by PJ Hoover
Benjamin Has a Horrible Dream
Benjamin fell asleep that night mulling over all the problems in the world—which all seemed to be on his shoulders. And he didn’t have a clue what to do about any of them. Or when to do it. And that’s when he had the dream. At least he’d thought it was a dream at first. But only too soon, he realized it was more like an out of body experience, with his body still in bed but his mind too far away. Not to mention he was awake.
He stood in Delphi, near the Navel of the World. And Iva sat on the dais. But instead of a line of people extending back from the oracle, Benjamin was the only other person there.
“You’ve changed the path already, Benjamin,” Iva said.
This was the real Iva talking, but something about her looked different—yet familiar. And then it hit him. This was Iva—but it was Iva from the future. From New Delphi ten years from now. The Iva he’d seen when he’d time traveled.
“Which path?” he asked.
“The future,” she replied. “Nathan is gone, and Phoebe is with you. The future you saw can’t be.”
Benjamin shook his head. “It could still be pretty close,” he said. “Just without Phoebe and Nathan at the Necropolis. Killing Nathan hasn’t changed anything.”
“But you have Phoebe on your side now,” Iva said.
“Do I?” Benjamin asked. “Has she really come around?”
Iva gazed deep into his eyes. “You would know better than anyone. What does your heart tell you, Benjamin?”
Benjamin thought about it. If Phoebe had to choose between him and Caelus, what would she do? Would she pick the father she’d known her entire life? Or would she pick her newly found brothers who stood against everything she’d ever known?
“I don’t know,” he said. “I need more time with her. We all need more time with her.”
Iva shook her head. “Time is the one thing you don’t have.”
And that’s when Benjamin saw the alarm in her face.
“What?” he asked. “What happened? Did Caelus and Gaea leave Xanadu?”
Iva didn’t answer. At least not at first. But her face spoke volumes. And panic rose into Benjamin’s throat.
“Tell me what’s going on,” he demanded.
Iva rose from the dais and started walking away from the Navel of the World. “Come with me, Benjamin,” she said. “I can reach back in time and show you a glimpse.”
With his mind, Benjamin followed her down the path. And the world shifted around them.
They still walked on a path, but not the one in Delphi they’d been on seconds before. He’d been on this path before, but it took him a minute before he could place it.
“We’re in Xanadu,” he said.
“Not wholly,” Iva replied. “But be cautious. Someone may be watching.”
Benjamin followed her up the sloping hill. “Why are we here, Iva?” he asked.
Iva pointed up to the crystal dome on the top of the hill. The dome inside the walled city of Xanadu. “There’s something you need to see up there.”
Benjamin followed her in silence, and with only another couple steps, they’d arrived at the top of the hill. The fact that it only took a fraction of the time it should didn’t even register on Benjamin. He sent his thoughts out to the dome, searching.
“Not in the dome,” Iva said when she felt Benjamin’s thoughts. “Over there.” She motioned with her head to the fountain. “But we can’t go any closer. It’s not safe.”
“Then how will I know what we’re looking for?” Benjamin asked.
“Try reaching out with your mind again,” Iva said. “But prepare yourself.”
Benjamin’s heart pounded as he sent out his telepathic tendrils. And then he felt his heart stop. And his face drain. And his hands start shaking.
“I’m sorry, Benjamin,” Iva said.
“They have Derrick and Douglas,” Benjamin said. “And even Becca.”
“I know,” Iva said. “And you needed to know.”
“I swear if they so much as hurt a hair on their heads, I’ll skin them alive,” Benjamin said. His heart had started beating again, but his shaking continued. Caelus and Gaea had kidnapped Derrick, Douglas, and Becca. Did his parents know yet? Why hadn’t they told him? Why hadn’t Iva told him sooner?
“How did you find out?” Benjamin demanded. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“Time doesn’t work that way,” Iva said. “You know that.”
“But it might be too late,” Benjamin asked.
Iva shook her head. “It’s not too late. Even in the future where I am now, I’ve seen alternatives—alternatives that frighten Caelus and Gaea. I told you the clock had sped up, and now you know why. Caelus and Gaea have set a trap for you, and you have to trip it. There is no other choice. Your time has come.”
Benjamin didn’t know what to say. He wanted to jump out of the mind link and slit Caelus and Gaeas’ throats right now. But that wasn’t possible—at least Benjamin didn’t think it was. So he did what he could do. He started planning his attack.
CHAPTER 31
The Trojan Horse
Benjamin woke Cory, Andy, and Gary, and ran out into the sitting room. Iva was tying her bathrobe when she stepped through the door. He glared at her.
“What?” Iva asked. “What did I do?”
Benjamin didn’t look at her. “Here’s a message to give yourself in the future. ‘Don’t wait so long to tell me.’”
Iva looked at him like he’d spoken in ancient Lemurian.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said.
“And let’s hope you never do.” He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that we go now.”
Heidi, Aurora, and Phoebe walked out, and about that time, Cory, Andy, and Gary joined them.
“Go where?” Andy asked.
“We’re going to Xanadu now,” Benjamin said. “They’ve kidnapped Derrick, Douglas, and Becca.”
“Who’s kidnapped them?” Phoebe asked.
Benjamin whipped his head in her direction. “Your precious father, that’s who.”
Phoebe bit her lip and looked down. “He wouldn’t hurt them.”
“Of course he would, Phoebe!” Benjamin said. “When are you going to wake up and smell the ambrosia? Our father is evil. He’s bad. He wants to control the world. And he’ll kill anyone he needs to do it.”
Jack teleported into the room. “So how are you getting there?”
“I don’t care,” Benjamin said. “All I care about is going now.”
“We can teleport,” Andy said.
“We don’t know where Xanadu is,” Heidi said.
“You guys have been there, right?” Andy asked.
Benjamin and Heidi nodded.
“So isn’t that good enough?” Andy said.
Benjamin felt his frustration start to get the better of him. His mind felt like it was spinning out of control. “No. I tried going back. Last summer. But it didn’t work out. I couldn’t seem to get the destination right, and I just kept ending up at my starting point.”
“Why don’t we use the Universal Travel Agent?” Andy asked. “Wouldn’t that be easiest?”
“It’s Helios’s travel agent,” Heidi said. “Last time we were there, he actually caught us using it.”
“And I’m not telling Helios about this trip,” Benjamin said. “He’ll try to stop me from going. He’ll say we’re not ready. I can’t let that happen.”
“So we just don’t let him know what we’re doing,” Andy said. “That shouldn’t be too hard.”
“You’re forgetting this is Helios we’re dealing with,” Jack said. “Not much gets past him.”
“This will if we provide a distraction,” Andy said.
“What kind of distraction?” Gary asked.
Andy turned to him. “It’s a good thing you asked, because I think you and Aurora are exactly the ones we need to do it.”
“So go over this one more time,�
�� Gary said.
Andy sighed and put his head into his hands. “We’ve already gone over it like twenty times.”
“It’s only been three,” Gary said. “I just want to make sure I have everything right.”
“I don’t know what you’re worrying about, Gary,” Heidi said. “This is right up your alley.”
Andy nodded. “Heidi’s right. This is the lab we’re talking about. Genetic engineering. Just take Helios to the GERC lab—the secret one. And show him the humans. Then you can go into the explanation of what we suspect.”
“And how much detail should I go into?” Gary asked. “Do I talk about the DNA splicing hypothesis Aurora and I came up with earlier today?”
“Yes,” Andy said. “You talk about anything. DNA splicing. And dicing. I don’t care. Just keep him occupied long enough for the six of us—,” he looked over at Jack, “and Jack—to get to the Lemurian map library.”
“You’re assuming the travel agent will be online,” Heidi said. “What if it’s not?”
Benjamin faced steeled over. “If it’s not, then we’ll make it come online.”
But the Universal Travel Agent was online, and worked perfectly. They transported in pairs except Jack who went with Benjamin and Heidi. They moved through the vortex as before and ended up on the sandy beach.
“How do we get into the city?” Heidi asked. “I don’t think Caelus and Gaea will let us walk right in.”
“I’m taking suggestions,” Benjamin said.
“Teleport?” Jack suggested.
“No,” Andy said. “Too obvious. They’d kill us as soon as we appeared.”
“They aren’t going to kill us,” Phoebe said with no conviction in her voice.
Benjamin didn’t waste his energy responding. He’d had just about as much of her defense of Caelus as he could take. She’d obviously blocked out the fact the Caelus had handed her over to Nathan for fun.
“Can we sneak in?” Andy asked.
Heidi shook her head. “No, the defenses around the city are too intricate. I can feel the telepathic barriers from here.”
“You know if everything you saw was from someone in the future, then maybe they didn’t really kidnap your brothers and sister,” Phoebe said.
Benjamin didn’t look at her. Again, he didn’t feel like arguing about it.
“I have an idea,” Cory said. “But we’ll need to work out the details.”
“Let’s hear it,” Andy said. “It’s gotta be better than anything else we have right now.”
“Well, remember what you guys told me about the Spartans?” Cory said.
“We told you something about the Spartans?” Andy asked.
Cory nodded. “Yeah. The part about Odysseus. And how the Spartans won the war against Troy?”
Andy slapped his forehead with his hand. “The Trojan Horse. Of course.”
“Right,” Cory said. “You called it the Trojan Horse. You said the Spartans snuck into Troy inside a giant horse. Couldn’t we do something similar now? Create some deception to sneak inside the Xanadu city walls.”
“I love it!” Andy said. “Our very own Trojan Horse. It’s perfect.”
“Sure,” Jack said. “Perfect. Now the only thing we need is the horse.”
They retreated to some caves to brainstorm, and even then it took way too long to figure out the plan. Benjamin was ready to tear his ears off. He looked over to where Phoebe sat under a tree outside the cave. She’d been out there the whole time. At first he’d thought about complaining she’d give them away, but he decided against it. If Caelus and Gaea had been aware of their presence, they’d all be dead by now.
“It has to be something moveable,” Cory said. “Something that can get through the city walls.”
“If you each could transmute yourselves into Nogicals, you’d be small enough to sneak through one of the holes in the wall,” Jack said.
Andy raised his eyebrow. “Yeah, I don’t think I was in science the day Mr. Hermes talked about telegen transmutation.”
“A perfect idea blown because you skipped class,” Jack said, sitting back on a rock.
“What about one of those boats?” Cory asked.
“What about them?” Andy said.
“We could use one to float down the river, directly to the city wall,” Cory said. “They’re supply boats; the city programming would automatically let it in.”
“No they wouldn’t,” Andy said. “They’d know we were on board.”
“Not if we masked our DNA telepathically,” Cory said. “That had to be the way Odysseus did it. Otherwise the Trojans would have known for sure.”
Andy didn’t respond right away. He actually seemed to be thinking the idea over. “Okay, so you’re saying we snag one of those boats, hop inside, mask our life signatures—however we do that—and then wait for the city operating system to let us through the walls.”
Cory nodded. “That pretty much sums it up.”
Andy clapped his hands together and stood up. “Great. Telepathic DNA. Trojan Boat. It actually sounds like we have a plan.”
They crept around to the north side of Xanadu and found cover near the river bank. Phoebe kept her distance, and Benjamin felt like with each passing hour, the wall between them grew higher. Why did she have to be so pig-headed? Cory and Andy seemed to have everything under control with stealing the boat, so Benjamin figured maybe the time had come to talk with her. Really talk with her.
She’d walked farther away than normal, but he found her sitting under a tree watching a small brook. The water jumped around on the rocks, and Phoebe stared, hypnotized.
“Mind if I join you?” he asked, not waiting for an answer as he sat down next to her.
“I was enjoying being alone,” she said.
“You need to get over it, Phoebe,” Benjamin said. “You need to stop feeling sorry for yourself and get on with your life.”
“Life!” she said. “What life? Everything I’ve ever known is gone. You’re trying to tell me the people I’ve known forever are actually ruthless killers trying to rule the world. Am I just supposed to accept that? Say ‘Oh, okay, thanks for the information,’ and move on?”
Benjamin nodded. “It’s the truth. You need to accept it.”
Phoebe shook her head. “I don’t believe it’s true. I don’t want it to be true. My dad isn’t as brutal as you seem to think.”
Benjamin didn’t reply, at least not immediately. He’d been toying with something but had no idea if Phoebe would be willing to do it. But he had to try something. He knew if he didn’t somehow convince her of the truth, she could—and would—ruin everything. She’d give them away in her efforts to prove her—their—father’s good intentions.
“Would you be willing to join minds with me?” he asked, not wasting any more time thinking about it.
He felt the block slam into place around her mind as she sat up straight.
“Why?” she asked.
“There’s something I want to show you,” he said, “and the best way would be by joining minds.”
“You can just tell me,” Phoebe said.
But Benjamin shook his head. “You need to see this firsthand, and I can’t think of any other way.”
Phoebe sat in silence, again staring at the water on the rocks. For a minute, he thought she wasn’t going to answer, and then he was sure she was going to say no. He’d just have to find a way to convince her.
Phoebe turned to him. “Fine. I’ve got nothing to hide.” And her mind block went down.
Benjamin smiled. “Neither do I.”
Thinking about joining minds with Phoebe didn’t seem the least bit romantic. She was his sister, and he knew it would be an entirely different experience than it had been with Heidi and Iva. Which turned out to be a huge understatement. He saw most of Phoebe’s life—at least he felt the emotions of it. Her life had been nothing like his. He’d grown up among humans, thinking he was a human. Maybe a very strange human, but still a human. She, on
the other hand, had grown up believing humans were inferior and learning why they needed to be controlled. He wasn’t the least bit surprised to find out that Phoebe had never actually met a real live human.
After the initial phase of getting to know each other’s minds, Benjamin didn’t waste time. He went right to the visit he’d taken to the future with Cory, Heidi, and Ananya. He tried not to leave anything out, showing Phoebe everything he could.
He showed her the people of the future—their fear, their hatred. He showed her the priestesses being led into the Necropolis for sacrifice. He went back to the throne room of the Necropolis. He felt her shock when she saw herself, seated on a throne next to Nathan. But he didn’t care. She had to see what the world would be. She had to see what kind of people Caelus and Gaea really were.
Benjamin felt her mind wilting and caving. He knew the raw emotions of what he was showing her would far surpass any idyllic images she had of their father. And he was right. It wasn’t long after they’d been taken captive in the Necropolis that she broke off the mind meld.
“That’s enough,” she said, and tears streamed down her face.
He leaned over and held her, not trying to stop her tears, not worrying about anything. And he knew he’d won. Phoebe would no longer be a threat.
“I didn’t want to believe you,” she cried. “I knew you were right, but I didn’t want to believe you.”
He pulled back from her and looked her right in the eye. “Phoebe, I want you to remember one very important thing.”
She wiped her eyes. “What?”
“You are not alone,” Benjamin said. “And you never will be again. Do you understand?” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the Xanadu key—Phoebe’s key. Without giving any explanation, he placed it into her hand and closed her fingers around it.
She looked at him before slowly nodding. “I know. I can feel it. The bond I have with you and with Cory. It’s so different than anything I’ve felt in the past.”
“It’s the triplet bond,” he said. “It runs deep.”
She shook her head. “No, it’s more than that. It’s love. The love of our mother for us when she died giving birth to us. The love we feel for each other. I didn’t want to love you and Cory. I tried everything I could to deny it. But it’s there. I can’t stop it.”