Mary had been so busy with the new site on Haven that she hadn’t seen this one with her own eyes. “I have a surprise for you,” I said.
“More surprises?” she asked with a smile.
“Come on, get in,” I said, picking Jules up off the ground. I passed her favorite little doll to her, and she shook it and hugged it tight as we made our way to the lander.
“Where are we going?” Mary asked, taking Jules from me as I shut the door to the small ship and lifted off. “And since when did you learn to fly these things?”
“I figured it was better if I learned to get around myself. I can’t always have a Magnus or a Mary around.” The reference to my friend got me thinking about them. We’d spoken a few times, and they were enjoying their mission on the Keppe’s exploratory vessel. So much so, they were considering staying on permanently.
Mary rubbed my shoulder. “Well, you can have a Mary around you most times.”
“I can handle that,” I said. A few drones hovered around the new buildings, but the city was mostly ready for living. I was happy to be leaving it in the capable hands of Paul, the same man I’d met running Central Park’s settlement.
I lowered us as we passed the edge of the city, and I moved to the south, toward the familiar landscape. Mary’s mouth formed a knowing smile. “What’s this?” she asked.
“Do you recognize it?” I asked.
“Only from your descriptions.” Mary had never seen my parents’ acreage, but we’d spent countless hours regaling one another with tales of our childhoods. “What are we doing here?”
The house was fixed up, looking like a classic farmhouse from the Forties on the outside – only with no rotting wood, a new paint job, and new shingles. “This is our new home, if you’re happy with that.”
“But we already have a home,” she said.
“The way I figure, we need a place to stay on New Spero, on Earth, and on Haven, if we’re in charge of the colonies. I hope you don’t mind, but I thought this was the perfect place to raise Jules while we’re here.” The lander touched down in the field between the huge garden and the house. It was July, and the sun was high in the sky, the garden in full bloom.
“How did you…?” Mary was looking to the plants, tears in her eyes. “It’s beautiful, Dean.” She grabbed Jules and set her down on the thick green grass. Jules started to run around, her shoulder-length hair bobbing in the wind, and our house door opened. Maggie raced across the yard and to Jules, licking our daughter’s face like she hadn’t seen her in a year. It had only been three days.
“Papa,” Jules said, raising her arms to me.
“I got you.” I picked her up, and we walked toward the house. It held so many great memories, and I hoped Jules would have the same experience and love as I’d had growing up here.
Slate stood at the doorway, and Mary’s smile grew when she saw him. It was his turn to grow a beard. I’d shaved mine off when the ordeal with Lom was over. I needed a new start. Now Slate had a bushy beard, mostly blond, speckled with brown and red hairs. His hair was longer, and he was almost unrecognizable.
“Mary, great to see you.” The two of them hugged, and Jules stretched her arms out for Uncle Slate, who happily took the little girl. “And it’s good to see you too, Princess Jules.”
“Dean, the house… it looks so inviting.” Mary walked through the doorway, and I followed. We were greeted by all of our friends.
Rivo and Garo were there, talking with Clare and Nick. Sarlun and Suma were in the kitchen with Regnig and Admiral Yope. Rulo stood at his side, smiling. Cee-eight had taken us up on the invite, and she was sitting on our couch beside the Empress of the Bhlat, whispering into her ear. James and my sister were there, and she waved at me as I entered. The room smelled of roast chicken, and a Bhlat delicacy that reminded me of fish. I didn’t ask what kind of animal it came from.
The only people missing were the ones we’d lost along the way, and Magnus and Natalia, who were far away, with little Dean and Patty at their side.
Mary greeted them all, and later, when she asked why the big event, I told her the truth. I wanted to celebrate. We’d all been through so much over the years, and it was time to enjoy each other’s company and treat these years like they were special, because they were. The threats were over for the time being, and everything had somehow fallen into place.
I thought about Kareem telling me to change the universe, and I wondered if he would be proud. If I’d done enough to make it safe for us. Time would tell, but for now, I wanted to enjoy it.
There was a knock on the door, and Paul stood there, wearing a tie. It almost looked out of place on him, but I liked it. He was embracing his new role as leader of Earth 2.0. “Glad you could make it. Hi, Sammy. And hello, Brittany,” I said to his wife and daughter. They’d been reconnected shortly after I got word to New Spero that Earth was still inhabited.
Terrance and Leslie arrived with Karo, who was staying on Haven. He enjoyed the peace out there and had integrated himself into their community with ease.
The house was full of laughter, beverages, and good food, and when everyone left for the night, I got Jules to bed, and told Mary I’d be right up. She kissed my cheek, and her cool hand lingered on my neck for a moment.
I went downstairs and stepped outside. The air was still hot, the sun just down. A coyote howled in the distance, and it was oddly comforting to hear. I walked around the house to the cellar that led beneath our home. It had a padlock on the door, and I used a key from my pocket to turn it. That one was just for show. There was also an invisible shield, which would let only my biometrics through. I stepped down, pulling a chain to turn an incandescent light on. The steps were made from carved-out earth, and soon I was at the bottom of the small cellar.
I went to the wall, opening a secret compartment. Inside was half of one of Fontem’s portal devices. I activated it, knowing where the other half was mounted. I stepped through it, and onto the ship where Lom had been sent to the future. Only the Empress knew of the ship, and only W knew the coordinates, so it was as safe a place as any. I popped the hidden panel out of the copy of the room from Udoon, and entered the cargo room.
I slid a small device from my pocket. It was the small Kalentrek weapon that I’d found on the space station so long ago. It was the one I’d loaded Bhlat DNA into, killing everyone on a Bhlat outpost. I set it in a locked case, hidden under three other crates full of useless tools. Beside it was the time-travel device.
I held it in my hand and marveled at how small it was. No one could get their hands on this. Here it was safe. Twenty years. We had twenty years until Lom of Pleva potentially dropped from his sentence through time, and into our lives again. I silently hoped we were done with him. The Kraski were gone, and for once, I felt safe while I slept at night.
I closed the case, making sure the dangerous weapons were secure, and went back through the portal, into my cellar, to the outside. A few minutes later, Maggie was following me upstairs. I checked on Jules, who was sleeping soundly, like only a sixteen-month-old could. I kissed her forehead before going to our new room, and climbed into bed, wrapping an arm around Mary.
“Everything okay?” she asked quietly.
“Couldn’t be better.” I closed my eyes and couldn’t help but feel like the luckiest man on any world.
Thank you for spending the time reading Old Enemy. I’ve absolutely loved writing the Survivors series, and while I am planning on releasing a 7th book tentatively in March 2019, I’m working on a brand-new series for January 2019.
The Resistance books tell us a story of three characters in the twenty fifth century, each from very different walks of life, coming together to form the Resistance, a group hell-bent on preventing an invasion of our solar system.
In January, keep an eye out for Rift: The Resistance Book One. There are a few ways to do this: sign up for my newsletter at https://nathanhystad.com/ , follow me on Amazon, or email me at [email protected] to be added
to my advance reader team. The reader team will get the book a few weeks before anyone else!
As always, if you enjoyed this book, please consider leaving a review on Amazon or Goodreads!
There’s a dark shadow over Red Creek.
Once a best-selling horror author, Paul Alenn is in a slump. His wife and daughter are across the country, moved away to the West Coast, leaving him alone in his Central Park-adjacent New York townhouse.
When his sister calls, asking for help packing up his estranged mother’s house in his old hometown, Red Creek, he decides to put the past behind him and face his demons.
What he finds back home is an ongoing mystery that stems from his childhood, a time he has no recollection of. When a boy is taken on his second night in the Creek, Paul starts to unravel a dark past…one he hadn’t even known was buried. All paths lead to the orchard and the eccentric owners, but Paul doesn’t know if the shadow he keeps seeing is real, or his imagination’s cover-up of a traumatic event.
With help from his former best friend, his brother-in-law, and a cranky old sheriff, Paul digs up the truth of the shadow looming over Red Creek.
RED CREEK AMAZON
Old Enemy (The Survivors Book Six) Page 23