Destiny Series Boxed Set

by Bronwyn Leroux

  Shianna rolled her eyes. “How are you going to contain birds?”

  “How do we stop it?”

  “I’ve been conversing with the CDC. They’re sending a team.”

  Jaden scrubbed his hands over his face. Wasn’t it enough to deal with the Gaptors? Now they had to cure the world too? And, oh yes, still find time to get that last artifact and somehow finish this mission? And how were they going to do any of it without Kayla? It was too much for one person.

  Jaden felt Shianna’s hand on his shoulder. “Chill, dude. I’ve got this part of the equation. You go find Kayla and finish this thing you started. With any luck, severing the link between our worlds might prevent the spread.”

  Jaden almost laughed at the ludicrous statement. It was a shot in the dark. But he would take it. That meant getting on with the mission. But they had no map—or none they knew of. Zareh had said the map was already in their possession. He’d said something else, but right now, Jaden couldn’t recall what. He’d have to think. Maybe there had been a clue there.

  “Thanks, I appreciate you taking the lead. I really don’t have the bandwidth to deal with much more.”

  Shianna only gave his shoulder a quick, comforting rub. “Why do you think I’m doing this?”

  Jaden couldn’t resist. “Because it’s in your wheelhouse. And you have to understand it.”

  She grinned. “You know me too well. Now, shoo! Get out of here. You have things to do and so do I.”

  Jaden laughed. “Atu, you heard the lady. You coming? We have answers to find—and plans to make!”

  Jaden studied his mother. Her face was distant as she stared into the past. Or rather, into that memory of the dream she’d had. The vision of what would come to pass.

  Or would it? They had changed things when he had given her his ring.

  The question remained. Had she seen animals? Or had she simply been unable to recall that? Or not dreamed for long enough to see? Ugh, enough questions!

  He focused on his mother again. Jaden knew it was a big ask. Every time she spoke of that place, she relived the agony. But he needed to know, and she was the only one who might provide answers.

  When he had voiced concern to Atu about asking his mother, the healer had offered to create something to give his mother a temporary window into that memory without suffering the usual traumatic after-effects. Jaden had pounced on it. Going back there was already an ordeal for his mother. He didn’t want her experiencing any more discomfort than necessary.

  She’d been willing to oblige once Atu explained how the potion worked. Several minutes in now, his mother still hadn’t said a word. Jaden glanced at Atu. Atu only shook his head, indicating Jaden should give his mother time. Jaden started when his mother suddenly began speaking, her words a little slurred.

  “I loathe this place! It’s beyond depressing. I can almost touch the horror shrouding it. All these people in this heinous situation. And they’re all terrified.” She was quiet for a moment. Then her breathing picked up, her voice higher than before. “They’re running past me, screaming, trying to get away.”

  Jaden tried for a soothing voice. “Mom, I can’t imagine how awful it is. Try to see past the people. Do you see any animals?”

  His mother’s eyes roamed, but she wasn’t seeing the room they were in. She scanned that other place. The land of her visions. The place of nightmares come to life.

  “I can only see people. And no, they’re just people. They haven’t grown horns or fangs. They’re all so desperate!” Her voice hitched. Her eyes closed as though she wanted to escape the images.

  Maybe Jaden needed to try a different tactic. “Mom, look at the ground. Don’t look up at the people. Can you see any insects?”

  Clara’s head dropped. Her hand moved. “It’s so cool. And soothing.” Her fingers rippled like they were sifting through something.

  Jaden raised an eyebrow at Atu. He shrugged. “Mom, what are you touching?”

  Clara’s eyes shifted as she focused on what she held. “I don’t know. But it’s soft and powdery. And it’s so cool. The earth is so hot.” She made as if to rise.

  Jaden leaped up and cradled her in place. “Mom, you can’t move there yet. I know it’s nice and cool. But before you go there, find an insect or animal first.” When his mother’s face crumpled, Jaden’s heart shriveled. He couldn’t take much more of this. “Mom, could you stay a little longer? Maybe find an insect for me?”

  His mother’s head moved again as if she were looking. “It’s all gone. They’re all dead. There’s nothing left. Except this.” Her hand moved, and Jaden suspected she was touching the cool thing again. “It’s the only lovely thing remaining.” Abruptly, her fingers stopped moving.

  “What’s wrong?”

  His mother frowned. “I don’t know. There’s a little piece of something hard here.”

  Jaden watched as her fingers sorted through whatever it was she saw. Then her eyes widened. “What are you doing here?”

  “Mom, what is it?”

  She appeared bewildered. “It’s a piece of a medallion. I can make out the little ink pot and part of that pearly background.” Then, her fingers were scrabbling again. “Oh, no! They’re all gone! He burned them!”

  “What’s gone. Mom?” Jaden urged, but he thought he already knew.

  His mother’s face grew desperate as she seemed to pull little pieces of things out from the pile. “The medallions! They’re all gone, turned to ash, except for these tiny pieces.”

  Her voice was rising. Jaden turned to Atu, but this time, his friend was already moving.

  “Here, Mrs. Jameson, breathe this. It will help.” He placed a small bunch of leaves under her nose.

  Without hesitation, she inhaled. Her eyes snapped back, finding the real world once more. “Did I find the animals?”

  Jaden glanced at Atu.

  He rolled his eyes. “I told you your mom wouldn’t remember anything.”

  Facing his mother again, Jaden said, “No, Mom, you couldn’t find any. There weren’t any left for you to find.”

  Clara pulled a face. “Sorry.” Then she smiled at Atu. “Thanks for helping me get there without having to relive the experience—or remember doing it.”

  “Anytime.”

  Clara studied Jaden. “If you like, I can try again?”

  “Thanks, Mom, but I don’t think that’ll be necessary. I don’t think we’ll find anything there no matter how many times you go back.”

  “Alright. I’m off to find something to eat. I’m ravenous!”

  Jaden chuckled. “I thought that was my line!”

  She giggled, that lovely sound tinkling out of her. “See you later.”

  Jaden watched her leave, then placed a hand on Atu’s shoulder. “Thanks. I really appreciate what you did for her.”

  “Sure. If it was my mom, I wouldn’t want her to experience any of that more than once or have to deal with the aftermath. So, what did you make of it?”

  Jaden scratched his chin. “Well, she found something she didn’t before. That proves the tonic worked. If that’s true, and she didn’t see any animals or insects, I’m thinking it’s also true they weren’t there to see. If she could remember the details of the ash, then figure out what it was, she would’ve found the animals had they been there.”

  “Hmm, my thoughts exactly. That means we still don’t know if the changes we’re seeing in the animals are part of that future or not.”

  “Pity. It would’ve been nice to have confirmation. But here’s what I don’t get. Of all the places she could’ve been sitting, why did she end up right next to the ash pile of medallions?”

  “You’re thinking there’s more to that than coincidence?”

  “Oh, didn’t you know? I don’t believe in coincidence anymore.”

  Atu chuckled. “Yeah, I hear you. Why do you think they were there?”

  “The only working theory I have is that the image or memory highlighted the medallions’ importance
. Not that we didn’t already know that. But perhaps also to hint that we should gather them; to be sure we collect all the medallions—what for, I don’t know. The ash pile suggests Slurpy incinerated some or all of them. In which case, the memory is a warning that if Slurpy gets his hands on even some of them, we can’t win.”

  “What’s to say he hasn’t already destroyed some?”

  “Nothing. That’s the problem. We could do all this and then still end up not having every single medallion. But we do have one thing going for us.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “If the medallions were all kept in that chest here in our world, chances are favorable Slurpy hasn’t smuggled them across to his world yet. Maybe when Zareh was enchanting the medallions, he also added something to prevent from being taken from our world to theirs.”

  “A failsafe to prevent Slurpy from getting his hands on them?”

  “Yes. Assuming that’s true, there’s still hope.”

  “And isn’t that what the last clue was all about?” Atu mused.

  “That brings us full circle. Time to find that next map.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Atu looked put out. “What about figuring out why we need all the medallions? Or what we need to do with them?”

  Jaden shrugged. “That will have to wait. If those questions are like anything else on this quest, the answers will come when we need them. Until then, we use the medallions for the one thing we know they’re good for - protecting the riders against the Gaptors’ EMP’s.”

  “I’ll let it go for now. Although we should tell the others. You never know. Inspiration could hit, and one of them could come up with the solution.”

  “I agree. Now, about finding the map. Do you have—”

  “Jaden! We need you in the control center.”

  Markov’s interruption was so abrupt, registering first the words and then the urgency behind them took Jaden a moment.

  Without a word, he raced after Markov back to the comm room, Atu following them. They burst into the control room. The commotion made Jaden want to roar for silence. He glanced at the screens. And froze.

  Every screen showed chaos. People rioting in the streets. Smashing windows. Acting like lunatics. Attacking others who got in their way. Grabbing what others were looting from stores and racing away before the looters could reclaim the goods.

  “What is going on?”

  The hubbub in the room was so loud, Jaden didn’t think anyone had heard him. But Markov leaned closer.

  “The Gaptors have figured out what power stations do. They’ve been blasting the sites with their EMPs. Power grids are going down all over, and not only on our continent.”

  Jaden swallowed. “They’re attacking the entire world?”

  Markov nodded, his face grim. Atu had gone pale.

  Jaden stared at the screens, his mind churning. If the Gaptors were taking down the power, the time for Slurpy’s assault must be close. Without power, the world would stop. People would return to a level of subsistence living. It would render the ordnances of this world impotent. It would lay waste to weapons with the ability to wreak complete devastation. What chance did they have against a force like this?

  “How much of the power grid have they taken down so far?”

  “They’re only just getting started,” Vicken replied.

  Jaden wasn’t surprised the man had snuck up on them. He nodded a greeting, which Vicken acknowledged before he continued speaking.

  “The images you’re seeing on these screens are from isolated cities. However, they’re representative of the chaos that will follow in other cities when their power goes down. The more cities that go down, the more complex the problem becomes and the more the infrastructure that supports a city will erode. And when you tally the combined effect, the picture isn’t pretty.”

  His silence left the rest to Jaden’s imagination. “Not much hope then if we don’t finish this mission. It seems the visions my mom had weren’t so far off the mark.”

  Before he could say more, a hand tapped his shoulder. Someone thrust a headset into his hands. “For you.”

  Befuddled, Jaden put the headset on. “Hello?”

  “Jaden, it’s Shianna. Over here—at the far end of the room.”

  Jaden glanced that way and saw her standing on a chair and waving her arms in the air.

  “Hurry over here. I have the CDC on the line, and I don’t know how much longer we’ll have a connection before the power outages cut us off.”

  Jaden plowed through the crowd, pushing and shoving his way through until he reached her. She grinned, gave him a quick hug, and got down to business as she faced the screen in front of her.

  “Dr. Breegan, this is Jaden Jameson. Please tell him what you just told me.”

  In the screen’s background, past Dr. Breegan, Jaden saw the part of town over which the gate had opened. The CDC hadn’t wasted time getting here and setting up a field tent. He was about to introduce himself, but Dr. Breegan’s first sentence told him the man knew who he was and where he fitted in.

  “Jaden, I wish you had told us about these Gaptors when you first saw them. It’s not only their beaks and claws that are dangerous. They’re the reason for the changes we’re seeing in these animals. Any time a drop of their blood touches something or they release their EMP, everything near them gets contaminated. Changes manifest within twenty-four hours.”

  Jaden squashed the helplessness that threatened to overwhelm him. “What about the rate of change? Any idea why some animals change faster than others?”

  “The working theory right now is animals subjected to repeated exposure exhibit accelerated changes.”

  “But a single exposure is enough to start the change?”

  “Yes.”

  “Since this appears to be an animal to animal transmission, will you work on an antidote?”

  “Already in process, as is work on a vaccine. Just because we’ve seen no changes in humans doesn’t mean they aren’t happening at a microscopic level. I’ll be sending some people to examine you and your team.”

  “Why?”

  “Your exposure to these creatures is the most extensive. If anyone were to exhibit signs of infection, it would be you.”

  Really? I have to add this to everything else we’re dealing with? When will it stop?

  Atu tapped his shoulder. “May we speak alone for a moment?”

  Jaden pulled the headset off, surprised to find Atu had a headset of his own. “What’s up?” Jaden asked as he and Atu took a few steps away from the others.

  “Dr. Breegan makes a valid point. While I can confirm we’re not infected, that may not be true for any of the riders I haven’t healed.”

  A million questions ran through Jaden’s mind, but he asked the most pertinent. “How can you be sure?”

  “If you ever trusted me, believe me on this. I’m sure. We’re not infected. But it would be a good idea for that team to come out and examine the others.”

  Jaden was beyond trying to understand Atu’s gift. The only way to get a direct answer was to ask a direct question. “Can’t you heal the others, the same as us?”

  Atu shook his head. “It doesn’t work like that. Believe me, if I could, I would. But there’s a real chance it may have infected some of these riders. He should send the team. I’ll give him a list of names of those I haven’t healed. Let him establish whether they’re at risk. If not, we can cross that off the list of things to worry about. But if they do find changes that aren’t yet visible to the naked eye, perhaps Dr. Breegan’s team can compare our blood or tissue with the infected to come up with a cure.”

  “Alright, let’s find a place they can test people other than here.”

  Atu’s eyebrows shot up. “Why?”

  “I just have a feeling that the fewer people who know about this place, the better.”

  “One of those feelings?”

  “Yes.”

  “How about if we use the healing
center in the mountains?”

  Jaden thought a moment. “Yes, easily defended and far from our army. Can you arrange it? I’ll ask Sven about setting up some of those cannons of his.”

  As though speaking about him conjured Sven from wherever he’d been hiding, Sven barreled into the room, his face red and his breathing labored. Spotting Jaden, he hurried over, ignoring the screens and their proclamations of impending doom.

  “He took it!”

  “Who took what?” Jaden asked.

  “That little fuzzball! He bypassed my security, marched in, and waved his little arms—and poof! The device was gone! As was he.”

  It took Jaden a second. “Zareh came and took the comm device we recovered from the Gaptor nest?”

  “Yes! What do you think I’m telling you?”

  “Did he say anything?”

  “No, not even a thank you! He just complained that I shouldn’t be meddling with things I didn’t understand and—poof!”

  Sven’s outrage was comical, as was the way he said, “Poof!” Jaden bit back his smile when he remembered how much Sven enjoyed understanding how things worked. “He’s a frustrating little rascal, isn’t he?”

  Sven nodded. “And if I ever see him again, I’ll tell him so.”

  The chuckle escaped. Jaden couldn’t help it. Shaking his head, he said, “Now you understand how I feel about the aggravating runt. Let’s talk about something more interesting. How do you feel about setting up some defenses around Atu’s medical camp?”

  Sven’s eyes sparkled with interest. “Tell me more.”

  An hour later, Jaden gathered everyone. They met in the mess hall, sitting on the tables, chairs, and floor, too many for such a small area. Jaden waved a hand for silence. The hum died down.

  “You’ve all seen what’s happening out there. I’m sure you’ve also figured out that things will only get worse unless we rid ourselves of the Gaptors. But before we go charging off into battles again, there’s something you should know.”

  In the briefest terms possible, Jaden outlined Clara’s dream, then explained the significance of the ash pile. After that, he opened up the floor to suggestions regarding how the medallions could destroy the Gaptors.