Rise of Keitus (5 page)

He rolled over, facing the wall.

“Wow, Jacob. What happened?”

He sat up. Early stood on the edge of his desk, the color for concern—yellow—flowing through the air around her.

“I was practicing Time-Travel with Azuriah and made a mistake and it, well, bruised me all over.”

She flitted across the room and landed on his knee. “Are you going to be all right? I could get your mother, if you wish.”

“No, I’m fine. I’ll talk to her about it later—Azuriah said it’s not life-threatening.”

She patted his knee. “Okay. Goodbye.”

Early zipped out the window and Jacob lay back down. This time, sleep came fairly quickly.

Mom knocked on his door sometime after nightfall. “Jacob?” She opened the door and came in. “Azuriah contacted us. He said to let you sleep for a while, that you were in bad shape, but that you’d be okay.” She handed him a cup of steaming liquid. “Drink this. It’s hot chocolate with Kaede Sap. It’ll help you get better sooner.”

He took the cup and sipped from it slowly. The chocolate didn’t completely cover the bitter sap taste, but it helped.

Mom sat on his bed. “I’m afraid to turn on the lights. From what Azuriah said, you look awful.”

“Yeah. And I don’t feel very good, either.”

She put her arm around him, lightly touching his shoulders. “I feel so helpless. I’m sorry all this is going on. If it were up to me, you wouldn’t be doing anything but school and basketball.” She sighed and rubbed her face. “Sending children out to conquer the worst demons in the universe . . . how smart is that? Where is the common sense? I wish there were some other way.”

“It’s okay, Mom.”

He leaned against her shoulder and she brushed his hair off his forehead. Neither said anything for a moment. She straightened, taking the empty cup from him.

“Get some sleep, okay, honey?”

He settled back into the bed. “I will.”

A smile crossed his face as the Kaede Sap started working and the warmth from the hot chocolate spread through his body.

Chapter Three: Bugs and Gardens

The next morning, Jacob was stiff and sore everywhere, but in less pain than the day before. The bruises actually looked worse. He sighed, staring at himself in the mirror. He made sure to dress in pants and a long-sleeved shirt, attempting to cover everything up. But his face—he couldn’t do anything about that. Those bruises had spread down across one eye and over his left ear, making it look like he’d been in a boxing match. He debated staying in his room, but shrugged off his pride and went downstairs.

No one reacted the way he thought they would. Apparently, Mom or Dad or someone had told them not to act shocked. Instead of acknowledging him, though, they completely ignored him. Only Amberly said hi.

Jacob poured himself a bowl of cereal and shuffled over to join his family at the table. He was halfway through his breakfast when he couldn’t stand the silence anymore.

“Okay, guys, stop pretending like nothing happened. It’s annoying.”

Matt grinned. “You mean, stop acting like you and the Shiengol got in a fistfight and he won?”

Jacob rolled his eyes. “Something like that.” Then he sighed. “Ignoring it is ridiculous. I expected a couple of compliments at least. I mean—I look spectacular. Especially my face.”

Mom glanced up, seemingly relieved he wasn’t grouchy. “Did the Kaede Sap help at all?”

“I think so. I slept really well. And things hurt less today.”

She reached across the table and patted his hand. “Oh, good.”

Dad told Jacob to take things easy, then left for work. Matt leaned back in his chair, arms behind his head, and looked at Jacob. “So . . . what are you doing today?”

“Probably going to Azuriah’s to practice more.”

Mom shook her head. “He said you won’t be doing anything until tomorrow. You need time to heal. Why don’t you and Matt see if the Makalos need help? And maybe they could give you more Kaede Sap.”

“Help with what?” Matt asked. “They’ve got the Wurbies there, doing everything.”

“I’m sure you’ll find something to make yourselves useful.”

Jacob frowned. “What about Matt and school?”

Mom’s cheeks reddened, but she didn’t answer, so Matt volunteered the information. “She wants me to babysit you today. Make sure you don’t die or do something stupid.”

Jacob rolled his eyes, but decided not to argue. If anything, he looked forward to spending time with Matt. And if it helped Mom not stress so much, he’d let the “babysit” comment slide.

He finished his cereal, then Keyed himself and Matt to the Makalo village. They wandered around, exploring the section of Taga Jacob hadn’t seen when he’d first come to Eklaron—the fields, gardens, and forest where the Wurbies, Azuriah, and many humans now lived.

This part of the village didn’t experience a lot of bad weather. The Makalos used their Rezend to keep the plants warm enough to produce all year round. Jacob had been fascinated to learn this about their powers. Even with their magic waning significantly, when several Makalos combined their Rezend, they could do cool things—like maintain a thriving garden and keep the link between Mendon and Taga closed to strangers.

Jacob noticed with disgust that the bugs were everywhere. They’d really increased. But luckily, the critters seemed to dislike humans as much as humans disliked them.

The gardens were full of Wurbies and Makalos working quickly and almost frantically. Jacob and Matt watched while they went from plant to plant, pulling bugs off the stems and putting them in containers. Others sprayed the plants with what Jacob assumed was some form of pesticide.

Kenji waved at the brothers and strode out of the garden to talk to them. “Jacob, did you get the chance to ask your father about these bugs?”

“Yeah. He’s never heard of them, aside from what Gallus said. Speaking of Gallus, have you talked to him? He said the bugs just started appearing in Macaria recently.”

“I’ll contact him as soon as possible.” Kenji turned and motioned to the gardens. “They’ve moved in on the plants here and destroy everything they touch. We’re doing our best to salvage our fruits and vegetables, but nothing seems to be working.”

Jacob knitted his eyebrows. “Kenji, I’m nearly positive we brought them with us when we got the Wurbies. I’m really sorry—we didn’t know.”

Kenji put his hand on Jacob’s shoulder. “It’s not your fault. I have a feeling they would’ve come either way.”

“Can we do anything to help?” Matt asked.

Kenji sized up the boys. “Yes, you, Matt, but Jacob, you’re looking pretty bad. Why don’t you have a seat and I’ll find something else for you to do?”

Jacob nodded, relieved. In truth, he couldn’t wait to sit down again. His body wasn’t ready just yet to jump into the kind of work the Wurbies and Makalos were doing.

Kenji pointed him to some lawn chairs, then scurried off in the direction of the village. Jacob sat down. Cold! The warmth from the garden didn’t extend to the furniture, apparently.

The Makalos and Wurbies became more frantic as time passed, and Jacob wondered if what they were doing was pointless. He wished he could help.

Thirty minutes after Kenji left, he returned, carrying a large stack of books and a blanket. “Figured you would be cold.” He handed the blanket to Jacob, then the books. “Go through these and see if you can find anything that mentions the bugs.”

“Where did you get them?”

“From the tree—we’ve got quite the collection there.”

Jacob nodded. He’d forgotten that the Makalos used the tree not only as a storage place, but a library too.

He started with the top book and worked his way down, learning all sorts of things. About Onyev, who was an earlier Makalo Patriarch; the Makalo plans for Taga Village; how to help a Kaede tree flourish and how to gather the sap, which was similar to gathering sap for maple syrup. It didn’t surprise Jacob that the process was similar—even though Kaede Sap didn’t taste a thing like maple, it sure smelled like it.

Nowhere in the books did he find mention of the strange bugs, however.

A couple of hours after he’d started, he set everything aside, needing a break. The Wurbies and Makalos had moved to a different garden, and new ones had replaced them. Matt was far away—easily visible in his jeans and bright red hoodie.

Sometime later, Kenji called it quits and everyone started dispersing from the fields. Matt, Kenji, and Sweet Pea joined Jacob, slumping on the other lawn chairs.

“I don’t know what we’re going to do,” Kenji said.

Sweet Pea wiped his hands off on his pants. “Starve, is what. I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve heard it’s a great—”

“This is why they invented Walmart,” Matt said. “I’m sure my dad could help you get enough food.”

“For this many people?” Kenji motioned to the workers as they trickled out of the fields and into their small huts. “Not for very long. We need a permanent solution. We must find out how to get rid of these bugs.” He sighed, then pushed himself up. “Time to go see how Ebony is doing.”

Jacob and Matt followed Kenji back to the village, then Jacob Keyed them home. He really hoped the bugs wouldn’t destroy every living thing in Taga.

Bright and early the next day, Jacob went to Azuriah’s fortress. He was very hesitant to practice again. But once more, Azuriah wasn’t pushy, grouchy, or temperamental. Jacob wondered how long that would last.

“Travel to your room again, but this time, make sure you return the exact same way you go.”

Jacob nodded. He took a deep breath, wiped his sweaty hands on his jacket, and tried to control the doubt he felt. This wasn’t impossible. He could do it—easy as anything.

He followed the necessary steps and appeared in his bedroom. He picked up his basketball, showing himself he’d actually Traveled.

After being there for only a minute, he felt a familiar tightening pain in his chest. He needed to go back.

His heartbeat sped up, the sweat on his hands increasing. He put the ball down and ran his fingers through his hair. “It’s just like coming here,” he said to himself over and over again. Except, if he made a mistake, he’d be dead.

Jacob unfocused his eyes, pictured Azuriah’s fortress, and willed each section of his entire body to return to the present. For a second, he got stuck in the middle again, but this time he knew what to do: he doubled his concentration and forced himself through.

It worked. He slumped to the floor in relief. He hadn’t realized how tense he’d been until just then, and that tension made his bruises ache. His body felt like it had been run over by a semi-truck.

“Very good,” Azuriah said. “Now we need to perfect it by getting the exact moment down and going farther and farther into the past for longer visits.”

“It hurt my heart again—just like when I would Time-See for too long.”

“And it’ll continue doing so until you’re better at it. Like I said, this is a muscle you’ve never used before. It needs strengthening.”

Jacob nodded, getting to his feet. He still couldn’t believe things had gone so well.

An hour and a half later, he had successfully gone a year into the past for three minutes. Even though Jacob was excited and wanted to keep practicing, Azuriah had him go home for an hour-long break before returning to study. They’d build up to longer sessions.

Relief that he didn’t have to go to school flooded over Jacob as he walked through the gardens toward Taga and the tree. If he were doing basketball and homework in addition to learning how to Time-Travel, he would be in serious trouble.

When he got home, he set his alarm to wake him up in forty-five minutes, then pulled the covers up tight.

When he woke up, Early was waiting. She flitted to his face and patted him on the nose, then drifted down and landed. “I found a whole ton of honey! It was wonderful.”

Jacob chuckled. “That’s great. How did you find it in the middle of winter?”

“It’s not winter where I went.”

That made sense—she didn’t have to stay around Mendon. There were plenty of other places to explore.

She jumped up. “Oh, and Kenji wanted me to tell you that the bugs have completely disappeared—they left the garden early this morning and nobody has seen them since.”

“That’s great news!” Jacob sat and leaned back against the wall, closing his eyes. The relief he felt surprised him—he’d been more stressed about those creatures than he’d realized. But they were no longer an issue. A smile spread across his face.