“Who is it already?” said Evan, annoyed. But he and Xavier followed after Brianna, who was sprinting after Levi.
“Rook!” Levi called out. The man turned and looked at him, recognition mixed with wariness in his face.
“Levi?” Rook smiled broadly and gave a little wave. He looked different from the last time Levi had seen him, in the courtyard of the castle in Ahoratos. For one thing, he no longer had any metal parts. He was wearing old jeans and a Creekside Landscaping T-shirt smeared with dirt. He had a scruffy beard, and his longish hair was in a ponytail.
“Yeah, it’s me,” Levi said with a shy smile. “What are you doing here?”
Rook set down the chainsaw as the kids gathered around to greet him. “I work for this landscaping company now,” he said.
“But I thought you were in some kind of trouble. I mean, since you were a prisoner. . . .”
“I was. But I’m free now.” He paused. “And I got this job, thanks to Mr. Blake.”
“Our dad?” Xavier said, confused. “How do you know our dad?”
“Well, when I took down that oak tree in your backyard. . . .”
“You did that?” Evan said, remembering how the tree had to be cut up and cleared away after it’d been struck by lightning. He had no idea that it had been Rook.
“Yeah, well, it was part of my community service. But I guess I did a good enough job. Because of your dad’s recommendation, this company was willing to take a chance on me.”
“Crazy,” said Levi with a grin. “I mean—that you would get hired by Mr. Blake after we rescued you from—you know. Do you think Ruwach might have had something to do with that?”
“It’s certainly possible,” said Rook with a wide grin.
“Stellar,” Brianna said. “So, have you been back to . . . you know where?”
“You mean—there?” Rook said with a knowing smile. “Sure. A few times. Helping Ruwach with some special operations—”
“Special ops!” said Evan. “Cool! So you’re like this ex-criminal-turned-special-ops-warrior-chainsaw-wielding landscaper. Epic.”
They all laughed at that.
“I’ll bet Ru had it all planned that way,” Evan said. “I mean, that we would meet you here, after what happened in you-know-where.”
Rook shrugged. “Ru is always pretty mysterious, that’s for sure.”
There was an uncomfortable lapse in the conversation as they all searched for the right words. There was really only one thing they wanted to talk about.
Ahoratos.
“We went back to . . . there,” Evan started. “But all we got were some lousy seeds.”
“Oh, the seeds,” Rook said with a nod. His eyes lit up in the slightest way.
Evan’s eyebrows furrowed. “They’re useless, and they make us even more of a target for the enemy.”
“Oh no, they’re anything but useless.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ll see. I need to get to work. But maybe we can talk more later—”
They were interrupted by the sound of multiple phones beeping with incoming messages. Levi, Brianna, and Xavier pulled out their phones and opened the screens at the same time.
“Is it Ruwach?” said Evan, jumping up to see what Xavier was looking at.
“It’s Manuel,” Brianna said, disappointed.
“Says we need to come to his house,” said Levi. “He has something to show us.”
“Now?” said Evan. “I mean, we just got here! And it’s not raining, so we can hang out outside for once! And Rook is here! Tell him that.”
Levi texted Manuel back and waited for a response. His phone beeped again. “He says it’s really important.”
“He’s probably doing some crazy new experiment on that seed,” Evan said, shaking his head. “Let’s just stay here and skate. If it’s so important, Manuel should just come here and show us.”
“You okay, Evan?” Rook asked, a look of concern on his face.
“Sure, why?”
“You seem—upset about something.”
“I’m not upset,” Evan replied, turning away so Rook couldn’t see his face.
“Let’s go ask Mr. J. Ar,” Xavier said. “Maybe he can give us a ride to Manuel’s house.”
Levi and Evan both groaned. Levi was really looking forward to skating with Xavier—or maybe he was looking forward to showing off for Xavier. He always felt that Xavier was slightly better than he was at most things, so it made him happy when there was at least one thing he could do better than Xavier.
Mr. J. Ar watched the kids approach with his arms crossed over his chest. Rook picked up his chainsaw and slung it over his shoulder. He nodded to Mr. J. Ar, who nodded back but didn’t smile.
“What’s up?” said Levi’s dad, looking dubiously at them.
“We’d like to go to Manuel’s house,” Xavier said in a conspiratorial whisper. “It’s kind of important.”
“Manuel’s house, huh?” said Mr. J. Ar. “Well, I can’t take you. I need to ref the basketball game. But I suppose you could ask Mary to drive you.”
“Miss Stanton?” Brianna said, alarmed. “But she’s . . . you know . . .” Brianna didn’t want to say what she thought of Miss Stanton. “Does she even know how to drive?”
“Yes, she has a license and everything. I’ll give her the keys to my truck,” Mr. J. Ar said, ignoring Brianna’s objections. “You kids wait here.”
Chapter 11
A Better Shield
Mary Stanton drove Mr. J. Ar’s huge SUV like it was a tank, creeping along the state road at twenty-five miles per hour, forcing a line of cars to crawl behind her. She whipped her head around nervously, nearly knocking Xavier out with her long, blond ponytail.
“I’ve never driven anything this big before,” she said in a panicky voice. Every time a car passed, she swerved to the right and ran over the rumble strips, making the kids cringe. “Sorry!” she kept saying.
“Not sure this was the best idea my dad ever had,” Levi muttered.
When the SUV finally pulled into the driveway of Manuel’s house, the four kids jumped out as fast as they could.
“Thanks, Mary,” Levi said, although he didn’t actually mean it.
“No problem!” Mary answered. Once all the kids were out, she put the SUV in reverse and slowly backed out of the driveway, stopping every couple of seconds to check her mirrors.
“That’s gonna take a while,” said Xavier, watching her struggle. “She might still be here when we get back.” He laughed and headed up the sidewalk.
Evan looked up at the window of Manuel’s room, thinking there might be some weird flashing going on like the last time. But he couldn’t see anything. He followed the others to the front door.
Xavier rang the doorbell, and a minute later Manuel came to the door, breathless and flushed with excitement.
“Good thing you’re here!” he said in a rush. “Wait till you see what I made!” Manuel darted up the stairs, Brianna and Levi close on his heels.
Evan paused. The door to Mr. Santos’s study was slightly ajar again, like it had been the first time he’d come to the house. But he was pretty sure Mr. Santos wasn’t home so—
He crept toward the door and opened it, peeking inside. Still lying on the desk was the book that had looked so familiar to him. He slipped through the door and inched toward the book, being careful not to touch anything.
“Evan. What are you doing?” Xavier said from the doorway.
Evan jumped, startled. His heart hammered in his chest as he tried to relax.
“Uh . . . look, Xavi. This book. There’s something about it . . .” He was standing right beside it now, and as he peered down onto the opened pages he knew immediately why he’d been drawn to it in the first place. His eyes widened.
“Xavi, it’s l
ike my book, the one Grandpa gave me. The Prince Warrior book. With the Crest on the cover.” Now he touched it lightly. Somehow he felt like he could, as if having one of his own gave him unspoken permission. “This one looks different. . . .” Evan said thoughtfully as he leafed through a few pages and then closed the book, examining the cover.
“So what’s the big deal? Manuel told us he had one.”
“This isn’t Manuel’s. His is in his room. I saw it there before, and it looked exactly like mine. But something isn’t right about this one.” Evan bent over and squinted his eyes, tilting his head to the side to look even more closely. And then, he saw it plain as day.
“Look—the Crest looks different here, like it’s upside down or backward or something. And it’s the wrong color. . . .” Evan’s voice had risen with excitement. Xavier motioned for him to lower his voice as he turned around to check that they were still alone. Then he leaned closer to see for himself. Evan was right. The crest did look different from the one they’d come to know so well.
“Come on, Evan. Don’t be nosy.” Xavier pulled Evan away from the book and back to the door. Evan sighed and followed his brother out of the study, up the stairs, and down the hallway to Manuel’s room.
Manuel stood in front of his bedroom door, waiting patiently until his entire audience was gathered. When Evan and Xavier finally arrived, Manuel threw open the door with a flourish:
“Ta-da!”
They stared, openmouthed, at the huge object leaning against the desk in the center of the room.
“What do you think?” Manuel asked, his voice practically squeaking with anticipation.
The kids looked at each other and then back at the colossal metal structure in front of them.
“What is it?” Brianna said, her mouth dropping open in wonder and awe.
“It’s a shield!” Manuel said, annoyed that they couldn’t see that for themselves. “I made it!”
“Whoa,” said Evan, moving into the room for a closer look.
“You . . . made a shield?” said Xavier.
The thing was as tall as Manuel, made of several hubcaps welded together in a circular pattern. It was outlined in white rope lights, the Crest of Ahoratos hand-painted in bright red in the center.
“It’s shiny,” said Brianna.
“It’s big,” said Levi.
“This is so cool!” Evan exclaimed, running a hand over the shiny steel hubcaps. “Coolest shield I ever saw! How’d you make it?”
Manuel grinned, pleased that at least one of them was catching on. “Well, I thought about that seed a long time, and I finally decided that Ruwach never meant for us to actually use the seed as a shield.”
“How do you know that?” said Xavier, folding his arms.
“Because—it just didn’t make sense. Giving us a useless seed and calling it a powerful shield. I decided that the seed was symbolic.” He paused proudly, lifting his eyebrows and smiling—waiting for agreement from the others. Instead, they all stared blankly. “Ruwach wanted to plant an idea in our minds. You get it? Seed? Plant?” They stared. Manuel realized that he was going to have to explain his theory after all. “The seed was just for inspiration. He really wants us to use our own ingenuity to come up with the shield. You know how tricky Ruwach can be sometimes.”
“Yeah, but—” Levi began, but Manuel kept on talking.
“So I started searching the Internet for ideas. And that’s what made me think of the hubcaps. I had my dad drive me to the junkyard. It was a little tough finding real steel hubcaps—most new cars don’t have them anymore. But I managed to find a few and simply welded them together. Then I added some other parts—mostly pieces of steel frames I found—to make it stronger. I figured, the bigger the better, right? I bolted on handles from a car door. See? This thing will stop arrows, swords, even bullets!”
“You’re a genius!” said Evan. The others began to nod, as if they agreed.
“It’s . . . impressive. That’s for sure,” said Levi.
“Looks heavy,” said Xavier.
“It is a bit too heavy, I’m working on that part.” Manuel picked up the shield by the handles, but it was so heavy he could hardly get it off the floor. Evan rushed in to help.
“Big enough for two!” Evan said.
“Looks like you need two to carry it,” said Xavier under his breath.
“Did you draw the Crest yourself?” Brianna said, eyeing the design critically.
“It was a rush job, I admit, but this is just the prototype. If I can find some aluminum alloy it will be a lot lighter but still pretty strong. Or better yet, titanium! Once I find some more hubcaps, I can make one for each of us!” Manuel said proudly. “A real shield! Try it out! Throw something at me!”
“Like what?” said Levi, looking around the room.
“How about the geodes?” Evan said, pointing to the crate on the floor.
“Geodes?” Levi asked.
“They’re rocks with crystals inside. Pretty cool.”
“What if they break?” Xavier asked.
“That’s okay, I’ve got plenty,” said Manuel.
Xavier picked up one of the geodes and tossed it from hand to hand. “Heavy,” he said.
He took aim like a baseball pitcher and threw the geode as hard as he could. It made a wicked noise and put a tiny dent near the top of the shield before it bounced off and rolled on the floor.
“See?” said Manuel proudly.
“But what are you going to do with it?” Levi asked. “I mean, it’s not like you can take it to school.”
“I could take it to the Rec,” said Manuel. “That way, if anyone tries to attack me—or any of us—I’ll be ready.”
“Attack us?” said Xavier doubtfully. “Who would attack us at the Rec?”
“I don’t know. . . . Somebody might! Ruwach did say something about the enemy being even angrier than before,” said Manuel. “And if he did attack, this would be a lot more useful than that ridiculous seed.”
“Manuel’s right. Ruwach said we would need to be prepared,” said Evan. “The enemy is going to attack.”
“I thought he meant in Ahoratos,” said Levi.
“We could be attacked here as well as in Ahoratos,” Manuel said. The idea of an attack on earth had never occurred to the Prince Warriors. Their heartbeats quickened at the thought. They knew that the battles they faced in Ahoratos affected their lives on earth, but they had never considered the possibility of the enemy waging war against them here.
Manuel didn’t seem to notice the tension. “I might even be able to take this with me to Ahoratos the next time we go.”
“I don’t think it will go through,” said Xavier.
“It might, if I hold on to it really tight,” said Manuel.
“That’s cool how you made the Crest light up,” said Brianna. “How did you do that?”
“Light up?” Manuel wrinkled his nose. “I didn’t make it light up.”
“Then what’s it doing?”
They all stared at the shield. The hastily painted-on Crest was actually glowing, as if it were lit up in neon. And then it seemed to peel away from the shield itself, floating above their heads.
Evan nearly jumped in the air. “It’s the real Crest! Maybe we’ll get to try out the shield right away!”
“Let’s go,” Levi said.
“Wait!” Brianna said. “The seeds! We need the seeds!” She rummaged through her backpack until she found her seed, still in its bedazzled case. Levi also delved into his backpack until he came up with his.
Xavier didn’t have his with him. “Mine’s in my closet at home. Just wait a minute, I’ll go and get it. It’s right across the street. Evan, you want me to get yours too?”
“Uh . . . no,” said Evan, shaking his head. “I don’t . . . have mine anymore.”
The others looked at him.
“Did you lose it?” Brianna asked.
“Sort of,” said Evan. “I kind of . . . threw it away.”
“Threw it away?” said Brianna, incredulous.
“In . . . the pond.”
“You threw your seed in the pond?” Xavier asked, shaking his head.
“So did I,” said Manuel, although he didn’t sound sad about it at all. “Not in the pond, of course. I flushed it down the toilet. But this shield is way better. Just stick with me, Evan. I’ll keep you safe.”
“Look, it’s fading!” Levi said, pointing to the Crest. “We’ve got to go now!”
“I need to go get my seed,” said Xavier. “You guys go without me, I’ll catch up!” He dashed out the door and down the stairs.
“We should wait for Xavier,” Brianna said. “But the Crest might be gone by the time he comes back. . . .”
“If Ruwach wants him there, the Crest will find him,” said Levi. He gripped his seed in one hand and grabbed the Crest with the other. Brianna did too, closing her eyes. Manuel and Evan both held tightly to the homemade shield as they reached up to grab the Crest with their free hands. Instantly they felt as though they were being sucked into a giant vacuum, the room spinning around them like water going down a drain.
Chapter 12
Left Behind
Xavier burst in the back door of his house and raced up the stairs to his room. He knew he had to hurry. He headed straight for his closet, where his seed was still wrapped in a shirt. Unfortunately, over the last several days he’d thrown a whole lot of other clothes on that shelf as well, so it took some time to sort through it all to find the one that contained the seed. He unwrapped it, sighing in relief. The seed seemed to be glowing faintly. That was new.
“Xavier? What are you doing? I thought you texted me and said you were going to Manuel’s house?” Mom’s voice called from the hallway. “Is everything all right?”
“Sure, Mom,” said Xavier, stuffing the seed in his jeans pocket. He dashed toward the door but found his way to the stairs blocked by his mother, who was holding a laundry basket. “I just . . . had to get something,” he explained. “See you at dinner!” He brushed by her quickly and headed down the stairs.
The Prince Warriors and the Unseen Invasion Page 7