Lights (Book 4)

Chapter 20: Viviana

I didn't awake with a start that fateful night, nor did I sense that anything was wrong at first. Instead, my eyes fluttered gently open and I was wide awake in an instant, almost as if I had just gotten a full night's sleep. 

Judging from the heavy snoring emanating from the nondescript pile of sheets beside me, Aron was still fast asleep, so I moved quietly and slowly hoping not to wake him. Pushing the silky covers aside, I sat up, scooting discreetly to the edge of the bed before making the small jump from atop the thick mattress to the hardwood floor of the royal suite. For a few moments, I stood there aimlessly, slowly pulling my long, dark hair into a bun as soft beams of moonlight filtered through the large bay window beside me. 

Yet, the moon wasn't the only thing out there. In fact, I was almost certain I had seen a shadow streak across the grass...

Blinking, I moved closer to the window, pressing my hands against the cool glass as I peered down into the Royal Garden below. Sure enough, two indistinguishable figures moved steadily through it. They were approaching the walled off section of the garden...now they were scaling the fence! Someone was trying to get at the Tunnel! 

In an instant, all the sleep was gone from my eyes as I rushed to the other side of the bed, furiously grabbing Aron's shoulders with both hands. "Wake up!" I whisper-yelled. "Someone's broken into the palace!" 

His only response was a loud groan as he turned over onto his back and lethargically pushed away the sheets that covered his face. 

"Who did what now?" he mumbled groggily, sitting up in bed. 

"Look out the window- there's someone in the garden!" Much to Aron's discontent, I half-dragged him out of bed and toward the window to show him. 

His eyes widened as his gaze found the intruders, now mere meters away from the Tunnel. "We can't afford to alert the guards. The royal family is already under tremendous scrutiny after the Academy murders. If a break-in to the most secure area of the palace goes public, that Iceheart-lover Macie Levyn-Meyer won't let us hear the end of it..." he trailed off, thinking, before his eyes lit up with a boyish joy that I hadn't seen since his days as a rebel leader. 

"Hey Viv...how fast can you Aura-skate?" 

"What?" I planted my hands on my hips, staring at him incredulously as he channeled his Aura into his feet, hovering two inches above the ground atop glowing, blue platforms. 

"I'll race you to the garden!" 

Before I could stop him, Aron was already out the door and whizzing down the hallway. Shaking my head in adamant disapproval, I summoned my own Aura-skates and dashed off after him. It took all of my sense of balance to stay in control as I aimlessly chased his quickly retreating figure down the carpeted hallway at speeds I hadn't attempted since my teenage years. 

"Intruders, beware!" Aron bellowed he dove down a spiral staircase with me right on his heels. I shook my head, smiling. He wanted to do this in "secret," but at this rate, he was going to wake the entire palace. The same charismatic, foolhardy courage that had made him the heartthrob of the White Hot Flame was, in Glaisse, seen as recklessness...or worse, a lack of sophistication that could be traced back to his Rhenan origins.

"Let them prepare to face the wrath of the Heirs of King Air-" 

Before he could finish his sentence, I watched with a mix of mild horror and amusement as he ran headlong into an indistinguishable figure in front of him. We had been going so fast that neither of us had registered the unfortunate soul who just so happened to be standing in front of the doors that led out the garden. 

"Mmph!" Aron- or maybe it was the other man- grunted softly as the two of them collapsed in a highly undignified heap on the age-old marble floor. Aron groaned, rubbing his head and slowly hauling himself to his feet as his Aura-skates faded away. I cautiously approached the other man, who was still on the ground, mentally rehearsing an apology before he turned, with great effort, onto his back exposing his face. I gasped, recognizing his sweaty, brown hair and half-closed eyes immediately. 

"Justin!? Sweet Lumys, what are you doing here?" I exclaimed, offering him a hand. He declined it, putting on a sour expression as he stood up with the air of the doorknob behind him. 

"Says the one who was just Aura-skating down the halls at the speed of sound at three AM!" 

"Look, we think there's someone trying to break into the Tunnel," I crossed my arms over my chest. "If we alert the guards- or any form of public security- Levyn-Meyer will have our heads. We're hoping we can get to the bottom of this ourselves." 

"Is this another adventure I'm going to be involuntarily involved in?" Justin muttered grumpily as we filed out the doors into the garden.

"Yes," I nodded, taking off on my Aura-skates across the winding concrete path without waiting for the others. After all, we were running out of time very quickly- when I first looked out the window, the thieves or spies or whatever they were had already been in the garden, and our encounter with Justin had significantly slowed us down. If Justin wanted to come, he would. If not, Aron and I had some intruders to catch. 

As I approached the tall, looming fence that that Tara had erected only a few weeks ago as a means of keeping unfriendly eyes away from the Scientist Clan's secret investigation into the Lights, I couldn't help but feel like I was seventeen again, valiantly playing hero when in reality, I was more clueless than the people who were counting on me to save them. 

What kind of princess am I? Too scared, too cornered to call on my own guards. 

Gritting my teeth in frustration, I summoned my Gift, launching myself up and over the fence with one powerful burst of Aura and landing softly in the tall grass beyond with the delicacy of a seasoned Aura warrior. A quick glance at the Tunnel up ahead showed me that the figures were in front of it, fiddling with Sophie's clever little lock. 

I smiled. I knew that the complexities of the obsolete mechanism would at least stall them. We were not too late. Squatting so that the tops of the dense blades of grass brushed against my waist, I began to slowly make my way toward the Tunnel, being careful to retract my Aura to the weakest possible glow with hopes of escaping detection. Reassured by the sound of two pairs of soft footsteps behind me- Aron must've finally convinced Justin to join us- I picked up my pace until I was a mere five or so meters away from the tunnel. 

The figures were clearly visible now- well, as clear as they would get in the darkness- though they had their backs turned. Luckily for us, there were only two of them and they looked quite young: they were outnumbered and probably out-Aura-ed. I paused, watching with considerable intrigue as the taller one moved the dials on the lock. The light of the two moons wasn't enough to illuminate the dials from my angle, so I had no idea how close she was to getting the password right, but that question was quickly answered when the door popped open with a gentle hiss. 

The shorter figure, visibly surprised and impressed by the taller one's code-breaking prowess, turned her head before entering the tunnel, allowing me to catch a momentary glance at her face. 

It was at that moment that my world seemed to freeze over. Years of numbing diplomacy and court life faded away and I felt my heart sinking in a way that it hadn't since I watched Amanda Myers hurtle to her unseemly demise atop the Coded, Alaskan snow. 

It was Swan. One of the intruders was my Swan-Rose.