The Burned Rogue Book

Chapter Fifteen: The Lost Campus

Chapter Fifteen: The Lost Campus

They dropped us off in front of a local Wal-Mart, and they drove off. The sense of normalcy from that family had a nostalgic feel to it, and I missed it. My life was definitely never going to go back to that. Gair and Atlas started talking about some battle plan, and we waited for them to finish.

“Javi,” Atlas announced. Javi looked over at the Guardian. “We have to draw your tattoos.”

“We don’t have sharpies,” Javi said. Gair pointed at the Wal-Mart behind him.

“Then it’s a good thing we’re here, eh?”

After a shopping trip in which we bought twine and a sharpie (the look the cashier gave us was priceless), we hung out on the bench, Atlas drawing the tattoos on Javi’s hands.

“So what exactly do I have to say?” Javi asked.

“Just tell them you have Rogue prisoners, one of them being the Dreamer.”

“Wh—what if they recognize me?”

No one answered this one, until I dared to speak up. “When Ancel was reborn, he came back as a Lost.” I waited for Atlas or Gair to get angry. Neither of them did, so I continued. “You can say the same thing happened. If they ask.”

Javi breathed. “Thanks,” he said. He looked at the tattoos on his hands, and Gair brought out the twine we had bought.

“Tie us up, baby,” Gair said seductively. Atlas and I both gave him a strange look. Javi returned Gair’s sultry face.

“Anything for you,” he said. Hey. We were about to walk to our deaths. I’m pretty sure this moment of homoerotic jocularity was needed. I hid my sword in the Yeshem, and Javi started tying our hands behind our backs, before he got to Atlas. “Can you cast the spell to get us to the Tytrim with your hands bound?”

Atlas shook his head. “But you can. The spell is like the one we use. It’s Percursurum Tytrim salus allon Campa.”

“That’s easy,” Javi said. No, it wasn’t, but it was for him because he spoke Spanish so he new the basic words already. Javi tied Atlas’s hands behind his back and then tethered the three of us together.

“Jeez, you tied these tight,” Gair said.

“I’m a Lost now, remember?” Javi stated with a regretful tone. “I’m not supposed to care.”

“Right,” Gair muttered. “Well, let’s g—”

“Wait,” I interrupted. “I still don’t know my secret name and word.”

“Good,” Atlas said. “It means you’ll be safe and not tempted to do something stupid, like give up this information when we can bargain in other ways.”

“Atlas, you can’t just assume I’d—”

“Yes, Jennabel, I can. I know you. I’m your Guardian. I’ve been looking out for you for years. You would do something that stupid.”

I clenched my jaw but didn’t say anything.

“Take it away, Javi,” Atlas said. “You know the words.”

Javi looked uncertain about this whole plan, but said the words anyways: “Percursurum…Tytrim…salus allon Campa.”

The wind started howling around us, and we were picked up. Sand swirled around us, but as soon as the chaos had started, it ended.

The sky was apocalyptic; cloudy, but I could see the outline of planets in the sky, like the ones back at the Campus. Occasionally, meteors that seemed to be hitting the planets lit up the sky.