Chapter 1 2

Se-le-ni

We gathered around, forming a circle as we sat. I glanced at Na-sh-dara, but she ignored me, just as she had done with Me-la-ni. I wondered how our travels would continue now that she was with us, but I didn’t have time to think about it because Hamid splayed out his arms, almost hitting Ka-ma-la, and said,

“Who would have thought we would meet again under these circumstances, huh?”

He glanced at us expectantly. He had always been dramatic, but for all his faults, I knew you could trust his magic. We were lucky he hadn’t turned on us.

“Fighting not only the Master of the Universe, but our own kin.”, he continued.

Joshua glanced at him irritably. He’d never gone along with him, but he was too mindful of the situation to start a row. Only Ka-ma-la acted friendly, and I knew it was sincere.

“Tell us what you know”, she asked.

“Where shall I start?”, Hamid sighed dramatically.

He leaned back, resting on his hands, and began to talk.

“We already knew about Bo-lo-to. We heard it from Sara after you left. She only found out because Bo-lo-to tried to convince her to join.”

He blinked at us, as if letting us in on his conspiracy.

“Don’t worry, I made sure she spoke the truth when she said she dismissed him.”

He sighed.

“After that, it was only a question of time before you would call for us.”

“They should have joined the Masters, now that they’ve lost their chances with us”, Na-sh-dara concluded.

Ka-ma-la nodded to herself.

“I believe you are right.”

“That means we won’t be able to fight them on their own any longer”, Joshua observed.

Hamid shook his head vigorously.

“No, that chance is gone. A shame”, he added to himself.

“Do we know where the Masters are?”, Na-sh-dara asked.

We all glanced at each other.

“I don’t”, Me-la-ni said.

The others shook their heads.

“So we need to look for them!”, Hamid burst out.

“Waste of time”, I replied.

He turned to me.

“We can spend years chasing them”, I continued. “They won’t be found until they either want to, or we know what they are up to.”

“She’s right”, Ka-ma-la said. “We need to understand exactly what they are after before we can stand against them.”

We all fell silent, and then Me-la-ni cleared her throat.

“I think I know.”