Samuel, my brother and Lucy’s boyfriend – mate – whatever the current term was – looked torn between amusement and desperation as he attempted to calm this five-foot-nothing fire-storm.
I chuckled again; she was just so amusing to watch. She was now storming back and forward, swearing like the proverbial sailor.
Lucy and I grew up together on Earth, the youngling planet my parents stashed me on for safety, and I knew her better than anyone. She was scared. Word-vomit is her go-to for fear. And I couldn’t blame her; she’d just recently escaped captivity, where she was tortured by Olden, our old compound leader on Earth. We had no idea what awaited us in the hands of these strange hybrid humans. I don’t know exactly what type of welcome I had expected, but immediate imprisonment ... well, it was a little less friendly than I had hoped.
Absentmindedly, I rubbed the now non-existent scar on my chest where Olden had stabbed me. I still wondered if it had been another inch to the left whether I would be here to tell this tale.
Yeah, I know my father is a kick-ass god, but considering I’m just a half-Walker whose longevity and powers are unknown, I won’t be thinking of myself as indestructible yet. In fact, Josian, god-like father, had once believed I was the only half-Walker in existence. But my aunt Francesca, a.k.a. the crazy soothsayer, assures us there is one on each of First World’s youngling planets. And it’s my job to find and gather them. Hence the reason we’re sitting in a prison on the youngling planet of Spurn.
“Aribella, do something to stop her before they come back.” Samuel, who rarely spoke, had decided that now was the time to start ordering me around.
I was getting used to being called ‘Aribella’, which I’d recently learned was my given name. But for most of my life I’ve been Abigail, Abby to my friends. Well, friend. Lucy was really all I’d had.
Lucy gave Samuel a shove before I could throw him the rude hand gesture his arrogant command deserved. In annoyance, I pushed long masses of curls off my face. At some point I’d lost my hair-tie and I was really missing my braid. The blood-red color of my hair, threaded through with black flecks, was even more potent since my power-enlightenment. It was thick and shiny now, without any help from me. Definite bonus. I stared down at the diamond mark on my right wrist. Unlike every other scar, blemish and dot, it had not disappeared during my Walker enlightenment. I now wore the birthmark of each of my parents’ lines.
“Abbs, can you open a doorway and get us out of here?”
I glanced up to meet Lucy’s beautiful baby blues; they pleaded with me to give her a different answer to the question she’d asked a dozen times that morning.
Closing my own emerald eyes, I attempted to draw from my power again. And again there was no response. I could still feel its endless depths, but it was quiet. Instead of the thick string of energy I’d normally feel, all I was getting were wispy strands of fairy floss. I knew there was another way to access the Walker doorways, but unfortunately my father hadn’t had time to teach me.
Sighing, I opened my eyes to look at my desperate best friend. “Sorry, either something has blocked me or I’ve worn out my powers. I got nothing.”
Her face fell, the panic in her features more pronounced now.
I’d felt off-balance ever since leaving my home planet, First World, and opening a doorway to transport us all to Spurn. It was as if my energy was taking a vacation, getting a little rest and relaxation. Perfect timing, of course.
Movement from the adjacent cell caught my eye. Brace and Lucas were back against the wall, deep in conversation. For some reason those two had been seen as bigger threats than we were and had been separated from us.
I’d briefly wondered how Samuel, who was in our cell, felt about that. It was hard to read anything on his coldly chiseled face. He looked just like our beautiful mother Lallielle. But since we had different fathers, and I favored mine in looks, there was no real resemblance between us.
Samuel had been held captive in the same place as Lucy for an entire year and the ten words he’d spoken to me since discovering I hadn’t died eighteen years before have been forced from him out of politeness.
As I turned to look at him, he dived forward and yanked Lucy away from the bars.
I spun around to see what had prompted his action, hands at the ready to combat any threat.
A Spurn stood between our two cells.