by Tricia Owens
"Who?" I demanded. "Who did you grab?"
"Calm yourself." He began walking, heading for the door.
"Tell me who else is here, dammit!"
"Come along and find out for yourself."
Unlike Colonel Sanders, he didn’t usher me to precede him. Kusahara walked out, apparently unconcerned whether I’d follow him, stage a sit-in, or bolt in the other direction. Probably because he was confident I wouldn’t get very far. Having seen no other exits or even hints of one, I was leaning toward agreeing with him. Frustrated, anxious, I looked back at the remains of Vagasso.
Every cell in my body shuddered at the thought of leaving his corpse in the hands of the government. My feeling had less to do with dignity for that monster and more to do with a fear of what Kusahara and his friends could learn from it. It was a rare moment when I wished the Oddsmakers had made their presence known and destroyed it.
So do it for them.
It was tempting. A quick, incinerating burn and the man-scorpion would be no more. Nothing would remain for DNA testing or god forbid, cloning, or anything else they planned to do with it.
Of course, the second I did that a Special Forces team would abseil into the room and all hope of walking out of this place would evaporate. No chance for denial. No chance to plead ignorance. I would show my entire hand, and my cards would be terrible.
"Damn you," I hissed at the body. "Even when you’re dead you’re a complete asshole."
There was little I could do at this time except pray that his remains wouldn’t test well. Hopefully dark spirit DNA had a natural enzyme that repelled microscopes or X-rays. It wasn’t much hope to hang your hat on, but I had to try.
Grim and stressed, I jogged to catch up to Kusahara. I tailed him as we headed down the blank hallway, moving in the opposite direction of the interrogation room where I’d first woken up.
"Where are we?" I asked, just in case he felt like telling me. He seemed arrogant enough to do so. Unlike Colonel Sanders, he gave the impression he could call the shots and had full autonomy. I wish I knew the name of his department. It wouldn’t show up on an internet search, but someone shady in the magickal community might recognize it.
Assuming, that is, I got the chance to ask someone.
"We are currently somewhere far, far away." His dress shoes clicked loudly on the tiled floor. "This facility is protected against your kind by the latest scientific technology. Nothing and no one can enter or escape without permission. That includes all forms of energy, even theoretical ones."
"How do you know what my buddies and I are capable of? I mean, we were about to unzip a hole in time and space. You have to admit that’s pretty damn impressive." I could get into this, I decided. If I was going to be labeled an alien, then I was going to own it. "You ever stop to think that everything you’re doing is because my kind is allowing it? Advanced species and all."
His stride stiffened and I gave a mental cheer, though I was careful not to show it when he glanced over his shoulder at me.
"If you were so advanced, why did you permit yourself to be kidnapped and brought here, Miss Moody?"
"Curiosity," I said with a shrug, warming to the act. "’Know thy enemy,' right? So you guys bringing me in here is pretty much letting me infiltrate you like a Trojan horse. Your biggest concern now should be how soon you get me out of here before I learn too much."
"And you’re warning me of this, why?"
"Because we’re an advanced species and we don’t want to hurt anyone we don’t need to hurt. We’re above your petty mortal conflicts."
When Kusahara gave me another look, I inwardly flinched.
Okay, rein it in there, Anne. You’re not Zeus playing chess with human figures in Clash of the Titans. You’re friggin’ E.T. on a crashed spaceship.
"We’re not looking for war," I went on, trying to sound reasonable. "We came in peace, and we’d like to live in peace. So we’re willing to let bygones be bygones and all that if you leave my kind alone."
"That’s encouraging to hear."
Sooner than I expected, Kusahara stopped in front of a door. It looked like all the rest, with a food slot and minus the keycard entry. I tried to watch him enter the code into the keypad but he easily blocked me with a shoulder. The lock clicked, but he didn’t make a move for the door handle. He turned to face me.
"I’m allowing this visit as a condition of our deal, Miss Moody. You have twenty minutes, no longer. I’ll be waiting outside."
"Will we be monitored?"
"There are cameras everywhere." He held my gaze. "Perhaps audio, as well."
"Okay. Twenty minutes. Who’s in there?"
"Please. Feel free." He magnanimously swept his hand toward the handle like he was inviting me to try a cocktail wiener.
I liked cocktail wieners so I took hold of the handle, turned it, and pushed it in. In the back of my head hung the concern that he’d shove me inside and lock me in, but that seemed gauche for Kusahara and, as I immediately found it, not the reason for bringing me here. There was indeed someone inside the room.
My eyes nearly fell out of my head when I recognized him.
"Uncle James?!"
Chapter 3
The last time I had seen my uncle, he had kissed my temple and told me he was going out to look at a large cabinet of curiosities that someone had contacted him about. He had done that on occasion when a seller wasn’t sure if Moonlight Pawn was a good fit for their item but Uncle James was curious to see it. He’d drive out in his truck and usually return with some crazy item that barely fit through the front door.
That day two years ago had felt like any other. If there had been ominous warnings from the cameos, I didn’t know about them. The jewelry pieces were cursed so that only the person running Moonlight Pawn could hear them. Uncle James hadn’t mentioned portents of doom from them, but then, he’d been secretly heading to a meeting with the Oddsmakers. Bad news came with the territory.
For two years, I’d heard nothing from or about him. It was as though he’d fallen off the face of the planet. Since he’d lived a simple life based on cash transactions, his absence hadn’t garnered much notice. He owned Moonlight Pawn as well as the land on which it stood since it had once been his house before the re-zoning. While I waited for him to return, I paid his bills and taxes and forged his signature where necessary. It had been frighteningly easy for a fifty-eight year-old man to disappear from the world.
But he hadn’t disappeared. He was here.
"Uncle James," I repeated, my throat stripped raw.
He’d risen to his feet as soon as I’d stepped into the room and now stood frozen beside a plain metal chair. "Anne? What are you doing here?"
His expression was a mixture of surprise, delight, and despair, and I understood and shared all of it. I launched myself across the room and into his arms. He was my height and seemed skinnier, but otherwise he felt and smelled like the man who had raised me after my parents were killed.
"Anne, Anne, what are you doing here?" he repeated as he patted the back of my head. "You’re not supposed to be here."
All I could do was hug him and cry into his shoulder. "I thought you were dead," I gasped. "All this time…I thought you were dead just like…"
I couldn’t finish, but I could feel in the sag of his body that indicated he knew who I was referring to.
"Oh, Anne," he whispered against my hair. "I’m so sorry to put you through this. The things you must have thought…"
He let me cry my eyes out. I didn’t care whether Kusahara watched. But eventually, as I calmed down, I began to care. Sniffling, I leaned back and glanced behind me. I was relieved to see the door shut, though when it had happened, I had no idea.
A gentle touch to my cheek drew my head around. Uncle James’ dark eyes drooped at the corners and they were sad. He had always been a fit man, practicing tai chi every morning. I didn’t doubt that he must have continued doing it here when he could. But his demeanor was different,
not that of the spunky, ageless man I had known, but of a defeated man. A man who had finally succumbed to the passage of time and aggression.
"I didn’t want you here," he told me with a sad smile. "I thought I did everything I could to keep you out of their hands."
"How are you here?" I asked him. I looked around the room, which was outfitted better than a prison cell but was worse than any college dorm I’d seen. He had some IKEA-quality furniture including a TV that I doubted offered Netflix, a shelf of worn paperbacks, but no window, no plants. Nothing that made a home which you wanted to spend time in. I was incredulous. "Have you been here for the last two years?"
"Off and on." He guided me to sit on the chair while he took the twin bed. It had a headboard, so at least it wasn’t a military cot, but the sheets were industrial and plain. "They moved me around for a while before settling me here. I don’t think they knew what to do with me."
"And they do now?" I didn’t like the sound of that. It suggested Kusahara and his unseen pals felt they had gained control.
Uncle James’ smile picked up a spark of life. "Kusahara has taken control of my fate. I believe he and the others are too afraid of mishandling me. I am an important alien, you know."
"It was you?" I gasped. "Why would you tell them such a thing?"
He chuckled and waved his hands animatedly. It felt good to see him exhibiting the energy I remembered of him. He wasn’t anywhere in Melanie’s league, but he liked to use his hands to illustrate and emphasize his points.
"What could I tell them? That my family is literally descended from dragons? They would have poured medication down my throat and locked me in an asylum. At least this way they're unsure." He tapped his temple knowingly. "Aliens are something they have feared for decades. They don’t know how to handle me—us. And that uncertainty means they can’t hurt us. They’re too worried about the consequences." He waved at his small room. "So they keep me here, like in a nice motel, and they try to figure out what to do with me. But they will never know because no one has ever encountered aliens before now!"
"They haven’t been testing you?" I asked as I worriedly looked him over. He was dressed in prison fare: white cotton drawstring pants and a matching short-sleeved shirt. Slippers covered his feet. Since his arms were bare, I scrutinized his inner elbows. "I thought for sure they’d test your blood at least. And a lot more besides."
He slapped the air with a scoff. "They tested my blood. You know what they learned?"
I shook my head.
"Absolutely nothing! Dragon blood doesn’t show up on their tests! They know nothing about me, except that they know I’m different."
But that made me lean forward. "How do they know that? Why did they pick you up in the first place?"
"I can only guess," he confessed. "They were watching Moonlight. I realized that after they brought me here. I remember seeing their cars, and some agents shopped in the store. I recognized them here. But as to how they learned of me in the first place—I believe they've learned something about the Oddsmakers."
"You were going to meet with them that day. I found the message you left me in the book of Emily Dickinson poems."
He beamed. "You have always been extraordinarily smart, Anne. I knew you would discover my secret message for you. Yes, that day they called me to them and tasked me with finding the creature that your mother had failed to kill. After lying and telling them I'd do it, they dropped me in the desert. I'd walked no farther than a mile before black cars swooped in and picked me up."
That caught my attention. "That means the government has at least a vague idea of where the Oddsmakers are located."
"Or an idea of where their visitors are deposited," he said. "How they learned even that much is troubling." His expression softened and turned tremulous. "I never wanted to see you here, Anne. Your mother would be so angry with me."
I took his hand in mine. "The Oddsmakers schemed with a dark spirit named Vagasso to attempt to open the Western Infernus Rift. They're responsible for killing Mom and Dad. Vagasso did it personally on their behalf."
Uncle James sat frozen. "The Oddsmakers were responsible?"
"I’m ninety-nine percent sure of it. And…I killed Vagasso. Not as revenge," I said hurriedly when his expression clouded, "but he was trying to open the Rift. It was the only way to stop him. It was a mess, Uncle James. It’s how these guys learned about me and why I’m here."
"No," he said quietly, "they’ve known about you for many years, Anne. Kusahara has mentioned you to me. But what happened recently must have been too dramatic for them to continue allowing you to move freely. They must have feared that you've become too powerful."
I squeezed his hand, letting myself feel a modicum of excitement. "Lucky can’t be videotaped or photographed, can he? No dragons can."
He looked alarmed. "Why would you ask—"
"Because they haven’t mentioned him, and I used Lucky a lot that night. I even—I even went full dragon."
He jumped to his feet, practically jerking me off the bed. "Anne, you didn’t!"
I grinned at him, unable to hide my pride. "It’s alright. I can control it. It’s incredible."
"No!" His anger shocked me into silence. "You can't surrender to your dragon. How many times did I tell you that? How often did I warn you of the dangers?"
"But—"
"Our dragons are monsters!"
Shock left me speechless.
Uncle James' lips trembled, and I realized it was as much from anger as from fear. "Never become your dragon, Anne."
"Our dragons are a part of us," I said, feeling weak, almost like a child standing up to him. "How can they be monsters? That would mean we're monsters."
"Our blood is not a curse, Anne, but history has proven that none of us has the ability to control our natures. Dragons do not belong in the world of men." His anger subsided into something possibly worse: disappointment. "What's done is done. But you can never become your dragon again. Promise me that."
"I-I can't." I was sweating, but I couldn't take back the words. "I need my dragon."
Whatever joy I'd felt regarding to my dragon melted like ice cream in July as sadness and the faintest hit of betrayal dragged down Uncle James' features.
"Then I failed you," he whispered. "And I failed your mother and father."
~~~~~
His reaction left me distraught. Ashamed. The single greatest thing I'd achieved was, according to Uncle James, actually the worst. But I had to hide my devastation. I hadn't seen him in over two years. I didn't want to spend another minute at odds with him.
"I need to tell you what's happened," I said, adding quickly, "I'll leave out the dragon bits."
He nodded, but his disappointment battered at me. My confidence had been completely upended. It was a struggle to get through the telling of recent events while my throat ached with unshed tears.
"I’ve missed quite a lot," he said, looking dazed once I’d answered all of his questions.
"You’re not kidding. But right now I need you to tell me what you’ve told Kusahara and Colonel Sanders."
He blinked. "Colonel Sanders?"
"Er, Lieutenant Colonel Basher."
He sighed. I worried that our twenty minutes was nearly up, but Uncle James had too much to tell me that couldn’t be rushed.
"They believe that we’re a race of aliens. I haven’t specified where in the universe we’re from, nor have I revealed our powers. I knew that being as vague as possible would keep them fearful of us and reluctant to hurt us. I admit I drew upon several movies for reference, such as Back to the Future."
I laughed. "It worked, so who cares?" I thought over our situation. "So they plan to keep us here until we reveal the location of the Oddsmakers or better yet, lead them to the front door? Even if we wanted to cooperate, we can’t."
"The Oddsmakers are wise to maintain their secrecy."
"But why’d they let the government get their hands on Vagasso’s corpse? Do you t
hink they know the government is cracking down, so they've gone into hiding?"
He could only shake his head, as confused as I was.
"Well, no matter what we can’t stay here," I declared. "Vale is tremendously valuable to them, though they don’t know it yet. He can live for centuries. Once they learn that all bets are off. We need to get him out of here, and you need to get a tan."
Uncle James touched his face and smiled. "You know Chinese don’t like the touch of the sun, Anne."
"I’ll get you an umbrella, but we’re getting you out of here. Enough is enough."
He nodded decisively at me. "I agree. They will hunt us for the rest of our lives, but it will be worth it to be free of their control."
"I’m not so sure we’ll be hunted." I looked around the room but it didn’t yield anything helpful besides a ventilation grill near the ceiling. "How well do you know this place? Have you been able to see other parts of the facility?"
"As I told you, they moved me around continuously until Kusahara showed up."
"Where do you think they’re keeping Vale?"
"I would assume he is in the lab, which is where they kept me for the first couple of months. There are capsules for containment and testing there. He would be kept in one of them."
I flinched. It was a visual I didn’t want in my head.
"Where is the lab in relation to here?"
He explained the layout, repeating it twice to ensure I had it committed to memory. Just in case.
The door opened, and Kusahara stepped onto but not over the threshold, as though he were a vampire who couldn't enter until he was invited.
"Enough, Miss Moody." My hackles rose at the dismissive look he shot my uncle. "It's time for you to fill in the gaps that your ‘uncle’ has been unable to fill."