Nephilius - A Walker Saga Book 5 (20 page)

“
They
planned to use their blood and power. Each one
of the originals would bleed themselves and their essences into the
walls of the prison, believing they were the only ones strong
enough to ever contain the Seventine.”

“Did they know it was going to end their
existence?” I felt a slow ebb of panic flood my body.

I was starting to wonder if we seven
half-Walkers were going to make it out of this battle alive. Would
it cost us our lives to lock the Seventine away again?

Lucy interrupted him before he could answer.
“What happens if the half-Walker girls do hold the energy of the
seven originals? Are you saying they might have to perform the same
ritual to lock them away?” Her words were coming out in short
bursts. “And it could suck out enough energy that they would cease
to exist.”

I could hear the horror in her voice. She
turned to me. “That can’t happen. I won’t let that happen.”

I didn’t say anything. I wasn’t huge on
self-sacrificing, but the seven of us were not worth more than
every world and its inhabitants. The math was clear on that one. As
much as it pissed me off, the fact was that the sacrifice of a few
to save many made perfect sense.

“I don’t know.” Jedi shook his head. “But at
least now we have more information. This parchment details the
phrases to be spoken and a few different symbols that we must paint
on the prison for the permanent imprisonment. It’s complex and
cannot be performed without all the original seven powers. Because
each one held an element that created a complete prison.”

Another piece of the puzzle. Each of us
half-Walkers held a specialty power, and they definitely worked
together and balanced each other.

“
Walkers
’ powers are built on six
elements. Fire, water, wind, earth, spirit, and shadow. The seventh
was the ...”

“Conduit,” I finished for him.

He didn’t look surprised. “Yes, the seventh
was the one who tied everyone together and combined the power.”

Lucy and I exchanged glances. We had fire,
water, earth, and the conduit. It was starting to look a lot like
we did hold the energy of the originals.

“What else does the scroll say?” I had
noticed Josian step onto the front verandah, and I attempted to
hurry Jedi along.

“
The part
that’s cut off seemed to detail the lives the originals were living
at the beginning of the existence of this star-system. The reason
we were created had to do with forming
and influencing these seven worlds. There were tasks the
originals were working to fulfill. I’m not sure if this happened or
not, because this is the part that’s missing.”

“So this is like a billion years ago?” I was
recalling our last conversation about the convergence. “How is it
that Walkers have existed that long?”

Jedi smiled. “Walkers are reborn over and
over. When they tire they rest for many years and eventually their
energy is regenerated and they emerge as new entities. They have
none of their old memories, except the knowledge that they have
lived before.”

Brace had mentioned that to me.

“Essentially they’re the same Walker, the
same energy. They will always be the same sex, so males are always
males, but their minds are renewed. I think the oldest
intact-memory Walker now would be around ten thousand years.”

“I did notice the older Walkers were a tad
on the … um, how should I say this … crazy train,” Lucy said,
trying not to laugh.

“Time does strange things to a mind,” Jedi
agreed.

“So if a Walker says they’re five hundred
years old,” I said, thinking of Brace. “Would that be all of their
lives or just the current one?”

“
Every
Walker looks at it differently, but generally we refer only
to
the age of our current
life.”

Whoa, so Brace was even older than I’d
thought, in a manner.

“So there are some Walkers who are literally
millions of years old, just recycled, with their minds cleared,” I
said. “How does that work if you’re killed, and how are new babies
born?”

“
If we
release our own energy to be
recycled,
as you say, then we
come back as the same being. If we are killed, the energy scatters
and reforms as new Walkers. It’s hard to understand, but
essentially every new, old and other Walker is formed from energy
that already exists.”

I shook my head. It was so weird to think
about.

Josian was almost upon us now, and he must
have heard the last part of our conversation. “So when I said that
Walkers can create their own energy and make new life, I was kind
of simplifying things.” He said this as he moved in to stand beside
Jedi.

He was much taller than the Gai Walker. We
waited for him to continue.

“We can create new life, but we also recycle
old energy that has been freed. Our babies are a combination of
both.”

“Do you know which it will be when you
decide to have a child?” I couldn’t believe how many things I still
didn’t know about Walkers.

Josian and Jedi shook their heads. “No, the
energy comes to us and it’s beyond our control. The great mother of
all decides who’s blessed with what.”

“So I could most definitely contain the
energy of the original seven?”

“Yes, but only parts of it, because the rest
of their energy holds the walls of the prison,” Josian said.

I had a sudden thought. “Could we free their
energy from the prison? Would they be reborn or reformed?”

The Walker princeps exchanged a glance
before Jedi answered. “Every time the Seventine frees the next of
its brothers, in effect it is freeing the energy of the originals.
By the time they’re all free, the originals’ energy will be free.
But even if they’re reborn, it would be years before they’re any
help.”

I rubbed at my temples. “So that means right
now four of the originals have energy floating around the
star-system. What’s it doing?”

Josian
reached out and slowed my movement. He held my hands to keep them
from rubbing the skin off my f
ace.
“Energy is everywhere, and free energy has one aim in life: to find
a purpose. Their energy will be free until it’s called for
rebirth.”

I wondered if we could somehow find this
energy and use it to reform the prison. That way, the half-Walkers
would not have to die.

“Why are you here, Jedi?” Josian faced his
friend.

The Gai
princeps quickly explained about the parchment he’d found and the
information contained within it. I couldn’t quite tell Josian’s
thoughts on this. He looked a mix of relieved and confused. They
decided to call a princeps
’ meeting the
following night and throw around some ideas.

“I just have to run inside for a moment.” I
had a thought. “Can you wait a moment, Jedi?”

He nodded
and, ignoring Lucy and Josian’s confused looks, I dashed in
to the house. I didn’t see anyone as I ran
through to my room. Retrieving the pixie book from behind my
pillow, I followed the same path back to the beachfront.

Three sets of eyes watched me as I ran up. I
held the book to Jedi. I wasn’t even breathless as I started
talking.

“So Lucy and I freed pixie land, and Queen
Malisna gave me this book. I feel as if it’s important, but I can’t
read it. You said you know almost all languages. Can you see if
there’s anything in here?”

He gently clutched the tome in his large
hands. His eyes dropped to the cover and they widened. “Were there
more books in pixie land?” His voice was low, rumbly.

Lucy and I both nodded. “Thousands,” I
said.

“Thank you for this. You may have found
something very important indeed. I need to speak with the pixies.
I’ll come back to you if I find anything.” He met my gaze and I saw
a shimmer of hope there.

“Speak with you soon.” Jedi saluted before
leaving via a doorway.

“
We can
trust him, right?” I had a panicked thought: maybe I
should have asked Josian before handing over
that book? But Jedi had brought us information about the scroll,
although none of us could confirm he was telling me
everything.

“Jedi is one of the good Walkers,” Josian
said. “His sense of honor is without reproach. Your book is in safe
hands.”

I was surprised that Josian didn’t want to
know more about the book. Instead he just smiled and gave Lucy and
me a hug, his long arms pulling us close. “I’m glad to see you
survived your first day on Nephilius. Have you found the
half-Walker?”

I shook my head as he let us go. “No, we
don’t know who she is yet. I’ll have to keep wandering around with
my necklace. The only problem is trying to open it when Brace isn’t
close.”

His bronze
eyes landed on me. “It’s important that you don’t reform the bond.
It would undo everything you sacrificed to achieve, and we don’t
know the damage
that could
wrought.”

His words sent a flood of anger through me.
I knew all of this already, and I was sick of the unknown and the
worry. I just wanted everything to be fine.

“So what do you want to do tonight?” Lucy
asked as we made our way toward the house. “We don’t have to leave
for Nephilius for a few hours.”

I tried to think about what I really wanted
– besides Brace at my side. I wanted my girls around me.

“I think a girls-only slumber party might be
the key for tonight,” I said, feeling my spirits lift. Nothing like
the therapy of friends and family to put things in perspective.

And I knew deep in my heart that the
half-Walkers were not spending enough time together. Our powers
needed to mingle and learn each other. We needed to be so familiar
that our energies meshed together without thought.

“The theatre room would be perfect for
that,” Josian said. “You grab the girls and I’ll let your mother
know to break out the food.”

Lucy and I
hurried along then. We
had never had an
opportunity to do these normal girl things on Earth. And I didn’t
know about her – although the green glitter floating around gave a
good idea – but I was damn excited.

The five of us stretched out our legs. Lucy
was the teacher that night as she demonstrated how to paint our toe
nails. There were these little gadgets on First World that dyed
your nails, but Lucy declared that to be able to do this by hand
was a skill every girl should have. Somehow she’d procured little
bottles of what looked like paint, and some tiny brushes.

As she layered a sparkly purple across her
nails, each of her strokes was smooth and clean. I had more of the
red I’d chosen on my actual toe than on the nail, but it was fun
nonetheless.

Cerberus was sprawled next to me. He was
back to horse size and both heads lolled to the side as he observed
the room. He looked a little disgusted, but that might be because
of the bright pink nail polish he was sporting on one of his paws.
A few growls directed at Lucy had prevented the second set of nails
from being completed. But knowing my pixie friend, that wouldn’t
deter her for long. And she was less patient than I’d even
expected.

“Cere,” she trilled. “Can I finish your
other front paw? You look ridiculous with only one done.”

Yeah, that was why he looked ridiculous.

He sniffed loudly and tucked his legs under
him. Four eyes leveled on her in a glare.

I waved my little brush at her. “He’s a
hellhound, woman. If you paint his other nails I’ll be forced to
defend his badassness and kick your butt.” I came to Cerberus’
defense.

She pouted before moving back to her own
toes.

“So what’s the aim of this practice?” Ria
asked. She’d chosen an earthy green that matched the ivy print
across her hair. “How does this find you a mate?”

Lucy and I cracked up.

Between chuckles I managed to answer. “I’m
not sure this can find you a mate. On Earth women would paint their
finger and toe nails, dye their hair, rip the hair from their body,
and perform many other ghastly practices in the search for a
husband and eternal youth.”

Lucy and I had always thought we were so
lucky. We had far less body hair than the Earth girls in the
compound, never needing to wax or shave. But now we knew it had
nothing to do with luck and everything to do with our Walkers and
pixie genes.

My words had Fury, Talina and Ria’s mouths
falling open, and the nail polish falling from their hands.

“Was it in the vain hope that a man would
save them from the torture they inflicted on themselves?” Talina
finally asked.

Fury interrupted. “Whatever the reason,
let’s be grateful for a moment that we belong to worlds where, if
you find your one true mate, it doesn’t matter about any of those
things. They’re tied to you on a level that means you’re perfect
for them no matter how … hairy you are.”

Chuckles rocked my chest again.

“It’s a little scary, though, don’t you
think?” Lucy had finished her left foot and was moving on to the
right. “If you have only one true mate, what happens if they die?
That’s life over for you too, right?”

“I’d rather five minutes with Dune than a
lifetime of safety without him.” Fury was uncharacteristically
sentimental as she shifted her masses of silvery white hair off her
shoulders. Her voice was quivering and her eyes a little watery. “I
know with massive highs come depths of lows. But what would life be
without the spark he brings to me? Good or bad, I’d take any amount
of time with him.”

Fury had actually been the hardest to
convince to spend a night without Dune. Those two were virtually
inseparable. And since she was one of the toughest, most
independent women I knew, that said a lot regarding their bond.