“Really?” Her face lit up, and she beamed at me.
“Well, yeah. Don’t get too excited. I’d have to check with my mom, and all the other GASP members. We don’t just let anyone in… but maybe if you’re lucky.”
My reply hadn’t dampened her spirits, and she leapt off the bay.
“I think I’d make a really good fighter,” she announced. “I was thinking after this I might join the army. Maybe eventually become a marine!”
“A marine? You’re too young to join the army,” I retorted.
“One day I will,” she corrected herself. “But before that I can train at GASP headquarters. That will definitely get me in.”
I turned back to my crossbow. I didn’t know why she was so desperate to go to war—not that there had been any recent human wars anyway. I couldn’t imagine human wars were as clear-cut as supernatural battles. At least we always knew we were helping someone.
“Is Jenney staying here with you?” Julian asked.
“I don’t know.” Yelena shrugged. “Maybe? I don’t know how else all the kids are going to look after themselves. What if you all die? We’ll be stuck here forever, wandering the castle like ghosts.”
“Yelena!” I exclaimed. “Can you not say stuff like that? We’re not all going to die—right, Julian?”
“We don’t know that,” he replied somberly.
It wasn’t what I wanted to hear. Of course we weren’t going to die—our parents were here! They’d never let anyone hurt us. Julian was being dramatic.
“Boys?”
My mom and grandpa peered around the door to our room.
“Hey.” I waved lamely in greeting and put the crossbow down before they could yell at me for playing with weapons indoors.
They walked in, followed by Ashley. I could tell by their expressions that they had something serious to discuss—but the appearance of my grandpa threw me. What with him always saving the world and stuff, I rarely got to spend much time with him. To be honest, he kind of scared me. Julian eyed them warily, smiling weakly at his mom.
Are we in trouble?
“We’ve got something we want to discuss with you,” my mom began. “Why don’t you all sit down? Julian, do you want to put the sword away?”
He hurriedly shoved it on the bed, and we all gathered on the sofa. Yelena stayed put.
“You too, Yelena,” my mom said, smiling at her.
She shoved herself between me and Julian, trying her best to look serious and attentive.
Teacher’s pet.
“We know how eager you are to join us at the cove”—my mom smiled at me—“but there’s another mission that needs to be taken care of. We believe the jinni who bound the entity in the stones is still somewhere in Nevertide. We need them to be found and brought forward to help us end this.”
“It’s imperative that they are found,” my grandfather added. “Our success in this battle may well depend on it—if we fail, you’ll be our only hope.”
“You want us to find the jinni?” I asked, making sure I was understanding this correctly.
“You’re the only ones we would trust,” my grandfather confirmed. He gazed at me, his expression serious and hopeful.
“Do you think they’d be willing to help, even if we found them? They haven’t come forward—but they must know what’s going on?”
“That’s a good point, Benedict, but we’re hoping that you’ll find a way to persuade them,” he replied.
I nodded, swelling with pride. I’d never been asked to go on a special mission before—and to be asked by my grandfather, Derek Novak himself, made my toes curl. I’d always been a tiny bit jealous of my uncle, Benjamin. He was a natural leader—always kept his cool, fought amazingly well and always seemed to be making big decisions with my grandpa. I hoped one day that would be me—and maybe if I did well on this mission, my grandpa might trust me with more.
“And me?” Yelena asked quietly. “Am I going?”
“Yes, we hoped you would,” my mom replied.
What?
Clearly I’d missed that bit when they were explaining what we had to do. Why was Yelena coming? She was a civilian—what help would she be? I looked across at Julian.
Can you believe this? I asked silently, with a pointed eyebrow raise. He just shrugged, turning his attention back to the adults.
“So, get your stuff together, we’ll help you pack camping equipment—we brought our packs with us, so you can take those,” Ashley explained, “and you’ll be joined by Ridan, Horatio and Aisha and a few of the half-Hawk brothers.”