Amelia Merlin

Part Ninety Six : Al's secret

Summer was almost over and Amelia hadn't seen Al since he'd left that day they were playing chess. She was getting a bit worried about him, but she was more worried about her brother.

Jeremy did not look good. His face was gaunt there were heavy bags under his sunken eyes. Every time he went to light a cigarette, his hands shook uncontrollably. Finally Amelia confronted him about it.

"Are you okay?" She said when they were sitting outside one day.

"Yes?"

"It's just that you look like shit Jeremy."

"Well thanks."

"Wasn't a compliment."

"I know."

"Are you going to tell me what's wrong."

"There's nothing wrong."

"I'll take that as a no then."

"Okay."

"Fine."

She glared at him and he shrugged. Amelia stood up, rolled her eyes and walked away. She headed towards the tree she had grown by herself and sat down beneath it with her book. It was a muggle book, but Amelia loved it. Atonement by Ian McEwan was currently her favourite novel.

She cracked open the book and dove into Briony's world. The story was about a little girl who made a really terrible mistake, and spent the rest of her life making up for it. There was something about the story that was horribly tragic which was sort of why Amelia liked it so much. She had just finished the first part of the book when a branch cracked behind her. It was so cliche it was almost comical.

"Hello?"

No response.

"Whatever." she mumbled and went back to her book. For a moment the world was silent and then a great man came charging out of the bush, disheveled and wild. It took her some time to realize it was Al.

"What are you doing?" she half yelled.

"Keep your voice down!" he hissed. He was covered in dirt and there was a certain primal look about him. "No one can know I'm here."

"Al, what the fuck is going on?"

"I have to tell you something."

"Am I about to hear what you've been hiding from me since the second we met?"

"You knew I was hiding something?"

"Of course."

"Well don't say it like it was obvious!"

"Well it was."

"Not to everyone."

"Can you just tell me what is going on?"

Al looked around before speaking. "You may want to sit down"

"I think I can handle this standing thank you very much."

He looked at her with a fondness that she didn't expect. "Alright. Okay, where to begin." he paced back and forth before speaking. "You have to promise not to interrupt me. That's crucial to this process. I don't have a lot of time here."

"Okay, I promise."

"Good, good. Okay, here we go. I guess I'll start with where I came from. I told you that my father and I traveled a lot? And I told you we were looking for something, someone. The truth is, we were looking for you." It took everything Amelia had not to say anything. "My name, Alakai, means guide in the Third Language. My fathers name was, Voronel, means to seek. We were made to find you, and to bring you home."

He paused to catch his breath and brush his hair out of his eyes. Then he continued. "I have to bring you home. To Kalishterya."

"What?" she blurted. "Why have you waited so long?"

"Let me finish my story. It's important that you don't say anything." she nodded. "Okay. So it all started when I was a boy. My father took me from our home, in Okamila, and said we had to go find someone. He said we were made to find the queen of Kalishterya and bring her home. We live in an ancient world where modern magic has no place. Our kingdom is in a terrible state. Akkedis's followers are everywhere, the rich trample the poor and the wealthy families just fight for who can sit on the throne. A small group of people got together and decided something had to be done, our Eye made a prophecy about the one who could save our kingdom.

My father and I were chosen to find you. We searched for years all over the world until we heard about your family. The Merlin family is highly integrated into our history and it's bloodline is vital to our kingdom. So we went to go see who was there, but all we found was your mother, father, and brother. You hadn't been born yet. We knew right away that none of these people were the true ruler and therefore we left to go seek other places. My father died a few years later and so I was on my own. I found you one day, when reading in the paper about the job opening your mother had posted. So I thought why not, go check these people out again. Your family was the closest we had come to finding the ruler. And when I came, your mother told me about you. She said you were an insolent little thing who never listened and always did whatever she pleased. You sounded perfect. Then I met Jeremy, and he seemed to know all about Kalishterya and the prophecy. He told me that without a doubt, you were the one they were speaking of. He said, my sister is the true queen, and if you met her, you would know that. So I stayed and waited for you to come home from school. I brought you on to my team to see what you would do, how you would handle things and what kind of person you were. I'm happy to say, that you are incredible Amelia. You really are and I can't tell you how happy I am to know you. When you did that little trick with the chess pieces, I knew you were powerful enough to rule. So I went back to Okamila, and told the Eye what I had found.

What happens next is going to take a very long time. We have to gain you more support in our kingdom before your return, otherwise you'll be murdered within hours of your arrival. I will raise you an army so you can take back your kingdom. We will start with the smaller cities, the trade cities that no one takes in to consideration. Then, when we have enough people, I will come and get you. And you can take Kalishterya."

"What do I do until you come for me?" Her voice was desperate and she was overwhelmed with the news she had heard.

"You wait. That's all you can do."

"I can't just sit around and do nothing!"

"I'll come for you Amelia. I just need time."

"Please, let me help! Let me come with you and raise the army with you!"

"You have to go back to Hogwarts. It's not safe for you. You're our hope, you're the one the prophecy spoke of, I know it. And we can't jeopardize you." Al said.

"Please. Please take me with you!" Amelia begged.

"I can't! I have to go now." His eyes filled with pain.

"Al don't leave! Al!" She half screamed as he backed away.

"I'm sorry, my queen, I have to go!" He turned on his heel and disappeared into nothingness.

"Alakai!" Amelia yelled.

But he was gone.

It had all happened so fast. Al telling her who he was and why he was here, telling her he could bring her an army so she could take back Kalishterya. And then leaving in the blink of an eye.

And as if his timing couldn't be any better, it was only three days until Amelia had to leave for her fourth year at Hogwarts.