“I saw something flashing from your window. I thought there was a fire. . . .”
“Flashes? Fire?” Manuel looked perplexed. “No, there hasn’t been anything like that. At least not today anyway. You must be mistaken.” He returned to staring at the tiny object as if he’d forgotten about Evan already.
“I definitely saw a flash,” Evan said, although he secretly wondered if he had possibly just imagined it. “Why are you electrocuting . . . a Skittle?” He pointed to the object that was hooked up to the electrodes. It did look exactly like a Skittle.
“Skittle?” Manuel said. Then he shook his head. “No, no. This is a seed.”
“Why are you electrocuting a seed?”
“I’m not electrocuting anything. I’m just testing it, to see if there is any electrical activity.”
“In a seed?”
“Yes. Well, it’s not an ordinary seed. At least, I don’t think it is. That’s what I’m trying to find out. But it’s really no use. It’s not doing a thing.”
Manuel pulled the electrodes off the seed and picked it up. He held it in his open hand so Evan could see it better. Still looked like a Skittle. A red one.
“Never saw a seed like that,” Evan said. “Where did you get it?”
“It belonged to my mother. She kept it in this little jewelry box on her dresser. I used to ask her about it—she said it was special. Powerful.”
“What kind of powerful?”
“She never explained that part.” Manuel put the seed under the microscope and began turning the knobs.
“Your mom didn’t tell you where she got it?”
“Nope. She said she would someday—but she never got a chance, I guess.” Manuel kept his eyes down, but Evan could feel his uneasiness at the topic of his mother.
“Oh, yeah. My mom does that to me too,” Evan said with a little laugh, trying to lighten the mood. “I mean, she tells me she’ll explain something someday, but then she never does.”
The two boys smiled at each other. Evan had always thought Manuel was a little weird. For starters, he was more like a grown-up than a kid. He had glasses and really short hair, just like his dad. He even dressed like his dad, in khakis with sharp creases and collared shirts. And he always had his nose in a book or a science experiment. When he talked he used big words that made the whole conversation turn to mush in Evan’s mind.
But after their last adventure, Evan had started to appreciate Manuel’s good qualities. He was super smart, for one thing. And Manuel had even proved, when he’d retrieved the prison key from the Forger, that he could be a little brave too.
“Your room is . . . pretty wild,” Evan said, looking around. He saw a large round rock on a shelf and picked it up. To his surprise, it fell open in his hands, split right down the middle. The inside was purple and swirl-y with a hollow center. “Um . . . I think I broke this.” He showed the two halves to Manuel.
Manuel glanced up to see what Evan was looking at. “No, you didn’t. It’s a geode,” Manuel said. “My dad cut it open to show me the crystals on the inside.”
“Cool. So how did the crystals get inside the rock?”
“It’s hard to explain. . . . Imagine a hollow in the ground, like a rabbit hole. Water seeps into the hole. Water is full of minerals. It dries up, but the minerals build up and become crystallized.”
“Sweet. Where’d you get it?”
“My dad and I went on a geode hunt once—in Arizona. My dad likes rocks. He’s a geologist.”
“What’s that?”
“Someone who studies rocks.”
“I thought he was a college professor.”
“He is. He teaches geology.”
“That’s cool,” said Evan. “Do you and your dad go on a lot of trips like that?”
“Not anymore. We used to, when my mom was . . .” Manuel’s voice dropped off. Then he said in a quieter tone: “Anyway, now he spends most of his time in his den, when he’s not at the college.”
“Oh . . . so was your mom a geometrist too?”
“Geologist. And no, she was a botanist.”
“A what?”
“She studied plants.”
“Oh.”
“I assumed this seed was some rare specimen. It looks similar to a species from South America, which is where she came from. But when she said it was powerful . . .” Manuel’s voice trailed off. Evan could tell he didn’t really want to talk anymore about his mom.
Evan poked around some more. Below the shelf was a crate containing many round, smooth black stones. He tried to pick one up, but it stuck. He had to yank to get it free. “Whoa. Are these magnets?”
“What? Oh, yes. Lodestones, actually. Naturally magnetic rocks.”
“You collect those too?”
“Birthday present,” Manuel mumbled.
“So you get mostly rocks for your birthday? Sweet.” Evan played with the lodestones for a while, using one to pick up a bunch more to see how many he could string together. When he got bored he wandered over to the window and inspected the goofy-looking plants. One of them looked almost alien, with large red spiky leaves like claws. He reached out to touch it.
“Don’t do that!” Manuel said. “It bites.”
“The plant . . . bites?”
“It’s a Venus flytrap.”
“Really? It’s from Venus?”
“No, not actually Venus. It does trap flies, however. And occasionally fingers.”
“Can I see?”
Manuel reached over and touched the leaf with a pencil. The leaf closed quickly, like a jaw clamping shut.
“Cool!” said Evan. “Maybe I’ll get one of these for Xavier for Christmas. I just won’t tell him what it does.” He giggled. “Until it’s too late.”
Manuel didn’t respond. He was still peering intently in the microscope. Evan watched him a moment.
“Have you tried planting it?” Evan asked after a few seconds of silence. He was getting a tad bored. “Like in the ground?”
“Yes, of course. I put it in a hydroponic solution.” He looked up, saw Evan’s blank expression, and knew that he needed to explain. “That’s a nutrient solution for growing seeds without soil. But it didn’t do anything. I tried boiling it too.”
“Boiling it? What for?”
“Some seeds need to be boiled or scratched or digested before they will germinate.”
“Digested? You mean like eaten?” Evan made a face of disgust. “Gross. Maybe you should feed it to the flytrap.”
“I tried. The flytrap wouldn’t take it. It prefers meat.”
“Meat?” Evan said, paling slightly.
“Hamburger.”
Evan sat down on the bed and looked up at the mobile. The planets had stopped rotating around the sun. He reached up and gave them a little shove to get them going again. He wondered where Ahoratos fit in among the planets, or if it was even meant to fit in at all.
“You heard anything?” he asked. “From . . . you know who?”
“Who?” Manuel looked up, perplexed for a few long moments. “Oh. No. Not a thing.”
“Did you get a message today?”
“Uh . . . no. Actually.”
“That’s kind of weird, isn’t it? There should have been a message. An instruction.” Yesterday’s message had been mysterious. It had popped up on the screen of his cell phone while he was eating a bowl of cereal for an afternoon snack:
Ask and it shall be given.
Evan wasn’t sure what that meant. The instructions were usually a bit confusing at first, but then something would happen, and it would all make sense. He’d learned to be patient about stuff like that.
Evan scratched his ear and gave the mobile another shove.
Suddenly another flash filled the room. The lights went out, and Manuel’s computer sh
ut down. Manuel looked up, annoyed.
“What did you do? Did you hit a switch or something?” he asked Evan.
“I didn’t touch anything except the mobile,” Evan said, holding up his hands. “Honest.”
“Well, this is strange. Maybe a power line went down. Very annoying. I guess this experiment will have to wait until later.”
Evan smiled at this. He was ready to do something else. “Hey, want to play a game?”
“A game?” Manuel looked at Evan as if he didn’t know what he was talking about.
“Yeah, don’t you have any board games? Like Sorry or Monopoly?” Evan started rummaging through Manuel’s shelves in search of a game.
“Please don’t touch my things. . . .” Manuel protested.
“Hey!” Evan exclaimed, pulling a large and dusty book from the shelf. He held the familiar volume and ran his hand quickly over the raised image of the Crest of Ahoratos on the cover. He looked at Manuel. “This is the same book I have. I forgot you had one too. Didn’t your mom give you this?”
“Yes. . . . Can you just put it back?” Manuel reached for the book, but Evan snatched it away in time, laughing. “Be careful with that!” Manuel said. “It’s very delicate. . . .”
“Hey look. . . .” Evan held the book up, staring intently at the cover. “Your cover glows in the dark. Mine doesn’t do that.”
“It does not glow in the dark—”
“Yes it does. See?” Evan turned the book so Manuel could see the cover. The funny-shaped א, the Crest of Ahoratos, was indeed glowing red.
“It’s never done that before,” Manuel said. As they both stared, the symbol grew brighter until it actually lifted off the book itself and hovered in the air before them, turning slowly.
“Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” Manuel asked, blinking to make sure it was really there.
“Yeah, I’m seeing it.”
“It can’t be real, can it?” Manuel reached out to touch the floating Crest.
“Wait!” said Evan. “We should do this together. That way, if something happens, it’ll happen to both of us.”
Manuel swallowed. “Okay. Ready?”
Evan nodded. Together they reached toward the shimmering Crest. As soon as their fingers touched it, a gigantic flash filled their vision. A stark whiteness like a blinding light had just been turned on over their heads.
Evan shut his eyes, waiting for it to pass. But when he opened them again, the whiteness was still there. He looked at Manuel in confusion. Manuel’s room was gone. The whole world seemed to have disappeared.
Chapter 5
A New Friend
Brianna unlocked her phone and opened the app called “UNSEEN.” Still nothing. No message, no instruction. Every day there had been a message on her screen, but today it was just the weird symbols and patterns that didn’t make any sense. Again.
She pushed the lock button on her phone and turned her attention to the boys’ basketball game, which was taking place in the gym due to the bad weather. Levi and Xavier were both playing, as was Landon. That was something to see. Landon, the big bully whom she and Levi had confronted only a month before, was now playing ball with Levi and the other kids. And Landon was pretty good too. Wonders never cease. Brianna knew Levi didn’t really like shooting hoops very much; he wouldn’t be playing basketball at all if it hadn’t been raining. He’d be out at the skateboard park with his buddies.
Xavier made a basket, and a group of girls in the stands cheered. Xavier lived and breathed basketball. He was tall and sinewy, with long legs that seemed to be able to cover the whole court in a few strides. Levi was shorter and stockier, not as quick in basketball, but on a skateboard he could dip and turn like an acrobat.
Levi recovered the ball and started dribbling down the court. Mr. J. Ar, Levi’s dad who volunteered most days at the rec center, trotted up and down the court with his whistle in his mouth, blowing it occasionally. Mr. J. Ar (short for James Arthur) loved basketball almost as much as Xavier. Evan did too. . . . Where was Evan anyway? She looked around but didn’t see him.
“Is someone sitting here?” asked a soft, tentative voice. Brianna looked up at the girl with glossy red hair and soft freckles. She was pointing to the space next to Brianna on the bench.
“Uh, guess not,” Brianna mumbled, picking up her phone as if she had just gotten an important text.
“I’m . . . Ivy,” said the girl.
“Yeah, I know.”
Ivy sat down, turning her eyes to the game. Brianna noticed how Ivy’s hair fell in tumbling waves down her back, how her jeans looked new and she had on one of those hip new sling backpacks with the bright pattern, just like the cool, seventh-grade girls seemed to have. Brianna quickly shoved her own backpack under her seat. She’d had it since elementary school, and it had been her sister’s before that. Brianna had three older sisters, so she never got anything new.
Brianna remembered the day that Ivy had joined her and Levi in standing up to Landon when he was bullying Manuel. Since then, they had spoken a few times. Brianna had a feeling that Ivy wanted to be friends. But Brianna wasn’t sure she wanted Ivy for a friend. For one thing, Ivy’s hair was a little too perfect. For another thing, Brianna was a Princess Warrior, and she knew Ivy would never understand what that meant.
“I like your headband,” Ivy said, startling her. Brianna looked at her and gave a small smile.
“Oh, thanks.”
“Where’d you get it?”
“Nowhere. . . . I made it.”
Brianna wished she hadn’t said that. She should have mentioned some expensive boutique or department store. Now Ivy would think she was a big loser.
“It’s . . . really pretty,” Ivy murmured.
“Thanks.” Brianna glanced at Ivy and saw her fiddling with a lock of her hair, twirling it around and around one finger. Her face was all red, like she was really nervous or embarrassed about something. When Ivy looked her way, Brianna turned her attention back to her phone.
“Um . . . I was wondering . . .” Ivy began.
“What?” Brianna said.
Finally, Ivy just sighed. “Oh . . . nothing.”
Brianna wished the girl would just go away, or at least not talk anymore. She didn’t want to answer a lot of questions about where she lived or why she lived with her grandparents instead of her real parents. Ivy probably lived in a big house and had her own room. Just like most of the other girls in her class.
Brianna pulled a tube of her favorite glitter lip gloss out of her hoodie pocket and slathered it on her lips. She always felt a lot prettier with sparkly lips. But then all of the sudden she felt stupid again—Ivy didn’t wear glitter lip gloss. None of the girls in sixth grade wore it. She should have grown out of it long ago. She tucked the tube back in her pocket, rubbing her lips together and wiping them with the back of her hand.
The whistle blew, and Brianna breathed out a sigh of relief, glad to get away from this annoyingly pretty girl. She raced down the bleachers to greet Levi and Xavier.
“Good game!” she said. Levi was sweating like crazy and still panting from the game. He nodded to her. Ivy walked passed them both, smiling a little shyly but not saying anything.
“It was all right,” Levi said.
Xavier knocked him on the shoulder. “Better luck next time.”
“Yeah, you better watch out,” Levi answered.
Landon walked up to Levi. They bumped fists wordlessly before Landon went on his way.
“You guys like BFFs now?” Brianna asked with a short giggle.
“He’s okay,” said Levi with a shrug. “I mean, he’s not bullying the little kids anymore. That’s something.”
They walked to the main room of the rec center, where kids were gathering their books and coats, preparing to go home. Outside it was getting dark, the rain still pounding
the roof and streaming down the windows. Xavier stooped to get a drink from the water fountain.
“Where’s Evan?” Brianna asked him.
“Guess he didn’t come today,” Xavier said. He straightened, tossing back a lock of hair from his face. “He was all mad this morning. Something about Picture Day.”
“Manuel didn’t come either,” Levi said. “Told me he had some important experiment to do at home. You know Manuel.” He shrugged, laughing.
Mr. J. Ar came up to the kids, beads of sweat still on his forehead from refereeing the game.
“Levi, you ready to go?”
“Sure, Dad, just a sec.” He reached over to the table where he’d left his backpack.
“Mr. Arthur!” Mary Stanton, the college student who worked part time at the Rec, called from the door of the office, a phone in one hand, a coffee cup in the other. She insisted on calling Levi’s dad “Mr. Arthur” rather than “Mr. J. Ar” like the kids did. “I need help in here!” Just then a child ran out of the office and jostled her, causing her to drop her coffee cup. She shrieked, abandoning the phone to save her chai latte.
“Coming, Mary,” Mr. J. Ar said with a sigh. Mary was always in the middle of one crisis or another. “You kids hang tight. Brianna, you need a ride home?”
“That would be great, thanks.”
As Mr. J. Ar went to deal with Mary Stanton’s problem, Brianna’s phone chirped. She pulled it from her hoodie pocket and looked at the screen. “It’s a new message!” she exclaimed.
“It’s not a message; it’s just the Crest,” Levi said. Then his phone made a beeping noise. He pulled it out of his backpack and looked at it. “I’ve got it too.” The Crest appeared immediately, shining red in a black field.
“That’s weird,” Brianna said. “The Crest doesn’t usually show up unless there’s trouble. . . .” All three of them stood still, not knowing what to do, half expecting to be transported to Ahoratos instantly. But nothing happened. They were still at the Rec, holding their phones. Kids jostled around them to get their things and go outside to meet their rides.
“False alarm, maybe,” said Xavier.
Brianna thrust her phone back into her hoodie pocket, disappointed. “Oh well. I guess we just have to wait a little longer.”
The Prince Warriors and the Unseen Invasion Page 3