Violet: Chapters 5-9

Chapter 5

“What the hell was that?”

The kids all surrounded Edward, looking at him for an explanation. They were back in Eli’s room, sitting. Eli was the only one standing, and he was pacing.

Edward shrugged. “I don’t know, Eli.”

“Bullshit,” Eli growled, halting his pacing. “You know exactly what it was and you know it. And we want to know why you didn’t tell us sooner, least of all, me.”

Edward pursed his lips. “I’m not saying anything until you change your tone.”

Eli closed his eyes and sighed. “Edward,” he said, a calm and easy, yet frustrated tone in his voice. “Why didn’t you tell us you had abilities involving fire?”

“Because, Eli,” Edward said, an icy calmness in his voice. “I didn’t trust anyone enough to tell them. I was planning on showing you, but I never got around to it.”

Eli rolled his eyes. “Whatever. It’s not like we could’ve gone after the Six with this sooner.”

Edward sneered. “I was going to tell you, Eli.”

“I said, ‘whatever.’”

Edward ripped off his sunglasses, revealing his pitch black eyes. “Do you see this, Eli?” He pointed at his eyes. “This is because of a demon living inside me.” Edward snapped his fingers and his hand caught ablaze. “I was possessed as a kid when my friends tried to summon a fire demon to kill my abusive mother. Needless to say, it worked. It took my brother and sister and all my friends with it too. The only reason why the entire f*****g United States didn’t burn down is because I bound the demon to myself on accident at the last minute. That’s why I have Dissociative Identity Disorder and why I have these powers. Can you imagine why I never told you?.”

Edward threw his sunglasses on the ground. “Hell, I jumped in the way of a fireball and fight the orange haired lady back at the orphanage to save your life because I have these powers, Eli! I almost died because you couldn’t keep the goddamn lights off.”

Eli walked forward, putting his face close to Edward’s. “I turned on the lights so you wouldn’t get kidnapped, Edward. She wanted to take you away and use you for god knows what.”

Edward pushed him away. “You think I didn't know that? We could’ve had one kid who’s a ticking time bomb disappear off the face of the earth for good instead of several kids dying to fire and a sociopathic lady of… death.”

“Her name is Alia, by the way.”

Eli and Edward turned. Katie had the book in front of her, and she was flipping through the pages. Hailee was reading over her shoulder.

Eli and Edward spoke at the same time. “What?”

Katie looked up. “While you two were fighting, we decided to do some studying.”

Eli and Edward looked at each other, then rushed down to Katie’s side. Sure enough, the book now had text inside it. It was displaying an entry for Aliquam/Alia, the Amber Firestarter.

Eli ripped the book out of her hands and started flipping pages. He found that there were 8 entries under the section “The Immortal:” Wofiira the Crimson Earthshaker, Alia, Giel the Golden Sunwalker, Vihrea the Emerald Poisoner, Lansei the Cerulian Soundbender, Morea the Violet Mindseeker, Heisel the Black Voidwalker, and Sikhav the White Lightbreather.

“So the Six are really called the Immortal,” Eli muttered. “Also there’s more than six?”

Edward’s jaw dropped. “Wait, what?”

"Yeah, there's two more: Heisel and Sikhav. We know about the six others." Eli sighed. "Of course. now we have to fight eight of these douchebags."

Katie bit her lip. “Not necessarily. Heisel and… Sikhav, was it? They might be friendly.”

Eli closed the book. “What gives you that idea?”

Katie shrugged. “Just a hunch.”

Eli shook his head and re-opened the book. “Let’s see if there’s anything else we can find in here…”

Everyone sat waiting patiently as Eli flipped pages. “Tiers… The Forged… Alternate Planes… What is this book?”

Katie frowned. “I know it sounds childish, but I think the book is magical. When Eli and I first found it, it was blank… Well, almost. Eli could see words that I couldn’t.”

Eli nodded. “Yeah, it said ‘I am your best shot at avenging Oliver--’” Eli gasped, and started flipping through the pages with vigor. “Maybe it can tell us the best way to take down these… ‘Immortal.’”

Hailee spoke up. “Eli, maybe the name is implying something. Maybe these guys are unkillable.”

Eli kept flipping pages. “Nonsense. Nothing is unkillable.”

The kids kept searching through the book. Hours passed until finally they found their answer.

Hailee pointed at the page. “There!”

The page read: “Prism- A natural forming rock found on Rhagan, known for its special properties involving the Immortal and Tiers. It is known for being able to kill anything it wounds and gives the powers of the wounded Tier or Immortal to the assaulter. See also Black Prism, and Sloe (Page 13).”

Eli frowned. “What’s Sloe?”

Edward donned a snobby posture, now Ash. “Sloe refers to the small bluish-black berries of the blackthorn, a bush native to Eurasia.”

“You’re telling me that berries can kill the Immortal?”

Ash shrugged, picking up his sunglasses. “Let’s find out.”

Eli flipped a few pages. “It’s under 'the Forged.'”

“Sounds spooky.”

Eli started reading, then spoke. “Basically Sloe is a dagger that has the same properties as Prism, only it doesn’t kill the person you stab. It sends them to a place called Origana instead.”

Hailee piped in. “Where’s that?”

“I think it’s one of the Alternate Planes,” Eli started. “I saw it under the category when I was skimming.”

Suddenly the book started to shift. The ink on the pages swirled and rearranged itself, and when it was done, the page displayed: "Origana - The Plane of Magic and Mirrors."

Eli's jaw dropped. "Whoa."

Ash adjusted his aviators, unperturbed by the book. "My guess would be that that’s where the dagger is.”

Eli looked down at the book. “Yep, Ash is right.”

Ash nodded. “If we’re going to fight the Immortal, we should find that dagger. I have a feeling that killing them with Prism is a bad idea.”

"What are Tiers though?” Hailee asked. “They've been mentioned twice and we haven't looked yet."

The ink started flowing again, and Eli started reading again when it came to a rest. "'Tiers are humans with supernatural abilities. They are quite common, people just don't know they have powers because they haven't unlocked them. There--'"

"Wait, so this could mean we have powers too?" Katie interrupted.

Ash nodded. "It could."

Eli lowered the book, annoyed. "Can I finish?"

"Sorry." Hailee and Ash said at the same time.

Eli went on to explain Aspects, the "Powers" that Tiers possessed and the two types: Physical and Mental, and Marks.

Katie scratched her head. "So Physical is stuff like water, earth, fire, and air, and mental is stuff like... what even are mental aspects?"

Eli shrugged. "Honestly, the book says they can be literally anything that doesn't fall under physical."

Katie's eyes widened. "Whoa."

Eli started flipping pages. "Maybe it can tell us a way to unlock aspects... which might be useful for fighting the Immortal."

Ash lost his snooty attitude, now back to Edward. "Eli, when I fought Alia, it was the hardest thing I'd ever done. I don't know how I survived."

Eli looked up from the book. "Ed, you were a lot younger then. Also, you have time to practice your powers now that we know we all might have them."

Edward dropped his shoulders. “That’s not what I’m saying, Eli. These guys are way to strong for us 16-year-olds to fight. Even if we did practice, how long until their next attack? How long until they find out about the book and come for us? I doubt they don’t know about this thing.”

Eli smiled. “Better start now then.”

Chapter 7

The kids sat in Eli’s room for the rest of the night, studying the book fervently. Redmar decided to let them have a sleepover so they could talk about Oliver when in reality they were studying the book.

“I just want to make one thing clear,” Eli stated before the sleepover. “We all do miss Oliver, but we don’t have time for grieving. Like Edward said, we only have so much time before the next attack happens, so we need to get rolling.”

Everyone agreed.

But Katie frowned. “Wait, so which should we do first, go after the dagger, or train our powers if we have them?”

Eli shrugged. “Guess we’ll see.”

Hours later, everyone was passed out except for Eli. He sat up studying when an idea came to him. He slowly closed the book, and got up quietly to try not to wake up his friends. He grabbed a jacket, his backpack, and snuck into Redmar’s weapons closet, and pocketed a dagger and a pistol. He then opened the book on his way out of the house, looking for an answer.

Eli muttered into the book. “Way into Origana.”

The book shimmered for a second, then displayed a picture of an archway. Below it, in the black text was: “Tourist attraction of the black beaches.”

Eli had heard about this before. It was an arch that was rumored to be made of a material no one had heard of or seen before. Guess the rumors are true, Eli thought. That gave him all the more incentive to go and check it out. But the black beaches were all the way across the island from where Redmar’s place was. That would be one hell of a travel without a car… And Eli didn’t have a car. None of his friends did, sadly. Granted, Redmar had a car, but that wouldn’t go down well for him. The last time Eli stole Redmar’s car… well...

Eli whispered into the book again. “What's the quickest way to the arch?”

The book shimmered again. This time it displayed a picture of a bus, then a man walking. Below the bus was its number and current location: Core sector. On the page after the bus, it showed a picture of Eli walking. Eli closed the book with a quiet snap and set for the door, grabbing some snacks for the walk. He left without a note or any sort of goodbye.

Edward woke with a start, his nightmares plaguing him again. He sat up, resting his hand on his head. His fingers folded and turned into a fist, and he started to beat his head. He turned to get Eli’s attention, but Eli wasn’t there.

Edward ran down the stairs in a panic, terrified of what Eli might be doing. He tore the house apart, but Eli was nowhere to be found. He ran outside and called Eli’s name as loud as he could, but there was no Eli. He pulled out his phone and called Eli, but there was no answer.

Edward ran back inside and woke up the rest of his friends, his fears appearing true. "Guys, we have a problem.”

Katie groggily sat up. "...What?

“Eli is gone.”

Katie sat all the way up. “Say what?”

Edward grabbed Katie by the shoulders. “Eli. Is. Gone.”

Katie stared at Edward for a second, trying to comprehend. “Wait, what?”

Hailee sat up, groggy. “Who’s gone?”

Edward groaned. “Oh my god, Eli. Get your damn shoes on, we’re gonna go look for him.”

Hailee ran her hands through her hair, which was all frizzy, and checked the clock. “At this hour?”

Katie stopped putting on her shoes.

Edward nodded. “Yes. Get up. Now.”

Hailee rubbed her eyes. “It’s probably just one of his midnight walks.”

Edward shook his head. “No, this is something else. There wasn’t a text or a note or anything, and he isn’t answering his phone. He was slaving over that damn book; all this can only mean one thing.”

“What?”

“He’s going for the dagger.”

Eli sat on the bus, staring at the book. It was beautifully crafted: A leather cover wrapped firmly around the outside, with a triangle with circles on each point on the cover, each circle holding a symbol: One circle held a lightning bolt, the other a three-point star, and the last one a gear. He opened the book, and read the page for Tiers for the fourth time, but each time it was the same: the evidence pointed to the fact that he was a tier. He just couldn’t believe it. The pain on his back, him pushing the people out of the way in the hall, it was all there. But how could he confirm it? Then the answer came to him: the hallway. He had pushed all of the people in the hallway to the sides, creating a pathway… Could he have telekinesis? Eli looked around the bus, looking for other people, but no one was there. He supposed that was fair, seeing how it was three a.m., but he still had to be quiet because of the driver.

He leaned down and whispered into the book. “Nearby telekinesis aspects.”

The ink swirled, then sat on the Aspects page: Nearby: none.

Eli furrowed his brow. “Wind aspects?”

The book then displayed: Did you mean: Ventikinesis?.

Eli rolled his eyes, remembering the rule of aspect names: they had to be latin, ending in -kinesis or -mancy. “Ventikinesis.”

The book understood this time, but again: “Nearby: none.”

Eli sat, pondering for a minute. What else could it be?

Eli leaned down again, an idea in his mind. “Blood aspects.”

“Did you mean: hemomancy?”

Eli’s eyes widened in frustration. “Yes.”

“Nearby: One. Owner: Elijah Xavier Belle.”

Eli’s eyes widened. That was his name all right… But he had blood powers? He looked up at the bus driver. Eli lifted his hand and focused. He then began to roll his hand, and sure enough, the bus driver’s body turned with it, but the bus driver jumped back into place, jerking the wheel. The bus swerved for a second, but ultimately re-aligned with the road.

“Sorry back there,” the driver said nervously. “Must’ve been falling asleep.”

Eli sat back up and adjusted his beanie and frowning. “It’s okay.”

“Where’s your stop, kid?”

Eli looked down at the book. The ink started to swirl and rest into the answer, but the letters were all wrong: “Jka fss skdk”

Eli frowned. “Um…”

The bus driver began to slow down. “There’s only a couple more stops I can do before I have to let you off.”

Suddenly, a searing pain arced across Eli’s back. He cried out in pain.

“You okay?”

Eli put as much effort as he could into speaking, but it came out broken and raspy. “Ye-yeah, drop me off here.”

The bus driver shrugged. “Okay.”

The bus pulled over and Eli stumbled out, clutching his back. The bus drove off, and Eli fell to the ground. But again, the pain stopped just as quickly as it started. Eli looked up, confused.

“What the…”

Eli re-opened the book. “What’s happening to me?”

The ink arranged itself. The entry for “marks” showed up. It described how receiving a mark once powers start unlocking can be incredibly painful due to the aspect fusing with the body. It further explained that one should check the area of pain after the pain ceases.

Eli frowned. He had a birthmark on his back. Maybe it was changing? He looked around for a bathroom, but at the tiny bus stop, there wasn't one. Luckily, Eli knew these parts of the sector. There was a gas station nearby.

After a little bit of walking, Eli came across the station. It was a crummy little thing: A couple of the letters on the neon sign were out, there were numerous stains all over the outer concrete, and it smelled awful.

Eli went into the bathroom and pulled off his shirt. Sure enough, his back had black marks over his birthmark, plus some. Eli recognized the shape it was taking too. He had taken some Chinese classes when he was younger, and it was starting to look like the Chinese symbol for Blood. But he couldn't quite tell because he was, after all, looking out of the side of his eyes into a mirror.

The door opened, and someone walked in. “Eli!”

Eli turned, and Edward was standing in the doorway. “Dude, what are you doing here? How did you find me?”

Edward folded his arms and leaned against the doorway. “I could ask you the same thing.”

Eli felt confusion building. “How did you get here? I took the bus, and you can't have walked all this way in such short time.”

Edward snapped his fingers, and he exploded into fire. He reappeared right behind Eli, and whispered: “Take a wild guess.”

Katie poked her head into the doorway. “Guys?”

Eli turned around and pinned Edward against the stall. “All this f*****g time, you could of at least told me you could teleport. That is the sickest s**t ever, and you left me out on that?!”

Edward pushed Eli off. “Leave me alone about the whole powers thing. You know why I never told you.”

Eli felt a hand on his back, right where the black marks were. “What's this?”

Eli turned around, realizing that he still had his shirt off (in front of a girl, something he had only experienced once). “Oh, um…”

Katie sneered. “You aren't hiding something from us, are you?”

“He is,” Edward remarked, undoing his belt.

“Whoa whoa,” Katie shouted. “Stop right there, mister.”

“No, it's nothing like that.” Edward pulled down his pants, revealing a black double cross on his thigh:

“I just wanted to show you mine.”

Just as the words were coming out of Edward's mouth, an older gentleman walked into the bathroom. He stopped as Edward finished his sentence, turned around, and walked out, his eyes wide as saucers.

Everyone stood for a second, then burst into laughter.

“Okay,” Eli said after they were all done clutching their sides. “But really, what are you guys doing here?”

“We came to bring you home,” Edward said, pulling up his pants. “You aren't ready to go after the dagger. We don’t want you to get killed.”

Eli scoffed as he put his shirt back on. “I have the book.”

Katie went to walk out of the bathroom. “Can we get out of here please?”

Eli grabbed Katie by the shoulder. “Wait, do you have a mirror?”

Katie reached into her purse. “I think so… Yeah, here it is.”

Eli took the mirror and lifted up his shirt again. He turned his back to the bathroom mirror and held up the smaller one Katie gave him, looking into it. Just as he thought, the Chinese character for blood was beginning to take shape on his back:

“Okay, I’m ready to go,” Eli said, lowering his shirt and handing the mirror back to Katie. “You guys ready?”

Edward looked confused. “Wait, you’re ready to go home?”

Eli smiled. “Nope.”

Chapter 8

One month earlier

The bar was quiet.

Sure, there were a lot of people there and nearly all of them were talking, but that’s not what she was referring to.

It was quiet in their heads.

They were all so focused on their alcohol and their friends that they weren’t even thinking about anything.

What a disgrace.

Morea The Violet Mindseeker sipped her drink and got up to leave. She dropped some bills on the bartop, grabbed her purse, and made a beeline for the exit. But she didn't make it. A hand stopped her.

“Excuse me.”

Morea bit her cheek, and turned to face the offender. “Can I help you--” She stopped when she saw his hair.

He had dark blue hair.

And his eyes matched.

He wore a lovely sea blue suit jacket trimmed with gold, with white pants and tall, brown boots. It was The Cerulian Soundbender.

“Lansei?”

Lansei grinned. “Well if it isn’t Ms. Morea.”

“What are you doing here?” Morea hissed. “You could get caught.”

Lansei grinned. Suddenly his hair turned into a light shade of blonde.

Morea shook her head. “How’d you learn how to do that?”

Lansei shrugged. “Same way you do yours.”

Morea grinned. He was referring to her hair, which was usually a deep shade of violet. But as far as everyone else was concerned, she was ginger. “Your aspect?”

Lansei did a quick bow. “Of course.”

Morea hugged him. “It’s good to see you.”

It’d been forever since they’d seen one another. Years in fact. They were both so busy with trying to stay incognito that they never had time for each other. But hey, guess that’s what happens when you’re both wanted for more than 300 grand.

She and Lansei sat hugging for a moment and then broke apart. They both stared at each other, then walked out of the bar holding hands.

“We can’t stay together for very long,” Lansei muttered, looking around nervously as they walked down the street. “Things might go south if we do.”

Morea looked at him lovingly. “I’m willing to take that risk.”

They walked for quite some time, enjoying time together as best as lovers can, eventually ending up in an alleyway. Lansei stopped walking.

Morea stopped too, turning and facing him. “What’s wrong?”

Lansei put a finger to her lips, shushing her. “Shh.”

Then, Morea heard it too. Sirens in the distance.

Morea closed her eyes and opened her third eye, sending out a thought pulse, finding the minds of everyone within a 10-mile radius. She found the thoughts of the officers, and pried them open like a fresh book:

Not another robbery, one of them thought. I can’t deal with this s**t tonight.

Morea sighed. “It’s okay, they’re not headed this way.”

Lansei’s eyes widened. “Get down!”

Suddenly, a shot rang from down the alleyway. Lansei tackled Morea out of the way, but she felt a sharp pain in her side. They both stood up, ready to fight, but they found themselves surrounded by men in masks, all pointing pistols at them.

Lansei calmly drew a rapier out of thin air, grinning. “Good evening, gentlemen.”

One of them responded. “We just want the girl.”

Morea sneered. “Fat chance.”

She threw out her hands, and all of the men clutched their heads in pain. Lansei disappeared from sight, and all of the men were suddenly slashed in half. Lansei reappeared, cleaning his rapier with a handkerchief as the severed bodies fell to the ground.

Just as Lansei pocketed his handkerchief, a figure rushed forward and punched its appendage right through Lansei’s chest with a sickening crack. Morea cried out and rushed the figure, a woman in a mask with blades coming out of her wrists, but the woman didn’t even flinch as Morea pounded her with blow after blow. The woman struck Morea in the stomach, sending her flying backward. She slammed into the wall of the alley and the woman rushed her, jumping forward with her legs stretched out, landing right on Morea’s knees and breaking her legs. The woman pushed off and landed back over near Lansei, whose wound was already healing, and started repeatedly stabbing him, but he kicked out and slashed his rapier, cutting the woman across the chest. She yelled and more men came forward. They grabbed Morea and she screamed, sending out a pulse that should have blown their heads clean off, but all they did was groan a little. The woman and Lansei grappled as Morea was loaded into a van, the men holding her and driving spikes into her shoulders, hands, and feet, pinning her to the bottom of the van. She cried out for Lansei, but the woman grappling with him kept him held tight. Morea kept screaming, but the van drivers floored it, tires squealing as they shot off down the street. She eventually got tired of screaming and started to pull herself off of the spikes, but a foot stomped on her chest, impaling her once again. She cried out in pain.

Morea started sobbing. “What do you want with me?”

One of the men in the back of the van kicked her in the head. “Shut up!”

Morea sat there crying as one of the men pushed a needle into her arm, injecting something into her arm. Her vision started to go black. She sat there, focusing her third eye, trying her hardest not to fall asleep, but the drugs overtook her, and everything went black.

Morea woke with a start. She tried to get up, but her legs were limp and in agony from being broken, even though they were almost done healing, and her side was just as sore from the gunshot wound. She lifted her arms, but they were weighed down by shackles. She tried to break them, but they wouldn’t budge.

Uranium. She thought. How did they know?

“Ah, so the three-eyed freak finally awakens.” A voice said, making Morea freeze. “Welcome back, sleeping beauty.”

Morea slowly turned. She rested her eyes on a woman dressed in a smart suit and a tight skirt with an even tighter bun on her head. Her hair was ginger with a streak of white running through it. She held a clipboard.

Morea sneered. “What do you want from me? Where’s Lansei?”

The woman stood up, making a note. “Oh, he’s been taken care of.”

Morea’s eyes widened in anger, remembering that a woman attacked him. “Was it you who attacked him?”

The woman dismissed her with a wave. “Pssh, don’t be silly, of course not.”

Morea opened her third eye, prodding at the woman’s thoughts, but she couldn’t break through. Something was blocking her.

“Oh, that won’t work here, darling,” The woman said cheekily. “This is a wendigo hair suit. It makes our personnel immune to such things.”

Morea sneered. “Who are you then?”

The woman poshly rested her hand on her chest. “Oh, where are my manners? My name is Cerise Parris.” She extended a hand for a handshake. “Oh wait, you’re shackled.” She retracted her hand.

“Now,” Cerise said, walking over and knocking on the door to the small padded room. A man walked in, holding a gigantic needle. “We have some tests we need to conduct on you.”

Chapter 9

Katie groaned. “How much longer do we need to walk?”

Edward was panting. “Yeah Eli, how much further?”

Eli was fine. “Not much longer, we’re almost there.”

Hailee, who decided to join them on their adventure, sighed. “Okay.”

Even though it was around 50 degrees outside, it felt like the hottest summer day to the four friends. The entire sector of the island, known as the Black Sector because of its obsidian beaches, was like a tropical area compared to the rest of the island. Due to it being lower in elevation than the rest of the island. Where the three friends were, several travel shops and surf shacks littered the beaches, and tourists covered the beaches as they admired the sand and the freezing ocean. Some sat on towels trying to soak up what little rays were there, but it was overcast.

And then they saw it: A gray archway in the middle of the beach, being admired by at least 20 people. People were getting as close as they could without tripping the alarms that were rigged all around the arch, trying to get a good look at all the intricate black designs that lined the arch.

Edward crouched, surveying the scene. “So what’s the plan, gang?”

Katie frowned. “I still think this is a bad idea.”

Eli frowned back. “Why is it a bad idea?”

“Well, think about it,” Hailee replied. “We’re going into a completely different dimension from our own. Don’t you find that a little scary? Also, why haven’t any of us mentioned once how absolutely crazy this is?!”

Eli rolled his eyes. “First of all, I find it kind of exciting. Second of all, we’re young and impressionable, and since we’ve seen stuff like this on TV for years, we’re kinda already used to this stuff without even realizing it.

“Now, onto the plan. What we do is we wait until nearly everyone leaves. Then, we find the key, which is indicated here in the book. It’s literally a key-shaped rock buried under an overpass North-east of where the arch is. We take the key, put it in the keyhole, the portal opens, and boom, in we go.

“Now, we all know that this thing is guarded by alarms so no one tries anything with it, so we need to be fast going in. We’re gonna trigger the alarms whether or not we--”

“Did someone say ‘alarms?’”

Everyone turned. They all rested their eyes on a boy about their age with Asian-like features. He had shoulder length sandy blonde hair and deep indigo eyes. He was sopping wet, probably from swimming in the ocean. He wore a t-shirt and blue floral print shorts.

The guy sat, waiting. “Well, did you say ‘alarms?’”

Eli responded first. “Yes. What’s it to you?”

The guy smiled, then started whispering. “How alarming. Listen, my name’s Nick. If you guys want to talk about the portal without anyone bugging you or overhearing, you can chill in the back of my surf shack.”

Edward raised an eyebrow. “How did you know about the por--”

Nick put a finger to Edward's lips, and the water on his hands sizzled from Edward’s body temperature. “Relax, I know what you guys are talking about. I’ve known for years. Come on, I’ll explain everything.”

Nick turned and started walking away, but everyone stood there for a second, contemplating on who this guy could be. But ultimately, they followed him to a little shack right by the arch. He took out his keys and unlocked the back door for them. He gestured for them to walk inside, which they did, and closed the door behind them. They found themselves in a dark space, cramped with surfboards and other kinds of gear. They all sat there for a second, the sounds of the beach dimmed out from the walls of the shack.

Katie was the first to speak. “Um… What are we doing in here?”

Eli opened the book, which illuminated the area around them. “Good question.”

Hailee was about to speak, but the door opened again and in walked Nick. He grinned. “Alright bros, let’s get rollin’.”

Edward narrowed his eyes. “You’re the guy who likes to surf, skateboard, and listen to Limp Bizkit, aren’t you?”

Nick’s grin widened. “How did you know? Now, onto that plan of yours: I want in.”

Eli shook his head. “Yeah, no. Not a chance.”

Nick cocked his head. “Dude, you’re not getting past those alarms without me. I totally guard the thing, bro.”

Eli chuckled. “You?”

Nick’s grin faded. He raised his arm, and the water that was dripping off of his hand started to rise up, congealing into a ball. It then turned into ice, and raced towards Eli's face, stopping so close that Eli could feel the cold from it.

"Okay," Eli said nervously. "I get it now, you're a tier like me and Edward."

Nick grinned again as the ball of ice melted. "Good. Now, tell me your names."

They introduced themselves.

Nick clapped. "Great, bros! Now, here's the plan: People leave after dark; it's kinda a beach rule due to some... complications we've had over the years. So that gives you plenty of coverage to get into the arch unnoticed after I deactivate the alarms. Now as for the key, I don't know where that is."

Eli held up the book. "I do."

Nick's jaw dropped. "Bro, is that what I think it is?"

Eli nodded. "Probably."

Nick went to grab the book, but Eli moved it away. Unfortunately, Nick was very tall and was able to grab it. He started flipping pages, mumbling to himself.

"Dude, this is gnarly," Nick admired. "Look at how the ink moves. And the way the pages glow and s**t."

Eli yanked the book out of Nick's grasp, making sure it wasn't water damaged (it wasn't) and flipped back to the map of the key.

Nick shrugged. "That's a pretty sick book ya got there, bro. It's called Sanguinem, right?"

Eli looked at the cover, and sure enough, he realized that the title did, in fact, read Sanguinem, something he never noticed.

Eli looked up. "Yeah, it is."

Nick leaned in. "The Rhagish consider that book to be sacred, you know that, right?"

Eli blinked. "Really?"

Nick smiled, placing his hand on Eli's shoulder. "I'm sure you're gonna return it when you're done using it, right?"

Where Nick's hand was, ice began to grow. "Right?"

Eli nodded. "Right."

Nick grinned again. "Gnarly, bro. Alright, you guys go enjoy some waves or some rays, and I'll be here when you guys are ready. Sound good?"

Everyone nodded hastily.