Planet Heist (The Dunham Archives Book 1) (17 page)

“My hand…” I whispered.

He cursed, sighed, and pulled off his shirt. Now, I realized why he had kept it on in the first place. Down his chest – from his left shoulder, across his chest, and to his right hip was a long, thick, partially healed cut. And, all across his chest and on his shoulders, just covered by his shirt, were what seemed to be thousands of tiny letters in a language I didn’t recognize, cut into his skin. The letters were made up of loops and whorls, dots in the center of circles.

I stared at Cal’s chest as he wrapped my hands with strips of cloth from his shirt.

“What happened to you?” I whispered.

“I…” He choked on his words, swallowed, and tried to begin again, “About a month ago, this woman – she looked just like my mom, in face, but nothing else – came into my house and then…then her eyes turned like a cat’s, and her hair turned jet black. There were black letters all over her face, down her neck…all over, just like mine. She told me that she needed me to find you, that you could read the words, and they were a message for you, so she cut the letters into me.” He regained his composure and looked me straight in the eyes, “But she did something to them, and they keep spreading onto my arms. She told me that it was a…a prophecy…for something. Apparently, they’re…instructions or something for the…Xeron theft? That’s what she said. I didn’t know what she meant. She said…she said that you would have to follow these directions or else you’d…you’d die in the tunnels. And there was something about a riddle, and three companions…and…and,” He gasped, and I saw his eyes flicker yellow, but only for a moment, “You have to read the letters. But, the moment you do, you’ll be in grave danger. I’ll have to kill you.” He swayed, as if he could fall over at any second.

I looked at the letters on his chest, “But why would she think I could…?”

June 19
th
9:47 pm

Anacapa Island, LA, California

Hours later, in Cal’s mansion, I sat in a locked attic with my brother and Salah. The attic had sloping ceilings and bright white walls. It was the only place I could find in the gigantic mansion where Cal wouldn’t try to look for me.

“What did you just say?” Rowan was in shock as I told him my conclusions.

“You heard me.” I snapped, aggravated by Rowan’s obliviousness.

“But if he’s really…what you say he is, doesn’t that mean we’re all in danger right now?” Salah asked quietly. He was glancing around nervously, those piercing green eyes of his filled with fire as if he felt Cal would walk in at any moment – ready to kill every one of us. We were all tense, and I could feel it in the air.

“That’s crazy talk. We’d only be in danger if I knew what the letters said.” I told him.

“What did you say the letters looked like?” Rowan interjected curiously.

“Like spirals, whorls and circles with dots on the inside. They looked…strangely familiar.” I told him, but didn’t know why he cared.

“Kairee, do you have a pencil?” Rowan asked.

I shook my head no, and he felt in all his pockets. For some weird reason, he had a black charcoal pencil and began writing on the wall.

I watched in awe as he gracefully drew almost identical letters to the ones on Cal’s chest. Recognizing some of the letters from what I had seen earlier, they suddenly seemed even more familiar to me.

When he was done, the letters looked so strikingly similar to the ones on Cal’s chest that I was afraid Rowan knew what they said. The words looked so painfully close to something I recognized it gave me a migraine just to look at them. I tried to concentrate on where I had seen them before, but I simply couldn’t place it.

“Do you know what this says?” Rowan asked me curiously.

“No.” I was utterly oblivious, and it infuriated me.

“It says ‘The wise man tells the truth, but the survivor lies.’” He said, repeating the phrase he had said to me just this morning. It seemed like weeks ago when I attacked the Prime Minister.

Then it all snapped into my mind.

“It’s in Nalakine?” I was shocked. I went over all the letters on Cal’s body, suddenly recognizing all of them. “Oh my god.”

“Wait…” Salah interrupted, “Nalakine is a language? I thought it was a religion.”

“It is…well it’s both. Nalakine is the traditional Saizian language. I feel so stupid for not realizing this sooner!” I cursed myself for being so ignorant, “We have to get out of here…now.”

“Why?” Salah was surprised by this.

“It doesn’t matter.” I shrugged, “Just get ready to go and I’ll meet you on the driveway in ten minutes. Boys,” I whispered quietly, “if you don’t see me in eight minutes, one of you find me.”

In that moment, I felt Salah squeeze my hand. I was dumbfounded by the most intense urge to kiss him. All of the emotions from the day crashed onto me and there I was, pressing my lips to his. For a moment, no more than a few seconds, I was captured by love. How could I have rolled my eyes at this for weeks?

And, the second it was over, I began dashing down the stairs.

“Where are you going?” Rowan grabbed my shoulder, but I shook him off.

I looked into his black eyes and sighed.

“I have to know what the words on Cal’s chest say.”

Rushing down the steps before he could react, a sick feeling settled in my stomach.

June 19
th
10:00 pm

Anacapa Island, LA, California

I rushed around the house looking for Cal. It was hard for me to think of him now, knowing the link he had between my unknown enemy. I was terrified of what the words said, but I just had to know. If it truly was a set of directions, or a prophecy, for the Xeron theft, it was absolutely necessary.

The hallways seemed eerily quiet with all the lights out. The mansion itself was only three floors and an attic, but the place was wide and immense. The bottom two floors were desolate, no sound but the chirp of cicadas outside to break the silence. But, when I reached the third floor, there was light. All the way down the hall on my right was a large white door, and bright yellow light was seeping into the blackness of the hall. Taking a deep breath, I slowly and silently stepped down the hall, my heart jumping higher into my throat with each step.

The doorknob was cold in my hand as I quickly pulled open the door. The room behind the door was a vast, round library. Thousands of books – thick and thin and consisting of all the colors – lined the walls and hung from the ceiling. Red candles sat on the tops of shelves and all over the floor, each one lit and sitting in a decorative gold holder. A massive fire burned inside some sort of crystal orb, illuminating the whole room. At the center of the great hall, directly below the orb, was Cal. Behind him, whispering in his ear, was a woman who I knew to be his mother. But they both looked terrifyingly different.

Cal’s normally scarlet hair was jet black, spiked around his head like a halo of death. His beautiful crystal eyes had transformed into disturbingly bright yellow eyes, his pupils elongated like a cat’s. His clothes were ripped, revealing the runes beneath. What had previously been only a few shades darker than his skin were now black as night. Cal’s chest heaved as he convulsed on the floor. The woman was obviously causing these spasms. I could hear, even from a ten feet away, that she was whispering in Nalakine into his ears. I translated it instantly.
…must be killed if she understands.

The woman flicked her eyes, matching to Cal’s, up to me.

“Hello Kairee dear, how have you been?” She asked innocuously, as if this wasn’t the single most terrifying thing that had ever happened to me. “I take it you’re here to read the words, huh? Well, go right ahead, there’s no one stopping you.”

She smiled at me kindly as I crossed the few feet between us. We locked eyes for just a moment, and then Cal looked at me. His eyes were full of torture as he gripped a knife at his side. It was obvious that the knife was to kill me the moment I understood what the letters on his chest said. It was just as palpable that he was being forced to do this. Against his will, he held the long, silver knife close. The knife was coated in dark poison, black as night. I didn’t even want to know what it was.

I glanced back and forth from the knife to Cal, deciding whether or not it was truly worth it. He hardly looked dangerous from here – eyes full of terror at simply the thought of killing me, hands shaking as he held the knife – but it was clear that he would do it. I thought of the times I had been poisoned. Searing pain, burning flesh that ripped itself apart under the toxins. Then I thought of Cal stabbing me, and a pang of anger, sadness, and horror filled me. I almost retreated right then from reading the words.

But I had to.

Reaching down, I fully tore his already shredded shirt off him. Almost immediately, the letters looked familiar to my eyes. Before I read the words, I looked into Cal’s bright yellow eyes. As we locked eyes, I was suddenly sucked through some sort of vortex, and ended up somewhere entirely different.

The room I now stood in was wispy on the edges, as if it were a dream. The place had ripped red wallpaper and gray wood floors. Roaches skittered across the floor, breaking the silence with a scary scratching. The ceiling was zenithless, blackness beyond comprehension. An awesome sense of fear struck my core when I recognized the figure standing at the center of the room. It was my brother, his eyes swirling like a demonic tornado, ready to suck me in. He began speaking in a ghostly, eerie tone.

“Four children with amazing gifts,

Will head to the country of blood red cliffs.

There they will head underground,

Where what they are seeking will be found.

Each will realize their latent power,

But one might face their final hour

Each other will be left behind,

Until only one can finish the crime.”

I flashed back to reality when Cal looked away from me. The vision left me haunted, but I knew that was the prophecy. My head snapped around as Salah peeked in and then walked into the room. Immediate fear struck into him as he assessed the dire situation.

The woman, who had been standing behind me silently, saw the recognition in my eyes as I glanced from her to the writing on Cal’s chest, grabbed my shoulder and pulled me upwards. She clutched me to her chest, and I struggled. She had an iron grip. I elbowed her numerous times, stomped my foot onto hers, and clawed at her face but nothing stopped her as she held onto me with crushing force.

“Do you understand, darling?” She purred in my ear.

I snapped my mouth shut, and she responded by pressing her razor sharp thumbnail into my neck.

“Answer me!” She shrieked manically, pressing her nails further into my neck. Her thumb was beginning to, slowly and painfully, rip open my flesh.

“Yes!” I snapped, “I understand the words.”

“Callahan, do what mommy told you.” She sent him a piercing glare.

Salah did not hear this but saw me as I began to struggle harder, and he came over to me quickly. He tried to pry her claws off of me, but she simply lashed out her hand, slapping him across the face. Blood trailed down his cheeks, and rage filled his eyes.

Despair gripped me as I saw Cal stalk unwillingly up to Salah.

I couldn’t bear to look as he slowly lifted his rune-covered arm. Tears filled my eyes when Cal forced Salah to his knees with brutal strength. He plunged the dagger straight through Salah’s heart in an agonizingly slow movement. Salah’s final, soul-shattering scream pierced my heart like the knife that had just pierced his. The woman let go of me immediately, and I collapsed onto my knees.

The woman and Cal escaped out the window, and I clutched Salah. He was still alive, but just barely. It was too late. I could still feel our kiss lingering on my lips, as he whispered in my ear his final words.

“Finish this.”

“Don’t.” I whispered hopelessly, “Don’t give up. Not now.”

The life left his eyes, and an ice cold tear rolled down my flushed cheeks, and landed in the blood flowing out of Salah’s chest. Laying down next to him, silent tears slid down my cheeks, and Salah’s final words pounded through my mind.
The theft
, I thought,
he wants me to finish the theft
.

There was only that moment, and then Rowan knocked on the door.

“Kai? I heard them land outside the window. Can I come in?” Rowan’s exceedingly concerned voice came through the thin door.

I chose not to answer, instead allowing Rowan to continue to worry.

“Kai?! Are you okay?!”

He pushed the door wide open and stepped in. He sucked in a nervous breath as he walked over to me.

“Oh my god.” He whispered, “What happened?”

My eyes opened, but it felt like I wasn’t truly there.

“Cal killed Salah.” There was my voice, monotone and sounding so out of place in the dark silence of death.

“What?” He was in disbelief, his face twisted with indecision. Rowan took my hand and pulled me up. I swayed in his arms, but my brother held me up.