His hands were at least a foot wide each. The head was lumpy and not quite spherical. Grass and long, silvery hair sprouted from several places all over the head, back, and shoulders.
Nicole could tell when he started testing out his newfound powers. The table shook, raising several inches as Keitus laughed with glee.
Helen’s spirit watched on, growing increasingly agitated and excited. Once Keitus seemed to be done playing, she stepped closer to him. “Please, where is my love?”
Keitus ignored her. He grabbed his knapsack and tried to sling it over his shoulder, but he was way too large. Instead, he thrust his arm through the shoulder straps and carried it somewhat like a purse.
Helen persisted. “You promised. I gave you my body. Where is Sutherland?”
Keitus still ignored her. With a flick of his hand, the table warped and twisted, then disappeared. He laughed. “My powers are unbelievable.”
Helen became frantic. “Sutherland? Sutherland? Where is he? You promised!”
Keitus turned and looked at her in annoyance. “Be gone, woman.”
Anger crossed Helen’s face, but before she could do anything, she froze, then exploded into a million pieces.
Keitus stared at the location where Helen had been, a grin on his cracked and bleeding lips. “Do not worry, my dear,” he said. “You won’t have need of your lover where you are now.” He cackled. “And thanks for your body, you pathetic thing.”
He paused, as if sensing something for the first time, then looked directly at Nicole. He waggled his index finger and tsked several times. “You have been a very bad girl, Nicole.”
Nicole felt as Keitus tried to come through the link that connected her to the talismans, but was unable. The magic of Shonlin wouldn’t let him.
Enraged, Keitus’s body pulsed magic. It swelled around him, swirling and growing in strength. With a sudden roar, he directed that magic burst at Nicole.
She scrambled away, trying to close the connection between the two of them, but wasn’t fast enough. The pulse flooded into the forest, slamming into her body and face. She fell to the ground, sensing as the magic flowed through her limbs and into her mind. A sudden sharp headache made her scream, and her vision blackened.
Chapter Nine
When Nicole came to, she knew she was alone in the forest. Everything was quiet around her. She opened her eyes, but couldn’t see anything. Her hands rushed to her face, exploring the shapes and angles, but nothing felt wrong or even hurt. Why couldn’t she see?
She whimpered, getting to her knees and feeling around the forest floor. Her hands bumped into the lantern, and she picked it up, clenching it tightly. Grateful that her internal compass was still working, she started inching across the forest floor, using one hand to monitor the ground and the other to protect her face while holding the lantern.
The going was slow, and it was easy to get discouraged. Would she—could she—reach the door on her own? She couldn’t even see where it was, and experience told her this forest was never-ending. Getting lost was very likely. She needed help.
Nicole pressed through her mental connection to the current guardian, seeking his attention, hoping he was there. She nearly sobbed when she recognized his presence.
“Nicole?” he said. “The door is open. I’m standing by it.”
“I can hear you,” Nicole said. “Please keep talking.”
The guardian did so, describing the things around her. Following his voice, she continued through the forest, passing large tree trunks and making it through thick underbrush. It was slow and painful, and by the end, her arms and hands had been pricked so many times, she was sure they were bleeding everywhere.
She couldn’t help but feel bitter that yet again, her experience in Shonlin had ended up being a negative one. How many of the other guardians had horrible things happen when they visited the place? Probably not a lot. It was ridiculous.
Nicole finally reached the library, sensing as the guardian moved out of the way to make room for her. Once sure she’d cleared the doorway, she set down the lantern and heard the wall shut behind her. Then she got to her feet, knowing that walking would be easier than crawling. Her hands and knees needed a break.
“Thanks for your help,” she said to the guardian.
He didn’t respond. With one hand on the wall and the other in front of her, she made her way through the room, going slowly and hesitatingly. It took what felt like ten minutes to reach the door that led to the rest of the library.
She found the knob and pushed the door open, then stumbled over the threshold. “Jacob?”
Someone scrambled to their feet nearby. “Holy cow, Nicole.”
She raised her hands to her face. “Is it that bad?”
Jacob touched her shoulder. “You’re pretty scratched up. What happened?”
“Keitus saw me watching and attacked. He’s got what he wants. The talismans, Helen’s body, his new body.” She started trembling. “It’s awful. He’s so powerful! He was able to push his magic through the link to me—I didn’t even know that was possible.”
Jacob grabbed her arm, squeezing a little too tightly as he started freaking out too. “Oh, no. Oh, no,” he said. “What should we do?”
“We have to heal me. I can’t go anywhere until I can see.”
“Are you completely blind? Because . . . I don’t want to be a jerk, but it’s magically inflicted, and who knows how long it’ll take to heal. Nicole, I have to get back to my family to warn them. We have to warn everyone!”
“Do you have your Minya?”
Nicole heard Jacob searching his bag. “Not with me, no,” Jacob said. “She went out for honey yesterday and I haven’t seen her since. I can call her, but if she’s not nearby, she won’t hear it.”
Nicole grumbled, trying to resist the urge to lash out at him for letting his Minya leave. He couldn’t have known this would happen. “We’re in a hurry, I know, but it’ll take me much longer to walk to the door in this condition than if I slept, healed, and we ran.” She paused, thinking, and almost didn’t continue, but wanted to make sure everything was out in the open. “On the other hand, we need to consider what will happen if I still can’t see when I wake up. I won’t be able to find my way out of this place, and we’ll have lost the time we took to heal me.” She tried to keep the tremble out of her voice. “I don’t know what to do.”
She heard as Jacob took a deep breath and released it. “Okay. We’ll heal you first—Kaede sap is powerful. It’ll fix your eyes. While you’re sleeping, I’ll call Early.”
Nicole nodded, just as frustrated at being forced to take a break. Splitting up wasn’t an option—they needed each other for protection.
Jacob applied the salve to her eyes, and Nicole settled on the marble floor of the library to sleep.
What felt like only moments later, she awoke. She gingerly touched her eyes, hesitating. But when she opened her eyes, she could see. Yay! She jerked to a sitting position. “Jacob?”
He scrambled into view from where he had been leaning against the railing. “You’re awake already?”
“And I can see!”
“Oh, good,” Jacob said with relief. “You only slept for an hour. Let’s go.” He jumped to his feet and rushed to help her up. “How do you feel?”
“Great. Like it never happened.”
They ran down the steps and dashed across the floor of the library. Just as they were about to pull the doors open, Nicole gasped, stumbling, stopping. Everything wasn’t okay. She couldn’t sense her magic. She couldn’t sense anything magical. Nothing pulsed around her, and no sign of any elemental control resonated within her. Her reserves that were usually walled up in a vast ocean were gone too. “Jacob, I can’t sense my magic. It’s gone. It’s completely gone!”
He dragged a hand down his face. “We’ll have to tackle that when we get to the castle.”
She nodded, struggling to keep the tears from falling. He was right—there were bigger things t
o worry about. But what had Keitus done to her?
Jacob burst through the doors, then stopped, his mouth hanging open as he stared at the sky. Nicole joined him and looked up too. Dark green clouds were forming quickly, blocking the sun, casting a green haze over everything.
“Keitus?” Nicole asked.
Jacob’s face set in a grimace. “Yes. I’ve seen this before. It’s not good. We have to go. Now.”
Without hesitation, they barreled down the steps and into the streets, dashing through the ruins of Edana.
They were nearing the door Jacob usually used when screams and roars began filling the air, creatures shifting into the forest on either side of them.
Nicole knew without having to look that these beings were enemies, servants of Keitus. She and Jacob met eyes, then both put on a burst of speed. The door was in view when Jacob started fumbling at his pocket, pulling out the key. He thrust it into the lock, muttering, then flinging the door open.
Magical pulses hammered into Nicole from behind. She was grateful to sense them—grateful to sense anything magical—but her heart ached, wishing she could turn and attack.
Jacob slammed the door shut behind them, and they entered a very full throne room. King Dmitri and Queen Arien were waiting for them, along with what looked like hundreds of people. Nicole turned, watching as guards rushed the door and held it shut. Loud banging sounded from the other side.
Nicole glanced at the king and queen. “What’s going on?”
“The castle’s under attack,” Dmitri said.
Jacob dragged his hand through his hair. “Bad news. Keitus got what he needed. He’s attacking—he’s the one doing this.”
“We were afraid of that,” the queen said. “We waited for you as long as we could, gathering as many people as possible.” She put her face in her hands. “So many have died already.”
This was the first time Nicole had ever seen Arien not completely composed. She and Jacob looked at each other.
“We have to get out of here,” Nicole said. “No telling how many servants Keitus has by now.”
As if in response, the door began splintering. The guards weren’t holding it well enough—they couldn’t. There were too few of them.
The air outside the castle was thick and very green, making it impossible to see far. Even without the sun, Nicole still sensed the darkness approaching. Screams filtered through the door, and her heart broke for the innocent who hadn’t reached the throne room in time.
Jacob rushed to a door on the opposite side of the room. He created a link and held it open. “She’s right. Come on, everyone, inside my house back on earth. Let’s go. Hurry!”
The room quickly emptied, and Nicole watched as Jacob’s family, Azuriah, a bunch of guards, Aldo, servants, and a few creatures she didn’t recognize flooded through Jacob’s link. “Where’s the Fat Lady?” Nicole asked while Dmitri spoke with the guards holding the door.
Aldo shook his head. “She’s in the hallway. We tried to get her in, but she was already surrounded by villains when the door got flooded.” He motioned to the dead bodies that littered the floor. “They got through before she told us to leave her.”
Nicole could hear the pain in Aldo’s voice—he and the Fat Lady were good friends. She prayed the woman was okay.
She watched as more innocent people escaped through Jacob’s link and she almost started crying. She could tell from the expression on Jacob’s face that he was feeling the same. Even though a lot of things had happened to help Keitus rise to success, what it all boiled down to was that she and Jacob had failed in their duties. Resolve bubbled up inside her. She would put an end to this.
Dmitri joined his family, making sure they were all through the link. He motioned for Nicole to go too, then turned and yelled, “Come now!”
The guards looked back at him with some hesitation—they didn’t want to put their king in danger by leaving the door unguarded, Nicole suspected.
“Hurry!” Dmitri said.
They didn’t need any more urging. As one, they released their hold on the doors and sprang across the stone floor.
Chapter Ten
Banging sounded before everything quieted for a moment. Then creatures burst through the doors, flowing into the room—humans, monsters, beings of all shapes and sizes, each carrying weapons and shod with armor.
The guards, Dmitri, and Nicole stepped through the link into what looked like the living room of a traditional American home just as the monsters reached that side of the room. Jacob slammed the door, but it shut on something and popped back open.
A large monster with warts on his face forced his way through, and in that brief moment when the door was open again, Nicole saw the Fat Lady running across the throne room, surrounded by monsters who were charging the link. Jacob shut the door again, this time successfully.
“We have to get her!” Nicole shouted, but her voice was drowned by the noise of the guards who were fighting the monster.
The beast wielded a huge axe and swung it at everyone nearby, and there were a lot of people within reach. The living room of what looked like a traditional American home was small, and though most of the people had moved on to other rooms, many were straining to see what was going on. Guards had their swords out and were fighting the creature off, but the thing was fast and strong.
A deafening boom sounded through the air, and Nicole’s hands covered her ears reflexively. Dmitri stood near the front door holding a rifle. The beast growled at him before hefting the axe and charging. Another boom thundered through the room. Then another, and another, each one punctuated with the sound of casings hitting the wooden floor.
Finally, the creature dropped dead. Nicole slumped against the nearest wall, her knees shaking, her heart beating so fast, she felt like she would pass out. In the silence, she could hear sniffling and gasping.
She gathered her strength, forced herself away from the wall, and stepped around the monster to join Dmitri, who was peering outside. Nicole also glanced out the window. The sky was clear here, thankfully.
“How much time do you think we have before Keitus attacks earth?” she asked.
“Not much,” Dmitri said.
He grabbed a box of bullets and a leather knapsack from a shelf behind the front door before shoving the bullets in the knapsack and turning to his son. “We need to go on the offensive.” He glanced around the room. “Some of you are my best fighters. I need you to stay here, near the link to the Makalo village, and guard it, making sure nobody comes through.” He pinched the bridge of his nose before saying, “The rest of us will head to Nicole’s dimension of earth to gather as many Aretes as possible to fight Keitus.”
Nicole bit her lip. “Will the Fat Lady be okay?”
Arien put a hand to her neck and looked at the ceiling, blinking tears out of her eyes. “I hope so. She’s smart. She should be okay.”
Dmitri put his arm around his wife. “She’ll be fine.”
“I saw her running for the door. She needs our help.” Her heart ached again when she remembered the expression of hope and despair on the Fat Lady’s face. Please, please be okay.
Arien paled, her hand still at her neck. She looked at her husband. “Can we get her?”
Dmitri shook his head, his mouth in a thin line. “We can’t take on all of the monsters in that room—you saw how hard it was to stop this one. We’ll get her as soon as we have more help.”
Nicole gasped, looking around the room. “Where’s Austin?” The last time she’d seen him had been in the bone dimension when Jacob opened the door and they’d gone to Shonlin. “And Lizzie?”
“Austin’s probably at Coolidge’s house,” Jacob said. “I left the link there open before taking you to Shonlin. And Lizzie is probably still at school—that’s where she said she was heading.”
Nicole put a hand over her heart and drew in a deep breath. She hoped they were safe. “Now what?”
Dmitri motioned to Jacob. “Create a link to Mr
. Coolidge’s house.”
“In which dimension?” Jacob asked. “His or ours?”
“His. We’ll start gathering people there—specifically magical ones—to fight Keitus.”
Before they left, Dmitri sent a message to the Makalos, letting them know what was going on and asking how they were doing in the village. Akeno’s dad responded immediately. He said they were holing up, that they’d be safe and had been safe through similar circumstances before.
Jacob took them to Coolidge’s house. This dimension of earth hadn’t been touched yet either—the sky was still bright and clear. Nicole knew that Keitus would attack eventually. She just hoped they would be more prepared.
She stepped through the door into Coolidge’s front room and started crying in relief when she saw Austin on the couch. He immediately jumped to his feet, rushed across the room, and threw his arms around her. “What’s the matter?”
Nicole sniffled. “I watched Keitus come to power. He went after Jacob’s world. The Fat Lady got trapped and left behind, and we barely made it out in time. He’ll be coming here soon.” A thought flitted through her mind. How would she and Austin get married now? She knew it was trivial, but still, Keitus had stolen so much from her over the past few months, and stealing this from her was just too much.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there,” Austin said.
Dmitri put a hand on his shoulder. “There isn’t anything you could have done to stop it.”
Austin nodded and held Nicole tighter, rubbing her back.
Jacob sat on the couch, putting his head in his hands. “I’m going to Time-See—figure out what’s going on.”
Nicole and the others alternated pacing and waiting on one of the couches or armchairs. Coolidge and Hayla joined them, and Nicole filled them in on what had happened. She couldn’t help but check the skies every couple of seconds. So far, they remained clear.
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