Chapter 3 #2
“Hale said Bree sneaks out of the Cauldron but she couldn’t find out where Bree goes.”
He pulled little flatbreads off the grill. “What else did Hale do for you?”
Aradella told how the only food given to her by the queen were cakes and pies. “They kept me big, but when I offered them
to Hale, she said she didn’t eat them. That made me curious about what she did eat. And at night I heard noises in the courtyard.
I wondered what caused them.”
“She was training. And she changed your diet.”
“Yes.” Aradella ate one of the grilled breads he put on her plate. “These are delicious.”
“My grandpapá learned how to make them while he was on Earth.”
When she told him how she and Hale often sneaked out at night to train, she didn’t look at him. There were some secrets she
wasn’t ready to reveal. But when she looked up, Mekos was staring at her hard, as though he was figuring out something.
“Did you—” he began.
Suddenly, Arit appeared, her light shining.
Aradella’s face lit up as bright as the light. “You have a new dress. It’s beautiful!”
Arit was pleased by the compliment. “Kaley drew it and Daln’s daughter made it.”
“Hard to believe that Kaley had time for anything besides—”
Aradella cut him off by loudly clearing her throat. “I’m rather good with a needle. I’ll make a dress for you.”
“And I’ll have Grandpapá send me the best swan cloth,” Mekos said.
“How kind.” Arit sat down on a little pot that Mekos overturned for her. She looked Aradella up and down. “And you look very
good. Doesn’t she, Son of Tanek?”
“Now I’m merely a son?” he asked.
The two females stared at him, waiting for his reply.
Mekos smiled. “Yes, she looks good. Very good!”
“I have news. Ian said—” Arit twirled around but saw no one. “Ian!” she said loudly. It was an order.
One of the things Nevers didn’t tell was how they appeared and disappeared so suddenly. Nor did they tell where they were
when they weren’t with humans.
As he was told to, Ian appeared. The light that surrounded him was blue and dull compared to Arit’s. He had on the same clothes
he’d been wearing, but below his left knee, there was nothing. They could see fresh spider’s web glistening, and there were
dark stains on his clothing.
“Are you all right?” Aradella asked.
“I’m fine as long as I don’t try to walk.”
He was obviously trying to make a joke but his pale complexion told another story.
“Maybe you should lie down,” Aradella said. “You—”
Mekos cut her off. “I didn’t know Nevers could walk. Arit rides around on my father’s shoulder or hides in his beard.”
Arit said, “Ian can ride on your shoulder. Too bad you don’t have a beard.”
“Yes!” Aradella said. “That’s an excellent idea. Mekos’s shoulders are very wide so you’ll have lots of room. And his hair
will cover you as it’s quite thick. You can’t even see sunlight through it. He has—”
The three of them looked at her in a way that made Aradella’s face turn red. “Just an idea,” she murmured.
Mekos put his shoulder forward and Ian flew to sit on it. It had only been a few hours since the lizard had bitten off part
of his leg. That he was there with them showed how important his mission was.
Arit waited until the two men were settled then said, “Ian knows the truth about the Lair, about Valona. She plans to kill
Aradella tomorrow, and she’ll make it look like—”
Aradella interrupted. “We know this. Everything Valona does is backed by my aunt-queen. She wants me dead, and Tanek and Mekos are to be blamed. Her purpose is to stop the men from coming to Pithan.”
“Does she think the men will start a war?” Arit asked.
“Worse,” Aradella said. “She’s terrified that they’ll stay and create families. Children will have both a mother and father.
Wouldn’t that be horrible? She knows that men won’t put up with her treachery. They’ll storm the palace and—” Aradella took
a breath.
“But if you’re alive,” Mekos said, “then the men will arrive, and maybe your island will change.” His voice got louder. “But only if you’re still alive.”
“But you’ll be married to Nessa,” Arit said sadly. “I traveled with him. We had days and days of hearing him complain. He’s
a coward and thinks only of himself. He’d sell other people if he could, and—”
“You’re not helping,” Mekos said. “We have only a few hours to figure out how to keep this from happening. Then we have to
do it.”
Arit said, “If Tanek were told he’d—”
“Start a war,” Mekos shot back. “If I were threatened, Papá would go in with blades drawn. And Kaley has an Earth gun. The
worst part is that whatever the result of that battle, win or lose, Olina would use the violence as an excuse to stop the
men from coming. And even if we take Aradella away now, today, I’m sure this evil woman, Valona, will pursue her.”
They were quiet for a moment, filled with the helplessness of how to solve this. Should they try to hide forever?
“The ceremony is tomorrow morning,” Ian said. “At sunrise. They call it the Day of the Moon.”
Mekos and Aradella looked at him in shock. “We heard of this. Does everyone in the Lair know about it?”
“Oh yes. Every person will be there. It’s mandatory.
This year they’re pleased that all their pretty daughters will be safe.
Valona only tells who the Honored Girl is on that morning.
She likes the loud tears of relief for the girls not chosen—and the screams of grief for the one who is.
One minute the girl is alive and the next she’s lying on the stone altar and Valona is holding her beating heart up high.
Afterward is feasting and celebration, but I can tell you that no one is genuinely joyous. ”
For minutes, they couldn’t speak as they envisioned the horrific scene.
Mekos said, “Do they know that this year it’s Princess Aradella who is to be sacrificed?”
“Yes,” Ian said. “Everyone knows and they’re grateful to her.”
“That’s why the girl said ‘thank you’ to me,” Aradella said softly. “Do they think I know what’s to happen?”
“Yes,” Ian said. “Valona told them you volunteered. She said that you believe it’s the duty of a princess to serve her people.”
“That is sick!” Mekos said.
Ian looked weaker, as though telling this had taken even more of his blood.
“Why do you stay?” Aradella asked him.
“Queen Olina holds my sister in an iron cage. I obey or she dies.”
Arit’s gasp made her fly backward. “But that’s not . . .” She couldn’t finish.
“Honorable?” Ian said through clenched teeth. “It goes against codes of decency and fair play? We are small and they are large,
so we are at their mercy? Yes. All of it.”
“Zeon’s mask,” Arit said. “We might be able to use it to fool Valona. Maybe it could give us time.”
Mekos’s eyes widened. “I forgot about that! Kaley has a mask. She told me she has a whole box full of magic things, but the
mask is special. It can make people look different. Let’s go find it.”
“Wait!” Arit said. “They may be in their bedroom. We can’t intrude on them.”
“They are anywhere on this island except their bedroom,” Mekos said. “Waterfalls, lakes, meadows.” He looked at Aradella.
“In trees, and don’t forget caves. They love caves,” Aradella said. “I can guarantee that they’re not in their own bed.”
As tiny as Arit was, she gave them a prim-and-proper look. “And how do you two know that? Spying is a disgusting trait!”
“Like you don’t watch Papá every minute of the day,” Mekos snapped at her. “Let’s find that mask.”
When they got to Kaley and Tanek’s bedroom, it did indeed appear to have never been used. There was a tall cabinet and the
door was locked.
“I bet Papá has the key.” Mekos sounded defeated.
“Allow me,” Ian said. He flew to the cabinet, put his face down to the hole and made the light of his body go very bright.
He reached in, moved something, and they heard a clunk sound. Then he put his head into the lock and his body followed. By
the third move, he was halfway inside the keyhole, his wings flattened against him. He did a wiggling back out and the door
opened.
“Very handy talent,” Mekos said as looked inside. There were two boxes on the shelf. One was metal. Beside them was a necklace.
“That’s Kaley’s Truth Necklace,” Mekos said. “I guess that right now she doesn’t want to know if anything isn’t true.”
“Or she’s with someone she trusts completely,” Aradella said as she looked at Mekos.
Arit frowned, seeming annoyed at their banter. “Get that box,” she said.
Mekos removed the metal box and opened it. Inside was a transparent half mask. “It doesn’t look like much.”
“It is,” Arit said. “You can change yourself or make another person into something different.” She glanced at Aradella. “Tanek
and Kaley changed themselves and each other.”
“I like that idea,” Mekos said to Aradella. “We’ll try it. You can change me then change yourself. No one will be able to
find us.”
When they got back to Aradella’s bedroom, Ian flew off Mekos’s shoulder and sat on a bedpost to watch.
Mekos handed the mask to Aradella. “You first. Change me into a ferocious beast so I can do away with Valona.”
“There is only one way to kill her,” Ian said under his breath, almost too quiet for anyone to hear.
Aradella put the mask to her face and it seemed to meld into her skin. She certainly wasn’t going to change Mekos into a fierce
creature so he could risk being killed. Instead, with all her might, she wished to be as beautiful as a princess should be.
In other words, she wanted to look like one of her cousins. Instantly, she felt different, and she looked down at herself.
She was wearing a pale lavender dress, the color a mix of the pink and blue her cousins wore. When she turned to the others,
their astonishment showed that it had worked. There was a mirror on the wall and she looked in it. She looked exactly like
her beautiful cousins. Her hair was thick and glossy, her skin perfect, her eyes blue and her cheekbones high. Aradella turned
around. “Well?” she said proudly.