The Two Worlds (6 page)

“
How long have you know
them?” Rowena asked.

Carrie shrugged. “Practically all my
life. We’re neighbors.”

“
Exactly. The Counsel knows
everything about you, including relationships. They tend to pair
together people who have had previous interaction with each other.
For the most part, you’ll be doing the majority of your assignments
with each other. There’s strength in numbers, you know.” Carrie
nodded in agreement and began discussing her assignment with
Tabitha and Jonathan.

“
Right,” Rowena started
again, “Jamie Jackson, Henry Chant, and Nickolas Terrag, open your
DiGis. Keyana Washington and Mary Beth O’Brien, open your DiGis.”
She continued down the list until she reached Rena and
me.

“
Looks like Kathleena
McLaughlin and Rena Hall will be partners,” she said smiling. “Okay
girls, open your DiGis.”

We did, and at once, the page began to
fill in it until it read:

Assignment #1

Location: Turgor, Giza
Graveyard

Details: Use beginner
Awakener skills to Awaken new Death Walker.

“
I’m sorry,” Rena said,
slowly, looking up at me with wide eyes, “but did the word
graveyard
just enter the page?” I nodded mutely. “Do you
know anything about Giza?” I shook my head, and she took a deep
breath. “Giza Graveyard is located on the small tip of Giza, across
Yuron Lake. Giza is the city of Death Walkers, even though there
really isn’t a rule for them to live there. And handful of them
live here, in Tormey and Brozek. Anyway, the Graveyard is the
resting place of soon-to-be Death Walkers. It’s our first
assignment to Awaken a dead person!”

I gulped.

“
Well,” came a voice from
behind me, “sucks to be you.”

Rena and I turned at the same time to
face the girl with cornrows whose name turned out to be Erika
Williams. “For a moment, I was starting to be worried.”

“
What are you talking
about?,” sneered Rena.

“
You know what I’m talking
about,
poriedeo,
” Erika hissed, her back straight. “We’ve
all heard about Nia and Kathleena McLaughlin. I was starting to
wonder if I’d have competition.”

“
What have you heard about
me?” I asked. I hadn’t done anything of significance since I’d
arrived here.

“
You mean you don’t know?”
Erika asked, slightly surprised. “Well, this is interesting. Maybe
you should ask your sister. She does a wonderful job reminding us
all how wonderful your family is. But I’m here now. And as an
Awakener, I’m going to blow you out of the water.”

My hands began to clench, and I took a
step forward when Rowena’s voice came from behind me.

“
Everything okay, girls?”
she asked, the peppiness in her voice gone.

“
Fine, Rowena.” Erika smiled
and bounced off to join her two friends, Connie Spears and
Jai’breon Wells. Connie was an extremely pale girl with long red
hair and dark green eyes, while Jai’breon had caramel colored skin
and light brown eyes that matched her skin perfectly and had an
eerie effect. I thought she looked ridiculous. Erika was the
darkest of the three, with short, curly hair that was pulled into a
ponytail. I sighed and looked away. Rowena had wandered over to
another group. Rena sighed.

“
What’s a
poridieo
?”
I asked her quietly. “Why’d she call you that?”

“
Because I am one,” she
said, looking down. “My dad’s dead, and my mom was thrown in
Caldbeck when I was four.
Poridieo
is a west Turgorian slur
for traitor.”

“
I thought you said your mom
is an Undine.”

“
She was, but when she was
thrown in prison, she was stripped of her title. Got caught in the
middle of the war, and there was enough KaKonian political sway to
land her there.” Rena continued to look down, and I sat back for a
moment, realizing that she had lied to me earlier.

“
I’m really sorry,” I
offered.

Rena shook her head. “Don’t worry about
it. I’m tough. I’ve been on my own for twelve years.”

“
So where do you
live?”

“
With different families. It
depends on where the orphanage sends me. They’re too full to keep
me there. I stayed with the Spelling family last night, the one
that lives next to you. Then I received a message from Paul telling
me to go with you to the meeting today.”

We sat quietly for a moment, listening
to the others talk excitedly about their new assignments. It seemed
like we were the only ones that had received one we weren’t so
crazy about. I glanced over at Erika, who smirked at me and turned
back to laugh with Connie and Jai’breon.

Yolonda cleared her throat, and I
jumped. I had forgotten that she was still there. An idea hit
me.

“
Hey, why don’t you stay
with me?”

Rena stared at me for a moment and then
shook her head. “I couldn’t do that!”

“
Why not?”

“
Because,” she said, biting
her bottom lip, “that would be...like...intruding or
something.”

“
Whatever,” I said, rolling
my eyes. “You would
not
be like an intruder. Think about it.
We’re partners. You don’t have a house. I have one to myself, and I
need the company. I mean, Dia’s cool, but she’s kind of like my
mom...if she was still alive.”

“
Your mom’s dead?” Rena
said, her eyes widening. “I’m so sorry.”

I shrugged. “It’s okay. Both of my
parents died, actually, when I was younger. Nia and I stay with our
grandparents.” We fell back into silence for a few seconds before I
spoke up again. “You would be doing me a favor by staying with me,
Rena. I’ve got a lot to learn, and my sister’s a Creator, so she
doesn’t seem to have much time.”

“
Yeah, I know she’s a
Creator. Everyone knows,” Rena replied. I thought about asking her
more about that, but she kept talking. “Look, if I stay with you, I
don’t want any special treatment or anything, okay? It’s still your
house.” I nodded, and she thought for a moment more before breaking
into a grin. “This is going to be fun.”

“
Ya got that right,” I added
in an exaggerated southern drawl to ease the awkward silence
between us. We both giggled and turned our attention back to our
Evrodes. Rowena stood at the front of the group again and clapped
her hands to get our attention.

“
Okay, group, we’re done for
today. It’s been fun, but I’ve got a husband and two kids at home
who need me. So,” she glanced around to make sure everyone had
stopped talking, “let me end this meeting by reminding you to keep
up with your DiGi and make sure you check it periodically. I’ll be
posting messages in it. Hopefully, everyone swapped information
with each other—phone numbers, addresses, that such—but if you lose
them, just consult your DiGi. It should have it in there. I’ve been
told that there’s a ‘getting to know you’ party down at Tinnel’s
tonight, so if you want to come you should. Sherry Tinnel reminded
me to tell you that there is no Awakening in the restaurant, so
please be respectful. When I’ve heard word that your assignments
are done, I’ll schedule another meeting. Till then, toodles.”
Rowena dismissed us, and Rena and I headed for the exit.

Redwood Park had embraced night, and
now the majestic trees appeared haunted, their once welcoming
branches now seeming menacing. Our group stuck together and
murmured in low voices as we moved quickly to the opening we had
come through, stepping timidly over hidden roots and jumping at the
small hoots of owls. Once outside the forest, Rena and I began
making our way back towards my house.

“
So, did Nia create your
house?” she asked. I nodded, and she grinned. “Man, I wish I had a
sister that could create things for me.”

I scoffed. “It’s not all that it’s
cracked up to be, you know. She can be pretty weird.” We walked
briskly through the crowds until we were back at Dia.

Dia opened the door for me, yawning.
“How’d it go?”

“
Good, Dia, Rena’s going to
be staying here with me from now on. You don’t mind, do
you?”

“
Oh, honey, please! The more
the merrier. Now I won’t have to talk to you so much.” I smirked.
Rena laughed and plopped down on the couch. “If you don’t mind, I’m
going back to sleep.”

“
Not at all,” I grumbled. I
went into the kitchen and found a box of cereal. “Hey, Rena, you
want cereal for dinner?” No answer came from the living room.
“Rena?” I put down the cereal and walked back into the room where I
found Rena lying peacefully on the couch, fast asleep. “Oh, well,
more for me then.” I grabbed a bowl, and as soon as I was done, I
fell on the opposite armchair and dozed off as well.

CHAPTER FIVE

I sat at my desk back at home,
desperately trying to get through my homework—from Earth that is. I
had already promised that I would do my Turgorian homework with
Rena when I went to sleep later on tonight. We were in midsummer
back here in Mississippi, and every day the weatherman would get on
TV to confirm the day would be a scorcher. The TV was playing
faintly downstairs as Grandma watched the news, and Nia, who
already finished her homework, was out at the mall with her best
friend, Bobbi. Sighing, I pushed aside my math textbook and pulled
out the Turgor papers. After staring at them for a few minutes, I
shook my head.
No, you’ve got to finish this work!
I scolded
myself. I gave myself a quick mental pep talk and then dove back
inside algebra. Later on that evening, I sat outside on the front
porch with Nia.

“
How was the meeting?” she
asked, popping a large wad of chewing gum. The fireflies were out
tonight, and they seemed to pulse golden light in time with the
crickets, which were also making their presence known. I breathed
deeply and smiled. Times like these were nothing short of
Heaven.

“
Meeting?” I asked, looking
at her. As usual, she was fashionably dressed and looking gorgeous.
Her face was so serene.

“
Turgor.”

“
Oh, good, I guess,” I
shrugged, looking away. “We’re working on basic spells so we can
figure out how to get the Death Walker. Rena keeps accidentally
turning her Evrode into a mint. I don’t think she’s very happy with
her.”

Nia chuckled. “She’ll get the hang of
it.”

“
Yeah, I know she will. How
about you? What do you do all day?”

“
I have an advanced Creator
course that I’m in right now,” Nia explained, poking at a passing
bug with her big toe. “And once a week I volunteer for the High
Counsel. Doing paperwork and stuff.” She looked pleased with
herself.

“
Why are you doing that?” I
asked, confused. “Is that a part of an assignment?”

“
Nope,” Nia said, shaking
her head. “I want to be part of the Senior Counsel one day, so I’m
hoping that volunteering can open up doors for me. It looks good on
the resume, you know.”

I shook my head. So Nia was basically
an overachiever on any planet.

“
Before I go to bed, I’m
going to stop by the hospital and sit with Grandpa for awhile. You
want to go?” Nia nodded. We walked inside, let Grandma know where
we were going, and headed out.

“
Hey Grandpa,” I greeted
softly. A dim, yellow light above his bed illuminated his face,
casting an eerie glow. The soft beep, beep from the machine hooked
up to him returned our greeting.

“
How are you?” Nia
continued. There was no answer, but this didn’t stop us from
talking to Grandpa like he was still conscious. Ever since Grandma
had read that coma patients could still hear what was going on
around them, we had all taken time to make sure Grandpa was up to
date on our lives. Of course, now that Nia and I knew what was
really happening with Grandpa, it kind of changed things.
Nonetheless, I wasn’t able to stop my ritual of coming to see
Grandpa and neither was Nia, it seemed. We tossed our bags on the
floor near the door and took our usual spots on the hard sofa. The
sky was still light as the summer sun slowly descended. We were in
the longest days of the year and had plenty of time before it got
completely dark.

“
I decided to read you one
of your stories,” I said, pulling out the stack of papers. I looked
over at Nia. “You mind?”

“
Go ahead,” she said,
leaning back. “I can never get enough of Turgor.”

I smirked, shuffling the papers before
I found a title that stood out to me. “
The Legend of Benads Gen,
Son of Felkne
,” I read out loud. I turned to Nia. “Ever heard
of him?” She shook her head, and I continued. “Once upon a time, in
the far lands of eastern Dent lived the powerful Felkne family, who
ruled their lands with justice and grace. They had many children,
all princes and princesses, who were well loved by the people. It
was a happy time, and their people prospered—great art and music
came out of this time, along with the modern Turgorian writing
system. However, this family did not rule for long. They were
attacked by a neighboring kingdom, and a great war ensued. Over
many moons did bloodshed happen, and eventually the Felkne kingdom
was destroyed.