Kilenya Series Books One, Two, and Three (36 page)

A knock sounded on his door, startling him. Matt walked in, holding an MP3 player. He shut the door, grabbed the chair at Jacob’s desk, and sat on it backwards. He leaned over and pushed the MP3 player into Jacob’s hand. “Here.”

“What do you want me to do with it?”

“You fixed the hole in the table—which was freakin’ awesome—and I need you to fix the screen.”

Jacob raised an eyebrow. “It’s cracked. I don’t think I can do anything about that—plastic’s way different.”

“Oh, come on—at least try.”

“All right.” Jacob sat up. “But if I make it worse, don’t blame me.”

“You’re the coolest little brother in the world!”

Jacob snorted, but Matt’s enthusiasm made him smile. He couldn’t help but show off. Having power was incredible. He’d fixed the table, the kitchen doorframe, and his mom’s favorite vase she’d broken months ago but didn’t have the heart to throw away. And to think Jacob hadn’t even known about this ability—making weak things stronger—until he’d gone to Taga Village on Eklaron.

He held his thumb over the screen and felt the hard material warm. He did his best to smooth the blemish, but the plastic clouded over instead. Jacob growled and blew on the device until it had cooled, then put his thumb over it again, re-heating it. The surface became clear—oh, good. But the relief was short lived, because as the plastic cooled, it became wavy
and
clouded.

He gave up, handing the MP3 player back. “I’ve never done plastic before. I’m not sure how it works. Sorry.”

“Oh, well, it was worth a try.”

“How ‘bout I practice on other things for a while?” Why would plastic be different from glass? Then Jacob realized Mom’s vase was white already, so no clouding was visible.

Matt shoved the device in his pocket and took a step toward the doorway, about to leave the room, when a knock sounded at Jacob’s window.

Excitement flashed across Matt’s face. He pointed. “Look! It’s one of the gnats!”

Jacob jumped from his bed and opened the window. A small, wingless creature—a Minya—about two inches tall zoomed into the room. Early looked happy, her white dress and dark green curls streaming as she flitted to Jacob.

“Early!” Jacob said. “It’s great to see you! How are you? How’s Akeno? Is he awake yet?”

“Yes! He’s awake! Come!”

“Awesome!” Jacob shoved his feet in his sneakers. He was so excited to see Akeno. The Makalo had been unconscious and near death last time Jacob had been with him.

“Now!” Early insisted, tugging on Jacob’s shirt.

“Okay, okay! But not through the window. And I’m bringing Matt.”

Early giggled and waved at Jacob’s brother, and Matt punched the air. “All right!”

“We’ll have to sneak out. I doubt Mom and Dad’ll want us to leave.”

The brothers tiptoed down the stairs, but ran into Jacob’s mom as she came around the corner, carrying a laundry basket.

“Where do you two think you’re going?”

“Uh . . .” Jacob’s face flushed. “Back to see the Makalos?”

“No, you are not, young man. You’ve got stuff to do tonight—like mowing the lawn.”

“But Akeno’s awake! I have to go see him!”

Matt nodded eagerly. “Yeah, Mom, and I’ll help Jacob do his chores.”

Mom rounded on Matt, putting down the laundry basket. “You’ve got your own chores to do.”

“We’ll do them together,” Jacob said. “Promise! It’ll go faster.”

She folded her arms, regarding them skeptically. “Fine. But you’d better hurry back.”

Not wanting to wait in case she changed her mind, Jacob and Matt left immediately and hopped the short fence that separated their yard from the forest. Early waited impatiently near the trees.

“Go tell Akeno we’re on our way!” Jacob told her.

Early agreed, and disappeared with a flash of light. She returned only moments later, following the boys, babbling excitedly to Matt about a game she’d played with another Minya earlier.

“And this path leads to some other world?” Matt asked Jacob. “How’d we not figure that out years ago?”

Jacob shrugged. He kept looking at the trees as he and Matt pounded their way down the path. He frowned in concentration. “It was dark when the wolves chased me through here, but we should be close to the entrance now.”

They ran around a corner and came to a part in the forest where the bushes and branches grew closely together. The trail was nearly overgrown. Jacob looked back—Matt was struggling with the underbrush.

“You keeping up?”

“I’m coming as fast as I can. These bushes are murder.”

The distance between Jacob and Matt grew until Jacob, not wanting to lose his brother, had to stop to wait. He wasn’t sure Matt would find the way without help.

But he didn’t catch up. Jacob waited for a moment longer, then backtracked and found his brother stuck in the brush. Working together, they were able to get him loose, but just as soon as he started forward, he got stuck in the growth again.

“What’s going on?” Matt asked. “It’s like the stuff doesn’t want me to get anywhere.”

“Oh, duh!” Jacob smacked his forehead. “The Makalos built this path and made it so the living stuff keeps people from going through the link.” He scanned the air, found Early, then sent her back to the Makalos with a message that Matt was coming too, and to let him through.

Early flitted off again. Moments later, the brush around the brothers pulled away, leaving the trail clear. Relieved, they kept walking.

The trees around them changed from young to old maples, and huge oaks and birch, marking the passage from Earth to Eklaron. The smell of rotting wood assailed Jacob, and he almost closed his eyes in contentment. He’d missed this aroma—it was so good to be back. He chuckled at himself. Only a few days had passed, but to him it had seemed like a lifetime.

“We just entered Eklaron,” he said.

Matt’s eyes grew wide. “Awesome,” he said, almost reverently.

Chapter 2. An Army Coming

Jacob and Matt burst into a clearing where a huge, magnificent tree stretched skyward—leafless, with twisted branches. Canyon walls rose on either side of the clearing, and stone Makalo dwellings were built in crevices in the walls.

It only took a few minutes to reach Akeno’s house. Jacob kept an eye on Matt, appreciating his reaction to their surroundings. Matt kept pointing out different things, his eyes lighting up at all the new stuff to see.

Ebony, a blonde Makalo woman with very dark eyes, opened the door and directed Jacob and Matt to the table, where Akeno sat eating a bowl of soup. Ebony offered the brothers some, which they gladly accepted.

Akeno clapped Jacob on the back, a large smile on his face. “You got us out of the castle.”

Jacob nodded. “Only because you kept your finger lit.” He sat down. “Glad you’re okay.” He ate his soup slowly, his excitement giving way to contentment. Akeno was better, and Matt was with him. If Aloren were there, this scene would be perfect.

“Did they tell you?” he asked Akeno. “Aloren’s still in Maivoryl City.”

“She is? No, they did
not
tell me!” Akeno stared at his mom. “What’s she doing there?”

“Who’s Aloren again?” Matt asked, leaning forward. “Is she hot?”

Jacob rolled his eyes and turned back to Akeno. “I didn’t have a way to bring her without leaving you somewhere. There just wasn’t time, and you would have died.”

“Is she still with Eachan?”

Jacob shook his head. “Don’t know. I hope so.”

Akeno shut his eyes and didn’t say anything for a moment. “What’s being done to get her out?”

Ebony cleared her throat. “We’ll talk about that later.” She motioned to his leg. “Why don’t you show them your wound?”

Akeno lifted his pant leg. “It’s much better. Only hurts a little now.”

Jacob frowned when he saw Akeno’s leg. The wound was still clearly there, pinker than the skin around it, with yellow toward the center. “It’s not completely healed?” He looked at Ebony. “Didn’t you use a very powerful potion?”

Ebony sat at the table. “Yes, but Lorkon wounds aren’t normal. We’re lucky the Fat Lady found a potion which will even help. Kaede Sap does next to nothing. It’ll be a while before Akeno is completely ready for normal life.”

“Just so long as he can help me get Aloren. I hope it won’t take too long.”

“Now, Jacob, what we said a few days ago still holds true, and Akeno probably won’t be able to go at all.”

Akeno looked very disappointed, and Jacob frowned. How fair would it be if the Makalo had to stay behind?

Matt looked up from his soup. “I want to help. When are we going?”

Akeno cleared his throat. It looked like he’d pushed the disappointment aside. “We can’t leave her there.”

Ebony shook her head. “And we won’t.”

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Matt asked, his eyes lighting up. “Sounds like fun! Let’s go now!”

Ebony put her hands on her hips, a stern expression crossing her features. “Listen to me, boys. You won’t be going until we have time to prepare. We need to completely understand what’s going on there before any of us blindly rush in. It would be terrible if you got stuck there as well.”

Jacob shook his head. He met eyes with Akeno—the Makalo looked just as concerned as Jacob felt. Leaving Aloren there was cruel. Especially when they
already
knew what to expect.

Matt finished his soup, his eyes drifting to the pot on the stove. Ebony chuckled and ladled more in his bowl, and Jacob, remembering his own soup, finished it.

Suddenly, the sound of clanging alarm bells sounded through the air. Ebony put the bowl and ladle down and ran and opened the door, making the sound much louder. Kenji raced down the path toward the house, waving at the people inside.

The din from the bells was so loud, Jacob felt as if his head would split, and men and women ran from building to building.

“There’s an army coming.” Kenji pointed to Matt and Jacob. “We need you to come help seal the entrance.”

A harried-looking Makalo rushed into the house. “The reports are correct,” he said to Kenji. “The army will be here in about twenty minutes.”

“Twenty minutes?” Kenji asked. “How’s that possible? They’ve barely left Fornchall!”

“Yes, but they have Sindons.”

Kenji’s eyes widened. “Oh, great.”

“What’s a Sindon?” Matt whispered.

Jacob shrugged, shaking his head. He’d never heard the word before.

Kenji straightened and motioned to the brothers. “Come quickly. We have much to do. I’ll explain on the way.”

He ran down the path and lowered himself over the ledge to the meadow. Jacob and Matt raced to catch up, hurrying down the stone steps. Early flitted through the air, talking to Matt, but he tried to shoo her away. A group was assembling near the path that led to the entrance to Taga. Jacob recognized one of them as a Makalo he’d nicknamed “Butch” when he had first come to the village. Kenji passed the group, yelling at them to follow. He spoke to Jacob as they ran.

“We’ve kept a constant lookout from the tree since you left Taga, searching for any sign that the Lorkon were coming after you. Good thing we did. Not an hour ago, the guard noticed strange activity in Fornchall and alerted Brojan.”

“Who’s Brojan?” Matt asked.

“The head guy—patriarch—over the Makalos,” Jacob said.

The trail wound upward through the thin forest. Kenji’s words came in gasps now. “We feared an attack. The wood planks over the entrance . . . won’t withstand much.”

He stopped talking, probably to focus on hiking, his breathing heavy. After several feet, it looked like the Makalo wouldn’t make it much farther—Jacob had forgotten Kenji’s age. In fact, everyone struggled to continue, except for Butch, who looked excited. Finally, Kenji stopped and bent forward, hands on knees, taking deep breaths.

He pointed at Butch. “You, go. Use . . . Minya. Jacob, mold . . . wood.”

Jacob, Matt, and Butch left the older people behind and raced up the trail in silence. They rounded a large boulder and the forest ended, revealing the entrance.

“We’ve got about ten minutes,” Butch said, pulling at the beams on the entrance. “We have to get rid of the old stuff first.”

Matt and Jacob ran to his side to rip the wood off the tunnel, tossing it over their shoulders.

The Makalo motioned to Jacob. “Do your thing. And hurry.” He then scanned the skies, found Early, and had her report to Brojan.

Jacob frowned. “Uh, what do I—”

Butch waved his hand. “Mold it together, mold it together! Make it into a sheet big enough to cover the entrance.”

Jacob fell to his knees and grabbed the first two pieces of wood. Holding his palm over the crack, he waited for the grain to heat. When that happened, he pushed the edges together. He nearly dropped the board, though, when a bright flash of light burst from the seam, almost blinding him, and the entire board glowed brilliantly in gold and silver.

Butch dropped the wood he held and stared at Jacob. “What’d you do?”

“I—I don’t know,” Jacob said, and grimaced. It would be really bad if he’d ruined things. Was that possible? Were his powers destructive? He hoped not.

“Well, keep going.”

Sweat trickled down Jacob’s back and on his face under the hot August sun. He wiped it off his forehead, glancing through the tunnel to the withered trees on the other side. He dropped his eyes, focusing instead on putting the panels together, while Matt and Butch gathered other bits for him to fuse to the large, growing sheet.

Early returned. “The army stopped. Brojan will tell us when they continue. He said to hurry.” She disappeared.

Kenji and the other Makalos came around the bend, looking exhausted.

“Any. . . sign . . . of the army?” Kenji asked.

“No, sir,” Butch said. “They stopped.”

“Good.” Kenji faced the Makalos behind him. “We need more wood. You three, gather what’s left on the ground and take it to Jacob.” He turned to Matt. “You any good with an ax?”

Matt nodded. “Definitely!”

Kenji pointed to one that was leaning against the canyon wall near the entrance. It looked like it hadn’t been used in years. “Take that, chop up the large pieces—make them as flat and square as you can.” He motioned to a group of Makalos. “You four help him.” Kenji turned, rubbing his shoulder. “I’ll keep watch for the Sindons. We can expect them to continue their advance, and they should be here any minute.”