Old Secrets (The Survivors Book Thirteen)

by Nathan Hystad

  “When?” Patty asked, glancing at her brother.

  “A couple of weeks. We have somewhere to be,” Dean told her.

  Patty walked over, hugging Jules, then Dean. Jules was close enough to hear her muted words. “I love you, Dean. I’m sorry I wasn’t there.”

  He squeezed her tight, replying too quietly for Jules to make out what he said. They broke apart, and Jules grew her sphere, this one not green, and circled it over Dean.

  She gave the other Zan’ra a wave and saw how difficult it was for Dean to leave his sister so soon after finding her.

  They lowered into the water, and she stared at the mass graveyard here. According to the Deity, this had been Ja’ri’s work. Could she trust them?

  They found the Shandra, the lights illuminating their passage into the waterlogged stone-walled room, and Jules located the symbol for their ship. It had only been a couple of days, but she felt like a lifetime had passed.

  Seventeen

  I paced our suite, finding the entire situation difficult to focus on. “You’re telling us that Ja’ri was evil?”

  Jules and Dean were beside one another on the couch, and she looked fresh after a good night’s sleep and a shower. I’d tossed and turned, only catching pieces of Jules’ muddled story after they’d arrived safely on Light ten hours ago, but it had been enough to scare me.

  “There are two sides to this,” Jules started. She lifted her left hand. “On one side, we have the Zan’ra. Right now, the Four include Lan’i and Dal’i, who are both original Zan’ra, or claim to be.”

  “Are you suggesting they’re lying?” Mary asked her daughter, but Jules shook her head.

  “I don’t think so. Then you have Patty and me, who are holding the essence of a Zan’ra inside us, giving us these powers. We don’t have the memories of O’ri or Ja’ri, and that’s for the best, because when the Deity showed me what the girl had done, it was atrocious.

  “We make up the Four, and their main objective is to hold these Deities so they can continue to live,” she finished.

  “And what’s your thought on these gods?” I asked her, stopping my incessant strides.

  She peered over the couch at me, pointing to a chair across from her. “Papa, can you have a seat? You’re making me nervous.”

  “Sorry.” I shifted around the furniture, taking the chair next to Mary. She’d already visited Katherine, but we were waiting to interrogate her. I hadn’t told Jules about our guest quite yet.

  Jules glanced at Dean, who’d slunk on the couch for most of the conversation, and continued. “I don’t know who to trust. They could be fooling me, but she told me something interesting.”

  “What’s that?” Mary asked.

  “That I’m not one of the Zan’ra. I’m different. She called me special and said I was one of them, placed on Lainna to find a host some day.”

  “What’s Lainna?” I asked, but the second the question was out, I understood. “The crystal world.”

  Jules nodded, and Mary’s eyes went wide.

  “They put something there, hoping it would be their savior. I was intended to be created to trick the Zan’ra into trusting me; then I was told to free the Deities.”

  “Jules, are you kidding me?” Dean asked. “I thought we could trust the Zan’ra with Patty. Now you’re telling me they committed genocide on their own people, and that these gods are the good ones?” He started to stand, but Jules grabbed him by the shirt and hauled him down.

  “They aren’t aware of this. They can’t speak with the Deities like I can. They think I have Ja’ri’s essence, and that I’m on their side. You saw that, right?” Jules asked, and Dean finally agreed.

  “I did, but will you promise that whatever happens, Patty makes it home?” he asked.

  “I promise,” Jules said, and she locked gazes with me, her lips pursed.

  “Then it’s settled. We have to use the bracelet to grab O’ri from Patty, then free the Deities, let them clean up their mess of the other two,” I told them.

  “Papa, they might be…”

  Dean frowned, drumming his fingers on his knee. “If the Zan’ra really did that, we need to stop them. And if that means freeing these gods, then so be it. What’s the worst that can happen?”

  I laughed out loud, catching them all off guard. “I think a lot of terrible things can occur from releasing these ancient beings, but first off, we’re just a short time from reaching Techeron. Once we arrive, a few of us will be heading to Fontem’s collection.”

  “What do you expect to find?” Jules asked.

  We’d been through this countless times, but I played along. “Something to aid me in defeating Lom of Pleva. His mission must be thwarted.”

  Mary picked up her mug of tea and wrapped her fingers around it, holding it close to her chest as if she were suddenly cold. “Anything to avoid sending you to Udoon.”

  She’d let it slip and seemed to catch it right away, but the damage had been done.

  It was Jules’ turn to stand up in outrage. “What are you talking about?” she asked Mary, but when her mother didn’t reply, she snapped her attention on me. “Papa, what does she mean?”

  I relented, resting my hands on my thighs. “I saw Lom.”

  “I know, I heard that…”

  “No. I went through the portals, searching for him. He came, and he issued an offer. He wants me, and me alone.” I hated seeing the pain in her eyes.

  “You can’t be considering it—”

  Dean cut in. “No way Mr. Parker gives in to anyone.”

  I appreciated his confidence, but that wasn’t true. “Honey, we’ll know more after Fontem brings us to his cache. He claims to have objects to assist our mission.”

  “And if he doesn’t? You go to Udoon? Then what?”

  “I meet someone named Viliar, and he brings me to Lom.”

  “Into the future?” Jules asked.

  “Into the future.”

  “And you believe him? That he’ll stop his plan to merge our timelines?” Jules was the one pacing now, and I kept my eyes on her.

  “I’ll only do it if I have no other choice,” I told her.

  “No. You. Won’t.”

  “Honey, it’s not up to you,” I said, but she was fuming. Her eyes were glowing a darker green, burning hotly as her fury increased.

  “I’m not a child!” she screamed, shaking the table. She floated without the green sphere, and my jaw dropped. I swore there was a dark shadow around her, and for a moment, I thought she was bigger, but then her feet landed and she shrank into herself, collapsing into a ball on the couch. Dean held her, staring at the girl.

  “Jules, I think the Deities might be right,” Mary said.

  “That I’m one of them?” she asked, sitting up straight again. “Good. Then maybe I take care of Lom myself.”

  My laugh was sharp and cut the tension in the room. Soon Jules was laughing too, and Dean joined in. Mary remained quiet, watching us like we’d gone off the deep end.

  “If you had a way to stop him, I wouldn’t object,” I told her.

  “Let me work on it,” she said, standing up and moving to the kitchen. “Anyone want some coffee?”

  “Since when do you drink coffee?” Mary asked.

  “Papa lets me,” Jules said, outing me.

  Mary was about to speak, and I cut her off. “Is this the battle you want to win?”

  Now she did smile and raised her hand. “I’ll take a cup.”

  ____________

  Jules woke from dreams of her childhood. She’d been on Earth, playing with Maggie in the grassy field behind their farmhouse. The air was thick with the scents of summer: growing plants, freshly watered soil, and bloomed flowers. Her mother loved perennials, and Jules preferred the opposite. Through the eyes of a child, she’d thought the annuals were much prettier. It was the kind of garden a princess might have. Now, seeing the images so vividly through her dream-eyes, this older version of Jules understood.

&nb
sp; The perennials were rooted, tougher, and they returned every year, stronger with each passing cycle of the seasons. It was how her mother lived her life, and Jules wiped a tear from her eye as she made the realization. She needed to make moves that would keep her family rooted, not the quick and easy choices.

  Her room was too hot, and she tossed the blankets aside, letting the climate-controlled temperature blow cool air on her pajamas. There were another four hours before her parents would be waking, but Jules was restless and unable to sleep.

  She folded her legs over the edge of the bed and glanced at the mirror. Her hair was a mess, and she took out her brush, going over the curls with long strides. She knew what her next move was.

  Jules slid from her pajamas and opted for a Gatekeeper uniform. It sat pressed and ready to wear in the corner of her closet, and she went to the bathroom, cleaning up. She had to look older, more professional, if she was going to pull this off.

  If only there was something she could do about her eyes. She closed them, picturing them brown, not green, but when they blinked open, they still glowed. Maybe it was impossible to turn them off; otherwise, the other Zan’ra would do the same.

  Jules was never one for wearing makeup, but she applied enough to do the trick, lining her eyes and adding mascara. She felt foolish, but in the end, she was confident she didn’t look quite as much like a kid playing dress-up. She exited her room, tiptoeing to the suite’s exit, and she glanced at Dean’s suite’s door as she went. He’d be deep in slumber. She almost stopped to see if he wanted to join her but didn’t. This was for her to do alone.

  Jules passed a couple of decks and smiled at the crew that greeted her along the short trip. She eventually found the cell block where their prisoner was being held. There was a guard stationed there, and Jules walked up to Plinick, an Inlorian crew member. Her lower arms were crossed as she snapped awake at Jules’ presence, using her top hands to click discreetly at a keyboard, pretending she hadn’t been dozing off.

  “I need to see her,” Jules said.

  “Your father gave implicit directions not to let anyone inside,” Plinick said.

  “He sent me,” Jules said.

  She stared at Jules with a doubtful gaze. “Should I call to confirm?”

  Jules leaned closer, lowering her voice. “I’m sure you don’t want him to find out that one of his guards is sleeping on the job. This prisoner is important, and there might even be someone on board that wants to free her.”

  “That person isn’t you, is it?” Plinick asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “Nope. I’ll be ten minutes, and it’ll be like I was never here,” Jules said.

  “Fine.” The energy barrier disappeared, and Jules stepped through the entrance, smiling at the woman.

  “I’ll be quick,” Jules told her, and stood taller, composing herself.

  There weren’t many cells, and it was obvious which one was occupied. A soft blue light lit the exterior, holding Katherine inside. Jules stopped at the edge and pulled a chair from a closet across the hall. She flipped it open and sat on the molded plastic seat.

  “Katherine, is it?” she asked.

  The woman was lying down, sleeping facing the ceiling. She jerked awake and sat up, looking around.

  “Over here,” Jules said, and they locked eyes. She reminded Jules of Leslie, only she seemed younger, more… perfect. A newer hybrid, according to her mom.

  Jules knew the story about Papa and the hybrid named Janine, and about Mae, the other woman who’d initially been sent to infiltrate Papa. They’d replaced her a year in with someone more pliable. It turned out they’d both betrayed her father: Janine with the Deltra, and Mae with the Bhlat.

  “It’s you,” the woman said, her voice smooth as silk. Katherine walked over, her appearance somehow well-maintained despite not having a shower for three days.

  “Hello.” Jules shoved her hands in her pockets, watching for a reaction.

  “It’s about time they sent somebody. I didn’t expect to be left here so long without anyone coming to interrogate me,” she said.

  “They found a lot of valuable information at your office,” Jules told her. “Dean Parker doesn’t think you’re necessary, but I convinced him you might have something we need.”

  Katherine had a chair inside her room too, and she dragged it across the white floor, sitting on it and facing Jules through the transparent blue-hued barrier. “He’s misguided if he doesn’t think I can help him.”

  Jules didn’t let the words strike a chord. “We know everything.”

  “Child, I doubt you do.”

  Jules faked a smile, inwardly bristling at the term. “Lom wants to merge the timelines. He destroys Hanrion’s facility, stealing a version of the man and his nullifier so he can create his own in the future. Only to do that, he needs something massive. A planet full of the crystals that fuel the device.” Jules paused, and the expression on Katherine’s face finally cracked her perfectly poised façade.

  “What do you want?”

  “I want you to help me. Not my father, me.”

  Katherine recovered some of her color, but it was obvious they were on the right track with their assumptions. Perhaps Papa’s plan to destroy Lainna was going to work. Even so, Lom had ways to communicate with people like Katherine here, and Jules couldn’t let him live.

  “Just tell me what you’re after,” Katherine said, some bite returning to her tone.

  “How do you talk with him?” Jules asked.

  “He’ll kill me,” she said.

  Jules sighed, watching the woman, and she waited a moment before speaking again. “I’m aware of the stories, Katherine. About Lom and PlevaCorp creating hybrids to do their dirty work. They sent the pitiful creatures to Earth knowing full well the Kalentrek placed there by the Deltra hundreds of years earlier would destroy them. People like Janine and Bob, my mother’s fake husband, were sent there to trick the humans into helping their cause. They all died.

  “The Deltra then sacrificed the rest of the hybrids, convincing them to fly into the sun. Lom was the one who sold them to the Kraski. This has been proven, and Haven is full of hybrid refugees that survived the Event.” Jules watched closely while she spoke to Katherine, and the woman swallowed hard, the masseter muscles clenching in her jaw.

  “There’s more to it than that,” Katherine said.

  “So you’re okay with the making of a race in a lab, and the subsequent selling them off like slaves to the Kraski, as long as you’re in a cushy office out of harm’s way. Is that it?” Jules was being a little harsh, but it was necessary.

  “Lom has treated me with respect—”

  “Sure. He needs someone obedient to do his bidding while he’s gone. You do understand he can’t win, right?”

  “Once he finds out I’m not answering, he’ll move ahead with his plans,” she told Jules.

  “The thing about megalomaniacs like Lom is that he was always going to follow through, no matter what. He is going to attempt to destroy the universe, because once he suggested it might happen, he was tied to it. A man of Lom’s stature has everything, but after my dad shot him twenty years into the future, he was at a loss. He wanted reparations, and regardless of what happens to you, he will try to kill us all.

  “What I need you to do is tell me how you talk with him. He won’t ever find you, and you can move on to a new life. I promise.”

  Katherine was scared now, and she nervously glanced toward the end of the corridor and then over to Jules. “How can I trust you?”

  “Because I know my father, and he won’t let you out of here. Ever. I can make you a deal,” Jules said, hoping she’d be able to back this one up.

  “What kind of deal?” Katherine asked.

  “When it’s all over, I’ll bring you to Haven, where you can live out your days among others like you. If you choose,” Jules said.

  “He’s going to kill me,” she said softly.

  Jules shook her head. “No he’s
not.”

  “How can you be sure?”

  “Because he’ll still be in the future, and he’ll be dead,” Jules told her, goosebumps covering her arms as she said it.

  “Okay.” Katherine leaned forward and told Jules everything she asked.

  Eighteen

  Techeron. The planet was two days away, and from there, we’d finally use the Kraski ship to head to some remote world Fontem wasn’t giving us the name of. From what we understood, there were three systems within three days’ FTL from Techeron, but we didn’t have many details on any of them. From Sarlun’s records, the world acted as a trade hub for this distant region, and we were going to use that as an excuse for our arrival.

  “Fontem, you sure you won’t tell me what we’re going to find?” I asked the Terellion again, and he smiled at me from behind his facemask.

  “Soon enough. My secrets will be revealed,” he told me.

  “Boss, you ready for this?” Slate arrived, Karo behind him.

  “Suma should have the nullifier up and ready to test,” I told the group.

  “Where’s Jules?” Fontem asked.

  “She didn’t want to come. Said she needed to see Regnig about something,” I told them. Jules had been acting fishy for the last week, but learning you might be a Deity would do that to any teenage girl.

  “What’s this place called again?” Slate asked.

  Karo answered. He knew, as a Theos. “Lainna.”

  “Lainna,” I said, the name sounding funny off my tongue. I’d always thought of it as the crystal world, but giving it a name seemed to increase its peculiarity to me.

  “Why did the Theos choose that planet to make the Iskios graveyard?” Slate asked him.

  “We were drawn to it. Now it’s clear why. The crystals power the portals, they hold essences of the Zan’ra, they power time-distortion nullifiers. The place is very potent, and quite amazing,” Karo said.

  “Sorry we need to destroy it,” I told Karo, but he understood.

  “No need to apologize to me. I only hope it doesn’t have any ill effect on the portal network,” he said.