Kilenya Series Books 1, 2, and 3, page 59
Kevin’s mouth hadn’t shut yet, and the bright yellow around his face showed he might not recover from his surprise for a long time. “I . . . I . . .” He looked at Jacob.
Jacob laughed. “Yeah, it came as a complete shock to me, too. I’ve only known about all of this for a few months.”
Kevin shook his head. He chuckled, apparently putting his disbelief away for the time being. “Clark, I always knew there was something wrong with you.”
Jacob laced his fingers behind his neck. “You have no idea.” It felt weird joking with the guy.
Kevin laughed, then kissed Aloren on the forehead, and Jacob turned away to find his basketball.
“Okay, enough serious stuff,” Mom said. “Time for dinner!”
Everyone cheered and returned to their seats to get their plates.
Chapter 8. Sonda Lake Tunnels
After dinner, Mom ushered everyone except the kids—who went to Amberly’s room to play—into the large family room. Dad had insisted on adding it to the house several years back, wanting the extra space for watching movies and basketball games. It made Jacob smile now to think of how exciting America would have been to someone like Dad, who’d never seen an NBA game.
The movie started. After nearly ten minutes of blankly staring at the TV screen, the only thing Jacob knew was that it was an action film of some sort, shot in New York City.
He couldn’t stop thinking about his “episode.” Why hallucinations? Or were they closer to visions? Obviously, they weren’t night terrors, as his mom had originally believed. And the fact that he’d seen his family in the past had to mean something.
He thought back on all the times he could remember it happening—whatever it was. The first instance had been while playing basketball in the orange gym. What had been unique about that situation? He remembered being tired—not having gotten much sleep the night before. Then there was the time when he’d woken up in the middle of the night to get a drink of water—maybe the episodes had something to do with sleep. Maybe his body was kicking him into a freakish sort of REM cycle.
But what about in the tunnel, when he was fighting the Ember Gods? He hadn’t been sleepy then. Exhausted, yes, but not sleepy. And playing basketball earlier—he’d had plenty of rest the night before.
Jacob thought everything over. Was it the time of day? His temperature? Was he sick?
What if it had to do with the amount of danger he was in? Or, more concisely, the intensity of the moment? Fighting the Ember Gods was pretty freaky. And he was always super focused while playing basketball. But no—that time when he’d seen the Indians, he was staring out the window, and it didn’t fit.
It wasn’t due to location, or what he was wearing, or who he was with. Every episode was different from the others. Jacob sighed in frustration.
Then he decided to single in on the exact moment when the episodes started. Was there something smaller—much smaller—triggering them? He started with earlier that day, while playing basketball in the driveway with everyone. He’d had sweat in his eyes. He’d blinked to clear them, but couldn’t, so he’d just squinted through the haze.
Jacob sat up in his chair, feeling like he’d just hit on something important. Was it possible? The episodes had something to do with his eyes? With squinting? Before the first hallucination, he’d been tired—tired eyes don’t operate normally. And while in the tunnel with the Ember Gods, he’d been surrounded by fire and smoke, along with having sweat in his eyes. He had squinted in all of those situations. Then . . . while at the window. No squinting. But his eyes had been out of—
Jacob jumped from the couch when it hit him. His eyes had been out of focus! He’d been staring through the window, not really seeing what was out there, thinking about something else.
“Hey! Sit down!”
He didn’t know who’d said it, but he popped back onto the couch, elation pouring over him. That had to be the trigger! Squinting was only a symptom, or a side effect of trying to get his eyes to focus. He’d figured it out. Yes!
He took several deep breaths, clearing his mind so he could put the theory to the test, then unfocused his eyes, gazing blankly at the TV. Hallucinate, he thought to himself.
Nothing happened.
Something wasn’t right. What, though?
Jacob chuckled and nearly smacked himself on the forehead when he realized what it was. They weren’t hallucinations, and his body wasn’t going to obey an order it didn’t understand.
He stared at the TV again, recognizing that the main characters were still in New York City, and unfocused his eyes, this time picturing the location where the movie had been filmed.
Suddenly he stood on that exact same street. The sun was down already, but the road was still full of people. Everyone was wearing coats, but he didn’t feel the cold.
“Yeah, I heard,” said a sleek-looking woman with tall boots as she walked past Jacob.
A plump woman nodded emphatically. “And she’s suing him!”
The two didn’t even notice him.
Jacob felt a tight pain in his chest and he gasped, losing concentration. The pain dissipated and the scene changed back to the family room.
It worked! He’d done it!
He jumped to his feet. “I’ve figured it out! Turn off the movie! I gotta tell everyone something!”
Mom switched the lights on, and Jacob felt himself flushing when every eye turned to him. He put his embarrassment aside.
“What is it, son?” Dad asked after he’d paused the show.
“I’m not hallucinating! I’m seeing other places and people! They’re real, living people! I was sitting here, on the couch, practicing, and I ended up on that street in New York City!” He pointed at the TV.
Mom raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure, honey?”
“Of course! Here, let me tell you what’s going on.” He proceeded to explain his theories, along with the questions he’d considered, finally telling them about putting it to the test.
“Wow,” the Fat Lady said. She turned to Aldo, who was sitting next to her on the last row of couches. “I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised.”
Aldo shook his head. “No, but I am, just the same.”
“What are you talking about?” Jacob asked.
“What you’ve experienced is Time-Seeing,” the Fat Lady said. “And it’s incredibly rare for humans, which is probably why none of us considered it.”
Dad nodded, putting his cup down. He was sitting in his usual spot—center row, center of the room. “And this is yet another reason you need to work with the Shiengols as soon as possible. They’re also Time-Seers.”
Jacob grinned. “Great! I can’t wait!”
“Okay, so now that you’ve got this really super-freakin’ cool ability,” Matt said, “why don’t you do something awesome with it?”
“Like what?” Jacob asked.
“Go see the pyramids!”
A few heads in the room nodded, and he was surprised to see that even the adults looked interested in hearing the outcome.
“Okay, I can try.” He cleared his thoughts and took a deep breath, then pictured Egypt in his mind. He looked ahead, unfocused his eyes, and concentrated specifically on the Great Pyramid.
The family room disappeared, replaced by a night-time glimpse of the pyramids. The scene was brief, and just as fast as it had come, left. Jacob found himself slumped on the couch.
“Dude, you totally fell.”
“I know. That didn’t last long. Let me go again.”
He stood, trying to focus harder. This time he felt like he was actually standing there, in front of the huge pyramid. Wow. The pain in his chest returned, he lost concentration, and zipped back home, falling down again.
“I’m not very good at it.”
“That’s fine,” Aldo said. “You’ll have plenty of time to practice.”
“No, he won’t,” Gallus said from the couch on the left side of the room. “This new ability is an extremely powerful one.” He leaned forward. “Don’t you all see? He could use it to spy on the Lorkon to figure out what their next plan will be. He needs to gain control of it, and fast.”
Jacob glanced at his mom. How would she respond to that? She bit her lip, grimacing, then took a deep breath. “He’s right.” She pressed her hands against her cheeks, glancing apologetically at Jacob. “Honey, don’t stress yourself, but continue practicing.”
Jacob nodded, trying to keep from smiling. He couldn’t believe Mom had actually agreed—she was always so overprotective! Being something more than an errand boy with a magical key was going to be great. Not only that, but this ability really did have some cool advantages—if he could figure out how to use them.
He glanced at Kevin and Aloren. He’d nearly forgotten they were there, sitting next to Aldo and the Fat Lady on the last row. Aloren was leaning back in her chair, hands behind her head. She gave Jacob an encouraging smile. Kevin gawked at him as if he’d turned into a new video game—awe, excitement, and a little nervousness flowing in the air around him. Jacob couldn’t help but chuckle, wondering how long it would take for Kevin to adjust to this new knowledge.
Long after everyone had left, Jacob stayed in the family room, trying to Time-See. The best he did was to get brief glimpses at places around the world, but he had a lot of fun doing even just that. He could travel without going anywhere! It didn’t take long for him to discover, though, that he felt sick if he didn’t wait at least two minutes between tries. He took advantage of that extra time by pulling out some old encyclopedias and reading up on the places he was visiting.
During one of his breaks, a question popped into his mind. Before he’d known what this ability was, his body had sent him to some really random places. Why? And what had chosen those locations? Maybe nerve firings in his brain? The tunnel while fighting the Ember Gods had been really hot, and he’d gone to a snowy mountainside—perhaps to cool off? ‘Course, that didn’t really explain all the other places he’d been, but there might not be an answer for those occurrences.
Around one in the morning, his mom came downstairs and told him to get to bed. “You won’t improve if you over-tire yourself.”
“That might actually make it easier—”
Mom shook her head and pointed at the door. She waited for him to leave the room first before turning off the light and shutting the door behind them.
Jacob pulled himself up the stairs to his room. He’d been so excited to practice that he’d ignored his body, and he was surprised to find that he really was tired. As he fell asleep, he smiled to himself. Today, he’d seen some of the coolest places in the world. Turkey, the Great Wall of China, the Pyramids, the Mediterranean, Hawaii, and he’d even visited ruins from the Incas, Aztecs, and Mayas. It was like using the Key to get anywhere, only this wasn’t illegal or off-limits.
This was going to be great.
Jacob’s parents decided that he, Matt, and Aloren would stay home from school Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday the following week to help recruit Wurbies. Jacob couldn’t believe they were actually in favor of that, but, after hearing Gallus’s argument that there weren’t many other people who could help in recruiting, it made sense why they’d say yes. Jacob was the only one who could use the Key, Matt was as strong as an adult—none of the Makalos could keep up in that area—and Aloren knew Dusts really well. Apparently they were very similar to Wurbies.
Gallus was in charge of the trip, so naturally he was also going, along with Sweet Pea and Akeno. Sweet Pea because he was an experienced fighter, and Akeno because he could knock out creatures, light areas up, and sense living things.
At a meeting right before leaving, Gallus explained they’d be using Aloren’s Minya, Hazel, to keep them in contact with Taga Village. He went on to say there would be a lot of dangers—getting to Ashay Hills wasn’t an easy thing. “And we’ll most definitely run into Eetu fish.”
“Really?” Matt asked. “They live out of water, too?”
Gallus shook his head. “No, but to get to the mountains, we have to go through tunnels that run beneath Sonda Lake.”
“Why can’t we just walk around?”
“The water is right up against the mountains, and since there isn’t a gradual slope, it’s impossible to get to the canyons of Ashay Hills by doing that. Onyev and the earlier humans and Makalos built tunnels a very long time ago to provide safe passage.”
Aloren nodded. “And those tunnels will be . . . let’s just say, interesting. I’ve only been to the mouths of them—too creepy.”
Gallus turned to Akeno. “Your father made more doors, correct?”
Akeno lifted his bag. “Thirty, at least. We’ll be very well prepared.”
“Good. Let’s get going. Make sure you have everything you need. We’ll stop by my shop to pick up extra supplies, then head to the castle.”
Jacob and Matt had already packed their backpacks full of jerky, bread, a couple types of cheese, bacon, flashlights with extra batteries, matches, and anything else they thought they’d need.
They hefted their bags to their shoulders and Jacob Keyed everyone to the shop in Macaria, ignoring as Matt playfully shoved Aloren, calling her “sis.”
Gallus didn’t show them what he collected from his shop shelves, but Jacob assumed it had something to do with bribing the Wurbies.
When they got to the castle, Aloren led them to a different section, away from where Jacob had been last time. She crept around corners, keeping a lookout for Dusts and other dangerous creatures, finally leading them to a large door. It was locked, and Jacob used the Key to open it. On the other side was a set of dark, rickety stairs. Gallus went first, leading the way, and Jacob and Matt took up the rear.
“My sister is freakin’ cool,” Matt whispered to Jacob.
Jacob chuckled. “Yeah, she is.”
“It’s ‘cause we’re related, you know.”
“Whatever.”
The group descended several stairs—at least 200. Jacob counted them until Sweet Pea broke through one of the steps and nearly fell. It was so dark, Jacob could barely see the hole the Makalo had created, and he stopped counting so he could concentrate better.
They finally reached the bottom. The air was musty, damp, and stale, and smelled of something Jacob didn’t recognize. Something almost animal.
Gallus lit a torch and instructed Akeno and Sweet Pea to light their fingers, and Jacob and Matt turned on their flashlights. Jacob strained to see ahead of Gallus, expecting a long expanse of passageway, but frowned when he saw that the way was rough-hewn and rocky—nothing like any of the tunnels he’d been in previously.
Gallus turned to face everyone. “From here on, things will be very dangerous. We’re under the lake now, so don’t touch the water or walls—even with your shoes—and do your best not to touch the ceiling. Most everything is moist, and we won’t know which water belongs to an Eetu fish without finding out the hard way.”
The group nodded.
“We’ll be fine as long as we’re careful.” He turned to go, then looked back. “Eetu fish aren’t the only pests that live around these tunnels. Keep that in mind.”
“What else is here?” Matt asked.
Gallus tilted his head to the side and pursed his lips. “Critters—rats and such.”
“Great,” Matt grumbled.
They started slowly, then gradually picked up speed as the individual members of the group adjusted to the rough passage. Parts of the tunnel had broken away, revealing incredible depths of water—sometimes clear, sometimes dark and murky. Even in the clear waters, Jacob couldn’t see the bottom.
“How deep in the lake are we?” he asked.
“Several hundred feet by now,” Gallus called back.
Jacob pulled himself past a big rock in the middle of the way. “How is the tunnel not overflowing with water?”
“Magic,” Gallus said. “It was built to be a passage, and a passage it will be.”
Jacob nodded to himself. Makalo magic certainly was strong. How much of this sort of thing would Akeno be able to do, once he figured out his abilities?
He paused while Sweet Pea clambered up a huge rock, then grabbed the Makalo’s offered hand and pulled himself up. His shoes slipped on the mucky rock beneath him, and he nearly fell against the wet stone.
The boys froze.
Nothing happened.
“That was close,” Sweet Pea said.
Jacob nodded and turned to help Matt up.
During a particularly difficult section, Matt muttered. Jacob chuckled, listening to his older brother.
“They call this a tunnel? Ridiculous. I’ve seen much better ones before. Heck, I’ve made ‘em better than this. And how did the rock get here, anyway?”
“The rock isn’t suspended, you know,” Gallus said. Apparently, Jacob wasn’t the only one listening to Matt. “Yes, there’s water below us, but this entire thing is attached to an overhang on the left. Above and to the right is water.”
Matt sighed in frustration. “How much longer until the end?”
“No idea.” Gallus grunted in exertion. “Don’t expect it to be soon.”
The group fell silent again. Jacob’s hands got raw from grabbing the rougher sections of rock.
He jumped when Aloren’s scream slashed the air, followed by a splash of water. He and Matt scrambled to catch up to her. She’d fallen into a puddle about a foot deep. Gallus and Matt pulled her out of the water, then the group ran forward—climbing and crawling over the rock.
“Hurry, everyone!” Gallus called back. “If there was Eetu in that water, we need to increase the distance as much as possible.”
But after a while it became apparent that nothing was chasing them, and they eventually slowed down. Gallus decided they needed to take a break, and he wrapped a blanket around Aloren’s shoulders. Her face was white and she trembled, her teeth chattering. The air around her showed she was afraid—very afraid. Jacob didn’t blame her. Matt approached and offered her his hoodie. She declined, saying he needed it, and Matt put his arm around her instead.
