by Lynne Murray
“Maybe they wanted females.”
“Maybe,” he said glumly. “I’ve looked in all the files at the Station and haven’t found any evidence of hybrid breeding programs.” We both sat silent, drained by too much adrenaline and too little sleep.
“The Twins scan on Chad and me found that our mom had Siren DNA similar to Sophie’s but way less. She was mostly human. I tried looking at her through the glasses and she registers as human.” He fell silent.
“I’m sorry you had to go through that.” I put my hand on his arm. He slid closer and put his arm around my shoulders and leaned back. I put my head on his chest. We stayed like that without words for a while. The simple contact was enough. It felt good to be exhausted together.
A thunderous explosion outside rocked the building. Wade leaped up. I stood too and we both looked out the window facing the street. No sign of damage. Another boom echoed outside.
Wade put a hand on my shoulder. “Stay here,” he said. “I’ll check it out.”
I kept looking out the window and watched Wade reach the sidewalk and a hulking creature as tall as a lamppost moved into view. It slammed giant fists against our building, shaking it with every blow. A crack ran along one of the walls. Wade reached inside his coat and produced a fogger, which he triggered. A dense fog instantly blanketed the street. Before they sank into invisibility, I saw Wade running full tilt at the creature. Then silence. Whatever he did to the tall attacker, it didn’t fire again.
That was when I heard a woman's voice, loudly calling my name from the far end of the hall.
Could it be my aunt?
No. It wasn't her voice, but there was something vaguely familiar about it.
The voice was coming from my grandfather's room. This couldn’t be good. How could a stranger get into my apartment? What would she be doing in my grandfather’s room? The voice kept talking, but the only word I could make out was my name.
I didn’t reply in case it was a Mindworm in female form. I walked down the hall, my hand on the tagger in my pocket. I started to hum “Happy Birthday” under my breath.
I walked into my grandfather's room and threw the door open so hard it smashed against the wall and left a mark a dent in the plaster. His room looked the same as always. My aunt hadn't changed anything after he died and I sure hadn’t. It was still crammed with books on shelves along one wall and stacked on small tables next to his bed that was pushed against the wall in the far corner of the room. An antique armoire took up most of the wall at the foot of the bed. I’d never seen it open. Maybe it contained his array of identical tweed suits and gray fisherman sweaters. The wall next to the bed directly facing the door was blank, I had never noticed it before.
I felt the Medallion get hotter. A tear opened up in the air in front of me and beyond it, standing just where the back wall should be only way too close for comfort, stood Francine.
Chapter 29
“Hello, Angie.” Her voice was kind, almost friendly. It held no hint of the syrupy sweet tone she directed at me for the past year at work while she gathered information on me. Her habit was to inform Caine of some mistake I’d made that he could use to pounce on me, then to approach me ask if I was okay.
Now a slight distortion showed that she stood behind a transparent barrier of some kind. Black dots of evil intentions swarmed around her. Behind the black dots, another face glowing through Francine human features, revealing a terrifying mask of hatred. She couldn’t be human.
The red letter readout on my glasses showed Francine as human. I pushed them down to peek at her unaided. Then I adjusted them back in front of my eyes, either way, she was surrounded by a blue glow. An arched entryway that stretched behind her revealed a brightly lit tunnel with a pale blue vista at the far distant end.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“We have been seeking you.” Francine held out her hand. “I've come to take you with me. You have proved it's time to take your rightful place the ruler of our people.”
I should have laughed. But the poisonous sweetness of her tone took all the ridicule out of me. I hated how terrifyingly seductive her words despite the swirl of black dots. A deep gut level feeling told me her rightful nature was evil and whatever con she was working was just another aspect of control.
My hand crept toward the Mindworm zapper. Francine laughed, "Go ahead,” she sneered, the dulcet tone was gone. “Get close enough to try to shut me down and I will own you."
“That’s not a very respectful tone to use when you address the future ruler of your people.”
A hint of confusion swept across her face. Her muscles flexed. She took a step forward and ran into a transparent barrier. It bulged a little but held firm. She wasn't able to advance into the room or she would be grabbing me by the throat have already. I slipped my phone out of my pocket and called Wade.
He answered, “Big bad monster retreated before a simple shock grenade.”
I said, “Intruder alert.”
“On my way.”
“How did you get in here, Francine?” My voice wavered more than I wanted it to. I was stalling for time.
"Can't you see the portal?”
I wanted to curse at my weakness. I was revealing my ignorance, but maybe I could get something I could use by asking for information.
“I see a tunnel of some sort.” The archway stretching behind her looked like it was chiseled out of golden rock face with high, arched ceilings. Glimmering torches in the walls provided golden light. At the far end of the tunnel, a dim landscape loomed with blue sky and green lawns.
“We have been watching this portal, but nothing has been showing up here for decades.”
“Who is this ‘we’ you’re talking about?” I examined the floor of the portal where she stood. It was the hardwood floor of my grandfather’s bedroom, not the rocky floor of the cavern like the tunnel behind it. A column of shining figures began to file into the tunnel. They came in all shapes and sizes, one or two as big as the creature that had been battering at our building. They were only vaguely humanoid, blurred so it was hard to make out features. Some of them were as tall as the creature that had been blasting away at the house a few minutes earlier. I sighed. A diversion, probably to get Wade out of the house. It had worked.
All the assorted creatures behind Francine had the same blue glow that enveloped her. But they stayed in the tunnel. Only Francine stood in the bedroom.
Francine laughed. The sound chilled my whole body. “You see the legions of my followers gathered from many dimensions. They all serve me. Our kind have been visiting this planet for thousands of years. Fae or faery are among the many names humans have called us. We inspired Caine to test you, Angie we needed to be sure who you were and what you're are."
She paused for emphasis. “You seem weak now, but when we join forces you will rule this army. Angie, you are the chosen one.”
I hated myself for it, but her words had a terrible appeal. It sounded much more restful than what I have been doing for the past week. Everything was new to me and I had nothing to compare it to.
But I didn’t trust Francine. That evil laugh creeped me out in a way that just wouldn’t quit. The “chosen one” line also sounded mighty suspicious.
My first day of college, I fell for a scam offering cheap textbooks online and lost my book money. My aunt told me, “Things that are too good to be true usually are.” That thought brought me up short.
Time to get some details from Ms. Francine. Just what she was selling?
“Where is this so-called kingdom located?”
“It is distant. But linking your transport device and ours makes it a short trip.”
“It doesn't happen to be in a galaxy far, far away does it?”
“You could say that.”
Um, no George Lucas could say that. He probably had a copyright on it, but Francine didn’t strike me as a moviegoer.
Hearing that a window into other worlds opened up right down the hal
l in my grandfather’s bedroom shook the very foundations of my reality. In the past few days I had passed through portals to go across the Bay and across the galaxy. But this was too close to home. I took a deep breath and decided to tough it out.
“Nice try, Francine, or whatever your name is. Do people really believe that kind of garbage?”
“I speak the truth.”
“You’re trespassing and you are clearly a con artist.” Now I just wanted her gone. But I didn’t know how to get rid of her.
The crowd of glowing figures behind Francine shuffled their feet uneasily. Score one for me. I wasn’t following their script. I didn’t know if they wanted something in my DNA the way Vole did. Or to take the Medallion the way the Twins seemed to want. The last thing I wanted was to get anywhere close to her and her band of luminous critters.
I silently queried the Medallion. Weak points of an intruder?
No answer.
If I needed to kill all those invaders, I should get started. I had no idea of how they were armed, or if throwing my power at them would even affect them.
I focused on Francine and felt the roaring of power shake my body as I raised my arm. I felt the bolt of energy leave my hand and bounce back against an invisible shield to hit me. It rocked me back on my heels and left me breathless.
Francine laughed. Again, very creepy. “Go ahead, try it again,” she challenged me in a gloating tone that set my teeth on edge.
I didn’t do anything. I couldn’t do anything. The good news was, my own heart didn’t stop when I zapped myself. I said nothing and worked on steadying myself, my mind racing madly from one dead end idea to another.
“I saw you kill Caine in that conference room, Angie. You have no idea what you’re doing. You have a lot of power and absolutely no technique. Poor Caine. It was easy for him to believe that one group of aliens wanted to side with the enemies of the United States. I told him our group wanted to give his country advanced technology. I explained that you were one of the bad ones, but we needed his help to expose you.
A message lit up in my mind.
Permission to enter?
Who’s asking? I queried.
Resident portal control, it answered.
My grandfather’s portal, communicating through the Medallion? So it was not controlled by Francine, but she knew how to ring the doorbell, or whatever the protocol was to ask for permission to enter.
Denied, I told it. The words disappeared.
I heard the front doorbell ring. I stayed rooted to the spot. It seemed a bad idea to leave Francine unsupervised. My phone rang. It was Wade, his voice tense. “I don’t have a key.”
“I can’t go to the door,” I told Wade. “It’s a serious emergency. Ring Larry’s doorbell to let you in. If he’s not there, I give you permission to break a window.” I didn’t dare take my eyes off Francine. With all the forces massing behind her, could she get through that transparent barrier?
I heard Larry’s doorbell ring and several seconds later the front door opened and hurried steps entered the apartment. I stood still hypnotized by Francine. She just stood there with her troops behind her, patiently glowing silvery blue. She seemed amused.
“Angie are you OK?” Wade called out from the hallway.
“I’m back here, in my grandfather's room.”
An unearthly scream followed the sound of footsteps through the hall. Grandmother had arrived, Wade and Larry came to stand on either side of me to stare at the portal opened in the middle of the room. Grandmother hissed just behind me.
"Oh no, not her,” I heard Larry whisper. “She can't get in. She can't get in. She can't get in." It sounded more like a prayer than information.
"Hello Larry,” Francine said.
Grandmother hissed again her from behind me.
“You know this woman?” I asked Larry, my eyes still riveted on the glowing intruders.
"She used to come and take me, her and her people. My mother said your grandfather fixed it so they couldn't get in."
“No, Larry, we simply lost interest in you,” Francine cooed.
“But she's in,” Larry whispered in dismay.
“Not yet, she’s not.”
“Angie’s grandfather did seal this portal.” Francine’s tone was impatient. “We kept watching but no one came in or out.”
Suddenly I wanted to laugh. My grandfather had sealed them out no matter what she said. So it was possible.
“When you arrived here, Angie, we monitored you both here and at work. You looked dormant with only a sliver of light peeking out. But once you connected with the Seeker Medallion, you and this portal started to shine so brightly anyone could see it from low orbit of your backward little planet. You are an extremely valuable human Angie. We are offering you the high honor of leading our people.”
Next to me, Larry whispered so low I could barely hear him, “Don't believe a word she says.”
“Got it,” I breathed in reply. I took a deep breath and blasted Francine with full on contempt. “Someone must buy the slime you're selling or you wouldn't even try that line.”
The display from the Medallion showed in my mind.
Visitor in the portal.
Admit.
Detain.
Reject.
It was tempting to answer refuse but I selected detain.
Another message appeared above Francine’s head, in the cavernous portal space where the other glowing creatures stood.
Containment field activated. Link to an external portal?
This time two options
Refuse link.
Accept link
I selected “Refuse.” the tunnel behind Francine winked out of existence taking her horde of luminous soldiers. The space around her constricted into a transparent box with Francine at the center of it. Now she was standing alone in a transparent box with the hardwood floor under her feet and the wall of my grandfather’s room behind her. She didn't appear to be upset by it.
Wade’s phone rang.
“It’s Chad,” he reported. “He’s been holding the door for Kirby. They have a crowd of civilians outside your front door. They seem to be disoriented. They register as humans but with implants like Caine.
A tall, thin shadow materialized in the space behind Francine.
Feeney. He now stood behind her in the transparent box.
“I saw that this portal had been unsealed. It didn’t seem like something you would know how to do,” Feeney said to me.
Francine snickered.
“Feeney? Have you met Francine?” I asked.
“We have met.” Francine half turned to nod to Feeney. “Space bird. You provide portals and other services to the primitive races on this planet. This human killed my human servant, I require her to take his place. It’s only fair.”
Feeney addressed his words to me, totally ignoring Francine. “I don't track this sort of parasites. The politest term I can allow myself is Glow Worms due to blue aura they display when they hunt for hosts.”
“Shining ones,” Francine said in an aggrieved tone. “We are called that.”
“Many species are called by that name,” Feeney said. “But not yours, not by me.”
“Some called us Fairies, most amusing,” Francine’s voice sounded strained rather than pleased.
“That’s an insult to Peter Pan and Tinker Bell,” Larry said. Considering that Francine had haunted his early life, I had to give Larry an A for attitude, I could feel him trembling slightly, but nothing seemed to shake Francine at all.
“Okay, so you’re Tinker Bell’s evil sister,” I told Francine. “Big deal. What do you want with me?”
Francine looked around as if noticing the tunnel was gone. A slight shadow of unease crept over her face. "Are you holding me for wishes?"
“I have no idea what that means,” I said.
“Let me explain.” Francine turned to Wade, and she looked him up and down.
Could the monster that was Francine read my b
ody’s reaction to how close Wade stood to me? He took my hand and leaned against me as if his very nearness could anchor me.
“Don’t let her get to you,” he said.
“The man holding your hand tempts you," Francine said with a tone of amusement in her voice. “When you are queen, you can bring him along with you as a consort or a servant. Yours to control for as long as you wish.”
I didn’t have the luxury of shame at how clearly Francine was exposing my fears to everyone listening. I made myself not look sideways at Wade. His hand continued to grip mine firmly.
What if I could just ask and have him and not be embarrassed or afraid because I knew he would say yes? Right, that’s a turn-on, I retorted mentally, having someone forced to be with you whether they want to or not.
“You have some very sick ideas about human relationships, lady.” I needed to let her know I wasn’t swayed by her words.
“No one will be able to betray or abandon you again,” Francine took on a soothing tone. Even though I knew her intentions were evil, my thoughts strayed to how my lover from college had treated me. How my aunt had just left without a word. No one would ever treat me that way again if I said yes to Francine.
“You can have this man or any other man you want, at your command." Francine's voice vibrated through me with power. I felt like my face was on fire. My whole body got hot and felt a pressure in my mind. It was Francine.
What if I asked a man who despised me and only embraced me because he was compelled and couldn’t refuse? The thought bit through my heart like a physical pain. Then a wave of horror. That would turn me into a slave master, a mind rapist forcing my will on someone I was attracted to. Someone like Francine.