Arrival of the Traveler (Waldgrave Book 1) (25 page)

“The adornments were added later.” Ava shrugged. “It’s in one of those old books. Aaron couldn’t see it…he was human. Only I could see the writing. We pried it out of the coral and swam it back up to the boat. His friend was really upset that we had destroyed part of the coral formation until I said what I thought the box was. Aaron was livid—he said I should have left it in the coral. Another fifty years and it might have been covered completely. But then we had it, and we had to decide what to do with it. It was heavier on land, so we left it in the boat at the dock. Aaron said we should dump it back in the water the next day, and I told him we would. But as I lay there in the dark, another possibility came to me.

“I waited until he fell asleep and then I snuck back out to the boat with Thomas. I knew that I couldn’t dump it back out at sea because I’d never find it again. I hired some locals to help me move it out of town. I hid it in a little cave just outside of Manta. Then I took Thomas and went to the airport, and I went home. I asked for full amnesty from my father in exchange for Thomas and the location of the portal. So I was allowed back, and the nightmare was over.” Ava smiled over at Lena, proud of her cleverness, but Lena was frowning.

“You just left me and dad there? You didn’t say goodbye to me, or anything?”

“Well, I only really needed Thomas, and I couldn’t cart both of you out to the airport. It would have been such a hassle.” Ava crinkled her nose. “My father only wanted a boy. Tough luck for him when he found out Thomas was human.”

Lena sighed. It should have upset her, but such attitudes just didn’t anymore. Her mother was as self-centered and arrogant as any other Daray. “What happened with the portal?”

“I went before the Council and told them the location, a representative was decided on, and he went out and retrieved it. He was murdered on the way back, and the portal hasn’t been seen since.” Ava shrugged.

“Who killed him?” Lena asked.

“Oh, we never did find out…” Ava yawned and reached for the hairbrush on her nightstand. She started to pull it through her matted hair.

“Investigative services really suck here.” Lena observed.

“Don’t use that word.” Ava replied indifferently. “It’s unbecoming of a lady. We’re sure it was someone with the New Faith, and that’s good enough.”

It was all very convenient. Too convenient. A Daray, the only Silenti who would be able to find and identify the portal, just happened to be scuba diving in the exact location where the portal is. And then the portal disappeared before any conclusive evidence could be gathered? It wasn’t enough to earn Lena’s blind faith, but it was worth asking around for more information.

Lena got up and walked back to her room. Since Hesper had helped her pick out a new winter wardrobe at the start of the trip, she hadn’t unpacked any of the summer clothes that she had brought in her suitcase. Now she was digging through them unceremoniously, looking for something she had packed on Griffin’s suggestion.

“There you are…” She whispered.

She pulled the journal free from a mess of shirts. She flipped it open to the inscription on the inside cover and tried to read it again, but to no avail. She flipped through the rest of the pages, wondering if she had missed something, but it was empty. She thought hard; if Griffin thought that she would need it, odds were that she would. But why would she need an empty book?

The rest of the next week passed Lena by without any need of the blue journal. She denied her impulse to call Griffin and ask what the book was for; she would figure it out on her own. But with only one more week to go, and her chances of figuring it out by herself getting slim, she finally enlisted Hesper’s help. After making her swear that she wouldn’t tell Griffin, of course.

“You know he’ll probably know anyway, right?” Hesper said in a bored tone.       

“I’m asking that you try, that’s all.”

Hesper rolled her eyes. “I’ll try. Does this mean that I can ask you a favor, too? No questions asked?”

“Sure. Whatever. You’re my friend.” Lena looked sternly at her. “Do you read Latin?”

Hesper stared. “No. Lena, why the hell would I read Latin?”

Lena sighed. She really 
was
 going to have to learn Latin. “It’s…nothing. No reason. What do you need?”

Hesper checked the hall, closed the door, and lowered her voice. “I’m sneaking out tonight, and I need you to cover for me.”

Lena’s defenses went up. From experience, it wasn’t good for political figures to go sneaking out alone. “That’s really not a good idea, Hesper…”

“I’ll be fine. Look, you can sound the alarm if I’m not back by two.” Hesper implored.

“Where are you going?” Lena asked.

Hesper’s expression softened and Lena started to worry again. She was keeping another secret. “I want to tell you. You have no idea how bad I want to tell you. But your blocking isn’t that great yet, and you live with one of the most powerful living Silenti in the world. Not to mention Griffin. I just can’t tell you yet, okay? I swear I won’t be in any danger.”

Lena didn’t want to let her go. It was a bad idea to go out alone. Hesper was Griffin's sister, which made her a potential target. Her death wouldn't go unnoticed; it would be a powerful political statement. It was fraught, especially with the way Eric had been following her around... But Lena agreed, and as sickening as it was to her, asked her to call every half hour or so to check in.

Lena laid awake in bed, flipping back and forth through her journal. It was possible there was something written in it, but very doubtful. Lena had been able to read every book in the Waldgrave library for several months, and in general had no issue reading Silenti scripts anymore.

iter itineris susipio hik

Hesper had set her look to be a little more punk than usual that evening, wearing a pair of black jeans, a corset-style top, extremely dark eye makeup, and even putting temporary blue streaks in her hair. She had spent nearly two hours picking out clothes and putting on makeup, which was unusually long, even for Hesper, before she finally slipped out the window and down a ladder. As her blue pigtails disappeared into the warm night air, Lena had to wonder who had set up the ladder for her.

Why wouldn’t Hesper tell her? She could keep a secret. And it wasn’t safe to go out alone. That was one of the things that Hesper and Lena had in common. They should be best friends, but they weren’t. Hesper was keeping secrets because she didn’t trust her, Lena, who had thought they were best friends.

iter itineris susipio hik…

She could keep a secret. What could be so important in her life that no one could know, anyway? Lena had bigger secrets. She had bigger problems. And Hesper knew about all of them. Lena rolled over and looked at the digital clock on the nightstand. Two forty-six.

Maybe she should ask Mrs. Ralston, who knew everything, but might not want to help, given who the journal was from. Ava didn’t speak Latin; she had said so when she talked about finding the portal. Hesper didn’t know. Daray would certainly know, but Lena sure wasn’t going to go asking him. And she certainly wasn’t going to go to Griffin. She could imagine the smug expression on his face, the conceited tone of voice he struck when she admitted he had something she needed.

iter itineris susipio hik…

The journey begins here.

Lena turned around. Serena was standing in the doorway, wearing a plush green bathrobe and holding two steaming coffee mugs. Panic stricken, Lena sat up and started to babble like an idiot.

“Hesper had to…she’s in the…she had to pee. Hesper’s peeing.” Wow. Maybe she really 
was
 bad at keeping secrets. “I mean, diarrhea. She ate something, and she’ll probably be in the bathroom for a while.”

Serena smiled and closed the door behind her. She sat down on the bed where Hesper was supposed to be sleeping. “It’s okay. I know she’s out. Reading up on your Latito?”

Lena stared. Serena pushed a mug of hot tea into her hand. She had to be the coolest adult she had ever met. “Latito?”

“It’s Silenti. The way our language is written. No one knows it anymore, in favor of whatever one’s first spoken language is, but it’s still used on occasion to document the formal Councils. It’s good that you’re learning it. Might impress the current representatives.” Serena yawned and looked down into her mug.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you up.” Lena said.

“Oh, I was up anyway. I’m up a lot, lately.” Serena traced the rim of her cup with her index finger. Her hair was done up in a bun that bore a striking resemblance to a pastry. “Just worried. Politics and whatnot. That must sound really stupid to you.” She looked up and smiled.

“No. I worry sometimes, too.” Lena sipped her tea. “I thought it was Latin.”

“It’s not Latin. It was Latin at some point, I guess, but someone way back when took it and made it ours. Now it’s ours. Only the Silenti can see it, and only the learned Silenti can read it.” Serena said.

“Could you teach me?” Lena asked.

“Oh, no. My Latito is terrible.” Serena frowned. “You’d need to ask a specialist, or get your hands on one of the older grammars.”

“But you just translated that passage for me…”

“That’s different—it’s from the oldest known Silenti text. The opening inscription: 
iter itineris susipio hik , kod hik is vadum terminus, per nuskam varius tamen ki reverto
. ‘The journey begins here, and here it shall end, with nothing changed save those who return.’ The book was supposedly written by one of the First Ones, and it’s been copied down through the generations. Who knows how close it is to the original now, but it’s still held as our greatest story of all time.” Serena yawned again.

“Do you have a copy? I mean, one I could borrow?” Lena asked.

“Sure,” Serena stood and walked to the door. “But tomorrow, okay? You really should get some sleep. We need to get in some more time on your exposition before you leave, and the girls want to go out to lunch with you tomorrow. And shopping. And to the beach. And to the zoo. And to dinner.”

Lena smiled nervously. “I don’t know how I’m ever going to pull that exposition off…”

Serena gave her a reassuring smile. “Look on the bright side. You’ve already got two votes…Howard and Greg. Greg is actually very proud of you—more so than he’s allowed to say. Confidentially, of course.”

“Of course.” Lena repeated.

Serena winked. They said their goodnights just in time for Lena’s cell phone to go off. As Serena closed the door, Lena answered Hesper’s call. There was loud music playing in the background.

“Hey yo, I’m not dead yet.” Hesper yelled over the background noise.

“That makes me very happy.” Lena replied.

“It should.” Hesper yelled.

Lena’s phone beeped. “I’ve got another call.”

“Okay, talk to you at three-thirty, 
mother
.”

Lena hit the answer button. “Hello?”

“Hello, princess.”

“Isn’t it early morning yesterday where you are?” Perhaps it was the lack of sleep, or the fact that she had just figured out the riddle of the inscription, but talking to Griffin didn’t faze her the way it usually did.

His tone, however, sounded different—stretched thin. “It’s not that early here, but why are you up? I was going to leave a message. Is Hesper sneaking out again?”

Lena felt her heart rate surge. This was what Hesper hadn’t wanted.

“It’s nothing new. Why so worried?” Griffin said lightly.

He was always inside of her head, and it annoyed her. “Why do you even have to ask?”

Silence. “I can’t help it, Lena. You get to know people and it just sort of happens. I wouldn’t expect you to understand, of course.”

Lena sighed. He was always so…frustrating. “It’s the exposition, that’s all.”

“I doubt that, but don’t worry about it. Your…Well, Master Daray has decided to support your decision, so I don’t think it really matters.” Griffin said.

“What?” Lena couldn’t believe that she’d heard him correctly. In fact, she had partially made the decision to become and heir to irritate Daray and her mother. “Why the hell would he do that?”

“Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, as they say. I don’t know. Everything here has been so…” There was silence on the other end of the line as Griffin’s voice trailed off.

“Griffin? Is everything okay?”

When he spoke again, his words were strained. “He’s dying, Lena…”

She looked away out the window, and then rolled her eyes. “He’s had that look about him since I’ve known him. Doesn’t really surprise me.”

“He’s getting worse.” Griffin insisted. “He’s not able to walk right anymore. He gets too tired too quickly. He’s not…well.”

“You sound worried.” Lena said. “I think that’s a first, for you.”

Silence. “I think you should get back here soon. That’s all.”

Lena rolled over on her stomach, picked a magazine out of the stash next to Hesper’s bed, and started flipping through it. “I realize you care, Griffin, and I’m sorry. Really. I really doubt he’ll die because he’s just not done making my life a living hell. I mean, we’re not married yet, right?”