Smoke Rising: Book III

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

The necklace burns in my palm as I sit on the smooth stone stairs of the African Royal Castle. The bright blue and green stone beneath the golden casing shimmering like liquid as I move. The longer I stare at it, the more I begin to believe it's not a stone at all. Maybe it's some sort of contained gas, or some other substance that's been frozen and locked in place.

"They're calling for your head," Mateo appears from behind me, sitting down next to me on the top stair. "Nicholi is trying to explain that you aren't anti-human."

Me, anti-human. I am human. Born and raised. Just because the long lost princess no longer fights in mud-pits and uses her fists to protect her next meal, doesn't make her any less that person. Or does it?

"What will they do if they don't believe him?" I ask, still staring at the artifact in my palms.

"I don't know. Humans are more protected here... But they still aren't seen as equal."

Taking a deep breath, I turn the jewelry around in my hand. From the moment I stepped out of the first Casters tomb, I knew that this thing would cause me trouble. When I stepped out of the temple and into the daylight, the first thing I saw was the Princess and her girlfriend surrounded by those stone monsters about to crush them with their rock knuckles. I was about to help, to jump into action, but I was too late. Nailah had already called her mother.

A helicopter appeared out of nowhere, and dozens of soldiers and guards flew from the sky and took out the creatures quickly. I guess they won't trespass into the jungle in fear of disturbing it, unless their princess's life is at stake. After that, everything happened so quickly. Nicholi and Mateo somehow managed to get out of the temple, and we all piled into the chopper, as the soldiers called it. We were back in a minutes, or maybe it was hours--I was too busy being hypnotized by the necklace I had stashed in my pocket to count.

"So that's it?" Mateo sighs, and I finally find his gaze. He glances between me and necklace.

I nod, swallowing hard. "Maybe they're right."

"What?" His face twists.

"Maybe they're right for being afraid of me. Evelyn warned me about what this necklace could do. What I could do with it... I say that I'll adjust the spell, that I'll find a way to protect humans, but I honestly have no idea how to do that."

We are silent for a moment. But the thoughts begin to race, like everything that has happened the past few weeks has finally caught up to me, and I'm suffocating on the truth.

"I believed I wanted my power to kill the Chancellor. I truly believed I wanted to free all humans in the Americas, but maybe I'm lying to myself. Maybe I wanted this power all along, maybe I'm just like Nicholi--hungry for control. Because I've let other people control me and my actions my entire life, all I want is to have the power to make my own choices--to do or be whatever I want--whatever the price. What if I'm just like him, Mateo?"

"You are not your father Emery," he snaps. "You are kinder and stronger than he could ever be."

His words are treason, but he has no trace of fear in his gaze. The King has a connection to him, he could have heard what Mateo just said, but Mateo doesn't even bat an eye for the possible consequences.

"But I travelled across half the world, risked all our lives for this stupid thing, and I don't even know how to use it without hurting people."

"You'll figure it out."

"I don't even know what this thing is."

A door swings open and slams behind us. We both jump and twists our heads to look. Nicholi stands tall, storming through the columned passageway towards us, reaching the staircase at the front of the palace. Behind him, Iamani and Nailah walk briskly towards us with their chins held high in the air.