“Wow,” I murmured. “That’s quite an invasion of privacy.”
She sighed. “Maybe. But my lips are sealed, and I make no judgments. Ever. Anyway, that’s not the point. Your mother is right. Do not exert yourself. You’ve just made contact with the Word. That’s like holding the power of a thousand active volcanoes in the palm of your hand. You must be careful with that.”
Lumi had been there for me when I broke free from the sensory deprivation pod. She’d held me tight as I convulsed and shivered like crazy, as my body readjusted to the real world. She’d been the first to hear me recite the Word’s message, in a language I didn’t understand, even though I could pronounce every word perfectly. She’d told me that the message was for me, personally, and that I should take my time to understand it on my own, as part of my trials. She, too, had seen the changes that I’d experienced after that moment.
“I didn’t think I’d have to be careful with my swamp witch magic,” I replied. “I mean, I do feel different, but not in the way you described it. I feel overloaded. Heavy.”
“Which is normal. Your very being is getting used to the surge of power,” Lumi said. “What I’m trying to say is that this power will now be quite volatile during this adjustment period. So use your swamp witch magic wisely. Don’t overdo it.”
I nodded. “I won’t go nuclear, I promise.”
“It might impact your natural witch abilities, too,” she added. “Our coven has never had a supernatural witch join our ranks, so we have no precedent for how the Word reacts to a creature such as yourself. Which, again, makes me ask you to be careful.”
“Okay,” I breathed.
“Meditate for a minimum of two hours every day,” Lumi then said. “Keep your link to the Word active. You’ll figure out the message this way. You’ll uncover secrets and improve your skills. The Word wants you. And that, my dear, is a great thing.”
I sighed, then gave her a hug. Her body stiffened. Lumi wasn’t used to physical affection, but I couldn’t help it, either. She was, by far, one of the weirdest creatures in Eritopia, but also one of the most powerful, right after the Daughters.
Rose and Ben hugged their sons and daughters, then came over and got in one of the pods, joined by Dmitri. Ridan went in the second pod, followed by Zeriel and Nevis. Elonora, Vesta, Hunter, and I took the other two—I went with Hunter in the third, leaving the girls with the fourth.
Once we were all strapped in and ready to go, Viola and Lumi activated the interplanetary travel spell. White light swallowed us whole, as the incandescent orb hummed and lifted us off the ground.
Part of me was excited to go to Strava again. It was truly a stunning place. But my concerns about my grandparents and their group took center stage, weighing heavily on my shoulders along with my newly formed connection to the Word.
As we shot through the midday sky, I took several deep breaths and prepared for the hours-long journey ahead.
“Nervous flyer?” Hunter asked.
This was the first time we were actually talking since I’d found him smooching that succubus. I’d been avoiding him like the plague over the past couple of weeks, thankful to have Lumi to keep me busy. He’d left me a few messages, but I hadn’t called him back. I’d sent him a couple of texts, saying that I’d been busy and whatnot. My feelings for him weren’t going away, either.
I couldn’t object to him sharing a pod with me, though. The last thing I wanted was for anyone to notice the tension between us—for which I was personally responsible, since we were only supposed to be friends, dammit.
“Yeah, it’s been a while,” I replied, staring ahead at the vast universe unfolding before us.
Billions of stars shot past us as the spell zoomed through the In-Between toward Strava. I could feel him staring at me, but I didn’t have the courage to look him in the eyes.
“It’ll be fine,” he said. “Just focus on the stars.”
“Mm-hmm.” I nodded slowly.
My cheeks were burning. My heart was racing.
The longer I spent in Hunter’s presence, the hotter and more awkward it got for me.
This is going to be a long trip.
Elonora
(Daughter of Ash and Ruby)
Meahiri was one of the most beautiful corners of the In-Between. Eritopia was superb as well, but there was something about Meahiri that just left me breathless. Whether it had to do with the seemingly endless swirls of multicolored stardust or the multitude of solar systems stretching outward and hurling through space at incredible speeds, it didn’t really matter. The end result was spectacular.
Once we landed on Strava, I was instantly reminded of why we’d chosen this planet for what was supposed to have been the perfect vacation. Noagh was a relatively small island, its white sand beaches sprawling toward the turquoise ocean all around, while its lush jungle sheltered hundreds of extraordinary animal species—and a weird-ass cave, it seemed.
As soon as the interplanetary spell faded away, and our four shuttles were settled on the beach, we all got out and looked around for a while. The silence was almost deafening, given the circumstances. Not a single chirp came from the jungle. The only noise came from the water, gently lapping at the shore.
“Leave the heavy stuff inside the pods,” Ben instructed us. “Take your bags and whatever survey gear you can fit inside. Our first mission is to retrace the steps of our people and find them. Then we study the cave in full detail.”
We nodded and did as we were told. As a sentry, I didn’t need any scanning equipment, so I had space in my backpack for some healing and spell supplies. Ben and Rose took the satellite-style phones—one for each, in case our earpieces and Bowie failed. Rose also held on to Bowie.
Once we were geared up and ready to go, Ben pointed at the shuttles. “We need to hide them, just in case,” he said.
“Hide them where?” Dmitri asked, somewhat confused.
“Behind the resort, a couple of yards into the jungle,” Ben replied. “It doesn’t matter who or what comes by at this point. We need to keep the shuttles safe.”
Kailani shrugged, then motioned for all of us to step back. “That’s cool,” she said. “I can do that.”
“Thank you, Kale,” Rose replied, giving her a warm smile.
Kailani inhaled deeply, then put her hands out and muttered a spell under her breath. She walked over to the first pod and touched its smooth, metallic surface. She briefly glanced at me, and then she and the shuttle vanished into thin air.
I held my breath, then exhaled sharply when I heard leaves rustling and twigs breaking somewhere behind the resort. The air fluttered against my skin as Kailani reappeared right in front of me, grinning.
“Girl, that was awesome!” I breathed.
“I know. It’s quite intense, but I think I’ve gotten the hang of it now,” she replied, then went to the second shuttle, repeating the process of touching it, disappearing with it, then reappearing a couple of feet away from me.
“Two down, two to go!” Hunter exclaimed, genuinely impressed.
“I know that, as a witch, you can zap from here to there quite easily,” I said, “but I would guess it takes a different level of skill to take something as big as a shuttle with you, right?”
Kailani nodded. “I’ve incorporated a swamp witch spell into the process,” she said. “It takes a toll on me, though. I need to work on it until it’s second nature.”
She then did the same with the third and fourth shuttles, storing all four in a patch of jungle just ten yards behind the resort. After she reappeared on the beach, she sighed and looked up at the evening sky. Billions of stars were scattered across a veil of dark blue. Smack in the middle of it all was the moon, big and bluish and eerily charming as it emerged from a bundle of clouds and cast its azure light on us.
“What can you tell us about the planet so far, from your observations?” Rose asked, as we all gathered around Kailani.
“There’s no swamp witch magic of any kin
d at work,” Kailani replied. “There’s no weird shield or spell, or anything of the sort.”
“Then there must be another reason why Telluris isn’t working here,” Ben concluded. “It works perfectly as soon as you’re off the planet, though.”
“There’s definitely a disruption, but it’s not swamp witch magic,” Kailani said.
“Then what could it be?” I asked, frowning. “Telluris is a Druid spell that connects our souls, our consciousnesses, through an invisible and endless thread. It’s supposed to be resilient to most disruptions.”
“Remember that they combined Druid magic with swamp witch charms to block Telluris,” Vesta interjected. “If there’s no swamp witch involved here, it doesn’t mean there’s no magic of any kind at work.”
“Okay, so we’ve got the good ol’ fashioned magic,” Dmitri concluded, nodding at Kailani, “as evidenced by Kale here, who’s a natural-born witch. We’ve got swamp witch magic, which, again, we’ve got Kale representing,” he added with a smirk. “Then there’s Druid magic. Could there be Druid magic involved, then?”
We all looked at each other for a while, none of us able to offer an answer.
“I wouldn’t exclude the possibility,” Kailani finally said, “but I wouldn’t bet on it, either. Having Druid magic here would mean that there are Druids on Strava. And we’ve scanned the whole damn world, all around, and we didn’t see any bipedal creatures popping up on our screens.”
“That was before Derek and the others discovered those cave pods, though,” Hunter replied. “What if there were Druids in there?”
Rose groaned. “What are the odds that there are Druids this far out in the In-Between?” she asked. “They’re endemic to Eritopia, aren’t they? And Draven is still combing through the travel records. There were no delegations in the vicinity mentioned so far. This isn’t Neraka all over again. It can’t be.”
“Listen, right now there’s little we know for sure,” Ben said. “But let’s start there. The first thing we know for sure is that our family and our closest friends, our mentors and GASP founders, are missing. So, let’s look for them first, and focus on the rest later.”
Hunter nodded, then pointed at the resort.
“I agree,” he replied. “We should start in there.”
Whatever was going on here, my instincts told me that it wasn’t right. As much as we tried to convince ourselves that Derek and his group were just out exploring or lost, I knew, deep down, that something must’ve gone wrong. It didn’t mean they were in mortal danger or anything, but it didn’t mean they weren’t, either.
The uncertainty annoyed the hell out of me. However, as Ben had said, we had to prioritize. Finding Derek, Sofia, my grandparents, and the others was at the forefront of our mission.
Dmitri
(Son of Victoria and Bastien)
We scoured all the rooms and common areas, including the kitchen, the lounge, the bathrooms, the indoor pool, and the dining room. We brought out all the phones and cameras that had been left behind and put them on a coffee table in the middle of the lounge.
“Hunter, Dmitri, our olfactory senses are good, but not like yours,” Rose said. “What can you tell us from whatever scents you’ve picked up?”
We all settled on the sofas to rest for a few minutes and to discuss our tracking activities. Hunter and I looked at each other. He motioned for me to go first.
“Well, they’ve been gone for a little over four days now,” I said. “Which is nothing new; you’ve confirmed it as well. There is no blood anywhere, no traces, nothing. The place wasn’t wiped clean, either, so it’s not like someone cleaned up a murder scene or whatever—”
“Good grief,” Ben groaned, rolling his eyes, while the others scowled at me.
I shrugged. “What? I’m just being honest and giving you the good news here!” I replied. “Our grandparents and friends didn’t die here. That should be good news, right?”
“Yeah, it’s just that the whole notion of a murder scene makes my blood curdle,” Ben muttered.
“As it should.” I sighed. “Thing is, their scent is weak. But I did catch a whiff of something… lemony, I guess? Barely noticeable, like a top note on a perfume. You only catch it after you smell it for a while.”
“Me too,” Hunter said. “I got the same. Like citrus, maybe even lemongrass. There’s an undertone of crude green, if that makes sense.”
“Maybe… Maybe like lemon tree leaves, crushed or cut up to release the aroma,” I mumbled, trying to identify the scent. It was present everywhere, albeit faintly.
“It sounds like you’re describing a Mediterranean-style dinner.” Elonora scoffed. “Do you smell almonds and rosemary, too?”
“Snark all you want, but there’s definitely something lemony here,” I shot back with a smirk.
Rose cleared her throat. “It sounds like what we picked up in the cave. I bet it’ll be stronger there,” she said.
“Whoa. So that means that whoever was in those pods must’ve been here, too?” Kailani asked.
“Maybe? But not all of them. Otherwise, the scent would be stronger,” Rose replied, then looked at me. “Right?”
I nodded slowly. “Possibly, yes. There’s also this subtle whiff of… I think ammonia, or something pungent, medical. I don’t know how to better describe it at this point. I doubt it’s natural. It could be a chemical of artificial origin.”
“Like what, a serum or disinfectant or something else?” Ben asked, his brow furrowed.
“I hate not being certain about this, so I’m going to go with ‘possibly’ again,” I said.
Hunter picked up one of the smartphones on the table and tried to unblock it. “Maybe there’s something useful in here,” he said, then swiped his finger across the screen. “Ugh, great, passcode required.”
Elonora stared at the phone in Hunter’s hand for a few seconds, then narrowed her eyes. “Is that Grandma Claudia’s phone?”
I craned my neck to get a better look at the screen. There was a photo of Claudia and Yuri as a screensaver. It had been taken on the beach outside the resort. Claudia had her tongue stuck out at Yuri.
“Yeah, that’s Claudia’s,” I said. “Yuri’s a tad more conservative.”
Kailani chuckled and picked up another phone, pressing the lock button to show us the passcode request and the screensaver image of Claudia—captured from behind as she glanced over her shoulder and smiled at the person holding the phone at the time.
“This is Yuri’s,” Kailani replied. “I wouldn’t say it’s more conservative, but it shows how much he worships her.”
Elonora sighed. “Grandma Claudia has my mom’s birthday as the passcode.”
“How do you know?” Vesta asked.
“I’m willing to bet all of them have our parents’ or our birthdays as passcodes,” Elonora declared. “Let’s not forget that our elders aren’t exactly super tech savvy. They would never complicate their lives with difficult-to-remember passcodes. Just try 0312 on Claudia’s. Trust me.”
Hunter pressed the numbers on the screen’s keypad, successfully unlocking the phone. He looked up at Elonora, then grinned as he handed her the phone.
“Nicely done,” Hunter said.
Elonora then looked at Kailani. “My grandpa will probably have the same code. If not, it’ll be my birthday.”
Kailani smirked, then put in the same code. It was rejected, so she tried Elonora’s birthday next. It worked.
“Hah! Spot on!” Kailani exclaimed.
Hearing that, Ben and Rose fished for their parents’ phones and attempted the same, with their own birthdates.
“Wow, they are so freaking predictable,” Ben muttered. “Mom has our birthday.”
“Dad, too.” Rose chuckled.
One by one, we unlocked the other phones, too. My grandma had Mom’s birthday, and my grandpa had Jovi’s. Kailani’s grandparents had Arwen’s and her birthday, and so on.
“Old people and technology, huh?” I chuckled
.
“I don’t know about ‘old’, though. They all look fantastic for their age, and chances are they’ll put any of us to shame in close-combat situations.” Elonora grinned. “They’re not decrepit organisms, dude. They were born in eras of advanced technology, too.”
“Well, yeah, but the passcodes are still ridiculously predictable. They’re a hacker’s dream!”
“What’s a hacker?” Nevis asked, looking confused.
At a second glance, Zeriel was equally baffled, while Vesta tried to wrap her head around the technology. It wasn’t like they were seeing this for the first time, but they hadn’t had the chance or the time to catch up to our industrial advancements.
We’d been born on Earth, where the humans had made incredible technological progress. From a progressive point of view, while Neraka and Eritopia were magically advanced, they’d yet to advance anywhere near our earthly tech.
“A hacker is someone who can remotely enter any computer and bypass every passcode and protection available.” I tried to explain as clearly as possible.
“Like a virtual burglar,” Elonora added.
“Anyway, we’re digressing.” Ben shook his head, swiping through photos on his mother’s phone. “I’m not getting anything of use here, just a disturbing number of couple selfies and sunset photos.”
Hunter stood, nodding toward the patio’s sliding glass doors. “I’ll go outside and see what scents I can pick up from around the resort, then.”
“Yes. Take Kale with you,” Ben replied.
I had no idea why Kailani’s eyes got so big, so fast, but no one else seemed to notice, as she quickly regained her composure, then got up and followed Hunter outside.
“Rose, can I see the footage on Bowie again, please?” I asked. There was nothing of use on my grandparents’ phones, either. Just lots of jungle photos with some really interesting animals. All the images they’d gathered would help later, once this was all over and we were putting together a Stravian biology atlas, but until then… useless.