Chapter 8

The truth is hard to choke down sometimes.

“So you dipped your hand in the water and saw where the portal was?”

“Well, I think it was the portal. I don’t really know what we’re looking for.” Abigail and I stood at the edge of the stream. She ran her hands through the water. The water rippled past her pale fingers and down towards my vision. “It was an arch with a bright light and when I stuck my head in, it took me to my parents.”

Abigail stood and unrolled the sleeves of my sweatshirt back down her arm. “That sure does sound like a portal. I just don’t know how trusting we can be of this vision. What were you doing when you touched the water?”

“Singing,” I answered truthfully. Red rushed to my cheeks as she looked at me.

“You were singing?” I nodded. She shrugged the comment off, “I guess we have to keep walking in order to find out.”

I sighed, “I guess that’s right.”

Abigail’s strong legs turned and walked back towards Tori and Zachary. A small fire was burning between them. I had caught some fish from the stream and was cooking them. Luckily for us Abigail carried a lighter around with her. Zachary’s hands were stretched out to the fire. His silver eyes looked up to me with a smile. “How’d you sleep bud?” I asked and sat cross legged next to him.

“Alright,” he answered quietly.

I put my hands out too, “By the way you were snoring. I would say you slept great.”

Zachary laughed and punched me in the knee. My mouth flew open and fear ran through him. “Oh now you’re going to get it.” I stood up and stuck out my hands as if I was going to tickle him. Zachary realized that I was playing and he stood up also. He ran away from me as fast as he could. I followed slowly knowing that I could out run him. When I decided that he had run enough I caught up with him. I picked up his small body and spun him around. When I stopped we both fell into the tall grass. Zachary’s little body shook with laughter and excitement.

Tori yelled from the fire, “You can’t get me!”

My head stuck up over the grass, “You want a bet?”

I chased and played with the kids for a good part of the morning until we decided that we needed to head out. Together we decided to keep close by the stream. Tori and Abigail walked about 50 yards ahead of us. Zachary’s hand was curled inside of mine behind them. “Did you know that you look like my dad?” I told him quietly.

“Abigail told me. My mom is your dad’s sister.”

I nodded, “That’s right. What’s she like?”

“She’s nice.” He simply answered.

“Do you have other aunts and uncles from your mom?” I was trying to keep this conversation child like for him, “or a grandma or grandpa?”

He nodded and my heart sank. My whole life I had been told that my father was an only child. When he was young his father died. It was only a few years later that his mom died. I always just believed it. “Grandma Noelani and Uncle Haulani,” Zachary answered.

“What’s your mom’s name?”

“Kei Khtulu.”

My face twisted, “Khtulu?”

Abigail heard this and turned around, “What did you say?”

My eyes snapped to her, “What’s a Khtulu?”

She’s stopped and let me catch up. She gave Zachary a look and he walked on the other side of her with Tori. “It’s not a what, it’s a who.”

“Well who is Khtulu?”

She smiled, “Your father.”  My hand twisted in my hair as I continued to walk. “Your father’s name is not Rylan Khorry. It’s actually Ryszard Khtulu.” The air rushed from my lungs and I stopped frozen in my tracks.

What made it so that I could trust Abigail? She could just be messing with my head. Something inside of me was telling me that she was telling the truth. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew that my family had a darker secret. As normal as we seemed to be we really weren’t. My parents never fought, in fact before I was taken, that was the first time I’d ever seen or heard them fight. There was no excitement anywhere in my life. They never spoke of any friends that they had. It was almost like they didn’t have a life at all before they met each other.

The world around me began to spin. I took a few steps to the side of the stream and sat down on a rock. “Zachary, Tori, why don’t you go play by those trees.” She pointed them in a direction where she could keep her eyes on them. When they were gone she sat next to me.

“He has siblings?”

She nodded. “He’s actually a Prince, well was…”

“Was?” I rested my hands on my knees and tried to catch my breath.

“His, I don’t know how many greats, grandfather discovered Heroes.” She said frankly. I exhaled again losing all the breath I had regained. This was all a little too much. “It’s passed down through generation to generation. He was the first Prince in line, when he gave it away to save Collin.”

My neck snapped to her and my eyes snapped back and forth between hers. “What did he give up?”

“Well at that point, just his chances to be King. Then when he had you he lost everything. If he ever steps foot on his island again his family has to kill him.”

“What?” My eyes got huge as I tried to fathom this idea. “What did I do?”

Abigail picked up some stray rocks that were at her side and started to throw them into the stream. “The men in the Khtulu royal line can only marry Khtulu women and have children with Khtulu Women. If the son marries a woman that isn’t from the tribe then they cannot be King. Then if they have a child they are considered to be impure and unfit for the family line. If they can escape they aren’t killed, but if for some reason they’re ever found they have to be killed so they don’t poison anymore lines. I personally think it’s a stupid tradition.”

“But what about Zachary’s mother?”

She nodded, “It’s different for the women because they can’t have the powers to run the clan. They can marry and reproduce with anyone they choose. Like I said, it’s a stupid tradition.”

My mind went to my father’s face. My whole life I believed that he didn’t care about me. That he never really wanted children in the first place. He always came to everything I did he wanted to support me in everything but never did he show any want or need for me to be there. I seemed to be more of a nuisance than a son. “So he gave up…”

“Everything,” Abigail finished the sentence, “And he did it for you.”

My mouth opened and the truth came out, “I can’t actually believe that. There had to be another motive.”

Abigail smiled and not in tension, “You think like me.” I returned her smile.

“Let’s keep going.” I stood up and held my hand out to her. Her soft hand fell into mine and I pulled her up. “Zachary, Tori let’s go.”

Abigail’s eyes looked up into mine and she smiled

Author's Note

Enjoy!