Kilenya Series Books One, Two, and Three (71 page)

When he reached Aloren, he shoved the thing into her hands. She looked at him skeptically, obviously trying to figure out what he wanted her to do.

He clapped. “This is what happens to shoes in springtime! Sometimes they dance and sing!”

Aloren looked to Jacob for help. “What’s he talking about?”

Jacob sat on the couch, thoroughly enjoying Aloren’s discomfort. “Who knows. Just talk to him.”

“Okay. Uh, Aldo, tell me about this.” She motioned to the paper and grass mess.

“I asked to her dad about it.”

“You asked to her . . . her dad?”

“Sure did not. Winter is true. It’s true!”

“Yes, winter is very t—true.” She turned the thing over. “What is it called?”

“It’s my frustrating break!”

Jacob chuckled. “That’s a great name. ‘Frustrating Break.’”

The Fat Lady took Aldo’s toy from Aloren, shoved it in Aldo’s hands, and motioned for Aloren to sit next to Jacob. “Okay, we’ve got work to do.”

Aldo returned to his corner, sitting cross-legged again, and the others started sorting books and papers.

Some of the books Jacob looked through were written in a form of English not hard to understand. Many of them, however, were in a different language. Aloren was able to read it, so Jacob gave those to her, and he read over the English books.

“I don’t even know what I’m looking for,” Aloren whispered.

“Anything that might make someone go crazy on purpose.” He wasn’t entirely sure either.

After nearly an hour of searching, the Fat Lady suddenly squealed. “I think I’ve found it!” She held out a book Jacob had already discarded as useless. “The mushrooms that grow near Kaith trees are poisonous!”

“Yeah, I saw that.”

“Taken in very small amounts, the poison doesn’t kill the person, but renders their brains nearly useless! And where there’s a poison, there’s a cure!”

“Um . . . I’m not sure how that works,” Jacob said, “and it doesn’t prove that’s what happened to Aldo.”

“No, not the book alone, but when you see what I’ve found here, it does!” She showed them a piece of paper. She’d circled something on it, and Jacob had to hold it up close to his eyes to decipher the scraggly writing.

Fat Lady – remember to stir twice before administering.

Jacob raised an eyebrow. “What does this have to do with anything?”

“First, it was written by Aldo—I know his handwriting. Next, it’s for me, obviously. Third, it’s a remedy. He and I used to discuss the differences in potions and cures. Cures nearly always require an exact number of stirrings. Even numbers, usually.”

“But—”

“Look what it’s written on.”

Jacob inspected the paper, knitting his eyebrows. At first he didn’t notice anything, but then he held the paper up and realized it had a very large, elementary depiction of a mushroom on it—faint enough not to be noticed with a cursory glance. Almost like a watermark. “So . . . this means he poisoned himself with a mushroom?” He still didn’t see how she’d made the connection.

“Yup!” she said. “We can get to work on the cure immediately.” She bent over her papers again. “Keep looking—books that deal with remedies are what we want now.”

“Oh, I’ve got several here,” Aloren said. She handed over a stack.

The Fat Lady fluttered through pages quickly—Jacob wasn’t sure how she was taking anything in at all. Suddenly she squealed again, much louder this time. “This is it! Lots easier to find than I’d expected. And look! I own this one! I wonder why it never occurred to me to go through my own collection.”

She frowned, staring at the shelf opposite her, then glanced at the first page of the book in her hands. “This
is
my book. How’d he get it? And why didn’t I notice it was gone?” She scowled at Aldo. “That wasn’t very smart of you. You know better than to borrow something from me and not return it.”

Jacob laughed. “You didn’t even notice it was gone.”

“Don’t matter.”

Aldo snickered, watching the Fat Lady. Jacob couldn’t tell if the old man laughed at what she’d said, or how she’d done her hair that day. Thin locks were wrapped around her head, not in a braid this time. They looked plastered to her scalp. Not attractive at all.

“Time for you to go home—” She stopped. “I need some of the mushrooms first, though. Take me to Taga Village.”

“Didn’t you say the mushrooms grow around Kaith trees?”

The Fat Lady looked at Jacob like he’d just said the stupidest thing ever. “What do you think that tree in the village
is
?”

He looked down. “Oh.” How was
he
supposed to know what kind it was?

He Keyed there, and he and Aloren followed the Fat Lady around as she inspected the bark.

“Ah-hah!” she said. “Here they are.”

“Those aren’t mushrooms,” Jacob said, recoiling from the huge beetles the Fat Lady stood near.

“Of course they are!”

Jacob bent as close to them as he could without getting within bug-jumping distance. “Are you sure? Looks like a beetle to me.”

“It’s not. See how it attaches itself to the tree?” She pointed.

“Oh, yeah. I see.” It looked like one half—in this case, the left half—of the beetle had been stuck into the wood. The creature-plant-thing didn’t appear to be a living insect. That brought a little relief to him.

“They grow that way. See, over here.” She motioned to a much smaller one.

“Why’s it always growing with the left side of the beetle sucked into the tree?”

“Mushroom, not beetle. And don’t ask dumb questions—”

“That’s not a dumb quest—”

“I need two—no, three of them.” She plucked the ugly mushrooms from the bark, putting them in a cloth bag she’d brought.

Jacob cringed when the “mushrooms” moved inside the bag.

“That’s so
disgusting
,” Aloren said. “I still can’t believe he’d willingly eat one of those.”

Jacob agreed.

The Fat Lady circled to the door. “He just ate the legs, I think.”

Jacob grimaced, not wanting to imagine eating a mushroom with legs. Sick.

Sword-fighting lessons went better that evening than they had the day before. Jacob wasn’t sure why, but he felt like he was better able to concentrate, even though his entire body still ached.

Dad congratulated him, then helped him gain perspective by saying he only had a few more years to go before he’d successfully be able to fight someone who really wanted to kill him.

“I’m sure that when we finally win this war, there won’t be anyone like that left.”

Dad chuckled, gathering the swords, and the two walked to the garage. “We had enemies before the Lorkon came, you know.”

“I don’t hear about them very much.”

“That’s because the worst was my father. And other people feel awkward reminding me of that.”

“What happened to him?”

“Last I heard, he’d killed himself.”

Wow. “Really? That’s awful.”

Dad nodded, pausing by the kitchen door. A dark expression crossed his face. “Yes, well, at least he’s no longer a threat to my people.”

Jacob pondered over this for a while. How would it be to have a father like that? One so evil, you’re relieved he’s not alive anymore? He shook his head, not wanting to follow that train of thought.

Chapter 3. Little Bushes

D
uring lunch on Friday, Jacob groaned inwardly when Tani and Aloren started another conversation about the blond guy from her math class.

“Oh!” Aloren suddenly exclaimed. “He’s coming! What do I do?”

Jacob turned to see who Aloren had been crushing on for the past few days. He nearly spit out the food in his mouth.
Kevin
was walking toward them.

Apparently it shocked Tani too. “Kevin?” she hissed. “Kevin’s the guy?” She looked at Jacob, possibly trying to gauge his reaction. He put on his best poker face.

“Hey, Aloren,” Kevin said. He paused when he saw she was with Jacob. “So . . . are Jacob and Matt your host family?”

Aloren blushed, looking down. She actually blushed! “Sort of. Jacob and I are in many classes together. He’s helping me with my homework.”

“Hmm.” The two guys eyed each other. Jacob tried to mask his frustration and jealousy. He could tell by the swirling colors that Kevin felt the same way, but it didn’t show on his face—apparently he was good at hiding his feelings.

“Mind if I join you?”

Aloren scooted closer to Jacob, patting the spot on the other side of her, before Jacob could tell him to get lost. “Sure. There’s plenty of room.”

Jacob’s mouth popped open and he felt red creep across his face. How could she do that?

Kevin sat and ate his pizza, flirting and talking to Aloren. Tani looked like a third wheel, though she tried to join the conversation wherever possible.

Matt elbowed Jacob. “Competition, huh?” he whispered. “What are you going to do about this?”

Jacob shook his head. “Nothing I can do. She’s been talking about him non-stop.”

“Oh, don’t I know it.”

Sammy leaned forward. “You like Aloren, Jacob?”

Jacob flushed again and was about to answer when Matt cut him off. “Isn’t it obvious?”

“Actually, no, it isn’t,” Sammy said. “I wouldn’t have guessed if you hadn’t said something.”

“Great, Matt. Thanks.” Jacob glared at his brother. “Don’t say anything to anyone else, okay? It’s no one’s business.”

Matt put his hands up. “No worries. I won’t.”

Jacob relaxed—Matt could be trusted, as long as he knew the boundaries.

“So, what are you going to do?” Sammy asked. “You can’t just let Kevin have her.”

“There’s nothing I
can
do,” Jacob said. “I can’t even date until I’m sixteen, let alone have a girlfriend. She doesn’t have to obey my parents’ rules. So, even if I
did
do something, I couldn’t
do
anything.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Matt said.

“Yeah, well, I can’t do anything about that.”

Jacob looked away when Matt rolled his eyes.

Ebony and Akeno were ready and waiting when Jacob, Aloren, and Dad arrived at the tree.

“I’m on a late lunch,” Dad said, “so I’m only here for a moment.” He motioned for everyone to sit. “I’ve got a map of August Township.” He pulled it out and indicated things as he spoke. “First, place doors here, here, and here. Make sure they’re well hidden.”

“That won’t be difficult,” Ebony said.

“How many did Kenji make?”

“Twenty. They’re all here.” She lifted a knapsack. “Shrunk and ready to go.”

“Place one every half mile or so. We’ll want to have as many escape routes as possible.”

She nodded, lowering the bag. “We numbered them so Jacob won’t have a problem figuring out which door to use.”

Dad nodded. “Good. Next, you have to go through the forest before you can get into the city itself. Be extremely careful—the Lorkon don’t use ordinary traps, as we know. I hoped Aldo could give you more instructions. He’s very familiar with the area. Unfortunately, the remedy won’t be ready until tomorrow, so in the meantime, we’re going to learn as much about the place as we can.” He folded the map. “We’ll need one of you to keep a detailed journal of what you find.” Dad held up a small leather book.

“I’ll do that,” Aloren said. “Gallus has me make notes of my trips all the time.”

“Excellent.” Dad handed her the book and the map. “Mark the placement of the doors on the map, and keep it with the journal.” He sighed, running his hand through his hair—what remained of it. “You’ll leave now, or as soon as possible. Check back with us frequently. Oh, and also, which Minya are you taking?”

“Mine,” Aloren said. “And Kenji will use Early, should he need to get in touch with us.”

Dad nodded. “Be safe.” He looked out the window of the tree. “I wish I could go.”

Kenji and Brojan had insisted Dad stay behind—he was too important to Gevkan to put himself in potentially dangerous situations. “Maybe when we get the Shiengols.” He put his hand on Jacob’s shoulder. “Be careful, son. Take care of the group. And the rest of you,” he motioned to the others, “watch over my son.”