Fynn opened his mouth to say something, then closed it, as Uxa shot him a warning glare.
“Your father found a way to seek his revenge through Solana. He waited, biding his time until the right opportunity came along.” Uxa paused to collect herself before going on.
Fynn gladly picked up the slack. “He was working a shift at Balefire last night. He didn’t check in with Uxa after his shift ended, which is protocol, and now he’s disappeared. It’s too much of a coincidence. We placed him at the scene, and he has motive.” Fynn grew animated, as if he were telling an exciting story, which made Van feel even more ill. “We believe Michael smuggled demons here through the portal. Solana needed to make it look like someone else was responsible for her brother’s death, or she wouldn’t inherit the throne.”
“It worked twofold,” Uxa said dolefully. “Demons removed the block to Solana’s ascension to the throne, and, at the same time, demons being on Living World soil jeopardizes our protection from Manik’s law. Taking over Salus Valde is a great way for Solana to prove her worth to the Balish Counsil.”
“As a female heir, she will have to do ten times more than her brother would have done,” Fynn added.
“We think your father’s payment for helping Solana will be ruling Salus Valde,” Uxa said.
“Why doesn’t my father just attack with a bunch of demons, then?” Van asked. “Is that what my mission is about? Fighting demons?”
“Demons can’t maintain a high enough vibrational frequency on their own to stay here for an extended period of time,” Fynn explained, “unless they get strong enough to rise using their own power. Your father brought demons to our world, and Solana used dark magic to keep them here, to do her bidding only. It would have dangerously drained her energy to hold them here any longer.”
“He knew the demons would only be in this world long enough to kill the prince,” said Van in defense of her father, hoping to make this unbearable situation a little less horrible. “He didn’t bring them here permanently.”
Uxa stood and began pacing again. “The official stance out of Balefire is that the demon attack is a result of the Grigori not doing their job.”
“B-But, the . . . she . . . they . . . , ” Van spluttered.
“Yeah. That’s right,” Fynn said. “Solana and Michael are framing the Grigori.”
“The Balish claim we allowed demons to reach our world, and the cost for our failure is the repeal of Manik’s law. Excluding Article 57, the section of the law that restricts adult Lodians—anyone eighteen years of age or older—from leaving the boundary of Salus Valde. It benefits the Balish to keep that part of the law intact because it allows them to track us.”
“How did my father go out of bounds to work undercover, then?” Van asked.
“Your father used a device that allowed him to get around the Balish squawkers—their tracking system,” Uxa said. “With it, one adult is able to leave the boundary undetected. That device is now missing. This is why I asked if he had given you anything last night before he disappeared. There was no transport record of his return trip back to the island. But he could have left something for you to find later. Did you find anything?”
Van thought hard about it. Her father hadn’t given her anything or left anything for her. She hadn’t even seen him yesterday. But she had found a singed text in his fireplace. Was that the device?
Van shook her head.
Uxa gave Van a nod in return, accepting Van’s answer. “A death of one of our own is something we couldn’t alter or hide,” Uxa said. “The Balish Counsil used that particular Grigori report against us in the Chamber meeting today. It was especially damaging, since a couple of days after that incident, demons did reach our world, which resulted in the deaths of two members of the Balish royal family. This gave the Balish Counsil more than enough evidence to prove the demon situation in Earth World is out of control and to call for an Elemental ruling to void Manik’s law.”
“It gets worse,” Fynn said.
“The Balish Counsil asked the Elementals for permanent control over Salus Valde,” Uxa said. “Including decommissioning of the Grigori and giving the Balish full access to the ways and means of the portal in an effort to shift responsibility for controlling the demon population over to the Balish.”
“Yeah, yikes,” Fynn said, bobbing his head at Van.
“As of the meeting this afternoon, our worse fears have been realized. The Elementals have ruled in favor of the Balish. I pleaded for more time, and it was granted. We have until midnight by the next full moon to prove we can control the demon situation, using all methods available to our tribe.” Uxa paused in her pacing and turned toward Van. “Which brings us to your mission.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Day 1: 8:57 p.m., Living World
“We need to retrieve the magical object Goustav used during the Dark War,” Uxa said. “The same one Michael read about in Manik’s text. It’s the only way to protect Salus Valde from a Balish invasion. Your mission is to retrieve this relic.”
“B-But I’m not qualified to go. I have no skills,” Van said, thinking of Pernilla’s words. She crossed her arms. “What if I refuse to go?”
Uxa and Fynn tensed. The room was oppressively quiet, except for the persistent ticking of the grandfather clock.
Uxa spoke calmly. “I’m sorry, Vanessa, but you are responsible for fixing your own ancestral line. You have a family obligation to complete your father’s mission.”
“That’s not a skill,” Van said, disheartened.
“You got an All-Grades trophy for Capture the Flag this year,” Uxa said. “You excel at twirling.”
“The games were fixed,” Van said in a rush of fear. She also had no idea how twirling would help her find a thousand-year-old relic.
“Manik’s law was put in place to prevent another Great War between the Lodians and the Balish,” Uxa said. “Without it . . . well, Grigori are sworn protectors. We will never allow the Balish to rule our land or our people. If Solana invades Salus Valde, there will be assured destruction of our land, dilution of our culture, families will be torn apart by war. And the Balish won’t stop there. Once Solana gains access to the Grigori’s secrets, she’ll use the portal to invade Providence Island.”
Providence Island? What would happen to my friends? To Canterbury Bells? Astrid’s Hollow? Mt. Hope Manor! My clothes! My pillows! Strangers crawling all over my bedroom—touching my stuff—sleeping in my comfy bed—using the lavender-scented towels in my bathroom! The thought was unbearable.
“If you are successful, Manik’s law will remain intact and there will be no war. You will bring honor to your family and to yourself, by knowing you earned your place.”
Van did like the idea of putting to rest Pernilla’s rumors about the Elders’ fixing her test results. She knew if Pernilla believed this, then so did most of the other kids on the island.
“But?” Van said. “I feel like there’s a but coming.”
“But,” Uxa said, “you will travel undercover far outside the borders of Salus Valde into hostile Balish territory. Your mission must be kept secret. I told you earlier that the Balish discovered the increase in demon activity, despite our efforts to keep it secret. This means there is a spy in Lodestar.”
“It’s obvious that Michael was the spy,” Fynn stated.
“That’s easy to say about someone not here to defend himself,” Van said, irritated at Fynn for appointing himself judge and jury. Yet she had the sickening feeling that he might be right. Maybe her father was guilty.
Van trembled, holding back tears. She didn’t think she could do what Uxa asked of her but was being forced to try anyway.
“You and all the children in the Reservation Program have been in training to become Grigori ever since you started classes,” Uxa said. “I have overseen your advancement since kindergarten. All of you were carefully selected for this mission.” A worry line appeared between Uxa’s eyebrows. “If you refuse, your team
’s skill set will be out of balance, which will decrease their chance of success.”
“Uxa won’t tell the others that Michael is your father, if that’s what worries you,” Fynn said.
Van bit the inside of her cheek, stilling her quivering lip. Although Uxa had said she could refuse, Van felt as if her fate had already been decided for her, and she had no choice. To comfort herself, she envisioned how jealous her friends on Providence Island would be over her success, how everyone would hold her in high esteem for saving the island by retrieving Goustav’s relic, something she had indisputably earned.
She also didn’t want her placement lowered if she refused to go. That would embarrass her and her family. Van didn’t want her family name—her mother’s honored name—to be disparaged because of something her father might have done, either. Plus, she could learn more about her mother and uncover the truth about her father, if she accepted this mission.
“Okay, I’ll do it,” Van said, with more bravado than she felt.
She figured she would be dismissed after agreeing to the mission. Instead, Uxa summoned Van over to a bookcase.
Uxa pulled a small velvet box from a shelf and opened it. “These were your mother’s.”
The walls crumbled around Van’s residual reluctance. Within the box lay a pair of dangling silver earrings. Van gingerly lifted one earring to the light. She peered closely at the tiny interconnected white-gold squares. Separately, the squares appeared plain. Together, they were spectacular.
Van felt overjoyed with the gift, yet a troubling thought occurred to her. According to that woman in the village, Fiona, her father had destroyed all of Aelia’s belongings. So, how come Uxa had a pair of her mother’s earrings? Especially when her father had said he had nothing of her mother’s to give her? Van carefully lowered the cherished earring back into its box. “How did you get these? You knew my mother?”
“I only knew Aelia in passing. Your father gave them to me for safekeeping after your mother died. I worked so closely with your father in the years after her death, I felt as if I knew her. She would’ve wanted you to have them.”
“Thanks.” Van slipped the jewelry box into her pocket. “Can you tell me anything about her? How come people in Salus Valde know my parents—my real mother and my father—but nobody seems to know about me?”
Uxa’s eyes glazed over. “Pureblooded Lodians are held in the highest esteem here. Your mother’s bloodline was the purest of all. She was a celebrity. Your father became well-known when he married her.” She cleared her throat before continuing. “On this journey, you will uncover information about your mother. And, I hope, find your father, before it’s too late . . . ” Uxa seemed to get choked up again.
Van’s ulterior motives for the mission had just been sanctioned, but Uxa’s behavior made Van uneasy. She wasn’t sure what Uxa meant by too late and felt too afraid to ask.
Uxa cleared her throat again and unexpectedly reached for Van. She gently squeezed Van’s shoulders and looked Van squarely in the face. “Walk strong, my little warrior, and without fear. When someone is marked by fate for good fortune, it comes without fail.”
Van didn’t have time to digest Uxa’s words of wisdom. Before she knew it, Fynn had shuffled her through a secret wall panel and deposited her in a stuffy back hallway.
“Go downstairs and wait in the conference room,” he said. “You will be briefed with the rest of the team after Uxa individually meets with each member.”
Halfway down the hall, Van turned back. Maybe Uxa should continue to hold onto her mother’s earrings for safekeeping until Van returned. She paused at the doorway and overheard Uxa talking to Fynn. She put her ear to the door, hoping to hear gossip about the next candidate.
“The Anchoress-in-Waiting’s auspicious arrival is a sign from the Creator,” Uxa said. “It proves my plan will work.”
“Coming here, the way she did, put her at additional risk,” Fynn replied. “Her careless disregard is proof she’s not ready for this mission. With the unusual circumstances of her mother’s death, we’re not sure she inherited the ability to access her magical bloodline. The night she was born, clouds blocked the moon, so we don’t know what kind of a life she will lead. And she’s remarkably unskilled.”
“Pray to the Light of the Creator that her ancestral magic flows strongly in her veins,” Uxa said.
One of my teammates has magical veins? Van wondered. And they gave her a code name from a Native Island legends storybook? Code names were stupid . . . yet she couldn’t wait to find out hers. If the Anchoress-in-Waiting was someone weak, then Daisy was the most probable candidate. As Uxa had said, Van won the All-Grades trophy, which proved she had skill and wasn’t weak. Van felt relieved she wasn’t the Anchoress-in-Waiting.
As she pressed her ear closer to the door, she absentmindedly placed her palm on her stomach to calm its queasiness.
“I don’t think she’ll survive the journey,” Fynn persisted. “If she dies, we’ll lose her protective bloodline forever. We’ll anger the Elementals. Uxa, I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“She will be protected on her journey by the will of the Creator,” Uxa said. “All the selected children are capable. Testing proved it. We have no time to waste debating the subject. The Alignment started at midnight. My decision about the Anchoress-in-Waiting is done.”
“The Balish believe the death of a royal twin is a bad omen,” Fynn said, “and Devon was the firstborn, a crown prince. Uxa . . . you okay with sending these children to their deaths?”
An eerie feeling crawled up Van’s spine. She didn’t want to hear any more of their conversation. She spun around and bolted down the spiral staircase and into the conference room directly underneath Uxa’s study. The door clicked shut behind her.
Once again, Van found herself closed in a room without any windows. Fighting off waves of dizziness, she sat quietly at the conference table and waited.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Day 1: 9:21 p.m., Living World
Daisy entered the conference room soon after Van. She bobbed her head and glided into the chair next to Van. Brux followed. He tried not to look disappointed to see that Van had also accepted the mission and took the seat next to his sister. One by one, the rest of the group came in and sat down. Everyone in the room remained silent and pensive about the enormity of the upcoming task.
The one person left to arrive was Paley.
Van wiped the back of her wrist across her moist forehead, her nerves on edge. Her heart had a mind of its own, battering against her ribcage. Where was Paley? Finally, the door burst open, and Paley strode into the conference room, followed by Uxa and Fynn.
Van calmed at the sight of her friend.
“Hey,” Paley said, as she slid in next to Van.
“What took you so long?” Van hissed.
“They explained everything to me,” Paley whispered. “I found out why we had to meet with Uxa individually. We had to accept the mission without peer pressure, by our own free will.”
“I bet she used a different angle to sell the mission to each of us,” Van added. Miss Nutting had warned Van and Paley about being manipulated by Uxa. “I guess we all have our reasons for wanting to go.”
“I had to promise to keep your father’s identity a secret,” Paley said.
“Shhh,” Van said, terrified that Paley’s big mouth would be overheard. “And I promise not to tell anyone you’re a terrigen.”
Paley’s eyes got wide, and she mimicked zipping her lip.
“Welcome, warriors,” Uxa said. She stood at the head of the conference table, her long braid dangling down the front of her chest. Standing by her side, Fynn held a thick file of papers. Uxa leaned forward and placed her palms on the conference table, as if about to whisper. The others instinctively leaned in toward her, but not Van. She sat straighter, hoping to look attentive, so she wouldn’t be called on.
“Congratulations,” Uxa said. “You have all agreed to help the Grigori
with an important task. Your courage and bravery will not go unnoticed. You are the future leaders of Salus Valde. You have earned the right to walk proud.” Uxa pushed herself up from the table and stood tall.
“There is a reason the Balish confiscated all the records from the Dark War and they control everything that was written afterward.”
Fynn shifted closer to Uxa, as if to lend her support.
Uxa continued. “Ancient passages describe this object we are after as being created in the image of the sun—round, yellow, powerful.”
“Like a coin?” Brux asked. “A gold coin?”
Uxa gave a curt nod, seemingly pleased at Brux’s astuteness. “Our research indicated the object that could recreate the weapon Goustav used to defeat the demons during the Dark War is—”
“The Coin of Creation,” Brux said, astounded.
Stunned silence hung thickly in the conference room.
Paley blurted out, “A coin? All this—for a coin?”
Van slid down in her seat.
“This is no ordinary coin, young one,” Uxa said unperturbed. “It is the element of earth embodied in a coin. It was formed by the Creator with the same force used to forge the lands, made at the same time as our Anchoress warrior bloodline.”
“So, it’s a coin,” Paley muttered.
“Why don’t the Balish have it already?” asked Karpos, a massive warrior who resembled a bear. Van couldn’t remember his special skill, but it probably had something to do with juggling boulders or crushing things to death.
“The Balish don’t have it because the Coin belongs to the Anchoress-in-Waiting,” said Brux. “And her bloodline was killed off shortly after the Dark War.”
Jorie and several of the other warriors shifted uncomfortably over Brux’s words.
“Oh, I see. Orthodox, are we?” said one of the smaller but still bulky warriors, smirking at those who squirmed.
Van remembered this one’s name: Trey. He oozed good looks and charm. With his swarthy complexion, bole-brown hair, and hazel eyes, he looked unlike the others, who were fair-skinned blonds. His special skills were acrobatics and combat archery. And he was totally full of himself.
Shock of Fate: A Young Adult Fantasy Adventure (Anchoress Series Book 1) Page 11