by Tim Mettey
Cora and I slept at a rest stop for a while on the trip home, even though that meant we wouldn’t get back in time for me to go to school. The autumn air was damp, making it feel even colder than it was. My body was calling for the warmth of my down comforter. All I wanted to do was get inside, lie down and listen to music until football practice that afternoon, but when we pulled into our driveway, Genevieve and Riley were waiting for us on the porch. I ignored them and walked into the house. I went up to my room and closed the door, locking it. I didn’t want to talk to them about what happened. The long ride home gave me a lot of time to question everything even more. The only thing I was sure of right now was Elle—nothing else.
Of course, now that I was home and in bed, I couldn’t relax. I waited in my room for over an hour, hoping Genevieve and Riley would leave. I went downstairs to get something to eat, and unfortunately they were still here. I could hear their voices from the steps. It sounded like Riley was worked up about something. I went back upstairs and grabbed a pack of Tic Tacs off of my dresser just in case, and then headed to the kitchen.
“What do you mean, Cora?” I heard Riley say in a very stern voice like he was lecturing one of the players on the team.
I walked into the kitchen. Both Cora and Genevieve were sitting around the table. Riley was leaning against the counter with his arms folded.
“Why don’t you ask Nicholas if you don’t believe me?” Cora said.
“Ask me what?”
“I told Riley that we didn’t get interrogated,” Cora said, “and he still doesn’t believe me, even after an hour of me telling him the same thing over and over.”
“Cora’s right. They kept calling us their ‘guests.’ Even though that snake, James Caldwell, tried to make me out to be a liar. Besides him, everyone was nice and pleasant,” I said while getting an apple off the kitchen table.
“What else happened?” Riley demanded like I was hiding something. I guess they had been questioned intensely. He looked like he was on the verge of losing it. But who cared what happened to him?
“It’s not what else happened, it’s what else I learned, Riley,” I said.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Riley stood straight up.
I walked right up to him. Riley was a lot taller than me, but I wasn’t intimidated in the least.
“It means that you didn’t tell us the whole story, did you? You forgot to tell us some pretty important parts about The 7, like how they were originally formed, and the part that makes me the angriest—the possibility that a lot of people could die if we fail. If you honestly thought that I would sit back and let you continue to lie to us and put so many people in jeopardy, then you are sadly mistaken. I want to know everything. We deserve it.” I poked him in the chest and he pulled away, like my finger was a needle.
Riley stumbled and caught the counter. He leaned up against it and rubbed his hands over his face, exhaling.
“You’re right, Nicholas, I was wrong not to tell you before. I will tell the three of you everything, but you have to hear me out.” Genevieve looked stunned that he hadn’t told her everything, either. She stared blankly up at Riley.
“My story about how The 7 came about is different. The Council probably said that they came up with it to keep the Seekers in check, like its own little council. But that is the lie they fed to all the Thusians. The Council wanted to wipe out everything the Keepers said and did, along with anyone who knew the truth, especially about The 7. As I told you before, my parents were two of the last real Thusian historians. They pieced together, in their research, that some of the Thusians grew jealous of Keeper Wren’s alleged power. That’s when they stripped him of his authority and formed the Thusian Council. But that wasn’t good enough, so they formed the Seekers to eliminate Keeper Wren and to use them like some sort of death squad on anyone else that stood as a threat. The Keepers were not really leaders; they just guided Thusians and knew the traditions and the blood lines. The entire lineage was in their heads. They were like human encyclopedias. The Council wanted this knowledge so they could use it for themselves. So the first historians tried to pass the true history down through the generations because the Keepers were gone. Not the stuff the Council wanted everyone to know, but what really had happened.”
“Enough of the history lesson, Riley. Get to the part about The 7 and what will happen if we fail to find the 4th.” I was growing angrier and angrier.
“When Keeper Wren was ousted, he foretold that there had to be a balance between good and evil, and that the Seekers would destroy the balance, because Thusians were already fighting against the everyday evils of the world. They didn’t need anything else working against—”
“Riley, listen to me,” I interrupted, growing angrier by the second. “I don’t care about that stuff,” I yelled. “We know the whole good versus evil thing already. Why didn’t you tell us about the consequences of failing?”
“Because failing is not an option!” he yelled back.
“I think you didn’t tell us because if we fail, it would create The Unholy Six and that would allow the Seekers to kill thousands of Thusians, which means tens of thousands of people could die along with them.”
“We are the last hope for the Thusians and for the world,” he pleaded. “There are even those who think that the Seekers are still good to have around to keep Thusians in check, when the truth is that our inevitable Final Sacrifice is our check. No matter how our numbers grow or shrink, the sacrifices will always balance everything. It’s just how it’s supposed to be and, yes, if we don’t succeed a lot of people will die, but, Nicholas, what do you think will happen if we don’t try? The Seekers will still kill a lot of people. So there is only one way to equal things out and put an end to this: find the 4th. We don’t have much time—they are hunting us.” He sighed and looked away, exhausted. The emotions were pouring from him. “Nicholas, the only way to protect Elle is to do this,” he said.
I calmed down immediately. All of the anger I was feeling was gone at the mention of her safety. I didn’t know if I could entirely trust him, but Riley was right about one thing. This was the only way that I could help protect her and everyone else I cared for, no matter whose story was right.
“From now on, you tell all of us everything,” I said.
He nodded. “I have one more thing,” he added. “When we find the 4th—and we will—he or she will help us get rid of the Seekers and the Council, restoring the balance to how it used to be. Then, finally, they will stop watching our every move. The Council fails to remember that the Thusians’ sole purpose is to use their talents to protect and serve the world, not to make money and do who knows what else with that power.”
Cora stood up and walked to Riley’s side to comfort him. I walked out of the room. Genevieve followed after me.
“You know the 4th is going through their Realization, developing their talents right now. They probably started to develop them last year when we caught up with you,” she said.
“And?” I didn’t see her point.
“That means our time is running out. They are probably past the whole bad dream thing and weird things happening inside them. They must know they have some sort of strange talents. We should focus on that.”
“Genevieve, say we do find them. How are we supposed to tell them that they are part of an ancient group that is supposed to sacrifice their lives for others? Oh yeah, and while they are waiting to die they are responsible for helping us fight this evil death squad. Because I am pretty sure I wouldn’t have believed that if you had told me. Our candidates don’t have the family history to back up our stories when we do tell them.”
“I know that’s part of the challenge, Nicholas. I have faith that you, I mean we, can find them and make them a believer.” She bit her bottom lip like she was caught in some embarrassing slip up.
I found myself twirling that blank coin in my fingers again as I lay in bed later, waiting to go to practice. Just two nights ago, Elle and I shared the
most incredible night together at Homecoming, but as usual the memories had now been overshadowed by something else. Why couldn’t I be like everyone else? The picture of Elle at Homecoming swirled around in my head like a ghost of some distant memory. I knew I had to succeed in our search in order to keep Elle safe.