Drawing Bloodlines (19 page)

“Then maybe you shouldn’t leave me alone,” grumbled Alan, his eyebrows r
aised. Angela rolled her eyes.

Dr. Devaro continued to sit quietly and hesita
ted to speak a couple of times before connecting with the faces around the room. “So, I’m assuming since you know about the Order,” he said, after clearing his throat. “That you’ve been talking to Roy and LaDonda….”

“Roy and Argus, yes,” said Nathan, defiantly. “But L
aDonda … not so much.” He folded his arms across his chest. “Oh, and if you were wondering, I finally got the memo.”

Dr. Devaro looked confused and Nathan sighed. “That Roy and Argus are brothers!” he snapped. He turned to look into the shocked faces of the group. “Yeah, just before we left they dropped that bomb on me, and Argus co
nfirmed he and my mother were members of the Order.” He diverted his eyes toward the window as Angela tried to prevent Alan from sending out a text about them being brothers on his cell phone. “Yeah, 19 years later. But I finally got it.”

“Look,” said Avery, sympathetically. “There are just a lot of things going on that you kids don’t know about or unde
rstand yet.”

“Oh,” said Nathan, rebelliously. “Then enlighten us. B
ecause if I can handle learning about this….” He quickly produced another fireball and then swiftly closed his hand again. It left behind a trail of blue smoke. “I’m pretty sure I can handle whatever else you throw at me.”

“Umm, can you stop doing that!” whispered Malick in Nathan’s ear. He faked a chuckle and gave a weak smile to everyone. “We don’t know if, in fact, that thing in your pocket is keeping you cloaked.”

Dr. Devaro nodded supportively. “I believe you, Nathan,” he said. “And please believe me that I would if I could, however, I’m really not the one that should be answering your questions.”

“Then who,
Dad?” pleaded Lafonda. “We deserve answers.”

He placed a gentle hand on Lafonda’s shoulder. “The abilities — the powers — they skipped over a lot of us,” he said. “I have no abilities to speak of so, when it comes to that world, I really don’t have the knowledge to speak about it.” His brown eyes searched to connect with hers. “After your grandfather died, I distanced m
yself away from all of this, to have a normal life. And I hoped and prayed that this part of our family — our legacy — would skip over you too.”

Lafonda stood up and Avery’s hand slipped to his side. “So, just like Roy, you’re basically sa
ying I need to talk to my grandmother.”

“Apparently,” mumbled Alan, “
because that theme has been on repeat.”

“Yes,” said Avery, reluctantly. “Regardless of my wis
hes, she always maintained that you two would have gifts. I guess she always knew.” He looked out toward the hallway. “And about Jonathan.”

“Jonathan?” blurted Lafonda. The crease between her eyebrows started to
frown.

“Wait,” said Nathan, his eyes connecting with Malick. “Are you saying t
hat LaDonda is a Dream Walker?”

“What!”
yelled Lafonda. She looked desperately at her father. “Is my grandmother a member of the Order?” She turned to look at Malick and then shook her head. “She can’t be. I know my grandmother.”

“I’m sorry, Lafonda … but I’m not the one that should be answering those questions,” he said. He paused. “And I’ve already said enough as it is — and if what my mother has seen is true — then it’s imperative that you talk to her. All of you.”

“Wait a minute, all of us?” said Alan. “Because, I’m not with them. I don’t have any powers.”

Lafonda stopped to glare at him and then sighed. “And what about the prophecy?” she said, after taking a deep breath.

Dr. Devaro froze and then inquisitively looked over his glasses. “What prophecy?” he asked.

“You know,” said Alan. He rolled his eyes. “The classic good versus evil stuff — he will emerge to do some stuff to defeat the forces of evil — it’s basically talking about N
athan and that fire thing we saw him do.”

Nathan and Angela frowned. “It’s a prophecy that was told by the Cahokia American Indians called the Legend of the Firewalker,” said N
athan. “Jonathan discovered it while studying hieroglyphs in the Cahokia Caves.”

He paused to look at his friends. “We think that’s why they attacked
today, to stop Dr. Colvers from deciphering the rest of the symbols.”

Dr. Devaro fell quiet and had a pensive look on his face. “Who attacked today?”
he asked.

Nathan and Lafonda turned to look at each other. “The Order,” they replied in unison.

“The Order?” said Avery, sounding surprised. “Are you sure about that?”

His eyes probed the face of his daughter and she eagerly nodded. “And the caves … are you sure you’re not talking about the Legend of the Fal
len Ones?”

“Yes, we’re positive,” said Lafonda. There was a helpless plea in her voice. “Now do you unde
rstand why I want to know my grandmother’s involvement with the Order?” She glanced over at Malick again. “I want to prove that she is in no way connected to these attacks.”

“And the person that attacked us tonight dropped this,” said Nathan. He fumbled through his pocket, passing over the smooth c
ylindrical object, to pull out the gold chain and charm that was in the shape of the Firewalker symbol. “We know that it’s the symbol for the Order, but we also know that it’s the Cahokia Indian symbol for Firewalker.”

Alan walked over toward the busted window and appr
ehensively peered out of it before glancing nervously at the door. “And this isn’t the first time they’ve attacked us over these symbols — this prophecy,” said Alan. “They’ve already put Dr. Helmsley in a coma and Dr. Colvers is lying downstairs incapacitated.” Dramatically, he pointed at Sakiya Lee. “And his intern is all shaken up after she was practically man-handled for her flash drive … and Jonathan still has pictures of the symbols on his phone!”

Dr. Devaro suddenly sprung to his feet. “Then we prob
ably should leave here immediately.” He paused to look around his disordered office and noticed the smashed hard drive. “Where’s Jonathan’s phone?”

“Right here!” said Jonathan, wearily, stumbling into the room. He had a huge knot on his for
ehead.

Leah stood behind him with a huge pile of papers in her arms. “I took the liberty of picking up the papers from the hallway,” she said. She shrugged. “They’ll be fewer que
stions from people if there isn’t a mess.”

“Perfect!” said Avery and Nathan smiled. “Place those here, in the office, and I’ll lock the door.” He turned to a
ddress the group after glancing at his watch. “The hallways will be filling up with faculty and students soon. We need to go somewhere safe, and we’ll need to grab Dr. Colvers.”

“We can go to Black Manor,” said Jonathan, after secu
ring his phone back into his pocket. “We should have the entire place to ourselves. My parents are away on sabbatical.”

“Not exactly,” said Avery. “I just dropped your father off from the airport on the way here.” Jonathan’s pale comple
xion went snow white and Alan appeared to take delight in his sudden discomfort. “But we should go there,” continued Avery, with a nod. “I’m sure Gregory would want to hear about these new symbols.” He turned to look at Lafonda. “And if my memory serves me correctly, so will your grandmother.” He smiled, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. “I can guarantee you that your grandmother had nothing to do with these attacks and that she loves you and Nathan dearly.”

“It’s the same way Roy and Argus reacted,” whispered Nathan to Malick. “Why does ever
yone feel that LaDonda will want to know about the prophecy?”

“Nathan,” called Dr. Devaro, and Nathan a
bruptly pulled away from Malick. “You and your friend….”

Quickly, Malick fixed his posture. “U–hh, it’s Malick, Mr. Devaro,” he said. “I–I mean, Dr. Devaro.”

Dr. Devaro eyed him suspiciously over his glasses and then nodded. “Malick,” he repeated, softly to himself. “So, Malick, how about you and Nathan grab Dr. Colvers, and meet us downstairs, in the back of the building.”

“Oh crap!” blurted Angela. She sprinted t
oward the door. “Our bags — we left them in the cab!”

Alan’s blue eyes suddenly became large as sa
ucers again. “You think they’re still there?”

“I hope so,” she said, stopping for a second to turn around. “We’ll meet you in the back, Dr. Devaro.” She waved hurriedly. “Alan, come on!”

“Sakiya!” called Avery, suddenly, and she almost toppled from her seat. “For the meantime, you should come with us … just to be safe.” Sakiya Lee appeared startled, but eventually nodded.

Everyone proceeded to follow Dr. Devaro out into the hallway. Malick and Nathan darted toward the staircase as Dr. Devaro locked his office door. “I’d better let Roy and LaDonda know where you two are b
efore they panic, if they haven’t already,” he said. He pulled out his cell phone as they swiftly headed toward the staircase. With one eyebrow cocked over his brown speckled glasses, his eyes connected with Lafonda. “And then I’ll be calling your mother.”

12

BLACK MANOR

“It really is beautiful here, Lafonda,” Nathan heard Angela say. His eyes were still closed, as he lay motionless on the plush upholstered sofa. “I really hope your mom lets you join us.” Nathan could hear Angela getting closer to him as her flip-flops smacked against the sweeping wooden staircase and then across the hardwood floors.

Nathan continued to keep his eyes shut up until the last second, until he was sure Angela was hovering directly over him. “Nope,” she said, staring down at him. Groggily, N
athan’s brown eyes met hers. “He’s awake.”

Angela pulled her ear away from the phone and whi
spered. “Lafonda wants you to wake up pronto,” she said. From his point of view, all Nathan could see was the ornate white ceiling and Angela’s face as she paused to look around the room. “Her mom is talking about putting all of us on the earliest flight possible back to Cahokia Falls, but she’s trying to convince her to allow Alan to book the tickets to buy us some time.”

“Uhh, can you not stand over me like that?” he said, m
otioning with a swift wave of his hand for her to move.

Angela continued to look down at him, and then frowned. “Get up!” she said in an aggressive whisper. “Today might be our only chance to sneak away and get cloaked.”

“Sneak away?” said Nathan, sitting up. He attempted to turn around to address her, but he abruptly stopped because of the pain in his neck. He immediately attributed it to sleeping on the sofa. “Doesn’t she understand the point of us coming here?” he said, rubbing his neck. “This wasn’t some teenage rebellious excursion — our lives are in danger!”

“She knows all that,” said Angela, quickly walking around the sofa to stand in front of him. She paused only to frown again. She had a horrified look on her face as she stared at Nathan’s discombobulated hair. “Mrs. Devaro doesn’t want us doing anything until we talk to LaDonda first.”

“What does talking to LaDonda have to do with getting us cloaked?” groaned Nathan. He paused to look up at the large oil painting that sat above the majestic reddish-brown fireplace that was in front of him. The little blonde-haired girl in the painting, dressed in an all-white dress with short ruffled sleeves at her shoulders, appeared to sit happily in a field of green and brown prairie grass. Nathan thought her brown eyes were painted beautifully. The three intricate carvings that adorned the face of the fireplace, below the painting, equally captivated him. He squinted as he examined the two large white statues that appeared to guard it on opposite ends, on top of the mantel.

Loudly, Angela cleared her throat. “Umm, Earth to N
athan?” she said. Immediately, Nathan blinked his eyes, breaking his gaze. Angela sighed and then mumbled underneath her breath. “Now, I know what Lafonda is talking about.…”

“Look,” said Nathan, abruptly, after catching wind of what was said. “We’re here already. It makes no sense to not just go over there.…”

Robustly, Angela nodded her head, causing her blonde curly locks to bounce freely on her shoulders. “Lafonda said that her mother doesn’t want us to go anywhere near that shop, and any cloaking that needs to be done will come from her grandmother.”

“And … where is LaDonda?” asked Nathan, mockingly. He continued to eye the two white statues and the three car
vings between them. Nathan thought the three carvings appeared to be three different scenes, or pictures involving the same man. He also thought it was odd that the statue on his left looked like a plain well-dressed man while its counterpart on the far right was everything but simple; including the decorative breastplate he wore and the brazen sword in his right hand. “Has anybody even heard from her?”

Angela had a blank look on her face and N
athan frowned angrily, turning his attention to the blackened walls of the fireplace. He thought about his not-so-pleasant phone conversation with Roy after he found out from Avery that he and the others had snuck away to London. Nathan recalled how upset he was when Roy accused him of being reckless and irresponsible with his life, and with the lives of others. “I’m sorry, but I’m not waiting on LaDonda,” he said, slowly, and with resolve. “They did what they thought they needed to do to protect us, but keeping us in the dark isn’t going to work now.” He looked down at his hands and then turned to look at Angela. “The genie is out of the bottle. They had their turn. Now I’m taking responsibility for my own life.”

“Look,” said Angela, trying not to stare at his hair. “I agree with you. Lafonda agrees with you.” She switched her phone to another ear and quickly retrieved her purple hai
rbrush from the small handbag that lay across her hip. “That’s why Lafonda wants you to get up, so we can leave now.” She handed him the hairbrush. “But first, we’re going to at least try to convince Dr. Devaro to let us do some shopping before they force us to leave. If they want us to leave everything up to them, and carry on as if nothing is wrong, then they’re going to have to allow us to be normal teenagers. And what’s more normal for a teenager than doing a little shopping?” She watched as Nathan made faces while eyeing the hairbrush. “And if that doesn’t work, we’ll just have to leave. We’ll sneak out anyway.”

There was a brief silence as Nathan wiped his eyes, still holding Angela’s purple hairbrush in his hand. He then looked at her skeptically while mentally going over what she said in his head. Angela shrugged. “Well, at least that’s the plan,” she said. She stopped to listen intently on the phone and then gestured with her head. “Does your hair always stick up like that after you wake up?”

Suddenly, a burst of laughter could be heard from Angela’s phone. Soon, Nathan’s cheeks became a bright red as he tried to flatten his hair down with his hand. “Whatever, Angela,” he grumbled, handing back her hairbrush. She frowned after examining his effort to fix his hair. Frustrated, Nathan decided to abandon his beauty endeavor. “What does this have to do with us getting cloaked? And I’m talking about the part about the shopping … not my hair.”

Angela’s blue eyes appeared to have an extra sparkle to them. “While we’re shopping,” she said, with a smile. “You and Malick can sneak away to that shop to get you guys cloaked.”

“You mean tell another lie,” said Nathan, grudgingly. “I’m tired of all the secrets, Angela.…”

“Not another lie,” she interrupted. There was an upbeat cheeriness to her voice. “The place you want to go to is a store isn’t it?” She winked. “Then, you’re going shopping.”

“Oh, okay,” said Nathan, sarcastically. He turned around after he heard something rattle behind him. Jonathan had entered through the double wood-paneled glass doors that connected the main house to the conservatory.

Energetically, Jonathan strutted toward them, stopping in front of the enormous stained-glass window that took up most of the wall to N
athan’s side. “So, is he on board with the plan?” asked Jonathan.

Angela turned to look at Nathan and then a smug look formed on her face as she nodded. “Yup, he’s on board,” she said, walking away. “Yes, I’m still here, Lafonda — just convince her. We’re not coming all the way to London to end up going shopping without you.”

Nathan and Jonathan watched as Angela made her way across the room and through the conservatory doors. The sound of her flip-flops trailed behind her. “So,” said Jonathan, taking a seat on the arm of the couch. Nathan noticed Jonathan seemed more relax than he normally did. “I trust you slept well.”

Nathan turned to look up at Jonathan and then paused to massage the back of his neck. “Yeah,” he said, with a slight chuckle. “I didn’t sleep at all on the flight over.”

“The last time I saw you awake,” said Jonathan. “You were on the phone with your grandfather, and when I came back you were asleep on the couch.” There was a brief silence. “And based on Lafonda’s mother’s reaction, I’m assuming it didn’t go so well.”

Slowly, Nathan shook his head. “Not well at all,” he said. “All I know is that I tried to make the right decision
that was best for everyone.”

“Sounds like the makings of a good leader,” said Jon
athan with a smile.

Nathan rolled his eyes and then slightly frowned. “Well, I’m definitely no leader,” he said. He paused. “Well, rather, I know I’m n
ot choosing to be one, anyway.”

Nathan lowered his eyes again, continuing to rub his neck. “Leadership is a choice,” said Jonathan. Quickly, N
athan turned to look back at him, but he looked confused. There was a brief moment of silence and Jonathan paused to reposition his glasses before speaking. “Some would argue that leadership is a choice not a position. We learned about it at Leadership camp.”

“Oh, is that so?” said Nathan, with a grin. “Now, I wo
nder why I was ever under the impression that you weren’t actually at Leadership camp.” He laughed. “Hmm, maybe Erin Rosales has something to do with that.”

Suddenly, there was a hint of redness in Jonathan’s cheeks. “So,” he said, with a huge smile. He drew a deep breath and then nodded. “You think it will work?”

“What will work?” asked Nathan.

Jonathan repositioned the glasses on his nose again b
efore speaking. “The plan to get you guys out of here and over to that shop,” he said. He smiled. “Preferably, I would like to oversee this myself, but Malick insisted you two go alone.” He paused, following Nathan’s gaze over to the fireplace. “Did Malick happen to mention where you guys are going, or who it is you’re supposed to be seeing?”

“No, he didn’t,” answered Nathan, slowly. He was still in awe of the three intricate carvings that adorned the face of the fireplace and the two large white statutes on top of the mantel. Briefly, he turned to look at Jonathan, and then around the room. “As long as Angela and Lafonda can co
nvince Dr. Devaro, we should be good to go. By the way, why does everything in this house seem so big … and over the top?”

A big smile washed across Jonathan’s face as he stood up. “That’s Grandpa Black for you,” he said. He looked around the room and then stretched out his arms in the sp
acious room. “Welcome to Black Manor, Nathan.”

Nathan followed Jonathan’s lead and scanned the room. He paid special attention to the two floor-to-ceiling bookca
ses that framed both sides of the fireplace. He also took note of the plush couches and the elaborately patterned loveseats that seemed to dot every corner of the room. “It sure is fancy in here,” said Nathan.

“A little bit of new and old. Quite eclectic.” said Jon
athan. He continued to look around the room.

“Well, I love that it looks lived in,” said Nathan. “Unlike the front living room of the Devaro Mansion.”

He smiled. “It didn’t always look like this,” said Jonathan. There was an extra spring to his step as he headed over to the fireplace. “According to my dad, Grandpa Black purchased this place years ago during an estate auction. Supposedly, he got a great deal too.” He paused, pointing to the space above the fireplace. “A lot of the existing furniture came with the place, including that painting.” Jonathan grew silent. “Dad continued to restore Black Manor after my grandfather passed away.”

“Oh, I’m … sorry for your loss,” said Nathan, sympathe
tically. He looked around the room again. “It really does have a cozy feeling in here.”

“Thanks,” said Jonathan, somberly. There was a pensive look upon his face, but then suddenly he forced a smile. “We still don’t know who all this stuff used to belong to.”

“Doesn’t your dad know?” asked Nathan, sounding surprised. “Who used to own the house, before your grandfather?”

Jonathan’s light blue eyes continued to look pensive b
eneath his dark-rimmed glasses. “I don’t know. And my dad said he doesn’t know either,” said Jonathan. “I offered to start looking into the place — you know, a little light research — but Dad told me not to, that we would have enough time to do that later.” He shrugged. “I don’t know, even though it’s been several years, maybe my father’s just not ready to deal with it.”

Jonathan caught Nathan gazing at the painting and the fireplace again. “But what I do know,” he said
, “is that these carvings on the front of the fireplace are not uncommon for early 19
th
century fireplaces.” He paused to push his glasses back up his nose and smiled. “See, 19
th
century English fireplaces are taller and shallower than their French counterparts … and often feature depictions of finely carved urns, or animals, or classical scenes to the frieze.” There was a certain level of excitement in his voice. “And the majority of the Parthenon frieze can be found right here at the British Museum in London.”

“The what?” asked Nathan. The space between his ey
ebrows was scrunched together, and he had a confused look on his face.

“The Parthenon frieze,” said Jonathan with a grin. N
athan’s face frowned and he still appeared confused. “Never mind,” said Jonathan with a laugh. “Usually the carvings depict a scene or part of a narrative. They tell a story.”

“Story?” said Nathan, half rolling his eyes. “Tell me, what’s this story?” Facetiously, he pointed in the direction of the right statue. “Let me guess, boring guy, in boring clothes, finally gets the courage to seek revenge and grabs sword.…”

“Yes, it is a little out of the ordinary,” laughed Jonathan. He squatted to get a closer look and then adjusted his glasses. “If I had to speculate, I would say the frieze or the carvings here were depicting a story — a story about a journey.”