“I just can’t believe that this is our 18th birthday, and we are not all together,” Renee said, disappointed.
“That’s not true,” Jasmine said, strongly, as if Renee had just said something horrible.
Renee looked at Jasmine, confused. Jasmine’s eyes had turned black and on her face was this weird smile, an almost sinister smile, that caused Renee to move a few inches back from Jasmine. It was as if she had completely lost consciousness, replacing it with something else, something almost evil. “She’s here,” Jasmine said, in a weird, stoic tone.
Seconds later, Renee heard horses approaching from the same direction they had come from hours earlier. The sound was faint at first, but kept getting louder and louder until finally, four horses came galloping towards them.
10
“We’re here,” Rico announced to Elizabeth and the rest of his traveling companions as they reached a campsite. Elizabeth was winded, but disappointed that the ride was over. She liked the closeness of being next to him and wanted to stay that way a little bit longer. However, he had other plans. The moment the horse stopped, he hopped off it so fast, it was as if she had some kind of virus he had to get away from. He then turned and reached his hand up to her. Smiling bashfully, Elizabeth gratefully took his hand and dismounted. The rest of the survivors followed their lead, then joined Jasmine and Renee’s families by the fire, each hugging the others as they cried.
Rico looked from Elizabeth towards Jasmine and Renee, who were both standing up and staring back at them with their mouths wide open. “Go join your friends. I need to talk to mine,” he whispered.
Friends? she thought to herself, as she turned her head in the direction of Rico’s gaze. The moment she saw Renee and Jasmine, she pushed past him and took off running as fast as she could. Tears of joy were racing from the corners of her eyes and she finally felt relief. Ever since she left the village that morning, she had been worried about them. Not to mention the conversation that she had had earlier with Martha and the others about the destruction of their village and kidnapping of young girls around her age. It had only made her more fearful for her friends’ safety. It wasn’t that she was afraid they had died—she knew that that was impossible, it was more like she was afraid that the King or his men had got hold of them, just like in her dreams. But seeing them again standing in front of her gave her here the reassurances that Rico had given her hours earlier. The moment she reached them, she threw her arms around both Renee and Jasmine, holding them so tightly, afraid that if she were to let go they would disappear forever.
“What’s gotten into you?” Renee asked, confused, but happy to see her friend. The sight of Elizabeth was a relief compared to Jasmine, who had been just standing there like she was possessed a minute ago.
She pushed back from them a little and looked back and forth between her two best friends. It was really them, not a figment of her imagination. “I thought I’d never see you two again,” she said, as she placed her hands on the back of both of her friends’ heads and smiled.
“Why would you think that?” Renee asked, as her eyes searched her friends’ face for clues.
“The village…” Elizabeth paused, then looked away. She couldn’t say it. If she said it, she would be admitting that it was true, and that was the last thing she wanted to do. But, they needed to know and as their best friend, it was her responsibility to tell them.
“What do you mean, the village was destroyed?” Jasmine asked, after reading Elizabeth’s mind, as if those words had snapped her out of whatever trance she was in.
Elizabeth released them and shook her head. “Everyone that we know, minus a group of girls our age, have been killed,” Elizabeth said, still unable to believe it herself.
Renee and Jasmine sunk to the ground in despair and Elizabeth sat in between them and placed her hands on their backs.
“Why?” Renee asked. Her lips were trembling as she brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them. “Who would do this?”
Elizabeth sighed, “you guys remember the dream I told you about last week?”
Renee and Jasmine looked at each other, then at Elizabeth, whose head was still hanging. A week before the attack on their village, Elizabeth had had a dream that the village was attacked by men who looked like soldiers. What they were after she wasn’t sure, but after everything that had happened that day, it all started to make sense. “Impossible,” they said.
Elizabeth shook her head. “Right after we escaped, Martha and the others found us and told us that the King’s men had destroyed the village and killed almost everybody.” Elizabeth sobbed.
“Why?” Jasmine repeated.
“I think…” Elizabeth stuttered, almost afraid to say the words that she had been thinking. It was one thing to talk about it with them in front of her house like a dream, but to actually say the words out loud was another story. Why would the King be after them? They were just normal girls from a small village who lived boring lives. And yet, somehow she knew it wasn’t true. “I think,” she said again, “that they’re after us.” Saying it out loud made her feel even more crazy, but what other explanation was there?
“Why would anybody be after us, let along the King?” Jasmine asked in disbelief.
Elizabeth shrugged. “I don’t know. Why would three strangers come to our house, frighten our parents, then make us leave in a hurry through the forest? Why would the soldiers kidnap girls our age, destroy our entire village, and kill everyone that we knew? Like you I don’t know anything. This is the only explanation that I could come up with.” Elizabeth said, more irritated than depressed.
“What happened to your dad?” Renee asked in a much softer voice. She had noticed that he had been missing since Elizabeth arrived, but didn’t have the opportunity to bring it up, because of the new information that Elizabeth had just brought them. However, she could tell by the way Elizabeth said those last words that something had happened to him—something she wasn’t ready to tell.
Elizabeth fixed her eyes on the fire a few feet in front of her and began to rub her hands back and forward. As tears began to fall from her face, Elizabeth explained in detail what had happened to her that day, only leaving out the part about her and Rico in the forest. When she finished, her friends put their arms around her and held her tight.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure he’s alright,” Renee assured her.
“I hope so. I can’t lose my dad, he’s the only family I have,” Elizabeth said through tears.
“And you won’t. Trust us, you will see him again,” Jasmine said, trying to be optimistic, though a part of her believed it was a waste of time.
“The way I see it,” Renee began, as she brought her hand to her chin. Her tone changed from one of sympathy, to that of an investigator trying to get to the bottom of things. “The ones who have all the answers are our parents and those rebels, so we need to talk to them about it,” Renee explained.
“True but they won’t tell us,” Jasmine reminded her.
“That’s fine, we don’t need them too,” Renee replied, with a weird look on her face, like she was party to a secret that they weren’t.
“How else are we supposed to know anything if they don’t tell us?” Elizabeth asked confused and wiping away her tears.
Renee’s smile widened as she brought her finger up to her friends’ faces and wagged it back and forth. “Earlier today, I discovered that if I focus real hard, I can hear a conversation from ten feet away,” she boasted.
“Really?” Jasmine said, shaking her head in disbelief. “I took you as more of an airhead.” Elizabeth and Jasmine laughed, while Renee pretended to laugh then shot them both a look.
“Very funny, zombie girl.” Renee retorted.
“Zombie girl?” Elizabeth asked looking from Jasmine to Renee.
“Right before you got here, her eyes turned black, her voice changed and she was looking like she wanted to kill me because I said I couldn’t believe we weren’t all together
for out birthday.” Renee shivered then continued, “it was creepy. I thought she was possessed.”
“I did that?” Jasmine asked in disbelief.
“Yes you did that, then you said ‘she’s here’ and I promise your eyes rolled to the back of your head,” Renee informed them. “I’m surprised you didn’t see it Lizzy.”
Jasmine shook her head. “I don’t remember that,” she said. completely taken aback.
“No, she looked fine to me. Then again, I don’t think I was paying that much attention. I was just happy to see you two,” Elizabeth admitted, “but Jas, you really need to talk to someone about that.”
“Yes I do. But who? The parents will probably pretend like it’s nothing,” Jasmine proclaimed.
Renee and Elizabeth nodded their heads in agreement. “True,” they said in unison. They knew their parents all too well—any time one of the girls had brought up anything weird that they had seen, their parents would tell them that it was all in their heads or it was some kind of trick. This was the cycle of their life.
“Which is why I will use my awesome ears to listen to what they are saying. That way, when you talk to them, they can’t play it off,” Renee explained.
Jasmine and Elizabeth sighed. At that point they didn’t care what method was used, as long as they could get some kind of answer.
“You can give it a shot,” Elizabeth said.
“Yeah, what’s the harm in trying, right?” Jasmine agreed.
“Okay, here I go.” Renee closed her eyes and focused, trying to make out a conversation. At first everything was so noisy and she could hear them all talking at once, like the marketplace back in her home village.
“Anything?” Jasmine asked, intrigued. She wasn’t convinced that it would work. But the fact that it could interested her.
Renee opened her eyes and shook her head. “It’s too much noise,” she replied.
“Give us your hands.” Elizabeth ordered and Renee obeyed. “Okay, now try focusing only on the wind. Block everything else out.”
Renee closed her eyes and did what Elizabeth told her. “It’s working,” she smiled.
“Good. Now open your eyes and look at the rebels.” Jasmine ordered and Renee obeyed. “Pretend like you are over there and they are talking only to you.”
“Are you sure we should wait until tomorrow to head to the camp?” Will asked. His voice sounded concerned, like he was afraid of something.
“I can hear them,” Renee informed her friends, with a smile. “It’s so clear.”
“What are they saying?” Jasmine and Elizabeth asked.
“Just a second,” Renee ordered.
“Yes,” Rico replied firmly. “The camp is a four-day’s journey from here and we need all the light we can get. Besides, we have women and children with us who have just lost everything, because of the King. They need to rest.
“Will is asking if it’s okay to work here, and the hot one is telling him yes,” Renee informed them.
“The hot one?” Elizabeth asked, twirling her hair around her finger.
“Don’t play dumb. The one that came with you is hot,” Jasmine replied.
Elizabeth smiled. “Really? I didn’t notice.”
“Lies,” both Jasmine and Renee said, causing Elizabeth to place one of her hands over her face, which had turned bright red.
“Now leave me alone. I need to concentrate,” Renee ordered, and they obeyed.
“I still can’t believe he destroyed the village for three girls,” Sam said, shaking his head in disbelief. “Just how powerful are they anyway?”
“The village wasn’t destroyed because of the girls,” Rico informed them.
“It wasn’t?” Sam and Will asked, looking from each other to Rico.
Rico shook his head. “No, it was because of Prince James. The King wanted to teach the people a lesson for harboring a fugitive.”
“Really?” Sam asked in disbelief.
“Either that, or the bloodthirsty Duke was just having some fun at the people’s expense. Still, whichever way you look at it, it’s wrong,” Rico said, shaking his head.
Renee stopped listening and looked at her friends. Her eyes looked horrified and her complexion had gone green, as if she were about to throw up. She couldn’t hear any more. She didn’t want to. It was too much. She wanted the clock to rewind itself, or at least for her to wake up and realize it was all a nightmare—but she couldn’t. This was her reality. “You’re right, Lizzy,” Renee said, as if she were talking through Elizabeth and not to her. “They were after us,” she said as she let go of her friends’ hands.
Elizabeth sat there frozen, horrified that she was right.
“Why? What all did they say?” Jasmine asked.
“Something about us being powerful, and the King wanting that power,” Renee said, still in a daze.
“Powerful?” Jasmine asked. “I know I’m powerful because I am a woman, but last time I checked I had no powers. At least, not something worth destroying an entire village over.”
“Right, what good is telepathy if we can only use it on each other? Then there is the hearing that you have, my clairvoyance and apparently Jazzy is possessed or a zombie.”
“Really, Lizzy, possessed or a zombie?” Jasmine asked annoyed and interrupting Elizabeth.
“Well, that’s how Renee described it,” Elizabeth said defensively. “Like I was saying, nothing about us screams ‘all powerful being, please come capture me and use my powers,’” Elizabeth said, sarcastically.
“True,” Renee said.
“Wait. Is that why the village was destroyed? Is it our fault?” Jasmine asked. A feeling of disgust crept over her and Elizabeth as she said those words. How could they face the survivors, or their parents, if that was the truth?
Renee shook her head. “The hot one…”
“Rico,” Elizabeth said, annoyed by Renee constantly calling him ‘the hot one,’ as if he were a piece of meat.
Renee and Jasmine chuckled.
“’Rico,’” Renee teased, “said that it wasn’t our fault, but some prince named James, for coming to our village.”
Jasmine and Elizabeth looked at each other then back at Renee. “Who?” they asked in unison.
Renee shrugged. “I don’t know. All I know is that whoever he is, he is the reason our village was attacked and so many were killed.”
“So you’re saying it’s his fault that we are on the run? That my dad was taken and probably killed?” Elizabeth said, rubbing her hand back and forth on her leg. Her eyes were wide open and her friends could tell she was angry. The fire before them began to dance, grow larger, the longer she stared at it, though neither she nor her friends noticed.
“Elizabeth.” She heard Jasmine’s mother call out to her. Her voice was firm and sharp; like she was a master taking control of her servant.
Elizabeth looked up at Caroline, who was looking back at her with a serious expression. Her arms were crossed and everyone else around her was looking back and forth between the two, trying to figure out what had just happened. “Yes ma’am?” Elizabeth asked in a softer tone. The fire had returned to normal but there was still a lot of tension in the air.
“Come here please,” Caroline ordered.
Elizabeth stood up and walked the few feet from where she was sitting towards Caroline and the rest of the parents and Jasmine’s older brother Ethan. The younger children were huddled together looking at each other and not saying a thing, while the young rebels watched as she walked towards Caroline. “Ma’am?” Elizabeth asked, once she reached the adults.
“Are you okay?” Caroline asked, reaching up and grabbing Elizabeth’s hand.
Elizabeth shook her head. “My dad…” She began.
“We know. Jenny told us. You must have been so scared,” Justin said, in the same sympathetic tone as his wife.
“I was, but Rico helped me a lot,” Elizabeth said, while trying so hard to hide her bashfulness. Just saying his name was enough to turn
her cheeks rosy.
“That’s good. Now I know it’s going to be tough, but if you need anything, please do not hesitate to ask,” Mark said.
“Well, there is one thing,” Elizabeth admitted.
“Of course,” Ethan said, shaking his head.
Elizabeth rolled her eyes, then continued. “Who’s Prince James?” The moment she asked, everyone stopped talking. It was so quiet that you could hear the owls hoot—announcing to the sky that it had awoken.
“Where did you hear that name?” One of the men in robes finally asked. His voice had a hint of discomfort in it, as if uttering the name was against the law.
“That’s not important. Who is he?” Elizabeth repeated. Her friends joined her, standing on either side of her, waiting for the same answer.
“A traitor,” Jenny replied sharply. Her eyes were narrow and they could feel the hatred for that man in her words.
“Traitor?” the girls asked.
“Yes,” Cara sighed. “Sit down, girls. We’ll tell you the story.” Jasmine and Renee sat down next to their mothers, while Elizabeth joined Ethan.
“Prince James was King Ramos’ little brother. Anything the King asked, James would do. That’s how much loyalty he had for the King,” Justin explained.
“If he was so loyal, what made him become a traitor now?” Renee asked.
“I believe it was almost twenty years ago. The King was searching for something important—something that if he would have found it, he would have become an even more powerful king,” Caroline explained, as delicately as she could so the girls could understand.
“Don’t sugar-coat it, Caroline. The King was after the ultimate power.”
“What’s the Ultimate Power?” Ethan asked, just as lost as the girls.
“A power so great that it could determine the balance of the world,” the second man in robes explained.
“Oh,” Jasmine, Ethan, Renee and Elizabeth said, impressed.
“Did he ever find it?” Elizabeth asked.
The Journey: The Ultimate Power Book 1 Page 11