The Prince Warriors and the Swords of Rhema Read online

  Xavier felt a knot of anxiety form in his stomach. He was the best player at the Rec, but here at this new school it might be a totally different story. What if he wasn’t good enough? What if he messed up the tryouts? What if he didn’t make the team? His brother would probably never stop making fun of him.

  His sandwich suddenly tasted like cement in his mouth. He picked up a carton of milk and drained it.

  * * *

  The day dragged on, each minute like a wrecking ball on Xavier’s nerves. When the last bell rang, he hurried to the locker room to put on his gym clothes. Then he followed the other kids to the gym and started doing warm-ups on the court. The coach came in, a tall guy with a slight potbelly, carrying a clipboard. When he blew his whistle all the kids stopped what they were doing and went to sit on the bleachers. Xavier followed along, trying to laugh and joke with the other kids so they wouldn’t know how nervous he was.

  “I’m Coach Thompson,” said the man once all the boys were settled. “My assistant, Ms. Field, and I will be running tryouts today.” He pointed to a younger, very fit woman holding a pile of numbered stickers. “We don’t have many open spots this year, so if you don’t make the team make sure to try again next year.”

  Coach Thompson quickly took attendance. Then Ms. Field began handing out the large numbers, instructing the kids to stick them on their shirts.

  “These are your numbers during tryouts. Makes it easier for me to call on you, since I don’t know all your names yet. Put them on and line up for layup drills. Let’s roll, people!”

  Just then another kid came out of the locker room, bouncing a basketball slowly. Xavier stared at the kid—he’d never seen him before. He was taller than even Xavier, with a darker complexion. He looked a little bit like Manuel. But unlike Manuel, this kid was very athletic looking. He had a muscular physique and a lean, hungry walk. He also looked a bit older than the other eighth graders. Maybe he’d started school later. His dark hair was shaved in the back but long in the front, falling into his eyes. Xavier wondered how he could even see where he was going.

  “Sorry I’m late,” he said, as if he owned the place. Coach Thompson blew his whistle again and walked over to the kid.

  “Who are you?”

  “Viktor. Viktor . . . Daimon.”

  “You’re not on my sheet, Viktor.”

  “Oh, yeah, sorry. Today was my first day of school.”

  “Oh, you just moved to town?”

  “You could say that.” Viktor smirked.

  “Where from?”

  “Oh . . . up north.”

  “Really? No one told me about you. Typical. Welcome to Cedar Creek Middle School, Viktor. Okay, grab a number from Ms. Field and line up with the others. Let’s get started!”

  The tryouts began with layup drills. Xavier kept an eye on Viktor. He was good. Really good. Xavier felt that knot in his stomach grow to the size of a basketball. From the layups they went on to shooting drills, passing drills, rebounding drills, and weave pattern drills. Viktor did every drill perfectly, and every time he shot a basket, he made it. Xavier, trying his best, made quite a few baskets but not all of them. I’m just too nervous, he thought to himself. The anxiety of trying out, coupled with this new kid’s amazing skills, had started to rattle him.

  After each drill, some players were eliminated until there were only six left, including Xavier and Viktor. They stood together in a line, waiting for their next instructions.

  Viktor leaned over to whisper to Xavier. “When’s the last time that coach ran a mile?”

  Xavier snickered but didn’t answer.

  The coach walked over to them, holding his whistle as if ready to blow it any second. “Okay, we’re gonna do a scrimmage now, 3-on-3. You, you, and you”—he pointed to Xavier and two other boys—“you’re blue. You three are red.” He pointed to Viktor and the two other kids.

  Viktor leaned over to whisper to Xavier again. “Never put the best on the same team, right?” Then he went to join the two other kids, attaching red markers to their chests to designate their team.

  Xavier felt a surge of pride. Obviously, Viktor thought he was good, or he wouldn’t have said it. He felt his confidence return.

  But it was dashed as soon as the scrimmage began. Viktor ran rings around him, literally. The kid seemed to be able to move forward and sideways at the same time, dribbling the ball like it was magnetized to his arm. On defense he was equally ferocious, batting away Xavier’s jump shot right at the rim. It was clear Viktor didn’t even need his two teammates. He could do it all himself.

  It wasn’t the way basketball should be played, Xavier thought. Basketball is a team sport. But Viktor just wanted to play Hero-Ball—all by himself. The coach should have blown his whistle and called him on it. But the coach and his assistant were both too stunned by Viktor’s performance to interfere.

  Viktor’s “team” won 20-8. Xavier felt utterly humiliated. But then Viktor came over to him and gave him a good-natured slap on the back.

  “Nice moves, man,” he said. “Not too many guys get any shots on me. Wanna hang out later?”

  Xavier felt flattered to be asked by this cool kid who was practically a professional. He needed to take his mind off the tryouts anyway.

  “Sure. I’m going to the Rec after this. Want to come?”

  “The Rec? What’s that?”

  “Sorry, I mean the recreation center.”

  “Oh, right. No thanks. Sounds like something for little kids.”

  Xavier blushed. Maybe he was getting too old for the Rec. “It’s pretty cool,” he said. “We’ve got a great coach there, Mr. J. Ar—”

  Viktor suddenly put up his hand. “Nah, I’ll take a pass. Maybe next time. See you tomorrow, Xavier.” He started to walk away.

  “How’d you know my name?”

  Viktor looked startled by the question. He glanced back at the coach and shrugged casually. “He said it.” Viktor kept on walking.

  Xavier watched him go, feeling a bit of confusion inside. He was pretty sure that Coach Thompson had never said their names during the tryout. He’d called them all by their numbers only.

  After a moment, Xavier shrugged, shaking off the concern, and followed the others to the locker room.

  CHAPTER 14

  Beware the Wolf

  When Xavier got to the Rec, Landon and some of his friends were playing basketball on the outside court. Xavier thought about joining them but changed his mind and went to the skatepark instead. It wasn’t that he minded playing basketball with Landon, who used to be the biggest bully at the Rec. Ever since Levi had offered him his own shoes to wear, Landon had changed a lot. He didn’t pick on other kids anymore. He didn’t try to stir up trouble. But Landon was also a really good player, and Xavier didn’t want to deal with more competition.

  As Xavier approached the skatepark, Levi waved to him and did a backward nosegrind off the rails. Xavier grabbed a spare board and tried to do the same move Levi had done. Levi made it look so easy; Xavier couldn’t get the hang of it. Finally, he just gave up. After his experience on the basketball court that day, he didn’t want to feel like a failure at anything else.

  “How were tryouts?” Levi asked when they sat down on the bench for a rest.

  “Okay, I guess,” said Xavier.

  “C’mon, you rocked it, right? You’re the best.”

  “Not anymore.” Xavier told Levi about Viktor, the new kid who had walked into the tryouts and blown everyone else out of the water, including him. “It would be my luck that this superstar kid shows up on the very day tryouts start, just to ruin my life.”

  “Hey, they need more than one player, right? I’m sure you’ll still make it. What’s this guy like anyway?”

  “He’s cool. He was actually pretty friendly. I invited him to the Rec, but he said it wasn’t his thing.”

/>   “I’d like to meet him,” Levi said.

  “Come to tryouts tomorrow. I’m sure he’ll be there.”

  “To try out?” Levi said with a laugh. “Basketball is not my game. But maybe I’ll stop by and check it out.”

  “Hey, where’s your dad today? I thought there was going to be a game on.”

  “Some big project at work, I guess. But he promised he’d be in later.”

  * * *

  Levi went to the school gym to watch the tryouts the next day so he could see Viktor in action. He wasn’t the only one. Several other kids, as well as other assistant coaches, had heard about Viktor and had come to see for themselves. Like Xavier, Levi was slightly amazed that this kid was really in middle school. He seemed so much older—maybe he’d flunked a grade or two. It was possible.

  The coach skipped a lot of the drills that they’d done the day before and started doing 3-on-3s with Viktor on one team and Xavier on the other. Levi never saw Xavier work so hard at a game before, with so little result. Viktor never seemed to get tired. He never passed the ball to his teammates either. He could do right- and left-handed layups equally well, and his jump shot was truly unbelievable. At one point, when Xavier and both his teammates had succeeded in blocking Viktor at the edge of the court, he leapt up for a three-pointer and swished the net. It was an incredible shot.

  Xavier did his best to slow Viktor down, and he did get some baskets, but he was clearly outmatched. The scrimmage ended 20-10.

  “Hey, your team scored ten points,” Levi said as Xavier slumped next to him on the bench. “That guy was working hard to block your shots, more than any of the others. So I’d say ten points is pretty good.”

  “Not really,” said Xavier. Viktor came over and gave Xavier a high five, like they were best friends.

  “Good job, buddy,” he said. Levi was annoyed that Viktor called Xavier “buddy.” It was a weird thing to say. He made it sound as if they were old friends, when they barely knew each other.

  “This is Levi,” Xavier said. “A friend of mine.”

  Viktor smiled, flipping out one hand in greeting. “What’s up?” He tossed his hair off his forehead briefly, and Levi saw that his eyes were very light, which seemed strange for a guy with his dark coloring. They reminded him of those creepy dolls in horror movies that stare and stare without expression.

  “Hey,” said Levi. “Nice shooting.”

  “Just getting warmed up,” said Viktor with a laugh. “You play?”

  “Levi’s more of a skateboarder,” Xavier said.

  “Oh, hey, can you show me some moves?” Viktor asked.

  “Sure,” Levi said, shrugging off the uneasy feeling that gnawed at him about this guy. He was really very friendly and likable. “Why don’t you come to the Rec? There’s a bus that goes from here right after school. It’s got a sick skatepark.”

  “The Rec?” Viktor’s eyes flickered a little, like he was wary of something. Levi found his hesitation curious. But before he had time to wonder about it, Viktor smiled, and the concerned expression vanished. “Why not? Sure. I’ll be there tomorrow.”

  “Listen up, boys,” the coach called out, making all the players look at him. “The team roster will be posted tomorrow morning on the bulletin board outside the gym. Practice starts Monday. Thank you all for trying out. Hit the showers.”

  * * *

  The next day, the three boys rode the bus to the rec center after school. Viktor and Xavier sat together, talking about basketball. They had both made the team, along with three other boys who had tried out. Levi knew Xavier had been really nervous, but now he was just excited about playing on the team, especially with Viktor. Xavier seemed to have forgotten Levi even existed; he was so absorbed with everything Viktor said and did.

  Levi sat by himself, looking out the window. Brianna and Ivy were on the bus as well, but they sat together talking about stuff girls talk about, and Levi didn’t want to get involved in that. He would have even looked forward to talking to Manuel, even though he usually didn’t understand half the stuff Manuel said. But Manuel wasn’t on the bus that day.

  The sun was out, although it was getting colder by the day. The leaves were almost gone from the trees now. Levi thought about the big pile of leaves that had turned into a portal and taken the Prince Warriors to Ahoratos only a few weeks ago. Had it only been a few weeks? Seemed like much longer.

  He took out his phone and checked his messages. There was one from his dad: “Have to work late. Won’t be at the Rec until later.”

  And then, without warning, the UNSEEN app on his phone opened and displayed a message:

  Beware the wolf.

  Levi stared at the message, wondering what it meant. Sometimes he got instructions on his phone that had to do with stuff he was going through at the time. But this message seemed really out of place. Beware? The wolf? What was that all about?

  When Levi looked up again, he saw that Viktor was showing Xavier something on his phone. Levi leaned over the seat to see that Viktor was playing Kingdom Quest, Xavier and Evan’s favorite game. And he was killing it. Xavier just stared at the phone, amazed at Viktor’s skills. The kids sitting in front of them had turned around to see what they were doing. Even the kid sitting across from Viktor had leaned over to watch. By the time Viktor defeated level 9, which Levi had never seen anyone do before, the whole bus was cheering wildly. Viktor had not only conquered Kingdom Quest, he’d conquered the whole bus.

  * * *

  When they got to the Rec, the boys headed to the skate park, followed by a whole gaggle of bus kids who wanted to see what Viktor would do next. Brianna and Ivy went too, curious about the new kid.

  “What’s he like?” Brianna asked Levi.

  “He’s cool. Kind of—”

  “Kind of what?”

  “I don’t know. There’s something about him that seems . . . weird.”

  “He’s cute,” Brianna said; she and Ivy giggled. Levi gazed at her in surprise. Then he sighed, shaking his head. He’d never heard Brianna say anything like that about a boy before. Including him. Levi had always been pretty confident about himself, but all of the sudden this new guy was making him insecure. He didn’t like the feeling.

  Levi found a spare board for Viktor and started showing him how to skate. Brianna and Ivy stayed to watch, clearly interested in everything Viktor did. Levi felt like he wanted to show off a little, show those girls who the real skateboarder was.

  But Viktor did every trick Levi taught him with ease. Within the hour he was doing ollies and kick flips like he had been skating all his life. Many of the other skateboarders had stopped to watch. Even Landon and his friends had come off the basketball court to see what was going on. Viktor was certainly good at attracting a crowd.

  “That was awesome,” said Brianna, going up to them when they stopped for a break. Viktor turned to her and flashed a smile.

  “Thanks,” he said. “Levi’s a great teacher.”

  “I guess so. I’m Brianna, this is Ivy.”

  “Nice to meet you.”

  Levi did not like the way the girls were looking at Viktor. He tried to draw Viktor’s attention away from them.

  “Must have been hard to leave your old school,” he said. “In the middle of the year.”

  “What?” Viktor looked perplexed, as if he wasn’t sure what Levi was talking about. Then he nodded. “Oh, right. Yeah. I’m used to it though.”

  “You move a lot?”

  “Oh, yeah. A lot. Never stay in one place very long.” Viktor’s smile gleamed.

  Levi’s phone beeped. He pulled it out and saw a text from his mom. He typed a quick reply and hit SEND. When he looked up again, he saw Viktor studying him intently.

  “What happened to your finger?”

  Levi glanced down at the hand that held the phone; the tip of his index finger was sti
ll scarred—marked with metal from his encounter with a Forger in Ahoratos. It resembled a burn against his brown skin, except that the mark was a dark gray and kind of shiny. He quickly shoved the phone back in his pocket, hiding his hand. “Nothing. Just an old scar.” He saw the back door of the center open and Mr. J. Ar emerge, a whistle around his neck, ready to start a basketball game.

  “There’s my dad!” Levi said. “I’ll go get him so you can meet him.”

  Levi trotted over to his dad, who was bouncing a ball as he headed for the outdoor court.

  “Dad! Wait up!”

  Mr. J. Ar turned. “Oh, there you are. What’s up?”

  “There’s this kid—he’s new, and he’s really—interesting. I want you to meet him.”

  “Sure—where is he?”

  Levi led his dad back to the skate park. But Viktor was nowhere to be seen. Xavier was trying to do the grinding trick Levi had taught him. Brianna and Ivy were sitting on the bench talking and checking their phones.

  “Where is this new kid?” Mr. J. Ar asked.

  “Uh—I don’t know. He was here a minute ago,” Levi said. He went over to the girls. “Where did Viktor go?”

  Brianna looked around, perplexed. “He was just here. I don’t know where he went.”

  Xavier skated up to them. “Hey, Mr. J. Ar, is there a game going?”

  “Yep,” said Mr. J. Ar. “You coming?”

  “Yeah.” Xavier jumped off the board and followed after him.

  “You gonna play, Levi?” asked Mr. J. Ar.

  “Uh . . .” There was something he wanted to tell his dad, something about Viktor that made him uneasy. But he thought it would just sound stupid, so he waved it off. “Maybe later.”

  CHAPTER 15

  The Rooms

  Levi woke up suddenly, sweat pouring down his neck.

  Only a dream, he told himself. It was only a dream.

  But his dreams were getting more intense and real. Forgers and dragons and . . . wolves. Wolves surrounding him, their teeth bared, saliva dripping from their mouths.