Chapter 8

         Jessica was screaming as we soared up and away from the house. We shot into the air, and I looked down to find my brothers following us in the air all holding their girls in their arms.

         We all flew away to a place we deemed safe. I know you may wonder how Hearst flew away. In truth he didn't. He just made wooden logs appear in front of him as he ran through the sky holding Portia in his arms. Demetrio and Timur did something similar, except Demetrio had dirt or in Timur's case metal fly up to meet their footfalls. We landed in Lexington and set the girls down. My brothers were looking relieved and the girls didn't look upset, or at least, they didn't look very upset about the house being blown up.

         "Look, I'll go back and fix the house, you guys stay here and guard the girls," Irvin said.

         "Okay, but don't dawdle," I said.

         The girls huddled together talking quietly. We were pretty sure that they wanted to be alone so we let them be. My brothers and I talked for a little while and then we stood up just when Irvin returned.

         "I repaired the house. The Heinous Knights are still prowling around for us, they know they haven't killed us yet. There aren't any for about ten miles so I think we're safe here for now, but we can't stay here. They'll know that we're alive once they see that I repaired the house, so we can't go back there. We can't leave the girls at the house. That would put both them and ourselves in danger. The girls are in danger as long as we are; the Heinous Knights know that we're protecting them. The best thing to do would be to keep moving."

         "We could try and send out decoys, but I don't know how well that would work," I suggested.

         "How soon do we need to move?" Timur asked.

         "We need to leave in the next hour at the least," Irvin said.

         "Do you know why they tried to kill us?" Hearst asked. "Not that the bomb would have killed us, but it sure would have hurt."

         "I don't know. Maybe because we survived the last battle which was more of a massacre than a battle. I really don't know why, but that's not important. They're after us, and I think it would be a mistake to let them find us," Irvin said.

         "Here's an idea," I started, "let's go somewhere in Europe. It would take the Heinous Knights a while to find where we've gone because it's impossible to track people after they've teleported unless you hang on to them and go with them. I know there are Heinous Knights in Europe, but we could jump around and move from country to country. We could stay in one place for at least twenty-four hours. We'd just have to keep our trail unpredictable, choose places at random, but be sure that we don't go back to a place we've already been."

         "I like the idea, anyone disagree?" Hearst asked.

         My brothers agreed, and we walked over to the girls.

         "We need to leave pretty soon unless you want the Heinous Knights to find you," I told them.

         "Where are we going?" Portia asked.

         "Europe," Hearst answered.

         "You guys have enough money to buy a plane ticket for ten of us?" Cari asked.

         "No," Demetrio said, "but we won't be going by plane."

         "Okay, so how are we going to get to Europe?" Jessica asked.

         "Each one of you will have to ride with us," I said.

         The girls still had questions, but we insisted that they get on our backs and hold on as tightly as they could. Before they got on, we agreed on a country and exact place mentally. Jessica leaped onto my back and wrapped her legs around me. I locked my arms with the back of her knees and we all teleported into the world beyond the Atlantic Ocean.

         When the girls opened their eyes, they were looking at a river.

         "Where are we?" Terra asked. "What river is that?"

         "You're looking at the Thames," Demetrio answered.

         "We're in London?" Cari asked.

         "That's right," Timur said.

         "Cool," Jessica said.

         "Look, Jessica, we can't stay here for too long and we definitely can't tour around. When this is all over, I promise, if I'm still alive and you're available, I will take you on a tour around the world and we can go wherever you want. But right now, we're in danger and we just have to keep moving," I said.

         "Okay," Jessica said.

         "We need to find a place to stay, perhaps a hotel," Hearst suggested.

         "But that would make us vulnerable," argued Demetrio.

         "I don't think that the girls would like sleeping outside in the cold," Timur countered.

         "I don't know, Jessica, Terra, Cari, Rhonda, Portia? What do you think?" I asked.

         "Hotel," they all said in unison.

         "I guess that settles it," Irvin said. "Anyone know where the nearest hotel is?"

         "I think there's one a little less than a mile away," I said. "Let's find a place and then settle down."

         The girls held tight again and we teleported to the front of the Universal Unicorn Hotel. They got down off of our backs and walked at our sides.

         "Do you guys have money for this?" Cari whispered.

         "Not really, but we can summon some," Timur said.

         "How?" Terra asked.

         We held out our hands and summoned British Pounds from the entire country. We didn't steal, we summoned the pounds from places where people had lost their money, such as tall grasses, the gutters, and other miscellaneous places.

         "Since when can you guys summon things?" Jessica asked.

         "Since always. Sorry, I guess I forgot to mention some things to you."

         At the hotel we settled down and freshened ourselves up a bit. My brothers and I were sharing a suite, and the girls were sharing another. Each suite had two bedrooms with two beds in each room. There was a sitting room with a couch, desk, and chairs between the bedrooms, and a bathroom was adjacent to the sitting room. My brothers, and I walked to the lobby and brought the girls with us.

         I sat down on a couch, and noticed that Jessica was sitting on a chair and looking at me.

         "What?" I asked.

         "Is this what you do every summer? Go around and hide from Heinous Knights? Is it how you learned all of those languages?"

         I laughed and then said, "Not every summer, but this is how I learned the languages. I only listed the more common languages so it wouldn't sound like I was boasting. I can actually speak any language that I have to."

         "So you can speak some of the weird, uncommon languages like Luxembourgish?"

         "Yeah, whatever language you name, I can speak it."

         "Really?"

         "Yeah, I know all the weird and unique ones too."

         "You're incredible, did you know that?"

         "No, I didn't know that because I'm not. My brothers know all the languages too. It's not such a big deal."

         "Just take the compliment Aden."

         "Okay, thank you."

         "Aden?"

         "Yeah?"

         "Can I ask you something personal?"

         "You can, but I can't necessarily promise you an answer to it."

         "Okay, I'll ask anyway. Who were your parents?"

         "My father's name was Sergius and he was a servant of the Elders. My mother was an acolyte of the Elders, but after we were born, she asked for leave so that she could take care of us. My father continued to serve the Elders, and my mother cared for us and visited my father once a day, but he could only come home and visit us once a week."

         "How old were you when . . . um . . . your parents were called to their final battle?"

         I looked away. I didn't want her to see the weakness in me as tears went to my eyes.

         "I'm sorry, you don't have to answer that."

         "That's okay. The only thing is, in order to answer, I would have to tell you how old I am."

         "Is that a problem?"

         "I don't know, is it?"

         "Well, how old are you?"

         "I'm 133. I was born in 1877. My parents died when I was sixty-three. I saw the horrors of the two World Wars and the Vietnam War. I saw the assassination of President Kennedy and the popularity of musicians all over the world. I've seen the protests in the Middle East and the tsunamis in Japan. I've seen a lot of things."

         "What? But you only look eighteen at the most."

         "I know, I can change forms if I want. I could look like an eighty-year-old man or I could look like a five-year-old boy. I just prefer this look."

         "Well, I think that you would look good no matter what."

         "Thank you."

         Jessica stood up, walked over to me, and sat down next to me. She put her arm around my shoulder and squeezed me. I had a strong desire to jump away because it felt so unusual, but I resisted.

         "I'm so sorry, Aden," she said.

         "Can we change subjects now?"

         "Of course, what would you like to talk about?" she asked and straightened up on the couch.

         "Nothing in particular. I'm actually kind of tired. Teleporting and summoning things is tiring. I know you're bored, but I could summon you a book to read before I fall asleep."

         "Okay."

         "Okay then, what would you like to read? I can summon almost anything. Name it and I'll see if I can reach it."

         "How about Pride and Prejudice?"

         "Yeah. Jane Austen, right?"

         Jessica nodded. I summoned the book and gave it to her. She started reading while I lay back on the couch and drifted off to sleep.

         When our kind have dreams, they're not ordinary dreams. Whatever we see is happening around the same time we're dreaming it. We can sometimes get visions or messages from the Elders, but usually it's just something that's happening. In my case, I dreamed in on a view of the enemy. Just so you know, I had never seen Vadrak before in my life, and I really didn't want to meet him.

         In my vision, I was in a conference room. Heinous Knights were gathered around a table and Vadrak was at the front of the room giving a speech. Quick description of Vadrak: tall, at least seven feet tall, muscular, yellow irises and the parts of his eyes that should have been white (the sclera) were red. If you looked at his eyes, you would be frightened. Looking at his helmet on the conference table, I saw that it would completely hide his eyes because the mask part was very, very reflective. He was wearing black armor, and his sword and sheath were hanging off of his belt. His shield was on the wall with a red spider in the center. Creepy. The Heinous Knights were like their master, but their eyes were all silver. They all appeared interested in what Vadrak was saying. They wore similar black armor and they all had swords at their sides. A door burst open and ten more Heinous Knights marched in.

         "Are they dead?" Vadrak asked, his voice was deadly and sinister.

         "No my lord, they escaped just before we blew up their home. They have taken five human females with them as well. They all teleported themselves into the unknown, but we have set up spies so that we will be able to find them."

         Vadrak cursed and said, "Why have you not found them by now? They are a threat to our plans. We need to know where they are and you need to kill them! I don't care what you do with the females, just make sure that the sons of Sergius are dead, understand?"

         Nine of the Heinous Knights cowered in fear, but the captain did not, instead he said, "Understood, my lord."

         "Now go, find them, and tear them apart. I don't want to see you again until they are dead, now get out!"

         The ten Heinous Knights left and I woke up. I sat up and saw Jessica was reading Pride and Prejudice. I stood up and Jessica asked where I was going. My sleep hadn't helped me rest my strength as much as I would have liked, so I planned on going to the pool area to gather heat from the sun. From my dream, I knew we still had some time before we had to leave, and I figured I should restore my strength.

         "I'm going down to the patio where I can lie in the sun," I told Jessica.

         "Can I come with you?"

         "Yeah, I'll summon your swimsuit for you when we get to the changing rooms."

         To the right of the lobby were two double doors that led to a deck. There were some stairs that led down to the pool and patio. Next to the pool were the changing rooms. The pool went from three to ten feet deep. I collected my brothers and their girls and we all agreed to go to the pool.

         We walked to the pool and set our towels down on the chairs. The girls jumped right in, while my brothers and I gathered together to talk.

         I discovered that we had all seen part of the enemy's plan. I saw Vadrak and his Heinous Knights in the conference room and heard Vadrak's orders, but only my brothers had seen where the Heinous Knights actually went.

         "They're still looking for us in North America," Hearst said. "I saw them try New York, Ontario, and La Paz."

         "I saw them looking in other places, but all in North America though," Timur said.

         "I watched them in Central America. They're slowly spreading out their search," Demetrio said.

         "Yeah, I saw them in Panama and Nicaragua too," Irvin said.

         "But we can't rule out the possibility that there are Heinous Knights here in the U.K. either, right?" I asked.

         "No, in fact, if I were Vadrak, I'd have some Heinous Knights in every country in the world," Irvin said.

         "Boys, come on," Cari called to us from the water.

         We waved to them and adjourned our meeting. Irvin jumped in the water with Timur and Demetrio, whereas Hearst and I lay back on a couple of chairs that were sitting in the sun.

         The pool was pretty big, and it had a small diving board as well. Irvin started showing off with his water tricks (we were alone, so nobody could see us use our powers). I felt the warm sun against my body and it felt pretty good after a night and day of a battle, nearly dying, and then teleporting Jessica and myself across the Atlantic Ocean.

         After an hour in the sun, I woke up to a bucket of water in my face, and opened my eyes to see Jessica standing over me.

         "What was that for?" I asked indignantly.

         "To wake you up. You can't bathe in the sun forever Aden, you're gonna have to come in the water some time."

         "But you can't swim."

         "The others have been teaching me how to swim. I think I'm getting the hang of it. So what do you say? Will you come in?"

         "Jessica, you know I hate water."

         "That's right, I'm sorry. But hey, you took me out to the island, and you were in the water for several minutes. Show me some water tricks."

         "I don't know. I can do flips and all of that stuff, but if I pass out, then I can blame you right?"

         "Yeah, I'll do my best to save you. If I can't, I'll get help from your brothers."

         "Look, I'll do a couple of tricks, but I really can't be too groggy. After I do the tricks or whatever, I'm coming back to the sun on a dry chair where I will not have another bucket of water dumped on me. Deal?"

         "Deal," Jessica said.

         I stood up and stretched. Walking over to the diving board, I ran forward and jumped about five feet in the air and did a triple summersault before I finished with a cannonball in the water. When I surfaced, Jessica was clapping. I swam to the edge and hoisted myself up and out of the water.

         "You're good at water tricks for someone who hates water."

         "Thanks."

         "Here, close your eyes and then find all these sinkable pool toys with as few breaths as possible."

         "Okay."

         I closed my eyes and let Jessica throw all of the pool toys into the water. Opening my eyes, I could see the toys through the water's rippling surface. I jumped in the pool and collected all of them in one breath.

         "Jeez," Jessica said when I surfaced. "How long can you stay underwater?"

         "Until I pass out and then disintegrate."

         "Never mind, you're good. Real good."

         "Thanks."

         "Now do another trick."

         "Okay, highness of the bossy."

         Jessica laughed, and I walked to the edge of the board. All of a sudden, I felt a searing pain in my chest. The pain was so intense, I fell to my knees and off the diving board. Treading water was impossible because of the pain which was growing even more intense. I had a vision of a Heinous Knight standing above me as I blacked out.