Renhala (44 page)

Two grebles grab Gunthreon, covering his mouth with a napkin and tying his arms behind him as Lupa yells at the meeples guarding her, “Let me go, now! You are going to regret this!” They laugh at her, tauntingly. Gunthreon shakes his head at Lupa and she stops, anger clearly swelling inside her belly. Conner speaks to her as she slumps slightly.

From within the metal contraption, a loud noise shakes the giant box, and I feel something strong and dangerous inside, trying to break free. We all feel it, and I feel the fear, growing even in Devoten.

“One look at wohmin
and its wrath will destroy you all—” grumbles Devoten, “—and this whole ridiculous realm! Then I will reign! Amber, release Tartarin.” Tartarin turns quickly to Devoten, who smiles, looking like a nightmare. Amber releases Tartarin from her protective bubble.   

What follows is a blur as everything happens at once.

The piece of slate stuck to the wall falls, and instantly, Ladimer and Jenna burst in and attack the nearest pixies, all of whom have pulled out small, extremely sharp-looking disks, resembling Chinese stars—which fly and stick into various walls.

A greble starts to unlock the metal box.

Devoten, speaking of love and her place next to his side, coaxes Amber to make her force field strong enough to envelop them and their entire army. Anyone in the bubble is shielded against an attack, yet somehow they can strike the outside from inside, but I can find pinholes here and there, where I’m able to peek inside with my feeler.             

As Amber holds up her field, she turns to me. “Look what I
’m capable of!”

She laughs, maniacally, but I see my beloved best friend behind the laugh, afraid of returning—afraid of the energy needed to fight Devoten
’s enrapturement. The force field she tries to control drains her as it reaches all those in her party, and suddenly, I see it slowly begin to shrink, her grip lessening on those furthest from her.

“Please, Amber, my love, do what you
’ve done in our training sessions,” begs Devoten. “Come on.” A single tear, of no particular shine, falls on her cheek. Suddenly, Ladimer stands near Devoten.
“You!”
Devoten screams. “You will die first. Stealing my family. That’s what you wanted all along!” As Devoten reaches under his cloak, he turns his back to my mom, who has finally achieved freedom from the creatures holding her. She jumps toward him, but as her blade starts its descent into Devoten’s arm, Tartarin appears out of nowhere and reaches toward her, his claws digging into her from behind, knocking her to the floor.

“Mom!” I scream
. “Ladimer!”

The rumbling box grows louder and louder as a foul smell releases into the air. I run to my mom, mounting my spade, and that
’s when I see the hole in her back. Her blood flows everywhere, seeping into the dirty, worn-down ballroom carpet. “No! Oh, Mom, hang on, hang on. Please! I need you!”

“Ka
iley, no. Let me go. I need to go,” she argues, her voice stifled from the flow of blood.

Tartarin stands over us. “Ha! You pathetic piece of shit!” he s
narls. “This lovely little thing moves slightly slower than the rest of your body.” Before our eyes, he stretches out his hand, and in it is my mom’s transplanted kidney. My mom’s grip lessens as Ladimer approaches. 

Devoten turns toward my mom. His eyes widen.
“Noooooo!!!”
he screams. “She was mine!” His mouth turns into a giant snarl, and he shouts something that sounds like soulspeak, but slightly different—something anciently wicked. As the two creatures holding Gunthreon release him to cover their own ears, he does the same. Me, and the rest of our party, also cover our ears, Jenna shoving something in my mom’s ears. Most creatures have missed their opportunity and begin screaming, themselves.

“They weakened you! Can’t you see it!” says Tartarin, with his own ears covered. He’s trying to yell over Devoten’s horrible scream. “You were so concerned about them!” 

Ladimer, so close now I can hear him through my covered ears, explains, “Mad love.” All our enemies start continue screaming and pulling apart everything they can get their hands on, including their own allies. I see Jenna fall as a pixie dives on top of her.

“Kailey. Kailey.” My mom’s words are practically drowned out, but I still hear them.

“Mom. Ladimer!”

“I love you so much. I
’m sorry I...” She chokes out blood over the front of her beautiful dress. Ladimer bends down and lays his hands on her. “No!” she sputters at Ladimer. “Don’t you dare. You promised me! Don’t.” She cries and shakes her head as Ladimer holds his hands above her, his eyes asking me, and only me,
the
question. One quiet “please” escapes her lips as my eyes meet hers.

Conner runs over to hold my mom
’s hand, and begins soulspeaking to her. He speaks softly, the beautiful words flowing from his mouth lighting up my mom’s eyes as he speaks of her unselfishness as both a defender of realms, and as a mother. He speaks of her impenetrable love for those she trusts, and of her soul’s undying beauty. She smiles a thank you at him as he suddenly jumps up to attack a greble who’s gotten too close to us.

My mom
’s beautiful eyes slowly change before me as her life drains away, her energy evaporating. I shake my head no at Ladimer, knowing it’s the right answer, but hating it. Ladimer pulls his hands away from her reluctantly as my mom spits out another mouthful of blood. Her eyes, full of pain, meet mine, and she says, “Take it from me, Kailey.”

“Take what?”

“Quicksilver.”

She pulls me down with the last of her strength and kisses me ever so slightly, speaking a word into my mouth. I grasp her energy, knowing I can easily replenish it, but only embed the feel of it in my brain, knowing this will be the last time I
’ll experience it. Then, she breathes to me, “Sorry...your brother—” Then she says nothing else. I look to Amber, evidently pregnant with a baby boy.
But how would she know?

I feel my mom
’s power inside me completely. The simplest thought sparks my body to move. Devoten stabs at Tartarin, ripping him open from every angle, Lupa and Conner fight off meeples near their table, Gunthreon has Evlengard in his hand, freely swinging, slicing monsters like butter. 

I return to my mother and kneel over her body as her spirit lifts. I try grabbing at the mist emanating from her form, but it slips through my fingers, leaving nothing. The mist condenses, forming her figure high above us. I see her smile one last time as her hand signs, “I love you,” which I return to her. Then her head of mist turns slowly toward Devoten, who takes a break from Tartarin to watch my mom. Her smile disappears, and she shakes her head at him, her face turning to a frown. Her hand rises and his eyes widen as she gives him a different universal sign: a flash of the middle finger. The mist that is my mom then shoots off quickly through the ceiling, and she
’s gone in a flash. Devoten’s anger swells, and he returns to his previous project: Tartarin.

“Oh god no!” I cry. Sitting over her lifeless body, I feel a huge hole open up in my heart. I hug her body, breathing in the scent of her hair as I choke on my tears. I hug her for all the times I was embarrassed by her bear hugs. I hug her for the beautiful life she gave me.

My face rises to the chaos around me, and my blood curdles. I take a last look at my mom’s body, once full of vibrancy and a rare intensity for life, now forever empty.

Gunthreon fights his way over to me. “She was given a true death,” he whispers in my ear. “She was special, Kailey.”

Pain and sadness begin to swirl around and around inside me, creating whirlwinds of devastating proportion. I stand in the middle of the hell around me and see my comrades fighting for their lives. Amber’s force field protects her army as they instill damage upon those I love.

A loud moaning emerges from the metal box. It shakes and beeps and groans as the metal distorts. I look to Gunthreon, who simply stands, staring. His head turns to me, and I see his mouth move to form one word: “Velopa.” I know what he means. Somehow, Velopa is caged inside that box.

As the word escapes Gunthreon’s mouth, he looks to Amber and then speaks something to her that I cannot hear above the noises around me. At that same moment, an energy whip escapes the box and strikes him, knocking him several feet off the ground. He lands like a rock. Drs. Speck and Martine stand by the box, pushing buttons and pulling levers, trying to contain the hideousness lurking inside.

Ladimer crawls up next to me, avoiding the meeple looking for him under the tables.
“It was Devoten all along,” he says. “Velopa had nothing to do with it.” The energy whip lashes out once more, just missing a nearby greble. 

Before I can read the energy of the creature lurking behind me, Jenna jumps out of nowhere, teeth and knife bared. Her swing
, as she comes down, catches the dog-like creature behind me in its eye, but her arm is not quick enough to stab once more as the dog’s claws dig into her back. Her blood splashes out across my face, and this triggers something unimaginable inside me.

As Ladimer crawls to help her, I stand and raise my arms above my head, screaming a word of pure destruction. Neda’s words open my eyes to the powers lingering deep inside my brain, connected to my indestructible soul. The walls begin shaking and I feel my body opening to release an energy growing exponentially. Ladimer shakes his head no, then grasps it from the pain I am emit
ting. The power keeps growing inside me as I look to my comrades, and with one last thought of my mom’s shining face, I push my feelers out, out to Renhala, out to every nook and cranny I can find, and pull with all my might.
I can do this. Time for reinforcements.

Almost on cue, there emerges a huge crash from the hallway. He scrambles, knocking down walls as he climbs to his feet.
My, my, what big powers we have!
Greer, in the hallway, feels angry.
Kailey, this has you written all over it!
I feel him in my head. The crunching is loud as he munches on what critters attack him in the hallway.
Good thing I have not eaten dinner yet.

Nayla, with her still-tourniqueted limb, lies in the middle of the floor, her eyes peeking open as she awakes to the carnage around her. “
What the?!” she says. She jumps on her feet, and each and every hair on her back stands on end. Her movements are quick as she registers the situation. She looks to me and nods, turning to the creature to her left which has no idea she even arrived before she slits its throat with her razor-sharp claws.

Bu has appeared, sitting in the corner, eating the giant turkey leg he was enjoying before I pulled him in. I see the fear in his eyes as his head turns around and around. He hides as best he can behind a nearby potted tree.

Fidello stomps in, punching at a pixie who has transformed her face into something haggard and hideous. Fangs, along with her lower jaw, fly as she tries to dig into his neck.

I sense two souls still working on the metal machine, but they are getting nowhere, darting from the energy lashing out at them. “It
’s useless!” Dr. Speck yells at his colleague. Mortimer stands next to them, trying to help with the abomination he created, but his face is full of the remorse that hinders his reflexes. He turns to Bu, who, having crawled out from his hiding space, rushes to the machine, pulling out his tools. Quickly, he twists and cuts wires with such dexterity that Mortimer, pulling from deep within himself, is inspired to step in. His eyes turn white as he lays his hands on the machine. He seems to call to the properties of the metal, hardening it and strengthening its true power. The two of them together silence the energy within the box.

The fighting around us continues, but has slowed. I find Conner spellbound by a pixie standing before him. She is absolutely gorgeous: big, blue eyes, plump and luscious lips, and flowing blond curls. Her breasts are perfect and enticing underneath her tiny white corset. Her arms reach out to him, pulling him into her. The look of lust on her face and the gleam of her knife behind her back snaps me and my jealousy into motion.  

The pixie smiles as she reveals her knife to me. Little does she realize my monk’s spade is much longer than her arms and Amber’s force field is no longer reaching her. The speed in which I move amazes even myself. I pull the spade off my back and swing as her blade reaches out to me. My blade easily slices her in half.

“Bitch, he
’s
my
boyfriend!” I spit at her corpse. Conner stands, his brain trying to figure out what just happened.

Amber
’s shoulders slump as her power retreats. Her face rises to Devoten, and he shakes his head at her. “Waste of energy!” he says. “You are no longer needed.” He points to Amber as she starts crying, holding her belly.

I close my eyes and listen to something deep within—something that
’s been whispering to me my whole life—the power and strength to deal with the unknown. I feel Neda’s energy near—Neda’s love. And then I move.

“That
’s my girl,” says Ladimer, standing.

I run to Bu, ripping the necklace and locket off his neck, then move to Greer and remove a scale on his leg to reveal the Meadow’s Edge rock I had placed on his alter.