Tyler was new to the Oneness, and things that were understood by the others still amazed and impressed him. But Reese had to admit she hadn’t thought of that one.
Could David’s hive really reach into the cloud? Start turning even the departed against those on earth? Could the infection spread that badly, that virulently?
She suspected it could.
“This Jacob,” Tyler said, continuing to talk as he barrelled down the highway, “he really confused me for a while. He’s got so much personality and power, like Richard. And his community—they are really . . . special. Just innocent and wanting to make a good life for themselves, you know? Wanting to do what’s right.”
“Lots of people have good intentions,” Reese said. “But foundations matter a whole lot. If you get those wrong, you can’t build anything good on it. Jacob should have been building on the love and unity of the Oneness, and he chose to build on fear and control instead. Nothing really healthy can come from that.”
“Do you think there’s a way back for them? His community, I mean?”
“Yes,” Reese said after a moment. “If they’re looking for Oneness, they’ll find it. Especially now that the truth is coming out. They should be able to get free of him.”
Unless the truth just destroys them, she thought, thinking of the girl Miranda and her mother, and the young men who had already been sucked into demonic practices—if Miranda’s version of events could be trusted. Could they really come out of all this unscathed?
No, she decided. Not unscathed. Never that.
But healed. Eventually, somehow, they could find healing and reality where they’d been bound by hurt and illusion.
“I didn’t tell anyone, but I think maybe I saw angels when I was at the house,” Tyler said. “They were sitting in my hospital room talking about the community and how they looked like Oneness, but they actually weren’t. And they said some things about love and what makes humans different.”
Reese looked askance at him. For someone who had hardly been Oneness for any percentage of his life, Tyler had already wracked up far more unusual experiences than was normal even for one of a long-standing cell. “Angels? Are you sure you weren’t just on drugs? Angels are not common things to see.”
“Neither is the cloud, and I’ve talked with one of them quite a bit.”
“True.” She smiled. “Tyler, do me a favour. Stay safe through all of this. They gave us the easy job—the protected one, with prison walls on all sides—so we wouldn’t get hurt. So just abide by that, okay?”
He chuckled, but she sensed something behind the laugh—memories, fear. “No worries. I’m not the one who rushes off into trouble. That’s you. Or Chris.”
“But trouble seems to have a knack for finding you,” Reese replied. She waited for him to say what was bothering him so deeply. He didn’t.
Not that she couldn’t guess. He had been there when the young man, the European one they called the Wizard, whose real name was Clint Wagner and whose background check had turned up a frightening record—had ripped two policemen apart with his own hands. He had seen it, or at least heard it. That he wasn’t a basket case was a miracle. And he had nearly been burned alive in the hive’s attempt to turn Diane.
And to turn her. Reese.
“Are you okay, Tyler?” Reese asked quietly.
He didn’t answer her right away. Outside, the world was blurry in the heat. He was sweating under the effects of the inefficient air conditioner.
“I tapped into something back there,” Tyler said, “when the hive still had us. The strength of the Oneness. I walked under that strength when I should have been paralyzed—literally got up and moved legs that should not have moved, all through the energy of people other than me. I think, right now, the Oneness is still holding me up. If I try to go under them to myself, I’m still . . . not in a good place. But I’m not alone. That’s keeping me together.”
“That’s more self-insight than most people have,” Reese commented. “Even Oneness.”
“So how about you?” The direct question caught her off guard. “You are still dealing with a lot. I know that. You lost the Oneness—lost what’s keeping me together. Do you feel like you’ve come back?”
“No,” she admitted, unable to be dishonest in the face of his honesty. “Not really.”
He nodded. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. I just need . . . time.”
“Do you wish you were going after David instead of the others?”
That question rattled her too. Yes, she did. David was the front line. David was the prize. He was the one who mattered most, and Reese had never liked being away from the front, away from the charge. She knew that Jacob was also important, that they had to go after the hive in any incarnation where they could find it, but she also knew she was being sent to him because it wasn’t personal, and she wouldn’t be safe if she went after David. Even though Mary had her own history with him, she had been judged safe, and worthy, and able to do this, and Reese had not.
That stung.
At the same time, it was a tremendous relief.
Because she knew they were right.
“It’s best that I go where I’m going,” Reese said. “Richard is right about this. I don’t like it. It’s hard. But he’s right.”
Tyler tried a smile, but it came to more of a grimace. “I’m sorry,” he said again.
They drove on, and then he laughed.
“So we’re on the attack, and we’re starting by going to a jail and trying to talk to someone. Just talk. And hope he listens and cares enough to turn around. What in the world kind of war do you fight like that?”
Reese smiled grimly. “The only kind there really is.”
She settled back into her seat. “But you’re wrong about one detail. We’re not just going to talk.”
He looked startled. “What? What else would we do?”
“We’re going to break him out.”
“We what?” There was a squeak in his voice. She heard it in his spirit, too—a racing to try to keep up with her.
“I know Richard wants us to stay safe, but Jacob is not going to come back to us while he’s sitting in prison,” Reese said. “He needs to come out and be with us. Alongside us. Where we can reach him. So we’ll most likely have to get him out. Besides, the prison doesn’t know what they’re dealing with. It wouldn’t be safe for him to stay there.”
“Because he’s dangerous?”
“Because right now, he’s spreading a hive. And prisons are already swarming with demonic activity. If he gets in there and gets that bunch organized, things may get very, very bad.”
“Oh. Wait, we’re not going to go fight some kind of huge battle all by ourselves, are we? Why didn’t the twins come with us if things are so bad in prisons?”
“We might be. We’ll win. Keep your eyes on the road.” He was starting to swerve, clearly hugely distracted by the sudden change in how he was envisioning this battle playing out. “Trust me, Tyler, we’ll be all right.”
She tried to sound confident. A prison full of demons, she could handle.
Jacob, she wasn’t sure.
Finish reading Attack!
Other Books by Rachel Starr Thomson
Novels
Worlds Unseen: Book 1 in the Seventh World Trilogy
Burning Light: Book 2 in the Seventh World Trilogy
Coming Day: Book 3 in the Seventh World Trilogy
Exile: Book 1 in The Oneness Cycle
Hive: Book 2 in The Oneness Cycle
Attack: Book 3 in The Oneness Cycle
Renegade: Book 4 in The Oneness Cycle
Rise: Book 5 in The Oneness Cycle
Taerith (Fantasy)
Theodore Pharris Saves the Universe (Juvenile/Humour)
Lady Moon
Angel in the Woods
Reap the Whirlwind
The Babel Chip
Short Stories
Magdalene
Butterflies Dancing
Ogres Is
Fallen Star
Journey
Wayfarer’s Dream
The City Came Creeping
Of Men and Bones
Non Fiction
Tales of the Heartily Homeschooled (Humour/Memoir)
Heart to Heart: Meeting With God in the Lord’s Prayer
Letters to a Samuel Generation: The Collection
Fifty Shades of Loved
Mind Soul Ink Paper
Now For the Not-Yet
Undivided Devotion
Still Praying in the Wilderness
Hive Page 23