”
She stood and hastily left the food court, eager to be far away when Hunter arrived. The last thing she needed was to give the impression that she actually wanted to take part in the class. No sir-ee.
Once outside, Alex walked straight over to the Tower building and headed downstairs into the Library. It was weird; she’d grown so used to coming and going through its doorways over the holidays, but this was the first time she’d been back since school started. The moment she entered the majestic foyer, she felt a sensation similar to a warm embrace, as if the Library was welcoming her back with open arms.
She waved to the surly librarian who grunted in reply, then skipped down the stairs, concentrated on where she wanted to go, willed a door to appear and stepped directly though it— straight into what looked like ancient Egypt.
The Library didn’t skimp on details, that was for sure. It had provided pyramids and everything. After seeing their new digs, Alex’s parents hadn’t cared about being cloistered away in what was loosely defined as a ‘building’ for the entirety of their stay in Medora. Instead, they’d been thrilled by the idea of gallivanting around amongst one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Well, their world, at least. Medoran history was different. And yet, despite that, the Library had generously accommodated Alex’s request for a safe but productive place for her parents to stay. In fact, the ecosystem was so real that the only way Alex knew they were still inside the Library at all was because of its walls. It might look as if the desert’s sand dunes continued for all eternity, but upon exploring during her first visit, Alex had walked straight into a transparent barrier—and nearly broken her nose in theGrumbling about needing a warning sign, Alex had very deliberately chosen to ignore the warmly amused voice of the Library echoing in the wind, “Best watch your step, Alexandra.”
She had taken those words to heart and now, holding a hand in front of her face to shield against the glare of the artificial sun, Alex opened her mouth to call out to her parents rather than wander aimlessly into another barrier. But she didn’t manage to get a single word out before a large gust of wind blasted what felt like every grain of sand in the desert down her throat.
Bending double to hack the coarse grittiness out of her oesophagus, she waited until she could catch her breath before stumbling forward, deciding to head into the nearest pyramid— the only one that was ‘real’ amid the illusions of others, as she’d painfully discovered on her first visit.
Wiping tears from her eyes after the attack of wind, sand and glare, Alex was relieved to find shelter inside the archaeological wonder. Almost immediately she heard excited voices from further in and headed towards them. She found her parents kneeling in a flame-lit chamber at the base of a pillar covered in carved hieroglyphs, talking a mile a minute over each other.
“Rach, honey, can you see—”
“I know, Jack, it’s incredible! Just look at—”
“Extraordinary! I can’t believe—”
Alex cleared her throat loudly, drawing their startled gazes.
“Alex? What a lovely surprise!” said her mum, Rachel, rising to her feet and brushing sand off her knees. She closed the distance between them and drew Alex in for a hug.
“What are you doing here, sweetheart?” asked her dad, Jack, embracing her after her mother. “Please don’t say it’s because you have more immortal elves after you for us to worry about. One arch-enemy is enough for any grand adventure, in my humble opinion.”
“Aven’s not an elf, Dad,” Alex said, though she could understand the popular culture comparison—she made it frequently herself. “He’s a Meyarin. And can’t a girl visit her parents without needing a reason?”
Jack looked at her in a way only a father could. “Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity or not, I still have moments where I wonder if we made the right decision letting you come back here. If Aven’s as dangerous as you say…” He trailed off, gathering his thoughts. “You know, if Darrius hadn’t told us that the elf can now use the Library to step through to Earth and kidnap you, I’m not sure our decision would have been the same. But if he can get to you no matter where you are, then I guess—”
“—that you might as well be somewhere where you’re learning how to not get caught by him,” Rachel jumped in to finish. “And you are, sweetheart, aren’t you? Learning how to stay safe from him?”
Understanding their concern, Alex tried to reassure them. “I am. And believe me, when my Combat instructor is through with me, Aven won’t stand a chance. No one will be capturing me—Meyarin, human, or otherwise.”
Noting their still troubled faces, Alex decided it was time for her to divert their attention away from imminent threats to her life and therefore the lives of all Medorans. She took in their dirt-smudged skin and, keeping her tone deliberately light, said, “Now enough about me, I want to hear about what you guys have been up to. It sure looks like you’re having fun down here.”
That was all it took for her easily distracted, work-loving parents to switch gears, all talk of Aven forgotten. Again Alex was reminded of how they’d seemed to repress what Darrius had told them about Alex’s dealings with the Meyarin. But if compartmentalising it all helped calm her parents enough to allow Alex to continue on at Akarnae, then she’d let them repress anything they wanted.
“This place is amazing!” Rachel gushed. “The parallels between Medora and Earth are astounding. Already we’ve made several new discoveries, and the wonders just keep coming!”
“You should have seen the alluvial deposits we found yesterday,” said Jack, practically glowing with pleasure. “I’ve never seen such nutrient-dense soil before in my life!”
“Who doesn’t love a good alluvial deposit?” replied Alex, unintentionally setting her parents off on a longwinded discussion about the importance of fertile soil for ancient crop cultivation.
It was only after listening patiently to their overload of farming information as well as the tangent conversation about the large Canopic vases they’d found a few days ago—including the mummified contents within and just who they might have originally belonged to—that Alex considered her parental duty complete for the day.
With distracted goodbyes and ‘be carefuls’ from her parents who were clearly eager to get back to their hieroglyphs, Alex willed a return doorway to appear from right inside the pyramid. It opened showing her a view of the Library’s foyer, but something unexpected happened as soon as she stepped through the door. With a disorienting swirl of colour, the scenery changed, causing her to land not in the well-lit foyer…
… but in the middle of a forest.
Thoroughly bewildered, Alex turned around once, twice, and then stood there weighing her options. She clearly wasn’t in the Library anymore, but she had no idea how that had happened. Never before had she stepped through a doorway and arrived anywhere but where she had chosen.
No, that wasn’t right. Her very first foray into the fantasy world had landed her in a forest clearing where she’d met Aven, and then Jordan and Bear. B
ut that didn’t explain where she was now—or why she was there.
“Uh, hello?” she called out timidly, wondering what she was supposed to do.
No one answered and she soon realised no one was going to. For whatever reason, the Library had decided to intervene and drop her off somewhere unexpected—and without any instruction whatsoever—and Alex had little option but to simply go with it.
If only she could open a doorway, that would solve all her problems. But when she was in Medora she had to be within the Library in order to will a door into existence. Either that, or she had to have already exited from a doorway that she could then call back into being for the return trip. Neither of those options were available to her at the moment, since technically she hadn’t opened the doorway that led to her being lost in the middle of nowhere. That left her with one option.
“Eenie, meenie, miney, moe,” she said, closing her eyes and pointing in all directions. When her finger landed, she started off into the forest, stepping cautiously through the thick shrubbery and wishing she’d worn sturdier shoes.
“I hope you have a good reason for sending me here,” she murmured, knowing instinctively that if the Library put her there, then it could hear her whingeing.
A branch snapped loudly behind her and the sound reminded Alex that she was in a world where all sorts of monstrous creatures likely prowled through the woods.
Another branch snapped, closer this time, causing her body to tense.
A thick bush rustled only a few feet away from where she stood. The shrubbery was at least twice her height, with a width more than three times that. The rustling increased until the whole bush was moving and Alex’s heart began to pound in her chest as she backed away.
When the rustling stopped, Alex released the breath she’d been holding. But it turned into a squeal of fright when something lunged towards her. She scurried backwards until she was pressed up against a tree. But when she caught sight of her ‘attacker’ she let out a relieved laugh.
“Aren’t you cute!” she gushed at the furry little creature that looked like some kind of squirrely possum—fluffy with big eyes and a long curling tail. Hardly the nightmarish monster she’d feared.
Alex knew better than to reach out to touch the animal— knowing her luck, she’d catch some funky disease from it— but she had to admit it was adorable. So much so that she was too busy watching it scavenge for food to notice that the bush was still rustling. A snarl was the only warning she had before a black shadow burst through the shrubbery and caught the squirrely creature in its teeth, snapping its body with a sickening crunch and swallowing it whole.
Alex shrieked and threw herself to the ground just as the animal lunged for her next. It was hideously terrifying; huge and hairy, with unnatural blood-red eyes and dilated black pupils. Talon-like claws ripped into the tree where she’d been standing, and when the animal turned to growl at her, she could see its razor-sharp teeth, each of which was about as long as her hand.
Alex scrambled to her feet when her fight-or-flight instinct activated and bolted blindly into the forest. She had no defence, no weapon, nothing at all. She didn’t even have speed to her advantage, since she could hear the creature quickly gaining on her. She wouldn’t be able to outrun it. But what else could she do?
At least the dense woodland was working in her favour, helping to slow the beast. She dared not look back; hearing the creature’s frustrated growls as it struggled through vines was enough to know that it was still close behind. Too close. She needed to get out of there. She needed to get… higher.
Alex glanced back at the creature as she tore through the forest. While its front legs held lethal talons, its back legs had no claws that she could see. She could only hope that meant it couldn’t climb, and with that thought she grabbed onto a thick vine and scurried up the closest tree. But she wasn’t high enough when the monster caught up with her, and before she could scramble out of reach, it jumped up and swiped its claws along her back, tearing into her flesh.
Alex cried out in pain and nearly lost her grip, but she managed to hold on and continued to heave herself up. She stopped when she was nearly at the canopy, and shakily rested against the thick tree trunk. Her back was screaming in agony, but she was more concerned about what to do next. The creature was prowling at the base of the tree, snarling and growling at her. She had no way to escape.
And then, out of nowhere, Alex heard voices.
The creature heard them too, and it turned away and looked in the direction of the noise. It jumped into a thick bush until it was concealed entirely from sight, its dark, hairy body camouflaged by the dense foliage.
Just as she was about to call out a warning, three people walked into view. Alex jerked back with shock and shrunk further into the tree, hiding amongst the vines and leaves.
Her reaction may have been dramatic, but it was also justified. Because one of the people was Aven.
Seriously, did she have the worst luck, or what?
“She’s nearby. I can sense her,” Aven proclaimed.
Alex shuddered at his announcement. Was he talking about her? How did he know she was there?
She peered at the silvery scar on her hand, feeling an unpleasant churning in her stomach at the reminder of when his blood had mixed with hers. Was it possible that…? No, she couldn’t bear to consider the thought that he was somehow able to sense her through the scar. It wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be.
“Are you sure?” Gerald asked. Even from her elevated position, Alex could easily recognise the tattoo-covered man she’d last seen fleeing from the Library with Aven.
“You doubt me, Gerald?” Aven asked dangerously.
“Of—of course not,” Gerald stuttered.
“He’d never be so stupid as to doubt you, my prince,” said the third member of the group, a woman Alex did not recognise. She was tall and refined, with blond hair and vacant, glassy eyes.
“You’re right, Calista,” Aven agreed. “He must know how unwise it would be to question my judgement.”
Gerald opened his mouth, most likely to apologise again, but Aven quieted him with a look.
“Silence. She’s here.”
Gerald and the woman—Calista—tensed. They both withdrew blades from belted scabbards and held them at the ready. Alex froze, wondering what they planned to do to her.
“Put your weapons away,” Aven said. “This is between me and her.”
They did as he commanded, and he stepped closer to the tree in which Alex was perched high above them.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” Aven goaded as he unsheathed his own weapon.
Alex gripped the tree trunk, her knuckles white. Aven hadn’t looked up so there was a possibility that he didn’t know where she was exactly. She wasn’t going to give away her position, no matter what.
But what happened next was so unexpected that she nearly let go.
In her fear of Aven, she’d forgotten about the dark beast, which soon made its presence known, lunging from the bush and slamming into Aven’s torso.
The Meyarin didn’t so much as blink. He raised his arm and slashed his blade into the neck of the hairy creature before effortlessly throwing the bulky mass aside with the weapon still imbedded in its flesh. Alex’s stomach roiled at the sound of the beast’s gurgling whine as it fell limply to the ground.
Aven patted his torn sleeve where the creature had clawed his arm, frantically inspecting his clothes and skin. Alex could see his silver blood dripping from where the monster’s talons had swiped into his flesh, but she knew his Meyarin genes would heal the wound soon enough.
“Quickly, Gerald,” Aven ordered, snapping his two human companions out of their shock. “We need to leave before Marselle discovers how close we are to his precious school.”
It was then that Alex realised Aven hadn’t come for her at all. He hadn’t been calling for her because she wasn’t the one he could ‘sense’—it was the creature he’d been hunting.
Alex let out a stuttered breath of relief but locked her body again when Aven cocked his head to the side, listening with his superior Meyarin hearing. He glanced around with a quizzical expression before shaking his head and turning his attention back to his companions.
While Alex focused on not making any sound that might draw his attention again, Calista reached into her jacket and retrieved a glass vial. She handed it to Gerald who knelt and yanked out Aven’s blade, pressing the vial against the slashed neck of the creature. The glass filled with a murky brown liquid as the creature’s blood gushed out of the fatal wound.
“That’s enough,” Aven said.
Gerald pressed a stopper in the top and made to hand the vial to Aven but the Meyarin hissed and backed away. “Remember what I told you, fool!”
Gerald’s ink-covered face paled and he hastily shoved the blood-filled container into his clothes.
“Is that all we need, my prince?” Calista asked.
“For the moment.” Aven looked down at the lifeless creature. “Such a waste. She had so much potential.”
Alex felt the hair on her neck stand on end at his words and she imagined herself in the same place as the animal, with Aven standing over her defeated body.
She shook the thought from her mind and watched silently as he drew out a Bubbler and threw it to the ground. Without another word he led the way through, and as soon as Gerald and Calista stepped in after him, the bubble-gateway vanished.
Alex exhaled deeply the moment they were gone. She couldn’t believe Aven had been searching for the very creature that had been chasing her. It was too much of a coincidence.
And Alex didn’t believe in coincidences.
“What are you playing at?” she whispered, wanting to know why the Library had sent her there. She, of course, received no answer.
She loosened her grip and considered her next move. There was no way she was going to leave the safety of the tree, but she needed to start moving and find her way back to Akarnae. Aven’s words about Darrius gave her hope that she wasn’t too far from the academy, so she just had to figure out which direction to go in.