Heat flashed over Xavier’s body, and he took a deep breath trying to simmer down his temper. “Then, stop exaggerating! Just because I got mad and I said things I shouldn’t have doesn’t mean anyone was in danger. I wouldn’t kill anyone just because I’m mad!”
“No? Then what exactly happened with Drew? You’re still young and your control over your abilities isn’t fully developed yet. It’s easy to lose control of them. It only takes a millisecond to create disastrous effects.”
He opened his mouth to argue that he wouldn’t lose control, but then remembered how angry he had been when he attacked Drew. However, when he’d propelled the force at the older boy, he had known it wouldn’t kill him, only hurt him a bit. He still believed that the entire incident was Drew’s fault. After all, he had thrown him stark naked into the girls’ dormitory for God’s sake! But, looking into his father’s unyielding face, he knew it was futile to explain any of it. He wouldn’t see it his way no matter how he tried to explain and justify his actions.
The king looked down at the boy and watched a range of emotions play across his features. He saw guilt and regret flicker to the surface the moment Drew’s name was mentioned. Then, stubbornness filled his eyes, and his jaw stiffened, but he didn’t argue. This would have been an ideal time to tell the boy about the most unfortunate incident of his own youth. It had nearly cost him everything. But, the boy wasn’t quite thirteen yet and was too young to hear such a story. He would prefer to wait a couple of years for when Xavier reached the age he had been when it all happened. In the meantime, Jeremiah would take his silence as a small parental victory.
“Now, can you tell me where you were this morning?” Jeremiah continued.
“Around,” Xavier mumbled, slouching back into the sofa.
“What kind of answer is that? Around? Why weren’t you in classes, son?”
He shrugged and grumbled, “What’s the big deal, Dad? You’re canceling half the classes tomorrow anyway.”
“The big deal is that you are expected to attend classes and LEARN something!” the king replied stoutly.
“Well, I guess I didn’t feel like sitting in a classroom, Father! It seems a bit…pointless knowing that I have…bigger things to worry about than algebraic algorithms,” he muttered.
Jeremiah went silent. After a moment, he whispered, “I’m sorry, son. If I could take this burden from you, I would, but Xavier, you must stay the course. I know it’s hard for you to accept the burden of being the Chosen, but I promise you that I will do everything I can to help you. Regardless of your destiny, your education is of key importance. Promise me to stick with your studies, son.”
A painful knot lodged in Xavier’s throat, and he looked up at his father. His eyes stung with unshed tears. “Okay, Dad. I promise, but you have to promise me something too,” he whimpered. “Promise me that no matter what happens, you won’t sacrifice yourself for me. I could handle this…prophecy, my destiny if I knew you’d be okay.”
Jeremiah sighed heavily, moved onto the sofa, and pulled the boy into his arms. He held him in silence trying to sooth the despair radiating from him. After a moment, he whispered adamantly, “I’m sorry, son, but I can’t do that!” His arms tightened around the boy when he fought to pull away and argue, and he continued in a quiet rush. “It’s not the job of the son to watch out for his father. It’s the job of the father to watch out for his son. I cannot let anything happen to you, and I would die to protect you, not because you’re the Chosen but because you’re my son, and I love you. I love you more than my next breath.”
A quivering sob erupted from Xavier, and he wrapped his arms more tightly around his father’s waist. Biting back sobs, he whimpered against the king’s chest, “I was afraid you’d say that.”
Chapter 23
Cave-in
Later that afternoon, Xavier wandered onto the children’s level looking for a distraction from the feeling of hopelessness, dread, and anger still swirling inside him. And, boy was he angry! He couldn’t shake the fury he was feeling toward his father. To Xavier, it felt like his father had already abandoned him, and he wasn’t even dead yet. He wasn’t even going to try to keep it from happening. It was as if he wanted to die! It really ticked Xavier off. As a result, he had a careless, reckless spirit as he entered the boys’ dormitory.
“I’m going exploring! Who’s in?” he announced the moment he spotted the group lounging around their bunks looking bored.
“Exploring? Are you mad?” Frankie blurted.
“Don’t be a git, Francine,” Beck hissed, sitting up and giving the other boy a playful shove. He looked back at Xavier with a wink. “We’re in as long as you and Court promise not to go for any more swims.”
The other boys chuckled.
“What are you talking about? We would’ve made it to that rock if King Wells hadn’t come along and saved our lives,” Court ribbed with a wide grin.
“Oh, yeah. I’m sure it would’ve been a great accomplishment to have reached that rock dead,” Harry retorted sarcastically, and again the group laughed.
“Well?” Xavier interrupted impatiently. “Are you going to sit around here talking about it or are you coming?”
The boys looked at their prince, taken aback by his commanding tone and edginess.
To escape their stares, he turned and strode from the room. The boys hurried out of the dorm behind him.
“Well, I think going exploring is an excellent idea.” Garrett announced, trying to calm the static air he felt around the prince.
“Hey, I’ve got an idea,” Beck exclaimed. “Let’s go to the crystal cave! I’ve been dying to check it out! Dad’s been working there, harvesting crystals to replace the old ones when they’ll no longer reflect and refract sunlight.”
“The crystal cave?” the others chimed together.
“What crystals?” Harry asked.
“The crystals that provide the mountain with light and solar energy, you daft prat! How else did you think we’re able to have natural sunlight a mile or more beneath a mountain? How do you think crops are able to grow on the upper level?” Beck spat irritably.
Harry opened his mouth to recant but only managed a wistful, “Oh.”
“Sounds good to me. Can we invite the girls?” Court asked, eying Erica and Robbie across the hall near the girls’ dormitory door.
Beck made a face and glanced darkly at Xavier before answering. “Why? They’ll only slow us down!”
“Slow us down? Are you nuts? Have you ever met Erica? We’ll be running to keep up with her!” Court laughed.
Beck shrugged in surrender, unable to think of a reason against it without looking like a complete jerk. “Okay. If you want your little sweetums with you, Court, I guess she can come.”
“Robbie, too,” Xavier whispered.
“Fine! Why not bring the entire girls’ dormitory? Find me after you ladies have gathered up your girlfriends,” Beck growled and stomped down the hall toward the stairs.
Since most of the men were meeting with King Wells to discuss plans for retaking Warwood, the children found it easy to sneak onto the lower level. They traveled past the warning sign without hesitation this time and followed Xavier into a narrow passage, talking loudly and teasing one another. The hottest topic of conversation seemed to be Court and Erica.
“So, Erica? When are you going to give poor Courtney a break and admit what we all know, that you like him?” Garrett taunted.
“Me? Like that ugly jug? Not on your life!” Erica hissed.
“Then why is it you jumped at the chance to go exploring with me today? I didn’t tell you anyone else was going, and you were so eager to go that you were blushing,” Court retorted unscathed.
“Xavier?” Robbie whispered, falling into step next to him. “Are you still mad at me?”
“No.” He sighed, and then, taking her by the hand, he added, “but, you have to tell me something.”
She gave him a sideways look before responding suspicio
usly, “Okay, what?”
“What did you see at my divination? Dad told me that everyone there had visions and were given tasks. What are yours?” he asked, staring hard at her so that she couldn’t lie to him.
“Well, my task is to be…I guess I’m your emotional guardian. I’m supposed to help you through the rough times ahead of you. But that’s not a big stretch since we’ve always done that for each other, huh?” she told him.
“That’s it?” he interrogated. “You only saw that you were to help me through stuff? That’s all you saw?”
Robbie looked away, her face blushing. “No,” she whispered.
“What then?”
“Well,” she hesitated. “Xavier…it’s embarrassing…and personal. It wasn’t bad. I promise…”
Xavier’s stare intensified, and he found himself working his way into Robbie’s thoughts. He saw a brief image of a couple lounging in a bed. The woman was nursing an infant while the man laughed and kissed the woman.
“Xavier! Stop it!” Robbie blared, shoving him hard.
Xavier stumbled and fell firmly on his butt. The group behind them burst into laughter.
“Nice, Wells! Walk much?” Beck teased.
“Jeez, Cousin,” Court teased Robbie with mock disappointment. “No one likes a bully.”
Xavier jumped to his feet and dusted himself off as Beck led the giggling group farther down the passage.
“Sorry, Xavier,” Robbie whispered. “I shouldn’t have pushed you.”
“Yeah, me too. I should have waited for you to tell me instead of violating your mind like that,” he replied softly.
“How much did you see?”
“Not much. Just a couple with a baby. Who are they, Robbie?”
“Us.”
“Us?” he asked.
“You know, US,” she emphasized.
As the implication of the scene he had seen finally registered, he blushed.
Robbie rushed to continue. “It’s some time into the future…because we’re older…well you saw. You’re really tall, almost as tall as your dad,” she added with a smile.
He had to smile at that. “Well, it’s nice to know I won’t be the Prince of Pipsqueaks my entire life,” he joked. Then he added seriously, “So, you’re like…my wife?”
She nodded, blushing more.
“Robbie, I don’t think that your vision is that surprising either. I mean…I’ve…” Xavier swallowed hard, trying to gain courage to say the rest. Finally, he blurted it out in a rush, “I’ve always liked you.”
She stared at him. “So…the kiss…was real and not just to prove you don’t kiss like a fish?”
He smiled and slipped his hand into hers. “Yeah, it was real, all right.”
She grinned and squeezed his hand.
“We’re here!” Beck called over his shoulder at the group. “Welcome to the Crystal Cave!”
When the group entered the cavern, they gasped. Crystal Cave was enormous! The ceiling was at least a hundred feet high, and its expansive walls were made of the strangest substance they had ever seen. The walls were pale, almost white, and glistened as if wet. Fragments of light danced around the room and over their faces like insistent fireflies.
“Whoa,” Garrett muttered, speaking for every child there.
“Are the walls completely crystal?” Mac asked.
“Yeah, at least that’s what Dad says. He says this pocket of crystal rock extends for half a mile down, and it’s one of only five crystal deposits! There’s enough crystal in this mountain to light New York City for thousands of years,” Beck explained.
“Double whoa!” Mac exclaimed.
“So this stuff reflects light?” Frankie asked.
“Yeah, but it also intensifies it…I’m not exactly sure how it works so don’t ask!” Beck added, strolling farther into the room and spinning around to take in the spectacular sight.
“Cool,” Xavier whispered, releasing Robbie’s hand to move next to Beck. “If this stuff reflects and strengthens light…I wonder…”
Then, without thinking, he thrust his hand into the air and sent an electro force spiraling toward the lofty ceiling. When the force struck the ceiling, it absorbed the energy momentarily before squirming worms of golden light wiggled across the ceiling. Suddenly, there was a loud crack as the crystal cave repelled the electro force into the air in a fantastic light show.
“WOW!” the children exclaimed.
“It’s like fireworks! Let me try!” Garrett whooped, peeling off his sweatshirt, throwing it aside, and rolling up his sleeves. Garrett sent a force to the ceiling, but it only fizzled and gave a small burst of light. The children laughed.
“Give it up, Bracus. You’re not the Prince of Warwood; your powers don’t have the same intensity as Xavier’s,” Mac teased. Then turning back to Xavier, he urged, “Go on X. Do it again. Give us a real show!”
“Yeah, come on Xavier!” Frankie and Harry chimed.
Xavier looked around at the other children all eagerly nodding their heads.
“Yeah, Xavier. Please? It was beautiful,” Robbie whispered, and he couldn’t refuse.
Without another thought, he grinned as he released a powerful electro force toward the crystal ceiling. The effects were even more magnificent than the first, and the children around him exclaimed in awe.
Encouraged by their reactions, he couldn’t resist showing off and shot force after force toward the ceiling. Soon, it looked like a grand finale at a pyrotechnic show, and the group shrieked with delight.
“Again! Again!” the children chanted.
They felt the rumble long before they heard it, and their excitement came to an abrupt halt. The cavern began to shake and soon the rumble became a thunderous roar. Suddenly, the floor lurched violently, and the children were thrown to the stone floor as bits of rock, crystal, and earth from the ceiling crumbled on top of them.
“What’s happening?” Harry yelled.
“What do you think?” Beck screamed. “It’s caving in! Quick! Everybody get out! The place is going to collapse!”
The children scrambled from the chamber and sprinted down the passage. They had gone no more than a few meters when the cavern collapsed behind them with a deafening crash.
“GO! KEEP RUNNING!” Xavier screamed, pushing the others forward as a cloud of dust and debris billowed out of the chamber behind them. Finally, the rumbling stopped. Choking on dust, the group turned and stared back at the settling earth in wide-eyed shock.
“Oh, man! Oh, man! Oh, man! Geez, we’re in so much trouble!” Garrett rambled, and the others moaned their agreement.
“Maybe not,” Xavier whispered, “unless we stick around long enough to get caught. Come on, guys. Let’s get out of here.”
The children bolted from the restricted section and didn’t stop running until they reached the children’s corridor. Only then did they slow to an awkward stroll.
“Man! Did you see that? The whole…”
“Shut up, Garrett!” Xavier bellowed, turning on the smaller boy. “They can’t prove we had anything to do with it! For all they know, it was just an accident, and it caved in on its own! So don’t talk about it! Don’t even think about it! Just…just pretend it never happened. Got it?”
Garrett slowly nodded.
Xavier turned to the rest of the group. “The same goes for all of you. Just forget about it! We were never there! Okay?”
They all nodded dutifully.
“Right. We should shower; we look like ghosts covered in all this dust. See you at dinner,” Xavier instructed.
After another nod, the group immediately separated into the girls’ and boys’ lavatories while Xavier was forced to slip one floor down to the royal chambers to get cleaned up. Just as he reached the fourth level, he heard a thunder of footsteps and urgent voices from the stairwell above.
“There’s been a cave-in!”
Xavier recognized Mr. Wilcox’s voice and ducked out of sight as a dozen men, his fathe
r among them, barreled past, racing to the lower level.
Chapter 24
Busted
As a result of the cave-in, dinner was delayed for nearly an hour. The group of children avoided eye contact with each other and kept their heads down in the hope that no one would discover they were responsible. Just as dinner was being served, most of the men who had been restoring and repairing the damaged chamber entered the hall with the king among them. As Jeremiah reached his seat at the head table, he raised his hand and instantly silenced the fevered whispers.
“Ladies and gentlemen, as many of you know, there’s been a major cave-in on the lower level. First, I want to reassure everyone that the uninhabited chamber and surrounding passages have been secured, and there is nothing to worry about. A handful of volunteers chose to stay below to finish up and investigate the cause. As soon as we get word…”
The hall doors slammed open, and two grim, dust-covered men approached the head table. It wasn’t until they stopped in front of Jeremiah that Xavier realized with horror that one of the men had a very dirty sweatshirt in his hand. Garrett’s sweatshirt! Xavier’s panicked gaze darted to Garrett, who stared at the men with an open mouth.
Quickly, he connected with the other boy and told him silently, “Garrett, stay calm and ignore it! They can’t prove anything with just a sweatshirt. Just sit tight and stay calm.”
“But X…”
“Garrett! Stop thinking about it!” Xavier blared before disconnecting with the other boy.
“Sire,” one of the men was saying, “the cave-in was not accidental. We found scorched crystals that could only have been caused by fire or an electro force, and we found this in the chamber.”
The king took the sweatshirt into his hands and immediately looked at the tag. Then, he glanced darkly down at his son.
Xavier felt a cold sensation as Jeremiah attempted to probe into his mind for answers. He fought his father’s penetration with every bit of will power he had and it worked. Finally, Jeremiah withdrew and turned his attention to the crowded hall.
The Prince of Warwood and The Sword of the Chosen (Book 3) Page 18