Gaia's Secret (34 page)

“Thanks.” I took the bowl from her hands,
letting the contents warm my insides.

I didn’t speak the remainder of dinner.
Everyone must have sensed my mood, because no one tried to make me.
Once I was done eating, I crawled under my blankets and shut my
eyes. This night I would wait until they were all sleeping. Then I
would take matters into my own hands.

The darkness was impenetrable.

The air was stale, cold. Everywhere I turned,
I could see nothing but pure, thick black.

A wall of light cut through the night. My
eyes fought to make sense of it. To adjust to the white, or adjust
to the dark. Either made it impossible to adjust completely.

A large shadow filled the bright column. It
was the silhouette of a man, veiled by a thick cloak. He took a
single step forward and something creaked shut behind him.

The darkness returned but for a single candle
spilling its glow into the empty square room. There was a man,
hunched in one corner. Shackles bound his hands and feet and his
head was covered with a black sack.

“You are a fool,” hissed the cloaked man, his
voice seething with hatred.

It was a voice that rang familiarity in my
ears. It was the voice from the portal. The dark rider.

The cloaked figure took another step towards
the man and that malevolent voice continued. “I warned you what
happen if you failed to cooperate. I had hoped you would see
reason.”

The prisoner tensed. I could taste his fear,
his agony.

“I’ll ask once more,” continued the sharp
tone. “Where is it?”

Silence.

In one swift movement, the veiled man yanked
the prisoner up by his collar, holding him inches above the ground.
The prisoner struggled to keep his head lifted so that air could
reach his lungs, legs and arms thrashing as he tried to relieve the
pressure at his neck.

Beneath the hood of the cloaked man, white
eyes burned. “Know this. I will find it, and when I do, I will give
no pardon to its bearer. Remember, this is your doing.”

With a flick of a wrist, the prisoner was
slammed against the wall and sunk back to the ground.

“Curse you…Tiernan,” the prisoner said in a
barely discernable voice.

Tiernan reached deep into the folds of his
cloak and pulled out a translucent cord. It wriggled and writhed in
his hands, its hisses and shrieks revolting. Tiernan held it before
his white eyes, watching the object struggle in his grip.

“It is you that shall be cursed. I have
wasted much time hoping you would be sensible.” His eyes fixed on
the prisoner. “I am done.”

He set the cord on the ground and took a
single step back. At once, the cord knew its purpose. Its movements
were snake-like, writhing along the ground straight for the
prisoner. It slid up the prisoner’s leg and right above the man’s
knee, wrapping around forming a tight, seamless band.

The prisoner jerked and spasmed in response,
flexing his legs and arching his back in unnatural angles, his
agonizing screams rebounding against the walls of the small
room.

The band began to throb and pulse, glowing a
pale white, and the man’s cries lessened as he slumped in a heap on
the ground.

The hooded man stood tall over the heap on
the floor. Tiernan removed the cloth from the prisoner’s head and
yanked him up by his hair, craning his head back. The man’s pain
pulsed through me.

“I warned you,” Tiernan hissed. “Now you will
watch as your pathetic world is destroyed, and your loved ones die
with it.”

He threw the man back on the ground, his face
falling in the candlelight.

It was my dad.

“Dad!”

Someone was shaking me as images of my dad
stained the back of my eyelids.

“It was just a dream!” The voice was
familiar.

I opened my eyes. Alex’s face was inches from
mine, his expression tight. His concern strong; his hands went to
my cheeks, holding my face. But there was no dungeon. No pain, no
sign of my dad.

I was sitting up. The embers from the
campfire still burned beside us.

“Look at me.” Alex’s voice was strained.

My eyes moved back to Alex’s, my body shaking
uncontrollably.

“What happened?”

My throat clamped down, making it difficult
to speak. It had all seemed so real, like I had been right there in
that room with my dad. I could still feel the chill inside the
stone tomb; smell its stale air. Feel his agony.

Alex wiped the hair out of my face. “Was it
the vision?” he whispered.

I shook my head and he sighed.

Cicero and Sonya joined us. “What was
it?”

I choked on air. “Dad.”

Cicero and Sonya exchanged a glance.

Alex grabbed my hand. “What about
Alaric?”

I saw my dad thrown onto the floor, his shape
contorted in pain. The seed of fear began growing, wrapping and
twisting around my veins. Very slowly, I recounted the details of
my dream and once I finished, I glanced up. Each of their faces was
tight with worry. It was all I needed to act. Right now.

“We have to find him!”

“Your father isn’t in any real danger.” Sonya
placed her hand on mine.

I yanked it back. “How can you say that? You
haven’t heard from him in days, and my dream was so real…what if
that’s why you haven’t heard? What if he’s imprisoned, being
tortured?”

The more I thought about it, the more certain
I was. My dad was imprisoned somewhere, held captive by some person
I didn’t know. He was never going to meet us here. The Pykans had
known that. The Del Contes knew that, and that was what they had
been hiding from me.

Cicero looked to his wife. “How could they
get to her here?”

“I’ve no idea.” Sonya stared at me, deep in
thought. “They can’t penetrate physically, but it is feasible they
could reach her mind. They’ve already done it once.”

“We’re wasting time.” I started to my
feet.

“Daria.” Sonya’s voice was firm. “I know you
are worried about your father, but this dream—I think it’s a trap.
The Pykans know you’re here, they know your weakness….”

“My
weakness
is that I’ve let you
bring me here without demanding an explanation when I know full
well that I can trust none of you.”

Alex narrowed his eyes. “That’s not
fair.”

“I’ll tell you what’s not fair. Since I
walked through that portal and into this world, I’ve done nothing
but do exactly as you all have said. I trusted you, I believed you.
Even though you’ve done nothing but hold back the truth from
me—which, need I remind you, you’ve done my entire life. I’m
telling you what I saw is real, so unless you help, I’m going after
him myself.”

There was a small voice in my head that
warned of guilt, but I forced it silent. The sympathetic side of me
had waited on them long enough. My whole life. My independent side
was done waiting.

Cicero’s face was hard. “You’ll stay right
where you are.”

“I won’t—“

“You will,” Cicero interrupted, his tone
firm. “We’ll discuss this in the morning. Alex? Keep first
watch?”

Alex watched me, his jaw clenched. “Yes.”

This was just great. Not only had I let my
intentions slip, I had earned myself a personal guard. Alex. And he
would anticipate me better than anyone.

Cicero and Sonya walked back to their beds;
Sonya’s features cast down as she glanced back one last time.

“Feel better?” Alex wasn’t looking at me.

“Don’t talk to me.”

My words hurt him, but I didn’t care. He
didn’t understand. He’d grown up with the protection of two
parents—two parents that had always been honest with him. Alex had
never been lied to. Alex had never been alone.

There was one person in this world I could
claim as a parent and he was the only family I had. Nothing they
could say, nothing they could do could make me wait any longer.

I sat with my anger seething. Alex sat beside
me but I’d never felt more distant. Neither of us spoke. He was my
captor, I his prisoner. I couldn’t believe this. He’d never let me
out of his sight. He was controlling enough as a protector when he
did
trust me.

How would I get away now? I racked my brain,
trying to think of an escape. How could I get away from them
without them catching up to me?

Then I got an idea. I wasn’t sure if it would
work, but it was all I had.

I stared out into the forest and focused on
the shadows. Craning my neck, I stared harder, intent on nothing,
but Alex didn’t need to know that.

It only took a few minutes for my attentive
captor to notice.

“What is it?”

“I think…I think there’s something
there.”

He watched me a moment, and then followed my
gaze. “I don’t see anything.”

I shifted, still staring at the same empty
spot. “Are you sure?”

He got to his feet, unsheathed his sword.
“Daria, I swear, if you’re lying…”

“And you would know all about that, wouldn’t
you?”

His lips formed a rigid line, and he walked
in the direction I’d been looking. I only had a moment.

Once Alex disappeared from sight, I moved. As
quiet as possible, I crept over to where Sonya and Cicero were
sleeping.

Where did Cicero put it?
I sifted
through his bag.

My fingers touched upon cool metal. I pulled
the amulet from the bag, making sure not to wake them, hung it
around my neck, and crawled back into my blankets, just as Alex
came into view again.

He stared hard at me and then glanced over at
his parents.

“What did you do?”

I narrowed my eyes. “Don’t tell me you don’t
trust me.”

“Not when you put your mind to something.”
Alex sat on the other side of the fire this time, but kept me in
his periphery.

So far, so good.

Now I needed to figure out what to do. Tran
said it was a transport device and it looked almost exactly like
the one the Del Contes used to get to my house. Was it something I
had to think? Concentrate on?

My movements were slow as I touched the cool
metal. I didn’t know what I was doing, but physical touch couldn’t
hurt. If there was any possibility of finding my dad, this device
should be my most direct route. Or at least it would get me out of
reach of the Del Contes.

My fingers closed over the object and as I
focused, Alex jerked his head around.

He leapt to his feet and scrambled to me.
“Daria, no!”

I shut my eyes, concentrating on the object
just like I had done with the fire. And right as I felt Alex’s hand
cover mine, it vanished. I heard a high-pitched hum and my body
felt like it was being squeezed through a small hole. Vomit rose in
my throat and my ears popped.

And everything went quiet.

I
was standing in a
large stone room, lit by the glow from candles floating in the air
overhead. A man was across from me, seated in a sort of throne,
crowning a small staircase of four steps, candelabras on either
side. A hooded figure hunched beside him, whispering into his
straight, jet-black hair. Two guards flanked his sides with swords
at their waists.

The hunched figure froze, and turned his face
to look at me. It was a face of dried earth and orange cat-like
eyes and it emitted a low hiss as its eyes narrowed in fury. The
man in the chair noticed me then, dark, powerful eyes taking me in.
His lips lifted into a smile that, for all its intent, turned my
insides cold.

“Daria.” The man’s voice sent chills down my
spine.

It was the voice I’d heard when I’d first
entered Gaia. The dark rider near the portal. The voice from my
dream. And I began to feel very, very afraid. “Where’s my dad?”

Without turning his eyes from my face, the
man waved at the Pykan. “Leave us.”

The Pykan moved past me, pausing at my side,
its frame towering over me as its anger surged, and then it left.
The door closed behind him.

The man clasped long fingers together. “I’ve
been expecting you.”

“Tell me where my dad is.” I unsheathed my
dagger.

At my movement, the guards rushed to my
sides. I tried to ready myself to fight but I couldn’t move. I
couldn’t even wiggle my fingers. My body was frozen in place. In no
time the guards had my arms locked behind my back and a sword was
pointed at my neck.

The man stood, calculating each step he took.
He stopped inches from me and took my dagger.

I struggled against the guards, but my limbs
still wouldn’t move.

He ran his fingers over the face of the
blade, tracing the strange etchings. “Extraordinary,” he whispered
to himself. He shoved it in his belt and looked back to me. “You
won’t be needing this.”

“Tell me where my dad is or—“ The tip of the
blade dug deeper in my throat, cutting off my words.

“Or what?” he spat, staring down his long
nose with hatred in his eyes. “Take her below.”

My body went cold as my mind turned to
darkness.

There was a sharp pain at my wrists and
shoulders. It was the only thing my mind could grab onto, and it
slowly pulled me back to consciousness. I tried thinking, but I
couldn’t sift through the haze. I tried moving, but my body would
only sway.

I forced my lids open. A torch hung near a
windowless door, keeping the room dim and filled with smoke.

My wrists were chained above my head, hanging
from a high stone ceiling and my feet dangled a few inches from the
ground, rocking back and forth with every wriggle and writhe. I
could just graze my toes along the ground, but each time I tried
I’d sway and my shoulders and wrists burned. I tried to call out
for help, but no sound came. My throat was parched. My whole body
ached—it was hard just breathing—and my head pounded as the
memories returned.