“Do we know each other?” Bart asked a little confused.
“No we haven’t met before,” the boy said. Bart looked him up and down, concluding that the boy was weird. He had short, messy black hair that covered his forehead. He was a little taller than Bart, maybe 5’10. His skin was pale but all this wasn’t what was weird about him. The long black trench coat for starters was one peculiar piece of clothing especially since it was the summer time. He was wearing boots and blue jeans with a white tee shirt under the jacket. Although the boy was strange, there was also something familiar about his face that Bart couldn’t quite pinpoint.
“How did you get in my house? And how do you know my name?”
“We will have time for all the introductions later, but for now we’ve got to leave this place,” the boy responded.
“Leave? No, you’ve got to leave this place, not me. This is my house,” Bart responded, still with his guard up.
“I understand you have some doubts about me seeing as we’ve never met, but my father can clear this all up. Speaking of my father, do you know where he is?” Bart just looked at him like he was crazy.
“If I don’t know you, what makes you think I know your father?”
“Well you must know him, he’s your guardian.” Bart was starting to get more confused as the seconds passed by. He looked around thinking this guy must be talking about another Bartholomew Nelson because Bart had no idea what he was talking about.
“He’s my what? You’ve gone insane. I live with my mother, so I don’t know what guardian you’re talking about.”
“Interesting. You should know who I’m talking about without further explanation but I will explain further anyway. His name is Calebis Elletan, but you might know him by his hidden name, Caleb Ellis Johnson. My name is Jonah Elletan.” Now Bart was sure something weird was going on. The only Caleb he knew was his uncle, and he never spoke of any hidden names. Then again, everyone had been lying lately, so the idea of hidden names wasn’t too farfetched.
“You’re crazy. There is no guardian here. Now leave.”
“I am afraid I can’t do that, Bartholomew. You are in danger, and I’ve been sent to retrieve you and the others so we can get you to safety.” Bart wasn’t convinced in the slightest of this guy’s story, but he gave Bart the creeps. He looked like a seventeen year old but he talked like he was forty. It was odd. He had to think of a way out of the house and a way to get this Jonah guy out, too.
“Okay, how about I go get Caleb or Calebis, whatever, and bring him to you?”
“Ah, that would be great but we haven’t the time. I’ll go with you.”
“No, um, I got this. Trust me. I will be back in less than ten.” Jonah stared at Bart for a few seconds, eyes narrowing, which gave Bart a serious feeling of uneasiness.
“I will agree to let you go but if you do not return in ten minutes I will come after you,” he said. Relieved, Bart jumped at the chance to get out of the house.
“Agreed, but you have to wait outside the house,” he said.
“Fair enough,” Jonah agreed and he followed Bart outside.
“Don’t go back in there,” he said as he locked the door. Then he sprinted away not wanting to spend another moment with this nut case. This Jonah character was completely off his rocker as far as Bart was concerned, and he had to warn his uncle before this guy found him. Uncle Caleb had never mentioned a son to Bart so he figured Jonah was lying. Bart actually thought about stopping to get the authorities. He had never seen this guy before, and now that he thought about it, leaving him at the house by himself might not have been the brightest of ideas. If he broke in once he could do it again, but he couldn’t turn back around now and his reputation as one of the town’s troublemakers would make it hard to convince the cops he was telling the truth. So he kept sprinting all the way back to the field. He didn’t see his uncle anywhere. He passed the maze and avoided Stacey’s gaze and then ran back to the haunted house, but still no Uncle Caleb. He ran to the pharmacy and saw his Uncle standing outside with his mom. He ran over and heard them yelling at each other. Normally Bart would hide and listen in, but this time he decided that the strange teenage boy in his house trumped being nosey. “Uncle Caleb!” he screamed as he got closer.
“Bart, where have you been?” his mother asked angrily.
“Not now mom,” he said before turning to Caleb.
“Bart, don’t be rude to your mom,” Uncle Caleb said.
“Uncle C listen! Some guy broke into my house and now he is standing there telling me some crazy nonsense about danger and how he needs to find you and that you’re my guardian and that we had to leave the house and all this crazy stuff about hidden names and how we are running out of time,” Bart said in one breath. “Oh and he said he’s your son.” Bart was on the brink of laughter when he finished blurting everything out as he realized how stupid it all sounded, but then he got a glimpse of the two adult’s faces and he knew something was wrong. All the color from his Uncle’s face was drained and his mom looked like she had just seen a ghost.
“Bart,” his uncle said very calmly. “Are you one hundred percent sure that is exactly what he said?” Bart was sure and knew he had gotten all the info right but something in his uncle’s voice made him feel extremely uneasy.
“Um, yeah that’s what he said. Is something wrong?” His uncle didn’t answer. He just looked at Anna.
“Anna we must go now. Find Charlotte and her father. Bring them to your house. I will go with Bart to check on this immediately.”
“Wait,” Bart said quickly. “You can’t be serious about going back there? This guy isn’t right in the head Uncle C we have to go get the cops.” But his uncle wasn’t listening.
“Tell no one of your plans, Anna. Go now.” Without a word Bart’s mom took off.
“Mom?” Bart said, suddenly a little afraid.
“Bart, we must go now. If what you say is true, you are not safe here.”
“Wait a second, what is going on? What do you mean I’m not safe?”
“No time to explain.” With that Caleb grabbed Bart’s arm and they started sprinting. This entire time Bart thought that this teenager at his house was just crazy, but the way his uncle had reacted and the way his mom took off without a moment’s hesitation really frightened him. Was Bart actually in danger? What was actually happening? If he was in danger why didn’t the guy attack him right when he walked in the house? Whatever it was, Bart didn’t like it. They made it to the house shortly, and Caleb saw the boy standing outside the front door, right where Bart left him.
“Father, it’s good to see you,” he said as Uncle Caleb walked up and gave him a hug. “Bart had exactly two minutes and twenty three seconds left before I came after him.” Bart was completely surprised by how his uncle reacted. He hugged the kid and didn’t even deny the fact that he called him father. Bart had never known his uncle had a son. In fact, when Bart really thought about it, he didn’t know too much about Uncle Caleb’s past at all. Yet this was something he figured should’ve been shared. These secrets that recently started popping up out of nowhere were upsetting Bart. How much did he really know about his loved ones? What other secrets were being kept from him?
“Under better circumstances this would be a great reunion,” Caleb said as he held his son.
“I agree father.” The two men separated and Caleb turned to Bart.
“Bart I’m sorry about this, but I’m going to have to ask you to go to your room. Bart looked back and forth between the two of them shocked.
“Oh come on. Are you serious?” Bart asked as he walked through the front door.
“Yes Bart, no questions. Everything will be explained later. I promise, but for now go to your room, lock the door and the windows, close the blinds and don’t make too much noise.” Bart felt like arguing, but he could see the look on his uncle’s face and it wasn’t anger. It was genuine fear and Bart didn’t like it. So he went upstairs with no further debate. He sat up there for what felt like hours but was only ten minutes before Charlotte came through the door.
“Char,” Bart exclaimed as she closed the door behind her. “Can you tell me what’s going on?”
“Afraid not,” she said sadly. “They sent me up here as soon as we walked through the door. Whatever is going on its really serious Bart. Your Uncle looked like his dad just died or something and your mom whispered something to my dad. Right after that we took off.”
“I don’t understand why everyone is acting so terrified,” Bart said as he placed his ear to the door. “Man I wish I could be down there right now.” Charlotte shrugged.
“Why can’t you?” she asked innocently. Bart smiled as if a light bulb just went off in his head. “Oh no, no Bart I meant that as a real question!” It was too late. Bart had slowly opened the door to make sure no noise was made and then he crept out into the hallway and by the steps. Charlotte soon followed making sure to be just as quiet. They listened in and could hear perfectly clear what was being said.
“Anna if what Jonah is saying is true, then we have no choice. We must act now.”
“No way, Caleb! N-O! I will not offer my son up to that life! We left there for a reason!” Bart looked at Charlotte and mouthed the words left where?
“Of course I would know, Bart. I’ve only been living down the street from you since before I can remember,” she whispered sarcastically as she rolled her eyes. Bart smirked.
“I’m sorry, Caleb, but I agree with Anna,” Charlotte’s dad said softly. “My daughter was supposed to escape this life. Both of the children were. There is no need to rush them off.”
“I understand you want to protect the kids, but with all due respect, you two have done the opposite by not allowing my father to train them,” Jonah said. “If what my father says is true then the two of them know nothing about wielding, and that in and of itself is setting them both up to fail.” Charlotte tapped Bart on the shoulder and silently acknowledged that the adults had mentioned wielding. Bart nodded. He remembered slightly that Charlotte was talking about wielding and grabbing books the entire time Bart was in his uncle’s office. Now he was wishing they spent more time reading those books instead of looking at pictures.
“With all due respect? WITH ALL DUE RESPECT? You are a seventeen year old CHILD trying to tell me to let my son into this dangerous world, and you want to talk to me about respect?”
“I mean no harm Mrs. Nelson.”
“Yes you do!” Anna screamed. “All of you do! You come here under the pretense of thinking you can take my son away from his home, the only home he has ever known, so he can what? So he can go to a place he knows nothing about and has no connection to? And you say you mean no harm? You are putting him in harm’s way! You’re putting them both in harms way!”
“Mrs. Nelson, if he were to stay here they would be in harm’s way. At least with us they both have a fighting chance. They can at least start training.”
“My daughter doesn’t need to be trained by anyone,” said Mr. Cole. “She has lived a fine, healthy life away from that world. I will not allow her to be dragged into this.”
“If they come for Bart, which they will, Charlotte undoubtedly will be in danger as well,” Caleb said. “This is for the best. You both know it.”
“How many times do I have to tell you people? N-O! We will just go visit his aunt in Maryland for a while.”
“Anna I beg you to reconsider. This isn’t wise. Keeping him here with no training is like handing him over on a silver platter. You have to know that if they’ve found him here, finding him again won’t be that difficult. Whether you go to Maryland or the moon it won’t stop them. Your children are in danger here! Would Gloriana want this? This isn’t what Alexander would’ve wanted.”
“Don’t mention her name!” Mr. Cole yelled.
“Don’t you dare bring Alexander into this, Caleb! He has no say in his son’s life! He lost that privilege!”
“Anna you took that privilege from him. You wanted this not him. Now your son is in danger because you chose this path for him. I shouldn’t have agreed not to train them, and that is my fault, but this isn’t up to us. The kids need to leave now. Don’t put him in any more danger.” Bart’s eyes widened as he listened to his uncle blame his mother for his father not being there.
“How dare you blame me for Alexander’s own choices!”
“You know it to be true, Anna. The only reason we are in this situation now is because of the decision you made to not keep Bart in Zathya.” Bart looked at Charlotte, and she instantly knew what his facial expression meant. He had no idea what Za-whatever was or where it was and it was clear Charlotte didn’t either.
“Oh please spare me the theatrics, Caleb. My son will have nothing to do with this and that is final.”
“But Mrs. Nelson, he already has everything to do with this. He deserves to know the truth,” Jonah said. “Mr. Cole, don’t you think Charlotte deserves to know the truth also?”
“What truth is that boy?” Mr. Cole asked. “She knows everything already.” Before Jonah could respond Anna jumped in.
“What truths Jonah? Why I left his father and brought him here? Why I didn’t allow him to be trained? About what exactly does he need to be told? I hid this from him for a reason! To protect him!”
“Anna this isn’t protecting him, it’s crippling him!” yelled Caleb. “He needs to know his father left him more than a necklace. He needs to know who he really is!” Bart grabbed the small necklace around his neck. It had a clear, tiny crystal ball attached to the end that Bart had noticed glowed sometimes at random. As far as he knew, it was the only thing he had that belonged to his father, but his uncle was downstairs stating otherwise.
“He knows who he is, Caleb! He is Bartholomew Alexander Nelson, born in Iowa, raised here in Dorman Falls, and he is a fifteen year old boy!”
“No Mrs. Nelson he isn’t just that,” said Jonah.
“Excuse me?” Bart could hear the anger in his mother’s voice starting to reach its peak. He wasn’t sure if there was anyway she could calm down at this point.
“I said he’s more than that.” Bart looked at Charlotte for some kind of explanation but she was just as lost as he was.
“Oh and what else could he be?” Anna yelled.
“He is Bartholomew Alexander Nelson Thyasis, heir to the Zathyan Throne and descendent of the Great high King Albert Thyasis and son to legendary Alexander Thyasis!” screamed Caleb. Everyone was quiet as they were shocked at the outburst. Bart looked at Charlotte and she immediately knew he had heard enough. She reached out to stop him but she was too late. He bolted down the steps as Charlotte screamed for him to wait but he ignored her and ran right into the living room and locked eyes with his uncle. Charlotte came behind him, and the tension in the room hit its peak.
“What is going on?” Bart asked angrily as he stared at his uncle.
“Bart,” his mom said softly, which made Bart glare at her.
“Daddy, what’s happening?” Charlotte asked softly, tears present in her eyes. He just reached out his hand, but Charlotte backed away.
“Are they telling the truth mom?” Bart asked. All his mom did was look at her own feet, as Bart realized what was happening. “All this time, mom you lied to me? Everything was a lie? You took me away? From my own dad? Why?” Anna’s eyes were full of tears and everyone else in the room was completely silent. “And you, Uncle C. You lied, too? Train me for what exactly? Why are all these secrets being kept from me?” Everyone just stood silently by as Bart looked around the room. Jonah just crossed his arms waiting for someone to say something.
“We will give you some time to speak to him alone,” said Caleb, as he and his son went up the steps.
“Charlotte please come talk with me,” Charlotte’s dad said. Anna took Bart out onto the front porch while Charlotte stayed inside to talk to her father. Anna sat, but Bart decided to stay standing. His blood was boiling and his mind was racing. He had never been this angry before in his life.
“Bart, please sit,” she said but he shook his head.
“I’d rather stand,” he responded coldly. His mom silently questioned whether or not forcing him to sit would be worth it and decided against it.
“I know things are difficult right now and hard to understand-”
“No actually it’s quite easy to understand. You lied. Plain and simple, you lied to me for fifteen years. Now what’s difficult is you telling me the truth. I’d like you to start now.” Instead of getting angry, his mother just put her head down and then wiped away some tears.
“Okay,” she said. “Everything you heard was true.” Bart was fuming. Before when she didn’t answer about the picture, at least he had some kind of small hope that maybe, just maybe she wasn’t lying. That hope vanished with those last words.
“Just let me explain please.” Bart was quiet as he stared at his mother. “You are everything your uncle says you are. You are the heir to the throne of another world. It’s a world that exists within ours, but yet it’s still separate. It’s called Zathya. It exists through magic and has existed for a long time. Your father was supposed to be King after his cousin died but he turned down the throne to spend more time with me. After I got pregnant with you, I tried to convince him to leave Zathya and come here with me. I wanted to get away from all the violence and turmoil and have a family here without all of that, but he couldn’t leave. He had to keep defending his nation. He wanted us to stay with him, for you grow up and take your place as the rightful King by your birthright. But I told him we weren’t staying. I gave him a choice. Either come with us here or be left behind. He said he could never leave his home.”
“So he did abandon us,” Bart said, sounding a little less angry at his mother and more at his father. He couldn’t imagine not being with his family. If it were his choice, he would always choose family. If his father made the decision to let his family leave instead of be there for them, he was no father of his.
“No he didn’t. If I would’ve given him more of a chance, if I would’ve begged for him to come, he would’ve come. But I didn’t want to tear him away from something he loved so much. Yes he loved me too but he would have resented me for the rest of our lives. I couldn’t bear that thought. He would’ve worried about Zathya and the kingdom all the time. That wasn’t a life I wanted for us. It wasn’t a life I wanted for you. So one late night I left.” She continued to wipe tears from her cheeks as she spoke but that didn’t seem to make Bart feel any kind of sympathy. In his eyes, he was the one that was wronged here, not her.
“This was after I was born?” he said.
“No this was one year before you were born.”
“But the photo mom,” Bart started to say but his mother held up her hand.
“I’m not finished.” Bart fell silent and waited for her to continue. “After I left it became hard to be apart from him. So I would go and visit him. However every visit, he made it harder to leave. I visited for the next year after you were born until I couldn’t anymore. Eventually I left and never came back. He tried to come visit me here, but I would leave when he came so that he couldn’t find me. Eventually he got the message.” Bart was confused even more now. Why would his mom keep this from him? And why was she so against him being with his father? She could’ve sent him there to be with him sometimes. Bart thought that was what separated families did.
“Why mom?” Bart asked, more hostile then before.
“For your safety and my sanity, I had to. It was so hard you don’t understand. And then your uncle was sent to train you in the event you ever needed to defend yourself.”
“Wait, what? What do you mean defend myself?”
“Alexander knew that one day he would die and that you would be targeted so that they could wipe out the true Kings blood line. If that day were to come, he wanted you to be prepared.”
“Hold on, who is they? And why didn’t you let Uncle Caleb train me if my dad knew this would happen?” Bart asked again frustrated with all the lies.
“I didn’t want you caught up in that life Bartholomew. I didn’t want to lose you! I knew if you started training you would love it just like your father and you would leave me to go be with him. I couldn’t lose you too!” Bart felt like a fire was erupting inside him and he was about to lose it. “Besides I figured if you had nothing to do with Zathya, they would leave you alone. There would be no reason to hurt you. You don’t even know anything about that world so they could’ve just forgotten about you. Everything can go along without you.”
“You are so selfish!” he screamed. “So you prevented my training so that I wouldn’t leave you, and now we are in danger and I can’t even defend myself? I can’t even defend you! Are you kidding me? How could you do this? Lying is one thing, but now you’ve endangered us all! For your own selfish gain!” Bart’s necklace started to glow a dark shade of blue. He didn’t realize it at first, but the angrier he got the more it radiated the darkened color.
“Bart I didn’t mean to hurt anyone. I only did this because I love you!”
“Nice way of showing it mom! You virtually sealed our fates, my fate!”
“Please Bart, don’t think that way! I never meant for this to happen!” His mom was pleading now, unable to control the tears flowing down her pale face.
“And dad, he’s dead now? Is that why they are after me?” His mother hesitated for a second and then she answered.
“If they are here looking for you then yes he must be dead.”
“So not only did you take me away from him, not only did you stop my training and pretty much push me towards my doom, but you stole any chance of me ever meeting my father!”
“Please Bart, don’t say these things, I only did this to protect you.”
“No! You did it to protect you.” Bart was fuming now as he stood there screaming at his mother completely ignoring the tears that began grouping together on the sidewalk under her.
“I love you, Bart, I do,” she said as she pleaded with her son hoping to break through to him, but his anger continued to negate all of her attempts. He felt hurt and betrayed. Love was the furthest thing from his mind.
“Well I hate you!” The words came out faster than Bart could think, and before he knew it, it was too late. He immediately regretted it, but his anger prevented him from apologizing. His mother looked at him like she didn’t even recognize him anymore and her tears paused for a short moment. Then they began to flow heavier than before, and she clasped her hands over her face. She began to sob loud and uncontrollably. Bart wanted to take it back, but he found it hard to do so. He was so angry, so confused that he couldn’t tell if he meant any of what he said. All he knew was that his father was dead and now soon he would be, too. His mother and Charlotte and his uncle would all be casualties of his mom and Charlotte’s dad’s choices. Now he would never see his father, and all he had was the small necklace to remember him by. The only person he could blame was his mother. He was sure Charlotte felt the same if Mr. Cole told her the truth. As he was turning to walk away three men walked up the sidewalk and stopped at the end of the path in front of his house.
“Well what an honor and a pleasure it is to finally meet you, sire,” said the man in the front. He had slicked back black hair tied in a ponytail and he was wearing a long black business coat. He had black gloves on and his eyes were hard to see in the night. His red tie was bright and still visible. His skin was a dark brown and he had an Indian accent.
“I don’t think we’ve met,” Bart said as the three men stood there grinning. At least two of them were smiling. The guy to the right of the sleazy businessman was huge and muscular, like one of the guys in the world’s strongest man competition. His biceps looked like they were watermelons under his skin. He was wearing black and white military fatigue pants with a tight black shirt on. His hair was significantly shorter than the businessman’s, but they had the same skin color. The other guy on the left was the one who wasn’t smiling, and he was the one that scared Bart the most. His head was slightly tilted down and he was wearing black pants with no shirt. He had a ridiculous number of tattoos; so many that they nearly covered all of his light brown skin. His extremely long dreadlocks came to the bottom of his chest and Bart couldn’t help but notice that he had at least an eight pack for abs. He was taller than the businessman but shorter than the body builder.
“Forgive me, how rude. My name is Mafortian Bloodworthy, this is Baron Bloodworthy to my right and this is our younger brother here to my left.”
“He doesn’t have a name?” Bart said in a smart tone.
“He doesn’t like it so we don’t use it,” said Mafortian with a smirk. Suddenly the front door opened and out ran Caleb, Jonah, Mr. Cole and Charlotte. “Ah, the Calvary is here.”
“Leave Mafortian, now!” said Jonah as he got into some kind of weird stance with his hands in front of him, palms facing the three men.
“But we just arrived. We were hoping to have a chat with his highness.” Mafortian just smiled as he spoke. His unusually white teeth were a perfect contrast to his skin and it sent chills up Bart’s spine.
“Save the chat for another time, snake,” Jonah said sharply.
“Oh, your words sting, Jonas, don’t be so harsh.”
“It’s Jonah and you don’t deserve anything other than harsh.” Mafortian’s smile vanished and then Caleb quickly shoved Bart behind him and turned to face him, Charlotte, and Bart’s mom.
“Listen to me Bart, these men are extremely dangerous. I had no idea he would send these three. You have to get your mother and Charlotte out of here.”
“What you mean you and Jonah can’t take them? What about Mr. Cole? And who is he?” Bart asked now starting to feel a little less confident.
“What are you whispering to the boy, Caleb? Secrets? Secrets are no fun, unless you share with everyone,” Mafortian laughed. “That is the saying, is it not?” He turned and looked to his brothers for confirmation.
“I’m afraid we wouldn’t last longer than a couple of minutes. Maybe if the one with tattoos weren’t here, but even then it would be a long shot. Charlotte’s dad will help us distract them. You have to do as I say.”
“But-”
“No buts Bart! Now when I say go you must take them and run back into the house and out the back door and through the back yard. Don’t stop there, keep running until you reach my back yard and then cut into my house. Then you will come through my house and out the front. By then they will be out back. Then sprint until you reach the old ghost house behind the old police station. I will meet you there.”
“Uncle C,” Bart started to say but Caleb cut him off again.
“Do as I say, Bart.” Bart’s eyes filled with tears as he could see the fear in his uncle’s eyes. In the background he could hear Mafortian laughing and he wished he knew a way to shut him up. Then Caleb shoved Bart back and screamed, “GO!” With that Caleb turned and almost simultaneously he and Jonah pushed their hands towards the three intruders. Bart didn’t quite see what happened he just heard loud cracks and pops. He didn’t stay and wait to see what would happen next. He grabbed his mother’s hand and told Charlotte to run. They sprinted through the house and out the back door. As soon as they got into the backyard, they froze. Standing directly in front of them was Mafortian. The other two were nowhere in sight but Mafortian was there, with the most sadistic smile stretched across his face. How can he be that fast? Bart thought to himself.
“Going somewhere oh glorious one?” he said softly. Then he began to laugh. That laugh was really starting to piss Bart off. If he had been trained he could take him.
“Get out of the way!” Bart yelled but Mafortian just laughed louder and louder. Before Bart could make a move, Mafortian pointed at the ground in front of him. He wasn’t sure what was happening, but quicker than Bart could blink he was airborne. Then everything went black.
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