Darto gritted his teeth. “Hello, Gamble. It is always a pleasure to see you.”
“It’s been a long time. How are you? Has life been treating you well?” Gamble pulled back the hood of his robe completely. His hair was bright green, and there was something familiar about his face.
Darto’s face was tight. “As well as it can be.”
“And who are your friends? There’s a Lexa for sure, and what’s this, an Earthling?” Gamble’s eyes swept over me. I was incredibly glad I’d gone without the so-called traditional outfit. His eyes narrowed. “Wait? What did you give her?”
Give me? I wanted to know what he was talking about, but I kept my mouth shut. I was learning that as much as I liked to stand up for myself there was a time and a place for it. Now was not the time, nor the place.
“Nothing. We gave her nothing.” Kelby’s leg pressed into mine. I had a feeling that was his way of reminding me to stay quiet.
“Wait.” Gamble turned to Darto. “She can’t see your illusions either?”
Illusions. He was the same as Darto. Interesting. I guess I knew there were likely more like him, but I hadn’t met one yet.
“No. She’s immune.” Darto’s eyes darkened. “And she’s mine to test. Not yours.”
“Oh. Possessive.” Gamble chuckled. “Not like you, brother.”
“Brother?” I took a closer look at Gamble. The shape of his nose. The set of his eyes. And then it clicked—why he looked familiar. “You are brothers.”
“Yes.” Gamble grinned. “Darto didn’t mention me?”
“No. But in fairness I haven’t asked him much about his family.” Or anything. Did that make me self-absorbed? Yes, but given the circumstances maybe that was okay.
“You are charming. Absolutely charming. You do know how to find the rare ones, don’t you?” Gamble was speaking to Darto but watching me. Staring at me was probably the better description.
“He didn’t find her. She’s with me.” Kelby elicited a small growl. “And if you’ll excuse me, we have business to attend to.”
“Ah yes, building a rebel force.” Gamble’s eyes danced.
“You’ve heard?” Darto’s voice was neutral, but he was nervous.
“I know everything going on in my sector.” He wove his hand around.
“So you understand the importance of staying out of my way.” Darto’s hand balled into a fist at his side.
“Sure, for the right payment.”
“The universe is at stake.” Darto spoke through gritted teeth.
“So? We’ve lived a nice life so far. Maybe it’s time for a change.”
Darto shook his head. “Gamble. Stop.”
“I know you have the resources. You know I take payment in different forms.” Gamble’s eyes returned to me.
“She’s not for sale or barter.” Kelby tightened his arm around me. “Don’t get any ideas.”
“Okay. Okay.” He laughed. “I see you are possessive. Can’t say I blame you. But you have other things to barter.”
“I stay with her.” Malton climbed up my chest. “You may not have me.”
“Oh. The animal is charming. Charming.” Gamble laughed. “This visit is getting better and better.”
“We don’t have time for this.” Darto crossed his arms over his chest. “Let us through, Gamble.”
“You do have time. Because you have to have time. I’m in charge here. Not you.” Gamble grinned. He was enjoying his power trip.
Darto let his arms fall to his sides. “What do you want?”
“You know what I want.”
“I’ve already told you I won’t.”
“But maybe now you will reconsider?” Gamble touched his fingertips together. He was like a caricature of a cartoon bad guy.
“Gamble. No. The answer has always been no, and the answer will continue to be no.”
“Then I guess you want me to alert the authorities of what you are doing?” Gamble inclined his head to the side.
“You know you can’t do that. You don’t want to let so many innocents suffer.” Darto was pleading now.
“You forget I’ve changed.”
Darto shook his head. “You haven’t changed that much.”
“How do you know?”
“I know.” Darto took a step toward his brother. “I will always know you no matter how much you hide.”
“Brothers are weird,” I murmured without meaning to.
“What?” They asked in unison.
“My brothers fought that way too.”
“Fought? Past tense.” Gamble leaned his chin on his hand.
“Only one is alive anymore,” I explained.
“I’m sorry to hear that.” Gamble turned to his brother. “See, Darto innocents die anyway.”
“That doesn’t mean more should die.” Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut, but I couldn’t. Not about this. Not when I clearly had his attention.
He pivoted toward me in a ballet like motion. “You are that determined to save Earth?”
“This involves more than Earth. I’ve met plenty of people since leaving Earth. They deserve to live.”
“Where did you find this human?” Gamble’s eyes gleamed. “She really is something special.”
“Her brother is a starmate,” Darto explained. “She came along with him for moral support I suppose you could say.”
“Ah, the one who’s alive I hope.”
“Obviously. How could it be the one who’s dead?” I asked. Once I started talking it was impossible to stop. Besides, now that I knew he was Darto’s brother he seemed less frightening somehow. Even if I knew he probably wasn’t.
“That would be more complicated but not impossible.”
“He’s dead. I don’t know how what means up here, but where I’m from it’s the end. No coming back.”
“Yes, I get it. But even on Earth death doesn’t have to be the end.” Gamble ran a hand through his green hair.
“Uh…” I trailed off. I had no idea what he was talking about.
“You don’t know about necromancy? You have the ancient art. It’s not perfect but—”
I cut him off. “Wait. You’re saying necromancy is real?”
“Yeah…” He looked at me as if I were crazy for questioning him.
“No way.” I shook my head. “Impossible.”
“You’ve now seen life outside of your home planet, and you doubt the existence of ancient arts?” He narrowed his eyes. “That makes no sense. Why would you believe one and not the other?”
“I’ve seen this…”
“And seeing is believing? You already know that isn’t true.” His lips twisted into just the hint of a smile. “You may unable to see our illusions, but you understand that they exist for others.”
“I can understand technology. I can understand that somehow you have a gift I cannot see. But necromancy is different.”
“Different from our illusions?”
“They are more natural I guess?” I struggled for the right words. “I don’t know, but they are different.”
“I think the words you are searching for involve our gifts being less frightening to you. But just because something is frightening doesn’t mean it isn’t real. It would serve you well to remember that.”
“And I will, if you help us.”
He laughed. “I think you mistake my interest to mean I care. They are entirely different things.”
“They don’t have to be.” I steeled myself. We needed to get into this sector. We would get into this sector.
“Angie. Stop right there.” Kelby grabbed my arm. “I know what you are about to do, and you need to stop.”
I purposely avoided his eyes before I continued addressing Gamble. “I will have a few conversations with you if you help us.”
Gamble burst out laughing. “A couple of conversations? Darto, this one. Wow. Have you ever heard such a great sense of humor?”
I held in the groan that wanted to come out. “You two
really are brothers.”
“We are.” Gamble did the whole fingertip to fingertip thing again. “So what do you say, Darto? Agree to what I want? Oh, and let’s have this delightful Earthling throw in those conversations too. I’m not passing up on that.”
I glared at him. “If you are going to mock me, forget about it.”
“I’m not mocking you. I can assure you of that.” He dropped his hands to his side. “I don’t mock what I admire.”
“Admire?” I felt my eyebrows furrow. “Right.”
“We are wasting time.” Kelby glanced over his shoulder. “If we get caught now it will have all been for nothing.”
“I agree.” Darto held out his hand. “Are you going to help us?”
“Naturally. I am your brother.” Gamble accepted Darto’s outstretched hand.
“Then why did you make me agree?” Darto dropped the handshake.
“Because you are my brother, and you should always be willing to help me.”
“Even when it goes against everything I stand for.” Darto’s voice was strained and deep.
“Since when have you stood for anything? Don’t play the martyr.” Gamble’s voice mirrored his brothers.
Tensions had risen, and I knew it wasn’t going to be a good thing for us. Kelby stood silently beside me. “Okay, enough fighting. We don’t have time for this.” I didn’t really know what the timeline was, but I knew wasting time was never a good thing.
Gamble nodded. Was he actually going to listen to me? “We need to take the left tunnels.”
“Are you sure? We could be ambushed.” Darto narrowed his eyes.
“You are going to have to trust me on this.” Gamble shed the rest of his robe, revealing a green jumpsuit that mirrored Darto’s blue one.
Darto sighed. “I was afraid you’d say that.”
Part 4
Caspian
10 Caspian
Everyone was gone. Andrelexa was empty aside from Dr. Graham and me. For the first time in my life I was up against an enemy I wasn’t sure if I could best. But I would do anything, even put my life on the line, to pull it off.
I brushed off any worry as I stood in the darkened lab waiting for Dr. Graham to finish the tests he was running.
The darkness hunting us was impossible to define, impossible to fully understand. Our only hope for answers lay in the tiny vial of blood Dr. Graham was running tests on.
“Can’t you move any faster?” I eyed the door. The servants had been taken from down here. That meant we could be next.
“Not if you want a thorough result.” Dr. Graham’s words were mumbled.
I looked up. His eyes were fixed on the screens in front of him. “I’d take any result right now. Thorough might be pushing our luck.”
“Everyone is gone. Being thorough is likely our only hope of defeating this darkness and getting anyone back.”
His words sunk in. “I hope this works.” This needed to work. Normally I had five back up plans set up. This time I had none.
“So do I.” He still hadn’t pulled his eyes from the screen.
“Because I promised to take you back to Earth?”
“Because whatever this darkness is, I don’t want it getting off this planet. Who knows where it will go next.” His voice shook ever so little.
“Meaning it may make it to Earth.”
“With many, many stops along the way. Before I was brought here I helped deliver life. I don’t want to sit back and let death take over.” His words rang true. I had no reason to doubt him.
“Run your tests.” I walked over to resume my place guarding the door.
“I would have believed the servants would be safe here. I would have thought it would have wanted us.” Why take them instead?
“I don’t think it wants anyone in particular. It wants only destruction.” Dr. Graham’s voice sounded further away than he actually was.
“But how are we alive?”
“We don’t know if anyone is dead. We know they are not here. That’s different.”
“But where would it take so many?” I had heard of invisible transports, but they always left some sort of trace.
“You know the universe better than I do.”
“Yes, yet this is completely unknown to me, and that in itself worries me to no end. I don’t see how it’s possible, yet I know it must be.” I searched through my memory. I had spent my entire life studying battle plans, learning about every possible enemy force. But this darkness was something else altogether.
“I’ll have some answers soon, but I’m not promising anything.”
“That’s good because I don’t trust promises.” They were empty most of the time.
“Harsh.”
“But true.” Honesty was something I could hold onto.
“We can wax philosophical about your beliefs later. Stay focused and give me the time I need.”
“I will let you work in silence.” I focused on the door even though I had no idea what I’d do if the darkness came to get us.
* * *
“This sample must be tainted.” Dr. Graham looked away from the screen.
“What do you mean?” I left the door and hurried over. It felt like hours had passed in silence even though it had likely only been minutes.
“It’s showing signs of being from one organism. Not a mix of two.” He removed his glasses, wiped them with his shirt, and then replaced them on his face.
“And what’s the problem?”
“It is half Lexa and half Earthling. I thought that hadn’t happened yet. My research was only theoretical in terms of whether you and Rachel could have achieved procreation.”
“It must be tainted. Or it could be from two entities.” I was positive there had to be some explanation.
He shook his head. “It isn’t, but even so, what other Earthlings did you have here other than Rachel and me?”
“None. Absolutely none.” And that was the kind of thing I should have known. It was important to protecting the truth from Rachel. Guilt welled inside me. I did what I thought was right at the time, but the further away I got from it the more I began to doubt myself. “Could that part of the sample be a mistake?”
“No. It’s not. It’s not a mistake.”
“So, where did that get us?” My hands balled into fists at my sides. I knew it wasn’t Dr. Graham’s fault. He was doing everything he could to help, but that didn’t mitigate my frustration at how hopeless the situation was.
“Well, we know there is a hybrid running around.” Dr. Graham rubbed his chin. “Or...” he trailed off.
“Or what?” I snapped. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“What if the hybrid is working with the darkness? Or is behind the darkness in some way?”
“The hybrid doesn’t exist. And even if it did, why would it want to cause so much harm? Taking everyone from the palace?” Why would a hybrid, if it existed, do such a thing? But then again I didn’t know why anyone would do it.
“It may be far more than the palace…” He trailed off.. “We don’t know, and we can’t know.”
“We have to get out and explore.” We’d wasted enough time running tests on these samples. A Lexa-Earthling hybrid? In the palace? Impossible.
Or was it? A small voice in my head wouldn’t let up. Did I really know what my father was up to? Did I have any idea what his plans were? Maybe he was behind all of this. Maybe this was like so many other things he’d hidden it from me. I had spent far too much of my life blind and trusting. Now I struggled to trust anything I had been taught, and more troubling, I no longer fully trusted my own judgement.
“Caspian?” Dr. Graham pulled me from my thoughts.
“Yes.” I shook myself. “Sorry.”
“I don’t know how much help I can be in the field, but I am of no use sitting here. I will come with you.” He pushed his chair back.
“I assumed as much. I said we.” One could always use backup, besides, until we understood what
this darkness was, having a scientist around was advisable.
“Yes, I suppose you did.” Dr. Graham stood. “I am unused to be asked or allowed to leave the lab area.”
“At this point all rules are gone. We go together.” We were the only ones left, and unless we figured out something fast, we likely wouldn’t be around much longer either.
“I will need to bring some of my gear. We don’t know what we will find.”
“Pack up. I will ready a vehicle for us.” Thankfully the older vehicles were still stored in this area of the labs. I had recently cursed the old bay because it allowed Rachel to leave me, but this time it would be to my advantage.
“I believe I have enough oxygen to last me several days, but a convertor would be helpful. Any chance you have one?”
“We should have one on board.” I had them installed on all vehicles in case Rachel ever used one. She didn’t leave the palace often, but when it came to Rachel’s safety, I left nothing to chance. Yet in the end I had failed her when it came to the most important thing.
“Good. I will work fast.” Dr. Graham headed toward the storage towers.
I pulled open the doors to the landing bay. The main power grid was down, but I was able to get in through a manual override.
Our options for vehicles were limited. Some of them had been eliminated from the main stock for built in flaws with the power source. Others were just outdated. The one benefit of being outdated was that it would make it difficult to track.
I selected a four seater. Technically it might slow us down, but if we did find someone in need we would need the passenger space. Even though it only had two additional seats, if we didn’t leave the planet we could keep anyone else we found in the storage area.
I worked to manually override the launch systems and double checked the basic systems inside the vehicle.
“I think I have everything.” Dr. Graham stepped into the vehicle. He was carrying a large crate.
I took the crate from his hands and set it down. “You better strap in. The launch from this bay can be a bumpy one even though we aren’t entering the atmosphere.”
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