The Super Secret Octagon Valley Society by Melissa De La Cruz

Author:Melissa De La Cruz [De La Cruz, Melissa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: National Geographic
Published: 2023-08-09T00:00:00+00:00

“Finally!” Dilip says. “What took you so long?”

He flips the sixth silver puzzle piece in the air, tossing it and catching it as he watches each of the six of them land softly. He’s looking a little show-offy, but that’s part of the charm of Dilip, isn’t it?

“Where are we?” Julie asks, looking around.

They’ve walked through flames, fallen through some other kind of void, only to emerge in a…medieval castle? They’re in the middle of a stone bridge between two towers. From their vantage, they can see faraway fields and distant villages.

“No idea,” says Dilip. “Scotland?”

“At least it seems safe so far,” Li’l Kimmy says. “Have you come across anyone? Or anything?”

“Nope, just me,” Dilip says.

Julie turns around and shades her eyes against the sun. It appears he spoke too soon.

“You guys, I think we have company,” Julie says.

“Cool!” Anton yells, enthusiastic for once. “Assassins!”

Only Anton would cheer at the sight of murderers-for-hire.

Li’l Kimmy has never thought about what an assassin might look like, but apparently they wear matching black outfits, black hoods over their heads, and black scarves that cover their faces. It seems that Anton is more than familiar with assassin garb from all his time gaming. To him, it looks like seven celebrities are rushing the castle.

“I wouldn’t exactly say this is cool, Anton,” Maureen says, moving into the nearest tower and looking out the window. “They’re on their way up.”

Sure enough, the assassins have started scaling the tower below Maureen’s window. With their bare hands. No picks, no axes, no cords or carabiners. It’s actually totally creepy.

“Any chance your video games taught you what to do to stave off assassins?” Edwin asks, running his hand over his hair. He sees blades on the hips of the assassins, and they look sharp.

“The main difference between an assassin and a regular killer,” Anton says, eyes fixed on the climbers, “is that assassins are extensively battle-trained, whereas most regular killers have no skills whatsoever.”

“Great,” Dilip says, pacing, “that’s just great. So not only do they have weapons, they’re really good at using them.”

“Guys! Over here!” They all turn to see Julie beckoning them from the other tower. “I think there might be a way out.”

“Worth a try,” Dilip says. “Let’s go.”

Maureen joins them as they jog over to join Julie, but Anton lingers in the center of the bridge.

“Anton,” Li’l Kimmy shouts, turning around. “What are you doing? Come on!”

Anton looks down at the quickly ascending assassins.

“I think I’m gonna stay.”

“WHAT?!” the six others shriek.

“I want to see what my powers are!” he says, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“We don’t even know if these powers are real,” Julie says. “It could just be an illusion of Octagon Valley! Like some sort of new tech!”

“Even so, I still want to see what mine are. And I think they’ll come out if I fight these assassins.”

“Anton, come on, we can test it some other time, like when we get out of this place!” Dilip yells.

“I’ve always wanted to fight assassins.

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