Just then he heard footsteps behind him.
“Evan!” It was Brianna, coming in from the garden. “Thank goodness—I thought I went the wrong way. . . .”
Startled, Evan slammed down the lid and shoved the key in his pocket.
“No problem,” he said, raising an arm to indicate she should follow. “It’s this way.”
“What are you doing?” Brianna asked, glancing at the box he had just closed.
“Nothing . . . just looking at stuff. Come on.” Evan hurried in the direction the others had gone.
Brianna took one more look at the box Evan had been hovering over, curiosity overtaking her. “Hey, isn’t that the box—”
“You coming or what?” Evan called out irritably. Brianna shrugged and followed after him.
They traveled down several dark passages, unsure of exactly where they were going. The tunnel wound around in several directions, and for a moment Evan thought they were completely lost. By some miracle they turned a corner and found themselves back in the central den of the Cave. Ruwach was standing before The Book, with Levi, Xavier, and Manuel gathered around him.
“Hey, I just waited for Brianna,” Evan said, blustering a little as he joined them. “I didn’t want her to get lost.”
“I wasn’t lost,” said Brianna. “I was just admiring . . . the plants in the garden. Sorry I took so long.” She shrugged, smiling nervously.
Ruwach nodded, his hood turning from one to the other very slowly, as if he were studying the two of them intently with his invisible eyes, seeing into their very souls. Evan and Brianna both squirmed a bit under this silent perusal, their hands thrust into their pockets—each one for a different reason. Then Ruwach tipped his head forward, so that none of the kids could see the dark space where his face might be. He remained that way a long moment before raising the hood again and pointing to The Book. Evan and Brianna both let out silent breaths of relief.
Evan glanced around quickly, looking for a place he could stash the key. But then The Book opened, the pages flipping, emitting a multitude of low hums. The kids gathered around to watch. The flipping slowed then stopped altogether, and the scrambled letters lifted from the page, rearranging into place above their heads:
Let your faith be like a shield, and you will be able to stop all the flaming arrows of the enemy.
“Here in Ahoratos,” Ruwach added, “and on earth.” There it was again—the mention of a battle on earth. Xavier opened his mouth to ask a question, but before he could utter a single word, Ru gathered the floating words together and flung them into each of the orbs in the kids’ breastplates.
“Awesome,” said Levi. “We got this. No more Olethron for us.”
“Yeah, stellar,” said Brianna brightly.
Evan and Manuel said nothing. Xavier, noticing his brother’s disappointment, turned to him and held out his seed.
“Hey, Van, my seed is your seed. Capeesh?”
Evan just shrugged. He might not have his seed, but he did have the key. He was sure if he could get away for a moment he’d be able to open his locked room and get something even better. Then he’d put it right back.
“Yeah, me too,” said Levi to Manuel. “Just stick with us; we’ll take care of you.”
“What if—you’re not there,” Manuel said. “What if I’m alone and something happens—”
“You have everything you need,” Ruwach said. “Always.”
“Um . . . is there a bathroom in this place, by any chance? ’Cause I kind of need one,” Evan said aloud. He hopped from one foot to the other in order to make his point. Ruwach’s hood swung in his direction.
“Are you kidding?” said Xavier, flicking him on the back of his head. “You can wait till we get home.”
“No, I can’t—”
“Yes, you can! Look, it’s time to go anyway.” Xavier pointed toward one wall of the Cave, which was starting to fade away. Ruwach had disappeared. The other kids had started moving toward the disappearing wall. “Come on, Evan!” Xavier grabbed him by the sleeve, but Evan resisted, looking around frantically. There! A small indent in the bottom of one of the stalagmites, like a mouse hole. He could hide the key there. Evan started toward it. But Xavier caught him by the back of his collar. “Now, Evan!”
Evan held tight to the key in his pocket as his brother dragged him toward the disappearing wall.
Chapter 18
Found
Evan sat on the bus and stared despondently out the window. He had the whole seat to himself. Even that annoying kid Charlie had found someplace else to sit. The sky outside was dark and gray. It looked an awful lot like the sky over Skot’os after the Olethron attack.
He didn’t like to think about that. It reminded him of how he had tossed away that seed, his shield, because he hadn’t believed it could really protect him. When he had returned from Ahoratos, the first thing he did was run out to the pond to see if the seed had somehow washed up on shore. Ruwach had said it couldn’t be lost, right? He had hoped that time would have reversed, like it sometimes did when they came back from Ahoratos, so that he could get a “do-over” and start again. He would know better this time.
But the seed never turned up. It wasn’t on the banks of the pond or floating on the surface of the water. Nor was it anywhere in his room or in the bedside-table drawer. He had actually cleaned his entire room looking for it. His mother had been pretty happy about that. But no seed appeared.
He’d been so sad about losing the seed that he decided not to go to the Rec for a while. He couldn’t stand being around his friends, who had their seeds and were all proud of themselves for having faith in what Ruwach had told them. He wondered if Manuel was with them today or if he had gone straight home too.
Evan got off the bus and went straight to the mailbox. There were a bunch of catalogs and a bill from the electric company. Nothing for him. He sighed, folding the mail and tucking it under his arm. He turned to head down the driveway to his house but then stopped and glanced up at Manuel’s window, across the street. He saw Manuel there, looking out at him. Manuel didn’t seem to be doing any experiments. He was just staring out the window. Evan waved. Manuel waved back. He looked as forlorn as Evan felt.
Evan thought about going over to Manuel’s house, maybe just hanging out, checking out some of the crazy stuff Manuel had in his room. But he changed his mind—he didn’t think he’d be very good company. He wondered if Manuel had been looking for his seed too. But Manuel had flushed his down the toilet—no way that thing was ever coming back again.
As Evan turned back to the driveway he caught sight of something, a sliver of red, in the tall grass at the base of the mailbox. He furrowed his eyebrows, wondering what it was. Probably one of those annoying sales flyers Mom was always complaining about. It must have gotten loose and fallen into the grass. That happened all the time. He almost walked away from it but then changed his mind and decided to pick it up.
He reached down, parting the grass, and picked up the red object. It wasn’t a flyer; it was a small red envelope with no stamp or return address. It looked as though it had been there for a while, because the paper was all puffed and wavy, like it had been out in the rain. But it hadn’t rained in over a week. Thank goodness Mom’s tall grass had trapped it, otherwise it probably would have blown away.
Evan stared at the envelope in amazement. There in fancy, old-fashioned handwriting, was his name. The envelope was addressed to him.
And Manuel.
The mail in Evan’s hands slipped from under his arm and dropped onto the ground. He stood staring at the envelope. His heart raced with some unnamed hope. He looked up at Manuel’s window.
“Hey!” Evan shouted. “Manuel!” He began jumping and waving his arms wildly, shouting the name over and over, so that Manuel had to open his window to see what Evan was so excited about.
“What�
��s the matter?” Manuel called back.
“Come look at this!” Evan shouted.
“What is it?”
“A letter! For you! For us!”
“Wha—?”
“Come here! Right now!”
Manuel’s head disappeared from the window. A moment later his front door opened, and he came bounding out, just as Evan went charging up his driveway, still waving the envelope in the air.
He showed Manuel his name on the front of the envelope. “Did you open it?” Manuel asked, breathless from his short sprint.
“Not yet.”
“Well, do it!”
Evan hesitated, then tore it open. He looked inside expecting to see a card or at least a piece of paper folded into a handwritten note. Instead it looked like nothing. Just a hollow envelope of . . . red.
But there was something—some things—tucked into the corner. Two small red objects that dropped out onto his hand when he tilted the envelope over.
“Whoa!” Evan said softly.
Manuel peered down at the seeds in Evan’s hands. Something like a bubble puckered in his gut at the sight of them, actually at the sight of one of them. He picked it up and examined it closely. A tear stung the corner of his eye. “This one is mine,” he said almost too quietly for Evan to hear. “See the scratches? I made those when I was experimenting on it.”
Evan leaned in, his eyes widening at the sight of the scratches. Then, he remembered that he’d bitten his seed to see how hard it was. He lifted the one in his hand close to his nose for a better view. There were teeth marks—his teeth marks—indented on the sides. “This one is definitely mine. It still has the teeth marks from when I tried to bite it.”
Both boys were quiet for a moment as they tried to make sense of it.
“How did they get in that envelope?” Evan wondered aloud.
“Ru must have put them there.”
“But this envelope has been here awhile. Since it rained. Before we even went to Ahoratos and got the seeds in the first place. So how—”
Evan and Manuel both fell silent again. Sheer amazement gripped them as they tried to process how their very own seeds could have been in this envelope before they had even received them from Ruwach. Before they had thrown one in the pond and flushed the other one down the toilet.
“Well, since it isn’t possible,” Manuel said finally, “it must be Ruwach.”
“Yeah,” Evan said softly. “Whoa.”
“He said we couldn’t lose them, remember?”
“Yeah, I do,” said Evan. “Guess he wasn’t kidding, was he?”
Manuel laughed. “I don’t think he ever kids.”
Evan held the seed up between two fingers. He glanced beyond it, into the sky. “You think he’s watching us, right now?”
Both Manuel and Evan looked up into the sky, searching for Ruwach’s familiar form in the clouds.
“I don’t see him,” said Manuel. “But I think he is.”
“Yeah,” Evan said with a laugh. “He always is.” He felt a drop of rain on his nose and looked up again. More drops fell on his face. Thunder sounded distantly. “Looks like rain,” he said.
Evan and Manuel said good-bye to each other, racing back to their own houses, eager to put their seeds in a safe place. The rain fell harder, stirring up a mist in the road that took on the shape of a small figure in a flowing robe, long arms stretched out toward each of the children as they went on their way.
Chapter 19
Stella
Brianna sits alone on the bench outside the rec center, watching the activity around her. On one side the basketball game is in full swing. Xavier and Evan are playing with a bunch of other kids. Mr. J. Ar is the ref, as usual. Ivy stands on the sidelines, watching. Xavier passes by—he pauses to glance at Ivy. She smiles. Her red hair shines in the sun. Xavier smiles back. Brianna frowns. Why is he smiling at her? Does he think she’s pretty?
Brianna looks over at the skateboard park, where Levi is skating with his friends. She wants to go over and talk to him. There is something important she has to tell him. But she just can’t seem to move from the bench.
Rook walks across the field, a large chainsaw slung over his shoulder, a thick tree limb under his arm. He glances at Brianna and smiles in greeting. She looks away without returning his smile. She hears a noise and turns back to see Rook standing there, the tree limb at his feet. He’s dropped it. He is staring at the ground. She follows his gaze, wondering what he is looking at.
Right in the middle of the pavement a crack appears, a hole that begins to get wider and wider.
Brianna feels the ground under her feet rumble. The inside of the hole comes alive, breaking into thousands of tiny shards that rise up, filling the air, making a horrible noise. Brianna stands, suddenly realizing what those flying things are: Ents. A huge swarm of Ents, the savage metal butterflies from Skot’os. They are here now. On earth. Coming. For them.
The kids on the playground are soon engulfed in Ents—the kids on the basketball court, those at the skate park, the jump ropers, the volleyball players, the girls sitting in circles in the grass, taking selfies and texting them to each other. Yet they don’t seem to notice. Clouds of Ents spin in circles around the kids, a spiral of black metal wings and blazing red eyes.
Brianna gets up from the bench and walks solemnly toward the Ent swarm. Rook tries to grab her, pull her toward the rec center. She wrenches away from him. She is not afraid. But she doesn’t know why.
“Brianna!”
Someone is calling her. Mr. J. Ar perhaps. Or her grandfather, Grandpa Tony. It kind of sounds like Grandpa Tony. What is he doing here? How did he know there was going to be an Ent attack? That doesn’t make any sense.
“Bean!” Levi yells at her. He comes toward her through the cloud of Ents, holding something in his hand, something round and glowing white. She can’t figure out what it is. She shakes her head and turns away from him to run in the direction of the invading Ents.
“Bean! Come back!”
Brianna looks up at the Ents coming for her, raising her arms. They begin to clutch at her with their iron claws, pulling her up, into the air, so that she is flying with them—
* * *
“Wake up, Breeny!”
Brianna opened her eyes to see her sister Crystal shaking her shoulders and scowling at her. She sat up, her heart racing. She was flying with the Ents—about to be carried away. And then she wasn’t.
“You were making that whimpering-babbling noise again,” Crystal said, yawning.
Brianna looked around the room—the rumpled beds crammed together, the mounds of clothes piled up everywhere, posters of their favorite boy bands lining the walls. Her three sisters glaring morosely at her through their tousled hair. Outside the window the sky was red—was this Skot’os? No. It was just the dawn. The normal, earthly dawn. Brianna didn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed.
“Sorry,” she said.
“Never mind,” said Crystal, flopping back on her bed. “Still got twenty minutes before I have to get up.” She closed her eyes. The other two lay back down as well, pulling pillows over their heads.
Brianna got up and went to the window. She gazed out at the sunrise, waiting for her heart to stop thumping. She’d been having the same nightmare for the past several nights. An Ent attack on the rec center. She hadn’t told anyone about it, not even Levi. It was just a dream, after all. And it wasn’t all bad, at least she didn’t think so. The flying part—that was sort of fun. Even if she was being carried away by evil Ents, there had been something sort of thrilling about that part.
She heard a soft buzz in her ear and turned to see a sparkle of light flitting about her head.
“Stella!” she whispered, holding her finger out for the pretty little bug to sit upon. “Did I wake you up too?”
Your sisters should be more understanding. Stella batted her eight wings—they flared slightly, pulsing with an inner light.
“I know,” Brianna said, nodding. “They think because I’m younger I don’t count for anything.”
You should show them.
“Yes, I should. Show them.” How would she do that? Brianna wasn’t sure. She’d have to think of something.
She’d managed to keep Stella a secret since returning from Ahoratos with the tiny creature tucked in her hoodie pocket. It hadn’t been hard—Stella always managed to disappear whenever anyone else was around. But when Brianna was alone, Stella would come out and play happily, fluttering around her room or riding on her shoulder. Brianna often thought the creature was speaking to her, although she never actually heard a voice out loud. She could just tell what Stella was thinking. Sometimes Brianna even responded out loud—once Crystal had happened by the room and poked her head in, looking at Brianna with concern.
“Who are you talking to?”
“No one, just learning lines from a play we’re doing in school,” Brianna had answered. The lie came out so easily; she hadn’t even had to think about it.
“You’re weird,” Crystal had announced before walking away.
Brianna didn’t even have to speak to Stella, for the beautiful little creature seemed to know her moods. When she was sad, Stella was sad. When she was mad, Stella was mad, her little inner lights flaring and pulsing. When Brianna was happy, Stella buzzed around the room doing silly dances of light. Stella was wonderful.
The Prince Warriors and the Unseen Invasion Page 11