Haven (War of the Princes) (46 page)

           
"We looked for you," Ruby said quietly. "We even put up posters in
Pinebrook
."

           
"You went all the way to
Pinebrook
?" I asked, more than a little shocked.

           
"We had to get part time jobs to pay for the train tickets," Ruby told me.

           
They really
had
looked for me. It was, in a way, a great thing to hear. My friends really did care about me. What didn't sit so well was the guilt I felt for making them worry so much.

           
"You wouldn't have found me in
Pinebrook
," I said lowly, keeping my eyes down, on my bandaged hands.

           
"We know... we didn't," Kyle said. "Even Sterling got his dad to rally some officers to do an official search. Kat where
were
you?"

           
"I guess
Grendel
wandered home then?" I asked, figuring the grumpy pony had waited around only long enough to eat all the graveyard's flowers.

           
"Your dad found him in the driveway, eating your neighbor's marigolds," Ruby said.

           
They'd answered my question... now they awaited my answer. I didn't know how to begin.

           
"Remember the day Professor Block mentioned the Outside World?" I began, wishing that I knew what to tell them.

           
"Yeah," Ruby said.

           
"And you know how I'm good at finding things?" I asked, hoping that they'd put the two together. No such luck.

           
"Yeah, you've always been weird like that," Ruby said, not understanding the relevance.

           
I sighed. There was no way around it. I just had to tell them.

           
"I found a way out of Haven," I said, wincing, ready for impact. I would have gotten a better reaction from a pair of goldfish. At least
they
look surprised.

           
Kyle squinted at me, speculatively. "Have you been doing drugs?"

           
"Kyle!" I groaned, tossing a pillow at him. "No! I'm serious. I found a way to the Outside World. I was there."

           
"Ridiculous," Kyle said, crossing his arms. "I don't know why you won't just tell us the truth. You don't have to come up with stupid stories."

           
"It’s not a story," I insisted, getting frustrated. "It’s true."

           
"Whatever," Kyle said, grouchily. He must have thought I didn't trust him to tell him what really happened.

           
"I believe you," Ruby said from her perch at the foot of my bed.

           
Kyle eyed her with disappointment.

           
"We've known each other since the first grade. When you lie, you pull your eyebrows in a tiny bit," Ruby explained.

           
I didn't know if I was happy she believed me, or disappointed that she could call my bluffs.

           
"What happened out there? Why were you gone so long?" Ruby asked, with her full attention zeroed in on me. Kyle was clearly unconvinced, but looked like he was waiting for the story I was going to give him all the same.

           
Taking in a deep breath, I let my mind flick back over everything that had happened. My story began in the cave where I found Rune, and followed through with careful detail, to the very end where the procession of
Lurchers
escorted me back to the cave mouth.

           
I didn't describe the part about Stakes nearly draining me. I just told them that he'd caught me. I wouldn’t think about the feeling it gave me any longer than I had to. It was bad enough I'd probably have nightmares for the rest of my life.

           
I also skipped the detail about the two kisses I shared with Rune. I'd tell Ruby that part another time.

           
"Oh Kat," Ruby said, shaken by my misfortune.

           
"See, I told you I didn't like that Dylan guy," Kyle said smugly. At first, Ruby was very taken by Dylan's description, title and habit of showering me with gifts. Kyle, however, had snorted and said, "A person who uses material possessions to get people to like them obviously doesn't have anything else going for them."

           
Kyle's lingering doubt was a letdown. He was treating my account like a fairytale story I'd made up for fun.

           
My feelings about Dylan were still very complex: hurt, bitter, angry, and sad. He had been my friend. At least I thought he had. Kyle couldn't cheapen that.

           
If he decided to pick on Rune, he’d be crossing a line he didn't even realize was there. I didn't want to lose my temper. It wasn't Kyle’s fault. My story did sound ridiculous and if our roles were reversed, I would probably be even more skeptical and mock him into the ground.

           
“Answer me this,” Kyle said, and I braced for more skepticism. “If we’ve been separated for seven hundred years, why were you able to understand their language?”

           
“They all had very thick accents,” I said, knowing it wasn’t any kind of explanation.

           
“Accents change faster than that. The University has done studies about it. In that amount of time we would have had two completely separate languages,” he persisted.

           
“I,” I stammered. Truth be told, I was so wound up in everything that was going on, that I hadn’t thought about it. “I don’t know, Kyle. Our people came from there, maybe we just didn’t change much.”

           
He did not look satisfied. “Just tell us you made it up.”

           
"Ruby, you were with me that day in class," I said, refocusing on what mattered: history. "Even before I found Rune Thayer, I'd set out to learn why our entire country is barricaded in a valley. I bit off more than I could chew, I'll be the first to admit it. But I have my answers, most of them anyway.

           
"In the Outside World, right now, as we speak, there is a war going on between two immortal Princes... an old war. At least one of the Princes wants to harvest our entire culture, meaning everyone in Haven, to use as slaves and batteries until every drop of life has been sucked out of us. It must have been like that seven hundred years ago. Our people must have banded together and fled. They've been looking for us since, hoping that we'll be the power that gives them the upper hand in their war. They almost used me to get to Haven. Stakes nearly won.

           
"It sounds scary, and trust me, it is. But if we didn't have defenses, we wouldn't have lasted here as long as we have. I'm convinced that the
Lurchers
are guardians. They're deadly, intelligent, very difficult to kill, and they listened to every word I said. It was creepy. They're kind of scary looking, but it was amazing that I could command them. With
Lurchers
as our protectors, Haven is still safe."

           
"I hope you're right," Ruby said, wrapping her arms around herself like I'd told a scary ghost story.

           
"Doesn't make sense. Why would a species of wild animals understand what you say and pro-create for hundreds of years, guarding one area? Their only instinct should be for survival," Kyle said.

           
"Unless they were
really
intelligent," Ruby chimed in.

           
"Kyle, what do you know about J. G.
Kiteman
?" I asked him, hoping he’d recognized the name.

           
"J. G.? James
Geoffry
Kiteman
. Everyone in my family knows about him. He was one of
Rivermarch's
founders. He's at the top of this huge family tree in my uncle's place," Kyle said and gave me a wondering look. Why would I ask him a random question about his ancestor?

           
"I asked myself the exact same question you did. And then I found this," I said, reaching for the vertebra bone that sat beside my goggles and scarf on the nightstand. "I got it off a
Lurcher
skeleton. Every bone was like this one.
Here.
Take a look at it."

           
I handed it to Kyle and his hand dipped with the unexpected weight of the bone.

           
"This is made of metal," Kyle said, looking completely confused. Ruby scooted over, tucking her hair behind her ears to get a better look.

           
I nodded. "Like I said, the whole skeleton."

           
"They were machines?" Kyle asked, looking honestly and truly interested for the first time. Mechanics had always been his specialty.

           
"Looks that way," I agreed. "They didn't look like robots. Must have been some kind of combination."

           
"Like a
mecha
-organic fusion? I've never heard of that working," Kyle said, examining the bone.

           
"Turn it over, to the underside and look closely," I instructed him.

           
He complied, and held it close to his face. "It says J. G.
Kiteman
! It’s printed, right there!"

           
"I thought you might like that," I said, enjoying the feeling of the last piece of the puzzle clicking into place. "I didn't know who it was and I hoped you would. If this is the same J. G.
Kiteman
, then your ancestor invented the
Lurchers
that are protecting the entire mountain side."

           
"If this is a prank," Kyle said warily.

           
"Oh, get over yourself. I wouldn't throw myself into a meat grinder, disappear for a month, and smelt a fake bone all for a joke," I said grumpily.

           
"I wish I could have been there with you Kat," Ruby said. "I would have helped you. I want to see an ocean and autumn trees."

           
"Yeah, Kat," Kyle piped up. "You've told us everything except the most important part. We won't know you're not making this up unless you show us. I want to see those
Lurchers
. Where'd you find that passage anyway?"

           
A shiver coursed through me.

           
"No," I said definitively. "Not a chance. I wouldn't tell
them
and I won't tell you just so you can make the same mistake I did."

           
"We wouldn't be rescuing any wounded soldiers," Ruby said. "We'd just look and leave."

           
"I want to believe you, Kat, I just want to see something that I know for certain would be proof," Kyle shrugged. "
I know
, I sometimes I hate the logical side of my brain too."

           
They weren't getting it.

           
"Okay, you want more evidence?" I asked. "Historical artifacts not good enough for you? I'll show you something, but I won't take you to the outside."

           
They were waiting. I took in another deep breath, trying to ignore the fatigue I felt. The sunlight that was slanting in from my window gave my form a nice clear shadow on my bedspread.

           
I thought of Rune as I drew the crescent and oblong arrow shape in my own shade. It had been four days. Was he okay? Did he think of me? I wished that I could see him again. It was completely out of the question, the cost was far too high.

           
When the invisible lines were complete, a shadow began to ripple within my shadow. Ruby got up off the bed to stand against the wall with Kyle, a safer distance away. Wonder and fear of the unknown were at war on their faces.

           
The small Shadow Chaser, the very same one that had stuck around to help in my training the most, had returned. He climbed up out of my shadow, pulling up his inky black salamander head to look at me with widespread milky white eyes.

I smiled down at him, reached out my hand, and ignited him with a wicked coat of lightning.

The sounds of shock and awe that followed were very, very satisfying.

*
         
*
         
*

           
It was barely dawn.

           
Early morning mist hugged
Rivermarch
. The trees and buildings lining the empty street were ghostly insinuations of themselves. There was a general hush in the town. If it was too early for the sun, then it was too early for everyone else. A pair of birds began to sing, my only company in the monochrome world.