James Linniad and the Golden City - Caleb Baker (the two towers ebook .TXT) 📗

but smile. His friends were backing him up more than he could have hoped. He never really noticed how fond of them he was until now. 

"So it's settled," Alice's voice came from a darker side of the room, "we search for it."

"Yes," James said. 

"Then we do it tonight," she said darkly. 

"But that's so soon," Juliet said tentatively. 

"What did you expect, we have to do it sooner than later," Lucas replied passionately. 

James nodded his head idly, watching Alice walk toward the door. 

"We do it tonight, after a bit of rest. I say three hours is enough for your parents to go to sleep," when everyone nodded their head in agreement she added, "then I'll wake you all up in three hours time."

She left the room without another word, leaving everyone else with their thoughts. James's thoughts went to his brother. 

"Are you going to be with us, Nathan?" he asked. 

It took a few seconds for him to answer, but when he did he answered sassily with, "of course I am."

He quickly departed after he spoke and left the door open enough for Lucas to follow him out without touching it.    

Juliet was the last one in his room. She was still holding the candle, and she was staring intensely at James. She smiled when he returned her gaze. When she stood up James did too, not knowing why. Her smile became broader and she began to walk to the door. He followed her. Still not knowing why. 

"Well . . ." She said softly, "goodnight then . . ."

"Goodnight, Juliet," he didn't even recognize his own voice. 

"Goodnight," she said again, then turned and left.    

She left him with a smile on his face. A stupid one at that, but all the same alone. Alone to his thoughts, and now they were reeling. Anticipations of the upcoming nights events were only heightened when he clambered into his bed. The coziness was something he needed at the moment. To be warm in the middle of the snow storm outside, and a storm inside of his own head. It was nice to finally lay down under the current circumstances, taking a break from it all was just what he needed. It all just seemed so surreal, he couldn't believe that it was actually happening to him, that there was a Prophecy and he was involved with it.    

The last candle in his room was flickering, emitting a low glimmer onto his wall and nightstand. It was dancing on the cusp of life and death, fluttering to keep alive. He shifted in his bed, and he found this even more comfortable than when he first lied down.    

Now his eyes were beginning to droop, falling heavily together. He was falling asleep and fast. Before he knew it he was dreaming.    

He was sitting on a cobbled street. It was empty, except for him. He stood up and tried to take in his surroundings. The sun was setting, delivering a glare to the street below, making James shield his eyes. He seemed to be on some sort of Main Street, he could see different archaic shoppes, and stores. Although, he couldn't read any of the signs to see what they sold.    

He was now walking down the street. It all looked so old, but new at the same time, like he was visiting some version of the past that was some how modernized. Everything had a certain friendly esque to it. The more he walked however, the more everything began to blur away. There were no street signs, no cars, no people, and as he reached the end of the avenue there was nothing. Just an empty backdrop with the sun still setting.    

The sun was so hot. It seemed like every one of its rays was pointed at him. Feeling like he was in an oven, he wished he were gone, somewhere else.    

Then it all changed. The sunny backdrop faded to darkness. The ground underneath him changed into a floor of white marble, and within an instant he was gazing over a beautiful city in the dead of night.    

He stood still, careful not to change anything on accident. He knew that with the slightest touch everything could turn to white again. He liked this view, he didn't want to leave it. Every now and then a little light would twinkle within the city, catching his eye.    

"You stand in my palace," a voice came from somewhere behind him. 

The voice didn't startle him, in fact it soothed him, like something he had heard a long time ago. It was a man's voice. Judging from the deepness he was old in age. A light breeze ran through James's hair, it must have been summer he assessed from the sweet smell that lingered under his nose. 

"I take it you like the view," the man said. 

James nodded, not taking his eyes off the province. 

"It really is a beautiful city," the man continued, "I only wish you could have seen it in all of its glory."

"I bet it was brilliant," James said lightly, turning around to face his company.    

The man stood tall and powerful. He had snow white hair, and a long beard to match. His eyes bore a great resemblance to James's own being a bright green color. He had a long scarlet red cloak that was shrouded in the shadow of the palace behind him. 

"Where am I?" James asked. 

"Your in your future," the man answered mysteriously, "now wake up, I believe Alice wants your attention."   

James awoke in a flash, sucking in air. He sat up immediately and felt his body to see if he was actually real. His shirt was covered in sweat, and he felt beads of it fall from his forehead. 

"James!" Alice cried, "are you okay?"

He looked at her, half expecting to see the mysterious man before him instead. She looked scared, and it seemed she had been sweating too. 

"What happened?" James asked dumbly. 

"Nothing happened and that was the problem," Juliet said from the door. 

"What do you mean?"

"You weren't breathing, James," Alice said motherly, "you had us scared to death."

"Oh," was all James could muster himself to say. 

"I don't think we should do it tonight," Juliet said to Alice, "not with all that's happened."

"What do you mean?" James said again. 

Alice and Juliet both looked at each other, concern in their eyes. James looked at them both, anticipating an answer. "It's Nathan," Alice muttered after a minute of silence. 

It took a moment for that to register with him. That could have meant a lot of things. He could have been hurt, or worse . . . he didn't want to think about it.    

James got up from his bed and walked over to the door. Juliet stood in his way, but after seeing the look he gave her she moved to the side quietly. 

"James you really shouldn't-" Alice tried to say, but she was cut off as James walked out of the door and into the hallway. His brother's room was right next to his, and it wasn't long before he was gliding into it, accompanied by a panicked Alice and a fear stricken Juliet.    

Lucas was hovering over Nathan's bed and body, a hand through his hair. Nathan's chest was heaving slowly up and down, at least he was alive, James thought. With a sigh of relief he quickly strode further into the room and crouched next to the bed to get a better look at his brother.    

He was sleeping. His hair was ruffled, and there was a faint trace of freshly made tears that ran down his cheeks. James grabbed a hold of Nathan's hand and tried to feel for a pulse. He did have one, but it was slow, and shaky. 

"What happened to him?" he asked Lucas. 

Lucas only shifted his head and reached for the covers that were tucking Nathan into bed. He pulled them back to reveal James shirtless twin brother, but with a strange deformity on his chest. It almost looked like a tattoo. 

"What is it?" James asked, trying to hold back his fear. Again, Lucas not saying a word, reached, this time for the bedside nightstand and picked up the family heirloom that usually wrapped his brother's neck everyday. The small red ruby shone in the candle light that bathed Nathan's room. James took it from Lucas to examine it himself. 

"It looks exactly like the mark on his chest," James said, as he flipped the jewel over and over. 

"Yeah," Alice said from somewhere behind James, "it seems as though it burned him in his sleep."

James couldn't believe it, but the evidence gave him the conclusion that what she said was true. It didn't feel hot in his hand, and he couldn't think of any reason for why this would happen. He pocketed it, thinking it would all make sense later. 

"We heard him screaming," Juliet mumbled, "it woke us all up, except you."

"And he didn't even wake up either," Lucas said, "once we took the necklace off of him, he just shut up, he hasn't done anything since."

He thought of his dream again. He remembered it so clearly and vividly, like it was happening at this exact moment. That man had known Alice was trying to wake him up. How did he know what was going on outside James's head? Was he somehow linked to all of this?

"We tried to find your parents," Alice continued, interrupting James's train of thought. 

"You mean they're not here?" James said, astounded that he just heard that. 

She slowly nodded her head, confirming her information and confusing James further. Why weren't his parents home? Where could they possibly need to be in the dead of night? 

"Should we call them?" Lucas asked hesitantly. 

"No," James said at once, he was getting a little angry, not at his friends, but at the situation, "I have a feeling that they knew something like this would happen."

Juliet's head literally cocked to the side out of bewilderment. 

"Well, then don't you think they would be here to help or do something?" Alice asked tentatively. 

James didn't answer her, because he didn't have an answer for himself. It was just a feeling that he had. He knew this all had something to do with the Prophecy, his dream included. 

"What do we do, mate?" Lucas said, a squeak of fear in his voice. 

James paced over to the back of the room in order to see the group in full. He took a unlit candle by the handle and lit it with another. 

"We find whatever we're supposed to find. We fulfill the prophecy."

Chapter Three: Of Paintings and Pendants

The castle creaked and moaned under the feet of the teenage detectives. They walked through the darkened corridors by only candle light, the power had still not come on. The storm hadn't let up either. Every so often violent winds would try and burst through the windows, causing Juliet to jump every time.     

They were traveling through the West Wing, James leading the pack. This Wing consisted of a sun room, a play room where James and Nathan used to spend all of their time, and lastly an enormous living room. Alice was taking notes of their discoveries, and just