The Two Worlds (12 page)

“
I don’t understand,” Nia
said, shaking her head. “We heard that we were a part of a legend,
but there was never any talk about this war. How come we didn’t
learn about it?”

“
No one really knows the
history of the legend.” Grandpa sighed. “The KaKonians still hold a
great position of power on Turgor. They decided that the history
books could do without what really happened to the
Felkne.”

“
So where do we fit into
this?” I croaked. Mom and Dad had begun a silent conversation among
themselves, with Mom laughing at whatever Dad was telling
her.

Grandpa closed his eyes and continued
talking. “Not too many people know this, and the KaKonians for sure
don’t know this, but before the Felkne sisters died, the oracle
that had originally issued a prophecy about them had another one.
She said there would come at a time when a horrible war would begin
again on Turgor. Right before the war could reach a peak, two
sisters would be reunited on the planet. The Felkne sisters’ powers
would be reborn within each set of sisters that descended until it
would come to pass that a set of sisters would house the powerful
Felkne magic. The oracle called them the
Akearman Stars,
after the Akearman constellation. It is one of the most visible
constellations from our planet, and the one that was very present
the night the sisters were found.

“
The prophecy states
specifically,
there shall come a time when the two stars will
reunite and have Death on their side in the final battle of Turgor.
They will Awaken the ancient magical and powerful warriors from
centuries that have passed and band forces to help defeat the
KaKonians once and for all. After this ancient battle, it shall
come to pass s that the two stars will reign forever in the
night.
”

I shook my head. I could grasp the
general meaning of what Grandpa was telling us. “So Nia and I are
the
Akearman Stars
?”

Grandpa looked back at Mom and Dad, who
were paying rapt attention to him now. “Yes, you are.”

I swallowed. “And we’re supposed to
save the day? Grandpa, we’re not powerful!”

“
Yes, you are, honey,”
Grandpa said, looking down at me with sad eyes. “You haven’t had
nearly the amount of training that you should have had, but you are
very powerful. I heard about the incident at Nipsin’s Lodge. How do
you think you were able to create a distraction that big and
powerful after only a couple of days on this planet?”

“
I thought every Awakener
could do that!” I shrieked. My head had begun to hurt, and my
Evrodes had grown icy on my skin.

“
No, they can’t,” Nia said,
shaking her head. “I knew we were powerful, but I thought that was
just talent. Not a legend that we were fulfilling.”

Grandpa pointed to the chalkboard.
“Your mother and father wanted to be here when I explained this to
you.”

“
They can hear you?” Rena
asked. Grandpa nodded.

Nia looked from the board to Grandpa.
“What do we do now?”

“
There was a reason that
Kay’s first assignment was to Awaken a Death Walker. The prophecy
states,
...the two stars will reunite and have Death on their
side.
We, a small group of historians and myself, thought that
you Awakening the Death Walker would fulfill the final piece of the
legend. We didn’t know that the KaKonians would be attacking so
soon though.”

“
So, we have to go Awaken
the Death Walker,” Rena sighed. I sighed along with her. This was
getting more complicated.

“
What if I don’t want to
engage in battle?” I asked. Nia looked at me. “What? I mean, I have
enough trouble at home on Earth. Why would I want to risk being
killed here? What about Grandma? You left her!” I pointed a
trembling finger at Grandpa. “I won’t do the same. It would kill
her!”

“
Kay! Calm down,” Nia said,
placing a hand on my shoulder She was trembling, too. “No one is
going to die.”

“
We’re talking about a war
here, Nia!” I shook my head hard as if trying to shake myself out
of a bad dream. “Not a simple assignment. A war!”

“
The KaKonians don’t know
about you...yet,” Grandpa said. “That gives us precious time to
teach you what you need to know. I will be with you every step of
the way.”

“
So will I,” piped Rena. I
closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I did not want to think
about this right now. Time to change the subject.

“
Grandpa, we were headed to
Caldbeck originally because Rena’s mother is here. She would like
to see her. Is there anything you can do?” I didn’t add that he
owed us one since he forgot to mention this recent
information.

Grandpa rubbed his cheek. “What did she
do, Rena?”

Rena explained her situation, and
before I knew it, we were walking along the rows of books
again.

CHAPTER TWELVE

The book that Rena’s mom was housed in
was a bright neon green and had a red emblem on it. The emblem
glowed when Grandpa stepped near it, and Rena caught her breath.
Grandpa muttered a few words under his breath and lightly tapped
the book. The emblem parted until each half of it was on an
opposite side of the cover. Grandpa gripped the book and turned
around to face Rena.

“
Are you ready?” he asked.
She nodded, and I grabbed her hand for support.

Grandpa slowly opened the book. At
first, nothing happened. Dust rose from the pages, showing that it
had not been touched for quite a while. But as Grandpa continued to
stare down at them, the pages began to glow a faint green. We all
stood there, watching in awe as the book continued to glow, eerily
lighting Grandpa’s face.

“
Symposi nauseum, majoot
aldrej,
release yourself,” Grandpa whispered to the book. It
stopped glowing at once. We all stood staring at it, holding our
breath. “
Symposi nauseum, majoot aldrej,
release yourself1”
Grandpa cried louder. The book trembled in his hands so hard he
dropped it. We all jumped back in surprise as the book began to
twist and morph until it was at least ten times the height it once
was, and wide enough for all of us to stand in it. It continued to
stretch and shake, thick layers of dust rising up with each
shiver.

“
Symposi nauseum, majoot
aldrej,
release yourself, veroot, veroot!” Grandpa shouted.
Rena gave a small yelp, and we grasped hands tightly. I looked on
in a mixture of shock and fear. The book seemed to have melted into
a figure, its pages forming the outer layer while the thick layers
of dust shielded us from seeing the middle. Grandpa straightened
his back and took two steps towards the figure.

“
Shake it off, prisoner,” he
cooed. The figure stood still for a moment and then shook fiercely,
with dust flying everywhere. Rena, Nia, and I coughed and squinted,
trying to protect our eyes and watch at the same time. When the
dust had settled, Grandpa stood back again, satisfied. And there
stood a tall woman, with crystal blue skin and Rena’s eyes. She
blinked and quivered, allowing two large beautiful wings to expand
from her back. The woman was dressed in gray robes, with the
nametag 32000651QDF on her chest.

“
Mother?” Rena whispered,
her skin a ghostly white. The woman frowned for a moment and then
smiled.

“
Rena?” she asked. Rena
nodded, and the woman began glowing a brilliant pink. “RENA!” Rena
ran to her mother, and they embraced, both glowing rainbows of
colors. From inside her mother’s arms, I could hear Rena laughing
and crying at the same time. I looked over at Nia, who was trying
to wipe away a tear without being noticed, and gave her a big
grin.

“
My name is Jala. I
am—
was
on the force Tormey, protector of the skies.” Rena’s
mother had sat down next to us in another room in Caldbeck. Nia had
created us a buffet of kirrs—meat that resembled oysters—biscuits,
tea, and cookies. After Awakening them, I loaded my plate and sat
back down to listen as Jala explained how she had come to be a
prisoner. “It was standard protocol. We were to check out one of
the numerous break-ins of Lugsdor, the planet’s official library.
I, along with my team, flew over here and found a team of KaKonians
destroying ancient texts.”

“
What was so important about
the texts?” Grandpa asked.

“
We don’t know. And I never
had a chance to find out. We began to battle the KaKonians—and we
were winning, too—until another group of creatures came
in.”

Jala shuddered, and her crystal skin
twinkled. “We had never seen anything like them. They were huge
land beasts with rows of teeth and black, scaly skin. Their front
limbs had three separate paws on each, with long dagger-like nails
coming from them. And the smell...” Jala shook her head. “They
attacked us before we knew what happened. I lost so many friends
that day. Only a few of us managed to escape. But when we made it
back to our captain, we found out we had been set up. He was
working for the KaKonians all along. Whatever ancient texts they
wanted, they found. And the rest of the force was made to look like
traitors of Turgor. I was stripped of my title and thrown in
prison.” Jala ran a hand through Rena’s hair. “I never saw my
family again.”

“
Well, you’re free now,” Nia
said. “And we could use all the help we can get.”

Jala frowned. “What is going
on?”

“
We’re at war, Mother,” Rena
said. “The KaKonians attacked us last night. Turgorians have fled
here, to Caldbeck. We saw the Harpies battling in the sky this
morning.”

“
Good heavens,” Jala
murmured. She turned and focused her deep blue eyes on Grandpa. “So
it has begun.”

Grandpa nodded. “Yes, Jala. I’m afraid
it has.”

“
But what are we going to
do?” I piped up. “Sitting here isn’t helping anything1”

“
You’re right, dear.”
Grandpa stood up and looked down at us. “We need to continue on
with our plan.”

“
Plan?” I squeaked. “What
plan?”

Nia sighed. “We have to get the Death
Walker, sis.” I began to shake my head in protest, but she held up
her hand to stop me. “It’s not about you, Kathleena. It’s about
innocent people out there who are counting on all the help they can
get. We can’t do this without you.”

My throat felt tight. “I’m just a kid,”
I mumbled. What did they want from me, anyway? This stuff happened
in fairy tales, not real life. I could be killed!

“
So am I,” Nia reminded
me.

“
And me, too,” Rena added.
“I’m scared just like you are. But this is something that has to be
done. People are depending on us.”

I looked down and gloomily took a bite
of my biscuit.

Grandpa cleared his throat. “We’ve got
to go. Nia, can you create a doorway for an underground tunnel?”
Nia squinted as she thought.

“
Sure,” she said slowly.
“But that’s really complicated. I mean, you have to have an
Awakener in there immediately to make sure the actual tunnel
doesn’t collapse.”

“
But you can do it,” Grandpa
said firmly. “Just think about the time you created the underground
bunker in Dia.”

I frowned. “Wait,” I began, “how do you
know—?”

“
No time for questions,
dear,” Grandpa interrupted. “We’ve got to get a move
on.”

Nia stood still for a minute, gathering
her concentration. She then reached down to the floor and made an
imaginary box around her with one finger. As she traced the outline
of the box, the floor opened up. Nia gave a surprised yelp and fell
into the hole.

“
Nia!” I shouted and ran to
the edge of the hole. But Nia was laughing.

“
I’m okay!” she shouted
back. “Just made a rookie mistake.”

I sighed in relief, gave a wary glance
to Grandpa, and then climbed in after her. The darkness was cold
and eerie. I shuddered and touched a hand to one of the surrounding
walls. I could feel Nia’s breath on my neck as she
waited.

“
You are strong, sturdy, a
sense of protection,” I whispered to the wall.

The dirt immediately became rock solid.
I did the same to the wall on my other side and behind me. Finally,
I Awakened the ground underneath us. Nia turned to the wall in
front of us and put her hands on it.

“
Open up and guide us
along,” she commanded. The wall immediately gave way, bits of dirt
falling from the top.

“
Come on, you guys!” I
yelled back up to the top. “Rena, I’m going to need your
help.”

Grandpa jumped in first, followed by
Rena and then Jala. We moved along at a slow pace, dodging pipes
and bits of foundation that had buried their way into the ground.
After what seemed like hours of Nia creating and Rena and I
Awakening, a sudden
BOOM
came from on top of us. Our tunnel
shook dangerously, and I held my breath. But nothing collapsed on
us.

“
We must have made it from
under Caldbeck,” Jala murmured. She had taken on the same dull
brown color of the ground we were in.