Free Rise of Keitus by Andrea Pearson Page B

for a moment, he handed them back to Jacob. “Try them out again.”
    Jacob put them on. “Oh, that’s much better.”
    “Great! Go ahead, see how they work.”
    Jacob cleared his throat. He’d only Time-Traveled in Azuriah’s presence so far, and wasn’t sure if doing it away from the Shiengol was allowed or not. But it would take too much time to walk to Azuriah’s fortress and back. “Okay.”
    He got in his familiar stance, stared across the room, and unfocused his eyes. He decided to go to the wedding again, but when he got there, he wasn’t able to enter the room. Then it dawned on him that he couldn’t be in the same room with himself. Since Aldo hadn’t been there right off the bat, Jacob decided to wait outside for the old man.
    He didn’t wait long—Aldo strolled down the hall, whistling to himself.
    He stopped when he saw Jacob. “You don’t like weddings much either?”
    Jacob peered up at the man, waiting to be recognized. “I guess not.”
    “That’s a fine-looking contraption you’ve got on your face. What’s it for?”
    Jacob hesitated, not sure what he could and couldn’t say. “They help me see better.”
    Aldo didn’t seem to care one way or another. He said goodbye and entered the room where the wedding was just starting.
    Jacob pumped his fist in the air. The glasses worked! He quickly returned to the present, relaying the news to Aldo.
    “That’s wonderful!” Then Aldo frowned. “But you said I noticed them? That’s not good. We can’t have them drawing attention to you. I’ll see if I can make the design more sleek, less fragile, and most importantly, less noticeable.”
    Jacob handed the pair back to Aldo. “Sounds great. And thanks!”
     

     
    Jacob spent the next week working with the Makalos, helping plant new gardens since the bugs had destroyed the last ones. He didn’t have a lot of homework from Mr. Coolidge, and hadn’t been able to practice Time-Traveling since Azuriah had told him not to return. Besides, even if Jacob had wanted to visit Azuriah, he wouldn’t have been able to—the Shiengol was still out on diplomatic missions, trying to get other Shiengols to join the fight against the Lorkon.
    Meanwhile, the Lorkon stayed in Maivoryl City and didn’t go anywhere. It didn’t even look like they were making plans. Jacob got bored of watching them but did it anyway, realizing that if another attack happened, it would be his fault if he and the others weren’t aware of it.
    Kevin and Aloren had made a great deal of progress with their English classes. The people could count to ten, recite the alphabet, say their names, and tell someone when they were hungry. Aloren was ecstatic about this progress, but Jacob could only shake his head. There was so much more for those people to learn before they’d be ready to decide whether to help with the fight or not.
    The best news of all was when Aldo and the Fat Lady announced they’d found a partial solution for the bugs.
    “We use the bud from my Silver Trees,” the Fat Lady said. “It’s the main ingredient. Then we add some other stuff—boring things you don’t want to hear about—to make a potion.”
    Jacob was about to ask what the other things were. He actually wanted to know. But Sweet Pea was less patient.
    “Okay, so what do we do with the potion?” he asked.
    The Fat Lady’s eyes lit up. “We apply it to the unaffected trees to keep the bugs from spreading to them.”
    Ebony shook her head, her eyebrows knitted. “There aren’t many of those left. You’re sure it won’t work on the diseased trees?”
    “Yes, and you have to realize, this isn’t a complete cure. It’ll wear off in about two months, and since the bud only comes every three months, we won’t be able to make a new potion until a month after the bugs have started spreading again.”
    Ebony didn’t look convinced. “Well, if it’s all we’ve got, we’ll try it.” Then she smiled. “It’s definitely better than