Discovery: Altera Realm Trilogy (6 page)

Weston gritted his teeth. "Yes, sir."

His father was the greatest king the kingdom had ever seen. He was kind and gracious yet a fierce warrior and stern when it came to politics. Yet to his
son, who worshiped the ground he walked on, he was demanding and even seemed vengeful at times. For what, Weston didn't know.

"Have you heard the latest report?" Lional asked, clasping his hands behind his back.

Weston swallowed. "Not the latest, sir."

"A good leader knows all that goes on in his kingdom."

"So that he is prepared for anything." Weston finished his father's thought.

Lional nodded, his long golden hair just touching his shoulders. "And yet you don't know that she is no longer alone."

Anger boiled through Weston's blood, his already-red eyes growing even redder. "How can that be? Our best officer was there," he hissed through clenched teeth.

"And yet she went off with two Royal Guards and a princess," Lional stated calmly, never letting his emotions show. "Maybe sending a little girl to do a commander's job was not such a good idea."

Weston sucked in a ragged breath. Sending Scor had been his idea. She may have been young, but she was sneaky and vicious. She also could blend easily into the Chosen One's life. Scor wasn't supposed to kill her, just watch and then grab her when she didn't expect it. It was the best plan; Weston knew that for certain. Any direct action could prove fatal. The Chosen One may not yet know of her powers, but if she was in the hands of the Royal Guard, something must have gone wrong.

"Are we in touch with Scor?" Weston asked, knowing that defending his plan now would be useless.

Lional nodded. "She is in pursuit of them."

Weston shifted his weight. "Then we must tell her to attack."

Lional let out a roar of laughter. "Now you believe force is the best option?"

"I do, sir. Before she was in her own environment. But now she is in unfamiliar territory. If Scor attacks, the guards would be forced to defend and change in the process. Once the Chosen One sees that, she'll run." Weston smiled. "And I'll be there to catch her."

Lional's eyes narrowed. "And how are you so sure they haven't explained everything to her yet?"

Weston laughed. "Because their kingdom is based on secrets—which is why they always will lose."

The elder sighed as thoughts rambled through his head. "All right," he finally said. "But you will not go. Send your brother, Marcus. I think a cat would be better for this."

Weston bit back his anger. He, himself, was supposed to kill the girl!

"And this had better work."

Weston gritted his teeth and said nothing. This plan had to work; it had to.

Syney

Syney pulled her gaze from the fast-moving world outside her window and looked over at Cass, who sat next to her. The petite girl was reading a book and scoffing every few minutes, like she couldn't believe what she was reading. In front, both Raine and Hunter were completely silent, focusing on the highway ahead; Raine was driving.

Syney couldn't believe she was in the car with three complete strangers. Her parents had shed lots of tears before nearly squeezing the life out of her, and Jess hadn't been much better, having actually threatened Cass with physical harm if anything happened to her best friend. Even Scorpina had seemed sad to see Syney go.

She sighed and looked back out the window; maybe she was crazy for doing this, but it felt right. She looked forward and caught Hunter's gaze in the side mirror. His eyes looked at her curiously before he shook his head and turned away. Syney wanted nothing more than to talk with him alone. She couldn't explain it, but he was the one she trusted explicitly. Unfortunately he never seemed to want to be alone with her.

She looked back at Cass. Maybe bonding might make her feel a little better. "What are you reading?"

Cass looked up at her.
"Dracula
. Complete work of fiction."

Syney laughed. "Of course it is. It's about a Vampire."

"Yeah, a high-class Vampire." She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right."

Syney smiled. Maybe bonding wasn't going to happen.

"Cass, why don't you tell Syney about the Village," Raine prompted.

Cass glared at him through the rearview mirror before closing her book and looking at Syney with a smile. "Feel free to ask anything."

"About the school?" Syney asked.

Cass nodded. "It's affectionately known as the Village."

"Sounds Cozy," Syney said.

"Oh, it is, actually. We're all like family. And you'll learn so much." Cass's eyes lit up, and she leaned toward Syney enthusiastically. "There's so much culture and color. It's vibrant and so full of life. You're going to love it, Syney."

Syney could feel Cass's excitement pour off her in waves. It was infectious to the point where even Syney got giddy. "So are the teachers very hard?"

Cass laughed. "As anything. But very fair. Except maybe Mr. Hiltson. He's always riding on us to get our practice work done. One mistake, and you can easily turn a cow into a frog."

Syney laughed yet felt some of her excitement wane. Maybe this girl was a little crazy.

"Maybe we should stop and get some food," Hunter's deep voice said softly.

The comment was directed to Raine, but Cass quickly got quiet and nodded. "Sounds good."

"I think there's a store coming up. Not too long, though," Raine said, veering into the right-hand lane of the highway.

Five minutes later he pulled the SUV into the parking lot of a small dingy convenience store. The store was very backwoods-y, surrounded by trees. Syney wondered whether any of the food was still good. She made a mental note to check her purchases before buying them. The store's interior reflected its exterior exactly. The various plastic shelves were thinly stacked with off-brand products.

Syney eyed the cashier, a big burly man with a long white beard, as she moved toward the back of the store. Suddenly she felt scared. This wasn't the type of place she felt comfortable in. She bit her lip and turned to examine a section of crackers. She had this uneasy feeling, as strong as this one, once before when she was a kid. She had been playing in the park after school like she did every day, but for some reason she felt something was wrong. She went home right away and told her mom, who listened and nodded. Later that night, Syney overheard her parents saying that Arlene, one of her friends from school, had been abducted. Syney didn't believe in coincidences, but Arlene had been at the park with her earlier that day, and from then on, no kids were allowed to play at the park without an adult present. Arlene never came back. That had happened so long ago that Syney almost had forgotten about it. But the feeling was unforgettable.

She took an uneasy breath and looked up, catching Hunter's gaze across from her, where he stood in the next aisle. The uneasiness receded a little, but not entirely as it had before. She offered him a weak smile.

Hunter gave her an odd look before walking around the corner to stand next to her. "Are you all right?"

Syney glanced around just as a younger guy walked in, flanked by another guy and a girl. The main one was thin with messy black hair and the cockiest look Syney had ever seen. His two wingmen looked down-and-out mean, with a side of evil. The guy was big and solid; the girl was short and petite. Syney had a feeling the girl could still kick her ass.

Syney looked back at Hunter. "Something bad is about to happen."

Hunter looked over at the newcomers, his eyes darkening. "Get behind the counter, and stay there." He looked deep into her eyes. "Trust no one but me."

Syney glanced back and caught the lead guy's gaze. He smiled, so sure of himself. His eyes flashed gold, and he started to change. Syney couldn't believe her eyes. One second he was a cocky man, and the next his white skin became sleek black fur. He dropped down and growled through his large white teeth. He had changed into a sleek black panther. Syney stared at him in shock. It wasn't possible, yet it had happened.

"What the—" she started, but was cut off by Hunter's large hands pushing her behind the large white counter.

She fell onto her knees and scrambled forward to sit with her back against the counter. Fear shook through every fiber of her being. The noises from behind her were terrifying. There were hisses and growls mixed with other wild-animal noises. It was as if she randomly had been transported to the middle of a jungle during a turf war. She looked over and saw the cashier cowering at the other end of the counter. He didn't seem as scary as tears fell from his eyes.

Something slammed against the counter, bouncing Syney forward. She shrieked as the clerk ran like hell for the back room, and what Syney suspected was a back door. She felt her heartbeat pick up as she started to hyperventilate. The noises grew louder, so she covered her ears and closed her eyes. Something exerted pressure on her shoulder, and her eyes flew open. She slowly turned to see a long snake creeping onto her shoulder from the countertop. It flicked its long pink tongue toward her. Its long body was made up of red, black, and yellow stripes. Syney remembered something about those stripes being poisonous, or did they mean the snake wasn't poisonous? Ugh, she couldn't remember. The snake started toward her face. That was it for Syney; she needed to get out of there now. She quickly got to her feet, knocking the snake off, and ran for the back door, her fight-or-flight instincts finally kicking in.

Once outside, she took off straight ahead, into a large wooded area, and kept running. After about ten minutes she slowed down to a walk, mostly because her lungs felt like they were about to explode. She bent over, catching her breath, and stumbled over a large rock. She sat down and looked around. The entrance to the woods was nowhere to be found. Just trees upon trees upon trees. She rolled her eyes and mentally kicked herself. She should have run for the road, although there hadn't been many cars there to begin with. Plus she had no idea what road they'd even been on. She felt tears well up in her eyes. This whole damn thing was a bad idea from the beginning. Going off with people she didn't know—and now there were people who turned into animals, and poisonous snakes out to get her! She was all alone, lost in the woods.

"Hey, little girl. Where are you?" A faraway voice taunted with a sing-songy lilt. It was female but not Cass. The other girl from the store? So not a person Syney wanted to talk to.

She heard a twig snap near her and then another. She was being stalked. She had to be quiet, she knew, but as the rustling and other movement around her picked up, she couldn't help it. Her mouth opened to scream just as she was tackled to the ground. Her scream was muffled by the wind being knocked out of her lungs. But everything was OK. All her worries floated straight out of her. She looked into the deep-brown eyes of the wolf and sighed in relief.

The wolf growled deep in his throat and looked around. They both heard the girl's voice getting closer and stiffened. The wolf got off Syney, and a huge weight seemed to be lifted. She hadn't realized how incredibly heavy he was. Syney rolled onto her knees and stared at the wolf as he looked around, sniffing the air.

Syney inched closer to him and whispered into his furry ear, "Should we stay here or move?"

The wolf jerked around to look her in the eyes. He tilted his head to the side, a gesture Syney always had loved in dogs.

She smiled. "You're the boss," she whispered.

They both snapped their heads over to a noise in the woods, not too far from them. The wolf stood and nudged Syney. She quickly scrambled to her feet, and the two began to walk through the trees. The wolf stayed close to Syney the whole time, sniffing the air. The girl's voice sounded every so often, but it always sounded farther and farther away. Syney had just started letting her guard down when the wolf stopped, its ears perking up.

"Do you hear something?" she asked, glancing around.

A flash of black shot in front of her. The black panther. He must have been tracking them. Syney shrieked and jumped back, but the big elegant cat didn't want her...yet. Instead it tackled the wolf, going straight for its neck. The wolf,
being bigger, tossed the panther to the side. The two creatures began to stalk each other, both baring their sharp teeth. Syney backed away from them but couldn't help watching intently.

The panther finally started to attack, slashing with his long claws. Blood seeped onto the wolf's fur, and it staggered a bit, giving the panther a clear shot to attack.

Fear welled up in Syney. She had seen some freaky stuff that day, but she knew beyond a doubt whose side she was on in this fight. She felt something buried inside her, something almost primal. As the panther leapt for his attack, Syney held up her hands and yelled, "No!"

The energy building inside her poured out of her hands in the form of purple lightning, which struck the panther in midair. The lightning circled him, and he let out a frightening cry of pain before falling helplessly to the ground.

Syney stared at her hands. They seemed normal—although purple lightning wasn't so normal. She breathed heavily, the sound of her breath echoing in her own ears. She looked down at the panther's lifeless body. She had done that. How had she done that?