Mundahlia (The Mundahlian Era, #1) (34 page)

Jett

31

Three grueling days had passed
by the time I decided to actually scan the date lit in neon red in the bottom corner of my alarm clock.
And while I didn’t withdraw completely from the world, I didn’t really do much but sleep. Sleep until my brain boiled from too much dozing off. I’d let the stubble on my chin and cheeks grow out, like sprouting blades of grass. I usually had a routine of shaving every three days, but now I just let it be. I just—didn’t feel like doing anything. How was I supposed to? I’m sure eventually time will heal, but right now time is taking its sweet ass time.

“Hey!” A loud voice called, causing me to be briskly awakened from my slumber.

A sharp headache pulsed through my head. As if the soft tissue of my brain was being injected by a needle. “What the hell do you want Ray?” I said, pulling a pillow over my face. It was times like these I wish I had a room to myself—with a lock. “I’m tired!”

“It’s like seven at night, wake the hell up! We get it! You messed up bad and your chick’s dead. But come on bro, you gotta get out of this depression shit you’re in. You slept through your birthday, dude.” I flung the pillow at him for daring to remind me of what happened. “Seriously
dick!”
he said, catching it and tossing it to the floor. “Martin wants to talk to you. Now, wake the hell up! This whole emo shit is so tacky.” He pulled the sheet off my bed and exposed my legs to the chilly air. I was annoyed—and cold. But, my stomach grumbled and I figured I should at least get one meal in today. I stood from my bed and followed him out of the bedroom, half expecting Mark to be hovering behind the bar crafting some new Mexican dish Del wanted him to try out. But there was nobody in the kitchen, or the dining room. The whole family was sitting in the living room. Nicolas and his clan too. They had to have just arrived, because they still had the scent of their car lingering on them. Was this an intervention?

“Ah. Finally up, Sleeping Beauty?” Martin said. He was sitting next to Nicolas.

“Now, Jett,” Nicolas stood. “I bet you’re wondering why we are here.”

“A little.” I said. “Just so you know, I didn’t develop an addiction to alcohol or drugs if that’s the reason you’re here. I’m still clean.”

“We have some news,” Nina, the tall, dark-haired violent panther broke in.

“Great news,” Vicktor, the muscle man—stocky, and buzz-cut hair, added.

“
Very
great news,” Fredrick, the brains. Typical nerdy glasses, bowl cut hair, and a novelty comic book T-shirt, followed. Their version of Max. They all repeated each other, one after the other, just in a different way. Didn’t blame them, they
were
triplets. Same matching hair color. And the broad features, and deep caramel colored skin of their real parents, probably.

“Get to the point, kids,” Nicolas said. Even though they were already my age. “We may not age as fast as humans, but wasted time is
still
wasted time.”

Nina headed over to me and her siblings followed. “The news is that your girlfriend is
not
dead!”

Something hit me. “What did you say?”

“Rini. She is not dead!” Vicktor spoke with his deep raspy vocals.

“Very much alive!” Frederick followed.

“What are you all talking about?” I said. Getting irritated with every passing second at their redundancy.

“Well,” Fredrick continued—a finger in air, and now heading to his computer. “I have concluded from the ashes sampled today that the fire was not electrical, nor unintentional.” He lifted up the screen. “It was caused by an outside source, meaning that somebody had to have set it.”

“Bane!” My jaw clenched. “He’s the one that killed her!”

“She is
not
dead,” Nina corrected. “Follow us.”

We were at the site of where Rini’s cabin used to be and was now just a pile of debris. It still smelled of burnt wood and twisted metal. “Why are we here?” I moaned. “I already know—my girlfriend’s dead and it’s all my fault.”

“She is
not
dead!” Frederick corrected. There it was again—the urge to punch one of them in the face.

“He is correct,” Nina added. “There were in fact human remains left in the rubble. But not an ounce belonged to Rini.”

“Then who was it?” I said. “I heard a scream just before it caved in and exploded.”

“A woman named Melina Huffenson and another named Winter Ambers were also reported missing at the same time as the young girl, Del—um, took care of. We are ninety-nine percent sure these ashes belong to one of the missing women, and that the remains you all destroyed a few days ago along with the mundahlian were from the other. And to further prove our theory of Rini still being alive, we happened to come across something else that may lead us into what we are trying to show you.” Frederick stepped onto the debris and crouched down to a pile of wood and metal somewhere in the center. He removed tweezers from his pocket and picked up a small red cloth, then headed to me. “Does this look suspicious to you?” he asked me. A golden necklace fell from the red cloth and landed by my feet. I saw the monogramed B from the place I stood. My hands balled into fists and my jaw clenched again, almost chipping away a part of my tooth. I then looked to the familiar little trinket by my toes. It was Rini’s. The one she wore across her neck everyday. The gift her grandmother had given her.

“We have a hunch that he is going to take her to Mundahlia to try and frame her for killing the Mundahlian you destroyed a few days ago. If he succeeds in persuading his father and the council, it will re-ignite the war.”

...

“You’re crazy!” Martin yelled. We were in the living room. I’d set Rini’s locket in my chest of collectables, and promised myself that I would have it fixed and given back to her first thing when we returned and I had her at my side again.

“It’s my fault! I let her out of my sight. Bane got to her because of me and my stupidity!” I said. “It’s something I am going to do regardless of what any of you think!” I pointed to the door. “I’m going Martin. I have to. And while I’m there, I’m going to get my mother back as well.”

“You can’t just go up to the King and demand them back,” Nicolas stated. “He has an army and guards that will take you out before you even step on solid ground.”

“He’s my father. I’m sure there is a part of him that oozes with curiosity as to what I look like now. It’s worth a shot.”

“True.” Nicolas sat. “But you can’t and
will not
go alone.”

“I
can
and I
will
. I need to get her back. She is sure to die in Mundahlia. I don’t want her to pay for my mistakes!”

“He won’t have to go alone,” a voice called.

“We can go with him,” another added.

“Yeah, I’m in,” the final third voice called.

Nicolas’ triplets volunteered to go with me.

“Kids,” Nicolas declared. “I can’t risk losing you. I’m sorry but you may not go.”

“But, Pa!” all three whined.

“Kids!”

“I’m sorry Pa, but we have to go. Jett’s our friend and if there is any hope that we could stop this war before it begins, we have to try,” Nina said. She was clearly the leader of the three. Headstrong and intelligent. Swift and lethal. “I can take out a few guards on my own, and I’m sure Vicktor could as well. We’ll be safe!”

“You are
not
going...” he paused after giving it a long thought. The war would be chaos. Utter madness. None of us wanted that. “—without
me
,” he finished.

The three of them cheered.

“You kids will be the death of me,” He laughed.

“But Nick, I don’t want you to go!” Martin protested, suddenly looking as worried as I’ve ever seen him.

“I’m sorry, but I have to. They are all I have left—besides you, my darling. But I wont have to worry about you.” He put a hand on Martin’s chin. “You’ll be here safe—
here
. I’ll come back, I’ll—”

“Please?” Martin’s eyes grew glossy as he nearly got on his knees to beg.

“I’m sorry, but I need to do this.”

“Then I’ll go with you.”

“I can’t let you do that.”

Martin shoved his hand away gently, “I’m not asking you, I’m telling you.” They exchanged sweet smiles with each other, the kind that usually led to kissing.

Mark and Del got their coats from a closet.

“Where you all going?” Martin asked, moving his attention to them.

“Well, as much as we would like to be the extra couple that says
‘count us in too!’
Uh—we have a child to take care of. An
infant
child that couldn’t fend for itself incase something bad were to happen. Anyway, we need to go grocery shopping to stock up. I don’t want to have to go out if all this nonsense starts.”

Max headed over to his cellphone, sitting on the coffee table. “Babe!” he said panicky, as soon as he dialed a number and waited for the person to pick up. I knew from the squeal on the other line that it was Sarah. “Pack a bag of things and get over here now!”

“Why,” I heard her speak. She spoke loudly, almost as if she were on speakerphone.

Max disappeared into the hallway explaining of the war possibly starting again. I didn’t know what his rush was, it would take us about two days to get to the dock. The dock I’d only seen on the night my mother disappeared into the fog. I gulped. I was going back to my land, where the bounty on my head was the most prized reward to attain. I was basically heading into the face of danger—but deep inside, I knew it was something that had to be done. I needed both my Mom and Rini back. This was just the push I needed to return to the land I was told never to return to again.

“Then it’s settled!” Martin said. “We leave tomorrow.”

After dinner, I lied awake in my bed feeling lonesome. I was used to going to sleep on my own before Rini. But now, it just wasn’t the same. My bed felt empty. Like a missing puzzle piece that I’d lost. Everyone else was sleeping comfortably next to somebody tonight. Everyone but me.

I wonder what she’s thinking of right now, wherever she is...

Rini

32

Jett. What had I done wrong? Why did he hurt me? Why did he have to change? Why?! Why?!

“Rini,” a voice nudged me awake. “You were speaking in your dreams again.” Angela’s voice was low, trying not to disturb the others curled on the floor asleep. A thing I’ve noticed about the Enthiduans over the past few days I’ve had of observation, is that when they are tired or weak, their light dims. As if charging an inner battery.

“Would you like to talk about Jett again?” She yawned.

“No. It’s okay. You go back to sleep.” I’d already burdened her with my whole life story. It was my fault. I was too chatty. I’m sure she’s beyond irritated with me by now.

“Are you positive?”

“Yes.”

Angela rolled to her side. “Then, goodnight, Rini.”

“‘Night.”

I stayed lying on the floor thinking about him.
I wonder what he’s doing right now and what he’s thinking of? He’s probably moved on with Vera already. I wasn’t anything special anyway. I’m just the nerd that always gets the short end of the deal. The girl that’s left without a prince. The girl who’s prayers get left unanswered, and wishes left un-granted. I should have known better.

I couldn’t lie to myself, I did miss him. It was something that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t bring myself to hide. Maybe I was too young to be in love, and maybe it was too early to be calling it love, but I had never felt that way before. This was different. It was real. It was pure. He was all mine.
Was
. No matter how much I tried to push him out of my heart, I couldn’t. That was over now. I’ve been in this same dark room for what seems like a decade already. Eating once a day, and spending my time talking to the Enthiduans. They are nice beings. With dreams and hopes, just like us. Some say that when they get out of here, they are going to go where they’ve always wanted to go since they are not allowed back into heaven with their
tainted
bodies. It’s somewhat comforting and sad to hear them speak of their dreams. However, in reality, they all know their days are numbered. Just like mine. As a human, I can only live in these circumstances for a while. Eventually, I’ll grow sick and perish. Die on the floor, a young girl—who even when in the presence of company, still feels the loneliness that looms over her heart.

Jett

33

It was sunset.

We had been driving for hours stopping only to eat. Martin, Nicolas, and the panthers were in the SUV ahead of me. I, on the other hand, had the truck. I sat in the driver’s seat. One hand out the window, the other on the steering wheel, as I watched the orange sun, that appeared to kiss the ocean’s edge, sink into the horizon. We were almost there. There was still about a day of journeying to go, but I could feel it. The emotion that struck me strongly in the stomach and made me feel sick.