Secrets of Yden (16 page)

****

After school, Jon intercepted Brett at her locker. "Listen, did your father have some writings he kept, like a diary or personal files?"

"If he had, it would've been in his Manhattan apartment. Unfortunately, the place was just sold."

Jon groaned and his heart sank.

"But his personal stuff was boxed up and sent to our house," she continued. "Why?"

"I don't know how I didn't think of it before, but we've been looking in the wrong place for the time spell. Your dad is the wizard who would've known something about it, not Efysian. Maybe there's something in his papers that would help."

Her eyes brightened. "You might be on to something, but there are a lot of boxes to sift through."

"I'll come over tonight after dinner," Jon said.

I'm not usually so pushy but time is running short. No pun intended.

****

Just before seven, Jon arrived at Brett's hillside Mediterranean mansion. To his surprise, Casey's car was already parked out front.
Good.
Brett must have asked him to help.

"Thanks for letting me come over," Jon said when Brett answered the door. "I see you called Casey. That was smart."

"Hey, I came too!" Fred's voice bellowed from the living room. "That was even smarter."

Brett led Jon into the living room, where twenty or so cardboard file boxes were stacked in small towers. Fred, Casey, and Kira were sitting on the floor, surrounded by papers and pizza boxes.

"Fred and Casey brought all of Dad's stuff in from the garage for us," Brett said.

"You missed the pizza, dude," Fred said. "More for me."

Jon flushed as Kira glanced up at him. "Hi. How are you feeling?"

"I'm well." She nodded at his jacket, draped on the back of a chair nearby. "Thank you for the loan of your coat Saturday night."

"You're welcome." He cleared his throat. "Um… have you heard anything about Davy?"

"He's much better, thank you," she replied. "In fact, he wants to leave the hospital, but the doctors must run more tests."

"I hope he continues to improve."

"Davy mentioned you came to visit him," Kira said. "That was very kind of you."

"I felt pretty bad about what happened. I didn't know he was sick."

"You couldn't have known. Davy wished to keep his illness a secret as long as possible."

Jon tore his gaze away from her violet eyes.

"Your timing is perfect," Brett said. "All of these boxes are full of financial records of one sort or another, but we just found
that
."

She pointed toward a small, rectangular suitcase. When Jon went took a closer look, he realized the object was actually a fairly heavy fire-resistant safe. It was also quite locked.

"Brett, do you have your transporter cuff?" Jon asked. "We can take this to Yden and open it there using magic."

"Or we could use this." Brett held up a little black key.

"A key! I love an old-fashioned girl," Jon said.

She turned the key in the lock and lifted the lid. Inside the safe were several scrolls, similar in appearance to the ones in Quixoran's library. Brett, Kira, Casey, and Jon exchanged triumphant looks before diving for a scroll. At the same time, Fred dove for the last remaining piece of pepperoni pizza.

The spell on Jon's scroll raised bile in his throat; it was the blinding punishment spell Guinn had used on him at President Szul's wedding. Shuddering at the memory, Jon quickly set the scroll aside. When he reached for another one, however, Kira touched him on the forearm. Jon flinched; it was odd how her cool slender fingers burned his skin.

"I believe we may have found part of what we're looking for," she said. "This contains the portal spell."

The parchment in her hands was brittle, yellowed, and cracked in places, and a portion had been carefully torn away at the bottom.

"This is ancient, and it's been torn. Is the missing piece in the safe anywhere?" Jon asked.

Brett lifted out the few remaining scrolls, but no scraps of parchment had fallen to the bottom of the safe. To her obvious delight, however, she discovered cash and a pouch full of diamonds. "I bet these are from Efysian's cavern.
"

"Sweet. You got a genuine secret treasure," Fred said.

"This is more valuable than the diamonds," Jon murmured as he focused his attention on the damaged scroll. The portal spell was there, but a large rune directly underneath seemed unconnected to the spell itself. Written below the rune a verse had been inscribed with faded ink.

"I'm not familiar with this rune," Jon said, pointing.

Casey had been reading over Jon's shoulder. "Me neither, I'm afraid." He glanced at the girls. "Do either of you know what it means?"

Jon spread the parchment out in front of him so Kira and Brett could examine the rune. "Prophecy," they said in unison.

"Prophecy?" Jon scoffed. "I don't believe in prophecy."

"You used to believe there was no such thing as magic, either," Brett said.

"You have a point," Jon acknowledged.

"I'm a man of science, but facts are facts. You freed Lialia from Efysian's spell last year because you fulfilled a prophecy," Casey said.

"That's right, it was the poem called
Fair Lady of the Waterfall,
" Brett said.

"It was a poem, not a prophecy," Jon said.

"I'm with Jon," Fred said. "Prophecy, schmophecy."

"Can you read the verse at the bottom of the scroll, Brett?" Casey asked.

She peered at it. "I think so."

"Read it out loud," Jon said. "I'd like to hear what it says."

"Good idea," Fred said. "Some of us don't speak rune-ish."

Brett cleared her throat and began to read.

"It's got rhythm," Fred acknowledged.

"Yeah, but it's not a prophecy," Jon said. "It doesn't predict anything."

"It's only the first part," Kira said. "We can't know what it predicts until we have the rest of this scroll."

"The verse is historically interesting at least," Jon said. "Wizards apparently used to use the portal to help Earth's people build stuff with magic a long, long time ago."

"I just
knew
the pyramids were built using magic!" Brett said.

"And I suppose the lost city of Atlantis wasn't lost back then," Casey said wistfully. "I wish I could've seen it."

"But I guess some nasty wizards started to mess things up?" Fred asked. "All it takes are a few bad apples."

"So the decision was made to hide the Portal Key someplace secret so wizards couldn't use magic on Earth anymore," Jon said.

"And I bet that's when the rumor started about Earth being Hell," Casey said.

"Why would they start such a stupid rumor?" Fred asked. "It's kinda mean."

"Maybe it was propaganda designed to protect Earth and keep curious wizards on Yden," Casey said.

"So the Portal Key was hidden with the Andresen Waterfalls nymphs and likely handed down from Keeper to Keeper over generations," Kira said.

"Since Lialia was the Portal Key Keeper, I wonder if she'd know more about this scroll?" Jon asked.

"Maybe she could point us toward the missing section," Casey added.

"It's definitely a place to start," Jon said. "I don't believe in prophecies, but the more information we have, the better off we'll be."

Perhaps we're going to solve the anomaly after all!
Possibilities were always better than impossibilities. Jon's dark mood was suddenly a little lighter — almost like magic.

****

Davy Thyssen returned to school Tuesday without his wheelchair. He was practically doing handsprings across the quad when Jon passed by.

"Where's the rig?" Jon asked.

"I'm donating it to someone who needs it. It's the strangest thing, but the doctors can't find anything wrong with me. I feel great!"

"Wow, that's really fantastic news. Can't keep a good man down, I guess."

Seeing Davy healthy gave Jon a badly needed boost, as if he'd paid a crushing debt somehow. He felt so light that he actually beat his best time in the mile during P.E. At lunch, Fred, Casey, and Jon sat with Brett and Kira at their usual table, where Davy was the center of attention. He was laughing and cracking jokes, and Jon managed to deal with it. Something had changed;
he'd
changed inside and was more in control of his emotions.
Maybe by healing Davy, I got rid of my poisonous jealousy
.

"I haven't seen you this relaxed since the end of summer," Casey said later. "I was beginning to worry about you, Jon."

"Yeah, I let go of some things and it made a big difference."

"It's good to have you back.
"

It's good to be back.

****

Kira was pacing next to Jon's locker after school. "I'd like a word in private with you."

He winced.
What did I do now?

"Okay," he said. "Let's go outside."

He led her to a picnic table situated underneath some eucalyptus trees and perched on the table's edge. "Am I in trouble?"

"Davy thinks he's cured of his illness.
"

Jon had been expecting this conversation sooner or later, but he'd thought it would take a couple more days at least. He allowed his eyebrows to rise. "I sure hope so. What do his doctors say?"

"They can't believe the results of the tests they've run. They'll continue to run more tests until it's certain."

"I'll keep my fingers crossed. I hope for his sake he stays healthy."

Kira threw her arms around Jon. "Thank you."

Jon's eyes watered as he buried his face in her hair. It felt so great to hold her, but he had to remind himself to stick to the plan — however much it cost him.
She can't think she owes me anything.

"I wish I'd had something to do with it, but I didn't."

She stepped back, confused. Jon looked straight into her eyes and told her what he'd rehearsed. "I don't have the vanyean seed anymore, and even if I did, I couldn't have helped Davy. Dad told me the only way to pull something like that off safely is on Yden, and for a very close friend or someone I really care about."

"I'm not stupid. Why won't you take credit for what you did? It was admirable."

"If you don't believe me, ask my father. Ask Quixoran. They'll both tell you the same thing. Healing someone as sick as Davy could've killed me.
"
He shrugged. "The doctors were probably wrong about his diagnosis in the first place."

"This is nonsense, Jon."

Time to pull out his trump card. The only way to end this discussion was by acting like a creep. Jon gave Kira his best Max-smirk. "Hey, if I say I did it, will you give me a big kiss?"

Kira made a frustrated noise and wheeled around.

"Just a little one? One little kiss?" As she continued to march across the quad, the smirk slid off his face. "What if I told you I'm so in love with you, I'd do just about anything to see you happy?" he whispered.

Kira couldn't have heard him, but she paused for a millisecond to look back. Then she mounted the steps to the library and disappeared inside.