The Lost Prince

by P. G. Shriver

  “If not, then we should try bringing our mothers to us. They may be the missing connection.”

  “Who is this Maive, anyway?” Carmen’s rounded eyes rolled with surprise by her newfound communication ability. Wow! She mouthed.

  “A good person we met, a friend. That’s her car in the garage. She’s trustworthy.” Nathan nodded.

  Rebecca handed the note to Carmen, but Carmen forced the light and note into Cai’s hands, still unsure of her new ability and untrusting of those around her.

  “‘My Dear Friends,

  My time is coming. I will likely be gone before you read this. Miss Dee and her family will be cared for, as will you all. Contact them if you need anything.

  There is a faction formed among the force who wishes to destroy you and our world. You may already know this, but a young man, John will come to you,” Cai paused and they all glanced at him. “He is one of the faction and you can trust him because he is also one of you. We of the faction were positioned in places of power— and unlikely places along the way— to guide you, to protect and serve the mission of the Gifted Ones. That’s why we knew your story. John’s uncle is the one who orchestrated your lives, your futures, your powers. He is the one behind the master plan for this world, but your mothers were wise enough to recognize the change in him, his desires, and they began a stand against his plan. There are twelve of you, no matter what you currently know or want to believe; there are only twelve as the story tells.

  If you haven’t figured it out yet, you are only half of this world, a hybrid of sorts. The one who seeks to destroy you is not of this world… he is not one of us. Not all you’ve been told, or will be told, is untrue, though. Hold tight to each other and stay strong in the mission. Trust yourselves, your intuitions. Be strong.

  I know this letter won’t answer all your questions, or perhaps even make much sense, and there is much I don’t know about the prophecy as I am only the treasurer of your future.

  If you can get to the faction, they can help you, but only as far as they can. If you can communicate with them, they know what you will need to complete the mission your mothers began— and gave their lives for— and the faction may point you toward your answers.

  I hope you’ve found the final destination, the place where your dream, or nightmare, will become reality. Your mission will be completed there, but only through the prophecy, the truth, and that is something none of us know. Many have been blinded, but the faction has been working on a plan to help you. Only you will be able to fulfill this mission, though. By now, given the date, the end is close. Be cautious who you trust.

  Take care, my children.

  Remember me when the mission is complete! It should now be close to your special day.

  My deepest love and gratitude,

  Maive’”

  “Again, with the truth!” Neka broke the vow of silent communication with a frustrated outburst. Something, a memory, hugged her consciousness, barely visible as she closed her eyes.

  “Neka!” John warned sternly.

  Moments of alert listening followed.

  “Remember her when the mission is complete? I will always remember her. She’s one of the few people in this life who didn’t see me as abnormal.” A tear dropped from Rebecca’s cheek.

  “I didn’t know her, but you know we can see her again, so don’t let this sway our focus. When she mentioned the day, I remembered something else, it’s…” Simon began.

  “…our birthdays.” They all finished in unison. Nathan clamped his hand on Simon’s shoulder in a final attempt to heal Simon’s confused mind. He’d tried several times since Simon’s arrival, and each attempt returned more memories to Simon.

  Smiles lit the dark outbuilding. This should be a day of celebration for us all, Cheater glanced around the circle.

  We can celebrate when we take down that miserable excuse for a…” Thad added.

  “John, who is in the faction? Do you know anyone we can contact?” Lena leaned over John as if to make her silent question reach his ears easier. She hadn’t grasped the ease of her new telepathic abilities, either.

  “Considering my uncle is searching for me, and the faction only sends encrypted messages with the dispatcher, I have no idea who is in the faction anymore. One of his top assistants used to be, but I’m not sure if he still is. It would be impossible to reach him even if I knew for sure he was. We don’t have a headquarters. We don’t meet due to the risk of being caught. And, some that we thought were part of the faction turned to his side. He’s very persuasive from what I’ve heard and seen.”

  “You’ve never met him?” Neka touched his forearm.

  “No, I’ve only seen him in my… nightmares.” John answered. “And just like you, he killed my parents, his own brother and sister-in-law.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Cheater empathized with the hurt in his face and reached across the space between them to touch his arm.

  “Man! I just want to grab him by the throat and watch the life…” Nathan stopped, realizing now was not the time for so much anger.

  “How are we supposed to get in touch with any of them if we don’t know for sure who is and who isn’t?”

  “Shh! Did you hear that? Outside?” Curious frowns turned toward the opening while some smirked at the irony of Cai’s warning. All attention focused on the noise outside the building.

  Unable to locate the nephew— or any of the others— within the house, the patrol spread over the property to search outbuildings. They’d been over the property a hundred times without success in locating the spiral.

  In the backseat of the limousine, memories haunted the man whose vision for the world opposed that written years ago. Ancestry led him here, provided everything he would need, to finally acquire that which his lineage desired most, but then the prophecy came.

  The prophecy predicted the twelve, their use of the spiral to balance the energy shift that entered the earth all those years ago when one being found his way to the planet and made one decision that forever disrupted the balance. He smiled at the memory of that one evil action, passed down to him and committed to his thoughts in such a way— through the dagger of memory— that he believed himself the evildoer from the past.

  A warning had been sent. Again, he remembered it as though it were meant specifically for him. That very parchment scroll now resided among his family treasures until this moment. It came to the world, to the people, yet few saw it before the prophecy vanished. Those few believers had caused many problems for his ancestors, for him, along the way. Yet, they were able to persuade the majority of the population that it was just another fantasy tale construed by one person who harbored a wild imagination and the storytelling skills to create a world that would be devoured by a monster. It was just another fairytale. There was no need for the planet to worry over this fairytale, be alarmed by the outcome. That in fact, if such a tale were true, it would be the twelve who would harm the planet, for how could one man do so much harm? And slowly, the people believed in the darkness that fell now over three quarters of the planet. From there, it was easy to make the Gifted Ones the target of evil that now blanketed the earth.

  The planet was new then, when he… well, his ancestor landed. It had been reborn yet, again. At that time, the first man and woman in the luxurious garden had been the oldest story refreshed and retold through the generations, even older than the fairytale.

  He knew all the old stories passed down through the years, but others never caught on with the followers like this one did, and those other stories eventually died away, went untold—but not the Book of Truth. That book was still touted as the one guide to living happily, peacefully; its histories, its prophecies, its stories were told in many forms, languages, under varying titles. But who authored the Book of Truth? Who inspired its wisdom? Who brought these twelve powers of the universe together? Who wrote the prophecy that would soon be fulfilled by his own hands?

  This world of ignorant beings kn
ew the Book of Truth to be the book they longed for and needed, but it had been easy to sway the majority to hate— so very easy. Each continent, each country, each city had their own Book of Truth. Each book told them of their origin. Each book provided rules for them to follow. But his ancestors knew this people would never be happy, for they had a unique disposition, a dual internal spirit of good and evil. There resided a darkness in all of them, no matter how minute. It only needed cultivation— a smothering of the light by his ancestors. His ancestors created division and suspicion in every land by using the various books of truth.

  Of course the real Book of Truth, its prophecy, its ideals, were impossible for this people to live by. Twelve powers could not reside in one innocent world. It was a stupid mistake to plant them all here, in this pitiful world with its pitiful, easily misguided sheep.

  He smiled now at the division they had created since the beginning, the evil they had spread over the world, the lies they had told followers from all walks of life. He smiled as he thought of the world today, the number of poor and destitute, the riches he had stolen from powerful individuals who didn’t believe the truth, how easily a little riches turned most. He was now the richest man on Earth, a multitude of followers turning to him for the promise of their own riches, a lie of course. He would see that his home, this Earth, became the only power of the universe, that the wealth of each planet, each solar system, each galaxy would become his alone. He would own the natural resources in each by the hands of the followers and slaves he would rule.

  He had been one of the first to orchestrate the habitation of this planet. Smart, charming, persuasive and powerful, he climbed each rung on the ladder of leaders until he now stood in such a place of power as to see his ideas, his desires, fulfilled. But his desires would never be enough. The author of the prophecy predicted his greed would be his end. Of course he would change that, and it would be the end of all things good and fair and just in this world and those beyond.

  His unfulfilled desire to rule all universes filled him with rage directed at the teens he now sought. When his plans went awry years ago, when those horrid women volunteered to host… Well, he had taken care of most of them already. Damn those women and their deceitfulness! He sneered as he thought of each one, the last one still alive and awaiting her precisely timed death.

  He hoped the patrols listened. They needn’t harm a hair on any of those spawns of betrayal until he arrived. He had the only devices that could transfer their powers to him, but first he had to rid them of the last two protective devices.

  He knew how to take their lives, each and every one. He knew the weaknesses of each Gifted One and how to rid this world of them, even Nathan, the one who could heal. His weakness was simple. This was coveted information passed down to him from his ancestors. They knew because they had rid the universe of twelve royals so many years ago, or so it was written.

  When it came to the end, he would finally have what he needed to gain Earth’s precious powerful resources and rule all! He knew everything about each of them, except how to gain all of their powers in this one confrontation. This guidance would come to him with the dagger’s edge during their torture.

  He watched on his seat mounted tablet— fed by each patrol leader’s hat cam— as his skilled patrol moved quickly through the vast farm, quietly pausing at each building in futile attempts to hear anything within. He saw the shadows move around, in and out. The Gifted Ones were here on the farm. Where else could they go? It was the prophecy.

  “Boss, I think I heard something over here!” The radio crackled into the center of the backseat of the limo.

  What did I say about using the radio? An almost immediate text from his tablet.

  Anger rose in the backseat as the monster checked his GPS to pinpoint the location of the disobedient officer and he texted the mapped image to the patrol. He would be dealt with silently later.

  He only hoped John was here and not in hiding somewhere in the city. He needed him here for the final accumulation of power. He was, after all, a descendent. He opened his car door.

  An officer nodded as the first in command approached him. Scanning the exterior, the officer moved slowly around the building. No openings appeared until his eyes focused on the location of a sound coming from near the floor of the building. His pace quickened, and he motioned for the others. The FIC waited, the tension rising as his own boss, the one who would move up the ladder should this mission fail, eased up behind him.

  There at the bottom of the wall was a slight curve in the earth where dirt had been carved out to make way for a crawl space. The patrol surrounded the opening as the noise within grew more urgent.

  Something, someone, was moving closer to the bottom of the wall.

  “It’s the only way to find the faction. I have to get caught.” John shrugged. “I’m going out.” John moved to the

  “No! There has to be another way. Nashota! Nobody will see him. He hides well. He won’t get caught!” Neka offered.

  “Speaking of your brother, where is he? Why haven’t we seen him?” Carmen’s suspicion rose.

  Concerned eyes turned to Neka whose confusion dulled her vibrant features in the darkness. They didn’t believe her that Nashota was there. Why did he have to be so…? Where was he now, when she needed him the most?

  “Perhaps the traitor is Nashota?” Nathan asked. “Maybe that is the truth your mom wants you to remember.”

  “No! Nashota is my twin. He is good at heart, not evil. He wouldn’t betray us. We know each other very well. But, maybe it is a traitor that keeps the spiral from working,” Neka argued.

  Was there still a traitor among them?

  All eyes turned toward Thad. Cautious distrust filled them. Was it possible the spiral didn’t work because Thad was the traitor? Could he block the spiral?

  “Cheater, we need to talk to our mothers. We’re turning against each other, which is probably what that monster wants us to do. Have you thought of a way we can bring them all here without exerting so much energy?” Rebecca’s quiet voice filled their minds.

  “No, but I’ll take the risk and try to bring eleven of them here. I think I can; I mean, it’s my thing, right?” Cheater volunteered.

  “The problem is not your power, it’s what it does to you. What if it’s too much and you don’t have the energy for what is coming afterward? I don’t like the idea,” Jaz warned. “There must be a way to reach all of them without draining energy from those who change.”

  An exterior noise followed by pursuing silence had set them all on edge. The tension of the coming confrontation made them jumpy. Was there someone lurking? Who was it? What were they doing out there? Would the fiery dream come to fruition now before they were ready?

  John stepped silently to the hidden opening. He picked up a board they had leaned against the wall and raised it like a bat.

  Neka’s eyes pleaded with John as the board rested on his shoulder beneath the crackling moon light. “We need their help,” John tore pained eyes from Neka as he readied for the coming fight near the makeshift door.

  The handgun held steady at the opening, but a tremor passed beneath the skin of the well-trained officer handling the weapon.

  Not knowing which of the Gifted Ones might emerge, the officer’s life flashed briefly before his eyes. His seven year old son, his nine month old son, his beautiful wife, their lives threatened by his very action in the next second.

  He could die right now, by the hand of a Gifted One. And because his wife had disagreed with his choice to provide a better life for them by following this path, staying with the force, she would be next at the hands of the same man who wanted the twelve teens dead for the sake of power. If she knew that she was his reason for staying with the force, that her life had been threatened by him, she would run with the boys. But she didn’t know, and the next few seconds of his life could determine her fate as well as his.

  What would happen to his sons then?

  Forc
ing the thoughts from his mind, he waited while the rustling beyond the wall drew closer.

  The officer raised a finger to his lips and pointed at the opening as the monster silently watched on the large tablet connected to the limo, his back tense with anticipation.

  Whoever was inside that building was about to emerge.

  The officer pictured his family, a mental portrait of happiness. The tremor within his body grew stronger, and he relaxed his trigger finger slightly to avoid a misfire.

  His family… they were his everything. They were the reason why he signed up for this job, this search— well their protection was the reason. He really didn’t believe in the cause, but he had to protect his family.

  He didn’t want to kill anyone, especially not a kid, but these kids were dangerous beings. Weren’t they? That’s what he told them all.

  These kids had the potential to...

  The officer blinked away sweat droplets trailing from his forehead as he steadied himself.

  He was too young to die.

  Was that fur? White fur?

  What kind of trick was this?

  What were those kids doing in there?

  The two officers shrugged at each other as they watched what appeared to be a rabbit’s tail poking through the hole.

  A rabbit was making all that noise?

  The officer closest to the hole raised an eyebrow in the Chief’s direction and shook his head. Curiosity brought his vision back to the rabbit butt that now appeared. The back legs were motionless.

  The officer gave the wait signal watching intently. The rabbit wasn’t making it’s own way out the opening. It was being pushed outward by a white speckled— snout?