by Linda Palmer
Chapter Eighteen
Off to Badpringle's
"I'm going back to Nodyra," I said. "And I don’t want to ask Jor where to find a Xephyr Stream."
"First, you don’t have to ask him. I can tell you. Second," Rocc frowned slightly, "why don’t you want to?"
I wished I hadn't been so honest. Rocc and Jor went way, way back. How could I tell Rocc that Jor couldn't be trusted? He’d never believe me. I decided to ignore that question by asking one of my own. "Since when can you locate a Stream?"
"Since the day I rescued Tir. Didn't I tell you about that?"
"Must have slipped your mind." I gave myself a mental kick for my sarcasm. Being out of sorts was no excuse for rudeness.
But Rocc was oblivious. "Years ago, when Tir was still living on Malikoa, she accidentally fell into the Stream and, literally, came apart at the seams." He laughed. "I heard her yelling for help and saved her. Ever since, I've been able to locate the Streams."
I couldn't believe my ears. I considered Tirafalen, who stood slightly behind and a little to the right of Rocc. The knee-length tunic she now wore, same shade of aqua as her hair, ruffled slightly in the breeze and reminded me what a rumpled mess I must look in my own jeans and T-shirt. I’d never felt less like a leader.
"Weird." I deliberately turned my back on my brother and his pretty companion before he remembered that he still didn't know why I wouldn't ask Jor to find the Stream. I had to admit that something about Tirafalen’s relationship with Rocc bothered me.
At the moment, however, I couldn’t get over my regret that Rocc was little more than a stranger, thanks to all our time apart. In fact, the mental hug I’d given him earlier that day was exactly like the physical hug I’d give a poP—just a good friend sort.
I motioned impatiently to Matt and Kenny. "Come on, guys. Rocc’s going to take us to a Stream."
"You mean you want to go now, this minute?" Rocc seemed surprised.
"Yes. With luck we’ll find what we need and be back before dark."
He thought about that for a second. "What is it, exactly, that you need?"
"Clues," I told him.
"To what?"
"The truth. I need to search the shed since we don’t know how Matilda got in there. I’d also like to look around the basement where she put you. And then I’d like to check out the dorms, where Kenny and I saw the shadows."
Rocc got very still. "Shadows?"
"Yeah. We both saw these spooky—" I broke off. "What’s wrong?"
Every bit of color had drained from my brother’s face. "I remember the shadows. I saw them before I got whacked..." For a second his brown eyes glazed and he stared at nothing, then he seemed to come to himself and actually managed a decidedly self-conscious laugh as he shook off whatever had distracted him. "Come on, then."
Rocc motioned for me to follow him. At once, the poPs clamored to go with us as far as the Stream—the girls, at least. The boys, especially Kenny and John, seemed more interested in Petria.
She gave the usual greeting. Her gaze encompassed everyone, then landed on Rocc. "Hi, guys. It's good to see you again."
"We're walking to the Xephyr Stream since Tir doesn't psifly. Want to come?"
"Sure, but that's a long way. Why don't I get my horse? The little ones can take turns riding." She left us with a smile and a wave.
Rocc and Tirafalen motioned for us to follow and began walking down a brick road. Dressed as she was, Tirafalen could've attended Wexton High School.
I belatedly noticed that Rocc had changed clothes at some point, too, and now wore more traditional Ionian attire consisting of plain pants tucked into soft leather knee boots, a silky long-sleeved shirt with a collar, and a leather vest. He'd grown into such a handsome young man, I realized with more than a little pride.
Hoping for a minute alone with Matt, I quickly gestured for him to join me in bringing up the rear of our little troupe. Unfortunately, Kenny lagged behind, too, making a private conversation next to impossible since I wasn't ready to tell him what had happened that morning.
The sun cast little shadow as we walked. Saironalis eventually disappeared behind a hill in back of us, but other hills rose into view up ahead. Beyond, I could see lavender mountains.
After we'd gone pretty far, I began to relax a little and breathed in fresh Balmythran air. My gaze darted from this colorful rock to that tall tree. It felt so right to be here. I couldn't believe I'd actually forgotten all about my beautiful home and blamed Jor all over again for stealing my memories.
He said he'd done it to protect me. I doubted that because he hadn't corrected Rocc when my brother assumed the Stream had taken my memories. I wondered if telling Rocc the truth about what had happened would help him accept the fact that Jor could no longer be trusted. I also wondered if I'd ever have another second alone with Matt so I could share my doubts and fears.
"What's that?" Kenny's question broke into my gloomy thoughts.
I turned and saw black smoke billowing from one of the jagged mountain peaks way off in the distance. "Probably a dragon."
Kenny whooped his delight. "John! Get a load of that—dragon breath."
John didn't seem nearly as thrilled by the possibility of encountering a fire-breathing creature with claws and wings.
Matt spoke up. "Tirafalen, could you tell everyone about that dragon? I know that mist-beings love them."
They did? I felt oddly left out, an unreasonable emotion, really. Matt had every right to find out all he could about the inhabitants and creatures of Balmythra. It was just that I should have been the one to share that fact instead of just learning it, myself.
"Rad!" Kenny ran ahead to catch up with Tirafalen, Rocc and Petria. Clearly he wanted the scoop on dragons.
"Watch out, Leah. You're gonna trip on that bottom lip of yours." Matt's whispered observation did nothing for my temper.
"Oh shut up."
"You don't like Tirafalen, do you?"
"She's okay."
"Just okay? She saved your brother, remember?"
"All right, then. She's more than okay. She's a very skilled healer. Doesn't mean you need to start a fan club."
"Why would I? Rocc's already done it." Matt playfully tugged a strand of my hair. "And I think you're jealous."
I ducked away. "Rocc's my brother, not my boyfriend. Why would I be jealous?"
"Because while you were stuck on earth with the sorry likes of me, Tirafalen watched your brother become a man."
Matt sure knew how to hit the nail on the head. My eyes stung with tears. Embarrassed, I turned away. "So maybe I am a little jealous that Tirafalen knows Rocc so much better than I do. So what?"
"So nothing. I'm not blaming you, Leah. I just want you to know what's really going on here. Tirafalen is pretty cool."
I thought about that for a second and had to nod reluctant agreement. "I know. By the way, there's nothing 'sorry' about you. I'd never have survived Pringle's if you hadn't been there."
"You'd have done fine." Matt touched his finger to the freckles over my left eye that formed Cassiopeia. "You're a stellar chic, remember?"
His words took me back to the night he first uttered them. I remembered my fear of Jor, at that time M'jorca. I felt every bit as frightened of him now, but in a whole different way.
"We need to talk about what we saw today, Matt. I was hoping we could do that while we were at Nodyra, but now with Kenny going along...well, I don't think that's going to happen."
He glanced ahead to the friend in question, now talking animatedly with Tirafalen. The next second, the mist-being gathered the younger poPs closer and, from what I could hear, began a story of how dragons found Balmythra, eons ago.
"So can't you just tell me now?"
Matt's words drew my attention from Tirafalen. I shook my head. "I'm afraid Jor will pick up on—" Suddenly an amazing, wonderful possibility popped into my head, courtesy, no doubt, of an ancestral guardian. "I had no idea."
Matt frowned his confusion at my sudden change of direction. I immediately reached out and began stroking his head just above his right ear, an action that brought a crimson flush to his cheeks. "Um, Leah?"
"Yes?"
"What are you doing?"
"Creating a hidey hole for your private thoughts. Bear with me, here."
He swallowed audibly and waited.
I continued the motion for several more seconds. Thoroughly preoccupied with the task at hand, I didn't really notice at first how Matt sort of melted to my touch. When I finally did, I jerked my hand back.
"Sorry about that." I self-consciously brushed my fingertips down the leg of my jeans. "I just found out I could make a secret compartment in your brain called an occultus. That way you'll never accidentally share what we talk about. Is that cool, or what?"
"That depends." Matt still seemed flustered. "Will you have access to this area?"
"Yes."
"What about to the rest of my thoughts?"
"No. They'll be as private as always."
Now Matt frowned. "And how private is that?"
"I'm not sure what you're asking."
He drew in a decidedly shaky breath. "Do you know what I'm thinking right now?"
"That I'm a total weirdo?"
Matt laughed. I didn't know if it was because I was right or wrong. Either way, he seemed relieved. "So it's safe to talk?"
"Yes, and I want to know what, exactly, you saw this morning."
"The tail end of some ceremony involving Sairons, drums, and a big black hole in the ground. You couldn't have seen even that much, but I get the feeling you know something about this that you're not telling. Am I right?"
"I saw it all, Matt."
"In your mind."
"Yes." I looked ahead to be sure that no one else heard what I said next. "It was horrible. Jor and the other Sairons summoned some kind of evil being...." Quietly I shared what I'd seen, leaving out no detail of the black cloud, the gaping crevasse, and the screams of my parents.
Matt didn't respond for long moments. "So you think the Sairons are behind everything—the fighting, the kidnapping, the destruction of Vannarius."
"I think they are."
"And Jor...? You really think he's calling up evil?"
"I don't want to, but I can't help it."
"We should tell Rocc what you saw."
I quickly shook my head. "He'll never believe me. Jor is his best friend."
"If the two of them are really that close, then Rocc may have doubts of his own that he's not sharing. Your brother is nobody's fool, Leah."
"Maybe not, but he isn't all that intuitive, either." I sighed. "It's not his fault, of course. It's just his nature. The offspring of a Sairon and a Guardian aren't blessed with many telepathic abilities, remember?"
"But he can find a Xephyr Stream, and you can't."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying what you just said yourself—you don't know your own brother that well. Don't underestimate him."
At that moment, Rocc and Tirafalen began to walk again, veering to the right and scrambling down a grassy slope, with Kenny, Petria, and the others one step behind.
"Are you two coming or what?" John hung back and motioned for us to hurry. We exchanged a glance and then ran to where the others now stood, near a bubbling brook.
"So the Stream is by the stream?" Matt's weak joke earned him a short laugh from Kenny.
But my brother didn't crack a smile. Instead, he caught my eye. "I don't have a good feeling about this."
"Rocc, I—"
He raised his hand to stop my flow of words. "I know you're not going to change your mind. I just want you to promise me that you won't do anything stupid."
"Maybe you'd better define stupid." Matt clearly agreed with Rocc.
Tirafalen caught my eye. "Your brother is trying to tell you there's no shame in running if you sense danger. Your people fear for your safety, Leah. Rocc fears for your safety, too."
"Of course I’ll be careful. Mad Matilda is scary on a good day, and she’s always had it in for me. As for the twins...I’m pretty sure I can handle them, but I promise I won’t, okay?"
"Who knows what you’ll find," said Rocc. "With all the kids here in Balmythra, things are going to be different. Matilda might not be there."
"With luck." Impulsively, I threw my arms around Rocc and gave him an honest-to-goodness big-brother hug. He held back for a split second, but loosened up and gave me a hug I knew I'd never forget. I smiled my satisfaction into his shirt front before releasing him and looking at Matt and Kenny. "Ready, guys?"
"Ready."
Before we could take a step, the atmosphere rippled like water in the wind and Mad Matilda tumbled into Balmythra followed by Skye, Raine, and way too many others