“Milo, stop it. You had no control over yourself. It wasn’t your fault.”
“But I wanted it, don’t you see that?” His voice rose threateningly. “I wanted to touch that fountain. It’s because I wanted it so bad that he was able to make me do it.”
A loud burst from nearby startled Emma.
She turned to see a steaming geyser of water shoot up from the center of the lake, casting fish everywhere and startling Zander into flight. A flexing ball of water rose and fell with such force that the scalding splash reached Emma’s feet, along with the stench of boiled fish.
“Calm down right now,” she shouted at Milo.
His fists covered his eyes. “I’m so sick of this. And where’s Uncle Manny? Why isn’t he getting back to us? And why are we here, in this school full of clueless kids, when we should be out there fighting?”
The lake roiled and steamed from his anger. He would kill everything inside it, if he hadn’t already.
“Milo, stop it!”
“That son of bitch,” Milo raged, oblivious to the damage he was causing as he paced heatedly back and forth. “That selfish son of—”
Emma ran up to her brother and slapped him hard enough to displace his eye patch. “Get a grip!”
Stunned, Milo could only blink at her, his left eye so misty it was like the belly of one of the dead fish at her feet. The water stopped boiling, and the lake went back to normal. A scattering of fish corpses floated to the top.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“You have to control yourself. You can’t let your temper get the best of you. That’s how Kovax wins.”
She went to fix his eye patch. Just then, an urgent look came over Milo’s face, and he brushed her hand away.
“I have to warn the Forge. Emma, go tell our friends what happened. Let’s regroup tonight in my room at eight. Zander can take you back to campus.”
Milo dug his Araband out of his pocket and whistled for Zander to come down from the sky. The levathon had resorted to flying in circles above them, obviously afraid. When he landed, Emma hesitantly climbed onto his back.
“Milo,” she said, “you have to know, it wasn’t your faul—”
“Just stop, Emma.” His blunt words caught her by surprise. He never turned to look at her. “Stop telling me what I can and can’t feel, okay?”
With trembling fingers, Emma strapped herself into the harness. Moments later, she was sailing across campus, tears streaming from her eyes.
As soon as she entered the nearest cloud, she allowed herself to break down and sob.
CHAPTER 24
Every Forge base in the realm was evacuated within the next few hours.
Emma had no idea where the soldiers had decided to relocate, and neither did Milo, who warned the academy’s administration to keep their knowledge secret and let no one among them go near a Fountain of Joy. To help convince them of the urgency of their situation, Milo enlisted the help of his physics professor and the mathematician he had met earlier.
By the time the orphans met in Milo’s dorm room at eight o’clock that night, Milo looked pale and exhausted. He sat on the bed and let his shoulders slump. They were all there except Barrel and Lily.
Lily barged in twenty minutes late, interrupting Milo and Emma’s explanation of what Kovax had done. She was wide-eyed and frazzled, one hand tightly clenched around her Araband.
“I can’t find Barrel.”
“Where did you see him last?” Sevarin said, approaching her.
“What do you mean you can’t find him?” Owen said. “Did you call him?”
“Of course I called!” Lily pressed the Araband against her chest, both hands wrapped protectively around it. “We were supposed to have dinner together, but he never showed. When I tried calling him, it said his Ara couldn’t receive calls. It said his band was malfunctioning.”
“Malfunctioning?” Sevarin said.
The orphans formed a tight circle in the center of the room. They spoke in hushed voices.
“You think he was kidnapped?” Sevarin said.
“I do,” Milo said. “And I don’t feel it’s a coincidence at all.”
“What was he doing last time we heard from him?” Emma said.
Owen shook his head. “He told me at lunch that he was going to study with Kellan later. He seemed excited about it.”
“Kellan,” Milo said in disgust. “He’s involved in this, for sure. Anyone see Barrel after that?”
The orphans glanced at each other, then resorted to shaking their heads.
Milo turned to Emma. “Can you use your Sight to find him?”
“It doesn’t work like that. I still don’t know how to control it.”
“But you did that day in Mom and Dad’s car, after the talent show, remember? When we were running from those Dark Acolytes.”
“That was different. I—I can’t explain why. It comes and goes.”
Milo rubbed his forehead with the heel of his hand, a clear gesture of irritation. “But you have to try, Emma. It’s not like we’re asking you to grow a third wing.”
“Lay off her, Banks,” Sevarin said.
“Yeah,” Gunner said. “What’s gotten into you, Milo?”
Milo flinched a little, as if suddenly aware of himself. “Fine. We have to think of something else then. If his Araband can’t take a call, maybe the tracker still works. Uncle Manny had one installed in our bands, right?
“Good thinking.” Owen tapped his crystal. “I’m on it. Ara, can you track the location of Barrel’s Araband?”
The marble of light expanded into a display of Ara’s face. She was frowning.
“I’ve homed in on his Araband, but Barrel does not appear to have used it in several hours. Here’s a map showing its location.”
The display changed to a bird’s-eye view of the campus. It zoomed in on a blinking spot in the foothills east of the academic buildings.
“Bingo,” Owen said.
Milo studied the map. When he spoke, it was in a harsh tone Emma had never heard her brother use before. It seemed better suited to a military commander addressing soldiers about to be thrown into battle.
“Sevarin, I need you to do something.”
“Yeah, bud.”
“Keep an eye on Kellan. He might be targeting other students. But don’t let him know what we’re up to. If he’s the one who took Barrel, there’s no telling what he’ll do if he finds out we know. And if his father is involved, we won’t stand a chance against his men. Report back to me regularly.”
“Aye, aye, captain,” Sevarin said, though his frown indicated he wasn’t the slightest bit amused at being ordered around like this.
Owen chimed in. “What make you think the Archon’s got something to do with it?”
“Just trust me on this,” Milo said.
“What about us?” Gunner said. “How can we help?”
Milo spoke again in that steady, commanding voice. He sounded so confident that Emma couldn’t help but remember her father’s dying words.
Maybe someday you’ll give hope to these troubled realms.
She was starting to think it was true… unless Milo’s anger turned him toward a different, darker path.
“Owen,” Milo said, “use your Araband to find Barrel’s broken one. It might give us a clue where they took him.”
“Roger that,” Owen said.
Milo turned to Gunner. “How are your sneaking skills?”
“Decent, I guess,” he said with a shrug. “I’m no Feral, but for a Humankin, they’re pretty darned good. That’s how I helped feed my family back in Korea, by sneaking around and stealing food.”
Milo gave him an icy look made even more intimidating by his eye patch. “You can’t guess they’re pretty good. Either they’re good enough, or they’re not. This could be dangerous.”
A hurt look crossed Gunner’s face. He cleared his throat and nodded once. “I’m good to go.”
“Okay. Go with Sevarin. Help hi
m keep an eye on Kellan. He’ll be your backup in case things get out of hand.”
“Now I’m just backup?” Sevarin complained.
Milo gave him a starkly superior look, like a king staring down a servant who could easily be removed from the court at any time. Sevarin nodded obediently. Emma could tell he was trying to suppress anger, and that it was only a matter of time before Milo’s attitude caused him to erupt.
“What about me and Emma?” Lily said.
“We’ll need your Sight,” Milo said, focusing on Emma now. “Lily will watch over you. Stay somewhere safe. Not your dorm room, because that’s where they’ll look for you. Go somewhere else—one of the back rooms in the library, maybe. Try to see where they’ve put Barrel. And this goes for everyone—don’t trust a single person who didn’t come to Theus on my uncle’s jet.”
“Okay,” Lily said. “Got it.”
“What about you?” Emma asked him.
Milo looked thoughtfully down at the carpet as if visualizing another map, this one marked with a destination only he was supposed to reach.
“I have something I need to do,” he said. “It’s now or never, but it’s the only way I can be sure.”
“Sure of what?” Emma said.
“That he doesn’t get into my head again and screw things up.”
Emma made a last, desperate attempt to pierce his icy exterior. “We’re doing this for Barrel. We’re going to bring him back. But we can only do it together.”
“I know that.” Milo looked over his friends’ face. “For Barrel. We don’t rest until he’s back.”
On their way out of the dorm room, Sevarin took Emma’s hand in the hallway and looked solemnly into her eyes.
“It’s gonna be okay,” he said. “Milo may be acting like a jerk, but I think he knows what he’s doing.”
Emma swallowed nervously. “I hope so. But he’s acting different, Sevarin. It’s like this is all about him, and the rest of us are just there for the show. I think he cares more about winning than saving Barrel.”
“Whatever gets the job done,” Sevarin said. “And,” he added in an unusually tender voice, “whatever keeps you alive, Emma.”
She placed a hand against his chest, smiling faintly. “Let’s go find Barrel, okay?”
Sevarin grinned at her.
“Aye, aye, captain.”
CHAPTER 25
C alista stumbled into the dining room, carrying the wine jug as if it weighed more than she did. Her eyes took on a drowsy, dizzy look.
“Looky here, now,” Oldie said, twisting in his chair to study her. “How did you get selected to be a servant?”
“A cub like you should be up in my quarters,” Brawny said with a wine-stained grin. “I have a mind to send you there right away.”
Calista shuffled over to the table and set down the jug. The men ignored it and scanned the length of her body with greedy eyes. Grinning creepily at her, Dwynlyle rose from his chair to get a better look.
Oldie reached out and grabbed her wrist. “Go have a seat in the corner right over there and wait for my instruction.”
“I saw her first,” Brawny said with a grin.
Calista moaned sickly. Brawny’s smile flipped in a look of disgust.
“What’s wrong with her?” he said. “She looks ready to puke.”
“Hairball caught in her throat?” Dwynlyle said, chuckling.
Calista opened her mouth, revealing the moist clump of food stuck inside. The low mages barely had time to react, as Calista gave in to a violent cough that sprayed the bread-and-molasses mixture all over the table.
“Gods,” Oldie shouted, toppling his chair as he jumped out of it.
Brawny wiped flecks of it off his cheeks. “Unacceptable,” he raged. “How dare she—”
“Oh, stuff it,” Dwynlyle said, leering at her and smiling that creepy smile again. “I think this one has character.”
“You didn’t get her disgusting vomit all over your robe,” Oldie snapped at the younger mage, pointing a crooked finger at him.
Calista coughed more of the mixture into her hands and wiped it across her shirt. The look on her face was one of mortal terror, but inside, she felt only a cold rage that took pleasure in imagining how the poison would soon turn these men into corpses.
Brawny loomed over her. “Go get cleaned up immediately and come back. See if I won’t report this and send you straight into the tower.”
Dwynlyle began to protest. “Just leave her to me. A tail like that shouldn’t go to waste.”
“You shut up, you idiot,” Oldie shouted at him.
As the men bickered, Calista quickly set the wine jug on the table and turned toward the exit. They couldn’t see the smile easing across her face.
“Suckers,” she whispered.
Dropping to a crouch, Calista took her original post in the shady stairwell and watched.
The mages finished cleaning themselves up. With sighs and muttered curses all around, they eventually settled back into their chairs and poured wine, and the conversation resumed, this time centered on the topic of Feral hygiene—or the lack of it, according to them.
Calista remembered Athenara’s words regarding the Death’s Head Serum. Get a drop of this in your mouth, and the effects are instantaneous.
She watched them drink the wine, her body tingling with anticipation, but something was wrong. They’d each had a full goblet and were pouring more when Calista realized her plan had failed. The serum hadn’t been sparkling when she poured it in… maybe that was it. But what could have possibly changed it?
“Let’s see what Walthos is up to,” Oldie said, getting up from the table. “Dwynlyle, you go and find that nasty girl. See to it she goes straight to the tower.”
“After I charm her first,” Dwynlyle said, rising from his seat. “No hurry, right?”
“Damned Walthos!” Brawny pushed himself off his chair with an aggravated sigh. “I’ll break down his bedroom door if he’s still in there.”
Calista’s stomach sank. These men should have been on the floor by now, foaming at the mouth, seconds away from death if not dead already.
She tapped the transmitter.
“Status?” Artemis said.
“The serum didn’t work,” she whispered.
“What serum?”
“I added Death’s Head Serum to a jug of wine to poison the mages. I didn’t want to risk any blood crystals jumping out at me.”
“Why didn’t you just assassinate them? Mages need time to prepare their spells. You would have been too quick for them.”
Her stomach sank further. Now she truly felt ill.
The low mages made their way toward the exit. Another minute and they’d be out of her reach.
“But… Athenara told me—”
“Calista,” Artemis said, using his trying-to-be-patient voice, “Death’s Head Serum relies on a chemical bonding with luminether to create a spell of sorts.”
Calista closed her eyes. “The Null Sphere. That’s why it wasn’t sparkling.”
“Get out of there before they raise an alarm. I’ll guide you.”
Calista ran up the stairs as the low mages filed out of the dining room, on their way to find Walthos.
CHAPTER 26
Dawn splashed its orange light across the sky.
Another morning at sea. They had been traveling now for two full days, Oscar leading the pack. They were getting close; he could feel it, though the horizon was still a featureless line in the distance.
He shot toward it, propelled by the massive beast beneath him—one of an entire platoon carrying him and the Orglot warriors. He looked back to see the warriors’ intent, one-eyed frowns. They had gotten used to the awkwardness of riding water-bound creatures, and they were determined to hit land.
Oscar had never thought a whale, especially one carrying the weight of an Orglot, could glide so swiftly through the water. But these were bigger than any whales he’d ever seen before, and they were fast.
As long as school buses and twice the width of one, their backs were fleshy and comfortable enough to sleep on at night, though the previous night had been a cold one.
“We’re almost there,” Oscar shouted in the Orglot language.
His army barked in unison.
According to Ara’s positioning system, they had covered two-thirds of the distance. Several times during the trip, Oscar thought about calling his friends back in Theus, but there was no reason to fluster them. Plus, he didn’t need Sevarin and the others trying to come after him. Oscar would do this alone.
He silently urged the whales along whenever he felt the connection flag. They responded with low whines—half heard, half felt by their Speaker. At night, their crooning became a lullaby that eased him into a peaceful sleep, despite his fear of the sharks that sliced the water around him with their fins.
They ate raw creatures Oscar summoned from the sea. He ordered hundreds of them up from the depths—small fish for him, sharks and squid for Ruk and his clan. The Orglots grabbed at their leaping, silvery bodies and laughed as they made a contest of catching their next meal.
“I wager you cannot catch two at once,” Ukril challenged his father, a wriggling great white shark in each hand.
“Learn from your elder,” Ruk shouted back at him. He extended both arms into the slicing wall of spray on either side of his mount and brought back handfuls of sharks, which he threw up into the air to rain down on his warriors.
Oscar laughed along with them. Who would have thought cave-dwelling giants would love shark meat so much?
At one point, he checked his Araband again. Only twelve hours to go. The time had flown by. He almost couldn’t believe they were this close.
As soon as the horizon thickened into a dark line, Oscar lifted an arm and shouted a word that brought excited barks from the Orglots.
“Land!”
Ruk congratulated him. Well done, Speaker. Well done.
Ten hours later, Oscar saw a family of dolphins frolicking in the water. The whales had already expressed their discomfort to him about getting close to the shore. He would have to change tactics.
Savant & Feral (Digital Boxed Set): Books 1 and 2 of the Epic Luminether Fantasy Series Page 93