by Kate O'Hearn
Joel’s eyes grew large. ‘It’s the CRU. They could come for us any minute. Paelen, you’ve got to get out of here.’ Joel rose and crossed to the door and checked to see if the hall was clear. He looked down at his silver hand. Curling it in, he used its strength to break the handcuff binding it to his waist chain. Then he reached over to his left hand and freed that as well. With his hands free, he pushed the food flap in the door – but it was locked.
‘I will not leave you,’ Paelen said flatly. He crossed to the door. ‘With my strength and your arm, we can force open this door. We will both go.’
Joel shook his head. ‘No we can’t. This is a jail. We’d never make it to the end of the hall, let alone out of the building. But you can.’
‘I told you, I will not leave you.’
‘You’ve got to,’ Joel insisted. ‘You must get back to Emily. Tell her what’s happening.’
‘But—’
‘You can’t stay. Not if the CRU have been alerted.’
Paelen and Joel looked around the tiny cell. There was only the one door and no windows. There were two air vents in the white ceiling high above their heads.
‘You can fit through there,’ Joel offered. ‘Just stretch out of your chains and I’ll boost you up.’
Paelen saw the grim determination on Joel’s face. But how could he leave his best friend to face the CRU alone? He remembered what happened to Joel at Governors Island and how he had been drugged and tortured.
‘It’s the only way,’ Joel insisted. ‘Get help. If the CRU do come for us, we’ll disappear and no one will ever know what happened. You are Olympian. We can’t let them get hold of you again.’
Paelen shook his head. ‘I cannot leave you. If they take you to Area 51, they will cut off your arm to see how it works. Remember how Agent T was interested in it. He told you what would happen if they caught you.’
Fear rose in Joel’s face as he looked at his mechanical arm. It had been a part of him for so long that it was as if he’d been born with it. ‘If they cut it off me, you’ll just have to come and get me so Vulcan can put it back on. Now go!’
Joel was right, but it didn’t make it any easier for Paelen to abandon him. ‘Keep watch at the window. Let me know if anyone is coming.’
Joel stood by the thick window as Paelen concentrated. He was still aching badly from his fight with the clone and his head continued to pound from the bullet.
First, Paelen extended his hands until they pulled free of the cuffs chaining him to his waist. Then his whole body started to pop, snap and stretch until he slipped out of his clothes and he was free of the chain around his waist.
‘I am ready,’ he said in a high, reedy voice. ‘Help me climb up.’
Joel laced his fingers together to make a stirrup and gave the snake-like Paelen a leg-up.
Clutching his clothing in one hand, Paelen reached up with his free hand and pulled the vent cover away from the opening. He shoved his clothes through the hole and stretched out his body until he was thin enough to slip up into the narrow vent hole. Paelen winced in pain as he felt the bullet shift in his elongated head.
Paelen was grateful to find the ventilation shaft was wider than he expected. His mind kept replaying the first time he had travelled through the vent at Governors. But then he had the sandals to help. This time he was alone.
Paelen turned and looked back down into the small cell. He saw Joel looking hopefully up at him. His large friend suddenly looked very small and vulnerable.
‘I’ll be fine,’ Joel said. ‘Just go and find Emily and Pegasus. Tell her what’s happened.’
‘I will,’ Paelen promised as he pulled the vent cover back into position. His last sight of his best friend was Joel sitting down on the bench, all alone.
Paelen wasn’t sure how long he’d spent in the ventilation system of the Las Vegas jail. But as he crawled along a course that took him away from the holding cells, he felt the passage of time as acutely as he felt the bullet lodged in his head.
Looking through the vents along the shaft system, he soon found he was over an empty office. A desk was directly below him. Peering sideways, Paelen could see the frame of a window. If they weren’t too high off the ground, he could jump out of it.
Paelen pushed down on the vent and peeked through. He used his thief senses to listen and feel for danger. There was no one in the hall outside the closed office door. For the moment, he was safe.
He winced as he extended his body to slip through the narrow opening. Pushing his clothes ahead of him, he poured himself into the room and landed with a heavy and painful thump on the top of the desk.
Grateful to return to his normal shape, Paelen dressed quickly and crossed to the window. It was daytime and he realized they’d been in jail longer than he expected. He hoped that Emily and Pegasus would be back at the black building, waiting for them.
Looking down, they were at least four, perhaps five storeys off the ground. Normally that wouldn’t bother him. But he was weak from lack of food, and wounded. Sighing heavily, Paelen knew he had no choice. He forced open the sealed window. Checking to see that no one was below, he climbed out on the ledge and jumped.
Paelen had leaped from greater heights many times before. But that was when he was healthy. When he hit the pavement, his right ankle gave way and twisted with a loud snap. It took all his will not to cry out.
As pain pulsed and shot all the way up his leg, Paelen looked back at the tall, brown building that was the jail. He couldn’t see anyone at the windows and hoped he got away without being noticed. Paelen limped away from the jail and Joel.
25
While Pegasus, Alexis and the Nirads rested under the tress waiting for the safe cover of darkness, Emily could not relax. She stood and started to pace. Looking back, she saw Prince Tobin seated beside Tirk. Their arms were crossed over their chests and their eyes were closed as they wilted in the oppressive desert heat. Tirk’s orange, marble-like skin glistened with sweat and he was panting softly in blistering temperatures he had never known before.
Emily worried that it had been a bad idea to bring them here. They belonged on the Nirad world where they were safe. Not out in the middle of the open desert where dangers surrounded them. As it was, she was reconsidering her plan to take them to the black building. Two Nirads in Las Vegas? Now, that would be really stupid.
But leaving them behind would be equally dangerous and stupid. Emily cursed herself for not thinking ahead. Her thoughts spun wildly out of control as anxieties pressed down on her. She still had no idea how to get into Area 51, let alone get back out again. How would the Nirad clones react to the prince? Could he reach them telepathically? Or was she leading Tobin and Tirk into disaster?
The more she thought about it, the more muddled she became. There seemed no solution to the problem. No clear plan of action. Emily ached to speak with Joel and Paelen. Maybe once everyone was together again, they could come up with a decent strategy that would solve the clone problem before Jupiter found out.
Emily returned to Pegasus and sat beside the stallion, resigned to the fact that they couldn’t do anything for the moment. Until everyone was reunited, all she could to was wait and worry.
26
Paelen was an Olympian lost and alone in Las Vegas. There was a large white bandage wrapped around his head and his clothes were tattered and covered with blood. He knew he would not receive any help from the strangers he passed looking as he did.
‘Sandals, where are you when I need you?’ he muttered softly as he made his way along a quiet street.
The full heat of the day pressed down on him. The sun was high and unforgiving in the blue cloudless sky. Paelen felt weak from his wounds and lack of food. If he didn’t eat some ambrosia soon, he feared he might collapse.
Over to his left he recognized the remains of Fremont Street. The area still smouldered and was blocked off by police tape. Fire trucks remained in the area and men wearing white protective gear sifted thro
ugh the rubble.
There was no way the damage could not attract the attention of the CRU. Fighting the clone had been a terrible mistake and had put his best friend in danger.
Paelen kept to the quieter streets as he tried to find his way back to the tall black building. But Las Vegas in daylight looked nothing like it did at night. Not to mention they had travelled to Fremont Street by taxi. There was no telling how long it would take him to walk back, especially with a broken ankle.
Paelen needed help. He approached a homeless man lying in a doorway.
‘And I thought I had it bad.’ The homeless man smiled a toothless grin.
‘Please, I need your help. I am badly lost. Do you know where Circus Circus is?’
Paelen’s instincts wouldn’t allow him to mention the black building. Instead he remembered the name Joel had used the previous night.
The homeless man shook his head. ‘Boy, you sure are lost. You’re walking in the wrong direction. You want the strip.’ The man sat up and pointed down the street and gave Paelen a series of directions. ‘But on that foot, it’ll take you all day.’
‘I have no choice,’ Paelen said grimly. Thanking the man, he slowly limped away.
As the homeless man had warned, it took Paelen the better part of the day, but he finally made it back to the tall black building, sunburned and with heat exhaustion. Half limping and half staggering to the elevator, he took it up to the top floor. Chrysaor was waiting for him when the doors opened.
‘Emily …’ Paelen called out and then crumpled to the ground.
27
Pegasus protested loudly as Emily proposed her latest idea. The sun was setting and the heat of the day finally fading – but not by much. Within the small cluster of trees, everyone was on their feet.
‘Pegs, I’ve thought about it all day. This is the only way,’ Emily insisted.
The stallion snorted and pawed the grass beneath his golden hoof.
‘I don’t want to leave them either, but Tirk is way too heavy for you to carry. After we get the others, we’ll come right back. Tobin and Tirk won’t be alone for long.’
Prince Tobin was standing beside Emily and nodding his pink head. He let out a long series of growls and strange sounds.
Emily looked to Alexis to translate. ‘The prince agrees with you,’ she said. The Sphinx approached Pegasus. ‘Emily is correct. Tirk is too heavy for you to carry for a long distance. We are closer to Area 51 than we are Las Vegas. It would be wise to leave them here for a short time, collect the others and then gather our forces before we make our move on the CRU.’
Pegasus was still arguing when the prince started to stroke the stallion. He growled a few soft words. Pegasus bowed. Again Emily looked to Alexis to translate, but the Sphinx shook her head. ‘That is between the two of them,’ she whispered.
Finally Pegasus snorted and raised his head, but his ears were twitching. Emily knew him well enough to know he was going to go along with the plan, but wasn’t happy about it.
‘It is agreed,’ Alexis said. She turned to the prince, ‘Your Highness, we shall only be a short while. Please remain here and wait for us. Should any human come along, please try to keep hidden.’
Tobin nodded his head. He and Tirk returned to the trees to sit down and wait.
28
Paelen awoke to the sounds of Chrysaor squealing and a man’s loud, terrified screams. When he opened his eyes, he discovered he was lying on a smelly pile of rags. His head was screaming, the skin on his face and arms was on fire and his ankle pounded like his foot was about to fall off.
Chrysaor had cornered a man to a wall.
Paelen’s thoughts were sluggish as he finally recalled what had happened to get to this place. Lifting his head weakly, his eyes sought Emily and Pegasus. When he didn’t see them, he called weakly, ‘Has Emily returned?’
Before Chrysaor could answer, the frightened man called, ‘Help me! Call the police, call the FBI! Call the zoo! This freaky pig won’t let me move.’
Chrysaor squealed with anger and trod on the man’s foot, causing him to yelp in pain.
Paelen’s eyes drifted over to the piles of rags where Frankie’s friend John had been sleeping. The lump was gone.
‘Are you John?’ he asked as he tried to climb to his feet.
‘Who are you?’ the filthy man demanded. ‘How do you know my name? And why have you brought this pig to my home? What have you done with Frankie?’
‘Frankie is not here?’
‘No he’s not here!’ John angrily shouted. ‘I woke up and found this creature here instead. What the hell are you?’
Chrysaor jumped on the man’s foot again.
The pounding pain in Paelen’s head was unbearable as he made it to his feet. But when he tried to put weight on his broken ankle, he cried in pain and fell down. Lying in the stack of smelly rags, all he wanted to do now was sleep. It was calling to him, beckoning him and promising to take him away from the pain.
Chrysaor left the man and trotted over to Paelen. He squealed softly then sniffed the wound at Paelen’s head.
‘It has all gone wrong,’ Paelen muttered weakly. ‘Joel is in jail and the CRU are coming for him.’
Chrysaor continued to sniff along Paelen’s wounded body. He snorted and squealed in deep concern.
‘We cannot go back to Olympus,’ Paelen panted. ‘I know I am hurt badly. But we must wait for Emily and Pegasus. The police have Joel. He is counting on me to get him out. I must not let him down.’
But Chrysaor squealed again. The high pitch of his voice bored into Paelen’s head like a drill. Paelen tried to beg him to stop, but his voice was gone. Soon the world around him started to spin and darkness approached.
Paelen welcomed the coming darkness, the end of pain. But as he started to surrender himself to it, he felt overcome with a familiar nauseous feeling. The same sickness felt in the presence of his clone. The clone was nearby, Paelen was sure of it. It must have escaped the police and followed him back here.
Fighting back to consciousness, Paelen heard screaming from the stairwell and then something charged towards him. Chrysaor was the first to react. The winged boar squealed and ran towards the clone. He opened his wings and tried to knock him away. But the clone was fast and agile. He leaped high into the air and soared over Chrysaor’s head. He landed a short reach from Paelen.
With the drive to fight rising in the pit of his stomach, Paelen climbed up to stand on one foot. But he was too weak to fend off the clone. It caught hold of him and, screaming in rage, lifted him high in the air.
Snarling with uncontrolled hatred, it hurled Paelen at the painted window. The hardened glass shattered with the impact and sent Paelen out into the open air, sixty-nine storeys above the ground. Without his winged sandals to save him, Paelen started to fall.
29
Pegasus, Emily and Alexis flew high above Las Vegas. As they started to descend, they saw bright flashing lights from fire trucks lining a street well away from the strip. The acrid smell of freshly extinguished fire rose up to meet them.
‘I wonder what’s going on down there?’ Emily called.
Pegasus nickered and whinnied and Emily wished she could understand the stallion’s language. What Pegasus said sounded important. In the distance, she saw the back building rising dark and silent.
When they landed on the roof, Emily’s heart sank to discover that Joel, Paelen and Chrysaor were not there. She climbed down from Pegasus.
‘Wait!’ Alexis warned. ‘Something is very wrong. I can feel it.’
Emily stopped and watched the Sphinx lifting her head and sniffing the air. The hair on the hackles along her back was high and her wings were fluttering. Her tail whipped the air.
‘Get back on Pegasus,’ she ordered. ‘Now!’
Just as Emily settled on the stallion’s back, the Sphinx hissed and drew her claws.
The door to the roof was flung open. A little boy of nine or ten came running forward. His clot
hing was in tatters and his eyes were filled with terror. He ran at Pegasus and waved his hands in the air. ‘Emily, it’s a trap! Fly away before they get you!’
Alexis rose on her hind legs and roared, ‘Men are here. Pegasus, get the Flame away!’
The Sphinx’s eyes went black, her jaw unhinged and teeth came out. As she charged the stairwell door, she looked back at Pegasus and screamed, ‘Go now!’
Pegasus reacted immediately. The stallion lunged forward and caught the little boy’s shirt in his sharp teeth. Lifting him off the ground, without a second’s pause, he galloped to the edge of the roof and leaped off. Flapping his powerful wings, he carried them high in the air.
On the roof Alexis roared as armed men poured through the door. Their screams filled the air as they were greeted by the enraged Olympian Sphinx.
‘Alexis!’ Emily screamed. ‘Leave them, come on!’
Pegasus was flying too high and too fast for Emily to see what was happening on the roof. The sound of gunfire filled the air. But were the men shooting at them or Alexis?
The little boy was screaming in terror as he hung only by his shirt from Pegasus’s mouth, suspended high over Las Vegas.
A few minutes later, Pegasus landed on the roof of a casino further down the strip. Emily slid off his back and ran to the roof edge searching the skies for Alexis. ‘Come on,’ she cried. ‘Alexis, where are you?’
‘Emily?’ the little boy said as he carefully approached her.
His eyes were huge as he looked at her and Pegasus. ‘They got the lion lady.’
‘Who?’ Emily demanded, turning on him. ‘Who was it?’
‘The soldiers.’ He started to sob. ‘They shot my friend John.’
There was so much pain in the little boy’s face. Emily put her arm around him. ‘Please tell us, what soldiers?’ she asked softly. ‘Who are you and how do you know my name?’
‘I’m Frankie,’ the little boy sniffed. He wiped his running nose on his dirty sleeve. ‘Joel and Paelen are my friends. So is Chrysler the pig.’