“Becky!” Sammy glared at her.
“What?”
Sammy rolled her eyes.
“Will he get into trouble?” I tried to ignore Becky's remark.
“We'll have to wait and see,” Becky said, and eyed Sammy again with a huge question in her eyes.
Sammy shook her head. “Remember what you said to me? Everything happens for a reason. We just need a little bit of faith.”
“Thanks you, guys,” I said, feeling a bit better.
We talked about their day and how goofy George acted around Becky, who was gloating.
At six, we went to dinner. I didn't speak much. The images of King Helmut forcing Lucian to break up with me played over in my mind. Lucian kept stroking my back, and every ten minutes or so, he kissed me on my shoulder.
Lucian started to tell them about the gallery and the queen's painting.
“I'm sure it's a first date Elena will never forget,” Becky teased.
I couldn't help but smile. “You got that one right.”
Around eight, we walked slowly back to our dorms.
“Elena, meet me tonight?” Lucian whispered in my ear. I gave him a frantic look, thinking that we had enough drama for one day, not to mention what happened the last time we sneaked out at night.
He chuckled softly. "We won't go to the lake."
“What if we get caught? Master Longwei will chuck my ass out of this place.”
He raised one eyebrow. “With a mark as dark as yours, I doubt it. I'll wait for you by the door around twelve.” He cocked his head indicating the big wooden one to our left.
“Fine, but if we get caught, I'll blame everything on you.”
“It's a blame I'll take with pleasure,” he said through a smile. “Goodnight, my Juliet.”
I blushed as I climbed the stairs and giggled at how goofy he sounded. Some of the boys teased him about his last line,but he didn’t seem to care.
We’d barely made it to the room when the most horrible sound wailed inside my ears.
Chapter Twenty-Four
It was a loud siren and had a strong sense of foreboding connected to it. The sound made me clutch my ears. Becky and Sammy looked at each other with huge eyes. That wasn't a good sign.
We ran out of the room as students descended from the stairs around us.
“What's going on?” Becky asked one of the girls.
“We all need to go to the auditorium,” a girl with a red prefect badge on her blazer said, and moved with the crowd.
Becky grabbed my wrist and pulled me down the stairs behind her. It felt like it took forever to reach the lobby, and not to mention getting to the auditorium.
Students poured through the doors on both sides. Becky led me to a seat in the back row and plopped me down hard. She looked around, frantic, standing on the tips of her toes. Everybody around us had frantic expressions on their faces, and some of the girls even cried.
George spun Becky around, and she started to kiss him like crazy.
“Do you know what's happening?” I asked George, who had his arms still wrapped around Becky.
“It's not good, Elena.” He spoke in a fast, tight voice.
A cold shiver ran up my spine as I tried to think about the reasons behind that horrible siren.
“The last time they sounded the alarm was the night the king and queen died,” Sammy said in a tiny, squeaky voice.
“What?” I shrieked, alarmed.
Lucian finally reached us. He pulled me from my chair and hugged me tightly. I really hoped that it didn't have anything to do with his parents. His heart was pounding as I laid my head against his chest.
“Do you know what's going on?” Becky asked.
I looked up to hear his answer, but he just shook his head. The grave look on his face didn't suit him. For the love of blueberries, he was the bravest guy I knew. It wasn't a good sign if Lucian was scared too.
The auditorium was almost filled with students, and everyone around us wanted to know the same thing. What the heck was going on?
Master Longwei came in, and I didn't like the look on his face. His eyes looked dark and his lips were pressed together in a thin line. He had a huge crease on his forehead. Everyone started to settle down as he ran up the podium's stairs.
“The King of Lion sword has been stolen.” Master Longwei blurted it out over a microphone. Thick silence saturated the auditorium. Then the room filled with noise, as most of the students started to cry out in panic, yelling questions of how, when, and what now?
“This isn't good.” Lucian spoke first and rubbed his face with his free hand.
“How could it be stolen?” Becky shrieked.
“Silence!” Master Longwei's voice roared and the sound bounced off the walls. “There is no reason to panic yet. Members of the Royal Council are searching for it as we speak. However, we have to keep guard for any sign of danger. Dragonia will be one of the first places they attack if this is war.”
“Typical,” George uttered.
“Should that news make us feel better?” I asked Lucian as Master Longwei carried on speaking about the plan of action. He just squeezed my hand with a terrified look.
“We will have the groups up in place first thing tomorrow morning,” Master Longwei said,and then he called out names I hadn’t heard before. Blake and Lucian were the last of the five names, and they were ordered to meet him in his office.
Lucian kissed me goodbye. “I'll tell you what I know, okay?”
I nodded and felt like crying as I watched him disappear through the ocean of students trying to make their way out of the auditorium.
We went to the cafeteria to analyze all of this, finding it difficult to process in all the chaos.
“Who would've stolen it?” I asked harshly, not yet in control of my emotions.
“It could only be one person, Elena.”George said.“Goran.” He got up to get us each a soda.
“Goran!” I shrieked with a thin voice. “But he's locked up behind Etan.”
“It doesn't mean he can't compel someone's mind. He did it before,” Becky said. George came back with four sodas. He handed us each a Coke.
“So the sword is now with him?” I wanted to know, and she lifted up her shoulders, not knowing the answer to my question.
Sammy took a big sip of her Coke. “I hope it still exists.”
“Exists? You mean he's going to destroy it?” I asked, and she nodded solemnly. I suddenly remembered I knew all of this. Cheng had told me about it during our first History lesson.
“With the sword out of the way, there's no stopping him if he manages to break out of Etan. He'll destroy the wall and Paegeia with it.” George took a couple of gulps from his can, and I noticed his hand was shaking slightly.
My throat tightened as he said the word“destroy” and I struggled to swallow.
“Relax, Elena, they'll find whoever took it,” Becky said and squeezed my arm reassuringly.
I waited for Lucian, wishing he would come back. It felt like hours before he plunged down on the pillow next to me.
He gave me a quick kiss on my temple while wrapping his arms tightly around my shoulders. “They stole it somewhere between midnight and four a.m.yesterday. The Council didn't want to say anything, because they thought they would’ve retrieved it by now. If they don't find it soon,we're going to be in serious shit. They believe that Goran has found a way to break out of Etan, but won’t do it until the sword's destroyed.” He spoke in a trembling voice.
“So what, the Council’s really searching for it?” Becky asked.
“My dad and Arianna's have sent out a small search party.”
“We just have to wait?” I sounded skeptical, just like Becky.
“It's the only thing that we can do, Elena.”
“If they destroy that sword, Lucian─”