Eyes of the Sun (3 page)

Then it occurred to him. They wanted to use her against Dmitri’s people. Of course—Fire Pulsers were incredibly dangerous. It had been so long since Jacob had last thought or heard of her that he’d nearly forgotten.

But how would the Lorkon get her out of the diamond she’d been sealed in? There was no way they’d be able to carry her like that. She’d melt anything that touched her shell.

He needed to report this. Jacob jumped from his bed and grabbed the Ziploc bag of dandelion seeds he kept on his desk. He opened his window, whispered the name of his Minya, Early, into the seeds, and then blew them out the window.

“Jacob!” Early said, flitting to his side moments later. “I missed you!”

He chuckled. “We saw each other this morning.”

“I know!”

He quickly explained what was going on with the Lorkon, then had her deliver that message to Dad. Not surprisingly, Dad wanted to have a meeting with the Fat Lady and Aldo. They ended up holding it in Jacob’s kitchen. Azuriah should have been included, but the Shiengol said he didn’t have time and asked Jacob to give him the particulars when they’d ended.

Jacob sat with the others at the table. He felt weird—Aldo was always at his house, but the Fat Lady had only been there a couple of times. And without Mom, who was with Amberly at a dance recital, it was just strange.

Dad finished welcoming the other two and then interrupted Jacob’s thoughts, asking him to explain what he’d learned.

“Did they say how they would get her out of the diamond?” the Fat Lady asked after Jacob had finished. “Because they shouldn’t know—it took me a long time to figure out, and I’m naturally inclined toward these sorts of things.”

He shook his head. “No—the papers they were looking over mentioned digging trenches. Maybe they plan to roll the diamond out? From the papers I saw, I think they were more concerned with how they’d contain her in Maivoryl City once they got her there.”

Aldo leaned forward. “Fat Lady, do you have a way to break that diamond and keep her bound?”

“I do—my anti-stone would be do the trick. But I think the best thing would be for us to move her to a different location in her current prison.”

“We wouldn’t be able to do that: last time, from what we could tell, the diamond got far too hot, and it was incredibly dense and heavy,” Dad said. “We’ll have to think of something else.”

No one said anything for a moment. Then Aldo raised his hand. “If the Fat Lady knows how to dissolve the diamond, we might have to do that. Then we could take her to August Fortress or somewhere near the lake by my old cabin—somewhere where the Lorkon wouldn’t suspect—then put her in another diamond prison and bury it.”

The Fat Lady nodded. “Yes, that would work. But if the Lorkon are getting her in two days, we’ll want to go now—or as soon as possible. Have it all done before they’re even near her current spot.”

“Two days?” Jacob asked. “They’re leaving tomorrow morning.”

The Fat Lady raised an eyebrow. “And you remember how long it took you to get to Maivoryl City from where Lasia is?”

He felt a blush creep across his cheeks. “Two or so days.”

“Exactly.”

“But they have access to Sindons. It won’t take them nearly that long.”

Dad stood. “That’s a very good point.” He put his hands on the back of an empty chair, the colors in the air around him showing he was concentrating. “We’ll leave at dawn and have Jacob Key us to one of the doors left over from when Akeno was destroying Molg tunnels. That’ll place us within a couple hours of Lasia’s prison, giving us a few hours’ head start on the Lorkon.” He turned to the Fat Lady. “So you
do
have a way to dissolve the diamond?”

She nodded. “Yes. And I’ve got plenty more of the diamonds I gave you before. Putting her in another trap won’t be a problem.”

Aldo shook his head. “But something we haven’t considered: How are we to transport her outside of her diamond without . . .”

“Getting fried in the process?” Jacob asked.

“Yes. She isn’t likely to be very happy.”

Dad sat again, rubbing his chin, but didn’t say anything.

The rest turned to the Fat Lady, who held up her hands. “Don’t ask me—I have no experience with Fire Pulsers. They’re not even from Eklaron. I only knew about the diamonds in the first place because of a book Aldo gave me a long time ago—one that talks about disasters. It told how to temporarily protect oneself from fire. I had no idea the diamonds would create an actual prison instead of a shield.”

“We’ll ask Azuriah,” Dad said.

Jacob snorted. “You mean,
I’ll
ask Azuriah.”

Dad smiled. “Precisely.”

They waited while Jacob Keyed to the tree in Taga Village and walked to Azuriah’s fortress. He scoffed, kicking a rock off the path near the Makalo gardens. How had it come to this, him being the only one who ever interacted with Azuriah outside of meetings? Not even Mom approached the Shiengol. So stupid.

After Azuriah let him in, Jacob explained what they’d discussed in the meeting, then asked for Azuriah’s help in coming up with a solution.

Azuriah put down the orange he’d just peeled, his emotion colors showing he was irritated. “Get her out of the thing, then knock her unconscious and transport her
that
way. If she’s not awake and in control of herself, she won’t be able to pulse fire.”

Jacob shook his head at the easiness of what Azuriah suggested. Why hadn’t they thought of it?

“How do we do that?”

Azuriah looked at Jacob, an eyebrow raised. “You should leave now.”

Jacob snorted inwardly. He knew what Azuriah was thinking: that’s a stupid question. Go figure it out on your own.

He returned home, where everyone was waiting.

“Well?” Kenji asked.

“He says to knock her unconscious and then carry her around that way.”

Aldo chuckled. “Simplest answer, huh?”

“We’ll hold chloroform over her mouth and nose,” the Fat Lady said. “But we’ll have to be quick. Chloroform is highly flammable.”

Dad nodded. “All right. Let’s get our plan of action in place.”

They decided to bring everyone with them but Mom, Kenji, and Aloren. Jacob was shocked that the Fat Lady would be going on this trip—she’d never taken part in one of these excursions before. He was excited to see how things would go with her there.

Akeno and Jacob would stand by with an enlarged door, ready to Key everyone away as soon as possible. Sweet Pea, Gallus, Matt, and Dad would dig the top off the diamond. Aldo would put the Fat Lady’s anti-stone on top of the diamond, thereby dissolving it, and then the Fat Lady would quickly reach in and cover Lasia’s mouth with a chloroform-saturated cloth.

They’d work out any potential problems as they came up.

Aldo and Dad seemed fairly confident there wouldn’t be any issues, but Jacob knew better than to think that way. There always were issues. He just hoped they’d be resolved before something happened and everything got ruined.

Early woke Jacob long before he was ready to get out of bed. He grumbled his way to the shower, which, thank goodness, woke up his brain. Matt was waiting outside the door when Jacob finished, bright green swirling in the air around him.

“Dude! This is gonna be so-o awesome!”

Jacob rolled his eyes, then grabbed his things.

After Jacob, Dad, and Matt had eaten breakfast, he Keyed them to the tree in Taga Village where the Makalos waited. Then he rounded up the Fat Lady and Gallus, and Keyed everyone to a door Akeno had left in the middle of what used to be the mud bubbles—another elemental trap for Dmitri. The Wurbies and Makalos had completely flattened everything and then pushed all the debris to the side, creating a nice road through the depression.

They got to Lasia’s valley around eight in the morning. The sun was warming everything, removing the chill, and it gave Jacob goosebumps. He breathed deeply, enjoying the smells of late spring and early summer. The valley was beautiful. Tulips and daffodils spotted the hills, and Lasia hadn’t yet sent out her negative and evil emotions. Jacob would never forget the first time he’d walked through this place, when the beauty had been ruined by her anger.

His peace was short-lived. Moments later, he sensed her presence and shook his head. The gross feelings that Lasia sent out flooded over him, momentarily taking his breath away and making him feel like something was very, very wrong.

She was still as angry as ever.

The Fat Lady laughed loudly. “Oh, she knows we’re here! Wonderful!”

Matt stared at the Fat Lady. “You’re really weird.”

She only laughed harder, then patted him on the shoulder. His legs buckled under the weight of her hand and he grabbed Jacob’s bag for support, nearly pulling Jacob down. The Fat Lady strode forward, unaware of the affect her “pat” had on the brothers.

Akeno had seen, though, and he and Jacob laughed about it while the Makalo enlarged a door. They situated it on the other side of a hill, away from Lasia, where her flames couldn’t reach. After making sure the door wouldn’t fall over, Jacob and Akeno rejoined the rest.

The guys were already at work, digging dirt off the top of a hill, and Jacob felt his spirits lift in excitement. He was about to see a real Fire Pulser! He joined them, watching each shovelful of dirt get tossed to the side. While watching, it occurred to him that they hadn’t discussed what to do about her fire pulses before they knocked her out. Hopefully, it wouldn’t get to that point.

Just then, Akeno yelled in shock, his scream getting cut off prematurely.

Jacob spun around. Sanso, the Ember God, was holding Akeno by the throat. He dragged Akeno back until they were against an enormous granite rock. His dark eyes flicked around, checking everyone’s positions.

“Don’t stop working,” Sanso said.

Ebony reached for her knife. “Get your hands off my son.”

“I wouldn’t do that. He won’t survive an attack from my flames.” Sanso looked at Jacob. “Tell them who I am.”

Jacob swallowed. “This is the Ember God—the
jerk
—who burned me and broke Matt’s leg.”

Sanso raised an eyebrow. “Yes. Thanks. Next time you introduce me, please add a few more adjectives. Like ‘amazing’ or ‘extraordinary.’” Sanso released Akeno’s neck, moving both hands to the boy’s upper arms. “One wrong move from you and I’ll scorch him.” He chuckled. “I assume you saw what I did to the girl who stayed with Eachan.”

Aloren. He was talking about Aloren. Jacob and Matt both scowled, and Jacob itched to use one of his powers against Sanso. But which one? None of his abilities were long-range, except for Traveling and Seeing. And those wouldn’t help right then.

Dad stepped forward. “What do you want?”

“The Fire Pulser, of course.” Sanso motioned to the hill where Matt and the others were standing, shovels dangling loosely from their hands. “Continue. Once you’ve removed the prison, I’ll take over.”

Matt glared at Sanso. “Dude, you don’t know who you’re dealing with. Half of us have fought you before, and these guys here,” he waved his hands at Ebony and Gallus, “have already completely shamed you. Like a little girl who’s lost her doll.”

Sanso smirked. “But I didn’t come alone. You’re lucky I’m the one holding your friend.” He looked over his shoulder, and everyone gasped when a Lorkon strode out from behind the rock. The large creature was followed by several Molgs and the two wolves.

With a quick motion of his head, Sanso flipped his dark, greasy hair out of his eyes. “You see, I’ve got help. You might be able to fight
me
, and most of you would get away. But
none
of you would win against a Lorkon.” Sanso nodded to the Lorkon, obviously expecting some sort of acknowledgement, but the Lorkon ignored him.

“Get to work,” he said to Jacob’s group. “Now.”

Dad glowered. “Who are you? Het? Isan?”

The wolves perked up, but the Lorkon only laughed. “Your brothers are in the castle with Keitus. They didn’t feel it necessary to have a family reunion just yet.” He took a step toward Akeno, holding a hand out as if to touch the Makalo. “Disobey me and watch him die.”

Dad motioned for the others to continue digging. “Aldo, are you ready?” He turned to the old man. “You’ll need to drop the stone as soon as the hole is big enough.”

Aldo nodded, his eyes not leaving the Ember God and the Lorkon. He put his hand into his bag and then pulled it out, fingers clenched around a bright green object. “Ready when you boys are.”

Matt, Sweet Pea, and Gallus finished clearing the loose dirt away, and then they chipped through the stuff that had hardened around the diamond. Jacob remembered the journal saying that Lasia had melted the dirt. Obviously, it had turned into a murky glass of sorts.

This part was the hardest, and luckily, Gallus had brought a couple of pickaxes. By the time they’d finished, there were sweat rings around their necks and arms, and dirt streaked across their faces where they’d wiped moisture away. They had to dig five feet down and fifteen feet across. Quite a lot of dirt had gathered on top of Lasia’s small hill.

Gallus wiped his forehead and motioned for Aldo and the Fat Lady to proceed.

“Everyone, step back,” Dad said. Jacob wondered how he felt, giving commands and acting authoritative in front of his enemies. “She’ll be very angry—she’ll lash out as soon as she’s free.” Dad glanced at the Fat Lady. “You’ll have to be quick.”

The Fat Lady grunted.

Jacob looked at Akeno, trying to catch the Makalo’s eye. If Akeno could shrink Lasia as soon as she was unconscious, the Lorkon and the Ember God probably wouldn’t know what had happened.

Akeno’s eyes strayed to Jacob, and Jacob mimed shrinking. Akeno nodded—an almost imperceptible motion—and Jacob sighed in relief. He turned his attention back to the others.

Aldo dropped the rock on top of the diamond, then jumped back as the ground around Lasia crumbled and fell into the space the diamond had taken.

Lasia was visible from the waist up. Jacob shut his mouth as soon as he realized it had popped open. He hadn’t expected her to look anything like what she did. Her hair was fiery and long. Her facial features were strong—a chin that jutted forward and a high forehead. One eye was bright red, the other coal black. Her skin was pale and had red and blue veins streaking across it. The vessels in her face were the biggest—they protruded at least a quarter of an inch. Gross.