“Oh. Dang it.” Matt slumped back on the couch. “And I’ll bet she’s gone, right?”
“Nope. In her office. Come on.”
Like Matt, Mom was quick to agree to go.
“But you realize that if the Key is there,” Mom said, “that means there’s a link nearby, right? And where there’s a link, there’s the possibility of running into the Lorkon.”
Jacob nodded. “True, but the person who brought the Key to Toronto destroyed the link somehow. You’re right, though. We need to hurry.”
Mom leaned back in her chair. She hesitated a moment longer, then grabbed her cell and made a call to Ida Mae, arranging to have the elderly neighbor tend Amberly.
After Matt returned from driving Amberly to the neighbor’s house, Jacob Keyed them all to Dimplefield Place. The moment they stepped through the link, Jacob knew they weren’t in Mendon anymore. Even though it was only late May, they were hit by a wall of heat and humidity. Maybe it was hotter because of the humidity, but Jacob instantly felt like he needed to cough. It was like breathing watery air!
Ignoring the way his shirt started clinging to his back, Jacob led the way down the street, looking for the correct house. The homes were small, but quaint, and the owners took good care of their yards. A couple of older people were out pulling weeds.
“That’s it,” Jacob said, pointing to a house with a cracked driveway. He took a deep breath of the humid air and turned to Mom. “Lead the way.”
She nodded and strode to the porch. Jacob and Matt followed her up the steps and to the front door, where she rang the doorbell. They waited for several moments. Jacob was positive the others were just as miserable in the heat as he was.
An attractive woman with dark hair and an olive complexion finally answered. “Hello? Can I help you?” She had a slight Middle-Eastern accent.
A four- or five-year-old boy peeked around her and stared up at Jacob and Matt. Jacob waved to the boy, then turned his attention to what Mom was saying.
“My name is Janna, and these are my sons, Jacob and Matt.”
The woman nodded. “Nice to meet you. I’m Roya.” The skeptical expression on her face showed she was waiting for them to try to sell her something.
Mom went into a lengthy description about Gerald—the man who used to live there. How he’d been entrusted with a metal box that was a family heirloom from Mom’s side of the family.
Jacob frowned, wondering if that was true. But he knew her well enough to know she never lied, so she had to be telling the truth.
Then it occurred to Jacob that Mom probably was a descendant of Ayunli and Kilenya. And as such, the Keys really did belong to her family.
“He said he hid it in the laundry room of this house?” Roya tilted her head and frowned. “I didn’t notice anything when I moved in.”
“I know where it is,” Jacob said. “Do you mind if we go downstairs to look?”
When Roya hesitated further, Mom said, “It’s really special to my family. It means a lot to us.”
The lady’s expression remained skeptical, and the colors swirling through the air around her showed she still didn’t trust them. Jacob didn’t blame her—he was well aware that their request sounded very much like a ploy to get into her house and cause damage, possibly robbing and hurting her and her boy.
He watched as her emotion colors changed back and forth between possibly accepting Mom’s story and probably wondering how they were going to kill her. She looked long and hard at each of them, then took a deep breath, stepped back, and motioned for them to enter. “All right. But please, make it quick. And I’ll be with you the whole time.”
Jacob led them straight to the laundry room. He and Matt pulled out the dryer, revealing the corner of the room where the wall wasn’t completely finished. Slats of wood crossed the cement.
Matt reached forward and started pulling at the wood, but suddenly jumped away, shaking his hand. A huge creature or bug had run across his fingers and fallen to the floor. It was three or four inches long, light-colored, and had a gazillion legs and very long antennae. Jacob jumped as well, bumping into Mom, who shrieked.
“Get it away from me!” Mom said.
“Sorry, sorry!” Matt said, still shaking his hand. “That freaked me out!”
Roya laughed. “It’s a centipede. They’re related to a species that originated in Jamaica and they’re everywhere around here, but you get used to them. My American husband calls them Satan bugs. They’re disgusting things and usually nocturnal. I don’t see them in daylight very often.”
Another “Satan bug” ran across the wall and Roya leaned against the washing machine, arms folded. A smile played at the corner of her lips. She obviously thought Jacob and the other two were being silly. He couldn’t believe how casual she was. It was all he could do not to run from the room shaking, and he wasn’t usually skittish.
Matt hesitated, eying the cement and boards. “Where’s the box, Jacob?”
Without touching anything, Jacob pointed to the biggest board. It covered the hole where Gerald had stuffed the container.
“Okay.” Matt didn’t move. “How ‘bout you take off the board?”
“Me?” Jacob looked at Roya, but she motioned for him to go ahead, probably curious to see if they’d actually find something there.
He looked around the laundry room, then spotted a screwdriver on a shelf by the washing machine. He picked it up and hacked at the rotted wood covering the hole. It started shredding, soft from Toronto’s humidity.
When the last of the board fell, several of the critters dashed out of the hole, scampered across the wall, and disappeared behind the washing machine. Jacob watched the floor, waiting for one of the bugs to run up his leg, but none came.
He looked back at the hole and swore he could see something swarming inside, but it was too dark.
“Here,” Roya said, handing him a flashlight that had also been on the shelf.
Jacob turned it on and directed the beam to the wall. He nearly dropped the flashlight—the entire hole was full of Satan bugs. They crawled over each other, long legs tangling, big, buggy eyes staring. The Key container wasn’t even visible.
Mom squealed and backed away. “I, uh . . . I’ll leave you boys to this.” She practically danced to get out of the laundry room.
Matt and Jacob looked at each other. “How do we get rid of them?” Matt asked.
Roya chuckled. The colors swirling through the air around her showed she’d finally relaxed. “Light usually does the trick. These are more determined than the rest. I’ll see if I can find something to help. Go on. There isn’t anything valuable in this room.”
“Let’s try scaring them away,” Matt said when Roya left.
Jacob nodded. They waved their hands, arms, and heads at the bugs, trying to get them to move. It didn’t work.
“All right. We’ll blow, then.” Matt leaned closer to the hole than Jacob would have been comfortable doing and blew really hard. The bugs shifted—thousands of long, skinny, brownish legs moving. But they didn’t uncover the container or leave.
“Was this Gerald’s idea of a trap?” Matt asked. “A way to protect the box?”
Roya returned, holding a spray bottle. “I still don’t understand why they’re acting this way. Usually, the adults will have eaten the smaller ones whole by now.” She handed Jacob the bottle. “It’s permethrin. Kills them on contact. Go ahead, spray. See if it takes care of them.”
Matt took the bottle from Jacob and squirted some inside the hole. A few of the bugs moved, but not many. He shook his head. “Persistent critters. Do they bite?”
“Yes. And it hurts pretty bad.”
Jacob watched as a couple more of the bugs scattered from the hole. This time, they dashed out from under the machines and crossed the tile floor. Jacob and Matt stepped out of the way. They were so heavy and had so many legs, Jacob could actually hear them running, like mice. He shivered, cringing. So disgusting.
“Do you h
ave a pair of garden gloves I could borrow?” Matt asked.
Roya nodded and left to get them.
A moment later, Mom poked her head around the corner. “Please hurry, boys. I’m starting to get nervous.”
Jacob looked at her, head tilted. Something had changed in the air. Why hadn’t Jacob noticed it before? A sort of pressure was building, and it wasn’t imaginary—his ears needed to pop.
Roya returned and handed the gloves to Matt.
Mom peered around the corner again, hands rubbing her upper arms. “Jacob, come here for a minute.”
He followed her upstairs, where she whispered, “Something’s wrong. Please go watch from the driveway. I feel like we’re about to have visitors.”
“From where? The link has been destroyed.”
“I know. Do it anyway.”
Jacob nodded and exited the house. He pulled Early’s container from his bag and let her out.
“Would you check the area for danger and let me know if something is coming?”
Early nodded and flitted away, grinning. She didn’t fly very fast—Jacob could see her little head looking to the right and left repeatedly as she scanned the houses on either side of the street. He smiled. She was a good Minya.
He turned and put his focus on the mounting pressure that had nothing to do with the intense humidity. Right away, he felt a difference, and at first, couldn’t put his finger on what was wrong. Then he realized it—everything was still. There were no sounds. No chirping birds, no wind in the trees—not even the noise of the cars rushing by on the nearby highway reached him as they had earlier. And the pressure was really increasing. The hair on his arms and neck prickled and he yawned several times, trying to get his ears to pop.
Jacob wandered down the driveway, feeling every ounce of his body tense, concentrating. He hoped Matt hurried. Mom was right: something was coming.
He stood in the middle of the deserted street and circled slowly. Early returned, reporting nothing suspicious. But still, Jacob knew better. The residents of the area must have felt it too—they’d all gone inside their houses.
Then he felt a pull in the air. Not like wind, but more like a vacuum tugging at his skin and clothes. He couldn’t tell where the source of the pull was, and he circled again. What was going on?
He paused, narrowing his eyes at the tall stone wall at the end of the street. It looked different. Jacob focused on it, trying to discern what had changed. But the more he focused, the harder it was to see the wall. He felt like he was swimming in thick gravy that covered him head to foot, slowing all his senses. Then he realized what was happening. The stone itself was blurring. It wasn’t him.
Suddenly a loud pop echoed off the houses in the neighborhood, like someone clicking their tongue. A ferocious blast, followed by an explosion, rocked the street under Jacob’s feet. He fell to the ground, covering his head instinctively. The stone wall pulverized itself, strewing rocks and boulders everywhere. Dusty wind whooshed past Jacob and down the road, swirling through his hair and around his clothes. He squeezed his eyes shut.
Moments later, the wind died down, and Jacob got to his feet and shook his hair and shirt. He coughed as little puffs of dirt clouded the air around him.
The dust finally settled enough for him to see the stone wall again, which now had a huge hole in it. And instead of the highway, there was a forest on the other side. A Lorkon was running down a path in that forest, heading this way, followed by Het and Isan, the two wolves.
Jacob dashed back to the house, calling for Early. “The Lorkon are coming,” he told her. “Be ready for anything!”
He flung the front door open, grabbed Roya’s son, and charged downstairs to the laundry room, where Mom, Roya, and Matt were still working. He shoved the boy into his mother’s arms. “Hurry, Matt, hurry! The link just got opened and there’s a Lorkon coming!”
Roya frowned. “Link? What do you mean? What’s coming?”
Jacob pushed past to get to Matt. “Are you done?”
Matt had cleared the bugs from the hole and was just pulling the box out. “It’s like Indiana Jones,” he said. “Bugs everywhere—they were crawling on my—”
Jacob grabbed his older brother by the arm. “Did you hear me?”
“Huh?”
“A Lorkon! Coming!”
Panic raced across Matt’s face.
Just then, a boom echoed through the house, and a voice Jacob recognized called from upstairs.
“Jacob! I saw you. I’ll be taking that Key, so you might as well deliver it to me now.”
Jacob turned to Roya. “Is there a back door down here? Any door anywhere?”
She shook her head. “I’m in the process of remodeling and tossed all the doors—they were rotted.”
Jacob’s heart fell past his stomach and rested somewhere near his feet.
They were trapped.
Heavy footsteps sounded on the staircase.
Roya’s face lit up. “But there’s a window you can get through. Come.”
She rushed around the opposite corner from the stairs, down a hall, and into what must have once been a bedroom. A small, two-foot-tall window was at the top of the wall.
Mom started wringing her hands. “We’ve got to get through that?”
Jacob ran to the window, noticing how short the walls were. “We can do it. Matt, help me.”
They pushed the window open. Jacob hoisted Matt out first. Matt rolled onto his stomach and reached in, pulling Mom while Jacob pushed from below.
The wolves bounded into the room, the Lorkon not far behind, and Roya screamed.
“Hurry, hurry!” Jacob called to his brother. Mom cleared the window right as one of the wolves pounced on Jacob, knocking him to the floor. The other joined the first, paws on Jacob’s chest. He couldn’t breathe.
The Lorkon pushed the wolves away and grabbed Jacob’s arm, yanking him up. “Where is the Key?”
Jacob still struggled to breathe—he couldn’t answer.
“Here it is, Lorkon trash,” Matt said. He dangled the box in front of the open window.
The Lorkon dropped Jacob and jumped, snatching at the box. Matt pulled it back just in time and laughed, then disappeared. The Lorkon growled in frustration, gripped the window at the sides, and flung himself through with incredible speed.
Jacob finally caught his breath and got to his feet. The wolves dashed out of the room, and Jacob and Roya were alone.
The colors swirling around Roya showed intense fear. Then realization dawned on her face. She shouted, “Amir!” and raced away. The boy was still in the laundry room, probably.
Jacob followed her, nearly overtaking her in his rush to get to his brother and mom. The Lorkon had surely caught up with them.
Once upstairs, Roya grabbed her boy and held him close, tears streaming down her face. “Amir, oh, Amir. I’m so sorry.” The boy bawled with his mom, and Jacob ran out the front door.
He raced around back and skidded to a stop. Matt had scaled a large pine tree and was at least thirty feet in the air. He held the metal container and was shouting at the Lorkon. Mom wasn’t in sight.
“Hey, Jake!” Matt called. “Catch!”
Matt tossed the container to Jacob, who had to fling himself onto the gravel at the end of the driveway to catch it. He didn’t have time to get up before the wolves were on him again. He fought against them, then rolled on top of the box, cradling it under him.
Something heavy connected with Jacob’s side and he winced, grinding his teeth to keep from crying out. The stupid Lorkon—why did they always have to kick him in the ribs?
“Give it to me, boy!”
The Lorkon grabbed Jacob by one arm and heaved him into the air. He pried the box from Jacob’s fingers, then thrust Jacob to the side and took off out of the yard, the wolves racing after him.
Jacob’s body wouldn’t obey him when he tried to jump to his feet. Being tossed to the side had dazed him, and he couldn’t focus. For a moment, it felt li
ke he was going to Time-See, but he shut his eyes and concentrated on breathing in and out. He gained control of his body and jogged after the Lorkon. “You’re ridiculous!” he shouted at the beast.
By the time Jacob got to the end of the driveway, the Lorkon had already disappeared through the link into the forest.
Jacob scowled and bent over, hands on his knees, gasping for breath. The heavy stitch in his side told him he’d have a bruise where the Lorkon kicked him. Big surprise.
Matt caught up to him, grinning. “Come on, let’s find Mom.”
Jacob waved off his brother. “We should go after him. We might be able to catch up—we can’t let them have the Key.”
A smirk crossed Matt’s face. That alone wouldn’t have caught Jacob’s attention, but the colors swirling around Matt showing extreme pleasure and pride did.
“What?”
“He’s going to get in huge trouble when Keitus finds out the idiot was a complete failure.”
“He failed? How? He’s got it, Matt!”
Matt pulled his hand out of his pocket and flipped a small metal object into the air. “Yeah, so I took the Key out of the box. Figured it would help us in the long run.”
Jacob grinned and punched Matt on the arm. “Awesome! You’re so freaking cool.”
“I know.”
The brothers strode to the backyard again and found Mom crawling out from under a bush. Jacob raised an eyebrow at the situation—she was a queen, after all—but rushed to help her stand.
Before they left, Mom, Jacob, and Matt talked to Roya to make sure she and Amir were okay. It took some time to calm the woman down. Finally, Roya accepted Mom’s offer to help cook dinner, and Jacob and Matt went home.
A couple of hours later, Jacob Keyed back and got Mom. She told him Roya turned the news on right away and they watched as the station interrupted their broadcasting to give information on a possible terrorist attack. They asked the viewers to hold on—a crew was on the way to the site. But by the time the camera crew reached the wall, the reporter couldn’t figure out why all the residents had been freaking out.
As soon as they saw the wall on TV, Mom and Roya went outside to see for themselves. The reporter was right—the stone didn’t look like it had been touched in any way.
Eyes of the Sun (Kilenya Series, 5) Page 6