House of Darken (Secret Keepers #1)(51)
“So you formed the treaty,” I guessed.
He nodded. “Yes, we had no choice because we needed a permanent transporter, one much larger than the random ones we had been creating before. It was time for humans to know about us.” He waved an arm in front of him. “We decided to create this platform. It’s mixed with elements from the four houses, etched with our ancient language, and with a permanent transporter to Earth. Almost immediately our network resumed its full functions.”
Jero and Star were through now, and I knew I only had a few more moments alone with Lexen, so I quickly asked: “The treaty allows your network to be powered from Earth’s energy, or from something to do with Earth. But what do they get in return? I assume there has to be a return, if they decided to take you up on the treaty.”
He inclined his head. “You assume correctly. The leaders of America, at the time, were gifted a very special piece of Starslight stone. This is a sacred rock to us, very powerful. It’s a one-off, its size unrivaled by any other in our world. It turned out that Earth needed help at the time too. It was having some very serious weather occurrences. Earthquakes, tsunamis, tropical storms. This stone was buried near your equator, and it calmed the tectonic plate movements. Halted much of the dangerous weather.”
No freaking way. “Starslight, like the school?”
He nodded again. “Yes, exactly like the school, and it’s also where Star gets her name.”
Our conversation dried up as the other Darkens approached us. They were all through the transporter now. Jero swept me up in a hug. “How was the trip across, angel face? Any turbulence?”
I smacked him on the arm. “Put me down, you weirdo.”
It was at that point my reality registered with me. Like actually registered. Despite my Wizard of Oz thoughts before, I hadn’t quite comprehended the truth. Mostly because I was too busy focusing on Lexen. But I was not on Earth any longer. I was not on Earth…
As Jero set me on my feet, I spun around and sucked in a deep breath. The air was cool and crisp; my lungs seemed to expand more than I’d ever felt before; my head swam at the overload of oxygen. The platform they’d created for the transporter was high, almost like it was perched on a mountain, and stretched out below it, as far as I could see, was their world.
As I spun, more of Overworld came into focus. If I had to explain the layout, I’d call it segments, like gigantic slices of cake – three at least. A green, mountainous landscape was a segment to my right. It was the largest, taking up approximately twice as much space as the other two. It looked cold there, white topping many of the mountains.
The next segment was the smallest, but by no means was it actually small. The flat land was filled with billions of trees, spanning off into the distance, with almost no break at all in the forest. And the last was one continuous unbroken mass of water.
Marsil and Star stood on either side of me. “This is incredible,” I spluttered out. “But there are only three segments and four houses?”
A sneer from nearby drew all of our attention and I found myself staring at the Imperials, the same ones who had been in the hall that day. Jero had said they were from Laous’ side. “House of Imperial does not have to share their territory,” one of them said. “We have it all. We control you all.”
Say what? Where was their territory if they didn’t share?
Jero slung an arm around me, turning us away from them. No one bothered to reply and I could feel eyes burning into the back of my head.
“So where is their territory?” I whispered, unable to keep my curiosity any longer.
Jero leaned his head down. “Our transport should be here soon. We’ll talk more when we are back in our land.”
I stifled a sigh, forcing myself to simply enjoy this new experience. It was like I had stepped into one of my novels, the ones where the females who found themselves abducted by aliens usually fell for their captors and ended up with a happily-ever-after on some strange world.
I loved reading those stories, and so far living it was interesting, but I wasn’t sure I wanted the same ending. I was just hoping to find Sara and Michael and make it out alive.
More students from our school – everyone still in uniform – joined us as we moved toward the edge of the platform facing the mountains. I twisted my head, peeking out from under Jero’s arm. Looked like these were the House of Darken members. Kotar’s dark eyes flashed at me as our gazes met and I quickly looked away. At least fifty or more students were now through the portal, separated out, each standing in front of the territories. The Imperials were the only ones not moving, remaining right near the ball of light.
A swift breeze caught my attention, and since we were standing on the edge staring out into the stunning mountain world beyond, I had an uninterrupted view of what was coming for us.
Ohmyfreakinggods. Holy … sweet … baby … Jesus.
Two beasts rose into the air, their powerful wings sending gusts of air in our direction. Dragons. There were dragons here. Okay, most probably they called them another name, but they definitely resembled dragons.
I took a step back, followed by another and another, only halting when I slammed into a Daelighter who had been standing behind us. I spun to find an angry looking male, a few inches taller than me, with orange hair. Not ginger so much, but pumpkin orange.
“Watch where you’re going, grubber,” he growled.