The Two Worlds (14 page)

Exhausted, I lay still, listening. For
a second, the world stood still with me. And then...a tremble.
Maybe I didn’t use enough energy. My throat was dry and scratchy. I
swallowed and winced. Tears leaked out of the corners of my eyes.
We were going to die.

“
Come on, small girl,” a
voice said. I opened my eyes. Kris was hovering above me. Behind
him, I could make out Jala and Nia, both fighting with the
KaKonian. Jala had produced a glowing thing and she was jabbing it
at Jarem, but he didn’t seem to be too hurt by it. “I’ve shown you
what dying feels like. Do you really want to experience that again?
Are you willing to allow your friends to succumb to
that?”

“
I can’t move,” I croaked.
My throat was very dry. Kris reached down and scooped me up. His
hands were icy cold. Instinctively, I reached out and touched his
face. “You are warm...a source of power,” I murmured. The world was
spinning. Round and round it went. “You are...alive.” Somewhere in
the distance, I heard Kris gasp, and I fell back to the ground with
a thud. I closed my eyes, and the world finally stopped
spinning.

***

I’m so warm. This must be what
heaven feels like.
I snuggled into the warmth and smiled. At
least I wasn’t cold anymore. My body felt light. I shivered despite
the warmth and clenched my fist, which seemed to be gripping it.
Music floated around me, and even that seemed warm.

“
Mmm,” I murmured to no one
in particular. “Mmmmm.”

“
There, there, Kathleena,” a
soothing voice said. A clammy hand patted my forehead. “You’ll be
all right. But right now you must get up and fight.”

I squinted with my eyes closed. I
didn’t want to fight. Who was this person?

The clammy hand patted my forehead
again. “Kathleena.”

I sighed and opened my eyes. My vision
blurred against the figure in front of me. Once it cleared, I saw
it was Mimi. What was she doing here?

“
I’m here to help. I’m a
healer.” She reached out her clammy hang again, and my eyes closed.
So warm. So good. “Kathleena!” My eyes popped open and met Mimi’s
stern voice and equally stern face. “You must get up this instant!
Your friends need you!”

My friends I turned my head and noticed
that Rena, Nia and Jala were battling with Jarem. Nia was creating
what looked like big boulders suspended in air. Rena was Awakening
them, and Jala was aiming them at the KaKonian. Together, they made
a great team. Why did they need my help?

“
Get up!” came the voice
behind me again. I was getting tired of her. But she was right. I
should be trying to help.

I rolled over to my side and instantly
regretted it. Sharp pains shot up my right leg, and I fell a few
times before I was able to stand. Squaring my shoulders, I hobbled
over to Rena, who, up close, looked extremely afraid and very
tired.

“
Kay!” she exclaimed. “I’m
so glad you’re okay1” She never took her hands off the task of
Awakening boulders, though.

I nodded and looked at Jarem. He wasn’t
even struggling to defend himself, but the constant attack by our
side was making it hard for him to make a move. Thinking fast, I
hobbled quickly over to Nia and grabbed her shoulder.

“
You and I are one, a source
of incredible energy,” I began. If Grandpa’s legend was true, I was
able to create great things, right? I was willing to find out. Nia
was losing energy, and the boulders were slowing down. “We are the
Akearman Stars.” Nia’s shoulder began to warm, but she didn’t seem
to notice.

“
Nia,” I said, “create a
star.”

“
What?” she shouted,
frowning.

“
Create a star!”

Nia immediately stopped making boulders
and moved her hands, swiftly forming the shape of a star in the
air. As it materialized, Rena gave a loud shout behind me. The
boulders had stopped all together, and the KaKonian gave a blast
from his hands. Out of my peripheral vision I saw Rena fly past me,
her body bouncing off a wall like a rag doll.

“
RENA!” Jala and I shouted.
Jala ran towards Rena, but Senior Lynch sideswiped her, and they
both went tumbling down. I refocused on my sister, whose star was
becoming bigger and bigger.

“
You and I are one, a source
of incredible energy,” I began again. Where was this coming from?
“We have the power to create and destroy. We are the beginning and
end of this story. We are the Akearman Stars.” Nia sobbed and kept
moving her hands. The star began to pulse with energy. On my left,
Kris and Grandpa fought hand to hand with the KaKonian. Grandpa was
holding his own, but Kris was giving Jarem a real run for his
money. I hoped this would work. I didn’t know much about this, but
it was worth a try, right?

“
This star is our hope. It
is a symbol of all that is good.” The star pulsated bright white in
response. “From this star, we will find our victory.”

My hand that the ring was on buzzed. I
looked down and noticed that it was glowing. Streams of golden
energy were moving and weaving around us, and I felt very light.
And nauseous. Refocusing, I continued.

“
Power of the Akearman
Stars, come to me. Help us defeat this evil, so that you may shine
brightly again.” Kris came flying in the air at me, landing
squarely at my feet. He groaned and stood up. His face had more
color, and he was panting, sweating. Was he...? Grabbing his
hand—much to his surprise—I returned to my chanting. Kris looked at
the star, at Nia, and then back at me before shifting his eyes to
my right. I followed his gaze and saw Grandpa lying on the ground,
his face bruised and eyes closed. Swallowing, my attention shifted
to the KaKonian who was marching towards us at an alarming rate and
moving his hands as well. Was he making a star, too? No. A shape
began to materialize, and I realized he had created a
door.

The door took form a lot faster than
Nia’s star and fell to the ground with a sickening thud. The handle
turned and the door flew open, revealing tons of snarling KaKonians
staring at us. One stepped out and stood up. We all raised our gaze
to take in the height of this beast. He snarled and lunged at
us.

Nia and I screamed, and Kris ran around
us, meeting the beast head on. The beast took a mighty swipe at
Kris who ducked, materialized a sword in his right hand, and thrust
forward. The beast roared and staggered back, swiping at Kris
again. This time he was successful, and Kris went toppling over
tombstones before hitting the ground.

“
Okay, star, here’s your
chance.” I closed my eyes and hoped that when they opened I would
still be alive. “Star, gives us your power.” The star glowed so
brightly Nia closed her eyes as well. We heard the beast roar in
surprise. I squinted and attempted to look into the light, but had
to shield my eyes from it again. Suddenly, I felt warm, very warm.
Hot. I reached for Nia’s hand and found that she was just as hot as
I was. I forced myself to open my eyes again and found that we were
hovering above a swarm of KaKonians, with more spilling out of the
door every second. They were all jumping and trying to get to us.
An arrow flew straight at me, hitting my stomach.

“
Ahh!” I screamed and
instinctively reached down to hold my wound. I pressed against my
stomach and realized there was no blood. Nia looked over at me. Her
eyes were glowing the same golden color as the energy around us,
and she seemed so relaxed. She placed her hands on my forehead, and
I felt my body relax as well. We had nothing to fear. Akearman
Stars. Moving as though someone else was operating my body, I
raised my hands with Nia noting that my ring was now glowing so
brightly it was almost blinding, and the energy moving within us
increased. Everything seemed to slow down. I thought about Grandma
and allowed the energy to take over.

A huge blast of white light came from
between us, blinding me. I opened my mouth but didn’t hear a sound.
My whole body pulsed and hurt. Tears streamed down my face. Below
us was a roar so loud I was sure the dead were awake by now. My
body continued to throb, and the roar reached a loud pitch before
being cut off all together. I smelled smoke, but the white light
was still extremely bright. Suddenly, with a whoosh of cool air,
the white light disappeared, and Nia and I slowly came back down to
the ground.

I fell down with Nia beside me, and we
both lay on the cool grass. The cemetery was back to its eerie
quietness. My body hurt and felt weak at the same time. I cried,
kept my eyes closed, and let the darkness wash over me yet
again.

“
I knew you could do it,”
said a voice above me. Why on Earth was I not able to become
unconscious in peace? I opened my eyes and looked up at Kris. He
was grinning—the best he could, anyway.

“
What?” I
croaked.

“
I knew you could do it.
Here.” He pulled into a sitting position ignoring my groaning. I
looked around. KaKonian bodies were everywhere, the door they had
come out of gone. Jarem was nowhere to be found, but Senior Lynch
was very visible, laying on the ground with his eyes open and no
movement. I licked my lips. “What happened?”

“
You won.”

“
But how?”

“
Apparently the Akearman
Stars aren’t just a legend anymore.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Epilogue

I plopped down wearily on the couch
next to Kris. He had come home with us once he realized the
cemetery wouldn’t be his home anymore. We were still trying to
figure out what had happened to him. Was he really alive? And why
did my ring seem to come alive? What was the energy that had been
flowing around us? Was it magic or something else? My head began to
throb and I promised myself I would look into it more after I
rested. The warm fire that Rena had Awakened was blazing. Grandpa
and Jala had gone to the local inn for the night. Nia fell into the
armchair on the side of me. Rena stretched out face down on the
floor.

“
My body aches,” Rena
moaned.

“
Mine, too,” Nia chimed
in.

“
Mine three,” I agreed. Kris
remained silent. We all sat quietly, soaking up the warmth the fire
had to offer. Rena rolled over on her side, propping herself up
with an elbow.

“
So.” She cleared her throat
and looked over at me. “What happened?”

“
I don’t know,” Nia answered
for me. “I don’t remember much.”

“
Me either,” I admitted.
“What did you see?”

Kris spoke up. “The legend stated that
you would have to have Death on your side before you could overcome
evil. You, Kay, did. You made me alive again, essentially winning
over Death. Once that happened, you fulfilled the prophecy and were
able to somehow channel that power from the original Akearman Stars
to wipe out the KaKonians.”

“
Cool,” I muttered. My body
throbbed in agreement.

Kris looked annoyed. It was becoming a
permanent look of his. “Cool? Cool? No, it’s not just
cool
.
It’s a miracle. You know what this means, don’t you?”

Both Nia and I shook our
heads.

Kris sighed. “It means
you really
are
the most powerful beings on this planet. Practically
undefeatable. Which means now everyone will try to get rid of you.
You two are a threat to all that is normal here. It doesn’t matter
if it’s right or wrong. Change is largely feared here.”

I swallowed and sat back. I felt like
crying again, but I didn’t have enough energy to muster up the
tears.

Dia stepped in. “Kris, I think that is
enough dramatics for one night, don’t you?” Kris opened his mouth
to respond, but Dia became very warm and he thought better of it.
She continued, “I think we should all be very grateful that we won
this battle and can rest peacefully tonight. You’re back home,
thank goodness, which means you’re safe.”

Kris huffed, and we fell quiet for a
few more moments. Finally Rena broke the silence again. “Do you
think we’ll still have to finish our court punishments?”

I shrugged. Any punishment the Counsel
gave us had to be better than what we had just been through. Nia
yawned and stretched, before giving me a lazy grin.

“
I’m not worried about it,”
she said.

I raised an eyebrow. “You’re
not?”

“
Nope,” she said, shaking
her head. “I’m starting to realize that everything isn’t as black
and white as it seems to be on this planet.” I smiled at her. “I’m
really interested in learning more about this legend of
ours.”

“
Agreed.” I stretched out on
the couch. “It was pretty cool to learn that I have this new power,
though.” Nia and Rena nodded in agreement. Bringing the dead back
to life could be very handy. Or very gross. I wasn’t too sure. My
grin widened as I thought about all the dead toads in science class
that could have their revenge. “I can’t wait to see what Mrs.
Temely thinks about it!”

Kris snorted in obvious disgust, which
prompted Nia and I into rounds of laughter that lasted until we all
passed out, exhausted.