Ember Gods

Chapter 5.2

The brothers sat on Jacob's bed, facing Aloren's bag.

"I think you should open it," Jacob said.

"Heck, no! She's your friend! You do it." Matt pulled out his pocket knife. "I'll stand guard in case something tries to attack you."

Jacob snorted. "It's been in my room for several days. Anything living in the bag would've escaped and killed me by now, if that's what it meant to do." He rubbed the back of his neck, studying the bag. "I just need to check for anything that needs to be thrown away."

"Yeah, right. You want to hold something that belongs to her. Admit it."

"Whatever." Jacob refused to engage in Matt's game. He leaned forward, his hands surrounding but not touching the bag. "Okay, here goes."

He lifted the flap, careful to stay a full arm's length away. With one quick motion, he dumped the contents on the desktop.

A moldy, half-eaten apple rolled onto the floor, and Jacob jerked away from it.

Matt doubled over, laughing. "You girl! You're scared of an apple?"

"Knock it off," Jacob said. He couldn't help but smile too, at his edginess.

He made sure nothing else was moving, then quickly glanced over the other things that had come out. A wooden comb—at least it didn't have any hair on it. A silver box. A few strings—probably to tie Aloren's hair back. An old skeleton key, and a piece of parchment with browned writing on it.

"Okay, nothing here that's going to rot," Jacob said, backing away from the items, not wanting to snoop.

"Except the apple."

"Yeah. I'm glad I opened the bag."

A rap at the window alerted them to Early's presence, and Jacob let her in. She fluttered inside, an agitated expression on her face, her hands and legs moving rapidly as.

"An emergency?" Jacob asked.

"Yes. Dusts and Molgs are approaching Aldo's cabin. You must come now to get him. Go to Kenji's house."

"Okay." Jacob glanced at Matt. "Coming?"

"Oh, yeah!"

Jacob briefly considered heading straight to Aldo's place, but decided against it—there must be special instructions if the Makalos wanted him to go to the village first. He made sure the key was in his pocket, then called out to their mom as they raced downstairs and to the front room. "Makalo emergency. We'll try to be back before Coach comes."

"Be careful!" his mom said from her study.

Jacob and Matt stepped onto the porch, closing the front door behind them. Jacob turned, fumbling in his pocket for the key.

Matt eyeballed the door. "This door has a lock. How does it work when there isn't one?"

"We'll mess around with it later—don't have time now." Jacob thrust the key into the lock and said, "Kenji's house."

They stepped through the jamb and entered the Makalo's front room.

"Madness" would've described what greeted them. Ebony and Kenji were arguing, a little girl Makalo was running between everyone, singing loudly, a baby was crying in a corner, Brojan was poring over books and maps, talking to an older Makalo man, a teenage boy Makalo was grabbing things and shoving them in a bag, and Akeno was digging through boxes, tossing stuff out of his way.

"Wow," Matt said.

"No kidding."

Ebony and Kenji turned when they heard Jacob's voice.

"Another army is on its way to attack Aldo," Kenji said. "At least that's what we're led to believe—they left Fornchall not long ago and are heading toward his cabin. We're trying to coordinate things and plan the best way to get him out of there alive, in case that's where they're going."

"Why are they attacking him?" Jacob asked. "What's the point of that?"

"They must have figured out who he is. I'm sure the Lorkon want to interrogate him. That, and they understand how important he is to us."

"Why not just grab him and run?" Jacob asked.

"See?" Ebony said. "I told you he'd feel that way."

"No, no, we cannot rush into this," Brojan said from the table. "There are too many variables, too many unanswered questions. If we could just find what he did to himself to lose his mind . . ." His voice dropped to a thoughtful whisper. "This simply can't be a permanent situation." He pulled a book out of a box and flipped through the pages, then handed it to the man with him. "We might be able to put things right and give him the opportunity to defend himself."

Ebony shook her head in short, abrupt movements. "Not now! Later—when he's here and safe!"

"If there are any Bald Henries, Jacob requires advance warning," Kenji said.

"What's a Bald Henry?" Matt asked.

Brojan nodded. "Besides, Aldo needs to be given the choice."

"No, he doesn't," Ebony said. "Not in this situation, where he can't even make those decisions!"

Kenji started arguing with Ebony again, Brojan giving his opinion loudly from the table, and they all forgot Jacob and Matt.

"Do you know what a Bald Henry is?" Matt asked Jacob, whispering.

Jacob shook his head. "No, And Makalos are not like this ever—usually they're very calm and rational."

"Let's just go. You know where he lives, right?"

"Yeah. Shouldn't be too hard with the key, if the army hasn't arrived yet."

Jacob put the key in the lock, whispering, "Aldo's cabin."

"I'm coming too," the teenage Makalo said, dropping the bag he'd been stuffing things into.

Jacob shut the door behind them.