“Maybe,” I said, gnawing on my lip. Now was the time for some major BS. “But not if we do this right. If I shave off a little piece for protection and report its location to Nexis—”
“Nice,” he said. “That way no one can touch you and you’ll still score some major points.”
“Exactly.” I shrugged like I couldn’t care less. “You’ll get credit, too. For helping and all.”
“That’ll make me a shoe-in to take your place as president. Say no more. I got your back, buddy. Let’s see what we can find.” He aimed his flashlight at a bookshelf in the far corner and walked over to it, thumbing through the titles.
Now I was the one following Will’s lead. Ironic. Maybe he’d been on a few covert missions after all. Flashlights in hand, we searched the cedar shelves, pulled out enormous parchment tomes with interesting titles, and stacked them on a mahogany table in the middle of the dark room. We opened the most promising books first.
Blowing off dust. Poring over yellowed parchment. Page after page after page of nothingness. Pure Nexis propaganda. Outlines for their Utopian world order, aka global domination. Blah, blah, blah. The usual Nexis garbage.
At last, I’d found the two words I’d been searching for. Sacred stones.
This section was an overview of the twelve sacred stones of the twelve tribes of Israel. Apparently, the legend of the stones originated from some passage in Exodus. Each gemstone was reported to have its own unique properties—four rubies, four amethysts, and four sapphires. These stones formed the basis for each secret society’s beliefs.
Nexis started with an obsession to find the rubies because they have the power to give fallen angels human-like bodies. And the ability to mate with the women of earth and create Nephilim. Yeah, crazy stuff.
This book documented how Nexis found all four rubies by the 13th century. For nine hundred years. they’d been protecting their precious stones and hunting down the other three components of their plan: the Seer, and at least one amethyst and one sapphire.
A chill slithered down my back. They’d been trying to get the Seer on their side for years. This was the closest they’d ever come. I could feel their grip circling me. Slowly tightening the noose around my neck. Waiting until I turned eighteen to reveal their true plan.
Tomorrow, Nexis would know the truth. I wasn’t the Seer. I couldn’t be. The truth was almost a relief, actually. Except the part about Mom having an affair and the fact that Dad wasn’t really my biological father. I wasn’t James McAllen after all. A sad story. Pathetic, really.
Two months ago, I needed a passport for the senior ski trip to Canada. Mom wouldn’t give me my birth certificate. Said she lost it. So I played the responsible card and went through all the red tape to get my passport on my own. Only to find out I wasn’t who I thought I was.
If I wasn’t the Seer, then Lucy was next in line. I had to protect her, even if she was only my half-sister. Because tomorrow was my eighteenth birthday. The day that everyone would find out the truth. A truth I’d known for a long time. Longer than two months, if I were truly honest.
I never had the Awakenings, not like the legends say you’re supposed to. I laughed it off when people talked about it. Like it was no big deal. I told myself I’d probably be the Seer’s dad or grandpa or something. Deep down, though, something always felt off.
I wanted to run, start a new life somewhere. But I couldn’t. Not yet. Not until I knew my sister would be safe. If I wasn’t the Seer, at least I could be the Guardian of the Seer. Has a nice ring to it, right?
I read on. The next passage was about the purple stone. The stone of protection. Finally. It was all there in black and white. Nexis knew where all four amethysts were—under Guardian control, of course.
Centuries ago, when Nexis started organizing, there was opposition. Naturally, because their plan was crazy. The Guardians came together to protect the world from Nexis. While Nexis combed the earth for rubies, the Guardians searched for the amethysts. From this record, Nexis believed they’d hidden one stone in each of their four primary locations, America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.
Over the centuries Nexis tried to steal the amethysts, without success. They’d sent spies into the Guardian ranks, learning approximate locations for each stone. In the 1900’s, a spy reported the American amethyst was in New York, but Nexis still hadn’t found it yet. The last search was dated a year ago. A spy had heard rumors that the amethyst was hidden in the neutral zone, Montrose Academy. He searched the chapel but found nothing. No notes about any more rumors.
“I’ve got something,” Will said a little too loudly.
“Quiet,” I hissed at him. “There could be someone here.” Nonetheless, I rounded the table and read over his shoulder.
“Look here,” he pointed at a passage. “It’s a record of the amethyst at Montrose. Crazy, huh?”
“Yeah, crazy,” I whispered. My eyes landed on the passage. Sure enough, a record of the American amethyst. I stopped in my tracks. My heart punched against my ribcage. I was so close to finding it, but I had to be sure.
I skipped to the most recent entry—from six months ago. A rumor of the amethyst buried somewhere in the Montrose chapel library, or a hidden tunnel below it. The next entry was the Nexis plan to dig under the chapel. To get permits.
“A hidden tunnel?” I asked silently.
Click, clack, click.
I froze. Looked at Will. “Go to the door,” I whispered. “Check if someone’s coming.”
My fingers itched. I knew this page was important, so I kept reading. Nexis bribed cable companies and city officials, but each time the city denied their permit. At the end, there was a strange note. A reference
