Vitrian Secrets by Dele Andersen (book club reads txt) 📕

“Jason,” Bathe repeated to the person he was talking to. “Yes, that's his name. Thanks.”

Knowing Bathe's phone discussion was about Jason, Wanda also fixed her eyes on him. She waited in full expectation for what he had to say, but Bathe kept silent and only applied more gas to the engine.

The car moved faster. The Audi zoomed past vehicles on the motorway. Wanda knew Bathe was going nearly as fast as the car could go.

“What is it?” Sofia asked.

“They found him.” Bathe turned to Sofia with a forced smile.

Wanda closed her eyes in deep relief, happy to hear the news, but Bathe's expression worried her. What was the connection between Bathe and the demons that chased her?

“What’s wrong?” Sofia's voice was firm as she stared at Bathe. “You’ve increased your speed.”

Reluctantly, Bathe let out the information he'd been given. “Jason has been poisoned by a demon. They need you urgently at the fortress; they need family blood to treat him. If not, you'll lose him.”

Wanda's heart skipped a beat. She remembered what Eric had told her at school: Your chances are very little, if the demon's talons have touched you.

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Chapter 4

Sofia froze. Her face turned pale, skin as white as a chicken that had been killed and skinned.

Wanda knew her mum had to be overwhelmed by everything. Wanda blamed herself for being carried away by thoughts of her holiday before noticing the demon beside Alfred.

“Then you better speed up.” Sofia broke out from her trance and turned away from Bathe, staring at the road.

As if this was what Bathe needed to hear, he responded by applying more gas. The engine grunted like it was going to fall apart. A moment of silence passed before anyone made any comments or raised any other questions.

“Where is Jason now?” Wanda asked. “Is he already at the fortress?”

“No,” Bathe responded. “But some Vitrians are rushing him there as we speak. They will be there before us—in about five minutes, to be precise.”

“Isn't there anything they can do before we arrive?” Wanda's voice was weak, revealing panic. Sorrow washed over her, although she hid her pain for her mum's sake. “I mean, to help Jason. Can't something be done?”

“They will try.” Bathe's reply was cold and sounded like the odds of helping Jason were limited, like the chances of him surviving was hopeless. “That's why they wanted to confirm his name on the phone. They are trying to keep him awake and active. While active and awake, the effect of the poison on him reduces. They're going to keep talking to him, calling his name, to keep him—”

“Why don't they just heal him?”  Sofia interrupted. A mixture of anger, frustration, and despair filled her voice. Wanda stared at her mum as her mother continued. “They heal the sick Vitrians, the extremely wounded after every battle.” She focused on Bathe, who looked straight on the road. “I’ve seen it multiple times. Not a single wounded Vitrian died, as long as they were found. Even when they were poisoned, they were healed. They should heal my son with the Healing Méndez!”

Bathe shook his head. He was quiet for a moment, and Wanda could see he didn't want to get into a discussion. Wanda kept quiet and waited to hear what Bathe had to say.

“The Vitrians no longer have a Healing Méndez,” he finally let out.

His voice trembled, like some of what he said was false. Mistrust bloomed in her mind, and she worried they might be in the hands of the person they should be running from. She looked at her mum, but her mother appeared overwhelmed with how they would heal Jason.

“What do you mean?” Sofia asked. 

Wanda turned her head from her mum to Bathe and back to her mum, studying their expressions carefully.

“The Healing Méndez has been stolen . . . by the rebels.”

Sofia gaped and then said, “You told me the rebels are weak and scattered, merely a vague force right now. You said they fizzled out of existence, and the Vitrians are not even worried—”

“Yes, they are weak in comparison to the Vitrians' strength all over the world. That I can promise you. But I don't know how the rebels were able to steal the Healing Méndez from the fortress.”

Wanda’s feelings for Bathe waffled with uncertainty. He had always been there for them. He had a ways of being available at unexpected moments, such as when she rushed to the house searching for her mum. She wondered how he was always on point, showing up at their house in the exact moments when he was needed. She sensed he knew more about the Healing Méndez story than he was saying. Did he know about the demons chasing her and Jason? Her mum had mysteriously lost her phone while a demon chased Wanda at school, and Bathe happened to show up at their house in their hour of need. He had people to call to find Jason. Now they had found Jason, but a demon had poisoned him.

With these suspicious thoughts of Bathe swimming in her mind, Wanda called out to her mum. “Mum, should we really be going to this place—to this fortress?” The notion that they should be running from Bathe pervaded her mind.

“Yes,” Sofia answered.

Bathe looked at Wanda through the rearview mirror, studying her. Wanda avoided his eyes.

“Mum.” Wanda continued her complaints. “We need to be sure this fortress is safe.”

Sofia looked over her shoulder at her. “Wanda, it is the only safe place. It's where you need to be right now.”

“And the demon?” Wanda inquired. “Jason—how do we know who got him, who poisoned him?” The words rushed out. Perhaps she’d said too much. Even Bathe could easily infer from what she had said.

“I know the best and fastest way of healing demon poison is by using the Healing Méndez,” Bathe said. “With it, Jason would be fine in minutes.”

Wanda felt Bathe’s response was meant to distract her mother.

“So why can't another Healing Méndez be used to heal Jason?” Wanda asked, challenging Bathe’s comment. She had seen so many tools with Eric and in her father's box that she didn't understand why they couldn't use another Healing Méndez.

“The Healing Méndez is not like the Praying Méndez, which everyone has,” Bathe replied, looking at Wanda through the rearview mirror. “Each Vitrian has a Praying Méndez, but not everyone has a Healing Méndez. In fact, there is only one Healing Méndez at each Fortress, and if your injury from a battle is severe . . .”

“Like a cut from a demon's talon?” Eric's warning resonated in Wanda's head as she spoke.

“Yes, like a deep cut from a strong demon,” Bathe confirmed. “To be healed, you would require the Healing Méndez.” He went silent for a moment and then continued. “The Healing Méndez is quite different from the Praying Méndez. It carries heavenly powers. In the past, some obsessed Vitrian elders tried replicating it, just like they could replicate and manufacture Praying Méndezes for everyone. But they were not able to do so.”

Frustrated at the fact that Jason's life was hanging by a thread, Wanda spoke before she thought about her words. “Then let's look for the rebels and have a word . . .”

Bathe didn’t answer. He let the words hang in the air for some seconds.

“It wouldn't help,” her mother said. “We'd be doing exactly what the rebels want if we decided to go to them.”

“What do you mean?” Wanda asked.

“They would demand to have you,” Sofia said. “That's what this is all about. They want you and Jason, and they have the Healing Méndez.”

“Are you saying . . .” Wanda did not want to come to terms with what her mum was insinuating. Eric's voice telling her the demon at school was sent to fetch her resonated in her ears.

“Yes,” Bathe muttered in a sad tone. “I think Jason was poisoned to get to you.”

Wanda noticed her mum didn't seem surprised at Bathe’s statement. What Bathe said was precisely what her mum was implying. Wanda could always read her mum, her emotions and her panic when things happened to them, as well as the fear that had grown worse day after day since her dad died. She remembered how Jason had played, genuinely believing their father's stories and narrating them to his friends at school.

“But . . . but why?” Wanda said, raising her voice. “Jason has done nothing. We don't even know about the Vitrians. Why didn't they just hold him for ransom if they wanted us? They could have locked him up rather than leave him to die.”

Bathe and Sofia exchanged glances.

“Why poison him and release him for death?” Wanda continued.

“Why?” Sofia said, staring at Bathe, who turned back toward the motorway. “The rebels had him already, so why poison him and leave him?”

Bathe looked pensive. “I don't know. There could be several reasons for it. The rebels could have done it when they realized the Vitrians were about to take Jason from them, or they could have done it to make fear set in, knowing we would need the Healing Méndez to heal Jason and would therefore have to come to them.”

“Mum,” Wanda said, making sure her tone demanded an explanation.

“Your father left the Vitrians a few years after the rebels started.” Sofia did not turn to look at Wanda. She drew in a deep breath as her voice broke. “Your dad loved you, Wanda; he loved you and Jason so much and wanted the best for you.”

“Then why didn't he tell us about the rebels?” Wanda said.

“You were too young, Wanda,” Bathe said, and Wanda knew he was right; she was barely seven years old when her father died nine years earlier.

“It is believed,” Sofia said, “that the rebels deal in the occult and sorcery. They got information that certain children would be born to strengthen the Vitrian legacy, and they have since wanted those children dead.”

“Children?” Wanda reiterated, not sure she’d heard her mum correctly.

“Yes, children,” Bathe affirmed. “Not just you and Jason. The only difference between you and Jason compared to the others is only one of your parents is a Vitrian.” Bathe paused. “The Vitrians believed for a long time that these children would only come from full-fledged, faithful Vitrian parents.”

“Not mixed parents like my dad and mum,” Wanda said, looking at her mum.

“On point!” Bathe said. “And I guess with the fact that none of the other Chosen children have been born from a single Vitrian parent heritage, they never felt concerned to look at you or Jason.”

“But the rebels did?” Wanda said.

“Well, from what transpired today, I guess you can say so.” Bathe's voice was gentle as he answered.

Wanda pondered the issue, knowing the rebels must have received information about her ability and sent the demon to fetch her. She remembered how Eric had saved her. Even if he escaped the demon that attacked her, how would he be healed?

“There was a boy at school . . .” Wanda said and broke off, not knowing how to bring the topic up.

Bathe looked at her through the rearview