The Prince Warriors and the Unseen Invasion

by Priscilla Shirer

  She went to sit at a table alone and took out her homework. It was hard to concentrate. Maybe she should go outside while it was still nice. She’d like to skate over at the skate park, but there were too many kids there already. She didn’t like skating in front of other people. She practiced a lot at home, and she could even do a few tricks. But here it was different.

  Wish I could go back to Ahoratos, Ivy thought as she pulled a geography book out of her backpack. I’m not so afraid of things there as I am here. She thought of the last time she was in Ahoratos, helping Rook get out of the fortress in one piece with his metallized prisoner. She’d felt courageous and confident. That had been fun. Slightly scary, but still fun. She hadn’t heard from Ruwach since then.

  She glanced over at Mr. J. Ar and Brianna again. Mr. J. Ar was talking softly, but Brianna didn’t seem to be responding at all. Like she wasn’t even listening—

  Mary Stanton suddenly appeared in the office door, the phone crooked on her shoulder. She looked worried, as usual.

  “Mr. Arthur, urgent call!”

  Mr. J. Ar got up and went to take the phone from Mary, who hovered nearby nervously. Brianna hadn’t looked up. I should go over and talk to her, Ivy thought. She looks like she could use a friend. Ivy rose, gathering her courage. Now or never. She took a step toward Brianna, but Mr. J. Ar interrupted.

  “Brianna! I need to take you home immediately.” Mr. J. Ar burst through the office door and hurried toward Brianna, his urgency mounting with every step.

  Brianna looked up, her brows knitted together. “What for?”

  “It’s your grandmother. There’s been an accident.”

  Chapter 22

  Leaves and Leaving

  Brianna saw the flashing lights of the ambulance as soon as Mr. J. Ar turned down her street. She felt as though she couldn’t breathe at all, like all the air had been sucked out of the car. The ambulance was parked on the curb, along with a police car. A group of neighbors had come out of their homes to see what was going on.

  Mr. J. Ar pulled up to the house as two men rolled a stretcher out the front door and into the open back of the ambulance. Grandpa Tony followed, looking as pale and shocked as Brianna had ever seen him. Her three sisters stayed on the porch, shaken and scared.

  Brianna jumped out of the car as soon as it stopped and ran to the stretcher that held her grandmother. But it was already being loaded into the ambulance, so Brianna couldn’t see Nana Lily at all.

  “Grandpa!” she cried, running to her grandfather. “What happened! Why are they taking her away?”

  “She just collapsed. . . . I don’t know. . . .” He shook his head, holding back tears. “Brianna! Wait!”

  Brianna didn’t wait. She broke away from her grandfather and plowed past her sisters into the house. She ran up the stairs to her room, slamming the door behind her. She threw herself on her bed and began to sob.

  Ruwach must not love you very much if he let this happen to your grandmother.

  The voice was soft and insistent. Brianna opened her eyes to see Stella fluttering before her face, her delicate wings catching the light from the window.

  “You’re right,” she said. “Nana Lily was the only one who loved me. There’s no one who loves me now. I’m all alone.”

  That must make you very sad—and angry.

  “Yes, I am angry.” Brianna felt a heat building up inside of her. Outside, a siren whined. She went to the window to see the ambulance pulling away. Brianna’s sisters stood in the driveway with their arms around each other, sobbing. Grandpa Tony must have gone in the ambulance too.

  Brianna shut the curtains. She went down to the kitchen. There was flour all over the floor, a plastic tub of sugar tipped over on the counter. Nana Lily must have been baking a cake when she fell. A birthday cake. For Brianna.

  Brianna looked up at the framed needlepoint on the wall: Fix your thoughts on what is true. . . . She walked over, took the frame off the wall, and threw it in the wastebasket. She collapsed at the kitchen table, her head pressed to her folded arms, sobbing.

  You’re not alone, Brianna. I’m here.

  The voice echoed in Brianna’s ear as Stella settled once more onto the back of her neck, her transparent wings disappearing against Brianna’s skin.

  I won’t leave you like Ruwach and the Source did. Or like your parents did. I’ll always be with you.

  “At least I have you,” Brianna whispered. “I’ll never go back to Ahoratos again.”

  The large, metal Ent fluttered outside the kitchen window, its red eyes pulsing a message. Stella blinked back a reply:

  Almost there.

  * * *

  “What’s the matter?” said Levi. He’d stopped skating as soon as he saw his father coming out to the skate park. Mr. J. Ar had a very stern look on his face, as if something had gone terribly wrong. Levi picked up his board and went to meet his father at the edge of the park. Xavier, seeing the two of them, followed along.

  “Brianna’s grandmother fell—they think she might have had a stroke; she’s been taken to the hospital. I just came back from driving Brianna home.”

  “Is she okay?” Levi asked.

  “Don’t know yet. I think we should all go over there and see if we can help. I just came back to get you. Xavier, if you and your brother want to come too, just let your parents know—”

  “Look!” It was Manuel who spoke. He’d been nearby picking up leaves, but now he was staring at the pile Rook had created, pointing.

  Levi, Xavier, and Mr. J. Ar turned to look. The leaves on the top of the pile were spinning in a circle, as if they were caught in a strong breeze. But then they lifted off the pile, swirling themselves into—something. A definite shape that rose steadily above the leaf pile. Evan and Rook, still by the leaf-sucking machine, saw it too. But no one else on the playground seemed to realize what was happening.

  “What’s it doing?” said Levi.

  “It looks like—” Xavier began.

  “It’s the Crest.”

  They turned to see who had spoken—Ivy stood behind them. She could see it too.

  “It can’t be,” Levi said. “It’s just leaves—”

  “I think she’s right,” said Xavier. Just then his phone buzzed in his pocket. He took it out and looked at it. The Crest glowed on the screen. He showed it to the others. Levi and Manuel both checked their phones—the Crest was on their screens as well.

  “We need to go,” Xavier said.

  “But what about Bean?” said Levi. “We can’t just leave her—”

  “I’ll keep an eye on her until you get back,” said Mr. J. Ar, turning to head back to the rec center. “You kids better get going. Ruwach must have an assignment for you.”

  Xavier dropped his skateboard and began walking toward the leaf pile. Levi and Manuel followed. They joined Evan and Rook, who were standing by the leaf-sucking machine, still gazing in amazement at the swirling red and gold leaves, which had definitely formed into the Crest of Ahoratos.

  “Hey, guys, all done now,” Rook said to the kids still playing in the leaf pile, oblivious to what was really going on. “I need to get this pile bagged up before it gets any windier.” The kids groaned a bit but moved away, finding other things to occupy themselves. The Prince Warriors gathered around the leaf pile, looking from one to the other.

  “What do we do?” Levi asked.

  “Jump in,” Rook said.

  “In the leaves?”

  “Sure. Why not?”

  “On three,” said Xavier. “One, two—”

  “Wait!” Manuel cried. “I need to get out my inhaler, there’s probably a lot of dust in that pile—”

  “Three!”

  All four boys leaped as high as they could, jumping feetfirst into the pile. A storm of leaves rose up around them, as if sucking them down within its dept
hs. They disappeared from view, and the leaves settled back down, an ordinary pile of leaves once more.

  Rook waited a moment, just to make sure the kids were really gone. Then he aimed his leaf-sucking nozzle at the pile in order to gather up the leaves. He stopped when he saw the girl with the red hair walking toward the pile, her eyes fixed on the Crest. Rook smiled.

  “What are you waiting for?” he said.

  “Really? I should go too?”

  “You see the Crest, don’t you?”

  She nodded.

  “Well, better get moving then.”

  Ivy nodded and took a running leap into the pile, just as the floating Crest disintegrated into red and gold leaves that fluttered lazily to the ground.

  Rook smiled to himself and turned on his machine again. He sucked up all the leaves into a giant bag then closed it up and hauled it away.

  Chapter 23

  Swirling Sand

  This is new.”

  Evan was the first to speak, standing up to brush the leaves off his pant legs. The others did the same, gazing in awe at the strange new surroundings. Even for Ahoratos, this was extremely weird.

  They appeared to be at the bottom of a very narrow canyon. But the walls didn’t go straight up. Instead, they swirled around in striated colors—reds, purples, pinks, oranges—as if they’d been stirred with a giant paint stick. A single shaft of golden light beamed down through the narrow slit of the canyon, illuminating the brilliant colors.

  “How do you get out of here?” said Manuel, looking around, concern on his face. In fact, the wondrously carved walls appeared to surround them completely. He touched one purple formation, and it crumbled under his fingers. “It’s sand!” he exclaimed. “Solid sand. Like sandstone, except as soon as you touch it, it disintegrates. This is fascinating! It’s like a sand castle. . . .”

  “Well, don’t touch it anymore!” said Levi. “We don’t want the walls to collapse on us.”

  The boys instinctively put their hands in their pockets.

  “This reminds me of sand art we used to do in kindergarten,” Evan said. “Remember? You pour in different colored sand—”

  “Yeah, I remember,” said Xavier.

  “The leaves are gone,” Manuel said. He pointed to the ground, where several small piles of colored sand appeared where the leaves they’d brushed off their clothes had been a moment before.

  “They turned to sand too,” said Levi.

  “I don’t see any water,” said Xavier, looking around.

  “Makes sense—any kind of water would probably collapse this place,” said Manuel, rubbing his chin.

  “Maybe we got dumped in the wrong place,” said Evan.

  Before anyone could respond, there was a loud thump! and a cascade of leaves fell down on them. Followed by something else. A person.

  A girl.

  “Hi,” she said brightly, brushing leaves out of her glossy red hair. The leaves, like the rest, fell to the ground, making small piles of sand. “I’m Ivy.”

  “Oh yeah, I know you,” said Levi, in a somewhat unfriendly voice.

  “What are you doing here?” said Evan, clearly annoyed. “We didn’t invite you.”

  “You didn’t, but Ruwach did.” Ivy’s courage had returned. Ahoratos did that to her. She tossed a lock of hair out of her face defiantly. “He called me, same as you.”

  The boys looked at each other, dumbfounded. Was this that mousy girl who never talked? To them, she’d always just been a wallflower. How would she ever have enough backbone to stand up against Ponéros and his attacks?

  “You’ve . . . been here before?” Xavier asked.

  Ivy shrugged, nonchalant. “Yeah, a few times.”

  Xavier and Levi exchanged looks. Levi crossed his arms over his chest.

  “Well, then, if you’ve been here before, you must know where the Water is,” Levi said, folding his arms over his chest. “Since you know so much—”

  Xavier nudged him. “Be cool, man,” he whispered.

  Ivy smiled, as if she weren’t insulted at all. “Well, I can’t say I’ve been to this exact spot before, but I have been in the Sand Canyon once or twice—”

  “Sand Canyon?” said Evan.

  “Yeah, it’s pretty cool, isn’t it? Except for the sand grobel . . .” Her voice trailed off, and she looked around. “Like I said, this particular place is sort of new to me, but if I had to guess I would say . . . the Water is through there.”

  She pointed. The boys turned around to see a narrow area of dark purple running between two of the canyon’s swirling walls. It had looked solid at first, but on second glance, they realized it was actually an opening.

  “How come she saw it and we didn’t?” Levi muttered to Xavier.

  “You have to know what to look for,” Ivy said matter-of-factly. “This place can be tricky. Lots of optical illusions. The enemy is always trying to trick us. We need to go in. But you should be careful—if you bump into one of these sand walls, the whole thing could come down on your head.”

  “Is it safe?” asked Manuel, craning his neck to peer into the crevice.

  “Who said anything about safe?” said Ivy with a laugh.

  Manuel folded his arms. “I would not recommend going in there.”

  “Me neither,” said Evan, also folding his arms.

  “Suit yourself.” Ivy turned sideways and shimmied through the narrow space, disappearing into the purple dark beyond.

  The boys stood still, looking at one another.

  “Did that just happen?” said Evan.

  “You were kind of tough on her,” Xavier said to Levi.

  “She doesn’t belong here. We’re here to help Bean. . . .”

  “How do you know we’re here to help her?” said Xavier.

  “Because . . . she’s in trouble. Her grandmother is sick, and she’s . . . well, she isn’t here with us, is she? So she must be in trouble. And this girl doesn’t have anything to do with that.”

  “How do you know?” Xavier asked. “If Ru called her here, maybe she does. Besides, she obviously knows what she’s doing. She’s trying to help us.”

  “Yeah, I’m with Xavier. We should go in after her.” Evan turned to his big brother. “You first.”

  Xavier sighed and walked toward the crevice. It was so dark he couldn’t see anything beyond it. Nor was the Crest anywhere in sight. He glanced back at the others once more then turned sideways as Ivy had, careful not to touch the walls of the canyon as he slid through.

  * * *

  Xavier heard a sound like water dripping from a spout. The air around him felt damp. Slipping through the narrow gap, he was immediately engulfed in darkness, unable to see ahead of him or behind him. He took a tentative step in the same direction, hoping there wasn’t a wall there. His best course of action was just to keep going straight, in hopes that the path would be clear.

  With another step, he noticed a tiny speck of light in front of him. The speck soon became a crack, getting taller and taller as Xavier continued to move toward it. Soon, he slipped through the opening and found himself in an open area, standing at the edge of a still pool. He breathed a sigh of relief that he had made it through. The water of the pool was multicolored, reflecting the brightly colored sand walls around it. The Crest hovered on the surface. This was definitely the Water.

  He paused to gaze around at the amazingly beautiful sand formations. Then it dawned on him that the sound he heard was not from dripping water, it was dripping sand. The sand walls all around the Water were melting away very quickly, like a sand castle at high tide. Soon, the entire cavern he stood in would collapse.

  Xavier turned to tell the others he had found the Water and to come as fast as they could, but he could no longer see the way he’d come through. Apparently, it was a one-way trip. He called out, “Levi! Manuel! E
van! Hurry! This whole place is going to implode!” But there was no answer. His voice echoed through the canyon walls, making the sand shiver, cascading down in little avalanches. Better not make too much noise, he thought. It was clear his friends couldn’t hear him.

  He looked into the Water. Ivy must have already gone in—he saw no sign of her anywhere. She could have waited for him. He wondered if he should wait for the others or figure out some way to communicate with them. But the walls were melting even faster now. Like one of those timers made of sand, and once the sand ran out—

  No time to think about it now. He had to move. He couldn’t go back, and he couldn’t wait. He shut his eyes and jumped into the Water. . . .

  The next thing he knew he was standing next to Ivy in the Cave. He blinked, thankful that the familiar glowing stalagmites and stalactites looked solid, unmeltable. Sparks danced around his head in greeting. Ruwach was nowhere to be seen.

  “Your friends coming?” Ivy asked.

  “They’re on their way. I hope. You should have told me the whole place was about to melt.”

  “I didn’t know,” said Ivy. “It’s always different. Don’t worry, they’ll be here. They’ve come through the Water before, right? They’ll be fine.”

  Xavier couldn’t help but worry, even though there was nothing he could do about it. He wished he had this little girl’s confidence. He noticed that she was dressed like he was, in the dark gray warrior clothes with boots, belt, and breastplate already on, although hers, like Brianna’s, held a faintly iridescent sheen.

  “This is new,” Ivy said, pointing to the center of the room, where a large, old-fashioned steamer trunk sat, the kind people used to take on long voyages in the olden days. It was made of a dark, rich wood with brass rivets all around the edges. The domed lid was held in place with a large brass lock plate.

  “What’s it for?” he asked.

  “Don’t know.”

  “Did you try to open it?”