Chronicles of the Kiridians
Chapter 9

For it is written in the Chronicles of the Kirdians:

Forgiveness is the key to all happiness in life

Holding onto bitterness does nothing except drag you down

Remember forgiveness is not the same as forgetting

And forgetting is not the same as forgiveness

There are moments in life where you feel like a new chapter is starting. Where the events of your life tie together in one little bow, and everything starts to have an answer. However, normally those answers lead to more questions. As we mount our bikes and ride out of the bus terminal, I can’t help but feel one of those moments is upon us. While I believe replaceing Brodie is going to be a key factor in figuring out how to stop King Delmund, there’s still so much more we don’t understand.

“Kara, stop frowning you’ll wrinkle,” says Raina pushing off the concrete and beginning to pedal down the sidewalk.

“I’m really about to meet two aliens in one year,” says Joey following quickly behind her. “Who knew sophmore year would be a whirlwind like this?”

We ride down the street until we end up at a small cafe with a couple of hipsters sitting down outside. They turn up their noses to us with their laptops and coffee as we stop in front of the building. “I just realized I was hungry,” says Raina with stopping abruptly. “Can we grab a bit of food from here? We don’t know how long it’s going to take to replace Brodie, and cryo-sleep doesn’t leave you feeling very hungry unless you already were when you were going into-”

“You don’t have to justify yourself,” I say interrupting her spiral. “We can stop,” I say with a smile.

Raina nods and walks over to one of the corner tables on the outside of the resturaunt. We sit down, and a few minutes later a waiter comes to take our drink orders.

“It’s a bit early to see some kids around here,” says the waiter with a smile. “What brings you guys here today? Shouldn’t you be in school?”

“Just wanting some food,” says Joey. “That’s okay, right?”

“What my friend is trying to say,” I say interjecting before he can continue to babble. “We are homeschooled and we get to go “off-campus” for lunch once a week. I’ve been wanting to try this place for a minute,”

Satisfied with my answer the waiter quickly takes our drink orders and walks back to the building. We sit there in silence and wait for our drinks before Joey is the first to speak. “So game plan?” he prompts to us. “Do we know where we are going? What is his exact location so we can be sure that we don’t loop in a circle for hours and not replace something that’s right in front of us.

Raina pulls out her LOTUS from underneath her shirt and opens it under the table. She begins fooling with it and, and then brings it back up to the table right as our waiter comes back to the table with our drinks.

“Oh cool! Are those air pods? I’ve been wanting to get them so badly! Are they worth it?”

“Definitely,” says Raina with a sideways glance at me. I nod to let her know that it’s a good thing and she looks back at the waiter with a smile. “I don’t think I could live without them!”

“That’s good to know,” says the waiter. “I’ll give you guys a few minutes to figure out what you want to order. If you need anything just flag me down!”

“What the heck is that?” asks Joey as he reaches to touch the two ear phone like objects in Raina’s hand. She jerks her hand back and gives him a disapproving look and he blushes from across the table.

“Manners, Joseph,” she says simply as she lays the objects back on the table. “This is my LOTUS. It’s not appropriate to expect someone to use the same wardrobe decor every day. The software allows changing shapes and forms to go with what you’re doing. I plan on using it to track down the pod and putting these in my ears and letting it lead the way,”

“That’s reassuring,” I say taking a sip of my Dr. Pepper. “What happens if he’s somewhere inaccessible though? Are we willing to go all in to save him?”

“Kara, I’ll stop at nothing,” says Raina.

“Same, I guess,” says Joey who gets an admiring look from Raina and blushes.

I begin to look around the patio and notice the people that are surrounding us. There’s a hipster with red hair and a bunch of tattoos on her arm, there’s a guy with silver hair and wide black glasses, and a man with lion tattoos with a newspaper-

“Raina,” I whisper to her. “Is that man Kiridian?”

Raina casually glances over her shoulder and sees the man with the tattoo on his body and flips back to me with a look of shock. “Yes!” she whispers harshly as she attempts to get up. I grab onto her arm and shake my head cautiously. The man glances over, and then quickly goes back to reading his newspaper. “Oh my gosh, what are we going to do! We can’t let him replace Brodie! We have to go now!”

“We can’t,” I say calmly. “If we get up and run he’s going to know that we know he’s here. As long as we know that he’s here, and he doesn’t know that we know he’s here, then we are okay.”

“That was the most confusing sentence ever spoken,” says Joey as he anxiously plays with the straw on his drink. He looks over at the guy every couple of seconds, and then back down at his straw.

We are going to get caught.

“So what can I get you guys to eat?” the sound of our waiter’s voice makes me jump as he comes up without being noticed. “Are you guys wanting anything?”

“Is there anyway that we can just get the check?” I ask him. “That man has been starring at us, and it’s been making me very uncomfortable, please don’t look!” I say as I catch the waiter about to turn around. “I’d just appreciate the check,”

“On the house,” says the waiter with a nod. “Hurry up and get out of here. I’ll hold that guy off while you make a go for it.”

We nod and get up from the table. I see the man from Kiridia look at us as we walk away, but I move quickly with the bikes as we take off. “LOTUS, take us to Brodie,” says Raina as she places them in her ears.

We begin to ride with Raina taking the lead and pedal as fast as we can away from the cafe. We pedal in silence for about fifteen minutes just following Raina before we start to feel comfortable enough to slow down.

“My LOTUS says that we are about thirty minutes from where he is located,” says Raina. “This is going to be a long drive, but we are so close to replaceing my brother!” We continue to follow Raina until we get to a wooded area outside of the city of San Antonio.

The forest looks huge, and ground is covered with large roots and other woodland things that are begging to pop our tires as we try to ride through this. I look at Raina and Joey and hop off of the bike, leading it to a big bush nearby. Tucking it behind the bush I walk over to them and nod at them to follow suit. “We really can’t ride through that,” I say with a laugh. “Looks like we are walking from here,”

“Hopefully it isn’t too far off,” says Raina. “Joseph, would you mind walking in front of me? I am not the best hiker,”

“Uh, yeah, sure,” says Joey looking at me. The two of them continue to walk as I stare at the forest and take it in.

Lena, is this a good idea?

I plead in my head but get no answer as I walk after my friends. We walk for a few minutes as Raina tells us a story about the boy that got into so much trouble in the castle. She goes on and on about how mischevious her brother is, and it honestly makes me kind of nervous to have him come back to Sanora with us. There’s not a lot to do for someone that antsy in a little town like ours.

“The LOTUS says we should be there in a few minutes!” says Raina with a smile.

A few minutes turn into half a day. Half a day of walking through the woods, getting bitten by bugs, and ultimately being convinced that this is where I’m going to die.

“Kara, you’ll think this is funny,” says Raina as she continues to ramble on. “He had the BIGGEST crush on Lena. I’m talking monumental crush. No one actually ever sees her, so he’ll be so jealous that you and I got to see her in the flesh! All there are drawings of her on Kiridia. There’s also a cartoon, but the accuracy of that show is not consistent with the real thing now that I’ve seen her in real life.”

I can’t help but notice a child-like innocence fall over Raina the closer we get to replaceing her brother. We’ve been through a lot since we’ve met, and I think it’s easy to forget how young Raina actually is due to how she carries herself. These moments where she isn’t afraid to let loose are endearing, and dare I say, makes her pretty relatable.

“What about, Joey?” asks Raina. “Do you have any siblings?”

“Nope!” says Joey with a smile. “I’m an only child.”

“What is with the earth in having only one child?” asks Raina as she continues to guide Joey who is leading the way. “Wait, Joseph,” says Raina after about fifteen more minutes of walking. “Stop,”

She walks over to the left about ten paces and stops. She looks around and then stomps her foot in frustration. “The LOTUS says that Brodie should be right here!” she says. I begin to turn around when out of the corner of my eye I notice a rounded shape in the ground. It’s covered in twigs and leaves and is badly beat up.

“Raina,” I say pointing to the mound. She lights up and runs over to it and moves the leaves around. “He was an excellent hunter! I should have known he’d have hidden his pod to make sure he was less accessible!”

She brushes everything off of the pod, carelessly throwing things to the left and right of her. After a few seconds of her moving things, she turns to me and Joey with frustration. “Are you going to help me move this stuff or are you going to just watch?!” We run over to the pod and begin to help her undress it, when the familiar light shines out onto our faces.

My stomach drops as I watch the glass begin to rise on her sibling and the smoke from the cryo chamber release into the air. A few seconds go by before a boy with a handsome face groggily lifts his head out into the real world.

Everything is about to change.

“BRODIE!” screams Raina as she thrusts herself on top of him and wraps him in a hug. It takes him a minute to realize who is standing next to him, but he when he does he jumps out of the cart and hugs his sister back. “I’m so glad to know you’re okay!” says Raina. “I have so much to tell you!”

“The ship split apart and I thought I’d be here forever!” says Brodie as he continues to look at only Raina. “Dude, what happened to you, little sister?” asks Brodie starring Raina up and down. “Is there not a shower on earth?”

“Brodie, I’ve been walking through this wood all day searching for you, jerk!” says Raina.

I clear my throat and Raina and Brodie stop talking and finally glance over at me and Joey. “Brodie, I’d like you to meet Kara and Joey. They’ve been helping me since I was discovered in my pod not too long ago,” says Raina.

He looks up and down at us, and then turns to his sister. “Uzaupezem e yes deasuusemm ubigi ki” he says in his native language. Raina looks at him annoyed and swats his arm.

“Las-aze ubik gi” she says rolling her eyes. “Introduce yourself, Brodie,”

“Uh, hey guys!” says Brodie with a charming smile and wink. “My name is Brodie, but you already knew that. I’m assuming you don’t speak Kiridian, I just asked Raina what the plan was, or if we had one,” he looks over at Raina. “I’m assuming we haven’t found Anya or Edwin yet?”

“You were the closest one,” I interject.

He squints his eyes and looks at me curiously. “There’s something familiar about you, Earth Girl,” he says.

We stare at each other for a moment, and I can feel my cheeks begin to get hot as he grins from ear to ear. Raina clears her throat, and we are brought back to reality. “It’s not that I’m not exuberantly excited to see you, but we need to get to a hotel as soon as possible. I’m starving, and there are Kiridian guards that are after us right now!”

A twig snaps behind us and we all turn around to see the two Kiridian guards from the other night standing across from us pointing a gun at us. “Nice of you to make that introduction, Princess,” says Ralph with a creepy smile. “Prince Brodie, nice to see you again.”

“Wish I could say the same,” says Brodie.

“I’m afraid you’re going to have to come with us now,” says Brandon. “Let’s go ahead and make this easy,”

“Or,” I say with a smile, “You can turn around and be on your merry little way,”

“Snarky, I like that,” says Brodie with a wink. “I’m afraid I’ll have to agree with her boys. It’s your time to go,”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, Prince Brodie,” says Ralph with a frown.

“Well, then I guess we are at a bit of a standstill,” says Raina defiantly. “Because we aren’t coming with you.