The Missing Prophecy (pjo/kotlc) book 3

Chapter Fifteen

      

It was time. June fifteenth. The day of the attack. Ana was hiding in King Enki's throne room. She was hiding in a shadowy corner with Jewel. Their black Neverseen cloaks blended in with the magsidian walls. Lady Gisela had instructed Ana to wait in the corner until Sophie Foster arrived, and then vanish herself and Jewel. Then, once Gisela had done her thing with Keefe, Jewel was going to sneak up behind the dwarf, and kick him off Sophie. Then, Ana would grab Sophie, put the drug cloth over her mouth and nose, grab Jewel, and turn all three of them invisible and head up the passage they'd come from. Simple. Finally, Jewel would leap them back to Dutse, the Neverseen hideout Ana had been staying at. Turns out, Dutse means 'big rock' in an old human dialect.

"Are you ready, Algorithm?" Jewel asked gently.

"Are you ever?" Ana said.

"Fair," Jewel agreed. "But seriously. Lady Gisela is asking a lot out of you," she added.

"It's okay, I guess. I mean, it's better that I'm here voluntarily. Now that I've gotten to know her, I know she wouldn't have let me go. Now I'm trusted. Ish. Plus, she promised me help with my other mission." Ana sighed.

Jewel nodded.

"Okay, whoever came up with the whole 'let's make the elves sink through a stinky bog to get to Loamnore' needs a good hard smack," someone declared from the entrance. Ana recognized the voice as Maruca Chebota, Sophie's Psionipath friend. Ana grabbed Jewel's hand and vanished. Sophie's gang had arrived.

King Enki was in position, wearing the Ethertine crown. The magsidian facets that the Neverseen dwarves had planted in the throne room sparkled, unchanged. Ana saw Sophie scanning the room, evaluating. This girl is smart, Ana deduced. But not smart enough. Not to go head-to-head with Gisela.

"I didn't realize tredgeon shell glowed like that," Sophie spoke suddenly, now scanning King Enki.

"It doesn't. This is my battle crown," King Enki told her, pacing in front of his throne. He ran his fingers across the smooth, simple band.

"Is the crown made of Lumenite?" Sophie wondered. She asked a whole lot of questions, Ana noted. Also a bad sign. In Ana's books, people who asked questions to delay the enemy were smart. But of course, Sophie didn't know that Enki was her enemy.

King Enki snorted. "I would never wear a crown made of something so common."

Sophie ignored the insult, instead half-smiling at something that Ana hadn't heard from her corner. "What is the crown made of, then?" She asked.

Enki didn't answer, but the dwarf who was Sophie's bodyguard explained for him: "Ethertine. It's far rarer than magsidian-but far less useful and therefore much less valuable."

Ana noted the puzzlement on the young teenager's face.

"I've never heard of Ethertine," one of the Councillors spoke. He wore his ebony hair in a tight ponytail, his voice booming from across the room.

"That's Noland," Jewel whispered to Ana. "He's a voiciferator-you remember our lessons?"

Ana nodded in acknowledgement, trying to focus on the next part of the conversation.

"-it's formed when lightning somehow connects with starlight, isn't it?" A pretty blonde councillor explained.

"That's Oralie, she's an empath," Jewel whispered.