House of Royale (Secret Keepers #4)(32)
Emma rushed to give Maya a hug first, then she threw her arms around me. “You’ll be safe with Xander and Chase,” she murmured in my ear. “See you soon.”
I squeezed her a little tighter, lowering my head so that no one saw the pain in my eyes. I didn’t like her going off without me. It was bad enough that Callie was not with us. I had this insane urge to keep our group together; splitting up felt like a bad idea. Maybe it was the fact that I’d only just found them. More than that, it was a feeling deep in my soul.
Splitting up would be the destruction of us all. Only together could we defeat Laous.
11
There was a moment of silence when Emma and Lexen left. Then Jet said, “I think it’s time we returned as well. Sorry we weren’t more help to you all.”
Shirley nodded, getting to her feet. “Outside of the fact that I’ve barely aged since I was twenty, there isn’t much about Overworld I’m familiar with. Once the line of secret keepers was broken and I didn’t even have to check in, I didn’t have any other contact.”
Roland shook both of their hands. “Thank you for giving us the information you did. You helped more than you think. I’ll escort you both back to Earth now.”
We all shook their hands, then they started toward the main door. Roland stopped and turned back to us. “You’re all welcome to stay here as long as you want. My wife…. She’s not dealing very well with our son’s death. But Star can show you to a room. Might be a good idea to wash up and get some sleep while you can. We know Laous will be planning his next move. It’s not in his nature to give up.” He walked away, before pausing at the door and turning back once more. “Oh, and Maya, your family and Brad are in the west wing. Star is pretty familiar with their suite. She’ll take you there as well.”
Maya’s face lit up like a kid at Christmas. “I have missed them so much,” she almost cried, her eyes shiny.
Roland nodded. “They have missed you terribly as well.” With a final wave, he was gone, ushering Jet and Shirley with him.
Doors banged open then on the opposite side of the room to where Roland had just left. “I’m back,” Star cried, rushing through. “Sorry for taking so long. I got stuck helping Jero go through some new security measures he’s implementing.”
Her hands were filled with bags, jumping about haphazardly as she crossed to us. She dumped all of them into Xander’s hands. “Can you take care of Ava for me? Your normal room is ready to go.” She swung around to Maya. “Brad is annoying the ever-living hell out of me. He knows you’re back and is demanding you visit him ASAP.”
Maya smirked. “Same old arrogant best friend. I’ve actually missed his bossy ass.”
Star shook her head, a smile breaking out even as she fought to contain it. “He’s certainly entertaining.”
There was the slightest of pink tinges to her cheeks, and I hazarded a guess that Star might find Brad annoying for more than one reason. Just like I did Xander.
“Will you be okay?” Maya asked, turning to me. “I know you’ve just entered an alien world, and this is all probably very overwhelming.”
“And everyone has bailed on you,” Chase finished for her.
I nodded in jagged, rapid movements. “Oh, totally. I’m fine. Xander knows what’s going on. You go and catch up with your family. Take as much time with them as you can.”
She let out a happy squeak, gave me a tight hug, and pointed a finger at Xander. “Don’t be an asshole,” she told him shortly before turning and nudging Chase and Star out of the room.
“Come on,” Xander said, heading in the opposite direction. He didn’t look back to see if I was following, and I spent most of my time glaring at his broad shoulders, almost missing the stunning house we were moving through. I had no idea what the city was like outside of this castle, but I imagined it was lush and rich, with green rolling hills like those I’d seen on the platform.
The inside—I noticed when I tore my eyes from Xander—was very light and open, with pale cream walls and lots of thick rugs and plants. The air was warm; it was light and breezy, almost like spring on Earth.
“How big is the city outside of this castle?” I asked Xander, wanting to fill the silence. “Are we out in one of the valleys between the mountains?”
He looked over his shoulder. “We’re inside a mountain. Everything in this city is carved from stone. I believe there are tens of thousands of Darkens in this particular city.”
I blinked; a chuckle escaped. “You’re messing with me, right? Inside of a mountain? Like dwarves?”
All I could think of was a fantasy movie I had seen years ago where the dwarves lived deep in the mountains, carving everything out of the stone. It made me feel claustrophobic. All of that mountain above us.
Xander didn’t chuckle at my statement though, and my feet ground to a halt.
“A m-mountain?” I stuttered. I was an outside, water person. I couldn’t be in a mountain or cave or anything that like. It was like the plane all over again. I felt embarrassed to keep having these moments, but I couldn’t seem to help my body’s responses.
Salt water and sunshine flitted across my senses and I closed my eyes. “It’s okay,” he whispered, his voice very close to my ear. I could smell him. Feel his energy. The tendrils of panic started to lessen. “My room here has a very deep bathing pool. You will feel better when you’re in the water.”