Chapter 17 #2
After my mission, I could go back to Erobred, get Lili and Archie, and then reunite with the rebels. I could explain why I had to deceive them. Perhaps help them break into the prison then.
But first, I had to find the crown. And I had to do it tonight.
I quickened my pace when I saw Daegal attending to his poisonous garden outside our homes and ignored his amused expression as I stormed past him, slamming the door shut behind me.
Taking a deep breath to calm my racing heart, I went straight for the big book buried under my bed.
Locator spell, locator spell, locator spell.
My eyes scanned over the pages until I found what I was looking for in the index, then I flickered to the correct page with trembling fingers. I’d already tried this spell, but it hadn’t worked.
Words of retrieval
To reveal what’s in darkness veiled
Guide my steps in stars so haled
Far or near
The road is clear
Return to me, draw near, draw near
I’d stood in the water, like the book described. Perhaps my powers weren’t as strong as other mooncasters because it had to share my body with my sun powers.
I pulled out the Defenders guidebook. I hadn’t tried to learn anything from this book since that first time. My ever-growing hatred for Kenric, Boaz, and Daegal had made it impossible to focus on the words written in the book.
6. Reveal the concealed — Locate the perpetrators
I tapped my finger on the page, thinking.
Would this only work to find people? Or could I try this to locate the Solar Crown?
My heart hammered from excitement. It would make sense that I had to use my sun powers to find the crown once belonging to the most powerful suncaster of all time.
I flipped to the page and searched frantically for the spell that could help me succeed. Only, there was no spell. No song or rhyme to lean against.
To reveal what you seek, is no easy feat. You must conjure an orb of the light within and raise it high in the sky. Let it light up the path you so desperately seek, find the culprit when they’re weak.
The book spoke only of finding the ones defying the Kingdom. Still, I needed to try. I needed that crown desperately.
The training sessions with Daegal had taught me to create orbs of light, though they were still tiny and weak. This vile book for Defenders could be my last hope of finding the crown without ransacking the whole place and likely getting myself caught in the act.
Tonight, I decided. Tonight, I’d steal the crown.
The sun had long since gone down when I made my way from the huts to the forest. My path was only lit up by the faint silver glow of the crescent moon in the sky.
Tonight, more than ever, I was thankful for the many times I’d had to use the shadows to hide from the Defenders in Erobred.
I pulled the shadows close around me until I was barely visible in the darkness. When the leaves crunched under my boots, I slowed down and looked around for a place to hide.
Who I was hiding from, I didn’t know, as every single rebel had gone to sleep hours ago. Still, I crouched behind the trunk of a thick tree and pulled the hood of my cloak up to conceal my face.
I let the rage fill me, just like Daegal had taught me. I let the deepest desperation of my heart fill me, too, until I was all-consumed by the image of the golden crown embedded with yellow diamonds.
Consumed with the memory of Kenric forcing me to leave my sister and friends in Erobred.
His trick to get me to travel to the prison voluntarily.
The torture by Elio Boaz. Then that same man, threatening to kill Lili if I didn’t complete a mission.
A mission that went against everything I’d fought for, for years—a mission to steal the crown.
The crown. Crown.
I opened my palm and raised my right hand, jerking it up and down, imagining the orb hovering just above my skin.
Then I felt it. A tiny orb, no bigger than a coin, warmed my clammy hand. I opened my eyes and stared at it. Then, I lifted my hand and released it into the sky.
For a moment, it flickered like it might go out. I thrust all of my power, every thought, into keeping the orb alive.
“Take me to the crown,” I whispered, and to my astonishment, the orb started moving. Slowly, carefully, I followed.
It led me back to the base, like I’d suspected. I snuck through the small village that the rebels had built, almost savoring the last night I’d spend here. I had to leave for Orken tonight if I was to stand a chance to save Lili.
Before the orb showed me, I realized where it was taking me. The strategy room. Only, I’d already searched that room from top to bottom without luck.
The weak sound of a branch snapping in the distance halted my footsteps. When I froze, so did the orb. I strained my ears, listening, but it was dead silent. I stayed put for a few moments, but when the quietness stretched on, I continued to follow the orb the last bit of the way.
I held my breath as I crossed over the threshold to the strategy room, looking at the table crammed with maps and plans. But the orb didn’t stop there. It continued into the library, adjacent to the strategy room.
It stopped right over the carpet I’d scorched the first time I’d practiced sun magic. I pulled the rug aside, expecting to see a trap door or any sign of the crown. There was nothing, only the uneven wooden boards.
The orb vanished, along with my hopes. I sat down and inspected the floor, unwilling to give up. My eye caught on one of the edges, which was raised slightly above the rest of the floorboards.
I tugged at it, and it gave away instantly. Even in the darkness, I saw it. The sight left me astonished, relieved, and terrified.
The golden crown laid dusty and faded but intact.
I’d been right above it the time I almost set fire to this place. Could it have fueled my powers, and that’s why I was able to perform such powerful magic?
I stretched out my trembling fingers to retrieve it, hardly willing to believe that it was real before I felt it.
But then I heard it. The light thumping I’d thought was my heart turned into heavy footsteps behind me.
I retracted my hand and spun around. Dark eyes watched me as he stopped a few feet away from me. He crossed his arms tightly over his chest, tilting his head to the side. His lips were drawn into something halfway between a sneer and a smirk.
“I knew it.”