Broken Worlds- The Complete Series

by Jasper T. Scott

  “It’s twenty-one hundred already?” Darius asked.

  “Almost.” Dyara went to her bundle of supplies and grabbed a flashlight. She turned it on and shined the beam on the weapon rack to find her sword and sidearm. “There’s no point trying to go back to sleep now,” she said as she strapped on her weapons.

  Darius shook Cassandra by her shoulder. “Cass. Wake up, honey,” he whispered. “It’s time to go.”

  “Already?” she groaned, rubbing her eyes and crawling out of bed. She stumbled over to the weapons rack to collect her sword.

  Darius followed to get his gun. Strapping it on, he crossed the room to get his flashlight and promptly flicked it on. As he shined the beam on the door, the light bounced off his glassy black blade, and he went to retrieve it.

  Once they had their weapons and flashlights, he and Dyara lifted the wooden beam that barred the door, and set it aside. Dyara unlocked the deadbolt, but hesitated with her hand on the door handle. “Flashlights off,” she said, glancing over her shoulder at them. “We don’t want anyone to see us leaving.”

  All three flicked off their flashlights at once, and Dyara opened the door with a loud groan of rusty hinges. Darius cringed at the noise, and they all froze.

  Dim white light spilled into their room from a string of lights the Marines had hung from the top of the opposite wall.

  Darius waited for a handful of seconds, staring into the hall, and listening for the sound of another door opening, but all he heard was the steady thumping of his heart. So far so good, he thought.

  “Let’s go,” Dyara whispered.

  Chapter 18

  Hushed voices drifted to Darius’s ears as they neared the balcony above the foyer at the end of the hall. He identified two different voices, both male, and neither of them familiar. Marines on the night watch. Just as they started down one of the curving stairways, he picked out a third voice. It was Blake’s.

  Great, Darius thought. The last thing they needed right now was to have to explain themselves to him.

  As they crept down the stairs, Darius saw the two Marines, as well as Blake, all with their backs turned and guarding a pair of improvised wooden doors. Both doors were wide open, revealing a black sky full of stars, and the Marines’ rifles were on the ground, leaning against the doors.

  So much for a night watch, Darius thought. He glanced around the foyer as they reached the bottom of the stairs. The windows were boarded up, but only with a few planks each. Not much of a deterrent for the Seekers, but better than nothing.

  Dyara quietly led them around behind the fireplace to the spiral stairs leading down. A string of lights illuminated the stairwell, too, making their flashlights unnecessary. Dyara waited at the top of the stairs, and this time Darius took the lead. He led them down past the armory and the landings below it, until they reached the bottom. The string of lights ended on the landing above, giving barely enough light to see by. At the bottom of the stairs a patched wooden door barred the way, just like in Darius’s vision.

  “Is this it?” Dyara whispered.

  “Yes.” Darius nodded and reached for the door handle. It turned easily in his hand. He frowned. In his vision the door had been locked. As he opened the door, he listened for the sound of the deadbolt falling out and hitting the stone floor, but he heard nothing.

  Behind the door they found a long corridor lined with broken windows on one side and doors on the other, just like he’d seen in his vision.

  Darius walked through, and something metallic skittered under his feet. He stopped, and scanned the floor. A metallic gleam revealed the deadbolt. He’d kicked it as he walked in. The lock had already fallen out.

  “Someone’s already been down here,” Darius said.

  “How do you know?” Cassandra breathed.

  “Because in my vision the door was locked, and the deadbolt fell out when I forced it open. Now the door’s unlocked, and the deadbolt is already on the floor.

  “That’s a pretty specific vision you had,” Dyara commented.

  Darius nodded slowly. He stepped aside to let the others through, and then clicked on his flashlight and shined the beam down the corridor. Familiar patterns appeared on the dusty floor.

  “Look,” he said, pointing the beam of light at the floor.

  “Footsteps,” Dyara said. “You’re right. Someone was down here already.”

  “Maybe it was one of the Marines?” Cassandra suggested.

  “If it was the Marines, why aren’t there lights strung up down here, too?”

  “Maybe they ran out of lights,” Dyara said.

  “Or they never came down here, and those are Samara’s footsteps,” Darius replied. “Maybe she came to erase the evidence.”

  “If she can’t read your mind, how would she know to do that?” Dyara asked. “I didn’t tell anyone about your vision.”

  “Me either,” Cassandra said.

  “We met her again after we spoke on the landing pad, when she and Tanik were passing out blankets and assigning rooms. Maybe she sensed your suspicion and read something in your minds?” Darius belatedly recognized how strange that sounded. He was shocked by how fast this was all becoming normal to him—visions, mind-reading, and other supernatural phenomena. It all seemed impossible even after seeing and experiencing it for himself.

  Cassandra’s and Dyara’s flashlights clicked on and their beams joined his.

  “Let’s not get paranoid yet,” Dyara said, brushing by him in the doorway. “Let’s go see what we can find.” She led the way down the corridor.

  Darius drew his sidearm, waiting for Cassandra to go next. He brought up the rear to make sure no one snuck up behind them. Broken glass crunched underfoot as they went. Darius peered inside each of the open doors to his right, looking for the child-sized humanoid skeletons he’d seen in his vision, but found no sign of them—just dusty old mattresses, stripped bare, and a few wooden chests.

  At the end of the corridor, Darius noticed their flashlights bouncing off something smooth and reflective. The water in the well? he wondered.

  They reached the end of the corridor, and he saw that was exactly what it was. A round pool of water, smooth as a mirror, gleamed in the center of a cavernous room.

  “There’s the well,” Dyara said, walking up to the edge of it. Darius and Cassandra followed, and all three of them shined their flashlights into the well. The glassy pool reflected some of the light, while the rest illuminated a few feet of murky, sediment-filled water.

  “Great,” Darius muttered. “We’re going to have to dive in to find out what’s at the bottom.”

  Cassandra’s nose wrinkled. “Dive in...? With dead bodies in there? No thanks.”

  “Not you, and not without the right equipment.” He turned to Dyara and looked her up and down.

  She held up her hands. “Don’t look at me.”

  “You’re already wearing a flight suit. All you need is your gloves, an oxygen tank, and a helmet, and you’ll have a complete set of diving gear.”

  “I left all of that back in the Osprey outside the castle. I’d have to explain why I’m going to get it to those Marines—and to Blake.”

  “I’m sure you could come up with a good excuse,” Darius said.

  “Like what?”

  “Like...”

  “We could tell them the truth,” Cassandra suggested.

  “And risk Samara finding out what we were up to?” Darius asked.

  “Actually, that might not matter,” Dyara said. “If we don’t find bodies in the well, then your vision was some kind of warning about the future, and we’ll have to tell Samara, anyway. And if we do find bodies down there, then we’ll have to tell Tanik what you saw so that we can confront her and find out who she really is. Either way, we won’t be skulking around again after tonight.”

  Darius frowned. “And what if she’s already been down here to erase the evidence?”

  Dyara waved her flashlight around, searching the room; then she began
walking around the well, checking the floor.

  “What are you looking for?”

  “Muddy footprints. Puddles.”

  “Puddles?” Cassandra asked.

  “If Samara beat us down here and went into the well herself, then there’d be water around it,” Dyara explained.

  “Why would she do that?” Cassandra asked.

  “To remove the bodies. Or the locket. Or both.”

  Dyara finished walking around the well and slowly shook her head. “There’s nothing, not even a drop of water. I bet if we ask the Marines upstairs they’ll tell us that they came down here earlier as part of a security sweep, but no one’s been in the well yet. You two wait here. I’ll be back,” Dyara said.

  “Are you sure you don’t want us to come with you?” Darius asked. “Safety in numbers.”

  Dyara flashed a smile. “I’ll be fine. See you soon.” She took off at a run with her sword slapping her hip and her flashlight bobbing as she went.

  Once she reached the stairwell and disappeared, Cassandra said, “I like her too.”

  Darius blinked. “What? I don’t...”

  Cassandra snorted. “Yes, you do. It’s okay. You don’t have to ask for permission or anything. And it’s about time you went on a date.”

  Darius frowned. “A date? Here? What would I do? Hunt and kill an Awk and then invite her to the barbecue?”

  Cassandra shrugged. “Sounds like a plan. I bet that’s how the cavemen did it, and obviously it worked for them, or we wouldn’t be here to discuss it.”

  “Ha ha,” Darius said.

  “The point is, you don’t have to be alone.”

  “I’m not. I’ve got you.”

  Cassandra arched an eyebrow at him. “What’s wrong, scared she’ll turn you down?”

  Darius frowned and gestured to their surroundings. “Look at where we are, what we’re doing—our primary concern right now is survival.” He shook his head.

  Cassandra smiled. “Doesn’t that just add to the romance? You know, live for the moment because you might not have tomorrow?”

  Darius narrowed his eyes at her. “And what would you know about that, young lady?”

  She gave him a dry look. “Nothing. I’m twelve, Dad.”

  He nodded slowly. “Then stop acting like such an adult.”

  “Just think about it, okay? She likes you. I can tell. I mean, she invited you to sleep in her bed last night. That’s got to count for something.”

  “You were awake?”

  Cassandra grinned.

  Darius snorted and looked away, shining his flashlight back down the corridor. He kept his aim on the open door at the end, just in case Dyara wasn’t the one who came down those stairs.

  And she wasn’t.

  Darius’s finger tightened on the trigger.

  “Hey there, Chosen One!” Blake called, and waggled the beam of his flashlight in greeting. Dyara came down the stairs behind him, wearing her helmet and gloves. Darius slowly lowered his weapon and waited while they approached.

  Blake stopped in front of him, grinning from ear to ear. “What’s this I hear about you becoming a grave robber?”

  Darius frowned. “If you’re not going to take this seriously, then why did you come?”

  “Who says I’m not taking it seriously? I’m the one who’s been telling you from the start that there’s something off about that Tanik guy. It won’t be any surprise to me if his wife turns out to be a zombie.”

  Darius turned to Dyara with a furrowed brow. “A zombie? What did you tell him?”

  Dyara threw up her hands and shook her head. “He hears what he wants to hear,” she said, her voice muffled by her helmet.

  “What else do you call a dead chick who’s somehow walking around again?” Blake asked, still smiling.

  Darius offered a smile of his own. “You think we’re crazy.”

  “I don’t think it. I know it.” Blake jerked his chin to the well. “Prove me wrong. Go find me a skeleton for Halloween.”

  “Hallo-what?” Dyara asked.

  Darius waved his hand to dismiss that reference and nodded to her. “Are you ready?”

  Dyara nodded back and reached around to grab the air hose dangling from the oxygen tank on her back. She inserted it into her helmet, and gave a thumbs-up. That done, she passed him her flashlight and removed her sword belt and gun belt. She slid a coil of zero-G tether off the gun belt, and clipped one end of it to a metal loop on her flight suit. She gave the other end to him.

  “Don’t let go.”

  “I won’t,” Darius replied, and clipped the other end of the tether to his own gun belt.

  They walked to the edge of the well together and peered in once more. Darius shined his flashlight into the murky depths and passed Dyara’s back to her. She shook her head and turned on her helmet lamps instead. “These are waterproof,” she explained.

  He nodded and set both flashlights down on the edge of the well so that he could manage the coil of zero-G tether.

  Dyara swung her feet over the edge of the well.

  “Tug twice on the line when you’re ready to come back up,” Darius said.

  Dyara nodded.

  “Don’t spring a leak!” Blake added.

  Everyone glared at him.

  “You’re a real kakker, you know that?” Cassandra said.

  Blake snorted, but his smile faded with the rebuke.

  “I’m going in,” Dyara said, and pushed off the edge of the well with a splash.

  Darius fed the tether to her as she sank into the murky depths of the well. Her headlamps illuminated the water from within, revealing a lot more than they’d seen earlier with their flashlights. Thick black clouds of sediment appeared all around her, like dead flies in a jar.

  The murky water soon swallowed Dyara whole, leaving nothing but a vanishing green glow. Darius kept feeding the tether into the water, faster and faster as she fell. He was running out of line to give her.

  “It’s not going to be long enough!” Darius said.

  Blake slapped him on the back. “I guess you’ll just have to jump in with her.”

  Darius scowled at Blake, and the other man held up his hands in surrender.

  “It’s that, or you cut her loose. I’m just telling it like it is.”

  A moment later, the line pulled taut and yanked Darius against the edge of the well. He cried out as his gun belt pulled painfully against the small of his back, and he hauled up on the tether to try to take some of the weight off, but it was too thin and slippery to get a good grip. Darius panted with exertion and pain. Dyara was no lightweight wearing all of her gear.

  “Help him!” Cassandra cried, and her hands joined his on the tether.

  Blake appeared on the other side of him and grabbed the tether, too. With the three of them pulling, they managed to get some slack on the line. Darius gasped in relief.

  Then the line went suddenly slack and they all staggered back a step. “What the... she unclipped it,” Darius said, blinking in shock. “How’s she going to get back up?”

  “Well, I guess she could always swim,” Blake said.

  Darius gave him a dark look. “If she could do that, then what was the point of the tether?”

  He shrugged. “Extra safety?”

  “Should we pull it out?” Cassandra asked.

  Darius shook his head. “No. Maybe she was close to the bottom when she unclipped, and she can still reach it.”

  Time dragged by as they waited. Darius counted the seconds, watching the water for any sign of movement below.

  Nothing. The seconds turned to minutes, and Darius began to worry. Dyara could last for a while down there with her oxygen tank—at least an hour if it was full—but if she was trapped at the bottom of the well, then sooner or later they were going to have to find some way to get her out. Darius glanced at Blake. “You’re wearing a flight suit.”

  “And?”

  “If you give it to me and go get me a helmet and an oxygen
tank I can go down and get her.”

  Blake looked dubious. “If she doesn’t come back up, what makes you think you will?”

  Just then Darius felt a tug on the tether, followed by another one. Then he felt a heavy weight yank him against the side of the well once more. “She’s back! Help me pull her up.”

  The three of them hauled on the line together until it was coiled in giant loops around their feet. The ghostly green glow of Dyara’s headlamps reappeared, rising fast, and then a few seconds later she broke the surface. They grabbed her hands to pull her out.

  “What did you find?” Darius asked as she sat on the edge of the well.

  Dyara pulled out her air hose and unfastened the seals on her helmet. Darius noticed that her gloves were dripping with black muck, so he helped her get the helmet off.

  “There’s nothing down there,” Dyara said, shaking her head.

  “Surprise surprise,” Blake muttered.

  “No bodies?” Darius asked. “Are you sure?”

  Dyara nodded. “Positive. I searched the bottom, but there’s no bones. There’s just a thick layer of mud.” She held up her hands, letting it drip from her gloves with noisy splats. “Either your vision was just a dream, or it was a vision of the future.”

  “I’ll take door number one,” Blake said. “Dreams are the kak of the mind, my friend,” he said, and slapped Darius on the back again.

  Darius gave him a look of strained patience. “So how do you explain that I knew this well was here before we ever came down here?”

  Blake shrugged. “Maybe you heard about it from the Marines. They were down here earlier.”

  “Well, that explains the footprints,” Cassandra said.

  Darius shook his head. “But it doesn’t explain my vision. I had it while we were still in orbit, on our way here.”

  “But you were at the castle before that,” Blake pointed out.

  “He didn’t come down here,” Cassandra said. “He was with me the whole time.”

  Blake snorted. “And I suppose I should just take your word for that.”

  “Why would we lie?”

  “I don’t know, maybe to make us think your Dad is as special as everyone says he is?”