by Lucy Kelly
“We got a call from one of the women’s shelters. As you know, domestic violence and other crimes against women count in the millions each year in this country. The shelters do all they can, but they often have to turn women away,” he explained.
“Yes, sir,” she said.
This wasn’t her area of expertise. She’d just finished an assignment capturing serial bank robbers. Her car accident had happened a few days after her team wrapped up the case. As she sat quietly and waited to hear what her boss had to say, she went over what she knew about him again.
Michael McLuckie was a legend in the bureau. Married for twenty-five years to the same woman, they had five gorgeous daughters. He was a dedicated agent and had been recruited out of law school. He had the highest percentage of closed cases and conviction rate of any other SAC that she knew of. There was talk of another promotion in the works. She pulled her mind back to attention when he started to speak again.
“It seems most of the shelters are running at half their available capacity in the Chicagoland area. The same is true of several homeless shelters geared toward women with children. It’s unusual enough to be remarked, especially in winter, when living on the streets can be a death sentence. We’re concerned we’re dealing with a human trafficking organization. It is possible women are being lured away from regular resources, and then being preyed upon in some way. The assignment I have for you is to go undercover as a woman trying to get out of an abusive relationship. There’s a free clinic we want you to go to and let them refer you to a shelter. Three missing women went through this particular clinic,” he finished.
“Now I know why you called me in with this shiner. I’ll need to take care of a few things at my apartment and swing by the charity store for some clothes,” she said, half to herself, already making plans. “Who’s my contact and what’s my schedule for reporting?” she asked, knowing every undercover operative had to have a way to contact their superiors and make regular reports, as well as get back-up if they were in danger.
“For now, I’ll be your contact. I have a prepaid burner phone for you. You can keep your own name, since your cover is pretty basic. By tomorrow, if anyone runs a background check on you, they’ll see you’ve been listed as on-scene when your boyfriend, head of a motorcycle club, was arrested. We can’t give you a record, it's the one thing we’ve been able to find out on some of the verified missing women, they were all clean. Frankly, it pisses me off and is one of the main reasons why I’m making this case a priority. A bunch of women and young girls are the ones being targeted. They are overcoming horrible backgrounds. They are doing their best to stay straight and work hard for their futures,” he said in a hard, angry voice.
“Don’t worry, sir. I’ll get to the bottom of this. I’ll do my best to make sure we find all the missing women and girls,” she vowed, just as angry as her boss.
Everyone heard about human trafficking and thought it only happened in third-world countries. It couldn’t happen here in the USA. Josephine promised herself to resolve the situation.
“As soon as you send me a solid lead, get the first piece of real evidence, I’ll pull in more resources and we’ll take these assholes down. So find me something!”
“I’ll get on it today, while the bruises are still fresh,” she said wryly.
“I didn’t just pull you in because you have some convincing bruises. Your file is full of commendations, you do good work, and that’s what we need here. Now get going. Dismissed,” he said, waving her out of the office.
Chapter One
HeVan…
Aditya Marie Perez, formerly of Illinois and now the Nam-Nin or Supreme Queen of the planet HeVan, pushed the stroller down the corridor. At least she called it a stroller; it had a handle and room for each of her six babies to lay in comfort. At that point, all resemblance to a stroller was gone. This vehicle didn’t have wheels. It hovered over the floor, floating along with the slightest pressure on the handle. The babies were secured in two rows, one facing front and one facing rear. Addie could flip the handle over if she wanted, so each set of three could take turns either watching where they were going or watching their mom. It was also tethered to her so, if she needed her hands to be free, the stroller wouldn’t float away.
Right now they were falling asleep, which was the reason for this little jaunt. Addie liked walking the babies up and down the corridors in the royal family wing. It was the only place in the palace so well secured from the outside; she could walk around without being trailed by warriors everywhere. She knew she had to get used to having bodyguards, she’d been putting up with them for months. Now they were on HeVan, and someone had put explosives on Malpha’s shuttle, Arjun had gone nutso about security. She was practically tripping over warriors every time she turned around. All the bowing and ritual and the lack of privacy got to her after a time and she needed to get away from it for a while. It was another reason to come here to her special wing of the palace.
The restoration of the building was coming along nicely. Today was a day of rest. All the workmen had been cleared from the wing, which was why it was empty. Addie was taking the time to look over the work being done. Rune and Jalen had assured her the queen’s bedchamber was now completely free of listening and viewing devices and fully restored as of yesterday. She was looking forward to checking it out. Actually, she’d felt the room calling to her ever since she’d stepped into the wing. She couldn’t wait to move in. As she approached the door, she checked the babies and saw they were all asleep. A feeling of anticipation ran up her spine, something was going to happen today. She just knew it.
Standing in the doorway, she remembered what Tamiel told her and what she had been shown in her dream. Pushing the stroller in front of her, she began to step on certain floor tiles in the specific sequence she had been shown.
One up, over two, then up and over three…damn! My Nephilim ancestors must have had long legs! Right step, right step down, and over three…ouch, did I pull a hamstring? Gonna be paying for that later…right step, right step…whew. Okay, what next? Oh, yeah, I remember now.
She began pressing on certain wall ornaments in the sequence whispered to her. After the ninth step, she heard a click, and a section of the wall opened. The small cupboard held the book of the Nam-Nin. The book Tamiel had told her to find. It would help her understand and wield the Nam-Nin's powers. This was a really good thing. Sometimes she didn’t feel she was controlling her gift so much as being controlled by it. Now, perhaps, she would gain a better understanding of how it worked.
At the back of the cupboard, she noticed a latch. Reaching forward, she first tried to twist it one way and then another. Nothing happened. Then she pulled on it and was happy to see it move. Suddenly, the door to the corridor closed, and sections of the floor started to rise with a loud grinding noise. She looked over at the stroller, but the babies were sleeping through all the commotion. When the noise stopped, she looked around and noticed a one-foot-deep section of floor had risen completely to the ceiling, covering the door to the hall. Another section of flooring blocked the doors to the terrace. No one could enter or leave the room; it was completely sealed off.
Wow, cool, she thought.
Next to the cupboard, another section of the wall had slid back and to the side, revealing another opening.
Walking over to the new opening, she saw a small room. Deciding to experiment with her findings, she first returned to the cupboard and pushed the latch back in again. The doorway to the small room or alcove closed, and the walls dropped back to the floor. She rubbed her hands on her hips; her palms were sweaty. Taking a deep breath, she pulled the latch again. The doorways were blocked, and the new room was once again open.
Returning to the small room, she took a longer look at the space. The walls of the small room were covered with hieroglyphs. Putting the book into one of the storage compartments at the bottom of the stroller, she stepped into the room to get a better look at the glyphs. She went to
the far wall, where she saw a specific glyph, which matched her Nephilim birthmark. She traced over the symbol with her fingertip. As she looked at the surrounding glyphs, she realized she could actually understand them. They were in the ancient Nephilim language. She had studied the language during the voyage from Earth with the use of nano-patches. Once again, she had cause to thank Jett for coming up with the method of learning vast quantities of information in such a short time. Her brain had absorbed a great deal. Often she found herself in situations like this, where, until she accessed the information, she didn’t realize she had it. Addie was quite pleased she was able to read the hieroglyphs on the walls of the alcove.
A sound caught her attention, and she spun back around to face the doorway. The stroller had followed her into the room, pulled along by the tether. She checked the babies, and they were fine. She was happy they were still safe and nearby. The sound came again. Looking up from the stroller, she saw the door to the alcove was closing. She and the babies would be trapped in this small space. The space was so small that by the time she moved the stroller out of the way, the door was a third of the way closed. She considered jumping through the opening into the safety of the bedroom, only to reject the idea. She didn’t want them trapped alone on the other side of a thick wall away from her, and wasn’t positive she could reopen the door. Unable to stop the movement of the wall section, she frantically looked around, but could not see another latch.
“Oh, shit!” she muttered under her breath.
Moments later, the small alcove was once again shut off from the room. She expected to be locked into complete darkness, but was pleasantly surprised, an artificial light shown down from the ceiling. Once again, checking the babies and satisfied they were sleeping through all this, she wondered how long it would take her Ankida to come and find her.
If the door closed, did it mean the walls covering the terrace and hallway doors had dropped?
Addie was contemplating her rescue and how much trouble her curiosity had gotten her into this time, when she felt the room move.
“What the heck? It’s an elevator!” she realized. “But how did I activate it? I didn’t push the down button!” she said, before laughing hysterically.
Understanding she was losing control, she took some deep breaths to calm down. She had to think!
Stepping around the small space, she looked over the hieroglyphs again, as she thought it over. Looking again at the symbol of her birthmark, she remembered another time when touching a similar symbol had caused a different door to open, and she slapped the side of her head.
Of course! How stupid I am!
She’d put her sweaty hands on the Nam-Nin symbol. Like the stasis chamber where she’d found Queen Tamiel, it probably analyzed the sweat from her hand and that was all it took. Mentally kicking herself for acting stupidly and possibly putting her babies in danger, she tightened her grip on the stroller handle and waited to see what would happen next.
Perhaps touching the symbol again would return me to the bedchamber, she thought.
She was worried if she tried it now, the elevator would become stuck. After all, it hadn’t been used in a long, long time.
She felt like crying and wished her Ankida were with her.
I’d kick my own ass if I could! Where is this thing taking us, anyway? It’s been moving for a long time.
“Shit, the guys are going to be so pissed at me. Please let this work out okay, please be okay, please be okay,” she prayed under her breath as the room continued to descend.
With nothing better to do but wait until the elevator reached its destination, she went back to reading the walls. After reading a little, she saw she’d started in the middle of what seemed to be a story. Backtracking, she found the beginning and quickly understood the hieroglyphs told the story of the first Nam-Nin to join with the planet and how it had happened. Checking once more on her girls and seeing they still slept, she went back to reading and quickly became absorbed.
Finally, after what seemed like thirty minutes, absolutely the longest elevator ride of her life, it stopped moving. Putting herself between the door and the stroller holding her babies, she waited to see what would happen next. The door began opening. This time, she was more cautious.
What if I left, and the elevator went back up and we were stranded here—wherever here is.
That was the problem. Not knowing what lay ahead, she was unsure about leaving the safe confines of the elevator. She might have stepped right out if she had been alone. The fact she had her girls with her made her more cautious.
Addie was trying to decide which would be the right decision, when she heard a voice calling to her. Trying to find the direction of the sound, she realized she was hearing it in her head…come…come…come. The words on the wall of the elevator were making sense now. It wasn’t just a story of the first Nam-Nin. The glyphs were instructions for all the Nam-Nins to come. Dragging the stroller behind her so she would be between her babies and the voice, she left the elevator and entered a large underground cavern. She took a few steps forward. In the distance, she could see a golden light. The path seemed clear enough. Pulling the stroller behind her, she went toward the light and knew, even though the voice was in her head, it originated in the light.
The closer she got, the brighter the light seemed to be, and yet it was never so bright she felt the need for sunglasses. She arrived at the glowing chamber and the light began to coalesce into a human form. As the light took shape, Addie could see features forming. It took her a moment to recognize Tamiel. Even as she gasped, the form changed again and yet again. Each time, a different feminine figure was represented. This seemed to go on and on. As amazing as it was, Addie began to tire of the show, and the images began to blur.
She heard a squeak, then another. The babies were waking from their nap. She let the glowing image continue to do its thing. At some point, she understood it was morphing into the shape of every female in the line of the Nam-Nin.
Turning away, she opened the compartment filled with a changing pad, wipes, and diapers. She had always taken care of the babies in the same order. In the future, that would most likely change. For now, their schedule was set. She reached for her firstborn. Placing Aelwen on the pad, she quickly changed her diaper. After changing Bedelia, she opened her blouse and the flaps covering her nipples, putting the two babies to her breasts.
Looking up for a moment, she saw the golden form was still changing shapes. It made sense; there had likely been thousands of queens, perhaps tens of thousands going back in time. After the first two babies were fed and burped, the next two began to make small noises to get her attention. She was in the middle of feeding the last two, Erena and Fenella, when she glanced up and saw a young woman with old eyes watching her.
“Welcome, daughter of my daughters. I am Ashnin. The time that was foretold has come,” she spoke.
Walking forward, she stood next to the stroller, looking down at the four babies as they lay quietly cooing, blowing bubbles, and playing with their toes.
Reaching out with a hand that didn’t seem to be entirely solid, she stroked a finger over Aelwen’s cheek.
“They are beautiful. Not since my own children were babes, have I seen one. Only the new Nam-Nin has ever come before now, always alone. Why did you bring them with you?” she asked.
Addie looked at the beautiful woman as she maneuvered Erena up to her shoulder. Fenella continued to nurse. Lightly tapping Erena’s back, she looked at Ashnin a moment and then decided she might as well tell her the truth. You really shouldn’t lie to a goddess—or your many million times great-grandmother.
“I was only trying to find the book about which Tamiel spoke to me. I figured it would tell me how to join with the planet. I hadn’t expected to do this today. I would have dressed up,” she said, trying for a weak joke.
“Are you ready to take up the mantle of leadership? Do you pledge yourself to the duty before you, your life and the lives of your da
ughters?” Ashnin asked.
“My daughters? All of them?” Addie asked. “I thought I would pass on my power to just one.”
“They are here at the time of joining as was foretold. All of you shall be joined to the planet and the people shall prosper. I think, daughter, fate has played a hand in this destiny. Do not worry, you look quite nice in your choice of apparel,” she said with a smile and a twinkle in her eye. “What is your answer?”
Addie said nothing for a few moments, this was more than she expected. How could she place such a burden on infants? Then she remembered something her grandmother had said and smiled.
“My grandmother always told my sister and me a burden shared, was a burden halved. Yes, I so pledge myself and my daughters. I will carry the duty until they are ready to take it from me. They will share the duty when their time comes,” said Addie.
She wiped her hands on her jeans and gave another fleeting thought to the fact she wasn’t really dressed for the occasion.
I really wanted to look the part. I should be wearing a flowing gown of some kind, more like what Ashnin was wearing. Oh well, too late now.
Ashnin stepped closer and touched each of the babies as Addie placed Erena and Fenella into their beds and clipped on their safety straps.
“They have strong gifts, even stronger than your own. Perhaps, until they are of age, yours should be greater than theirs, hmmm? Otherwise, you might find it difficult in raising them.”
Once again, Addie saw the twinkle and a flash of dimple.
Ashnin was teasing me!
Ashnin smiled and then raised her arms; she began to give off a golden glow. The entire chamber lit up and her form grew less and less substantial until she disappeared into a light that filled the room. Moments later, Addie felt herself floating. Looking to the right, she saw the babies were also floating.
I really wish Grace were here to see this!
There was a burst of light and she blacked out.