Rise of Keitus (Kilenya Series, 4)

by Andrea Pearson

  He had to get to a hospital! A doctor would be able to stop this from happening—or would slow it down.

  Jacob tried to get to his feet, doing his best to ignore the spinning of his head, but he fell again. Deciding he would have to try from the floor, a position he’d never used before, he concentrated as much as he could on returning home, going through the familiar steps. His surroundings disappeared and were replaced with . . . nothing. Jacob gasped as the pain in his body doubled—sharp, cutting stabs reaching out from his heart, tearing at his flesh.

  He realized what he’d done—gotten himself stuck somewhere in the middle. What had gone wrong? Hadn’t he mastered this process? His heart beat wildly out of control, trying to keep up with the demands on his physical body. Dizziness made it impossible to keep his eyes open—and even they hurt like crazy.

  Jacob only had moments of life left—he sensed that in how his body was acting. His mind became sluggish, heart beat slowing, painfully pounding out an erratic rhythm. He tried to think through everything Azuriah had taught him about Traveling and how to get through this current dilemma. Last time Jacob had been stuck in the middle, Azuriah had grabbed his head and pulled him to the present. But Azuriah wasn’t around to save him.

  Just as Jacob’s mind was about to shut down, he forced his thoughts to focus long enough to get him back to Troosinal. The shelter appeared around him again, and relieved, he relaxed on the floor. But his body stiffened as the stabbing pains became a strong weight pressing outward from his heart, like thousands of cars stacked on top of him.

  He wasn’t stuck in the middle anymore, but death was still just moments away. Could he even survive another attempt? By trying, he was forcing the poison to move faster through his veins, causing every inch of him to burn and pound with the pressure of his blood.

  Jacob got to his knees, ignoring the screams of agony his body sent through him. He clenched his teeth, squeezing his eyes shut. Each section of him wanted to give in—to let the pain consume him until he was no more. But he couldn’t give up. He had to try again.

  Jacob fisted his hands and contracted each muscle, adding their remaining strength to his concentration. Squeezing gave him a brief respite from the pain, and finally, he was able to think clearly enough to go through the Traveling process again.

  His bedroom appeared around him. At that second, the pain in his heart dissipated, but he fell from his knees to the floor by his bed, convulsing. His body felt wrong—he’d done damage by getting stuck in the middle.

  Centering his mind on survival, Jacob stretched out a hand, grabbed his carpet, and dragged himself toward the door. He only moved an inch. Minutes passed as he repeated this action, ignoring his elbow as it locked up, sending sharp pains radiating to his shoulder and wrist. Finally, he reached the door.

  He tried several times but couldn’t get high enough to grab the knob, so he knocked on the wood as hard as he could. It barely produced a sound.

  Jacob opened his mouth and gasped out, “Mom. Help.” That required too much effort. He resorted to knocking over and over again, praying she’d hear. He stopped when someone ran up the stairs.

  Mom flung the door open, hitting Jacob with it. He could only groan in pain, rolling onto his side so she could get in.

  “Oh, Jacob! What happened!”

  “Hospital . . .”

  Mom nodded. “I can’t carry you—if I help you up, can you walk?”

  “Maybe . . .”

  She bent, and after a lot of grunting and trying different methods, they got him to his feet. He took two steps, then the dizziness overwhelmed him and he collapsed, blackness closing in on him. When he opened his eyes, he was staring at the ceiling of the living room. How did he get downstairs? Mom was on her cell, pacing the room.

  He gave in to the darkness again.

  Jacob was vaguely aware of being pushed and rolled and knocked into things. Deep voices surrounded him. He felt Mom’s hand on his forehead, heard sirens. Next thing he recognized was the interior of the local hospital. People rushing beside him. Mom saying good-bye.

  Jacob woke up in a bed. Mom jumped to her feet, touching his forehead, a worried expression on her face.

  “Honey, you’ve only got a moment before the pain returns—the doctor had to wake you up.” She motioned to a man standing by the door. “He needs to know what happened so they can treat it.”

  The doctor looked at him over his glasses. “Son, have you been doing drugs?”

  Jacob cleared his throat, not surprised at the question. “No.”

  “We found the entry point where a cocktail of ingredients was injected into your body.”

  “Blood—a man stabbed me with a syringe full of blood.”

  Mom’s hand fluttered to her mouth. “How did that happen?”

  Jacob gasped as the pain started returning in waves. “Men attacked—hit me . . . held me down—stabbed me with needle.”

  “That would explain the bruises and internal bleeding,” the doctor said. He stepped closer and fiddled with something on an IV, which Jacob hadn’t noticed. “You’ve only got a few seconds before the medication kicks in again and you fall asleep. When you wake up, you and your mother will want to report the incident to the police.” He removed his glasses and turned to Mom.

  Jacob felt himself drifting away. He struggled to concentrate, hearing the words “induced coma,” “wrong blood type,” “know for sure,” and “few days.” He was unable to put everything together into a cohesive sentence, so he gave up.

  Mom put her hand on Jacob’s forehead and said something to him. He tried to ask her to repeat herself, but his eyelids grew heavy and closed.

  Chapter Twenty: Is It Possible?

  Jacob opened his eyes and stared up at Mom. He felt better, refreshed, and it was easy to ignore the metallic taste in his mouth. But he must have made a face because Mom handed him a glass of ice cubes.

  “You’ll be able to eat soon—they just want to make sure your system can handle this first.”

  Jacob sucked on one of the cubes, waiting for his mind to catch up. When the ice had melted, he put the cup down and cleared his throat.

  “How long has it been?” He was surprised at how strange his voice sounded. It hurt to talk—he put his hand to his throat.

  Mom nodded. “You had a breathing tube—it’ll be painful for a while.” She sighed, sitting next to him. “You had so many internal injuries and so much bleeding it took a long time for them to figure out exactly what was going on.” She teared up and blinked quickly. “Doctor said it was like you’d been run over by a semi. He’s surprised you survived.”

  Jacob swallowed several times, trying to get his mouth ready to speak again. “Got stuck while Traveling . . . in middle.”

  “That’s what Dad and I figured.” She patted his forehead with a cold rag. “They had to operate three times to repair the internal damage. I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t made it back.”

  “Dad? Matt? Aloren?”

  “Matt and Aloren were discharged from the hospital in Chicago a few days ago. They’re both home, resting.”

  She smiled when he opened his mouth to ask more questions. “No, I’ll just keep talking. Don’t push yourself.”

  Jacob relaxed in the bed as she filled him in. Apparently, he’d been unconscious and in and out of surgery for over a week. Matt and Aloren flew home together—they hadn’t needed Jacob to Key them back, thank goodness. And Dad and his group had left Fornchall without any problems. They were in Macaria with Gallus’s family, helping to repair the broken city.

  “You won’t be surprised to hear how much your father has loved being there,” Mom said. “He’s finally getting the opportunity to work with our people again, to be the leader they need. It’s really increasing morale, I think.”

  Mom stopped talking when a nurse entered the room and checked Jacob’s vitals. She was joined by the doctor, who updated Mom and Jacob on his progress. Jacob would be released in a
few days, depending on how his system reacted when he was off medications and on solid foods.

  The doctor didn’t tell Jacob exact details, but the blood that had been forced into his system had contained many dangerous diseases. Not only that, but it hadn’t been his blood type and his body rejected it, causing his initial sickness. If Jacob hadn’t gotten to the hospital when he did, he would’ve definitely died from what had been put inside him.

  Finally, four days later, the doctor gave the approval for Jacob to go home. It took an hour for Mom to get everything in order for his discharge, and he paced anxiously nearby. He couldn’t wait to get home—being stuck in a little sterile room for that long had been agony, even while sick. All he wanted was his own bed in his own house with his family.

  Matt flung his arms around Jacob the moment they saw each other. “Dude, I was so worried. Mom was telling me things that were going on back in Troosinal, and I didn’t think I’d ever see you again. Especially with what they did to you.”

  “I know. I honestly thought I wouldn’t come home.”

  Matt handed Jacob his cell. “And Tani’s been begging for you to call. You’d better do that now.”

  Jacob dialed her number, then held the phone away from his ear when she shrieked on the other end. He laughed and reassured her that everything was okay.

  He and Matt ended the day by watching two of their favorite action movies. Jacob was supposed to take it easy for a while longer, and he didn’t mind at all not having anything to do.

  A few days later, Jacob Keyed Dad and everyone else to Kenji’s so they could discuss the last several weeks.

  Dad started the meeting by having Akeno and Gallus report. They’d been successful in closing all the tunnels that bordered Dunsany Mountain near Aldo’s cabin. It had been tiring work, even with Akeno using his newfound abilities, but Gallus was pleased with the progress.

  “It should slow down the Molg and Lorkon attacks considerably.”

  Dad nodded, then gave his update next. “We weren’t able to release any prisoners, and we didn’t figure out what they were farming. But at least we know more of what’s going on in Fornchall . . . and the fact that the council there won’t be friendly in the future.”

  Mom put her hand on his arm. “And we have to consider that the people there may not want to be rescued, especially if they’ve fallen as deep as those in Maivoryl and Troosinal.”

  “I’ve considered that. But I still want to try—we’ll need as many of them on our side as possible.”

  Dad then turned the time over to Jacob to fill them in on what he’d learned and what had happened while he was gone.

  Jacob told them everything. It took a while, especially with interruptions whenever he brought up something that sounded painful or scary. Matt was especially angry about Mindac beating up Jacob and Sarot. Jacob smiled, waiting for Matt to finish saying what he would’ve done to the guy, then told them how Ramantus changed Het into a Lorkon.

  “Ramantus injected him with blood—a special mixture of it. I’m not sure what that mixture was, but the doctor said that the stuff Ramantus put inside of me had a lot of diseases in it.”

  No one responded for a minute, and Jacob let this new piece of information sink in.

  Aldo rubbed his chin. “I’ve been wondering . . . How much does Onyev know about the Lorkon?”

  Jacob shrugged. “I didn’t ask. I was afraid to bring up too much about the present—especially when giving certain information would make me return.” He looked at Akeno. “Did you ask?”

  Akeno shook his head. “It didn’t occur to me.”

  Dad leaned forward, steepling his fingers. “Jacob, after you’ve had some time to relax, your next task will be to visit Onyev again. Tell him everything you can until it sends you home. We’ve got to get this figured out, and Onyev might just end up being the best thing to happen to us.”

  Jacob nodded. “He knows about the bugs and has promised to research the problem.”

  “Does Azuriah know anything?” Mom asked.

  “Not sure,” Jacob said. “I haven’t heard from him since he left to recruit those Shiengols. And I’m not about to interrupt him.”

  The adults around the table nodded, a few smiling. They understood.

  Jacob hesitated. He wasn’t sure how his parents would react to what he was about to say. But it was important information they’d need in the end. He took a deep breath. “There’s something else I learned while with King Ramantus . . .” He glanced at Mom and Dad, then down at his hands.

  “What is it, son?” Mom asked.

  “Well . . . I spent several hours with him the day they transformed themselves. I helped him get dressed, got his breakfast, all of that. And while I was there, Het and Isan came and the three of them had a conversation . . . about . . . about Dmitri and Arien.” He looked up at Dad. “He said that—that he always wanted Dmitri to marry Arien.”

  Dad scoffed. “No, he didn’t—he was furious when Mother mentioned the idea.”

  Jacob nodded. “I know. Het or Isan said something similar. But Ramantus was pretty adamant. He wanted you to marry Arien. And . . . and he also wanted Queen Ara Liese and King Roylance to marry each other. I don’t remember his exact words, but when he was talking to your brothers, he said something about it not mattering in the end if Dmitri turned evil again or not. That it was Dmitri and Arien’s ‘offspring’ that mattered. And when he said that, one of the princes mentioned the fact that Ramantus couldn’t guarantee that any of Dmitri and Arien’s kids would inherit certain traits, and he didn’t understand how Ramantus could be so confident in the plans he’d put in place.”

  Jacob didn’t wait for the adults in the room to respond. “That’s not all. While I was stuck in August Fortress, Keitus told me he’d created me—he’d arranged my parents’ marriage and even my grandparents’ marriages. I didn’t sense any dishonesty in what he was saying, nor did the colors for his emotions show he was trying to trick me. He completely believes it.”

  Jacob looked at his hands again, not wanting to meet eyes with anyone in the room. No one said anything for a moment.

  Then Kenji broke the silence. “Is it possible?”

  Jacob glanced at his parents. They were both shaking their heads, but not from disbelief. The colors in the air around them—very light yellow with a tinge of green—showed more shock than anything.

  Mom and Dad looked at each other. “How old is your father?” Mom asked.

  Dad opened and closed his mouth several times. “I don’t know—he’s old. Growing up, I always expected him to die any day.”

  “Could he have had something to do with any of this?” Mom gripped her cup, her fingers white.

  Dad didn’t answer.

  “If you ask me, yes,” the Fat Lady said. “Our interactions with Keitus over the past several months have shown over and over again that even though he’s incredibly impatient in the moment, over the long haul, he puts a lot of thought into his plans. Look at August Fortress—those traps couldn’t have been set or thought up overnight. He knew the spells and how to manage a Cerpire and the tricks to get everything to work.” She leaned forward, getting excited. “And the mud? The waterfall? Lasia? Even Lirone? These sorts of things take years not only to figure out, but to plan.”

  She tucked some loose hair into her messy bun. “And there are potions that will cause someone to avoid death for a while. My feeling is that Keitus had everything planned out at least a hundred years ago—if not longer. The last thing he focused on was learning to become Lorkon. He first had to make sure he could create the perfect tool.”

  She glanced at Jacob. “Someone with Shiengol abilities—the only race he has ever feared—but who would also be his own flesh and blood and thereby deserving, in his eyes. This person would help him conquer and possess whatever lands and treasures he wanted.”

  “And eventually, the person would take his spot as ruler,” Kenji said.

  The Fat Lady shook her head. “No
, Keitus would never allow that, which is one reason he became Lorkon. They’re incredibly powerful, yes, but they’re also immortal.”

  Matt cleared his throat and waited for everyone to look at him. “Well, I’ve got an opinion. If they can become Lorkon, then they can go back to being human. Which means we’ll be able to kill them.” He squared his shoulders, raising his chin. “That’s what I think, anyway.”

  Dad nodded slowly. “That might be our only hope of getting rid of him.” He turned to Mom, looking her in the eyes. “Regardless of what role Keitus played in everything, he had no influence over how we felt then or how we feel now. And he underestimated the desires of a good person to stay good. He’ll never control our thoughts or decisions or the thoughts and decisions of our ‘offspring.’” A smile played at the corners of his mouth.

  “So, what now?” Sweet Pea asked.

  “After Jacob has talked to Onyev,” Dad said, “we need him to focus on finding the Key of Ayunli. It will make our tasks much easier. Not only that, but we must keep it from falling into the hands of the Lorkon. Unfortunately, I’ve been unsuccessful in finding it.” Dad looked at Jacob. “But now that you’ve fully mastered Traveling and Time-Seeing, it won’t be difficult for you.”

  Jacob nodded.

  “And we’ll start gathering as much information about the Lorkon and Ramantus as possible. Because apparently, I don’t know my father very well.”

  “I don’t have to go back to Troosinal, do I?” Jacob asked.

  Mom patted his arm. “We hope not, honey. But everything is up in the air right now.”

  Not long after, Dad closed the meeting and Jacob Keyed everyone home. He felt overwhelmed with the tasks that lay ahead, but peaceful too. What he’d just been through had turned into one of the most difficult things he’d ever experienced. It taught him a lot about himself, though, and not only about his magical abilities, but his own determination to do what was needed to complete a task. And that was encouraging.

  The next day, Kevin came to Jacob’s house to visit Aloren. The very first thing she requested after their reunion was a seat on the front porch where she could watch everyone play a game of basketball.