Alina's Crossing: Guardians of Terrin (13 page)

Jeb's mouth formed a thin line
of frustration I was absolutely sure was caused by me and my smart mouth, but I
didn't care at that moment.

Let him be frustrated.

He wasn't the one who had to go
in there and fight a mad man. I had to do it, and I had to do it with a weapon
that I didn't know how to operate. He could
be
frustrated with me.

I indicated that he should open
the door.

I was ready and antsy with
anticipation.

I took a few heavy cleansing
breaths, slowly exhaling each time, trying to envision any power to spread
through my veins and give me the courage I would need and the outcome I
desired.

Jeb looked at me once more and
I nodded to him. Jeb hesitated for only a moment, opening the door roughly.

We rushed inside the room with
me still safely tucked inside the man cocoon of safety. It was very
anti-climactic, because, once we made it through the door, no one was inside.

The room was devoid of any
person.

It was a surprisingly large
room and not what I expected the lair of an evil mad man to look like.

It was quite nice actually.

There were large plush rugs of
red, green and cream colors covering the expansive wooden floors, which were
dark in color and highly polished. Three large doors held floor to ceiling
windows that let in an amazing amount of light leading out to a large stone
balcony that would look out over all of Terrin and the Galo Mountains in the
distance. There was a fireplace and several chaise couches placed strategically
around it. It looked cozy and it was a place I could envision myself spending a
large amount of time in.

It was also extremely familiar.

I broke away from the group.

I walked around in daze,
looking up and down and left to right, turning around and around in a
continuous circle not knowing where else I should look. I needed and wanted to
look at everything all at the same time.

‘How did I know this room?’
I wondered.

I didn't have time to
contemplate any of those questions because something else had attracted my
attention.

“Have you forgotten that I
preferred my visitors to be announced?” The mysterious voice said.

I couldn't see where it was
coming from, but I knew that it must be Shael. The only time I heard him speak
was while the Shadow was inside of Jeb.

Jeb said nothing, while
frantically motioning for me to come back to the cluster. I obeyed him. I did
not want to be alone at that particular moment, invisible or not. My last
meeting with Shael wasn't a pleasant one.

“You aren't going to play with
me, are you Jeb? I find that tiring and very boring. Why don't you just come
out and face me, man to man? I know you are in here, you know you want to face
me, so just do it already.” Said Shael, sounding bored.

Jeb said nothing, putting his
fingers to his lips, indicating we should all remain quiet as well. The voice
sounded like it was coming from above us and to the left, so we all scooted to
the right in an effort to stay out of Shael’s path.

Shael did not like our lack of
response.

“How are your nephews doing Jeb?
Are they still sad about having witnessed their parent’s deaths? Terrible about
how they died wasn't it? Murder-suicide is a terrible way to go.” taunted
Shael.

He said nothing pointedly
threatening to Jeb, but what Shael said was much worse than a threat. He was
using what he knew in an effort to draw Jeb out.

I saw Jeb's hands contract into
tight fists. He clenched them so tightly his hands were turning white. This
time it was I who placed a hand on Jeb to calm him down.

I needed Jeb to think.

Jeb managed to keep silent. We
all did.

“This is very boring.” Shael
said after a few quiet moments. “How about I come out first? Then we can play.”

I felt Jeb tense up which
caused me to tense up as well. I heard Paul and Joe shifting their weight
behind me, preparing.

It was happening.

Whether I liked it or not,
Shael was here and I had to face him.

There was complete silence for
several seconds.

No one moved or even breathed.

The anticipation of not knowing
where he was coming out from and who was going to attack whom first was gut
wrenching. I knew we had the advantage by being invisible, but we couldn't see
Shael either.

He made himself known by
walking out in front of us, his arms stretched out, palms up, mocking us with
his fake surrender. I was composed enough to seem calm outwardly, but inside I
was raging a storm of panic, my heart thumping wildly inside my chest.

He stepped out slowly and methodically,
not knowing exactly where we were in the room.
 

He was tall and very thin. He
had shock black hair, a little on the long side. His hair looked greasy and
shiny and was styled into annoying side swoop with a curl that touched below
his eye. He wore all black, which made his creamy white complexion look all the
more pasty.

‘He would have fit in nicely with the Goth crowd at my high
school.’
I thought.

He had dark circles under his
eyes that looked like purple bruises and gave him a sickly look. He kept his
arms stretched out by his sides, turning himself to every nook and cranny as he
walked the room.

“Do you have Alina with you
Jeb? Is she here to kill me?” he asked.

We still didn't respond.

He started laughing then, a
sick, cruel laugh that sent shivers up my spine.

He was everything I had
expected him to be and nothing like I imagined. 

He turned in his sweep of the
room and started a direct intercept course towards us. I shot Jeb a look of
fright and he squinted his eyes in reassurance.

“Stop right there!” Jeb
commanded and Shael did. Jeb pointed for us to shuffle over to the other side
of the room and we all complied quietly.

“Shael, you will stop the
torment of the people of Terrin, or we will stop you!” said Jeb bravely.

Shael turned his body towards
us, knowing we changed position from where I voices came from.

We again shuffled to another
location to try to avoid detection, but I saw Shael turn his head towards the
sound of our feet.

He had a good idea of our location.

“You know Jeb, this isn't very
fair. I have come out to face you, bravely and alone. You are hiding under your
disguise. Are you so afraid that you can't show yourself to me? You were once
my friend, my comrade. Face me now!” said Shael, his face losing composure and
showing signs of anger.

The last time Shael was angry,
he shoved a knife into Jeb's body.

Jeb was about to take off his
cloak.

His hands raised up but Paul reached
out to stop him, shaking his head.

They were going to stick to the
plan.

Paul reigned in Jeb's anger,
causing him to refocus. I still hadn't gotten close enough to Shael to unleash
the box, still enveloped in the protection of the wall they formed around me.

“Fine. If that's how you want
to play it Jeb, we will play it your way. And dirty.” Shael lowered his arms
slowly to his side.

I saw Jeb rally himself,
preparing for battle. I heard Paul and Joe shifting their weight behind me. I
shrunk lower inside the wall.

I was not ready.

“NOW!” Shael screamed suddenly.

One moment I was inside the
wall, the next moment I was pushed to the ground and my box was yanked away
from me roughly.

In the confusion of the fray, I
didn't see who took the box. I tried to find it was but there were men on and
around me, trying to get themselves righted.

Jeb had managed to stand up
first and I heard him gasp.

When I righted myself, I too gasped
in surprise.

It was Joe, uncloaked, and
standing next to Shael and he had my box.

Both Joe and Shael had pleased
smirks on their faces, proud of the trickery they had just accomplished.

Paul and Jeb looked devastated
and completely insane with anger and for once I was actually scared of both of
them. I suddenly felt like I was on my own because the truth of the betrayal from
Joe had erased the usually calm and even tempered men I had come to know. I did
not know if they could think calmly and rationally after that moment.

Shael was caressing the box,
fondling it with flair. I tried to move the box back to me with my mind, but it
wasn't working. My magic wasn’t strong enough.

“I think I will just put this
away for safe keeping.” said Shael.

He snapped his fingers.

In the blink of an eye, the box
disappeared from sight.

“Hmmm. Let’s recap.” said
Shael. “It looks like I have your box and one of your invisibility cloaks and
Joe! I think you failed.”

Shael walked to his desk and
sat down, propping his legs roughly on the top. He placed his hands casually
behind his head.

Jeb and Paul were shaking with
rage, and I didn't want either of them to start something they couldn't finish.
Joe sat down on the carved window seat to the left of Shael, his demeanor calm.

“What are you going to do now?”
said Shael.
 
His face turned menacing as
he continued. “What does Joe know Jeb? Does Joe know where your hideout is? Why
yes, I believe he does. Does Joe know how many people are on your island? What
else does Joe know.......” Shale said.

Jeb and Paul exchanged glances.

I couldn't tell what those
looks meant, but I knew it wasn't going to be good. We had no weapons, no box,
and our advantage was basically gone. Shael could put on the cloak and find us.
Then, he could unleash the Shadow and we would all be dead.

I started tugging on Jeb's arm.
He needed to see that we failed and it was time to retreat while we still
could, but he didn't budge.

Jeb was intent on action.

Actions that might get us all
killed.

Paul started to walk backwards,
slowly. He then turned, padding quietly across the room, jumping gracefully on
to one of the ladders that led up to the bookcases and he started to climb. I
watched him slither up the ladder, placing himself directly above Shael. Once
Paul was in position, Jeb uncloaked himself.

“Ahh good, Jeb. There you are.
How good of you to come!” said Shael excitedly, removing his perched feet from
the desk. He stood up and walked around to the desk, inching himself purposely
closer to us.

“And Alina? Is she here as
well?” he asked, showing way to much anticipation of meeting me face to face
again. My stomach turned.

Jeb reluctantly uncloaked me,
removing the hood of my cloak and I had never felt so vulnerable in my life. I
moved closer to Jeb, trying to hide, knowing full well that it would do no
good.

Shael could see me now.

I had my hand on the only thing
left we had up our sleeves, the kelter stone in my pocket. My trell necklace
rested around my neck. My magic wasn’t reliable yet, but I was sure I could
figure out something to do to aid our escape.

He was inching towards me, like
a hunter sneaking up on his prey. He got to within a foot of me, standing
before me as straight and tall as he could.

His eyes stunned me, causing me
to gasp.

They were swirling and twisting,
a sea of red in a storm. I had never seen anything so monstrous and it scared
me.

“Hello Alina.” he said,
greeting me evenly.

I said nothing, trying to avoid
even looking in his direction.

“You know it's rude to not
return a greeting once it's extended to you, don't you? Didn't that grandmother
of yours teach you any manners?” Shael barked.
 
Mentioning my grandmother was a cheap shot and
I automatically lunged at him.

Jeb caught me, holding me back.

Jeb had his wits about him and
I needed to remember to keep mine. They only way we were going to get out of
this alive was to keep our heads cool and still attached to our bodies.

Paul was perched up above us,
monitoring the situation. He had not made a move and I wondered what he was
planning to do. I consciously forced myself to not look up so I wouldn’t give
Shael any inkling that someone was up there. I did notice the cloak Shael stole
from us was now sitting alone and unguarded on the desk.

Shael had his attention on me,
had all but forgotten about Jeb’s presence. Joe had not yet mentioned that Paul
was missing.

 
“Yes sorry. I was just...startled.” I said
softly in response to Shael, which wasn't even a lie.

I was going to try to keep him
engaged in conversation and engaged in
me
until Paul was ready to do whatever it was he was getting ready to do. I had to
make sure that Shael didn't notice Paul at all.