Rise of Keitus (16 page)

“All right—I’ll do that this weekend.”

Sunday was three days away. Jacob loved how relaxing it usually was—he almost never had anything to do after church was over. That would give him plenty of time to complete the task.

Jacob left the fortress and walked to Kenji’s place. Upon arriving, he told them about the visit with Onyev, and how the patriarch wanted to instruct Akeno. They were nervous about their son being left behind, and in complete awe at how much Onyev was able to figure out just by looking at Jacob.

Then Jacob took a deep breath. He hesitated for a moment, but finally spilled everything about Akeno and Brojan.

Kenji slumped into a chair. “Brojan?
Brojan
did that? Why?” He looked at Ebony. “Why didn’t he tell us?”

Ebony stared at the wall, expressionless. It seemed she hadn’t heard Kenji’s question. “I just can’t believe it.”

Kenji sighed, the colors in the air around him switching from surprise—a pale yellow—to calm—a light blue. Wow. He adjusted very quickly to the new information.

“Well . . . at least Akeno is now studying under one of the wisest Makalos ever.”

Ebony’s colors still hadn’t switched to anything other than shock, and Jacob figured, with her being Akeno’s mom, it might take her more time.

She got up from the table and started pacing. “But what does this mean for him? How will it affect and change him?”

Kenji stood and put his arms around Ebony, forcing her to stop walking back and forth. “It will only make him stronger—his personality will be the same.”

She looked into his eyes, her colors swirling into those that exemplified love—mostly blue and green—and Jacob decided he’d rather be home studying for his next session with Mr. Coolidge.

He quickly excused himself.

Several hours later, Jacob returned to Onyev’s time. Akeno was bubbling with enthusiasm and excitement, even though he hadn’t really learned anything yet. They’d mostly focused on how his ancestor had been injured and why the Makalos of the time had gone to such drastic measures to heal him. After Akeno had dinner in Taga Village, he insisted on being taken back for a couple more hours.

The next two days were a blur—Jacob Traveled back and forth between the present and Onyev’s time so often that it was difficult for him to remember specifics between that and his study sessions with Azuriah.

With permission, Jacob filled his parents in on Akeno's situation. Mom and Dad were surprised at Brojan's actions, but like everyone else, felt that Akeno's extra abilities would come in handy in the future. And Akeno was starting to learn some cool things. He showed them off whenever Jacob came to get him.

“Onyev has me figuring out how to control plants now,” Akeno said on Saturday after his session with the patriarch had ended. “More than what I could already do. And Jacob! I actually made a seed grow! It was so awesome! It listened to me—I put my hand on a part of the tree and sent messages to the thing on the other side of the room, and it started growing!”

Jacob laughed at Akeno’s enthusiasm. “That’s cool!” He was a little envious at how quickly Akeno was figuring out how to use his powers. It had taken Jacob months to make as much progress as Akeno had made in days.

Akeno turned to walk backward in front of Jacob so he could talk as they headed away from Azuriah’s fortress. “He said next time he’ll show me how to get wood to grow with stone in it.”

Jacob raised his eyebrows. “That would be cool, and definitely helpful.”

“I know!”

Jacob took Akeno back once more that day, but asked for a break on Sunday so he could rest and focus on researching the Lorkon.

Sunday afternoon, Jacob lay on his bed, wanting to be comfortable while he figured out where the Lorkon had come from. He unfocused his eyes, staring at the ceiling above, and rewound through the past until he got to his mother’s chambers before the Lorkon kidnapped her. From there, he continued rewinding quickly, not wanting to get bogged down by little details.

It was really confusing to compute everything as he watched it in reverse. From what he could tell, the Lorkon—just three, at this point—had the help of a castle guard. Apparently, they stayed in an abandoned house in Maivoryl City for several months while making plans. How did the people there not find or notice them?

Then they arrived at the city. Jacob was surprised when he saw which way they came into Maivoryl—there was a road he’d never seen on the other side of the city that led through the mountains and hills behind the Fat Lady’s cabin.

This road circled south, around Ashay Hills. The trip probably took days, but to Jacob, it was only minutes. The Lorkon had ridden the Sindons as far as the foothills outside of Maivoryl and then left them while they went into the city. It made Jacob dizzy, watching everyone and everything walking backward.

The Lorkon reached what appeared to be their point of origin. The Sindons were kept in a huge barnyard-type place on the outskirts of a dirty, very poor-looking, but large city.

The Lorkon walked backward through the streets, abusing the people who begged at their feet. There wasn’t royalty anywhere, from what Jacob could see. Some of the buildings looked like they were once beautiful and grand, but were now crumbling and falling apart. It was sad, actually, and he wondered what had happened.

Then he realized that the
Lorkon
had happened. They spread misery everywhere they went.

As he followed the Lorkon backward, Jacob was shocked to see people wandering around who looked like the villagers in Maivoryl—the diseased, misshapen villagers who’d tried to stop him from getting Aloren. Something was wrong with them—these particular people didn’t fear the Lorkon. They acted indifferent. Some had bright red, bloody patches on their skin while others looked like lepers—their skin falling apart.

Jacob’s stomach turned—he couldn’t concentrate on the people anymore if he was to continue focusing on the Lorkon, and he was already dizzy from watching them in reverse.

The Lorkon exited a huge castle. There were servants hanging around, heads and backs bowed. They didn’t look healthy, but at least their skin wasn’t falling apart or bloody. They were dirty and very dark and grungy, and mirrored the interior of the castle. Typical to Keitus’s tastes, the castle walls were covered with huge curtains.

Jacob watched as the three Lorkon celebrated, Keitus holding a letter in his hands. Before the letter arrived, they spent a very long time arguing and making plans.

He saw the names “Dmitri” and “Arien” on other papers several times, along with a lot of writing about Arien’s future children. The word “if” was circled several times on the paper. Then he realized the celebrations he’d seen earlier were because they’d received word that Arien was pregnant.

Nothing changed for a while. The Lorkon went and came, and Jacob focused on Keitus. Several months went by, at least, but to Jacob it was a very long hour. He realized he’d never find out how the Lorkon changed if he didn’t speed up. He did so, then followed Keitus everywhere.

Suddenly, after what was probably a few years, Keitus disappeared and Jacob couldn’t find him again. Had he gone back into human form, and Jacob missed it? While searching the castle, he noticed a man who seemed to have Keitus’s mannerisms. He was pompous, cruel to servants, and wore a crown made of dark metal all the time—even at night, sometimes. Keitus as a Lorkon didn’t normally wear one, and it was ridiculous that he wouldn’t let it leave his sight as a human.

Jacob stopped Time-Seeing in reverse and decided to follow this king around in normal time.

The king kept four other men around him. Two of them, younger than the rest, looked and acted familiar, as if Jacob had seen them in movies or on TV.

Keitus fought with them a lot, calling them by name—Het and Isan. Familiar names. Jacob stopped focusing on the conversations, trying to remember where he’d heard those names before.

Then it hit him—Keitus had called his wolves Het and Isan. Jacob frowned. Did the Lorkon king turn these two men into wolves? What did they do to deserve that punishment?

Jacob decided to fast forward until he found new information. He followed the men to a room, but was unable to enter it, no matter how hard he tried. Why? His Time-Seeing eyes couldn’t get beyond that door and he was stuck in the hall, feeling like he was floating in midair. What was going on?

Just then, Keitus poked his head out—still a man—and whistled. Jacob heard someone at the end of the hall approaching, and just then, Jacob’s vision darkened. In a panic, he returned to the present, hoping he wasn’t about to black out.

But nothing was wrong with him—he still had plenty of energy to Time-See. Just to be safe, though, he sat up and shook himself, then got a drink from the bathroom.

After going back to his room, he returned to the moment when Keitus whistled. Again, he heard someone approaching, and again, his vision went away. He felt around the edges of the darkness, trying to pierce the cloud. His hearing was gone also, and it felt like he was stuffed under several layers of blankets.

Then suddenly, his vision cleared, but he still wasn’t able to enter the room. If Jacob had really been in the castle right then, he would have kicked the wall in frustration. All he could do, however, was wait until Keitus and the rest emerged.

They never came out as humans, though, and only three exited as Lorkon. Had the others been turned into wolves? Jacob almost felt sorry for them. But then, Keitus called two of the Lorkon Het and Isan. And these were Lorkon Jacob knew—he’d been around them plenty of times over the past few months. Why had Keitus called his wolves the same thing?

Jacob put that question away and rewound, trying to enter the room or at least get past the fog. But it didn’t seem to matter what he did—he couldn’t break through.

This wasn’t helpful. He didn’t have any new information about how the Lorkon became Lorkon. They entered as humans, then came out as immortal monsters. Something obviously happened in that room that Jacob needed to see. How, though, could he do that when everything was stopping him?

He returned to the present, his eyes and head now aching from trying to force his way through. He really needed to sleep on it and try again in the morning.

Monday morning, he skipped far into the past, before Keitus was a Lorkon. He followed the king as he invited people to the castle, talking to them about things Jacob didn’t understand. At first he thought they were speaking in a different language, but then he realized they were using medical terminology of some sort.

It looked like Keitus was receiving reports from people he’d sent out all over the world. With every person he talked to, he got more and more excited.

After a while, Jacob noticed something he should have picked up on much earlier. People entered the castle whole, complete, and healthy. They went into the room Jacob couldn’t enter, then exited bruised and damaged or looking exactly like the people in Maivoryl City. Some were removed in wheelbarrows—dead, Jacob guessed.

Were they being tortured in there? Or were tests being performed on them? Jacob suspected it was testing. Keitus was trying to turn them into Lorkon, but for some reason was failing. What made it successful later?