by Matt Ryan
Harris blew out a frustrated breath. “Then why mention her? This is turning into a waste of time.”
“It’s not that. She’s in hiding. If we can get Evelyn to help, she could draw the queen right to us.” Wes looked around and stepped toward the door. “We should leave. We won’t be able to stop the queen if she finds us here.”
“It’s a one way stone,” Travis said looking at the stone.
Harris lifted the bag. “Nothing can stop what’s in this bag, I assure you of that.”
“She’ll stop it. She can stop anything, even time,” Wes said.
“Gladius, what’s the closest stone?”
“Five hundred miles to the north.”
He cringed at the number.
“We should find a place to use it,” Travis said, pointing at the bag.
Harris looked at Hank and Gladius. He knew if Travis was mentioning it with his daughter around, either he was playing a hand, or he felt the sacrifice of their lives was worth it to save the worlds. Too bad it wasn’t going to come to that—if Harris had any say in the matter. “Wes, go to the door. We’re leaving. Gladius, put your device shield on scramble. Maybe it will block us. Maybe she won’t be able to see us.”
“Done,” Gladius said.
Harris did the same and pointed his gun at Wes’s back.
“You guys can’t show those guns out there. The cops will be on us in minutes. And if your little scramble trick works, she won’t miss out on me getting arrested with a group of strange people.”
“Do they know?” Harris said and motioned to the window.
“Who?”
“The people out there. The citizens. Do they know what you all do?”
Wes laughed. “The rubes? They don’t have a clue what’s going on around them. The ones with a gift, like me, are rare and hidden.”
“Most of this planet doesn’t have a clue about the queen and her invasions?” Harris asked.
“No, and if they do, their memories are corrected so they don’t. This has been going on for a long time. You might even have people like us on your own planet and not even know it. We are very good at that.”
Harris looked to Travis, who had the same distraught look. Killing the innocent wasn’t something Harris wanted any more of. Let alone a whole planet of people who were ignorant of what one of theirs had constructed. His bag just got a lot more complicated.
It was interesting she hadn’t touched her own planet. That was probably why she created the Alius stones; she had to get the people off her planet. He hefted the bag and wondered what to do with it now. Plans had to change, as they always seemed to do.
“Open the door.” Harris pointed to the door behind Wes.
Wes shrugged and pulled open the creaky steel door. Bright sunlight filtered into the dim room. Harris covered his eyes from the blinding light. It was too bright for the sun. He raised his gun when something struck him in the face. He growled and tried to lunge toward the light, but he couldn’t move. Frozen in place, only able to move his eyes, he gazed at Travis, Hank, and Gladius, all frozen in place. Their eyes moved and he saw the strain in them. What was this magic?
“For Christ’s sake, I thought you guys were some of her goons, or even the queen herself. That sun stone about gave me a heart attack,” Wes said as he walked behind a young girl with a long braid of black hair running over her chest. She sneered at them and tugged on her braid. “You didn’t have to freeze stone them. They want to stop the queen, same as us.”
“Stupid of you to bring them here,” the girl with the braid said.
“They tricked me and wouldn’t take the first stone location.”
Harris struggled to get control of his body. Whatever they did to him, it’d paralyzed him like a statue.
“Hold on. Do they know the little one?” Braid girl’s face whipped around to face Wes.
“Her name is Evelyn,” Wes said.
“You guys okay?” a voice called from outside.
“Yeah,” Wes said.
Braid girl ignored the outside voice and moved close to Wes. “Are you telling me that out of the billions of people on that planet, you ran into the ones who know her?”
“Yes, and they know how to use the world stones. I think those two,” he pointed at Harris and Travis, “are from a different planet than those two,” Wes said, gesturing to Hank and Gladius.
“Holy shit.” She gazed at Harris with wide eyes. “This is bad. If she finds them here, she will get the information out of them. We need to jump out of here, right now.”
“They’re under paralysis. You think it’s safe?”
“Come on.” She rolled her eyes. “David, get in here. We’re going to jump.”
Another young man came into the room holding a small stone in his gloved hand and keeping a keen eye on Harris and his friends.
Harris had never felt so helpless in all his many years. And the fact that a small group of kids had rendered him useless sent him to the boiling point. He continued to fight for the use of his body, but it didn’t respond to any of his commands.
How could these kids overpower them so easily? What kind of tech did they have? They didn’t seem exceptionally smart, but their cavalier attitudes disturbed Harris. And what did jump mean? The Alius stone was a one-way.
“I’ll get the couple over here,” David said and brandished a purple stone in his hand.
Wes walked over to Travis. “Kylie, you get the grumpy looking one, okay?”
“Oh, what, you don’t want me near that hottie?” She pointed to Travis.
“That’s not what I—”
“I’m joking, let’s just get out of here before she shows.”
“Oh,” Wes said and pointed at Harris, “they have some kind of tablet that shields them. This one said it might even block them from her.”
“Really? A high tech race . . . Nice,” Kylie said.
Harris moved his bottom lip and felt his finger twitch.
“And I think he’s got a nuke in that bag, so be careful.”
Kylie laughed. “Usually one would lead with a nuke’s in the bag, but it’s an afterthought for you.”
“They’re ready,” David said, holding Hank and Gladius’s hand in his.
“Fine,” Kylie took hold of Harris’s hand. She looked him in the eyes. “What you think you know is about to change. You ready for this?” She pulled a small purple stone from her pocket and pushed it into Harris’s hand and squeezed her own over it.
Harris fell through the floor. He kept his eyes open and spotted Kylie in front of him. The room had turned into a swirling storm of liquid, just out of his reach. The noises roared around him and he would have sworn a powerful wind spun around him, yet he didn’t feel it—just an odd stillness and the motion of falling.
The ground under his feet firmed and they were in a forest, not unlike that of Preston. Tall oaks and bushes filled the landscape. Kylie took a step back and her feet crunched over dead leaves. How did he get here without an Alius stone? Did these people find a way to travel using those small purple stones?
Wes and Travis popped into existence next to him, and on the other side, Hank, Gladius and David appeared.
Harris’s mind reeled from the knowledge these people had. Not only could they create the Alius stones, they also had the ability to portal without one.
“Okay, we’re going to unfreeze you, so don’t try anything stupid,” Kylie said and held another stone in her hand. “Remember, we want the same thing here.”
“Yeah, sorry for the freezing stones,” Wes said.
Harris’s finger twitched and he felt some warmth in his muscles as they came back under his control. He maintained his frozen state, yet a growing confidence made him measure up each of the three kids who had sacked him with such ease. They had these strange stones, but he didn’t see any guns on them. If he avoided their stones, it may be enough.
Kylie moved closer with the stone and Harris timed his attack in six steps. She reached ou
t and he grabbed her wrist. She yelped and dropped the stone. He spun her around to Wes, just as a stone struck her in the chest and bounced to the ground. Harris lifted Kylie and ran at Wes, who raised his hands and shielded himself as a child might from an abusive parent.
He crashed into Wes, then spun around with the two of them subdued and on the ground. He expected David to be the difficult one of the group, but as he turned to face him, Gladius had him on the ground with a knee in his back and a blade pointed at his neck.
“Don’t hurt him,” Kylie said. “We were going to unfreeze you. You didn’t have to attack us like that.”
“None of you move,” Harris said, as he put a foot on Wes’s back.
Kylie flinched. “This is stupid. We want to stop her, just like you.”
“Who are you kids?” Harris said.
“Don’t tell them anything,” David said. “They’re probably working for her. If we stop talking, maybe only we will get punished. The rest can keep on.”
Harris sighed and put his gun back in its holster. He lifted his foot off Wes’s back and helped him and Kylie onto their feet. They looked confused and patted the leaves and dirt from their clothes, while giving Harris some distance. “If you’re on our side, you’re going to need to show us something to prove it. We need some evidence of your true intent.”
Kylie looked at David, then back to Harris. “Our leader will know what to do.”
“Who, the queen?” Gladius asked.
“No, the person running our group of rebels. If anyone can show you how much we are committed to ending the queen, it’s her.” Kylie pointed to the woman standing on the porch of the cabin.
“I suggest you take your hands off my idiotic friends,” the woman on the porch said, glaring at Gladius. She didn’t appear to be much older than the rest of the kids, maybe early twenties. She had a way about her though, almost like Gladius—a confident, mischievous smile, mixed with a lot of wild in the eyes.
“And who are you?” Harris asked, putting his hand on his holstered gun.
She laughed and took a step down off the porch. “What did you do to convince them to take you here?”
“They know the little one,” Wes spoke up. “Her name is Evelyn.”
“What?” she asked with a furrowed brow. “Where is she?” When no one answered, she took a step back and stuck her gloved hand into her pocket. “We have ways of getting information from you.”
Harris marked his shots. First, this woman on the porch. She seemed the most dangerous, and if her falling didn’t put the rest in line, then David, Wes, Kylie—in that order—but Hank would be his primary save target. He couldn’t have another of the kids on his conscience. Travis would be equally willing to save Gladius. “It doesn’t have to be like this,” Harris said, hoping that for once a situation involving him wouldn’t end in people dying.
Not long ago, he would have killed each of these purge people without thought. Thoughts got in the way, but he needed a change.
Travis glanced at him, and the unspoken words of two soldiers were passed. Harris sighed and gazed up at the young woman, with her cocky smile and little stone rolling around her fingertips.
Harris drew his gun out so quickly, the young woman didn’t have a chance to even blink. Then, the gun was gone. Travis’s as well. They exchanged looks. Did he grossly underestimate these purge people’s capabilities once again?
Looking forward, he saw the very reason for his weapon’s sudden disappearance. The little girl, wise beyond all her years, stood between him and the young woman on the porch. He hadn’t seen Evelyn in some time. She’d aged. Not so much in the visual sense, but in her stiff stance, her defiant look, and the way her eyes locked onto him, scolding him, as if he were the child.
“I can’t have you killing our best chance at stopping the invasion,” Evelyn said.
THIS IS CRAZY. LUCAS PACED near his son, who was sitting in the chair and looking up into the enormous dome above. “Come on, let’s get him out of here. Evelyn can’t be trusted. We have no idea what this thing is going to do when it’s turned on.”
“Quiet,” Julie said as she continued to scan through Evelyn’s Panavice. “I think this machine might be legit.” She looked up at Lucas. “It might actually work.”
“He’s our son,” Lucas said and pointed at Will. Julie ignored him and continued to scan pages. Lucas grunted and picked up Will from the chair. “If Hector made it in that world, so can we. Anything is better than hooking him up to something Evelyn and Marcus created.”
“And what, screw the rest of the world?” Julie asked.
“We have to protect our own, Julie. Haven’t you seen what happens when we push fate? Where’s Samantha? Where’s Joey?” His voice cracked as he mentioned his best friend’s name. Pulling open the hatch, Julie yelled at him.
“Stop, Lucas.”
He stopped with one foot on the ladder.
“Daddy, it’s okay. I want to do this,” Will said. “Evelyn and I talked about this. I’m prepared.”
Lucas couldn’t look his son in the face. All he wanted to do was take him away from all of this. He hated himself for letting it get this far.
“Lucas, without Will to blank the minds on Earth, then people will die. Not just a few, but all of them. We are talking about billions of lives. If we have even a chance of this working, then I think it’s worth it.”
“So you’re willing to risk his life for the rest of theirs?”
“Yes. If we don’t do this, we all die.”
“No, we know something the rest of this world doesn’t. There’s a way off this sinking ship.”
“Where? Vanar is doomed as well. That leaves only Ryjack or Arrack.”
“You’re smart, Julie. There are a million worlds. With our shields, we can explore until we find one.”
“And then what? Wait for the purge people to come to that one too, living in fear, living with the knowledge we let our friends, our parents, our world, meet their death. I can’t live with that, and I know you can’t either.”
Lucas stood from the hatch and looked at his son, who seemed to be soaking in the conversation. Julie was right, of course. He could never live with abandoning his friends. And what about their parents?
“I’m ready for this, Dad,” Will said. “I don’t want all those people to die because we were too scared to try.”
Lucas laughed a little. “You’re too smart for your own good, you know that?”
“You can never be too smart.” Will smiled. “Besides, Evelyn has a plan. If she can complete it before the purge people launch their reclamation phase, then maybe I won’t even have to control the minds of the world.”
“Fine, but if I see anything wrong, I’m pulling the plug on this.”
The floor vibrated and a pounding sound echoed through the massive chamber. They looked down as another strike shook through the floor.
Julie’s Panavice dinged and she read the screen out loud. “Text from Evelyn. Wait there and don’t turn on the machine until the last minute. I may be gone for a while.”
Gunfire erupted from below. Soft sounds of cracks and thuds sounded. Lucas winced at the noises and gazed from the door on the floor, then back to Will and Julie.
“Don’t worry, Evelyn is handling them,” Will said.
“You should check it out,” Julie said and called Will over to her.
Lucas nodded and grabbed his bow off the floor, next to the ladder. “I’ll be right back. Close this door and lock it.”
He closed the hatch over him and waited to hear the lock before descending down the ladder. He jumped off the last few steps of the steel rung and darted toward the gunfire. A few steps and the last vibration ended. Then silence. No bangs, no gunfire.
As he got closer, he heard voices. Getting past the last corner, he spotted Poly. “What’s going on?” He saw the bodies in the cells nearby. One of them hung between bent bars, with blood dripping from his eyes.
“She’s gone,” Poly
cried. “I think she’s going after the queen.”
“She texted, saying Will should carry out the mission.” Lucas looked at the cells.
“Are those the guys you captured outside?”
“Yes, but they took some kind of drug and become crazed, with unbelievable strength. If Evelyn hadn’t stopped them . . . .” Poly looked at the men and held her hand over her mouth.
“Sir, we have crafts incoming, a lot of them,” a uniformed soldier said to Derek, holding up a Panavice.
“Set defenses up and let’s make sure these people don’t get anywhere near here.”
“Aye.” The man hurried off and Derek looked back to Poly.
“There’s a large group heading here. Air defense will take them down. And if any make it to land, we’ll have plenty of surprises to slow them down.”
Lucas’s heartbeat picked up as he took in the information. People were coming to attack them, to stop what his son was about to do, no doubt.
“Lucas, right?” Derek said.
“Yes.”
“Think you can man the sound cannons?”
“Where are they?”
“When they get close, you push this button.” Derek handed him a Panavice and showed him. “Think you can handle that?”
“Yeah.”
“Good, because if these people get into the dome, we won’t have much of a chance of stopping them. Evelyn planned on an attack, but little goes as planned.” Derek turned and ran down the hall.
Lucas held the Panavice in his hands and stared at the screen displaying the desert around the dome. It looked more like a picture until he spotted movement in the sky. Little black boxes he knew all too well, floated around in the sky. A swarm of them, hundreds.
Gunfire sounded, then missiles streaked across the sky. The bullets and missiles struck the cubes, sending a rainstorm of debris falling to the earth. But the defenses couldn’t keep up. More cubes landed, getting through the assault—over a hundred of them on the ground now.
Lucas did the math, and if those cubes held just one person each, they’d still be greatly outnumbered. He wished he had his friend by his side with double guns and slow motion powers. Harris and Hank came to mind as well. Where were they?