Drawing Bloodlines (36 page)

“Don’t answer that,” said a familiar voice. “You don’t owe this man anything.”

“LaDonda!” shouted Nathan, sounding relieved and surprised. She continued to walk toward them; another blue energy ball perched in her hand. She had emerged from the same dark passageway from which Jordan and the others had appeared, earlier.

“Ah–ah–aaah, Charles,” said LaDonda. She pointed the energy ball at him and then at Titus. “Don’t you even think about moving. Come on, Leah. Come from over there.”

“LaDonda, LaDonda, LaDonda,” repeated Charles, playfully. They both watched as Leah successfully made her way over to them. “I would say I’m surprised to see you, but we both know when there’s any talk about the Firewalker, you’re never too far behind.”

“I didn’t come all the way to London to hear your no
nsense, Charles,” said LaDonda. “Nor am I going to get into why you’re holding these children hostage. But what you will do is hand over the phone that you took from them, and we won’t have to address this with the High Council.”

“Well, look, it’s Master Percy,” said Charles, looking at the tall dark-haired man with oval glasses. He stepped out of the same passag
eway and, to everyone’s surprise, Jonathan hobbled out with him. “I’m sure it’s just a fancy coincidence running into you tonight. Just taking a midnight stroll through the maze, are you?”

“
Charles!” shouted Master Percy. “What is the meaning of all of this?” He helped Jonathan over to Nathan and the rest of them, and then stood close to LaDonda. “LaDonda said you’re holding property of theirs? And who authorized Liz and her line to attack these kids today?”

“Well, first of all,” said Charles. He paused. Monique and Jordan were back on their feet and he quickly gestured for Titus to put his sword away. “First of all … we are dealing with a matter of trespassing….”

“Trespassing?” blurted Nathan. “You’ve got to be kidding me! All the trespassing they have been doing? Breaking into offices, private homes, and not to mention, assault, battery, and the list goes on.”

“You both know very well there are rules!” shouted Charles. Master Percy and LaDonda drew quiet. “And I know it’s been a long time for you LaDonda, but as a former member of the Vanguard, I’m sure you r
emember there are rules.” There was a slight grin on his face as if, internally, he reveled in the sudden silence. “Only skilled members of the Order, with direct supervision and permission, are allowed inside the maze. They’re not even members, and they’re not even permitted on the grounds!”

“Everyone out here is connected to the Order in some way,” said LaDonda. “Whether it is through bloodline, or through a family member that
has directly served the Order.”

LaDonda paused to look at all the faces looking back at her. She appeared to lose some composure after she
saw Lafonda.

“And even if they didn’t,” she continued, after taking a deep breath. “It is quite clear they’ve all performed some form of Pneuma Novo skillfully today. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have made it this far into the maze or, from the way I see it, effectively handled your Vanguard.” She looked back at Nathan, Leah, Jonathan, and Malick. She smiled. “They belong here just as much as anybody, and if you still differ, you know we can take this to the High Council
.”

“LaDonda, LaDonda,” repeated Charles with a patroni
zing grin. “As Grandmaster, violations of this nature are left up for me to judicially handle on my own. Oh, but I wouldn’t expect you to know anything about that, since no one in the Devaro bloodline has ever served as Grandmaster.”

“What about Liz?” shouted Monique. Her face softened for the first time, since hearing of the accusation.

“And what about my brother? He practically mutilated him,” said Jordan, through gritted teeth. His eyes appeared to tremble as he stared at Nathan. “Ms. Pam wasn’t even sure she could completely heal him. She said he might be scarred for life!”

“From what I understand,” said LaDonda, pausing, no
nverbally confirming with Jonathan. “Liz was supposedly operating under orders to attack Dr. Helmsley and Dr. Colvers, to do whatever was necessary to prevent them from finishing their research. Which happens to be on the phone they took.” She checked with Master Percy before zeroing in on Charles again. “And since none of the Masters seem to know anything about these orders … I have no other choice but to conclude that these orders came from you, Grandmaster — the commander-in-chief over the Vanguard.”

“Oh, LaDonda,” said Charles with a sigh. “Are you using your powers again?” He paused to make sure the collar to his dark gray pea coat was still flipped up, and then strode haughtily in front of the commemor
ative statue. “I thought you would have learned, from the last time you bought accusations against me, that your Dream Walker abilities aren’t quite reliable.”

“I don’t need to be a Dream Walker in order to see the trail of lies and deceit that you leave behin
d in your wake,” said LaDonda.

“It sounds like to me, you really are itching to have a trial again, LaDonda,” said Charles, boisterously. “Because acc
usations of this nature, especially ones brought against the Grandmaster, would have to go before the High Council.”

“I’m not accusing you of anything,” r
esponded LaDonda, defensively. For the first time, she appeared nervous. “I’m just stating the obvious….”

“Well, after all these years, I’m sure now that you have a family, and after everything that has happened, you don’t want to repeat the past,” said Charles with a sly grin. “Nor do you want to bring more shame to your family.” He turned to look at Malick and Lafonda. “You know, if it turns out once again you have presented more false alleg
ations.”

LaDonda followed his gaze, allowing her eyes to settle on Lafonda. She remained s
ilent.

“Therefore, as Grandmaster of the Order, since these are not official accusations and just your opinions,” announced Charles, triumphantly. “I will take note of your observ
ations and, exercising my judicial discretion, will choose, based on my findings, whether or not to conduct an investigation. And, until further notice, the circumstances surrounding Liz’s death, this business about the seizure of the cell phone, and the alleged attacks, will remain confidential. They have now become the official business of the Order.”

“What?” blurted Nathan. He turned to look at Jonathan, his eyes pleading with LaDo
nda.

“And, since you are no longer a member of the Order,” continued Charles, “it looks like we are done here. But this should be easy for you, LaDonda. You’re used to leaving, or should I say walking away, af
ter you’ve stirred things up.”

“What’s going to happen to Jonathan’s cell phone? All of his research?” demanded N
athan.

“That’s now confidential, Nathan Urye,” said Charles. He eyed LaDonda and then smirked. “Only privileged to certain me
mbers of the Order … now if you would excuse me, it’s extremely late, and I trust you can find the exit.” He pointed to the dark passageway. “The same way you made it in, is the only way out.”

Nathan looked desperately at LaDonda again, but her head hung
down low. She shook her head.

“Come on, Stephen — or Malick,” said Charles. “I don’t know why you insist on g
oing by the family name. I guess it could be worse, or something damaging to the family.” He headed toward them and then shrugged. “Hand the girl over to Master Percy. He’s apparently familiar with LaDonda. Let him carry her out.”

There was a sad look in Malick’s eyes as he looked down at Lafonda. He the
n walked over to Master Percy.

“What!” shouted Nathan. “U–
uh, Malick, what are you doing?”

“I’m sorry, Nathan,” he said, gently placing Lafonda into Master Percy’s arms. He moved a lock of hair from her face before walki
ng away. “He’s my grandfather.”

“Blood is always thicker than friends, and blood is fam
ily,” said Charles to Nathan. He paused, as he appeared to remember something. “My grandfather taught me that.”

“Now, go run along and catch up with Monique and the others,” said Charles to Malick. “I’m sure you’ll have a hell of a time trying to soothe things over with her, which is quite understandable, considering the ci
rcumstances.” He then leaned in close to LaDonda and whispered. “Who’s going to believe all your fear-mongering about me, and the Firewalker bloodline, now that my own grandson is a Firewalker.”

* * *

That looks like a rabbit
, Nathan thought.
And that, definitely, could be a woman’s face, maybe
….

Nathan continued to stare at the wisp of clouds that passed by, down below. He had hoped his mind would po
nder elsewhere if he concentrated intently on something else. Even if it was just imagining images and shapes in clouds, outside of an airplane window.

I can’t stop worrying about her
, he thought with a sigh.
I can’t stop thinking about Lafonda
.

There was a sudden jolt in the airplane, causing him to sit back in his chair. He then turned to check on Leah, but she was still fast asleep.

Nathan unfastened his seat beat and carefully pulled his arm across himself, to stretch his shoulder. After the maze, Angela had healed him and Jonathan upon returning to Black Manor.

Besides the stiffness in Nathan’s arm, and the crack in Jonathan’s glasses, everyone was a
lmost back to normal. Everyone except for Lafonda.

Damn it, Lafonda
! He thought, angrily. Without thinking, he punched the back of the seat in front of him. Alan, who appeared confused, turned around.

“Sorry,” said Nathan, apologetically. Alan just looked at him with a blank stare, before retur
ning his attention back to his cell phone.

Still feeling frustrated, Nathan allowed his head and body to fall back, hard against his chair.
Why does she always have to tag along
? He complained to himself.
Why does she always have to be right in the thick of things, in harm’s way … helping me, protecting me?

If it wasn’t for LaDonda forcing us on a plane back to Cahokia Falls, insisting that we return for school, I would still be there.
He tilted his head toward the aisle, closer to Leah, so that he could catch a glimpse of Angela’s seat across the way.
Apparently, except for Malick, I know we would all still be there … I can’t believe he left us.

There was a jolt in the airplane again, causing him to sit back into his seat.
At least Jonathan is still there
, he thought.
Even though he would also have to start classes … he would still be there. And hopefully, together with his father, they can figure out what Malick was talking about, and free Lafonda without actually hurting her.

Nathan looked around the plane and noticed that only four of the seven that had traveled with him to London were returning. Even though Alan and Angela returned with him, it felt like it was just him and Leah. For whatever reason, they weren’t talking to each other.

Well, at least we got everyone cloaked
, he thought to himself. He checked his pocket for the items he had cloaked at Madam Esmeralda’s.
And soon, Jonas and Bobby will too
.

He felt movement next to him. “Hi,” said Leah, groggily. She yawned, sitting upright in her chair. “Sorry, I must’ve fallen asleep.” She wiped her eyes and then pointed teasin
gly at Angela and Alan. “Looks like the Fwoobies are pretty much divided on the return trip. Angela said that after she told LaDonda where to find us, Alan just started acting weird.”

“Fwoobies?” he asked, appearing confused. He suddenly grinned. “Oh yea
h … friends of the Firewalker.”

“Not according to Alan,” whispered Leah with a grin. “More like his groupies.” She reached into her pocket, pul
ling out her cell phone.

“The Fwoobies,” mumbled Nathan. He thought about his friends and then about Angela, Lafonda and Jonathan’s abil
ities. “And he will be known by those around him; the healer, protector, teacher, traveler, and guide.”

“Wh
at?” asked Leah.

“Oh, nothing,” said Nathan, shaking his head. “Just some
thing Jonathan said to me.”

Nathan turned to look out the airplane wi
ndow again, but his pants’ leg vibrated. He reached into his pocket to retrieve his cell phone and it was a text message from Jonas.

OMG! Hurry home, Nathan.

Something just happened.

Chief Rosales called…

And now, Roy and Argus are acting strange.

They’re freaking me out!

“Leah,” said Nathan, nudging her. She immediately turned to look at him. “I just got a weird text message from Jonas.”

“
W–what did it say?” she asked.

Suddenly, Leah’s cell phone vibrated in her hand. As she looked down to see who it was, there was a long and loud buzzing sound coming f
rom the seat in front of them.