“That’s also a long story,” Ronan replies. “One I’d be glad to share once we’re back home.”
“Yes, we must return at once,” Uncle Raphael says.
“What’s going to happen to that bitch Queen Maewe? Are we just going to let her get away with everything?” I ask.
“We cannot kill my wife before we transfer her powers to Vryenn,” King Ruel states. “Aquila will not survive the war against Cygnus and their allies if there isn’t a ruler who can wield the power of the land.”
Right, now he’s saying he’ll transfer the powers to Vryenn, but I bet if he has the chance, he’ll take them for himself. Unless doing so will earn the wrath of all the kingdoms led by females.
“Vivienne cannot come to Ellnesari yet. You know that,” Uncle Raphael interjects.
“Why can’t she come?” Karl asks.
“You’ll see,” he replies in his trademark enigmatic way.
“It’d be pointless anyway. We don’t have the Magna Vis,” I say. “We lost it, remember?”
“But we had it when we got out of the Valley of Lost Souls,” Karl replies.
“We think we had it. Maybe we didn’t.”
“It was the Magna Vis.” Adrian’s gaze seems to turn inward. “Now that I’m out of the Valley of Lost Souls and my mind isn’t shrouded by fog, I’m certain it was in my hand.”
“Then we can find it,” King Ruel says.
I don’t like the idea of him looking for the medallion. I still don’t trust him. But there’s nothing I can do about it now.
“How long have I been gone from the human world?” Adrian asks, looking frightened.
Uncle Raphael clenches his jaw for a couple of seconds before he replies, “Over six hundred years.”
My jaw drops. That was before Lucca and I were born. Who is Adrian really? And how did he get involved with my uncle?
“You’re coming back with us, right?” Karl asks him.
“I… I haven’t had time to think about it.”
“You’re more than welcome to remain here in Lynx,” Queen Endaya offers.
Adrian glances at Uncle Raphael for a moment, and his eyes seems to be searching for something… maybe his lost memories. After a moment, he says, “I’ll return to the human world.”
Uncle Raphael seems relieved, and I’m dying to ask him about the man. But I have to hold back my questions for now.
“Very well.” My uncle turns to King Ruel. “Send us home.”
Fifty-One
KARL
SALEM, PRESENT DAY
Unlike the last time we used a portal to return home and ended up falling from the sky, King Ruel’s portal opens on the ground level in front of King Raphael’s mansion in Salem. The sun has just set, but the sky still has a little pink in it. The air is warm, and the leaves on the trees are green instead of different orange and brown hues. It feels like summer.
“How long have we been gone?” I ask.
“Before I traveled to Ellnesari, it was May,” King Raphael replies.
Damn. Nearly eight months, then.
