Beckoning Light (The Afterglow Trilogy #1)(27)
Author: Alyssa Rose Ivy

“Skiing?” Monty asked.

“Yeah, what’s wrong with that?” Liam asked. “It’s plausible.”

I still didn’t know where we were going when we left through the back door without bothering to lock it behind us. We passed the fountain at the back of the garden and saw the gray cat waiting. Monty continued to the old gate at the back of the garden, but what was weird was that the gate was ajar. I had no idea that the gate could even be opened. Monty easily pushed the gate open the rest of the way, and I followed him in, with Liam behind me. I shielded my eyes reflexively as we walked into bright sunlight.

“Okay, this is seriously weird.” I suddenly realized that Monty might have been telling the truth. Up until that point, I had been worried that he was having some sort of mental breakdown. I only followed him because I had no other ideas for how to find Charlotte. I was desperate enough to go along with anything.

“What is this place?” Liam asked, as we moved forward. We were in some sort of exotic garden that looked straight out of a sci-fi movie. I didn’t know much about flowers and trees, but these made the ones in the Amazon rainforest look plain. I was leery of some hidden man-eating plant just waiting to make its move.

“Energo,” Monty said seriously.

“Okay. And why would someone want to take Charlotte here?” I still didn’t understand what anyone wanted with my sister. I forced myself to ignore the weird surroundings and focus on the more important matter—finding Charlotte.

“Most likely, someone thinks that Charlotte is the next Essence,” Monty said stoically.

“Essence?” Liam and I both asked.

“A human vessel for all powers of nature and the elements,” Monty responded quietly.

“Oh, is that all?” Liam clearly still had his sense of humor. I wanted to shake Monty and make him start talking normally again.

“And please tell me, why would anyone think that Charlotte was one of these Essences?” I asked.

“Your mother was one,” Monty said simply, as though no other explanation was needed.

“So, not to state the obvious, but if you knew this, why did you let us come back here?” I was starting to feel somewhat responsible for Charlotte’s disappearance, since it had been my idea to move back to Charleston.

“I don’t think Charlotte really is an Essence. It usually takes generations, and Charlotte has never showed any signs. She has had nothing to do with Energo,” Monty replied, as though trying to convince himself of the truth in his words. Then he continued slowly, likely sensing why I really asked, “It isn’t your fault either, Kevin. You had no idea.”

“But someone else thought differently?” Liam asked, trying to make sense of the impossible things Monty was telling us.

“Yes, and I think I know who.” Monty pulled a circular stone from his pocket. The stone had a large letter ‘M’ engraved on one side. “I found this at James’s house,” Monty said absently. “It’s the Mendel crest. James must be Blake’s son. I can’t believe I didn’t see him for what he was. I was so busy trying to make Charlotte happy that I failed to keep her safe.”

“Blake?” Liam and I asked together. If we still played ‘Jinx,’ it would have been a world record that night.

“The current ruler of Energo.” Monty continued walking through the garden.

“I guess that explains all of electronics and stuff at James’s house. He must be rich, huh?” I was taking solace in any information I could get.

“Blake has access to a near limitless amount of gems and gold, so it isn’t surprising that James is living extravagantly.”

“Oh, so you’re thinking that the king’s son kidnapped Charlotte,” Liam said, bringing us back from my tangent.

“He’s no king,” Monty corrected.

“Okay, so this leader guy’s son?” Liam ventured again.

“Yes, or maybe not kidnapped. The key is missing, which means that Charlotte went willingly,” Monty said in a voice just above a whisper.

“Why would she have gone with him?” Charlotte never acted recklessly; something wasn’t adding up.

“I wish I knew.”

“So where do they live? Let’s go get her.” I was ready to do anything to get my sister back safely.

“It’s not that simple,” Monty said. “We need equipment, and you will both need training first.”

“Training?” I asked, as we came to the end of an open field and entered a forest. Liam looked as dazed as I felt. Everything was different here. Even the grass was a weird shade of green, and it was throwing me off.

“Just follow me.”

The forest was dense and, although I usually have a great sense of direction, I probably would have gotten lost without Monty. Every turn we took looked just like the last.

“So what’s with all the weird-colored plants and stuff?” Liam had stopped to examine a bright purple flowering tree.

“It’s just the way it is here; Energo has different foliage.” Monty continued looking straight ahead and didn’t even glance at the purple plant.

“So, obviously you look like us, but are we going to run into weird creatures, like in Avatar or something?” Only Liam would have asked that. Monty laughed lightly, and soon we reached the edge of the forest and were out in the open.

Fatigue set in quickly as we journeyed under the hot sun. The initial adrenalin of having a plan and entering a new place began to dwindle, and real, raw fear for my sister began to sink in. Losing my mom had been hard, but if anything ever happened to Charlotte, I didn’t think I could cope. Charlotte was probably the only person who ever really understood me, and as much as I gave her a hard time sometimes, she was the person I loved most in the world, the only one who kept me grounded.

A flood of memories hit me as we continued through the tough terrain. I remembered playing hide-and–go-seek, helping her as she learned to ride her bike; I could see her playing the cello and smiling up at me with missing teeth. Clearly, I realized that Charlotte was almost sixteen years old, but in some ways, she would always be just a kid to me.

As we walked, Liam and I asked Monty countless questions about what an Essence was. It all seemed like a foreign language to me, but I really got confused when he tried to explain how an Essence had a Guard made up of ten men. The Guardians designated one as the leader, or the Gerard.

I wasn’t surprised that he was using yet another term I had never heard. “What exactly is a Gerard?”