Marked Chaos

by Niki Livingston

  It flapped its wings a few times, then flew to a blossom a few feet away. Her friends joined her, and they danced around in a circle as if listening to music only they could hear. I clapped my hands and sank to my knees.

  “Elementals and fairies,” I gushed, holding my hands against my lips. “Who would have imagined this would ever happen? Not me.” I pointed at myself and laughed. “We are both magical, which means we must be friends.”

  “Zoe Dawn,” I heard Aly call. “Who are you talking to?”

  I twisted around, my smile still plastered on my face. “The fairies! Aly, I cannot believe you didn’t tell me about these lovely creatures. What other magical beings are out in the world?”

  Aly hovered above me and squinted at the fairies. Then she burst with laughter and doubled over as if she were in pain.

  My smile melted from my face. I glanced back at the fairies, but her laughter had scared them away. I bounded up from the ground and shoved her.

  “Why did you do that?” I cried, stomping my foot like a child.

  Aly looked at me with tears in her eyes and sputtered out more laughter before covering her mouth with her hands. “I’m sor-r-ry,” she said, stammering her words out, then laughed more. Now her tears were rolling down her cheeks, and she laughed even harder.

  I folded my arms over my chest. “What is so funny?”

  She pointed at me and pressed her lips together to stop herself from laughing more.

  Now, I was just irritated I missed my chance to speak to the fairies.

  “Oh, my dear Zoe Dawn,” Aly finally spit out between short giggles. “Those are not fairies, and as far as I know, fairies do not exist here.”

  “I just saw three of them,” I said in protest. “They were right there, dancing around in the air together.” I pointed at the flowers.

  “Those are butterflies,” Aly replied, taking my hand and patting it. “They are an insect—a lovely one, but most definitely an insect.”

  My face scrunched up even more. “Why would there be an insect that looked like a fairy? I have never seen an insect like this butterfly you claim it to be.”

  “They have been a dying species ever since the stars struck Mother Gaia.” She smiled as she dropped my hand and beckoned me to follow her. “I will show you more. The people here protect them and have created a sanctuary for them to thrive. With the uniting of the elementals, this will be one species you will save from extinction.”

  I followed her, still not convinced they were not fairies. I don’t know why, but it made more sense to me after everything that had happened.

  We walked down a stone stairway, and a small clearing of multi-colored flowers opened before us. I stopped and stared. It was the most stunning view I had ever seen. All around the blossoms, thousands of butterflies swarmed the space, dancing and playing in the wind. There were blue ones and purple ones, pink and rainbow ones... all creating a festival of colors with an array of flowers beneath them.

  I was in love.

  My hand flitted out and folded over Aly’s. She glanced over at me with a smile.

  “They are a beauty, a creation of our Mother Gaia that is loved and protected in our community. From what I hear, there are only a few other sanctuaries like this one across the entire globe, preparing for the union of you three elementals with Her.” She reached out her hand, and one of the butterflies landed on her finger.

  I blinked several times at the sight as a smile spread across my lips. “Can I do that?” I bounced on my toes with excitement.

  Aly nodded toward the flurry of wings. “Absolutely.”

  I stepped down a few more steps and held out my hand. One butterfly landed on my outstretched finger, and I slowly drew it closer to me but stopped when more of them fluttered around me and landed one after another across my arms and shoulders.

  Glee must have danced across my face because Aly nearly laughed again, but she stuffed her fist against her mouth to smother it. I did not want to scare them away again. This was the most amazing moment of my life.

  That was when I heard a rumble deep beneath me. I was already frozen, but now my heart must have stopped beating as well. Something was wrong.

  I whirled around to face Aly, and the space filled with butterflies. All of them surrounded us, not just the ones that had been resting on me. I swallowed hard, trying to push back the terror rising from within.

  “What is wrong?” Aly’s expression had melted into a frown as she looked at me and then all the butterflies.

  I shook my head, unsure what the quaking could be, when the answer dawned on me. “Aly, they must know where we are.” Our eyes met. “I can feel them coming, but instead of over, they are burrowing under us.”

  “How do you know?” she asked, pulling me up the stairs and toward the central building.

  “I don’t know.” I nearly tripped over my feet as I tried to catch a glimpse of the butterflies. “Maybe they told me.”

  “Butterflies don’t speak,” she snapped, skidding to a stop in front of the building. “Are you messing with me, Zoe Dawn?”

  “No. Absolutely not. I can still feel it, but the intensity is wearing off.” I started walking back to the butterflies, but she yanked me to her side. “I need to be with them.” I shook my arm to break her grip, but she held on tightly.

  “We need to speak with Malcolm and Tiordan.”

  As if they knew we were coming, the two of them met us at the doors of the building. Tiordan wore a harried expression. He knew they were coming as well.

  “Tiordan believes our enemies have discovered a way to dig under our protection barrier,” Malcolm said, staring at me. “And he says you know this. Is that true?”

  I nodded and pointed in the direction of the butterflies. “They told me. Those beautiful flying insects. They warned me.”

  Malcolm looked taken back. His gaze flashed to Aly, who nodded, and then to Tiordan, who shrugged.

  “Are you telling me the butterflies spoke to you?” he asked with a slight edge to his tone.

  “Spoke, no.” I patted each of my arms. “Dozens of them landed on me, and it was as if I could sense the troubles, so they planted the information directly into my mind. It sounds crazy, but that seems to be my life now.... a large dose of the insane.”

  Tiordan grinned, and Malcolm’s lips twitched just enough to give me a tiny bit of satisfaction.

  “How do we halt their attack?” Malcolm asked, his expression already sullen once again.

  “We will have to go outside the barrier and stop them,” Aly replied, raking her fingers through her hair. “I can’t see any other way. We need time to bring the three girls together, and Nikita’s goons will reach us before that happens.”

  “Nikita?” I asked, confused by how Aly spoke of our Sister. “Do you mean Sister Nikita? She has goons?”

  Aly held up her hand to quiet me, her eyes never leaving Malcolm.

  “Then we find a way to speed up our plan,” Malcolm barked, as if it were an order. “We leave the barrier to fetch those two girls and that is all. We cannot put our people at risk if we can end this by uniting them with Mother Gaia.”

  Aly bit down on her lip as if to stop herself from speaking further. Instead, she gave him a curt nod.

  He nodded back and quickly turned back to the lift. “This is the way it has to be.”

  “Wait, I thought you could not find Kia Lynn,” I said, waving my hand at Malcolm.

  Tiordan grabbed my raised hand. “Someone has shattered the block on my view.” He sighed happily. “A truly extraordinary moment.”

  “Then, yes, we must bring her here.” I nodded, agreeing fully with Malcolm.

  “We will begin preparations. Zoe Dawn, have you had your midday meal?” Aly asked, linking her arm within mine.

  “Not yet. I would like to return to my room first and clean up before I eat,” I said, unsure of what just happened. I needed to be alone to think it all through.

  “I will do the same and meet
you in the cafeteria afterward.” Aly glanced at Tiordan who had remained with us. “Would you like to join us, Tiordan?”

  He bowed his head. “Yes, I would very much enjoy that. Thank you, Aly.”

  “Then it is settled.” She smiled at us both, then patted my shoulder as she walked away. “I will see you both soon.”

  My questions about Sister Nikita would have to wait.

  I hurried to the lift that led to my room and was back inside the safety of my small space in a matter of a few moments. After digging in my pack that Aly had retrieved from the mating ceremony, I yanked out the silver device I had hidden in there. Something told me this would assist me. I had no idea how, but it called to me like a voice that echoed in my skull, similar to when the butterflies had showed me our enemies were on their way.

  I ran my fingers down the edges, like I had done a dozen other times. Pressing in with my fingertips, I searched for a groove that would make it possible to open, but still I could not find one. I turned it over and over again, pressing every inch of it until the tip of my finger was raw. I groaned and tossed the ridiculous contraption onto the bed.

  It flipped open.

  I stared at it for a moment and threw my hands up in the air. “That’s all it took! I could have done that ages ago,” I grumbled as I turned the device toward me.

  The side closest to me glowed a pale fuzzy blue. A wave of white would flash across it every few seconds, but there was nothing significant from this viewpoint. I turned my attention to the side farthest from me. Strange symbols were scrawled across it.

  I climbed onto the bed and flopped to my belly, placing the device in front of me. With closer examination, the symbols appeared to be stamped on dozens of outlined squares. I ran my fingers across them, and they lit up blue just like the other side as my fingers touched each one.

  My smile returned. “Well, lookie here. Enchantments from insects and from silver anaman objects.”

  The fuzzy blue side crackled loudly. I jumped to my feet and dropped the device on the bed. It crackled again, almost like the sound of hundreds of rocks crashing into one another. As I leaned closer, a blurry face shone through the blue light, but as quickly as it was there, it disappeared again.

  I picked it up and brought it closer to my face, but only the fuzzy blue remained.

  “What an odd little—”

  “Zoe Dawn,” someone called from the object.

  I dropped that sucker again, but this time I leapt several feet back as my pulse quickened to the point I could feel my heart ram against my chest. “Bless me, Goddess,” I cried. My hands clasped over my mouth, biting back any other words.

  “Zoe Dawn, are you there?” The object crackled again when the person spoke.

  The voice... I moved forward one step. I knew that voice.

  “Hold on, Zoe Dawn. We are coming.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Taken

  ALEX

  “I don’t want any trouble,” I said, holding up my hands and backing away. “I will be on my way.”

  “Do not move,” the woman hissed. “Why are you here? These lands belong to my people.”

  Cold sweat trickled down my spine. “I-I am search-hing for someone,” I stuttered, my gaze shooting around the umbrella of branches. I needed something to leap behind.

  “Who?” she asked.

  “A younger man. Sandy blond hair, sparkling copper eyes, and a smidgen taller than me.” I raised my hand above me a few inches as if the gesture would help explain his height, then dropped it back down when I realized how ridiculous my description had been. Sparkling? What was wrong with me?

  “These are strange words,” the woman whispered. She shook her head.

  I know. I’m an idiot. “He stole something of value from my father, and it is my fault.”

  The woman’s hand drifted down a few inches, pointing the firearm at my feet. “Why is this your fault?”

  “I needed his help. My family was in trouble, and he whisked in to help me, so I let him. Then he took advantage of my trust by doubling back and ripping apart my parents’ ship.”

  Her hand snapped back up, aiming the weapon at my face again. “You are an anaman, the ones who have invaded our lands and eat humans while they are still living.”

  It was most definitely not a question. She had a twisted perspective on us. My heart thudded and more cold sweat dripped down my forehead and spine. This was not going well.

  “No,” I said slowly, not wanting her to shoot, then ask questions. I raised my hands again. “I am half anaman, half human. And I prefer my meat to be dead before I eat it.”

  Gah! Wrong words. My brain screamed at me to shut up as I was spitting the words out.

  The woman leapt forward and pressed the weapon against my collarbone. Her chest rose and fell with rapid breaths, and her moss-green eyes sparked with fury.

  “I knew it,” she hissed, only inches away from my face. “You are a foul being.”

  “Chickens.” My voice trembled as I cowered away from her thundering anger. “I only eat animals.”

  She cocked her head to the side, pushing the weapon harder against my bone.

  “Just some animals. Not all of them.” Were these people vegetarian? Maybe I should have started with that.

  Her eyes softened, and she stepped back a foot, giving me some of my breathing room back. I let out the breath from my cheeks. Her eyes narrowed again at the whooshing sound I made.

  “Why have you invaded our lands?” she asked, switching the weapon to her other hand with too much ease. I was afraid she would set it off.

  “Your Doyen told my dad we were allowed to settle the lands to the south, just past your boundaries.” I sighed when her arm sank to her side. “We were under the impression we had not broken any of your laws.”

  “Maybe,” she replied, looking down at my pack. “This man stole from you?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you seek revenge of his wrongdoings?” Her gaze returned to mine. “What about my sister? She stole your shiny object. Will you want revenge upon her?”

  Of course. I knew I had seen her before today. I almost laughed over the coincidence but caught myself just in time.

  “I don’t want revenge on either him or your sister,” I said with as much reassurance in my tone that I could muster. “I want what he stole to be returned to my father. What your sister took is not needed anymore. Consider it a gift.”

  Her head hung, and she slowly sank to the ground. “She had the ridiculous object when I last saw her.” She shook her head. Her gaze traveled around the forest and stopped toward the east, where there was the faintest light glistening on the horizon.

  Finally. Mom and Dad must be beside themselves right now. This was the lamest, most reckless decision I had made yet.

  I stared at the redhead sitting next to my pack. Her hair peeked out from underneath her hood, a tangle of different shades of red and various sections backcombed into dreads. She continued to stare at the growing light, lost in her thoughts of her sister and the ridiculous communication device.

  “Where is your sister?” I asked, settling on the dirt in front of her.

  “She was abducted,” she muttered, finally tearing her eyes away from the sky. “I must find her. My village has been invaded and my mother’s friend has betrayed me. They are saying that Zoe Dawn is the betrayer, but I told them they are liars.” Her fingers tapped against the weapon. “Are you a liar as well?”

  I shook my head. “No. I am just wanting to fix the problem I created. The objects this man stole are far more valuable, and my dad’s ship requires them to return to our people.”

  “There are more of you?” she asked, startled by the thought.

  “Yes.” I pointed toward the heavens. “In a ship up there.”

  She fumbled with her weapon but steadied it quickly and pointed it at me again. “Will they be invading our lands? Murdering my people?”

  Way to go, dimwit. We are back to
square one.

  I threw up my hands in front of my body and shook my head. “What is your name?”

  “Why would you like to know?” she barked. Her eyes widened, and she looked around in all directions as if afraid someone had heard her.

  “We are not here to hurt or kill anyone,” I replied. “Please put the weapon down. I have no intention of hurting you.”

  Her hand shook as she continued to point the gun at me. After several minutes, she gulped and set the weapon back on her lap.

  “My name is Kia Lynn. What is yours?”

  “Alex. It is very nice to meet you, Kia Lynn.” I leaned forward and held out my hand for her to shake.

  She glanced at it, then shot me a confused look.

  “It is just a formality where I come from,” I told her, dropping my hand back down. “Never mind. I might be able to find your sister... if she still has that object she took from me.”

  “She did when I saw her last,” Kia Lynn said, scooting closer to me. “How are you able to find her? Will you show me the way?”

  I pulled up the sleeve of my hoodie, revealing the swirling anaman markings. Kia Lynn stared but did not move. I swept the side of my hand down my wrist, connecting the device in my left thumb with the one in my right wrist and activating the internal computer. My holographic screen illuminated in the darkness.

  She jumped back, and in the process, dropped the weapon. It clattered off to the side, but was still within her reach. Keeping my cool, I remained in my spot and waited for her to return. Strange. My glowing swirls did not phase her, but a light from my wrist did.

  “I can do a search for that device.” There was no need to tell her I was already searching for them but had not been able to pinpoint the object. “It will hopefully tell us her location.”

  Kia Lynn grabbed my wrist, staring hard at the screen. “I don’t see anything.”

  I pulled my wrist from her grasp and turned on the microphone I had switched off when I left the ship. Maybe she would have better luck than I did looking manually. “Talli—” We each named our own internal AI’s and yes, mine was a nickname for my horrendous Aunt Tallisa, so I would never forget. “please connect me to device 48IGRACE.” Yes, I had memorized it for when I decided to eavesdrop on them.