Secret of Words

by Allyson Huber

  I thought for a second. “It felt a bit… exciting.”

  “Hmm. That’s interesting. When you start becoming more aware of magic, you start to be able to recognize things that have been produced by magic or the strength of magic. It also becomes stronger the closer you get to your Vatra’s appearance.” She handed the gold back to me. I held it in my palm, peering at it. It looked like a normal rock from all directions, yet when I touched it, I could have sworn my heart started beating faster.

  “When I made that appear, I simply summoned it. I didn’t actually produce it. This rock probably came from a gold mine or a shop somewhere nearby.” Emilie took the piece of gold from my hand and put it in her pocket.

  I had to give it to her – she definitely knew how to wrap someone up in a conversation. I didn’t know how long we had been talking, but I had been totally enthralled.

  #

  Hours later, I was standing in the kitchen, introducing my father to Emilie.

  “Dad, this is Emilie. Emilie, this is my dad.”

  My dad looked business like he always did. No surprise there. Emilie seemed completely calm and almost excited to meet my father. I couldn’t understand why it was so exciting to meet him, but Emilie seemed to be pleased.

  “Natalie, you didn’t tell me you made a friend!” My dad looked almost offended.

  “Emilie just moved here yesterday. She won’t be here for long. It’s only temporary.”

  “That’s too bad. Well, Emilie, you can call me Mr. Quinn I guess, or Wes.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Emilie said intently, shaking hands with him. Dad was acting flustered as he always did when he met new people. “I wish I could stay longer, but I can’t.” Emilie’s eyes filled with genuine sadness.

  “Did you two have fun?”

  After talking about Aughmortor for too long, we had some lunch and then watched one of the Dark Knight movies. It was definitely better than spending all Saturday alone, and I found myself enjoying spending time with Emilie even though she was way too obsessed with her stories, which I was starting to believe. I didn’t want her to leave and move away again, but I knew it probably was going to happen.

  “Uh yeah, we did,” I replied.

  “That’s good. Mind if I excuse myself? I have some work I need to catch up on. A phone call.” Probably going to call his girlfriend, I thought.

  “Sure, that’s fine, Dad. Emilie and I will be in my room.” Dad gave a nod and walked in the direction of the front door, cell phone in his hand.

  “Your Dad sure likes to work, doesn’t he?” Emilie watched my father leave.

  “Yeah, you can say that again. He works most weekends. I bet he’s calling his girlfriend, though.”

  Emilie looked at me sympathetically; her empathy made me feel bad because I realized that she had been in the same predicament as I had at one point when her mother started dating again. I just shook my head silently at myself and walked towards my room.

  “I should be going, Shay told me to meet up with her around eight.” Emilie checked the time on her phone before shoving it in her pocket.

  “Okay. Well, nice seeing you …” I said a little awkwardly.

  “You haven’t seen the last of me,” Emilie smirked. “But, most likely not tomorrow… Shay and I have some things we need to do.”

  “What sort of things?”

  “Can’t tell you,” Emilie shook her head ruefully, “I don’t think you want to know it anyways. The Larta …” Emilie stopped purposefully.

  “What about the Larta?”

  “Shay and I can take care of things. Anyways, I’ll see you later, whenever that is.”

  “Okay.”

  “Neseca romai dunasey plazani.” Emilie whispered under her breath, and she disappeared right before my eyes. I stared at the space she had been for a few seconds, blinking a couple of times. This story was becoming increasingly hard to dismiss. I wondered what Emilie was hiding from me about the Larta. A flash of misgiving crossed me as I lied down in bed, staring up at the ceiling. My head raced with the new information from today, and it was exhilarating.

  Chapter Four

  I woke up early the next day and got myself ready for the day. Just as I was beginning to start my homework, my father began knocking on my door over and over.

  “What is it?”

  “I want to talk to you,” Dad said in a stern voice. That was the voice he used when I had no other choice; no excuse would delay the inevitable.

  “Maybe you should go to work before you’re late …” I said hopefully.

  “I’ve got thirty minutes until I have to leave.”

  “All right, I’ll be in there in a minute.”

  After a few more minutes of procrastination, I left my room and entered the kitchen. Dad handed me a small bowl of cereal before gesturing to the table. I took my sweet time, getting a spoon from the drawer and an orange, before finally sitting in the place he had designated for me.

  “What do you want me to talk about?” I asked finally.

  “That girl who was here last night seemed nice,” Dad said, helping himself to his own bowl of cereal.

  “Her name’s Emilie.”

  “I’m glad you’re starting to adapt to the new school. At first, I was worried.”

  “Emilie’s only going to be here for a few more days.” Who knows, maybe I wouldn’t even be here in a few days. Emilie seemed convinced that I would come with them to Aughmortor, which I still struggled to understand my feelings about. I couldn’t figure out what I believed in anymore.

  “I want you to start making more friends, Natalie,” Dad said firmly.

  “Are you really lecturing me about not having enough friends?”

  “You don’t have any friends. Or at least that’s what I thought until Emilie came over yesterday. We’ve been here for weeks, months even.”

  “It’s not as easy as you think.”

  “When I was in high school, I was one of the most …”

  “Popular guys in the school. Yeah, I know. Sorry, I’m not meeting your expectations,” I said coldly, feeling myself shutting down from his words.

  “This isn’t about meeting my expectations, Natalie. This is about your happiness. I want you to be happy here, and this move changed you in many ways. I don’t think you’re happy anymore.”

  “I’m happy.”

  “In front of me, I see a sullen teenager who does their homework, browses the internet for hours upon end, and nothing else.”

  “Sorry to break it to you, Dad, but that’s what a lot of teenagers do these days. All we do is sit on our phones.”

  “Normal teenagers have friends.”

  “Normal teenagers don’t have a mother who left ten years ago or a father who spends more time at work than with them,” I snapped.

  “You think that I wanted her to leave? That I want to spend all my time at work?”

  “The time you spend at home is next to a TV screen.”

  “If you want me to spend more time with me, then you should’ve asked weeks ago. I thought you didn’t want to have anything to do with me,” Dad said, sighing in relief.

  “That’s not what I really want.” I averted my gaze to the untouched bowl of cereal in front of me. “But I would like it.”

  “What do you want then?”

  “I want to know the truth.” I met Dad’s eyes.

  “I’ve been truthful from the start,” Dad replied, inclining in his chair, but I could tell that he was starting to get wary. His eye began twitching ever so slightly, which was a sign he was getting nervous or uncomfortable.

  “I want to know the truth about my mother.”

  Dad checked his watch. “I need to go.”

  I started laughing, unable to help myself. This was typical of my Dad. Of course, I had to be there for every dumb conversation he wanted, but the moment I asked him something about Mom he shut down and clammed up, unwilling to speak. “You always try to leave when I ask about her.”

&nb
sp; Dad turned to me, his gaze stern. “I don’t want to talk about your mother, Natalie. I’ve made that clear all along. Talking about your mother is … painful.”

  “Fine. Just tell me the truth. Do you know anything about these Ones of Within people? Is it true? Was she really a member?”

  “What the hell are you talking about, Natalie?” Dad spluttered. Even though his voice was fairly convincing, the look in his eyes told me he knew more than he pretended. Worse, he was frightened, terrified that I spoke those words in front of him.

  “So you do know something!”

  “I don’t know anything, Natalie.”

  “You knew her better than I did, so your memory has to be better than mine. You had to know who she was and what she did.”

  “Natalie, this isn’t a conversation I’m having with you.”

  Dad picked up his briefcase, and awkwardly clicked the pen in his hand.

  “That’s right, Dad, run away from everything in your life. That’s really going to do you some good.” I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm. The door slammed behind him and I smiled bitterly.

  “Well, that conversation went well,” I said brightly to myself, before dumping my unfinished bowl of cereal in the sink. At least, I knew part of the truth now. My father knew something about the Ones of Within … so that meant Emilie had to be telling the truth. I have a lot of apologizing to do. The story seemed too good to be true initially, but the puzzle pieces were all lining up together now. My father might have denied knowing what I was talking about, but his face and eyes couldn’t lie. He knew something about the Ones of Within that he wasn’t letting on.

  I did my homework for the next few hours and then turned on the TV to watch a few lame soap operas before finding a good movie. After the movie, I began reading a book Mr. Vernard suggested. I didn’t realize how late it was getting until I started getting hungry around seven. I made myself a TV dinner and waited patiently for Dad to get home to finish the conversation from this morning.

  It took me another hour of waiting to get worried. Dad never took this long to get home. He got home at seven every day, so he’d make it home in time for the TV shows at eight. The phone rang, and I picked it up after a few seconds, expecting Dad’s profuse apologies for his speedy exit this morning.

  “Hello?”

  On the other end, I could hear ragged breathing on the phone for a few seconds before the person hung up. I frowned, checking the phone to see the number I had answered. It was Dad’s work number. Was that Dad, on the other end of the line? Maybe he felt bad about our argument … I was a little guilty about it myself. Well, I doubted that he would call back, so I decided to call back myself.

  I redialed the number and waited patiently as the phone rang several times. No one answered. For some reason, I felt myself getting a little nervous, but I dismissed the thoughts quickly. I put the phone down before walking over to the couch and turning on the tv. The doorbell rang, interrupting my train of thought. For a second, I considered whether I should walk up to the door or not. Maybe Dad had left his key at work? But he had just called me from his work phone. It was probably Mrs. Ryla asking if I had dinner yet.

  Satisfied with my assumption, I walked up to the door, ignoring the dread building up in my heart. I peered out the small glass window, expecting to see Mrs. Ryla’s wrinkly face smiling back at me. Instead, it was a man. Not a man, a teenager with long, shaggy dark locks. I guessed he was a senior, but I’d never seen him in my entire life. The teenager smirked at me, his brooding eyes staring deep at my own. There was something about this teenager that was just not right. There wore a twisted smile on his face that made me want to cringe; it was almost like he knew something I didn’t, and I was getting alarmed.

  “Open the door,” The teenager ordered, slamming his fist into the frame. The loud thudding noises against the door made me jump, much to his amusement.

  I stared at his malicious gaze for one more second before hurrying away from the door. I contemplated calling Mrs. Ryla, but what could a seventy-year-old woman do against an eighteen-year-old.? I could hear the loud cracks against the door from his fist over and over again even several rooms away. I remembered that I had left my window open in my room. I ran through the house, shutting the window and locking it. Dad would be here soon, so I had nothing to worry about anyways. But, just in case … I ran into the kitchen, hands fumbling for the kitchen knife drawer. The thuds against the door stopped, and an ominous quiet fell inside the house. Suddenly, a loud cracking noise hit the air. I turned, holding a kitchen knife in trembling hands. The teenager was only a foot away from me, smiling at me with that twisted smile that made my stomach churn.

  “Get back,” I said, my voice wavering pathetically. I hated how scared I was, but I couldn’t help it. He had just teleported from nowhere … did that mean he had something to do with Emilie and Shay? Maybe this was Shadow Bringer or something.

  “That’s not very friendly,” He said, taking a step forward while I held the knife steady in the middle of his chest. The teenager moved quicker than I expected. He took a single step forward as I swung the kitchen knife instinctively. He jerked my wrist to the side and pressed painfully into the tendons of my arm with his fingers. With ease, he took the kitchen knife out of my grasp like I was a little child. A second later, I had my left arm pinned behind my back and my stomach pressed against the kitchen countertop. My knife was against my neck, barely pricking the soft, unprotected skin. I could feel his body pressed up against mine and it made me feel sick.

  “What is your name?” The teenager said urgently. “What is your name!”

  He pulled my arm up higher, and I had to bite my lip to keep me from moaning in pain. I tried to kick my leg backward to hit him in the shin, but he took the blow like it was nothing.

  “Tell me who you are now,” The teenager hissed.

  “Who are you?” I panted defiantly.

  “No one you need to know. Just tell me your name. That’s all I need.” I could feel his hot breath in my ear, and his grip on my arm tightened. I was going to have bruises later.

  “Natalie Quinn,” I said finally, trying to rip my arm out of his grip. He sighed, his grip on my arm relaxing …

  A loud crack emanated in the room for the second time. I caught Emilie and Shay’s gaze. Emilie’s eyes were wide like she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

  Shay began chanting loud Jakost in the air.

  “Don’t move or I’ll kill her,” The teenager threatened, and I had no doubt he would keep his promise. The knife was too close to my throat for comfort, and I winced as I felt it press a little harder into my skin.

  The teenager cursed in my ear as the blade disappeared from his hands. It must have been Shay’s magic. He cursed again and then threw me away from him like I weighed nothing. My temple hit the cabinets hard, and it seared in pain from the blow. I held my head for a second, barely hearing the Jakost being shouted in the air. It wasn’t like I had any idea what it meant; I was more focused on sitting up than that. My eyesight was screwed up, but I managed to sit up and grab the cabinet to pull myself up onto my feet.

  “Natalie, are you okay?” Emilie asked, steadying me.

  “I’m a little dizzy and my head hurts.”

  “She must have a concussion,” Shay said, walking over, “Do you have any ibuprofen?”

  “I can get it,” I said, shaking Emilie off. I tried to take a few unsteady steps, but the room spun.

  “You need to lie down.”

  “No, that’s not what I need,” I replied, turning my gaze to Shay. “I need to know what the hell is going on? Who was that? Why was he here?”

  Shay said a few words in Jakost and calmly handed me an Advil. I swallowed it, grimacing at the bitter taste.

  “That was a Shadow Bringer…” Emilie said, swiftly receiving a glare from Shay. “We might as well tell her; it’s her life.”

  Shay shook her head and turned to me. “You need to come with us to Augh
mortor. It’s not safe for you here.”

  “I need to go to Aughmortor now?” I repeated thickly, “No! Not until you tell me the truth.”

  Shay sighed. “Natalie, that was a Shadow Bringer. A member of the Larta sent to bring you to Lybrazil, their city. He will be back any second now with all the help he can get. We need to go now.”

  “Shay, the Shadow Bringer’s most likely still nearby. I can get Natalie to Aughmortor while you search for him.”

  “Stop talking like I’m not here!” I shouted, losing my patience.

  “Natalie that Shadow Bringer found you through your father.”

  “Is he okay?” My mind flew back to our argument from earlier.

  “Your father’s fine. He was knocked out but practically unharmed. You should be worried about yourself,” Shay replied.

  Basically, they were saying I was in danger from that Shadow Bringer and I needed to leave for Aughmortor now? I still wasn’t even sure if I believe their story!

  “Are you sure that I’m in danger?” I asked breathlessly. The identical, serious looks on their faces was enough of an answer for me. “All right, take me to Aughmortor.” I took a deep breath, trying to comprehend what I was doing. Lately, things had been so jumbled and confusing. I had no idea what I was doing. If I actually did go to Aughmortor, would I ever come back? Emilie had said she hadn’t been to Earth in two years until she came to recruit me. My mother never came back.

  “Can I leave a note?” I whispered, my heart was breaking as I thought of my father. Was he really okay? How would he react to this?

  “No, your father cannot know about us, Natalie. You must understand that.” Shay said firmly.