The Secrets of Serised

“Why!” exclaimed Thaladria, then more quickly and with a strange enthusiasm: “Imbir Seugn’ot ruvo’c?”The twins stopped talking then, and the girl cast her head to the side, looking worriedly behind Lily and her band at the storm. The boy was the one who actually spoke first.“Yes, yes—we speak many languages. But now is not the time for idle chitchat, I’m afraid.

A storm approaches.” His brow was furrowed in a manner that seemed unbecoming of his features, and Lily was sure that something more than the storm was bothering him, though she wasn’t sure how she could know that.“Yeah, we noticed that, genius,” said Julian unkindly. “Now if you’ll excuse us, we’re trying to find shelter.” Julian’s tone was sarcastic and cold, but neither twin noticed.“Syro-cu? It yama?”“Alden! Ekul’a! Ekul’a!”“What are they saying?” Lily whispered quietly to Thaladria, whom the twins had seemed to forget.“She wants to do something. But he says it’s too risky.”“I know the word ekul’a. It means ‘the same,’ right?”“Yes. In the context, she is saying that we are all the same.” Thaladria looked Lily directly in the eyes. “I tell you this, Lily, I sense that the storm approaching will be unlike anything we’ve ever experienced—and these two know that.” A huge light filled the quickly darkening sky, followed by an enormous thunderclap. Lily instinctively cupped her hands over her ears. The sound was tremendous, like nothing she’d ever heard before, and the flash had blinded her. Though she had experienced storms in the past, they were nothing like this unbridled tempest, the light and sound erupting around them like a sudden downpour that had caught them by surprise. In the past, she had always had a home to run to. Now, here in this wide-open place, there was nothing at all. No shelter, no protection, no feeling of safety. A pure, primal fear ripped at her gut, and it took everything she had to keep herself from running.“We have to secure the horses!” yelled Lily to the others. She had nearly been thrown from her mount when the horse heard the thunder, and she wasn’t about to be crushed beneath the mare’s hooves after all the distance they’d traveled.As if unaware of the storm that was now threatening to crush them all, the twins kept talking in Seugn’ot. Finally, after long minutes, Alden hollered over the roar of the wind. “Fine!” he shouted. “Fine!”Julian could tell that whatever happened, it wouldn’t be good. The storm was an angry mass of broiling black clouds, and it threatened to converge on them at any moment. He helped stake the horses down and tried to calm them, but it was no use.As for Xander, he didn’t think they were going to make it. “Can’t we outrun it?” he screamed over the fierce wind, not really asking anyone in particular. There was no hope of that now. The storm stretched to the eastern horizon and was moving so quickly that he knew they’d never get far enough fast enough.“You can’t outrun one of these!” said the male twin. “Trust me on this! But don’t worry; everyone gather around the horses!”Julian didn’t like taking orders, especially from strangers, but the boy’s voice had a commanding quality to it that made him obey. They huddled close to their steeds, and everyone turned to watch a giant wall of water approaching. It was a hundred yards away now, coming down like solid sheets of rain, blanketing the parched earth. Eighty yards. They could see more lightning dancing from cloud to cloud with deadly speed. Sixty yards. It struck the ground in the distance, leaving a glassy sheet steaming beneath the rain where sand had once been. It was so close. Fifty yards.And it was closing in on them without mercy.Ever closer.“Now, Alden!” cried the girl.Twenty yards away now. They could see the flash flood that the storm had created; several inches of water built up in a matter of minutes. What can he possibly do? thought Lily. Even if the flooding didn’t become terribly dangerous, the lightning could kill them all in an instant.Alden raised his staff, yelling words that no one could hear now; they were washed away by the sounds of the storm. The green stone at its tip began to glow with power, and the girl, Estelle, pulled their own horses and the donkey closer to the others, encouraging everyone with wild gestures to pull closer to her.Ten yards.Alden jabbed the staff into the ground in front of the group.The storm crashed down around them, but none of them felt the rain. They were suddenly cloaked in darkness, rain pounding whatever encased them with a furious thump, thump, thump. The only source of light was Alden’s green stone, which bathed the terrified faces of everyone in a pale glow.Julian couldn’t believe what had just happened. Before anyone else could understand, he knew. This boy, this teenage kid, had just used . . . “Magic,” he said aloud