Chapter 7. Party!
Saturday morning, Jacob’s mom burst through his door, making him jump up in bed. “Whoa, Mom. Everything okay?”
She nodded excitedly. “We're having the ball!”
“The ball?” The first thing that popped into Jacob’s mind was that she’d decided to take up baseball. “Did you want me to watch? Oh, wait. You mean as in one of those big dances.”
“Yes!” She hesitated. “Well, no. Much smaller. No carriages or big dresses. More like a party. Remember? We’re celebrating Aldo’s recovery!” She pulled his hand. “Get up! I need your help—we’re going to make this place shine.”
“It’s going to be here?”
She scowled at him. “Of course. Where else would it be?”
“Somewhere bigger? Maybe in Eklaron?”
She folded her arms. “And where in Eklaron would be big enough? Everything in Maivoryl City is off limits.”
She had a point. He knitted his brows, thinking. “The castle in Macaria?”
“Oh, Sondalane? That’s a great idea. Except we couldn’t get it ready in time for tonight.”
Jacob jumped out of bed, glad he always slept in a T-shirt and pajama pants. “It’s tonight? Why didn’t you say so? The yard’s a mess!”
“I know! I’ll get Matt up. Could you guys rake the leaves? The weather is going to be nice enough for us to BBQ and to have a couple games of football or basketball or whatever you want—so the yard needs to look good.”
He agreed to help, and she bounced out of the room. Jacob hadn’t seen her so hyper since she’d found out she was pregnant with Amberly, and that had been a really long time ago. Seven and a half years, at least.
He changed quickly, putting on warm clothes before going outside with Matt.
The brothers took turns raking the leaves into a pile, then jumping into it, scattering the leaves everywhere. Amberly joined them, and they tossed her into the pile a few times before getting serious and cleaning every leaf off the grass.
After a couple of hours, the place was perfect. Mom came out and looked the yard over—made sure the BBQ grill was ready and the yard presentable. She reported that Gallus was bringing his wife and kids.
Dad came back from running errands. He and Mom had decided to have a full-out feast, including steak, ribs, hamburgers, chicken, and hot dogs.
Jacob picked up Aloren, who’d volunteered to help Mom make sure things were ready.
Matt watched her enter the house with Mom. He shook his head. “I can’t believe she’s my sister.”
Jacob chuckled. “Yeah, I’ve been having a hard time adjusting to it too.”
“I’ll bet!” Matt elbowed him in the side. “You having a crush on your brother’s sister is definitely weird.”
Jacob pushed Matt away, laughing. “Stop it. I don’t want to think about that.”
The brothers pulled stuff up from the crawlspace under the house—old Thanksgiving decorations that Mom hadn’t used in years, folding tables and chairs, and boxes of cloth napkins and tablecloths.
Eventually, everything was ready. Jacob, Aloren, and Matt followed Mom around the house and yard as she inspected things. There were tables set up in the back yard so they could take advantage of the unusually warm weather. The grill was heating up, with Dad watching over it. The house was absolutely perfect. Mom approved.
She had Jacob, Matt, and Aloren change into clean clothes, then she sent Jacob off to pick up everyone. Even Early was coming.
Meeting Gallus’s family for the first time was entertaining. His wife was very attractive—taller than Matt and Jacob, with dark skin and hair. Not as dark as Gallus’s, though. Her eyes were a brilliant honey color—Jacob couldn’t stop staring at them, and Gallus laughed when he noticed.
“She’s from the same country as Aloren’s mom. They have darker hair and skin, but very light eyes.”
Jacob nodded, though he really didn’t see how Aloren was supposed to look like Gallus’s wife. Her eyes were much darker and her skin much lighter than the tall woman’s.
Gallus’s children were fun—they were really excited to meet Jacob, but didn’t jump all over him like little kids usually did. Instead, they followed him around the yard until Gallus called them back.
Finally, everyone was at Jacob’s house and in their places.
Jacob ended up next to Matt. He looked across the tables for Aloren, but didn’t see her. Maybe she’d gone to the bathroom or something.
Dad welcomed them all and explained how the evening would go. They’d start out by eating a small snack, just to make sure no one was absolutely starving, then they’d break for various things—games and activities, etc.,—and would end with dinner, dessert, and a movie. Matt and Jacob were really excited about this since most of the people from Eklaron hadn’t ever seen movies. Aldo and the Makalos were the exceptions.
Jacob couldn’t believe it when Aldo said he’d seen plenty in his day. Apparently, he’d sneaked off through a link to America—perhaps the one close to Jacob’s home—long before Jacob’s parents had met, and had brought back an old black and white TV, a VCR, and a bunch of VHS movies. With the help of a few Makalos and their ability to control power, he'd spent a great deal of time getting caught.
The snack was a sort of food Jacob had never seen his mom prepare before. She said it was a delicacy from Gevkan. It was made with creamed chicken and cheese sauces, and was sucked out of small bowls with straws that were actually a vegetable growing in Eklaron. You would then eat the straw. Disgusting.
“What is this stuff?” Matt asked.
Jacob shook his head. “No idea. It looks gross.”
Matt leaned over his bowl and sniffed. “Smells okay. Should we try it?”
“You first.”
“No—let’s go at the same time.”
Jacob agreed and pulled the green straw toward him and sucked on it. The stuff came faster than he expected, and he nearly breathed it in. He coughed, trying to clear his airways. Matt had the same reaction. “Is Mom trying to kill us?” Jacob asked.
Matt didn’t answer. He was staring wide-eyed across the table toward the path between the forest and the garage. He nodded his head in that direction, and Jacob looked.
Kevin and Aloren were approaching, holding hands.
“What’s he doing here?” Jacob asked.
Matt’s mouth popped open. “Holy cow. I have no idea. Does he know about Eklaron?”
Jacob knitted his eyebrows and looked away when Aloren glanced in their direction. “He shouldn’t, but how could he not? I mean, look at half the people here. They aren’t normal. Unless she’s about to tell him.”
“So, that’s Aloren’s boyfriend?” Akeno asked. He sat across from Jacob, putting his bowl and cup down. “He’s here to meet Gallus. It seems he wants to date Aloren, but your parents told her it wasn’t appropriate. Not unless Kevin got permission from her guardian. Gallus is the closest thing to a guardian Aloren has. He practically raised her.” Akeno motioned to Jacob’s parents. “I’m sure if they’d known she was Matt’s sister—which, by the way, is absolutely insane—”
“Tell me about it,” Matt muttered.
“They would’ve taken her in as well. As it is, Kevin is here to talk to Gallus.”
Jacob watched as Aloren and Kevin sat down near Gallus, disappearing from sight behind the heads of other people. It still frustrated him to see the two of them together. He turned back to his food, trying it again, with better results this time. It wasn’t bad, actually, if he thought of it as a cheesy-chicken soup.
A moment later, Gallus stood. “I’d like to take the opportunity to say a few things.” He waited until every eye was on him—it didn’t take long, since his voice resonated so well. “As is the custom in Gevkan, whenever young people wish to declare their engagement, the parents announce it first to all the loved ones and friends.”
He motioned to where Jacob assumed Aloren and Kevin were sitting. “Aloren’s parents aren’
t living, so they’re not here to make the announcement themselves.”
Jacob twisted, straining to see them. Aloren flushed and Kevin looked just as shocked as Jacob felt. The blood had drained from his face, and a greenish yellow—a color Jacob didn’t see often, representing near hysteria—swirled around him. Jacob snickered. It seemed Kevin didn’t know that by meeting Gallus, he was committing to more than he’d planned.
“I’d like to let everyone know that I’ll be conversing with Kevin throughout the party and, at the end, shall decide if I approve of Aloren’s choice in marrying him.”
Murmurs spread through the yard. Jacob’s parents looked especially confused, and even the Makalos didn’t seem to know what to do.
Aloren tugged on Gallus’s shirt, pulled him down, and whispered something to him. He looked confused, gazing at Kevin. He said something back to the two of them, and they shook their heads emphatically. Aloren said something else to Gallus, and he righted himself, clearing his throat. The yard went quiet again.
“Excuse me, but I have misunderstood. It seems they aren’t preparing for marriage, but are preparing for . . . for . . .” He turned to Aloren again, but it was Kevin who responded.
“We’re dating.”
A confused expression crossed Gallus’s face, and loud enough for everyone to hear, he said, “What do you mean by ‘dating?’ You aren’t planning on marrying Aloren? Why are you claiming her as your own, then?”
Kevin raised his palms, looking bewildered and embarrassed. Aloren, apparently having given up on the situation, put her head in one hand.
Gallus sat down. Jacob felt bad for him, and surprised himself when he realized he felt bad for Kevin, too. He pushed that away. Kevin had Aloren and varsity. That definitely made up for anything.
“Wow.” Matt eyeballed the couple. “This, my friends, is an excellent example of cultures clashing.”
“You’re not kidding,” Sweet Pea said. “Her boyfriend should’ve known better. Aloren should’ve known better.”
Matt nodded. “Insane.”
A short time later, everyone finished with the delicacy, and the adults disappeared to the kitchen and the grills to work on dinner. Amberly took the kids from Eklaron to the swing set in the back yard, and Jacob and Matt rounded the teenagers up for a game of basketball.
Jacob got his ball and took charge of the game—he wasn’t about to let Kevin bowl everyone over at his own home. Kevin had also brought his ball. Jacob watched him carefully—he didn’t seem surprised at all about the people around him. Or maybe he was hiding it, and Aloren still hadn’t told him about Eklaron? No—that couldn’t be the case. He’d be freaking out, trying to figure out who or what everyone was. But that meant she’d told him, and Jacob didn’t want to believe she’d jeopardize everyone’s trust like that.
He shook his head, putting the thoughts behind him for the time being. He could think about it later. For now, it was time to play.
They started with a couple games of eternal lightning, just to get the people from Eklaron used to how things felt. Jacob won both rounds of the game, with Kevin coming in second. That didn’t seem to shock Kevin, and Jacob grinned.
Then Jacob split everyone into teams. Team Blue had Jacob, Matt, and Jaegar on it, and Team Red had Kevin, Sweet Pea, Akeno, and Aloren. The teams were evenly matched—Aloren did well, but she wasn’t athletic. Akeno had no coordination, but Sweet Pea was surprisingly good. Matt had played basketball plenty of times, so he made up for the lack of players on Team Blue and for Jaegar’s youth.
The entire game was frustrating to Jacob. He tried not to show off for Aloren, but he couldn’t help it. And, of course, he was disappointed when she didn’t pay him any attention. She only had eyes for Kevin.
The first round ended surprisingly fast. Jacob’s team lost. They lost! He glared at his ball, then called for a re-match with the same team members. This time he ignored Aloren, putting everything into it.
And they won. Jacob bent, hands on his legs, catching his breath. He straightened to high-five Jaegar and Matt, and squinted when sweat got in his eyes. He tried to wipe it away, but everything was too blurry. He squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them again.
Suddenly the light around him changed, and he felt like the ground had been yanked out from under his feet. The sun raced across the sky, only backwards, followed by nightfall, then by daylight and nightfall again. He closed his eyes, willing things to go back to the way they were, and a sensation of vertigo hit him. Jacob fell to the ground, palms over his face, trying to force the lights to return to normal. He looked up and watched stars appear and disappear each time the sun flew past. Hundreds, maybe thousands of people went by him, wandering in every direction. And animals, too.
What was going on?
Finally, the sun stopped at the midday position. Someone he couldn’t see screamed, and he jumped up, yelling that he was okay.
Except, he stood next to his house alone. He walked forward, head tilted. Had everyone gone inside when he fell? The place looked different—very different. Fresh. New. His front door slammed open and Jacob jumped back, pressing against the side of the house. Then he realized one of the biggest differences—there wasn’t a garage. Where was it?
A man stepped onto the porch, followed by a woman, and Jacob’s jaw dropped. They were dressed like pioneers—she wore a long, faded red dress and a bonnet, and he wore brown pants and a loose button-up shirt. Kids poured onto the porch—at least five, dressed like their parents.
Jacob squinted at them, noticing the fear on their faces. He jerked around to see what they were looking at.
A man rode up the hill on horseback, waving his gun, hollering. The dad pushed his wife and children inside the house, reached above the door, and pulled down a rifle, then shut the front door behind him.
“Jimmy, what’s going on?” he asked, his voice cracking.
Then the sun flashed across the sky several times, nearly making Jacob vomit. He wished he could go back to see what would happen with the pioneer man. The world stopped spinning with sunlight peeking across the mountains to the east, and he fell to his knees, trying to maintain consciousness. He looked around. A deer ran across the field near him, making him jump. He got to his feet again when he realized the house was gone.
The lights flashed, and suddenly the house was back. Only this time, it appeared to be sometime in the late afternoon. Dad pulled up in his silver car and got out wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase.
“Dad!” Jacob called.
He didn’t answer. How could he not have heard? He was only a few feet away!
Except, Dad looked different. Younger—not so bald. And Mom came to the door to meet him, holding Amberly, who looked like she was only a year old.
Whoa. This wasn’t happening—couldn’t be.
The lights flashed across the sky again, and Jacob, falling to the ground, nearly throwing up again, called out, “Stop! Stop!”
And things obeyed him.
He tried to rub sense back into his eyes and heard familiar voices. Calling. Shouting. He could pick out Matt’s and Aloren’s. Aloren!
Jacob looked up. He couldn’t see anyone. But he heard them—he heard them! How? That weird feeling in his heart hit him again, making it feel like he was having a heart murmur, and instead of shunning it, he concentrated on it.
Suddenly, Aloren’s face appeared above him, concerned. He focused on her brown eyes, willing everything around him to calm down.
He reached up and placed a hand on the side of her face. A smile chased her frown away, and he felt her dimple under his fingers.
“I’m fine,” he said, then turned to the side, coughing, his whole body shuddering.
Aloren pulled away, then walked to stand next to Kevin. He put his arm around her waist. Matt, Mom, Dad, and Ebony swarmed in, hovering over Jacob.
“Should we call 911?” Matt asked.
Dad shook his head. “No. It won’t help.”
Jac
ob had to agree. “I’m not sick.”
“I know, honey,” Mom said, “but we’ve still got to figure this out.”
“I think,” Jacob started, then paused, coughing again. “I think it’s an ability. A power. I could almost control it this time.”
“That’s wonderful, son!” Dad said. “What did you do? What did you figure out? Can you try it again?”
Mom raised her eyebrows at Dad and he quieted down. She turned to Jacob. “You aren’t to play around with this power—it’s far too dangerous.”
Jacob started. “Mom, I have to—things are getting out of hand.”
“I agree with the child,” Aldo said. “If he doesn’t learn to control the hallucinations, they’ll control him.”
The Fat Lady nodded. “And it might help in our fight against the Lorkon.”
Jacob slowly sat up. “Exactly. It’s time for me to know more about this skill. And they’re not night terrors. How long was I out of it?”
“Only about two or three minutes,” Mom said. “Which was way too long. You really, really had us worried!”
“Three minutes? There’s no way! It felt like fifteen, at least!”
Dad shook his head. “Mom’s right. We’d barely come through the doors when you stopped shaking.”
Jacob got to his feet, brushing himself off. “This is so weird. I don’t know what to think.”
“Don’t stress over it,” Ebony said.
The Fat Lady smirked, her eyes sparkling. “But figure it out, just the same.”
Matt snorted. “He’s going to freak out over it—that’s how Jacob is. If he doesn’t know what’s going on, he focuses on it until he does.”
With a sinking feeling, Jacob remembered that Kevin had witnessed the entire thing. He turned to see how the basketball player was reacting. He looked like he was trying not to run away.
“Sorry you had to see that,” Jacob said.
“Nah, it’s cool.” The color around Kevin’s face told Jacob it was anything but cool.
Jacob laughed. Then a thought hit him really hard. He looked at Aloren. “How much does Kevin know?”
The colors that made up the emotion of guilt flowed through the air around her. “Well . . . he knows I’m not from Earth.”
Jacob’s mouth popped open. “So, you did tell him. Why?”
If the murmurs around Jacob didn’t show the surprise of the adults present, the colors emanating from their faces definitely did. Most of them were shocked. The rest were upset. Really upset. Jacob understood—he was upset, too—but he couldn’t figure out why they felt so strongly. Hadn’t they gotten over it earlier, when Aloren and Kevin first showed up? Was it possible they’d hoped Aloren hadn’t said something to him?
Aloren rushed to explain herself. “I’d made way too many mistakes. Things didn’t add up—he asked me all sorts of questions I couldn’t possibly answer. Like, where my parents were, who I’d grown up with, my favorite things to do, favorite foods, who’s my best friend. How could I tell him that Hazel is only two inches tall? And then he saw her! I tried to cover it—”
“She doesn’t need to explain herself,” Kevin said. “I believe her, and I won’t spill what’s going on and where she’s from.” The expression on his face, not to mention the colors, showed he was serious.
Jacob’s parents looked at their son for confirmation. “He’s telling the truth,” Jacob said. “Or, at least, he thinks he is.”
“When did you find out?” Ebony asked Kevin.
“This morning, when she invited me to come.” He laughed. “She’d told me I was going to meet some pretty interesting people.” He put his arm around her. “After the things she’d said, and after seeing Hazel, I knew she was being honest.”
Matt snickered. “Yeah, well, did she tell you that none of our family, except for Amberly, are from Earth? Not even our parents.”
Kevin’s jaw dropped. “What? Are you serious?”
“And what’s more,” Matt said, ignoring his parents’ facial expressions, “my parents are royalty. My dad is the king of Gevkan, where Aloren is from, and my mom is the queen there. Oh, and Jacob and I aren’t brothers. And Jacob has magical—”
“That’s enough,” Mom said. “You’re saying way more than you’ve been given permission to tell.”
Matt blushed slightly. “Sorry.”
Kevin’s mouth hadn’t shut yet, and the bright yellow around his face showed he might not recover from his surprise for a long time. “I . . . I . . .” He looked at Jacob.
Jacob laughed. “Yeah, it came as a complete shock to me, too. I’ve only known about all of this for a few months.”
Kevin shook his head. He chuckled, apparently putting his disbelief away for the time being. “Clark, I always knew there was something wrong with you.”
Jacob laced his fingers behind his neck. “You have no idea.” It felt weird joking with the guy.
Kevin laughed, then kissed Aloren on the forehead, and Jacob turned away to find his basketball.
“Okay, enough serious stuff,” Mom said. “Time for dinner!”
Everyone cheered and returned to their seats to get their plates.