“What coin?” Mike asked
“During our English assignment, Ben and I went to Yellowstone to talk to a Park Ranger and find the place where one of the hikers was last seen. We found a strange tri-colored coin. We tried to research it but couldn’t find anything about it. A few days after we found it the coin was taken, all the pictures I took were deleted from my computer and even the ones we printed were gone. All we found was a note that said, ‘Forget you ever saw the coin’. It was really freaky.”
“So, you think someone broke into your house and the only thing missing was stuff related to this coin?” Mike looked at her.
“Yep, that’s what I’m telling you.”
“Um … Alix …” her dad said, “there’s something we need to tell you, well you and Shay and Ben. We … uh … we … well, we thought it was best at the time.”
“Just spit it out, Dad.”
In a rush, he said, “We took The Coin.”
“What was that?”
He looked down at the floor. “We took the coin. Natalie, Rick, your mom, and me. Natalie recognized it when she saw it. We thought it was dangerous and best that all evidence of it disappeared. But that was before we knew about you being the Chosen One. Please don’t get too mad honey.”
“You don’t want me to get mad? Mad that you took something of mine! Mad that you invaded my space! Mad that I was scared and freaked out! Mad that you guys kept this from us! Guess what dad, I’m mad!” Alix stormed out of the room, went to her bedroom, and slammed the door. Shay followed her to her bedroom.
“I’m not even going to ask if you’re okay,” Shay said, as she sat on the bed. “So instead I’ll ask on a scale of one to ten how mad are you right now?”
“Twelve,” Alix answered as she paced back and forth.
“Wow, that’s mad. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this mad before. But you can understand why they did it right?”
“Yes, but that doesn’t make me any less mad right now.”
“Okay, so let it out. Rant, rave, jump up and down, whatever will help.”
So, Alix did. Shay watched Alix’s hands fly all over the place as she talked, mostly to herself. Shay couldn’t even understand half of it, but it didn’t matter. A few minutes later Alix sat on the bed with Shay.
“Do you feel better?”
“Actually, I do. I’m still mad but not a twelve anymore. Thanks for listening.”
“Anytime. I’m always here for you. I’ll be honest, I didn’t understand everything you said but that wasn’t the point was it?” Shay said, smiling at Alix.
“No, I guess it wasn’t. What would I do without you?”
“It doesn’t matter because you’re never going to have to find out. You’re stuck with me.”
Alix just smiled at Shay. “I guess we should go back out there and find out why they took the coin and stuff.”
“Okay,” Shay said. “At least I don’t think you’re going to kill anyone now.”
“Very funny,” Alix laughed as they left the bedroom.
Chapter 33
When the girls went back to the living room they found everyone huddled around one of the maps while Kris was pointing at different things.
“What’s going on?” Alix asked.
“Kris may have found where they are,” Ben answered. “Come have a look.”
They made a space for Alix at the map.
“Alix,” Kris said, pointing at a specific area of the map, “I believe I found the place from your dream. Here’s a clearing similar to your description. And here’s a ravine with a small river ending in a waterfall. I really think this could be it. What do you think?”
Excited with the possibility that they really might have a chance to save the hikers, Alix temporarily forgot about being mad and studied the area that Kris had pointed out. She had no idea what the distances might be, but it certainly could be where she was in her dream.
“Where is this?” she asked Kris.
“It’s about seventy-five miles south of here and forty miles west of the Yellowstone border. There’s a small logging road that runs close to there. We’d be best to take that. Then I estimate it will take at least an hour to hike to the waterfall. We’d be coming in at the bottom of the waterfall as opposed to the top like you did in your dream. Would you know if it was the correct waterfall once you saw it?”
“Yes, for sure.”
“There’s not enough time left today so I’ll go there tomorrow and scout the area. I’ll take pictures, so we can see for sure.”
“We’ll go with you,” Alix told him.
“Not this time Alix,” he said. “There’s no point in all of us going if it’s not the right place. Besides, as far as I understand we need to figure out how to wake them up right?”
“He’s right Alix,” Ben said. “As much as it sucks, he’s right. We still have to figure out exactly how they are staying in stasis and how to fix them. We need to be as prepared as we can be. Neither you or I have any experience dealing with the Grynn, so we have no idea what to expect. And … there is still the topic of the coin,” Ben said, looking at Alix like she was going to yell at him.
“Don’t worry Ben, I’m not going to bite your head off. I had my little spaz out session with Shay, I’m less angry now. So, who’s going to tell us about the coin?”
“I will,” Natalie spoke up. “As you’ve probably figured out by now Alix, that day in the kitchen I did recognize the coin. I knew it to be a Grynn coin, so I automatically assumed it would be dangerous.”
“How did you know it was a Grynn coin?”
“Initially it was the tri-color, that’s the signature of a Grynn item. Then I saw the Grynn language on it. I was sure that no good could come from you being in possession of such a thing. It scared me. I wasn’t sure if it could lead them to us or if there was something about it that could hurt you or what it was. I talked to Rick about it and then we went to your parents. We had to tell them everything we knew about what was happening. They agreed to help us get the coin. I’m sorry we had to scare you, but we thought it was better if you thought the coin might be dangerous to you then you’d think you’d be better off without it.”
“And where is the coin now?” Ben asked his mom.
“It’s at the house in a special vault protected by magic.”
“Do you think it’s actually dangerous?” Shay inquired.
“We still aren’t sure,” Rick answered. “We didn’t want to handle it a lot just in case.”
Alix was thinking about what Natalie said and about finding the coin in the first place. She had kind of tuned everyone out for the moment but had a thought. “Are Grynn objects visible to humans?” Apparently, she had interrupted the conversation because everyone stopped talking.
“Yes,” Mike answered.
“Why?” Rick said at the same time.
“Because that means that the coin was planted there for me to find. We talked to the Park Ranger and the area was intensively searched after Sara went missing. We found that coin not very far from where she was last seen. There is no way it would have been missed by the searchers. They wanted it found by me, well maybe not me exactly, but the Kaelneth. The question is why? What could they possibly have to gain from this? Do any of you have personal experience dealing with the Grynn?”
“I do,” Kris said quietly. Everyone waited for him to continue. “When I was younger I joined the military and spent time in the Middle East. There was another Nykara in my unit. We worked together to find and destroy all the Grynn we could. It was a very unpleasant time in my life. The Grynn over there were very evil and were responsible for many people dying. It’s not something I like to think about very often.”
“How did you know they were Grynn?” Alix asked him.
Everyone in the room except her dad and Shay gave her a funny look.
“What? Why are you all giving me that weird look?”
“Haven’t you told her?” Karin asked looking at Rick.
“I guess we didn’t. I think we got caught up in her being the Chosen One and teaching her about her magic I guess we just didn’t think about it.”
“Tell me what?”
“How to spot a Grynn. It should have been one of the first things we taught you, but your magic was so impressive it must have slipped our minds. I apologize Alix. Once a Nykara comes into their magic it’s easy to spot a Grynn. They have an aura around them. It looks almost like a very faint light surrounding them. It’s always blue but the eviler the Grynn the darker the blue.”
“Huh. Do we look the same to them?”
“No, this is where we have a slight advantage over them. They can’t spot us on sight but as soon as they touch us they know. When a Grynn touches a Nykara the Grynn will get a shock, kind of like static. We try very hard to never let a Grynn touch us. It’s one of the ways we’ve been able to overcome their evil all these years.”
“Okay, this is good information,” Alix said. “Kris, I understand that you don’t like talking about your time in the Middle East, but can you tell me more about your encounters with them? The more information I have the better prepared I’ll be.”
“Of course, Alix. They are tricky, sneaky, conniving and devious. They know nothing of good and only want to wreak havoc on those around them. They don’t care for human life and would like to exterminate the Nykara if they could. I saw Grynn destroy entire villages just to get the military there, so they could take them down too. I was able to get myself in a special unit that was on the hunt for the terrorists that were destroying the villages. This proved to be invaluable in order to take them out. I didn’t like having to kill them, but it was the only way they could be stopped. They would get their orders and nothing except death would stop them. Once we were able to capture one of the Grynn to hopefully get information on the others. Unfortunately, he had help and escaped. All Grynn cannot be underestimated when it comes to how far they’ll go to carry out their plans.”
His speech scared Alix. How was she supposed to stop a Grynn, never mind all of them?
“Alix are you okay?” Natalie asked her. “You suddenly look a little pale.”
“Um … no, I don’t think I am okay. This is so messed up. Someone or something has made a huge mistake. There’s no way I can save the world, no way. I don’t know how to deal with evil. I don’t know how to fight bad guys. I don’t even know what kind of magic I’m capable of. I didn’t even know how to find a Grynn until a few minutes ago. This is impossible.”
“It’s okay Alix,” Natalie said to her. “You’ve done great so far. And you’re not alone, you don’t have to do this by yourself. You have the whole of the Nykara world at your back. I know it seems overwhelming right now, but no one is asking you to save the world tomorrow. Give yourself some credit. You’ve learned more in the last two weeks than any other Nykara in history.”
“But I still have to save the hikers. Sara, Samantha, and Jack are still out there and need help. I know I have to do that. And I’m pretty sure this is some kind of test to see how strong I am or something, otherwise why take the hikers in the first place, it makes no sense. How would they even know of my existence anyway?”
“The Grynn have their own prophecies just like we do. They also have spies everywhere,” Natalie responded. “They may not have known exactly where you’d be, who you are or when you’d be found but they may have known the time was close and that someone would eventually figure out that the missing hikers were Nykara and go from there. Unfortunately, we just don’t know enough.”
“Well, the I way see it we have twenty-four hours to find a way to save them. We need to confirm their location. Figure out how they are being kept asleep and a way to undo it. And of course, prepare me to face the Grynn, because I’m sure they’ll be waiting. Now that doesn’t sound like too much does it?” The sarcasm was dripping from Alix’s words.
“Breathe Alix, breathe,” Shay said, kneeling down in front of Alix and taking her hands. “I know you’re feeling very overwhelmed right now but you’re stronger than you think. You have been so brave in this strange journey you’ve been taken on the last couple of weeks. Look at how many things you’ve had to handle in a very short amount of time. I don’t know anyone else who could have been able to cope with everything you’ve had to. Remember we talked about baby steps when dealing with things? I think that applies here as well and you have lots of help. Kris is going to confirm the location tomorrow, trust him to be able to handle that. Natalie, Rick, Karin, and Mike are going to work on the issue of how to free the hikers from their magical sleep. Between all of them, they know a lot of people and are sure to find the answer. And all of the adults in this room will be helping you train for facing the Grynn. Ben is your Protector, allow him to be able to do that for you. Your parents are behind you no matter what. And me, I’m here to keep you sane. You can do this. The magic forces didn’t choose wrong when they picked you.”
Alix was silent after Shay’s mini-speech. She wasn’t really sure how to respond. To say she was doubting herself was an understatement, but after seeing herself from Shay’s perspective she felt that maybe it was potentially possible that she could do it. And she wasn’t alone, she had lots of help from people who cared about her.
“So,” Ben said looking at her, “what do you say, can you give us all a chance to show you what we can do?”
“Of course, I can,” Alix said. “I’m sorry everyone. Sometimes I have a tendency to panic when I try to figure out everything all at the same time.”
Her dad came and sat beside her. “It’s okay honey. Your mom and I are very proud of you. You’ve handled everything better than most adults I know. I think we can all understand how you’ll be overwhelmed by all of this. So, give yourself a bit of a break and tackle one problem at a time. Okay?”
Alix gave her dad a hug. “Thanks, Dad.” She then turned to the room, “So what are we going to do now? Any suggestions?”
Kris spoke first. “I’m going to get on my way home and get prepared for tomorrow. I’ll go at first light and then come back here as soon as I get the pictures.”
“Okay, that sounds good.”
Karin spoke next. “I have some friends who have some experience with the Grynn. I think I’ll try calling them and see what they know.”
“I can do the same thing,” Mike said.
“Us too,” Natalie said. “Why don’t we meet back here tomorrow at around noon? If that’s alright with you Ted?”
“Yes, that’s perfectly fine. I want to thank everyone for your help. It means the world to me and Heather that you’re willing to drop everything to look out for our little girl.”
“It’s our pleasure,” Natalie answered for everyone.
After that, they all left except for Shay. Alix looked at the time. She hadn’t realized how late it was, no wonder her tummy was growling.
“Dad, I’m starving, can we go out to eat tonight? I don’t really feel up to cooking.”
“I already ordered pizza, honey. It should be here in about twenty minutes.”
“Awesome, you’re the best Dad!”
Once the pizza got there they put in a movie and just relaxed. It had been a stressful day and it was nice to just be normal. The second movie brought popcorn and a lot of laughing. Everyone was tired after the movie was over. All three of them fell asleep almost as soon as their heads hit their pillows.
Chapter 34
Alix was the first one up the next morning. She decided to let everyone sleep since she had made them get up so early the day before. She grabbed her journal and went to the kitchen to make coffee.
Oct 16
So yesterday was quite a day. We may have actually discovered where the missing hikers are being held. Kris is going today to see if it’s the place from my dream. I’m excited and scared. If we really did find the correct place that means I have to go save them. Me. I have no idea how to do that. I’ve only been magical for two weeks. I get that I’m
learning faster than any Nykara in history, but I know nothing about trying to save people or facing the Grynn or how to defeat evil. How can I possibly be expected to do this??? Yes, I have lots of help, but I still can’t help but feel that in the end, it’ll be solely up to me. I want the hikers saved and the Grynn gone but why does it have to be me? Right now, I don’t want to be special. I want to be a normal seventeen-year-old senior worried about my grades, homework and maybe even who I want to go to prom with. But instead, I’m worried about getting hurt in my dreams, saving three missing people, facing and defeating evil and finally being the Chosen One for an entire magical race. Everyone thinks it’s something I’ll be able to handle but I don’t know about that. It seems like an impossible task, not just saving the hikers but all of it. I’m trying to have a positive attitude about everything but it’s hard. I have a ton of self-doubt. Today I think I’m supposed to learn some magic that can help me defeat the Grynn. What could that possibly be? How can what I’ve learned so far been translated into something that I not only defend myself with but attack as well? I guess it’ll be interesting to see. I’m not even sure who will be teaching me those kinds of things. So far, the only person I’ve met that has dealt with the Grynn is Kris and that was in a combat situation in war. I don’t think this will be the same, at least I hope it won’t be. I’m actually hoping that when we go to rescue the hikers that there won’t be a Grynn to be found. Oh, and we still have to figure out how to undo the sleep spell or whatever it is. I know, I know, one thing at a time, that’s still not an easy concept for me but I’m doing my best. Right now, I guess I’ll just have to cross my fingers and hope for the best. I don’t like leaving things up to chance though, I need a plan and as of this moment, there isn’t one. I have to have faith in myself and those helping me … I’m going to have to work on that.
Alix put down her pen when her mom walked into the kitchen.
Nykara Page 29