The Last Alignment: Cry of the Scorpions (10 page)

“
Passed,” Hudson asked. He
knew that Sylvia was choosing her words carefully. If this Mordikin
was as dangerous as Sylvia said, then Hudson seriously doubted that
Androse’s father died naturally or by accident.

Sylvia cleared her throat and steadied
herself. “Androse, your father was murdered. He was killed right in
front of me and your mother, Natalye.” Hudson looked at Natalye who
had one hand on her chest and the other over her mouth. She also
had tears streaming down her face which strangely pained Hudson; he
wanted so very much to wipe them away.

“
Wait,” said Awbrey.
“Earlier, my grandma said that we existed for a purpose that you
guys thought had been taken care of. Does that mean that you all
thought that this ‘Mordikin’ guy was dead?” Hudson tore his
attention from Natalye and waited for an answer. That was a good
question and he started formulating some of his own.

“
Yes,” said Sylvia. “That
day, we believed it to be the final showdown between ourselves and
Mordikin and his generals. We thought that he had located the
Allumina, and it was the most brutal and unfeeling fight that we
had ever had. Especially since both sides thought that day to be
the deciding confrontation,” she added. “After Pamela and I watched
Nicolas die, we went after the man who killed him. Then, O’Ryann
and Tyler found us in the cave with Nicolas’s remains,” she said
before clearing her throat again, “and we all went after Mordikin
together. It was hard, but we focused our energies and when we were
done, there was nothing left of him. We figured that we had
destroyed the Abbadow too.”

“
So, was Mordikin the one
who killed my dad,” Androse asked. Hudson squeezed Androse’s
shoulder hoping that he was encouraging him to get all the
information that he could while the well was open.

“
No,” Sylvia said shaking
her head. “The man that killed your father was named
Damian.”

“
Damian,” repeated
Androse.

“
Could you and Mom not
stop him from killing Nicolas,” Natalye asked.

“
No
,” Sylvia said defensively, and Hudson knew that this was a
burden that she’d been carrying for years. “Damian bound both
myself and Pamela so that we couldn’t move. We struggled, we
screamed, we did everything that we could but we just couldn’t
break free of his magic. It wasn’t until after he killed Nicolas
that he let us go, and after he did, Pam and I attacked him. It was
difficult, but we managed to kill him.” Sylvia brought her hands
together in her lap and then stared at them, seemingly needing
something to focus on. “Nicolas was my best friend. I did
everything that I could. It was hell watching him die.” A single
heavy tear fell down Sylvia’s cheek and Hudson noticed a note of
desperation in her voice as if she were praying that Androse
wouldn’t blame her and Pamela for what happened and hoped that
because they killed Nicolas’ murderer, then he would forgive
them.

“
You still haven’t told me
how he died, though,” said Androse. “You’ve told me the situation,
you’ve told me the name of the man who did it, but you haven’t told
me exactly how he was killed.”
Good
boy
, Hudson thought. Sylvia wiped her eyes
on a handkerchief that Oren had handed her. She gave off the
impression that she didn’t want to answer the question and quite
truthfully, Hudson wasn’t sure if he wanted to know what that
answer was. “Please,” Androse implored. “How did my dad
die?”

Sylvia’s eyes welled up
even more when she looked at Androse. She was trembling, but she
took a deep breath and raised her head as if determined to be
strong. “Damian…he, uh…he dismembered him.” Hudson heard Natalye
gasp and Awbrey placed a hand on his thigh and dug in a little with
her fingertips. “He took off Nicolas’ legs first, and then his
arms. One by one. He used magic to stanch the wounds so that your
father wouldn’t bleed to death before he was finished. To this day,
I can s-still here Nicolas scream sometimes.” Tears came to
Hudson’s eyes before he was aware. Sylvia closed hers as if that
were the only way that she could continue. “And then, when he was
done, he b-broke Nicolas’ neck.”
Oh
,
my
God
, Hudson thought, tightening his jaw.
“Th-then,” Sylvia continued, “after he broke his neck, he
decapitated him. Right in front of us.”

Oren pulled Sylvia to her who was now
sobbing. Hudson not only squeezed Androse’s shoulder, but he also
drew Awbrey in tighter with his other arm that had still been
around her. Marcel stood up and walked over to rub Sylvia’s back
and plant kisses on the top of her head, whispering to her that it
was okay. Hudson swallowed hard, and then Sylvia suddenly let go of
Oren and stood up hastily, hitting Marcel in the face with her
crown. She turned around, lifted the back of her shirt, and undid
the hook on her bra so that they could clearly see a long and wide
scar that stretched diagonally from her right shoulder blade to the
left side of her lower back. Hudson had never seen such a thing,
and when he thought about what must have happened to cause it and
how much pain it probably caused her, fear formed in him.

“
This scar was given to me
by Damian,” Sylvia said shakily. “He used the exact same weapon on
me that he used on Nicolas. He intended to behead me as well, but
Pamela s-saved my life.” The image branded itself into Hudson’s
brain and gave him a strong feeling of uneasiness. Sylvia lowered
her shirt and then turned around to face them, but didn’t sit back
down. “This is
so
serious,” she said wiping her eyes on her hands. “The reason
why we are all here…the reason why your parents have been so
emotional over the last few days is because Mordikin has returned
and they know what that means. They may not have powers,” she said
pointing at Hallie, Regina, Marcel and Patrick, “but they know
everything that we have been through as spouses of Wielders, and
with you all being their children, they are afraid for you. As are
Oren, Charles, Kate, Emma, and myself,” she said putting a hand
over her heart. Hudson found his breath, but he was breathing so
heavily that he felt lightheaded. “As of October fifth, you five
will be the new Wielders and it will be your job to go after
Mordikin.”

“
Wait,” Hudson piped up.
“We are supposed to find this guy and kill him?”

“
His name is Mordikin,
sweetheart,” said Kate, “and he is not to be played with or taken
lightly in the least. He has powers that you can’t even imagine
having yourself, and he has killed countless people. He is ruthless
and uncaring, and if you ever encounter him, you had better be
ready to fight for your life.” There was a dead silence in the room
as the gravity of what his grandmother said oozed its way into
their brains.

“
Can’t you guys help us,”
asked Natalye.

“
No, we cannot,” Kate
said. “When Charles, Oren, Emma, myself, and Zander’s grandmother,
Talia, were Wielders, our powers all broke when our children turned
sixteen. This means we no longer have the power that comes with
being a Wielder even though we still have some abilities. For
example, when Natalye turns sixteen, Sylvia will no longer be able
to control lightning though she’ll have powers that are quite
similar to what the five of you can do now. We can still Mind-Mold,
we still have enhanced strength, but we can’t Sense. That’s not
nearly enough to help you all in a fight.”
A fight
, Hudson thought.

“
What does ‘Sense’ mean,”
Awbrey asked.

“
Sensing is primarily the
ability to know your environment,” Oren said. “It is a very
valuable skill. If you work hard at it, you’ll be able to feel
people who you know and are familiar with before they even get
close to you. You’ll be able to tell when danger is near before
anything even happens, and if you all were to ever become
separated, this is your most basic means of locating each other.
Sensing will also allow you to communicate with one another
telepathically.”

“
Really,” Awbrey asked. “I
don’t think that I’ve ever-”

“
Sensing isn’t as inherent
as your Mind-Molding or your strength,” said Emma. “It is very much
a conscious effort. You actually have to sit and focus purposefully
on what it is that you want to do. But, the wide range of
possibilities that come with Sensing aren’t going to become
available to you until you become a Wielder. Right now, even if you
all had been trained, the best that you could do would maybe be to
recognize the essences of people you absolutely knew like your
family or close friends, but only if they were literally standing
right in front of you.”

“‘
Essences,’” Hudson asked
trying to understand, but Zander spoke over him.

“
Will we have any help, or
are we supposed to do this thing by ourselves?”

“
You’ll have help,” Oren
said consolingly. Hudson looked up, thoroughly perturbed but
hopeful. “A man named Hektor will come to collect all of you within
the next few days. We do not know when approximately. He will train
you all in the areas that you need to be skilled, and when
Natalye’s birthday arrives and you all become Wielders, he will
help you to not only understand your new powers, but he will teach
you how to control and use them with the utmost finesse and
proficiency.”

“
Is Hektor a Wielder,”
Awbrey asked. She sounded a little nasally, and when Hudson looked
at her he saw that she was crying.

“
No,” said Emma. “He is
your Mentor, the same as he was for all of us. But, he is
powerful.”

“
How old is this guy,”
asked Hudson. His grandmother was seventy-one and his father was
forty-two, so if Hektor mentored and trained them both then he was
well over a hundred and thirteen years old which was
impossible.

“
We don’t know Hektor’s
exact age,” said Oren, “but we suspect that he is quite old.
Centuries, even.”

“
Do you guys know where
the Allumina is now,” asked Awbrey.

“
No,” said Sylvia. “After
we dealt with Mordikin last time we searched and searched, but
couldn’t find anything. Obviously, given the current state of
things, Mordikin was mistaken about the Allumina’s
location.”

“
Well, if the Allumina is
supposed to destroy itself upon the destruction of the Abbadow,
then how did you guys expect to find it,” asked Awbrey.

“
We still would have felt
its energy,” said Sylvia.

“
Is there any idea where
it could be now,” Natalye asked.

“
We don’t know where it
is. All that we know is what was known last time, which is that it
is here in the United States. Hektor was sure of it,” said
Charles.

“
How did he know that? Or,
how does he know that,” asked Awbrey.

“
Because he has spent a
portion of his life following Mordikin and searching for it on his
own. He’s been all around the world,” Emma said.

“
So, long story short,
we’re expected to find and guard some stupid gem, and then we have
to kill a man who is apparently remorselessly murderous and
dangerous who will actually come looking for us in order to destroy
said gem, and then we have to destroy the…
Aboobadoo
, which he has, and
according to the grapevine makes him stronger, and we are going to
do all of this by having some old-ass dude come here and take us
away and train us to do some freaky stuff,” asked
Zander.

“
Zander,” Sylvia started,
but he cut across his mother.

“
It doesn’t sound like
much, but if all of you guys weren’t able to do it, then how in the
hell do you expect us to,” he questioned. “It’s clearly a difficult
task if we’re all sitting here now. There has to be more to it than
that.”

Hudson lowered his head as
he reluctantly agreed with Zander. He started feeling like his
whole life was being snatched away from him and there was nothing
that he could do about it. Hudson had all these dreams of what he
wanted to do with his life, but they all dissolved into thin air.
Zander had a point; there must be more to it than what they’ve just
been told if none of their parents and grandparents were able to
get the job done before.
But they came
close
, he thought. They had genuinely
believed that they’d ended it, especially after suffering such a
terrible loss; a loss that was possibly the foretelling of what
potentially could happen to the five of them. Hudson couldn’t
imagine being in a situation like Sylvia was where she was forced
to watch her best friend die. His mind was on the edge of
envisioning a scenario like that with Awbrey and the mere shadow of
the thought petrified him. He wanted to yell and scream that this
was unfair and that he didn’t want to do this, but he couldn’t
bring himself to show his true feelings. His legs started vibrating
and he took his arm from around Awbrey and his hand off of
Androse’s shoulder and wrapped them around his stomach.

“
There is more to it than
what we can competently explain,” said Oren, “but Hektor will be
able to elucidate all that you need to know.”

“
I think that’s enough for
now,” said Patrick. He was the only person in the room besides Emma
that Hudson wasn’t familiar with. Patrick had somehow managed to
sit still and silent this whole time and Hudson noticed that he
kept looking at Natalye sorrowfully, so he assumed that he must be
her father.