Kilenya Series Books One, Two, and Three (39 page)

“Stupid—couldn’t play basketball during lunch.”

“I’m sorry, dear. Did you get the chance to talk to Coach Birmingham?”

He grabbed a pear from the fruit bowl on the counter and took a huge bite. “No,” he said, slurping the juice.

“Well, he and Anne haven’t been over for dinner since school ended, so your dad and I thought we’d invite them over tonight.” She folded the newspaper. “You can talk to him then.”

“Great! When will they be here?”

“Around seven.”

Jacob hopped off the stool, picked up his backpack from the living room, then took the stairs two at a time to his bedroom.

His mom called up the stairs. “Jacob? Would you ask Matt to drive to Ida Mae’s and pick up Amberly? Ida Mae is having problems with her diabetes again, and Amberly’s over there playing.”

Jacob banged on Matt’s door. “Go get Amberly from Ida Mae’s. Mom said.”

Matt opened his door and went down the stairs, saying something about a level he was about to beat and wanting to get back soon.

Jacob sat on his bed. He was debating whether to shoot a few hoops before Coach came when he noticed Aloren’s bag on the desk across from him. He’d put it far from his mind. Thinking about Aloren frustrated him too much. It was just so upsetting that the Makalos wouldn’t let him go get her without their permission. Hopefully they’d give it in the meeting that night.

He stared at the bag. Should he open it? He mused over that question for a moment. He only had it in the first place because he forgot to give it back after Aloren had asked him to carry it for her.

No, he shouldn’t touch it. If Aloren was anything like the other girls he’d met, she’d be furious with him. And opening a girl’s bag could be dangerous. Who knew what was kept in it. Girly things, makeup, mirrors, brushes—with hair all over them. Disgusting.

But, if it had something in it—food, for instance—that would spoil, his room would start smelling gross in a day or so. He didn’t want to deal with that.

Jacob heard Matt return—Ida Mae didn’t live far away—and he decided to ask him for backup. He was going to open the bag.

The brothers sat on Jacob’s bed, facing Aloren’s bag.

“I think
you
should open it,” Jacob said.

“Heck, no! She’s
your
friend! You do it.”Matt pulled out his pocket knife. “I’ll stand guard in case something tries to attack you.”

Jacob snorted. “It’s been in my room for several days. Anything living in the bag would’ve escaped or even killed me already, if that’s what it meant to do.” He paused. “I only want to make sure there’s nothing gross in there that needs to be thrown away.”

“Yeah, right. You just need to hold something that smells like her. Admit it!”

“Whatever. That’s stupid.” Jacob leaned forward, his hands surrounding, but not touching, the bag. “Okay, here goes.”

He lifted the flap, careful to stay a full arm’s length away. With one quick motion, he dumped the contents on the desktop.

A moldy, half-eaten apple rolled onto the floor, and Jacob jerked away from it.

Matt doubled over, laughing. “You girl! You scared of an
apple
?”

“Knock it off,” Jacob said, punching Matt’s arm. He couldn’t help but smile too, at his edginess.

He stared at the desk, making sure nothing else was moving, then quickly glanced over the other things that had come out. A wooden comb—at least it didn’t have any hair on it. A silver box. A few strings—probably to tie Aloren’s hair back. An old skeleton key, and a piece of parchment with browned writing on it.

“Okay, nothing here that’s going to rot,” Jacob said, backing away from the items on the desk. He didn’t want to snoop too much.

“Except the apple.”

“Yeah. Good thing we opened the bag.”

A rap at the window alerted them to Early’s presence, and Jacob let her in. Her agitated behavior spoke volumes.

“An emergency?” Jacob asked.

“Yes. Dusts and Molgs are approaching Aldo’s cabin. You must come now to get him. Go to Kenji’s house.”

“Okay.” Jacob glanced at Matt. “Coming?”

“Heck, yeah!”

Jacob briefly considered heading straight to Aldo’s place, but decided against it—there must be special instructions if the Makalos wanted him to go to the village first. He made sure the Key was in his pocket, then called out to their mom as they raced to the front room. “Makalo emergency! We’ll try to be back before Coach comes.”

“Be careful!” his mom called from her study.

Jacob and Matt stepped onto the porch, closing the front door behind them. Jacob turned, fumbling in his pocket for the Key.

Matt eyeballed the door. “This door has a lock. How does it work when there isn’t one?”

“We’ll mess around with it later—don’t have time now.” Jacob thrust the Key into the lock, saying, “Kenji’s house.”

They stepped through the jamb and entered Kenji’s front room.

“Madness” would’ve described what greeted them. Ebony and Kenji were arguing, Kaiya—Akeno’s little sister—was running between everyone, singing loudly, Echo, the baby, was crying in a corner, Brojan was poring over books and maps, talking to an older Makalo man, Jaegar was grabbing things and shoving them in a bag, and Akeno was digging through boxes, tossing stuff out of his way.

“Wow,” Matt said, verbalizing Jacob’s thoughts.

Ebony and Kenji turned when the door shut behind the brothers. “Jacob,” Kenji said. “Another army is on its way to attack Aldo. At least that’s what we’re led to believe—they left Fornchall not long ago and are heading toward his cabin. We’re trying to coordinate things and plan the best way to get him out of there alive, in case that’s where they’re going.”

“Why are they attacking him?” Jacob asked. “What’s the point of that?”

“They must have figured out who—and I’m sure the Lorkon want to interrogate him. That, and they understand how important he is to us.”

“Why not just grab him and run?” Jacob asked.

“See?” Ebony said. “I told you he’d feel that way.”

“No, no, we cannot rush into this,” Brojan said from the table. “There are too many variables, too many unanswered questions. If we could just find what he did to himself to lose his mind . . . This can’t be a permanent situation.” He pulled a book out of a box and flipped through the pages, then handed it to the man with him. “We might be able to put things right and give him the opportunity to defend himself.”

Ebony shook her head in short, abrupt movements. “Not now! Later—when he’s here and safe!”

“If there are any Bald Henries, Jacob requires advance warning,” Kenji said.

“What’s a Bald Henry?” Matt asked.

Brojan ignored Matt’s question and nodded at Kenji. “Besides, Aldo needs to be given the choice.”

“No, he doesn’t,” Ebony said. “Not in this situation, where he can’t even make those decisions!”

Kenji started arguing with Ebony again, Brojan giving his opinion loudly from the table. Jacob and Matt were forgotten momentarily.

“Do you know what a Bald Henry is?” Matt asked Jacob, whispering.

Jacob shook his head. “No, And Makalos are not like this
ever
—usually they’re very calm and rational.”

“Let’s just go. You know where he lives, right?”

“Yeah. Shouldn’t be too hard with the Key, if the army hasn’t arrived yet.”

Jacob nodded, then put the Key in the lock, whispering, “Aldo’s cabin.”

He shut the door behind them, but not before Jaegar dashed through, following the brothers.

Chapter 4. Aldo’s Cabin

“Ow!” Matt said, tripping over a chair near Aldo’s front door.

The inside of the place was dark and dingy. Jacob breathed in a bunch of dust and coughed, hitting his chest to get the dust out.

“Jaegar, can you light up your finger, like Akeno can?” he asked.

“Of course.”

Blue light shone across the walls and sparse furnishings. Aldo wasn’t there, so the group tip-toed into the adjoining room. The sound of snoring came from a lump in the bed, and the boys stood in the doorway, watching the old man sleep.

Jacob frowned. “Maybe we should check outside—figure out how much time we have before the army comes.”

He returned to the front room, Jaegar following. They stepped to a window, and Jacob used his shirt to clear enough of the grime to see out. There wasn’t anything or anyone outside the cabin.

“How do we know the Dusts are coming, anyway?”

Jaegar shook his head. “Don’t know.”

“Okay, I’m going out to check on things. Jaegar, you keep a lookout from here.” It was probably a bad idea to leave the cabin, but he wanted to see how far away the army was.

From the doorframe, Jacob looked in both directions, then dashed to hide behind one of the fruit trees. A slight breeze lifted the hair off his forehead. He glanced back. Jaegar and Matt were both watching from the front steps.

Jacob poked his head around the tree and saw a group of advancing creatures in the distance. Three Molgs, and a ton of Dusts. He ran back into the cabin.

“They’re still really far away, and don’t have Sindons with them. We probably have ten minutes, at least, before they get here.” He pointed to a dirty burlap bag on the table. “Jaegar, how ‘bout you grab whatever you think Aldo will want with him in the village, and Matt and I’ll go get him.”

Jaegar snatched the bag off the table, and Jacob and Matt stepped into the other room.

“Who’s going to wake him up?” Jacob asked. “You?”

“No way, man,” Matt whispered. “You’ve met him before—you do it.”

Jacob grimaced, then shook Aldo’s shoulder. Nothing happened. He shook it again, a little more forcefully. Still no response.

Matt looked at the old man’s body. “Is he dead?”

Jacob leaned over Aldo. “No, he’s breathing. Maybe he’s a heavy sleeper?”

“Amberly’s a heavy sleeper, but she still wakes up when you shake her.”

“I know. Okay, you try.”

Matt grabbed Aldo’s left arm and made an attempt to pull him out of bed. The only result was the old man grumbling something, jerking away from Matt, and curling up in a tight ball. He kept snoring loudly.

“This is ridiculous,” Matt said.

“Aldo!” Jacob said loudly.

Aldo didn’t do anything.

Jacob raised his voice to a yell. “There’s an army coming to your cabin! You need to wake up!”

Aldo mumbled in his sleep and turned over.

Jacob and Matt met eyes. “
What About Bob
style?” Matt asked, referring to a family-favorite movie.

Jacob nodded. He put his knee on the edge of the bed, using his other leg for support, and grabbed the bed frame while Matt put his hands on Aldo’s shoulder. On the count of three, they began yelling Aldo’s name and shaking him and his bed.

Suddenly the old man leaped up, grabbed Jacob’s arms, and pinned them behind his back. Matt stumbled backward, knocking a picture off the wall.

“What was when?” Aldo asked. “What was when?”

“Aldo, it’s me, Jacob. I came a couple of weeks ago with Akeno—Kenji and Ebony’s son.”

“Why was the little blue bird whistling?”

“We got the Key, and now we have to take you back to the Makalo village. There’s a bunch of Dusts and Molgs coming. It’s not safe here anymore.”

Aldo let go of Jacob, who straightened his shirt. The old man was surprisingly strong for having such a wiry frame. Aldo then crossed to Matt, staring him in the eyes. “When did the green hills and grass sing?”

Matt raised his hands to defend himself in case Aldo attacked, but his face showed he was having a hard time not smiling. Jacob glared at Matt before responding to Aldo.

“That’s my brother, Matt.”

“When home’s story is a butterfly, cats walk on flowers.” Aldo glared at Matt, then picked up the picture that had fallen to the floor and tried to get it to stay on the wall. He giggled. “This parchment has met the sky too once!” It wouldn’t stick to the wall, so Aldo attempted to attach it to Matt’s shoulder. “Once was when they stood on toes. Is it not? Yes?” He frowned, peering at Matt, then tried to brush away the freckles on Matt’s face.

Matt’s smile grew as he nudged the old man away. “Hey, knock it off.”

“Whenever you’re here, I’m happy,” Aldo said. He smiled broadly at Matt, showing his messed-up teeth, and put the picture down. “Time to clear the smoke.” He strode from the room, and Matt let out a laugh.

“Wow. He’s
really
crazy.”

“Knock it off,” Jacob said. “It’s not funny.”

Aldo called from the front room. “Try it out for a try. See how it spins. Upside down, side to side. Whee!”

Then Matt really lost it, and Jacob couldn’t hide his grin anymore.

“Okay . . . okay . . .” Matt wiped his eyes. “Time to get him out of here.”

The two brothers walked into the front room, where Jaegar had just finished stuffing things in the bag.

Aldo snatched it from him. “Old women and old men love shoes.” He put the bag under one arm, glaring at Jaegar. “Squirrels are here for the taking.”

The doorknob jiggled.

Jaegar ran to the window. “They’re here!” he said, looking back at Jacob, a panicked expression on his face.