The Geode King by H. A. Tisdale

Author:H. A. Tisdale [Tisdale, H. A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-07-15T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Murals in the Manor

Jedd led me all the way back in the manor to a room full of murals that looked almost identical to the ones in Come Play City, and once again, I found myself staring at the image of Zedd looking up at the beam of sun coming down from the Haven.

Meanwhile, Jedd stood there somberly as he watched me observe the magnificence of the mural. “Do you know who that is?” he questioned curiously.

“That’s Zedd,” I answered. “And if I’m correct in assuming you painted this, you must have known him, right?”

“Of course I knew him. Zedd was my father.”

“Ohhhh,” my mouth uttered as I internally berated myself for not picking up on the rhyme of their names, “but wait, that means—”

“That he was Bill’s father too,” Jedd finished my thought as he closed his eyes in discomfort.

I immediately reflected back to when Reina told me that Zedd and his family had mysteriously disappeared before the Master of Games took over. Never in my wildest imagination had I anticipated that the Master of Games belonged to that family.

“So what happened with all of you?” I asked, hoping I could get to the bottom of at least one mystery.

“It’s a tragic story,” Jedd warned.

“I’ve dealt with Tragedy before,” I assured him.

“Very well,” Jedd assented. “Bill and I were born to our father Zedd and our mother Caleeyah in the King’s Palace of Vera City. They named us Nedd and Jedd in line with our family’s tradition, but my brother always hated that name and wanted a new one. So we ended up calling him Bill for one reason or another. Anyway, Bill’s beryl birthstone was the first to come out of our mother before my moonstone birthstone followed unexpectedly a few days later, and Bill internalized the sequence of our birth, feeling he always had to come first in everything. This led to his deeply competitive nature which he brought to every aspect of his life.

“I didn’t mind his competitiveness much though. In fact, I admired Bill for his voracious spirit. He kept his eyes so focused on everything, especially people. Bill was always watching people so intently. I, on the other hand, had my sights set on the wind. I loved the wind growing up. I loved everything about it: the way it rustled the trees on Victory Hill as it blew their leaves down the mountain, the way it howled during storms as it pressed against the Palace, the way it cooled me off on the beach as it rippled the Sea of Surrender’s surface.

“So Bill and I both had our thing. I loved the wind, and he loved to win. This worked well for us as we spent all of our time playing games together outside in our breezy town, or as he liked to call it, Come Play City. And because he always won our games in Come Play City, I started calling him the Master of Games.”

“You came up with that name?” I asked as my eyebrows raised.

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