Discovery: Altera Realm Trilogy (5 page)

Joyce looked at her husband. "What do you think, Rich?"

He sighed. "I'm not sure, honestly. This seems very sudden."

Cass stared right into his eyes. "I understand that. I do. But this is an amazing opportunity. Syney should go and experience it."

Richard seemed confused for a moment but nodded. "I agree." He looked at his wife. "Syney should go."

Syney, who had been watching this exchange between the girl and her father very closely, yelled out in surprise, "Excuse me!"

"Syn, honey, it's an amazing opportunity," Joyce said.

"Yes, amazing," Richard echoed.

Syney looked back and forth between her two "pod people" parents. "What's going on here?" She looked at Cass. "What are you doing?"

Cass stared back, directly into her eyes. "I'm not doing anything. You should listen to your parents and come with us to the school."

"I will not!" Syney yelled.

Cass looked shocked, her mouth open in surprise. "But...I..."

"Syney Ashling Andrews! Do not raise your voice to our guest!" Joyce yelled. "I did not raise you to be rude!"

Syney stared at her and was about to say that something was wrong, that these people were doing something—they had to be—but she stopped herself. Her mother looked so disappointed. Syney never had seen her like this before. She looked back at Cass. "I'm sorry for being rude. This is just a little surprising to me."

Cass still seemed beyond confused. "I understand."

The blond guy put his hand on Cass's arm. "It's all right," he said softly.

Cass nodded. "I just.
.."

"I know," he said.

Everyone in the room was quiet for a moment. It was almost like a standoff.

"This must be very disconcerting," the man next to the window said, breaking the silence. He turned to the rest of the group and walked over to stand behind Cass and the blond man. "But think about all the great opportunities this will open up for you. It's an adventure, and who wouldn't want that?"

Syney looked up at him...and stopped. The entire room seemed to stop, including Syney's heart. He wasn't overly attractive, just average looking, with short curly brown hair and about a day's worth of stubble on his tanned skin. But it was his eyes that stopped her. Those chocolate-brown eyes that had calmed her with one look the night before. How could they be the same ones?

Without even realizing it, Syney said, "OK, I'll go."

The guy continued to stare into Syney's eyes, his expression softening from a stern resolve into uncertainty. She smiled and fought the urge to touch him, just a graze or tap to see whether he was in fact the wolf. He brought her the same amazing calmness from the night before.

"Really? That's great!" Cass said, her exuberance returning.

"Yes, it is!" Joyce looked at her daughter. "I'm going to miss you so much!"

Syney reluctantly pulled her gaze over to her mother. "What? Oh, yeah. I'm going to miss you so much too."

"Speaking of missing...when does she need to be there?" Richard asked.

"Actually, this may be a little hard for you." Cass looked directly at Richard. "She has to come with us today."

Richard nodded slowly. "I guess you'd better pack, kiddo."

Syney watched the exchange again with a critical eye. Her father was a very sensible man, and he never would just let her leave with people they didn't know. There was definitely something going on here. She looked back to the guy with the eyes and found him still staring at her. Something very strange definitely was going on here, but she knew one thing for sure; she would go to the ends of the earth with the man in front of her. She didn't know why, but after looking into his eyes, she didn't really care.

"Lots of packing." Syney looked at Cass. "I do need to say goodbye to my friend, Jess."

Cass nodded. "Of course. We could come back for you in, say, four hours?"

Syney nodded.

"Well, that's that then." Cass smiled and looked back at her companions. "This is a great day."

Syney looked at the three of them in turn. She was still very wary of this, but she figured she could always grab a bus the second things got too weird. She didn't feel threatened at all, but that was all because of
him
. She focused her attention on his dark brown eyes. "What's your name?"

He looked back at her and seemed to hesitate before answering, "Hunter."

Syney found herself lost in his eyes again. Strange. She couldn't normally look directly at a guy, and now she couldn't seem to stop. "Hunter," she repeated.

Joyce cleared her throat, pulling Syney's attention away from Hunter. She smiled knowingly, as only a mother who
knew
her daughter had a crush could.

"Oh, god. I've got to pack," Syney said quickly and headed upstairs.

"So, Hunter, is it? Are you a teacher?" Joyce asked.

Syney immediately turned around and dragged her mother up the stairs with her. "I really need your help, Mom. We can all chat later."

Once upstairs Syney pulled her large suitcase from the closet. "Are you really sure you want me to go?"

Joyce looked at her daughter. "I'm...not sure. Something's telling me I have to let you go, like it's your destiny, but there's the part of me that's going to miss my daughter."

Syney smiled at her and gave her a big bear hug. "I'm going to miss you too."

Joyce wiped a tear from her eye. "What are we standing around crying for? We have packing to do." She began to open Syney's drawers and pull out clothes.

Syney sighed and joined her. This had better be one amazing adventure.

Cassandrianna

"I'm not so sure I like her," Cass grumbled, and leaned against the SUV they had "borrowed" a few days ago. The Village had no use for cars, but Raine always had been good with machines.

Raine chuckled as he slid a suitcase into the trunk. It had been a couple of hours since Syney had agreed to come with them and now they were packing up her stuff—all of it.

"I mean, how much stuff does she really need?" Cass asked, rolling her eyes.

Raine closed the trunk and looked down at her.

"What?"

He shrugged. "Nothing. You were so excited to meet her only a few hours ago."

"Well, that was before I actually met her."

Raine leaned against the bumper. "Is this because your gift didn't work on her?"

Cass pouted a little and shrugged weakly. "Maybe."

"Or is it because she seems to like Hunter more than she likes you?"

Cass took a few steps from the car and began to pace. "I just don't get it. Everyone loves me! I'm the most liked girl in the Village!" She paused. "And no offense to Hunter, but he is
so
not anyone's favorite. I mean, maybe yours, but all you guys have that brotherhood thing going on so you have to like each other."

"Are you done ranting yet?" Raine asked. He motioned to a set of bushes to the right.

Cass looked over and saw two ears sticking up from behind them. "Oh, crap." She looked at Raine and lowered her voice to a whisper. "Do you think he heard me?"

Raine suppressed a laugh and nodded.

Cass sighed. "Sorry. I . . . I didn't mean it. I'm just a little flustered," she said. "You think he's mad?" she asked Raine.

He shook his head. "He doesn't understand it. Trust me. He would much rather have Syney like you than for her to like him."

Cass nodded. Hunter never had enjoyed the company of Cass's people, mainly because he hadn't been raised around them, as most Protectors had. In normal circumstances, he would prefer his own company to that of most others. "So when are we leaving?"

"Whenever she's ready," Raine said. "We shouldn't rush her."

Cass kicked a rock from the driveway. "I know. And I shouldn't be taking this so seriously." She took a deep breath. "I need to make more of an effort."

Raine nodded and smiled at her. "Why don't you see if she needs any help."

She looked at him through narrowed eyes. "You think she'll want me to? Maybe we should send Hunter."

There was a growl from the bushes.

"OK, OK. I'm going to play nice," Cass said, and headed for the Andrews' house. She found Syney packing some books in her room. "We have a huge library at St. Dominic's," she said.

Syney looked up. "Oh, I'm packing too much, aren't I?" She gave a nervous laugh. "I'm always afraid I'm going to leave something, you know?"

Cass's mood lightened a little. "I wouldn't know. I've never really gone anywhere."

"Except the school, right?" Syney asked slowly.

"Actually my parents are...teachers there. I've been there since I was born," Cass said, sitting down on the pulled-out desk chair.

Syney looked at her and sat down on the bed. "Oh. Do you like it there?"

Cass nodded. "Love it. It's like this little community. We're all...family."

Syney looked away and stared off somewhere behind Cass. "That sounds nice." She shook her head and smiled. "I'll try to cut back on the books."

"It's OK. Just nothing too heavy. You can't get up to the school by car—at least on the last stretch."

"Really?" Syney asked, packing a few more books. "Why?"

"It predates cars."

Syney gave her an odd look.

"There are no roads up to the...campus."

"Oh, gotcha." She walked over to her nightstand and pulled out the blanket and the amulet.

Cass's heart nearly stopped as Syney stuffed them into her bag. All doubts ran from her mind about Syney not being the One. She had read about the Vilori symbol and even seen it printed on scrolls, but she never had seen it actually on something. But there it was. And if she wasn't mistaken, that was the royal amulet, which had been passed down for generations and had been proclaimed as having been lost so many years ago.

"That's a pretty necklace," Cass said, trying to mask the excitement in her voice.

Syney glanced over at her while zipping her bag. "Thanks." She paused. "It belonged to my mother...I think. It was with me when I was found."

"Found?"

Syney sighed. "I don't really talk about this. But I'm adopted. My parents, the Andrews, found me in a church when I was a baby. The necklace and blanket were the only things I had with me."

"Wow. That's a lot to handle," Cass said.

"Yeah, I guess. I've always been OK with it. I love my life," Syney said, picking up her last bag. "I'm ready."

Cass nodded. "OK. On the road we go."

Syney stopped. "Oh, crap. I have to go see Jessie. I promised I would stop and say goodbye. She's a little pissed at me for leaving."

"OK. Where is she?"

"One house down. I won't take too long." She started down the stairs then stopped. "Do you want to come? I mean, it's OK if you don't want to. I just figured she'll see that you're pretty cool and that I'll be OK."

A smile slowly crept up on Cass's lips. "I'd love to."

"Great." Syney returned her smile and headed outside.

Cass continued to smile. She was cool, and that was beyond awesome, especially coming from the prophesized Chosen One.

Weston

Being underground made him itch. Weston Serpantino scratched at his right hand hard enough to rip skin. Not that it hurt. He was due for a good shedding. It was all this waiting around. He never had been the most patient person, but that was all he was able to do right now—wait for word that he was needed, and he
would
be needed. It had been prophesized. The second son of the fortieth king would kill the Chosen One, bringing all ideas of peace to an end. He had been bred to kill, and kill he would.

Weston eyed the dark room with its ancient stone walls. The fortress dated back a hundred years ago; it had been built right after the separation and the start of the Great War. It had stood as a sign that their great race never would back down and eventually would win the war.

"Your impatience is tiresome."

Weston stopped pacing mid-step and tuned toward the booming voice of his father. "I apologize."

Lional heaved a heavy sigh and stepped into the room, his large, broad body dwarfing his very thin son. "The time for you to go—to start your mission—will come whether or not you wear a hole in the floor."