Project Integrate Series Boxed Set

by Campbell, Jamie

  “Hey.” The voice startled me, I hadn’t even noticed Lola jog up beside me. She was in her exercise gear too – all black, not a good sign.

  “Hey. You couldn’t sleep either, huh?”

  Lola was still getting over her breakup with Asher. He had run off to Los Angeles while we were hiding out on Trucon. He didn’t even stick around to say goodbye.

  Boys. Sometimes I thought all they were good for was breaking your heart. I know mine certainly did.

  She fell into my stride to match my pace. “It’s like my eyes spring open at five o’clock every morning and then my brain switches to Asher mode. It’s driving me crazy. Every. Single. Morning.”

  She was getting quite fit too. I’d already worked out distraction was the best way to snap her out of Asher mode.

  “I had another dream about Lochie.”

  “Another one? Was it… as interesting as the last one?” She nudged me, knowing all too well about the kind of dreams I kept having about him.

  “Unfortunately, yes. Except in this one, we had run away together somewhere.”

  “Oooh, that’s new.”

  “It is wrong to wish we had run away now? I mean, he said he would before…”

  “Before he went off to school and started acting like an idiot ignoring your calls?” She finished for me. Lola was the only one angrier than me at Lochie and his silence.

  “Yeah, then,” I admitted. Every time Lochie had suggested we disappear together I had found a million reasons why it was a bad idea. A small part of me also thought he was just joking and didn’t really mean it. Now, I kind of wished I had given it more thought.

  “We could stalk him, find out what he’s up to,” Lola suggested. “I mean, my guy is a lost cause. I know exactly what he’s up to. But you, you still have some hope.”

  “We can’t stalk Lochie,” I laughed. But one glance at Lola told me she wasn’t joking. Could we spy on Lochie? I knew where he was studying, but I didn’t know where he was staying. The place couldn’t be too big, especially not in the summertime when most students would be off campus.

  But, no, we couldn’t track down Lochie and stalk him. If he didn’t want to speak with me, then I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of going to so much trouble for him. It was bad enough pining after him like I was. I would never let him know how much I was missing him. He would never let me forget about it.

  “No, no stalking,” I said resolutely. “I’ll just keep running.”

  Lola shrugged as we powered along. I enjoyed running in the morning more than any other time of the day. There were hardly any cars on the roads and the sun wasn’t too hot yet. Summer was half over and the days still got unbearably warm.

  I changed the subject so I could distract myself from loverboy for a while. “Garrick didn’t come home last night.”

  Lola’s mouth dropped to form an ‘O’. “Get out of here. Seriously?”

  “Yep. He had a big date with Ella last night and his bed hadn’t been slept in this morning.” Sometimes Garrick went running with me, but most of the time he didn’t want to get out of bed. I normally gave him the option anyway. This morning, his room had been completely undisturbed.

  “Go Ella,” Lola said, impressed. Since being revealed as aliens, there weren’t many people willing to stick up for us. Ella, a human, was one of them. And it seemed she was doing a little more lately than just voicing her opinion about our integration.

  “I know, right?”

  “Grumpy Garrick has a girlfriend. I still can’t believe it,” Lola continued, in just as much shock as me. I knew Ella had a crush on Garrick and they had been spending quite a bit of time together lately. But a sleepover was a big step in their relationship. Especially when one of them was an alien.

  “Neither can I. Who would have thought Garrick would be the only one in a relationship?”

  “Not me.”

  “Me either,” I agreed.

  We continued our run for another few miles until we had completed our usual circuit. The first few times we had attempted it, we ended up walking most of the route. Our exercise regime was now so good that we could actually run all of it without collapsing from exhaustion. One good thing to come out of our breakups, anyway.

  I ran with Lola back to her house and kept going until I reached my own. All my parents were up by that stage, eating breakfast. Both sets of my parents were still living in the house – my birth parents from Trucon and my adoptive parents that had raised me since I was a few months old. Sometimes I was really surprised they hadn’t killed each other yet.

  I ran past the kitchen and continued on upstairs, determined not to get caught up in whatever dramas they were discussing today. I hadn’t told them everything about Lochie leaving. They knew he’d gone to start college early, but they didn’t know he had been ignoring my attempts to communicate with him. I could only guess how they would take the news. If I had to guess, they would probably all be out for his blood. Or his head. My adoptive father had a solid weapons collection.

  I showered and changed, feeling the adrenalin from the workout pumping through my veins. It was life restoring, reminding me I was still alive even though a part of me felt missing.

  Skirting around the kitchen again, I yelled out a quick, “I’m going out. Be back later,” before they could interrogate me. Being ex-FBI agents, my parents were extremely good at finding out details I didn’t want them to. Normally I was pretty good at avoiding telling them things, but lately I found it easier just not talking to them at all.

  I took a drive through town to reach the home of Rosa L’Wren. She wasn’t home, but that was kind of the point. I knocked on her front door and held up my left wrist, showing the triangle tattoo there. I was immediately allowed in and told to go on through.

  The meeting was nearly always held at Rosa’s house, mainly because she had a three car garage so it was big enough to fit everyone – just.

  I nodded toward those I knew well as I went through. Garrick was standing on the other side of the room, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. He gave me a wave with just two fingers.

  Choosing a spot at the back of the garage, I waited with everyone else for the meeting to start. Like always, the discomfort of being there was starting to creep in. I didn’t like these meetings of Truconians. I attended each and every one of them anyway. Someone had to keep an eye on what they were doing.

  The informal leader of the group, a Truconian by the name of Senph, took her place at the front, striding in confidently with a few of her closest followers right behind. All conversations hushed as people started to realize she was there.

  “Thank you for coming everyone,” she started. If there was something Senph did right, it was speak with authority. She had everyone hanging off her every word. “I am not going to talk for long today. You all know what our mission is and we will continue to uphold our vision.”

  People nodded around her, completely enraptured with whatever she said. I personally didn’t like that kind of power, not when only one person held it. Anything we were told to do should be decided by a council, a panel of people. I didn’t trust Senph, like I wouldn’t trust any one, enigmatic person.

  She continued anyway, regardless of my personal opinion. “Today we will practice our powers. We will work hard to restore them back to their full strength and help our project members awaken theirs. Team up and use this time wisely.”

  People started moving straight away, pairing up and carrying out her orders. Truconians had some pretty cool powers. They varied from person to person, with most abilities running in families. Some people could make things levitate – including themselves – others could affect light and electricity, some could conjure things from nothing, affect moods, manipulate the elements, and magnetize objects.

  My birth parents didn’t know about these secret meetings, they had been deemed too close to authority to risk with the knowledge. Considering they lived with ex-FBI agents, I kind
of agreed with them. The only reason I was involved was because of my hands-on approach with the new settlers from Trucon. They wouldn’t have been able to keep it from me. Plus, I had a good reputation amongst them. I wasn’t exactly known for following all the rules the government and our own leaders laid down. I had spent a fair amount of time locked up because of it.

  As a consequence of my parents being kept out of the loop, I didn’t know what kind of powers they had. Therefore, I didn’t know what abilities I might have inherited. Because our powers were such a touchy topic, I hadn’t been daring enough to ask them either.

  When the Truconians came to Earth, they were forbidden from using their powers at all. The main focus was on a successful integration. Our leaders believed it would alienate us further if we displayed all kinds of abilities and it might have scared the humans.

  Project members, like myself, all had their powers effectively switched off when we were babies. They suppressed them so we could blend in easily with the humans and not inadvertently reveal ourselves when we were too young to know any better. It was proving tricky trying to restore them again.

  “Ah, Amery, good to see you here,” Manich greeted me warmly. I had hoped to blend into the background. Apparently I wasn’t doing a good enough job of it. “Let’s test your abilities, see if you’re improving.”

  “No change, I’m afraid,” I replied. True, I hadn’t exactly been practicing, but it still didn’t make my words any less truthful.

  “Well, there’s no damage in trying.” He smiled kindly at me. I couldn’t be rude and tell him to go away. So I tucked my cell phone deeper into my pocket and got ready.

  “Shoot,” I said, indicating I was ready.

  Manich’s grey eyebrows furrowed as he concentrated. He held up a pen. “Try moving this with your thoughts.” I focused on the pen, willing it to move. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t. “Hmmm. Maybe try making it disappear.”

  Again, I threw everything I had at it with my mind. I had no clue how I was supposed to affect it. Because the Truconians were born with abilities, they were supposed to be as natural as walking or breathing. Considering the project members were the only generation to have their abilities suppressed, nobody really had any idea how to get them to redevelop. As a consequence, nobody knew how to teach us. We’d been bumbling along for the last three weeks.

  I gave up on the pen. “Sorry, Manich. I guess I’ll have to keep practicing.”

  He nodded sadly and moved on after placing a comforting hand on my shoulder. I went back to my loitering and watching. Nobody, apart from the project members, really had to practice with their powers. A few months of keeping them secret wasn’t really enough to make them rusty. Not when they had a lifetime to use them.

  To be honest, I wasn’t even sure if I wanted any powers. I had spent my entire life on Earth pretending to be human. I was kind of happy being who I was. I didn’t need to levitate a pen or smash it to pieces to be satisfied.

  I would never tell anyone that though, especially not in this company. Not developing my powers was like being oppressed by the humans. It was in effect declaring my allegiance to the humans over my birth race. And that was a complete no-no.

  Shifting positions, I moved so I could see Garrick practicing. He didn’t share my opinions about what was going on here. When he wasn’t spending time with Ella, he was practicing his powers. We had already clashed a few times over it. Enough times that we didn’t speak about it anymore. Like a lot of things, we agreed to disagree.

  His training partner was holding a feather in front of him, while Garrick was managing to keep it in the air. So he was actually getting the whole levitating thing. Good for him. Except, a feather was a lot lighter than a pen, somehow that didn’t seem fair.

  “Hey, Amery.” Rubette appeared at my side. She was one of the settlers I had spent a lot of time with since she moved to Earth. She was also the one who tipped me off about the meetings in the first place.

  “Hey, Rubette. How’s it all going?”

  “Oh, you know, same old. Work is good, the kids are looking forward to starting school in a few weeks.” As far as integration went, Rubette was actually taking it all in very well. Her and her family were making a real go of it.

  “That’s great,” I said, genuinely happy for her.

  “How are your abilities developing? Done anything cool yet?”

  I shook my head. “No, I think they’ll take a while to get the hang of. What about you?”

  With a swipe of her hand, a screwdriver sitting on the workbench on the side of the room headed for her and landed easily in the palm of her hand. “I guess I’ve still got it. It’s probably harder making sure the kids don’t use their powers around humans. I’ve told them so many times to keep them a secret.”

  “I can imagine they forget quite often.” A nod of her head told me I was right. Her two children were adorable, I couldn’t imagine them getting into too much trouble over anything. “Oh well, I guess if Senph has her way they won’t have to hide them for very long.”

  A look of concern crossed Rubette’s face. It was only brief before she covered it, but it was definitely there. “No, I guess they won’t. Anyway, I should keep going. Good luck with your abilities, Amery.”

  “Thanks.” I watched her disappear into the crowd. I’d seen enough for one day. If everyone was only going to practice, then there was no point in sticking around. I only came so I could stay updated with their plans anyway.

  I headed for the door, keen to get outside into some open space again. The garage was a little too stuffy for it to be comfortable. Especially once everyone started practicing.

  Just as I reached the door, a hand clasped around my arm, stopping me. I snapped around, my old instincts making me ready for a fight.

  It was Senph, the illustrious leader herself. She was only slightly taller than I was, her straight black hair made her look stern and serious around her expressionless face. Her dark eyes told another story though – there was a lot going on inside her head.

  She smiled, although it didn’t look genuine. “Member Amery, are you leaving so soon?”

  For some reason, she made me nervous. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but there was just something about her. She gave me the creeps, even though I had no real reason to be scared of her. It wasn’t like she had any authority over me. Unlike people I should have been afraid of and barely tolerated – like Krom.

  “I have an appointment to get to,” I lied. There was no way I would divulge the truth to her.

  “I was hoping to have a quick word with you before you left. That is, if you have time, of course.” She was being too polite, too friendly. Something was definitely up.

  “Sure,” I replied. As if I could have said anything else to her request.

  CHAPTER 2

  Senph led me through to the kitchen for some privacy. She even had her closest followers leave us alone for our friendly chat. It didn’t help to ease my unreasonable concerns.

  “It feels like ages since I’ve spoken with you, Member Amery,” she started. The smile was still on her face, making it even creepier. Especially considering I couldn’t recall even having one conversation with her alone. She was acting like we were BFF’s.

  “I’m sure you’ve been busy,” I replied. Two could play at that game. I wasn’t going to give her cause to be anything other than pleasant to me. I’d made that mistake before, surely I was learning.

  “Oh, very. As I’m sure you can imagine.” She paused, staring at me. I wasn’t going to give anything away. “So, I hear the word is you have a contact within the Department. Someone you are quite close with?”

  I could only imagine she was talking about my former case manager, Special Agent Robert Bower. Or, Rob, to me. He had helped me out on several occasions with things he shouldn’t. As a result, I trusted him with my life.

  But I also cared for him, which meant I wasn’t going to betray him to anyone else. “Not really. I mean, all members have
a case manager, but I wouldn’t say we were particularly close.”

  She pursed her lips, studying me again. It felt like I had a billboard above my head that was flashing everything I was thinking. I wasn’t sure, but I was pretty certain mind reading was not one of the Truconian skill sets.

  “I must have got my wires crossed then,” she finally said, laughing like she had made a mistake. Her and I both knew she hadn’t. She continued anyway. “I know for a fact, however, that you are somewhat of a leader amongst the former project members.”

  “I don’t know about that-”

  “Don’t be so modest, Member Amery. We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you.” So I helped convince a generation of humans to accept the Truconians. That was largely down to all the project members, I only lit the flame. They helped to spread the fire.

  The conversation was going nowhere and I still didn’t know what Senph really wanted. It was time to get things moving a little faster. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I really need to get going. Is there something else you wanted to talk about?”

  Her eyes darkened, even though her smile remained fixed. “I’ll make this brief, considering you are in such a hurry to get away. You know part of our plan and you know it is controversial. I want your help in convincing people we are doing the right thing. People trust you, Truconians trust you.”

  I wanted to laugh, because the idea of that was nothing but laughable. Even if I could influence people, all those people who supposedly trusted me, I wasn’t sure if I wanted them to back Senph in her cause.

  The grand scheme, as far as I could piece together, was that Senph wanted all the aliens to rise up and fight the humans. She wanted us to demand our rightful place on Earth as equals and the respect that went along with it. We were supposed to do that by a show of force with our powers, make them listen to us and take things forcefully if need be. She wasn’t afraid of taking human lives in the process.