The Second Prophecy (Part 1 of the Dragdani Prophecies) (33 page)

“
And what’s
that?” asked Peter sounding anxious.

“
The
y’ll erase any memory of it,
that’s all. Nothing to worry about,” the Grand Wizard assured
him.

At first, the
Ves-guards were a little reluctant to leave them, but they gave in
at the end. They had to obey.

Peter saw the
clothing of two of the guards change to business suits, and the
other two disappeared in smoke.

“
Remember
keep an open mind,” said the Grand Wizard.

Peter
surprised him by laughing loudly. “After all that happened to me,
you’re telling me to have an open mind? How could I
not?”

“Indeed,” said the Wizard, as he gave a small
chuckle.

When the two
Ves-guards arrived at Weston Road, they were immediately bombarded
with questions about Peter. They answered as many as they could,
setting the minds of family and friends at ease by telling them
that Peter was fine and on his way home. They reported to Berlanin
just as the Grand Wizard had told them too and, he ordered them
back to the Towers of Telian to get the reinforcements that were
needed. They then Phazed back to their world.

It was not
long before those left in the house were asking Helen what had
happened with the assassin, and then Weavger.

Helen told
them of the assassin first. She could tell that they really wanted
to know about that before anything else. Then she told them of the
happenings at the school with the principal and teacher.

Laughter
could be heard out of the kitchen window and down the street as
Peter and Jaucal reached the end of the road where the boy had
grown-up. As they reached the gates, it died away. They silently
entered the house with Peter’s door key and proceeded to the
kitchen, which was usually the most popular place for
discussions.

As they
entered the room, silence fell. Peter was the first in, closely
followed by the Grand Wizard.

“
Peter, are
you all right?” Helen asked him, though as she came forward to
greet him, he quickly stepped back. Helen seemed a little confused
by his reaction.

“
Peter, don’t
you mean King Drago of Cayer-Huld?” said Peter trembling with
anger.

“
I had to
tell him,” said Jaucal. “He had already seen too much; how could I
not?”

Berlanin
nodded in agreement, as did Delsani.

“
I know that
you’re upset, but you have to look at it from our point of view,”
said Helen.

“
UPSET!
UPSET! IS THAT HOW YOU’D FEEL IF ON YOUR SIXTEENTH BIRTHDAY YOU
FOUND OUT YOUR WHOLE LIFE WAS NOTHING BUT A LIE! IS THAT HOW YOU’D
FEEL? IF YOU FOUND OUT THAT YOUR FAMILY HAD LIED TO YOU ABOUT WHO
YOU WERE MEANT TO BE? WELL, IS IT?” Peter shouted at them all as
tears rolled down his cheeks.

“
DON’T YOU
DARE SHOUT AT ME LIKE THAT!” Helen replied with even more
volume.

“
I DON’T CARE
ANY MORE!” Peter yelled back.

“
That’s
enough! No one can take back what his happened,” said the Grand
Wizard calmly. “Drago, answer me one thing. Would you have wanted
that creature to have attacked you before you had the power to
fight back properly?”

Peter remained silent.

“
What I’m
saying is, that if you had have lived in our world, you’d most
likely be dead. Do you understand?”

Still Peter said nothing.

“
If someone
said to you that you could either live with the risk of dying or
live a lie for the most of your life, what would you chose?” said
Peter.

“
I can’t
say,” said the old Wizard with a wry smile.

“
Can’t or
won’t?” said the boy.

“
I don’t
know.” The old Wizard’s smile grew a little as he said
this.

Peter eyed
him suspiciously as he tried to figure out whether the Wizard was
having a laugh. “Then think about this. If our places were
reversed, how would you be feeling right now?”

“
I really
don’t know.”

Peter was
suddenly convinced that the Grand Wizard was indeed making him look
stupid, and that only fed his anger “ANGRY, BETRAYED, ALONE,
CONFUSED, DOES THAT RING ANY BELLS?” he yelled.

“You tell me,” said Jaucal.

Peter turned
his gaze away from the Wizard and changed the subject. “How did you
know where to find me?” he asked.

“
The
copper shield you wear around
your neck isn’t a copper shield; it’s a small crystal that lets us
know your location at all times,” said the Grand
Wizard.

“
WHAT?” Peter
shouted. “YOU’RE KEEPING TABS ON ME TOO?”

“
We had to be
sure that we could find you in case the worst happened,” said the
Wizard.

Peter cast
yet another angry look around the room then he grabbed the fake
copper shield and broke the sting holding it in place and lightly
threw the shield that now looked like a small crystal to Jaucal,
who caught it and put it in his pocket.

The doorbell
unexpectedly rang.

“
I’ll get
it,” said Saren, and she left swiftly.

She was not
gone long before the kitchen door opened again. “Peter, it’s for
you,” the Wicca said. “It’s Charity.”

“
Just what I
need,” said Peter, obviously annoyed by the disturbance. When he
reached the door, he waited, trying to think of what he could
possibly say to her. She stood with her back to the door, facing
the trees and flowers in the garden, but she was looking up at the
clear blue sky.

“
What do you
what?” asked Peter.

“
I’m sorry,”
she said, “I don’t know why I did what I did.”

“I do,” Peter said.

“
Can we start
again?”

Peter thought
about this, but he really knew that it could not be. How could he
even begin to explain everything? He didn’t even understand it
yet.

“
No, can’t we
just be friends?”

“
Sure,” she
sounded disappointed. “What happened at school? Is it true that
you’re not coming back?”

“
Yeah,
listen, I’ve got to go. I’ll see around okay.”

“
Well,
I’ll see you later
then.”

Peter shut the door gently then he returned
to the kitchen.

Helen was
ready for him. “Peter, I’m sorry you had to go through this now
-”

“
I can’t be
here,” Peter interrupted. “I can’t look at any of you. I want to be
somewhere I can think. I want to be anywhere but here. I want to be
somewhere I feel I belong.” He was looking completely disgusted
with everyone there. He turned on his heel and walked to the door
leading to the front hall.

Helen went to
stop him, but Jaucal put out his hand. “Helen, you won’t always be
there to fight for him. We all must make our own journeys in life;
this one must be his first. In time, he’ll see the truth. Time well
help him grow and bring him back to us. Let him go.”

“
I just want
to let him know that I didn’t mean to take his real life away from
him,” said Helen.

“
Helen, you
didn’t take anything away from him. You did what any good parent
would do, and you did what you had to in order to keep him
alive.”

Peter had put
his hand on the handle of the front door when he heard a voice
calling to him from the top of the stairs. However, when he looked,
there was no one there. Again he heard it and started toward the
stairs. As he made his way up, he went to Helen and Berlanin’s
bedroom and began pulling the drawers of their cabinet out and
emptying them on the floor. When he hadn’t found what he was
looking for, he proceeded to do the same to the wardrobe that stood
against the right-hand wall. He found a small cardboard box, and in
it was some of his mother’s old jewelry. Near the bottom, he found
it, his real copper shield, the one that he had made when the
bullying first started in school. He thought it might protect him
from those cruel children. It seemed it had worked. The day after
he had worn it for the first time was the day that it all stopped.
That was the day that he and Wily became friends. Peter had always
worn it from that day on, or so he thought. He took it and slipped
the thin black rope over his head. It felt good to be wearing the
real one again. He waved his hand, and all of the clothes and
jewelry flew back to the wardrobe and draws, and the drawers back
in the cabinet.

Then he heard
the voice again. It became more distant, leading Peter on until he
reached a dead end. Then he realized that the voice was coming from
above.

Peter pulled
the cord that hung from the door to the attic. The hatch opened and
the ladders slid down. Peter climbed them and stood listening for
the voice. There was only silence. “Is there someone up here,” he
said loudly.

There was a
sound of sliding.

Peter turned
only to see a large square object covered by a dusty white sheet
just before it hit him square in the face. He was only on the floor
for three or four seconds before picking himself up, and the voice
returned, only now it was closer. Now it was behind him. When he
looked, he was surprised to see the man he had heard about for most
of his life.

“
What’s the
matter son? Don’t you want to see your old man?” said John
Stark.

“
I thought
you were dead?”

“
For the most
part, I am.”

“For the most part,” repeated the boy, who
was clearly still amazed by the appearance of his dead father.

“
I remember
Jaucal telling me that Wizard-Elves are born with a few of the
memories of the ones that came before them, and on top of that,
they have the memory of some of their personalities. I don’t
exactly understand it all myself. I’m here, so it must be
true.”

“
Why haven’t
I seen you before?”

“
You have
seen me when you were younger. The reason that you haven’t seen me
or the others for ten years is mainly because your mind was blocked
from most of your powers. That means your mind was blocked from us
as well.”

“
Who are us
exactly?”

“
You’ll see
soon enough.”

“
Why can’t I
see now?” asked Peter enthusiastically.

“
Well,
you can only see the memory
personalities in a dream state, and only one at a time,” said
John.

“
But I’m not
dreaming,” Peter stated.

John pointed to where Peter landed after the
chest hit him.

When the boy
looked, he was hit this time by yet more surprise. He saw himself
lying flat out on the floor.

“
No,” he
said, denying what his own emerald green eyes were showing him,
“I’m here. I’m awake. This is a trick. You’re not my dad. You’re
that thing Ulicoth. You’re trying to trick me.”

“
If you don’t
believe your own eyes, then touch the chest,” said John.

Peter went to
the chest, reached down and tried to touch the wooden box. His hand
went through it.

“
The
re, see?” said his father.
“You’re not really standing here.”

“
Fine, I’m
dreaming. What now?”

“
Now comes
what I want to tell you. Peter, you have to understand that what
they did was for the best for you.”

Peter instantly knew that he was talking
about his mother and their friends.

“
I know, but
I can’t think straight,” he said. “There’s so much going on in my
head right now.”

“
So you don’t
blame them for what they did?”

“
Are you
kidding? They lied to me my whole life. After all the times they
lectured me on how wrong it was to lie, it was all a load of
crap.”

“
It didn’t
stop you lying though,” said John.

“
That’s not
the point. I was just a kid, and it was nothing compared to what
they all did.”

“
Fine, they
lied. Get over it.”

“
That’s your
great advice? That’s what you came back from the dead to tell me,
to get over it?”

“
I never said
that my advice would be great. And there’s more I want to say to
you.”

Peter looked
over at his unconscious body. “You better make it quick, I think
I’m starting to come round.”

“
Okay, here
goes. Now keep in mind this mightn’t make any sense,” said
John.

“
Yeah,
just like
everything else that’s happened
to me today.”

“
Here
it is. When I found out that I was the heir to the throne, I
changed. It didn’t happen straight away; it happened over two
years. You see, before the truth came out, your mother and I were
like big kids. But as I said, the news of who I really was had
changed me for the worst. I say that because of all that happened
throughout the two years of being King. I grew up, and that was the
worst thing, because I forgot some of the things that made me. What
I’m trying to say is, no matter what happens, no matter how bleak
things look or how things are, Peter,
never ever grow up
.”