So I promised that I would try to updated on Christmas Day and here is the chapter! :D I really hope you guys like it and even though there's a kind of lack of action right now, I'll try to speed up the story and get to the more exciting bits fast. :) I still hope you guys like it and a very merry Christmas to everyone, loyal readers, fans etc. Please vote and comment as a Christmas present to me! :P I'm still dedicating the chapters to my loyal readers so please vote and comment to identify yourselves to me as well as being my Christmas present, haha. :P Anyway, the picture on the side is of Kayla. :)
Chapter 25
Fear flared up within Kayla, but Dahlia’s harsh words had stunned her too much to respond. Fortunately for her, Troy stepped up to her defence, his blue eyes flashing with fire, much like Dahlia’s were, they were a shade or two darker.
“Kayla is not the spy, Dahlia,” he warned, a dark edge in his voice.
Warmth flooded through Kayla’s body at Troy’s words. It meant a lot to her, more than he knew that he would stand up for her and that he had such faith in her beyond what his sort-of-girlfriend believed.
Dahlia flushed, her cheeks going bright pink. For a second, Kayla thought that she might back down, but then she clenched her fists and Kayla recalled that Dahlia had Magician of Earth genes in her too, genes that made her as stubborn and unyielding as a rock.
“Well, you were pretty willing to believe that she was the spy before we shadow-travelled to see what she was doing in the tunnels under the school,” Dahlia retorted.
Troy bristled at Dahlia’s comment and then quailed slightly under Kayla’s accusatory stare. “That was before I heard her story about the artefacts and your parents,” he replied in a tight voice.
Dahlia glowered back at him. “I just pointed out the loopholes in her story and now you’re saying that you believe her despite said loopholes?” she demanded.
“Well, you’re the one who can supposedly tell when people are lying,” Troy sniped back. “You were so easy to believe that Romulus isn’t the spy and now you’re telling me that you believe Kayla is the spy even though you’ve spent more time with her than with him and she’s saved your sorry life dozens of times?”
Kayla winced, feeling messed up inside. Guilt tore at her, guilt that Troy and Dahlia were fighting over something as simple as her innocence and also rage, anger that Dahlia could even contemplate that she was the spy.
There was enough accusation in Troy’s voice to make Dahlia shield away from his words, to backpedal and force her on the defensive side.
Deep down though, Kayla knew that Dahlia wasn’t the spy. It simply wasn’t in the Magician of Water’s nature to betray them like that; she knew that the other girl was far too loyal, far too honest and far too kind to think of doing something like that. But the tension in the room was picking up; the spy had been alive far too long and remained hidden inside their ranks, enough to make them start doubting one another.
“Enough,” Arulan said firmly before Dahlia and Troy could start bickering again. “The reason all four of you are in this room is because I trust you, all of you. And if you want to stay here, you might want to start trusting each other.”
Easier said than done, Kayla thought wryly. There was tension between all of them and things that all of them knew and didn’t know: Romulus knew all of Kayla’s secrets and it made her feel exposed, Troy was hiding something from Dahlia and it made her doubt her, Kayla was still concealing truths from them and that made them suspicious of her while the lingering doubt that she or Dahlia or any Magician of Earth might be the spy made them all wary of one another.
Kayla dug around in her pocket and pulled out Arulan’s skeleton key to return to him, feeling a twinge of guilt at his annoyed expression. Glancing at the others, she noticed Dahlia sitting down again, although she was shooting Troy annoyed looks and vice versa.
“Did you steal this from me?” Arulan asked her, plucking the key from her hand.
Kayla nodded guiltily. “Yeah,” she admitted. “I did. But I needed it to break into the tunnels under the school.”
“Good,” Romulus interrupted, an eager light appearing in his green eyes.
Four heads snapped around to stare at him, questioning his sanity. Romulus looked up at them and then grinned mischievously, a smile streaking across his face.
“Are you feeling alright?” Arulan asked tentatively.
Romulus chuckled and then nodded. “Yeah, more than alright,” he said triumphantly. “Because I’ve narrowed a list of people down of who the spy might be.”
“Not the wretched spy again,” Dahlia muttered, plucking out strands of hair in her agitation.
Romulus shot her a look. “You’ll like this one, charmer, because you aren’t in it,” he told her. “Look, we know that the person is a Magician of Earth. Also, this mysterious person also has to be close enough to Arulan to be able to steal the key.”
“The spy also had to be able to follow Kayla around or at least know her well enough to guess where she was hiding the stuff,” Troy added, catching on to Romulus’s plan.
He nodded. “Yeah, and we also know that some information was also leaked to Varmer before, information that only members of Arulan’s private meetings would know.”
“So that means the people who could possibly be the spy are um, Cedric, Hunter, Yasmine, Tristan, Mitchell and, well, me,” Kayla said, grimacing on the last words.
“Or Athena,” Romulus added. “She’s a Magician of Earth too.”
“Yes, but she doesn’t go for all the strategy meetings,” Troy argued. “Come to think of it, that’s ironic, considering how she’s a strategist.”
Troy, Dahlia and Kayla had meet Athena during the Battle for Avalon. She had the power for figuring out the best strategy to be used in a fight, but unfortunately, she always chose the best strategy, regardless for whatever consequences might occur, provided that they would win in the end.
“Tristan isn’t the spy,” Arulan told Kayla. “There’s no way he would betray us.”
“How do you know that?” Kayla asked. “Personally, I find it more likely that one of the others, meaning Yasmine, Tristan, Mitchell or Athena would betray us rather than Cedric, Hunter or me.”
“That’s because you know them,” Arulan argued. “I know Tristan. His sister died fighting Varmer’s agents; he wouldn’t betray us any more than I would.”
“Dahlia, right?” Dahlia asked. “Tristan’s sister was Dahlia.”
Surprise registered in Arulan’s eyes at the information that Dahlia knew. He glanced at the others; Kayla looked as stunned as he felt, Romulus looked startled but Troy looked for resigned than shocked.
“How did you know that?” Arulan asked. “It’s not common knowledge.”
Dahlia shrugged. “Tristan told me. Anyway, we shouldn’t keep guessing who this spy is. We’ll tear each other apart from the inside if we keep doubting one another.” She shot a guilty look at Kayla and Kayla recognized it as an apology for the accusation that Dahlia had given her earlier. “We’ve just got to keep fighting Varmer as hard as we can and trust one another.”
Once again, Dahlia’s charm flowed into her voice, but this time, Kayla could sense that it had no malicious intent. Instead, Dahlia was telling them what they wanted to her, giving them the strength that they needed to keep fighting. A spark of pride sprang to life in the pit of Kayla’s stomach; Troy and Dahlia had come so far from the innocent little children who had been fighting Dr.Fang six months previously. Kayla now felt that they were her equals, young though they were. They weren’t children any more.
She wasn’t the only one though. Arulan was staring at Dahlia with a fierce expression of pride on his face; it was like she had finally lived up to being Rachel’s daughter. At the same time, resignation dawned on his face, like the time had finally come for him to reveal the truth to them. His gaze shifted to her and for once, Kayla realized what he wanted to say without either of them speaking. She nodded, giving him her approval of what he intended to do.
“Troy, Dahlia,” Arulan said slowly, exhaustion working grooves all over his face. “I have something to tell you as well. My confession, like Kayla just told you hers. It’s time for you to hear the prophecy, all of it.”
Kayla glanced at the two magicians to see fear and trepidation rolling off them in waves. Both of them had been pestering Luna, Arulan and many others about the prophecy for months, but now that the time had come for them finally to know it, neither of them was sure whether they actually wanted to hear it or not.
“Are… are you sure?” Dahlia stammered, her voice shaking a little, whether from exhaustion or fear, Kayla wasn’t sure.
Arulan nodded. “You and Troy have proven yourselves to me, shown me that you are worthy warriors, worthy agents of our rebellion. I trust both of you to keep the knowledge of the prophecy to yourselves and not reveal it to anyone, especially since Varmer doesn’t know the full prophecy, or at least we hope he does not.”
“How could he know?” Troy asked, fiddling with the hilt of his sword. “I thought only Luna and, uh, her grandfather knew the words of the prophecy.”
“Sebastian created it, yes,” Arulan agreed, “And Luna repeated it. But various people heard it when Luna recited it at her birth, including Cedric, Kayla, Ella, Olive, Romulus and Niccolo. Since Varmer has Ella and Olive captive at his castle, it is possible, not to mention probable, that he has tortured the prophecy out of them.”
Troy let out a breath that he didn’t know he was holding. “Great,” he muttered, sarcasm dripping off his words like venom from a snake’s fangs. “Just great.”
“What’s done is done and we can’t change that,” Arulan replied, but Kayla could detect the undercurrents of frustration simmering in his tone. “But we can learn to be more cautious and to fight harder to keep Varmer at bay. And since both of you are involved in the prophecy, it’s time that you knew exactly what you are facing up to.”
Neither Troy nor Dahlia said anything. They looked so exhausted and scared that Kayla figured they couldn’t get any more terrified. She could tell from the looks on their faces though, that they were pushing aside the fear, worry and trepidation, the way that she herself had done countless times in order to do what she needed to do.
Arulan took a deep breath. “As much as I want to tell you that you have to hear the prophecy now, you still get a choice. If you don’t want to hear it, I can’t force you. Because once you hear it, there’s no going back.”
“What’s with all the dramatics?” Troy asked, a small smile creeping across his face. “Of course you know that we want to hear it.”
Romulus shot him a look. “It’s not that simple, Troy,” he told him. “If you ever want to get out of this magical world, this is your last shot. Once you hear the prophecy, it’ll make you even more of a target for Varmer than you already are.”
Dahlia bit her bottom lip. “What can it hurt?” she finally asked. “I mean, we already know that Varmer wants us; during the Battle for Avalon, he was trying to have us kidnapped, not killed. Knowledge is power, all of us know that.”
Troy nodded in agreement, looking more serious now. “And even if we ran away now, we wouldn’t be able to last long without Varmer sending agents after us again. We went back to the human world for a while, but we ended up getting attacked and fighting for our lives within a couple of hours. Plus, the human authority figures think that I was involved in Dahlia’s kidnapping. I mean, we can’t go back there either.”
Kayla glanced at both of them and saw the firm resolve in their eyes. Both of them looked grim and determined, like the fighters that they were training to be. She glanced over at Arulan who looked resigned to the fact that it was time. Romulus looked frustrated, but then again, who wouldn’t be in such a worrying situation.
Arulan took a deep breath and recited:
“Four elements combined unite,
Together they stand and fight,
Loyalty is put to the test,
Sacrifices made for the rest,
If choices are made and all fails,
The Fire Immortal forever prevails.”
When he had finished, Troy was waving his hands for Arulan’s attention. “Repeat the whole thing again, slowly,” he requested. “I don’t have a fantastic memory like Romulus does.”
Arulan obliged, but he added, “Troy, there might come a time, when you have to memorize things immediately. It’s dangerous in this world not to be able to do things like that. I have no doubt that Kayla forced herself to train her mind and if Dahlia has not already learnt, both of you must.”
While Arulan was speaking, he was wondering whether or not to tell them about the Moon Children’s prophecy. Luna had confided the prophecy in him after the Battle for Avalon for she feared that if she died, the knowledge of the prophecy would die with her. That was partially why Arulan had helped her set up Raven as her decoy. It seemed that Luna’s suspicions had been right and that someone wanted to kill her.
Luna had her own suspicions about the Moon Children’s prophecy; she was worried that it might once again involve Troy and Dahlia. But she had requested that Arulan not tell anyone about it, at least until it came into play for she thought that Troy and Dahlia had enough to deal with as it was without adding on another prophecy to worry about.
As Arulan’s eyes met Dahlia’s, he realized that she was reading his body language. With a flash, he guessed that she knew that he was withholding information. Her blue eyes narrowed at him, but she remained silent, possibly because she knew that he had given them enough to worry about that day. But he got her silent message loud and clear: she knew that he was still keeping secrets from them.