The Curious Fate of Nelsonora (Fractured Universe Series Book 1)

by Marissa Nofer

  “David.” I interrupted sharply. “If I’m not back by tonight…”

  “Then I’ll have to kill you.” he concluded.

  With that, I climbed into the back seat of Sherriff Matthew Roberts’ patrol car and as he drove away from Edmund’s dirt yard, he immediately demanded to know why I’d called in a favor that could have him fired.

  “I’m not normal, Matthew.” I explained nervously. My plan relied on his acceptance of people like me, and a hope that if he didn’t help me, he at least wouldn’t hand me over to the guard.

  “I know you’re not.” He admitted. “I’ve heard about what went on at that shop.”

  “I know how to end this outbreak, but I need access to your radio office.” I informed him. I knew it was best to cut the bullshit and be frank with him.

  “Absolutely not. Even if I had that resource for you, I wouldn’t help you get yourself killed by the guard.” He insisted.

  “Your radio room is inside 37th Beloved Rosary. I’ve seen it myself.” I continued. “And the only reason you would have gone through the trouble to set it up there, is because you are smart enough to keep resources out of the guard’s reach.” Matthew groaned in frustration. As a man of authority who had a very quiet and mellow son, he wasn’t used to arguing with someone like me. “My life is of little consequence if I can stop this outbreak.” I added softly.

  “Tell me what to do, and I’ll do it for you.” He bargained. We were nearly to the church. He didn’t need to stop often, since there were never over five or six cars moving in the entire town.

  “No. You have a son, and it really sucks to not have a family.” I refused.

  Matthew pulled over in front of the church and sighed.

  “I will give you the key to the radio room. You will need to get past Father Reyes. He’s vigilant, and he will take some convincing. Wait fifteen minutes exactly, and I will make sure I delay the guards at their shift change.” He surrendered. “I’ll need Westly to stay with me though.”

  “That’s probably best.” I agreed.

  “I should be here to help her. She won’t know how to use the equipment.” Westly protested. I hadn’t even considered the fact that I had no idea what I was doing with whatever radio equipment I needed to execute my plan.

  “Son, I need to know you’re okay.” Matthew stressed. His fingernails were nearly tearing into the faux leather steering wheel cover. I felt awful for him.

  “We help each other. It’s our routine.” Westly said with finality. Matthew just hook his head somberly and looked around before groaning and letting us out of the car. Westly went up onto the church steps quickly, but Matthew caught my arm gently.

  “I think you were wrong about one thing.” He informed me.

  “What is that?” I asked hesitantly.

  “You’ve got family.” He said with a firm nod towards his son. I smiled hoping I wasn’t leading that family into a deathtrap situation.

  “I almost forgot.” I said turning back towards Matthew. “This book has the names of every person who will get the illness and be able to spread it.” I said giving him the hellish green log book. The Book of Cold Hearts.

  “I want you to have this. In case something happens to me. It’s a list of everyone who can spread the virus. The rest aren’t contagious.” I said hastily before following Westly inside.

  ***

  I didn’t make it four feet into the church before being grabbed. Father Reyes had me in a bear hug before he cleared his throat and let go of me. “I’ve been praying for you. I heard about the fire, and with everything going on out there… and you stopped coming in.” He said while eyeing me from head to toe to confirm I was safe and sound.

  “I need a favor from you.” I said hastily. Westly was walking towards the hallway that led to several small meeting rooms and the restrooms. He was noting how many people were in the building. He held up six fingers.

  “What is that?” Father Reyes asked suspiciously.

  “I need you to lead a prayer group for the next half hour.” I said with a forced smile.

  “Why?” He pressed.

  “Because I’m going to do everything I can to end this outbreak, and I don’t have time to explain. If the guard comes in here after me… I don’t want anyone getting hurt.” I said honestly.

  “The guard can’t enter a sanctioned church.” He protested.

  “You’re a veteran. You know that’s only as true as they are honest.” I rolled my eyes. Father Reyes nodded.

  “Whatever you’re up to—are you going to be okay?” He asked, scanning my face intently for lies.

  “I don’t know.” I admitted. It went against my better judgement to be secretive when asking Father Reyes for help. He had always been kind and trustworthy, but now I knew that the guard had members who could read minds and use supernatural abilities to get information out of people, and I wanted him to be able to truthfully claim that he had no idea what I was up to.

  Father Reyes quickly ushered everyone within the building into one of the smaller rooms for a prayer gathering, claiming it was for those who have suffered from this terrible epidemic. I suppose he was telling the truth, because he was helping me make this plan happen. As soon as the door shut behind them, I placed a broom through the handles of the double door entrance to the church to prevent anyone else from wandering inside. I unlocked the door of the second room labeled as a supply closet. It was a large room and not a closet at all.

  Inside was a desk and a sizable collection of technology that was highly illegal. There was a television and an old computer. There was a stack of at least twenty laptops. On the desk, there was a radio and a mess of equipment that was beyond my understanding. I began to panic.

  “Your high frequency rig is good to go, power supply is on, and I set the tuner. Everyone listening for announcements will get your message. Whatever it is…” Westly informed me. It was now two minutes from the time the Sherriff would be causing a distraction. I was shaking.

  “What do I do?” I asked. I had no idea what I was thinking before. There was no way I could have done this without Westly. He and the sheriff were HAM radio enthusiasts before the war.

  “Just tell me when and then talk.” He answered impatiently shaking his head. I looked at my watch and then nodded. As I delivered my message, I tried my best to ignore a series of loud noises coming from somewhere else within the church.

  Westly put his headphones on and remained quiet.

  “Attention citizens of the New United Regions, and survivors of the Purity War. I am what you call a genetic defective. Nature’s anger has caused this outbreak. I alone have the power to end it. In turn, I demand the immediate safe release of everyone held in the cleansing camps throughout the government regions. You say the war is over, but keep innocent people imprisoned. Release them and close the camps. If my demands are not met within forty-eight hours, I will let you taste the world you want… A world of hatred. A world without the only people that can save you now.” I announced my message as clearly as I could manage and then reached for the tape recorder in my backpack. I played the former national anthem of the United States and then nodded for Westly to shut it down. I recorded the anthem and a few beloved songs years ago, before Connie’s store computer was confiscated.

  “That last part might start another war.” He noted.

  “The war never ended for people like me.” I corrected him.

  Another loud crashing sound made me hurry to gather my things and rush out of the supply room. I quickly relocked the door with the sheriff’s key and looked around. There was nothing amiss in the main area of the church. The sounds came from the room that Father Reyes had taken everyone into.

  “Westly, go unlock the front door. I need to see if they need help.” I whispered.

  “I thought you weren’t helping until they let go of a bunch of strangers.” Westly pointed out. I realized then that no one had told him.

  “Westly, they took Diana.” I co
untered gently.

  “We have to help her. We have to get her back.” He panicked.

  “I know. You’re already here helping me. We will do everything we can.” I promised.

  “So, you were bluffing?” He asked.

  “Mostly.” I admitted. “I will do what I can to end the shan outbreak, but I will let them sweat until we get her back. It’s the only bargaining chip I have.”

  We cut our conversation short when the door to the meeting room was ripped from its hinges and a shan came crawling out across the floor. It was agile and fast, and far more alert than the other’s I’d seen. I screamed and Westly pulled me up onto a pew beside him. The female shan crawled up the wall and onto the ceiling.

  I reached into the backpack and got the handgun. I had never used a firearm before, and I held it in front of me with my arms shaking under its weight. “The safety is on!” Westly yelled.

  I lowered the gun and looked for a switch, but Westly took the gun from my hands and shot the shan four times. It fell from the ceiling and turned a bluish pale color beneath its skin. “It’s dead.” I confirmed. “She must have been a secondary infection, because I don’t recognize her at all.”

  “The virus is mutating. The symptoms are more severe.” Westly muttered to himself. I ran to look inside of the meeting room. There were no survivors. The bodies, including Father Reyes, were torn apart. I kneeled beside him and said a quick prayer distorted by incoherent sobs. Then I ran out before Westly followed me in there to see the slaughtered people.

  “The gunshots will be reported. We need to go now or we’ll both be locked up. Worse if they find the radio room.” I shouted. We went out the back door behind the church’s kitchen. It led into an alley that stretched the entire length of the main road. We ran like hell. By the time we reached the end of the road sirens were blaring, and a car flew into the alley and screeched to a stop so quickly that I nearly ran into it.

  “Get your asses in the goddamn car!” Matthew hollered angrily.

  CHAPTER 17

  The sheriff was livid. Matthew flew down the roads while we hastily explained that we were attacked by something straight out of the bowels of Hell. His rage begrudgingly shifted into relief as he realized that Westly just saved both of our asses. “You may have a third-generation sheriff here.” I mentioned proudly. Westly looked embarrassed and Matthew grinned admiringly at the thought. It surprised me when he returned us to Edmund’s house.

  “If I don’t investigate those gunshot reports, they will get suspicious. The guards can’t enter that church,” he explained, “and this is closer than my house.”

  We got out the car quickly and he sped away with his siren blaring. I felt my stomach drop when the front door of the house flew open and an outraged redhead stormed the length of the yard at a speed that surpassed a typical human pace.

  “What the hell did you do?” Edmund demanded.

  I realized in that moment that it didn’t matter how angry he was. He wouldn’t act on it. Not towards me.

  “I want Diana back.” I explained. Behind Edmund I saw a large wolf reach the porch and hastily turn into human David and throw on sweatpants.

  “You are crazy.” David panted out of breath. “Bat shit crazy.” It sounded an awful lot like a compliment. Edmund glared at him.

  “Where were you?” I wondered at David.

  “You thought I didn’t read that note?” He scoffed. “I followed you the whole time. I would’ve helped, you know.”

  “Don’t encourage her bullshit.” Edmund muttered.

  “Don’t dismiss her intentions.” Westly cautioned from behind me. He had taken off his headphones and was glaring at Edmund. He usually preferred not to make a lot of eye contact, and I don’t know that I’d ever heard him sound so much like his father.

  I took a deep breath and walked away from all of them. There was enough testosterone outside to make a girl crazy. I needed some time to think and to figure out what exactly I’d done to kill that whole warehouse of shan at once. As I walked into the house, I felt the reality of the priest’s death hit me. Father Reyes had been one of the few friends I had in Raven’s Landing. He fought to protect people like me. I went into Diana’s room and wept freely, wishing she was there to talk to.

  After what must have been a few hours, I heard a light tapping on the window. David was outside, waving at me gently. I considered ignoring him for a moment. I wasn’t ready to deal with people. I caved after a minute when I realized he would probably wait out there all night. I opened the window and David hoisted himself inside silently with ease. “Is Edmund always such an angry asshole?” I demanded as soon as we shut the window behind him. David smiled thoughtfully. “I heard you remembered me.” He confessed. “Anything specific?” He asked.

  “Not really.” I lied. “And you didn’t answer me.”

  “In camp, Edmund traded serial numbers with another healer to be my roommate. They put shifters and healers in together because I can’t kill Edmund, and he sure as hell couldn’t kill me in wolf form. They gave us injections that could suppress our ability to shift to or from human form. What they didn’t know was that staying in animal form too long can warp the mind. Instincts take over memory. Edmund kept me human by talking constantly and keeping my memories active. I think you understand the value of knowing who you are.” He said bumping into me playfully as we sat side by side on the soft bench at the foot of Diana’s bed. I nodded.

  “Edmund isn’t an asshole. He’s terrified. He smells like fear around you. And I watched him be tortured for years in a government camp without flinching when they called his name.” David explained.

  “Can you literally smell fear?” I asked.

  “I can smell everything.” David laughed. “I’m not sure if I’m an animal with a human form, or a human who can shift.”

  “He’s afraid for Diana.” I concluded.

  “He’s afraid of losing his wife again.” David corrected. “The first place we went after our release was back to Tavern Falls to get your father’s books.” David added pulling a book out from under his shirt. It was one that my father had crafted. It had the same sun design and wasn’t as old as the textbooks full of lore and magic.

  I flipped through it. At first glance, it was exactly like Connie’s Book of Cold Heart’s and I felt sick. Then I realized that this book was different. It tingled beneath my fingertips and there was nothing dark about it. It recorded our family tree. It held the details of any births and deaths, but not things learned with forbidden knowledge. Just normal parts of life as they occurred.

  I saw many names I didn’t recognize, but with my lack of memories that didn’t mean much of anything. David gingerly took the book out of my hands and flipped the pages to the section ornately labeled with the letter N. He turned to a page that read Nelsonora Catherine Taylor—Hennessy. It showed my birthdate… my real birthdate. My parents’ names. Edmund’s name as my spouse. The death column was blank. “Why this book?” I asked. Edmund should know everything in here.

  “No one ever wrote a single word in this book.” David answered. I stared at him blankly.

  “Huh?” I grunted stupidly.

  “It’s your mother’s family history. When a member of her bloodline considers someone family, they appear in this book. Their birth, marriages, deaths, and children will appear as they occur.” He explained. “Edmund wanted to be sure you were still alive. This was the fastest way to know. You can see for yourself.”

  I turned to the section under the letter W, and sure enough I found Westly Isaiah Roberts listed in the family book with only a birthdate and parents in his details. I gasped as I realized I could check on Diana.

  “She’s alive.” David interrupted taking the book away carefully. “But this kind of magic can become a problem. The simplest magic is the most addicting.” He cautioned.

  “Then why did you show me this?” I questioned.

  “Because there are two pages missing entirely.” David answe
red. I had felt a chill in my core as I realized his meaning and he just nodded grimly. “Your parents aren’t in here anymore.”

  “Maybe Edmund removed them.” I suggested desperately.

  “For what reason? We all knew they were dead.” David said shaking his head at the idea.

  “Who else would know about this book?” I wondered. He looked at me in a way that made feel like he could hear my thoughts. Then he answered.

  “Your parents, the others of us who lived on the property, and maybe your grandmother Rebecca who died a long time ago. Other women with magic abilities might assume your family had one of these books… but they wouldn’t do this. As far as I know your parents had few enemies.” He said.

  “The Renly Foundation, the government, and Connie.” I listed. Connie was the worst of them, though I still wasn’t sure what caused her grudge originally.

  “Connie.” David growled coldly. “I burnt that place down. If there was anything in there it’s destroyed now.”

  “I know, but that safe was fireproof.” I added.

  “I’ll get that for you.” David offered.

  “The pages that she may not even have?” I asked.

  “The whole damn safe.” He swore.

  ***

  David spent the better part of an hour explaining exactly why he would go get the safe alone. He was worried about my safety after I threatened the government earlier. It was well after midnight, and he climbed out of the window to go get the safe.

  “If they’re looking for me, they’ll go to that shop.” I cautioned him.

  “They won’t know who to look for. It was anonymous. They will look for any of us.” David warned. “But no one messes with bears.” He said as he winked and turned into a large brown bear gracefully. I would never get used to seeing him change forms. I shut the window and turned around and smacked right into Edmund’s chest.

  “Do you prefer David?” He asked solemnly. I knew exactly what he meant by it. I made a sound of revulsion at his words. David didn’t disgust me. The jealousy did.