Levi probably likes her better than you.
Brianna rubbed the back of her neck as the tiny, flutey voice repeated those words over and over. She knew it was true. Since that day on the swings, Levi hadn’t bothered talking to her again. Now it looked to Brianna as if he’d found a new friend.
Well, fine. I don’t need you anyway. I hate skateboarding, she thought to herself.
On the other side of the field she saw Xavier playing basketball with a group of other kids. He hadn’t even asked her if she wanted to play this time, like he usually did.
You don’t belong here anymore. You need to find some new friends.
>New friends? Maybe she did need to find new friends. She looked from group to group: the hopscotchers, the skateboarders, the kickball players. They looked pretty content by themselves. She turned and peered in the window of the rec center. Manuel was there, showing a group of elementary school kids how to make tinsel float using static electricity from his hair. The kids were completely enthralled by his demonstration. It looked sort of interesting to Brianna.
Don’t go in there. That stuff’s just for little kids.
Brianna’s neck tickled again. Yeah, that was kind of dumb. Manuel was such a nerd anyway.
“Hey, Brianna.”
Brianna looked up to see Miss Stanton standing in the doorway, a coffee cup in her hand, as always.
“Hi,” Brianna said listlessly.
“How’s your grandmother?”
Brianna shrugged. “She’s still in the hospital. She can’t talk. She’s . . .” Brianna felt tears filling her eyes. She shut them to make them stop.
“I’m sorry about that.” Miss Stanton sounded nicer than usual. She smiled awkwardly. “You want to help me with the beading craft? I know you’re an expert at things like that. And, well, it’s not really my thing.”
Was Miss Stanton actually asking her to help with a craft? Because she was an expert? Brianna felt a smile creep across her face and a burst of excitement flutter in her chest.
She probably just wants you to babysit the little kids so she can spend the time texting her friends.
Brianna’s smile ebbed away.
Besides, those kids are going to make a mess with all those beads. You’ll spend half your time cleaning up after them.
Brianna turned away from Miss Stanton and shrugged. “I don’t think so.”
Miss Stanton sighed. “Well, okay, suit yourself.” She went back into the center.
Your friends don’t really like you. You’re too bossy. If you were more like Ivy, you’d have lots of friends. If you were prettier, or nicer, or smarter. . . .
Brianna thrust her hands over her ears, trying to shut out that voice. Once it had been sweet as honey, but now it was like nails on a chalkboard.
“Stop!” she shrieked.
But the voice didn’t stop.
* * *
“Stop!”
Levi heard the cry and stopped skating. He looked over to the center, where Brianna sat hunched on a bench outside the back door, her hands over her ears. He was certain it was Brianna who had cried that word aloud. How had he heard her, from so far away?
He kicked up his board. He needed to go talk to her again. Maybe now she’d listen to him. He reached into his pocket, fingering the lip gloss. He needed to give it back to her anyway. She hadn’t had it for days, and yet she didn’t seem to miss it at all. That was weird. Brianna never used to go anywhere without her signature glitter lip gloss.
He was about halfway to Brianna when the ground under his feet started to rumble. Levi looked down and saw that the blacktop was vibrating. And then something burst forth, an explosion of dust and rocks and—something—like a geyser at Yellowstone Park.
Levi jumped back, dropping his skateboard. He couldn’t have known that this was happening at the precise moment that Evan was seeing those warring colors in the sky over Ahoratos.
From out of the hole in the ground came a stream of blackness, swirling in a vortex like a lasso being whipped in circles. It took a moment for Levi to understand what the blackness was.
Ents.
A mass of Ents, spewing forth from under the earth. They made a horrific noise, an earsplitting buzz like a squadron of amped-up killer bees, as they spiraled up into the sky. There they began to gather, forming a dense black cloud, hanging ominously over the playground.
Levi looked around—the other kids were still skateboarding, still playing their games on the playground, unaware of the danger at hand. Apparently, they could neither see nor hear what was happening.
The unseen invasion had begun.
Ivy skated hurriedly up to Levi and jumped off her board. “Let’s go. We need to get your dad.”
Levi nodded mutely.
They ran toward the rec center. Manuel had come out, still holding the PVC pipe he was using to make static electricity. He straightened his glasses for a better look.
“Could be an example of spontaneous eruption,” Manuel said, “due to a buildup of CO2 underground. . . .”
“Or a buildup of Ents,” said Ivy.
“An Ent-nado!” cried Levi.
Xavier ran up to them, out of breath. “There’s another one.” He pointed to the basketball court, where another Ent-nado had erupted, this swarm rising up to join the other one that hung above them, blotting out the sun. A great shadow fell over the playground. Still, none of the other children seemed to notice. “We need to hurry.”
The kids raced into the building. Levi stopped, noticing Brianna still sitting on the bench by the door with her hands over her ears. She didn’t seem aware of what was going on.
“Bean!” Levi said, shaking her. “You need to get inside, now!”
She looked up at him, annoyed. “What for?”
“Open your eyes, look! Can’t you see it? Can’t you hear it?” Levi pointed to the Ents. Brianna looked, her eyes widened. Her mouth dropped open. Before she could speak, he grabbed her hand and pulled her off the bench and through the door.
The center was filled with kids doing homework and other activities. Miss Stanton, supervising the beading craft with a group of younger kids, looked exasperated. None of them could hear the growing rumble or see the erupting spirals of Ents outside the window.
“It’s just like my dream . . .” Brianna said softly, still staring outside.
Mr. J. Ar came out of his office. He was already wearing armor, although it was glowing, translucent, as if not really there at all. No one could see it except for the Prince Warriors.
Mr. J. Ar gazed outside, a frown carved on his face. A third geyser of Ents had already erupted in another part of the playground.
“This way,” he said, his normally booming voice very low and measured. He walked purposefully toward his office. Xavier, Manuel, Ivy, and Levi followed on his heels, but Brianna hung back, still mesmerized by the sight.
“In here,” Mr. J. Ar said, rifling through his keys to open a locked door at one end of the room. The label on the door said “Storage.”
Mr. J. Ar went in, followed by the rest. There were shelves with office and cleaning supplies. And against one wall sat a big old steamer trunk, so dusty it looked as though it hadn’t been opened in a long time, the brass lock plate rusty with disuse.
“Whoa,” said Xavier. “Is that—?”
“That’s the trunk we just saw in the Cave!” Levi exclaimed. “I’ve been in this closet a million times, and I’ve never seen it before.”
“It is always here when we need it,” Mr. J. Ar replied. He opened the lid, releasing a torrent of dust and ethereal light that bathed the children in an unexpected peace in the midst of the current crisis.
The kids quickly pulled out their belts, boots, and breastplates and started putting them on. The armor was luminous and see-through, just like Mr. J. Ar’s. Despite their
urgency, they couldn’t help but marvel at the way the transparent armor looked on them, moving like it was part of their own bodies. The boots locked around their legs, perfectly smooth except for the vents around their ankles. The belts blazed with the word TRUTH.
“It’s like a hologram,” said Manuel. “But it’s real!”
“Can the other kids see this?” Levi asked.
“Some might,” said Mr. J. Ar. “Other Warriors. But the enemy most certainly will. Don’t forget the helmets. They will protect your minds from the schemes of the enemy.”
Each of the kids grabbed a helmet and put it on; the helmets sealed around their heads, ears, and necks.
“Okay, let’s go!” said Ivy, eager to go to battle against the Ents.
Mr. J. Ar pulled Brianna’s helmet from the trunk. He held it out for Levi. “Now’s the time.”
Levi shook his head. “I tried before. She wouldn’t take it.”
“Try again. She won’t be able to dispel the Sypher without the helmet.”
“Do you want me to do it?” said Ivy, stepping forward.
“No,” Levi said firmly, reaching forward to take the helmet from his father’s hands. “I’ll do it.”
Mr. J. Ar gave Levi a small smile then turned to the others. “You all have your shields?”
Ivy reached in her pocket to show him her seed, which was already glowing. The boys did the same. Clearly the seeds were primed and ready, as they had been the last time the warriors had needed them.
“What about Evan?” Xavier said. “Is he okay? I mean, how do we know—”
“Trust Ruwach,” Mr. J. Ar said. “You have your job to do, and Evan has his. Are you ready?”
The warriors looked at each other silently. They nodded. It was time.
Time for war.
The orbs of their breastplates spun in unison, churning out words that hung in the air before them.
Two words, stark and simple.
Fear not.
Chapter 29
No Fear
Ahoratos—The Quaritan Field
4:07 PM
Fear Not.
Evan almost hadn’t even noticed the simple phrase that had churned out of his breastplate. He quickly pulled his seed out of his pocket. It had turned bright red like it was on fire. He raised it up in his fist, deploying the shield. Thousands of red seed-lights spun around him just as the swarm of Ents descended. Their hair-curling shrieks, although muffled by the shield, pierced his very soul. Evan fell to one knee, bowing his head so he wouldn’t have to look upon the ugly metal butterflies shooting their stingers at him. He didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t see to move forward; he couldn’t go anywhere at all.
The minutes passed, and Evan’s shoulder began to hurt from holding his arm stretched out for so long. He lowered it to ease the ache, but the shield dome around him became smaller, and the ferocious bugs drew closer than ever. There seemed to be no end to the flying storm.
“Help!” he called out. “I can’t hold them off! My arm is . . . too weak. . . .”
But mine isn’t.
It was Ru’s voice, filling his whole mind. He looked up. Searching.
At that moment a brilliant flash cut through the swarm of Ents that bore down on him. Evan was shocked to see Rook appear before him, slashing a long, gleaming sword through the dense swarm, slicing and scattering the Ents, turning them to dust.
Rook glanced down at Evan only for a moment. “Get going! I got your back!”
“Rook?” Evan said, shocked. “How did you—?”
“Go, go, go!” Rook shouted.
Indeed, there was no time for conversation. Evan dashed forward, still holding his seed high enough that the shield covered him. He felt strength return to his body along with hope that maybe he would get out of this in one piece after all.
You know the plans I have for you . . . to help you, not to harm you.
He tossed those words in his head over and over as he plunged forward, keeping his attention focused on the steady beam of light from his breastplate. He glanced back from time to time at Rook, who leaped and twirled like a ninja warrior as he fought to keep the Ent swarm at bay, his sword swaying and dancing like a beam of light. Gotta get me one of those things, Evan thought fleetingly. He kept running as fast as his short legs would carry him, nimbly traversing the rocky ground and skirting the giant, lumpy boulders. Still, he could see no opening in any of them, no gap that would indicate a cave or an entry. Was one of these boulders the quaritan he was supposed to open? And if so, how was he to know which one?
He reached one of the rocks and began pounding on it, hoping a secret door might open. Nothing happened. He hurried to another one, running his hands over the surface, looking for a crack, a depression, something that would indicate there was a way inside. But all the boulders he encountered were solid. He tried kicking them as well, remembering how his boots had once turned a Forger into metal dust. But his boot made no impression in the solid rock.
Evan turned back to Rook, who was too busy swatting Ents to notice Evan’s problem. He realized he’d have to figure this out by himself. There was no one else to ask.
Something small and bright flashed across his vision. Evan blinked. It looked almost like—a Spark. From the Cave. What was it doing out here? Then there was another one, as if the single Spark had split into two. Then four. Then eight. They continued to multiply, a shimmering curtain of lights dancing before him.
“What are you guys doing?” Evan asked, exasperated. Then the Sparks changed formation, creating a line with their light, a path through the field of giant rocks. Evan could have shouted with joy, but instead he just grinned, thrilled to see the trail they were laying out before him.
He started to run, following the twinkling path the Sparks had created, his boots fairly flying over the hard, barren ground. The path led toward another of the large boulders, this one slightly reddish in color with a very pitted surface. It was huge—as big as Evan’s whole house. Was this the quaritan he was supposed to open? And yet, as Evan got closer, he saw no door, no crack, no opening in the rock’s surface.
The Sparks had led him to another solid rock.
“Hey! Ru! Somebody! Let me in!” Evan had to lower his shield so he could pound on the rock with both fists. Nothing happened. He turned around to see Rook close behind him, still fighting off Ents with shield and sword. Evan raised up his own shield again, to protect himself from the attacking Ents that might get through Rook’s barricade. Yet there seemed to be more and more of them, closing around the two of them. And there wasn’t anywhere they could go from here.
They were trapped.
Chapter 30
The Storm Gathers
Rec Center
4:07 PM
I’m going to sound the emergency alarm,” Mr. J. Ar said to the others. “It’s what we use for tornado warnings. While Mary and I are getting the others in the shelter, you kids spread out, cover all the windows and doors as best you can. Keep the enemy forces from getting inside. Got it?”
“Just . . . us?” said Manuel, looking at the other kids nervously.
“We can do it,” said Xavier. “We have everything we need, right?”
“Yeah. We got this,” said Ivy, standing straight. She seemed to be a different girl when she had her armor on—sure and strong, her timidity giving way to a firm confidence. Levi and Manuel straightened as well, their resolve returning.
Mr. J. Ar was impressed at how calm and brave they looked. They were real Warriors now. He went to a metal box on the wall of his office and unlocked it. He flipped a switch inside, and a deafening alarm began to sound. The kids covered their ears.
Mr. J. Ar left the office and spoke loudly to the kids in the center. “Attention everyone! We need you to proceed calmly and quietly to the storm shelter. Immediately! This is an emerg
ency! Mary . . .”—he pointed to Miss Stanton, who was looking in confusion at the perfectly blue sky outside—“please, make sure everyone gets downstairs and stays there until I give the all clear. I’m going to round up the kids outside. Hurry!”
“But wait—what’s going on?” Mary protested.
“Just do as I ask!” Mr. J. Ar barked. He had never raised his voice to Mary—she paled at his tone. She quickly hustled the kids toward the storm shelter door, so frightened she even forgot her latte.
* * *
Standing at the window, Xavier watched the spiraling ribbons of Ents ascending from the opened wounds in the earth. He made sure his helmet was on right and gripped the seed in his hand, trying to slow his breathing, preparing himself. They were going to have to keep the Ents out of the Rec until Evan was able to open the quaritan to capture them. This worried Xavier a bit. He had always been good at following directions—Evan, not so much.
His jaw tensed as he thought about Evan, his little brother, alone in Ahoratos. He hoped Evan was okay.
Xavier turned his attention back to the center; he saw that Miss Stanton was having a hard time getting the kids to go downstairs. She shouted and whined, but mostly they ignored her. Xavier, with one more anxious glance outside, left his post to help her. Miss Stanton smiled at him gratefully.
Levi ran to Brianna, who was still standing in the middle of the room, watching all the chaos unfold around her but doing nothing. He held the helmet out to her.
“Please, Bean, put this on. You have to!”
No, don’t.
Brianna shook her head. “I’m not a Princess Warrior anymore. I’m never going back to Ahoratos. Ruwach doesn’t care about me. None of you do!” She turned and ran for the doors, brushing past Ivy and pushing against the crowd of kids who were trying to get inside.
“No, Bean, don’t!”
Levi had no choice but to follow her.
Ivy watched them go barreling out of the rec center doors, skirting around the Ent geysers. There were six of them now, funnels of Ents shooting up and amassing into one giant Ent cloud overhead, making it almost as dark as night. They were gathering for the assault, which would start any second now. She hoped Levi and Brianna would find a safe place to hide once that happened.
The Prince Warriors and the Unseen Invasion Page 16