Crowning Keys

Chapter 2

I take my seat in the wooden pew, next to Alexander, and the crowd around us whispers about our arrival. I assume some of them probably take note of my horrid appearance, including Mio who fires me a judgmental glance. It screams that I need to get a hold of myself.

The old man behind the podium lifts a wooden gavel and pounds it against the stand. Everyone surrounding us rises, so we do as well. "This council is now in session. We will begin by calling each potential resident to the stand to hear why he or she should be given a chance to reside here. First, we want to hear about the journey from Adaline."

Everyone sits back down and I'm escorted to the smaller stand at the front of the room.

"Just start from the beginning," he urges me.

"All right. Well, I guess it began when my mother and younger brother passed away on my last day in the prison," I start to tell the story.

"Approximately how long ago was that, Ms. Sagel?" a voice asks from the group at the side of the room.

The old man next to me turns and explains, "They get to ask questions throughout your statement. Please answer them truthfully."

I swallow and search for the answer. "I'm not sure. I guess it's been longer than a week." I pause and it registers that my mother and brother have been dead for over a week. Time keeps moving forward without them.

The person who asked the question nods for me to continue my story, but my eyes keep wandering over all the judging faces in the room, and it's getting to be too much. I don't know any of these people, why should I share any of this information with them? I wish I hadn't left the privacy of my bare room. But then my eyes land on Alexander's. I hold his green stare and pretend that he's the only person in the room.

"I knew I needed to try and escape, even though they were gone," I say, picking up where I left off. "Before they took my mother she told me I was a Force Lifter. So, I used my gift to get out of my cell and out of the castle."

I pause for a second, remembering the mysterious guard that night who helped me escape, who I never did get to thank.

"Then, I met Alexander outside of the castle. He was working as a guard there on night duty. Together, we fled into the woods and tried to stay hidden from Paylon and his search party."

"You fled with someone who was working for King Renon?" another individual asks from the front row of the group.

"Well, not exactly," I stammer. "I had fallen while I was running from Paylon. Alexander found me and carried me away from the castle," I explain and her confused face pushes me further. "It's complicated. My mother had altered his memories so he would think he knew me from when we were kids. He saved me because he thought that's who I was, and I went with him because I thought that was who he was."

"So at this point, you both have no idea what your true connections are. You were just running for your life and he was trying to save his friend?" she asks, trying to suck out every detail.

"That would be correct," I say.

The door at the back of the council room opens and my father walks in with Alexander's father and mother behind him. I watch as they take a seat in the back of the room. Seeing George reminds me of the letter he had left Alexander.

"Alexander had a note from his father saying that Alexander needed to help me escape when the time was right," I add. "So, Alexander and I made our way deeper into the woods and continued to Libertas. That's when we ran into Zavy and Toby. They had fled from Garth to live in the forest rather than the prison. We teamed up and decided to come out here together, since this is a place for fleeing gifted. After some setbacks with Paylon, we eventually all came together at Sard and sailed here.