69. Scotlind
SIXTY-NINE
SCOTLIND
I woke up with a sense of dread. In a few hours, we were going to start portaling everyone into Lux. It didn’t seem real. Tezya and I barely slept. When we got to our room last night, we practically attacked each other. After we had sex, we just held each other for hours.
It was only after he drifted off to sleep that I snuck out to meet Dovelyn at the library. We read through as many texts as we could, trying desperately to figure out what the prophecy meant and how to save Tezya before we had to go to the broadcast. We found nothing. Absolutely nothing indicating what a sacrifice from Light and blood from Dark meant.
Dovelyn and I spent hours scouring all the books in the royal library, but still came nowhere closer to answers than when we started. I even sucked up my pride and knocked on Vallie’s door half way through the night.
“Scottie.” Her amber eyes were red-rimmed and wide as she took me in. A large fireplace was roaring to life behind her and a thick, wool blanket was pulled up to her chin.
“I hope I didn’t wake you,” I said slowly .
“You didn’t.” Her voice was soft and gentle, compared to her usual teasing and bickering. “What’s wrong?”
“I need your help,” I started to say and tried my best to choke back my tears. “I’m so sorry to ask anything of you, but we only have tonight and I can’t…”
“Scottie, what do you need?”
“I need you to help me save him. Dove and I are in the library, trying to figure out the prophecy. We’re reading every book we possibly can, but we aren’t finding anything. There’s no reference to a sacrifice of Light or what blood from the Dark means, and now we’re running out of time. I just thought, maybe with your ability, you could—”
“Sure,” she cut me off, and I was startled.
“Really?” I asked.
“Of course, Scottie. I’d do anything for you.” My heart swelled before she added, “I just can’t…” She sucked in a breath. “It doesn’t change anything though… I’m sorry.”
“I know. Thank you, Vallie.”
And even with her help, we still found nothing. Absolutely nothing on Pylemo, or prophecies, or magical rings, or going past your reserves. It wasn’t meant to be possible.
And now Tezya was going to do it, and we had no way of saving him.
We were back in our room, dressing in silence. He was giving me space on purpose, but I couldn’t stop the panic stirring inside me.
“Tez,” I started, watching him lace his armor up.
“Hmm?” He looked up, meeting my gaze.
“Promise me you won’t die.” My own eyes drifted to the necklace peeking through his shirt. I knew the ring was attached, dangling across his chest. “Promise me if you start to go past your reserves, you’ll stop.”
“Scotlind, I promise that I’ll do everything I can to stay alive,” he replied as he rose from his chair and started making his way toward me, pulling me into a hug. He kissed my forehead, and I tried to hide the tears threatening to spill. Because it wasn’t enough. I knew him. I knew he would kill himself in order to save everyone, in order to save me…
Everyone who wasn’t an air or Alluse user was given a clear mask to wear. It was brilliant and would protect us from whatever supplies of vapor Alluse the Lux King still possessed. Even though we had Arcane now, and he couldn’t make any more, he admitted the current stock was astronomical. The Lux King had enough to make a difference in the war.
The first wave we were portaling into Lux was being led by Dovelyn and Tezya. They were going to destroy the lab and hopefully what was left of the vapor.
Sie, Brock, and Rainer went in the second wave and their job was to overtake the underwater monorail that spanned between both kingdoms.
By the time we were portaling the third wave, I was shaking. The amount of Tennebrisians who came to help us fight was overwhelming. It was mostly because of Abherham, and I was so thankful that I was able to see my old guard. I hadn’t realized how much I missed him until I saw him again. I could barely stop crying when I hugged him.
I was growing impatient knowing that Tezya was already on Luxian soil while I was stuck portaling between the two kingdoms. I knew he wasn’t planning on going up against the King until the very end, but it still didn’t sit well with me, knowing that at any point, he could run into him.
“What are you doing?” Kallon asked, breaking my train of thought. I looked up and saw she was talking to Savannah.
“I’m fighting, obviously,” she responded. She was dressed in fighting leathers—they were less thick than the ones we wore in Tennebris, but still provided full coverage—and if it wasn’t for her purple hair, she would have blended in with everyone else.
“Dravenburg said you couldn’t fight.”
“Since when do you take orders from my dad?”
“Okay, good point, I don’t, but I happen to agree with him on this. It’s too dangerous, and it’s not your battle to fight.”
“Kal, this life, all of you, it’s all I’ve ever known. I was freaking homeschooled for crying out loud. My world has been surrounded by more Advenians than humans, so it’s not fair for you to say it’s not my fight. It is. Brighta is my home. You guys are my home. I want to fight for you as much as I want to fight to make sure that humans never have to know what’s happening. If we lose, if the Lux King wins, he’s going to take over Earth, so it is my fight. It’s always been.”
Kallon sighed. “I know, I’m sorry, Sav. I just don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you.”
“You won’t have to find out.” Savannah winked as she pulled a black hood over her hair and positioned her mask in place. “I’m not going to die.”
“Your dad is going to kill me.”
Savannah grinned. “Lucky for you, it’ll be too late by the time he realizes I left Tennebris.”
Savannah snuck into the fourth wave with us. It was the last wave Kallon and I were portaling. If Sie, Rainer, and Brock were successful, the fifth wave should be boarding the underwater monorail by now. If everything went to plan, everyone would be in Lux by dawn. And judging from the light smearing the horizon, it was soon.
I had my mask pulled over my face, making the air stifling. Lux was hot and sticky, such a contrast to Tennebris, that I kept having to use my water powers to manipulate the steam off it.
We portaled the fourth wave to the middle of the jungle by the waterfall. It was equal distance between the hut Tezya brought me to and the castle .
The third wave was already brought to the bayside. They were made up of water and air users so they could hide under the surface until it was time, while our wave slowly made our way through the jungle. Our only job right now was to be ready for whenever Tezya and Dovelyn blew up the lab, and now that we were close to the castle, I could sense him through the bond.
How’s it going? I asked into his mind.
Good. We’re in the lab now. It took us a while to navigate through the castle. The King has every single guard on patrol. He knew we were coming.
I nodded even though there was no way he could see me—no one could see me right now. Multiple air users were stationed in each wave so they could cast invisibility over everyone, and even though we should still have the cover from the trees, we didn’t want to take any chances.
We should be done in about five minutes, but wait until you see the explosion before you guys blow your cover, Tezya said.
Okay, be safe.
“Tez and Dove made it to the lab,” I whispered out loud, knowing Kallon and Savannah were close by. “He said they’ll need another five minutes before we can go and to wait for the explosion.”
“Okay,” Kallon replied. “Have you heard from Sie yet?”
“Not yet.” He was supposed to locate me and enter my mind once they overtook the monorail. Only Brock and Rainer were going to ride it back to Tennebris, so Sie should be nearing the castle by now. Everyone else in the second wave should be positioning themselves around the castle like we were, waiting for our signal. Unless something happened to them…
“We need to stop here,” Kallon ordered, and I heard numerous feet behind us come to a halt. We were close to the castle now, but if we went any further, we’d be putting ourselves at risk for being discovered too soon .
I nodded at Kallon, constantly forgetting that no one could see me. “I’m going to take a quick look.”
I left the group and started making my way toward the tree line. We were on the furthest side from the gardens toward the training grounds. I expected to see the miles of open fields that surrounded the castle—which technically I did—but they weren’t vacant. Hundreds and hundreds of people were standing on the field, but something was off about them.
They weren’t wearing the sun-symboled uniform of the Luxian army. In fact, they didn’t have on any uniform at all. Most of them were standing awkwardly, barely able to hold up the weapons in their hands. I squinted, trying to get a better look. All of them were different sizes—and ages .
I gulped, realizing what I was seeing at the same time Savannah came up next to me, and gasped, “They’re humans.”