Tollen shook his head and held his hand up. "No need for haste! We don't know what just occurred. The elders must meet in chambers to investigate before a new leader is decided upon."
But the Elyons swarmed to Caleb, pushing Tollen aside.
"No meeting. We know what's true and right!" "Yes, true." "Brother Caleb is meant to lead!" "New world." "Our new hope."
The Elyons surrounded Caleb. They squeezed his arms, kissed his hands, and pushed at him from all sides. Then Leah stepped out from the sanctuary. She stumbled toward the courtyard, dazed and weak. She joined the surge, not knowing what was going on.
The crowd lifted Caleb up. All the elders nodded, except Tollen. Caleb watched him standing off to the side, a deep frown of anger splitting his face. The snow embraced Caleb in a frenzied celebration along with his people as they held him on their shoulders. He was stunned. This was not what he envisioned. Then a feeling burst inside him. He almost didn't recognize it.
It was hope.
He could be with his sons.
He could be a father.
He could lead his people into a world where they could live in harmony with humans, sharing the Earth as one gift.
His sons came into view. The crowd swelled toward them with him over their heads. Jeremiah and Josiah looked up as he passed by, eyes as green as his, and they smiled at him. He reached out his trembling hands and touched their soft black hair—the first touch of his children he loved and had never known—and then he was swept away from them with the crowd.
He calmed his emotions and spoke to them as they paraded him in the snow. "Elyons, we can change our destiny. We can live in peace, not pain and fear. We can overcome our Destroyer ways and not hide what's inside us anymore. If I can bring back the dead, think of all the other things we can do someday—you can do. Good things."
Their agreement flowed around him. They had been ready for a change.
"Our hidden element can be the light we never knew we had. Charlie had it. I have it. My Uncle Brahm had it. It will be hard but we can reach out to the human world and embrace them— and hope they'll embrace us back."
Tollen stood still, watching. "Elyons, don't be so quick to judge or to believe these new ideas."
"Caleb is the true leader and his words are truth," another elder shouted back over the crowd. "He will bring us into the light and out of the dark. He can bring the dead back to life. He can bring us into a new life."
Caleb's people cheered and carried him from the cold into the warmth of the compound.
Then it struck him. In the chaos he had lost his father.
He was gone.
Adrian's limbs spasmed from the cold.
His people had shoved him aside like garbage to get closer to Caleb, their true leader marked by destiny. His own son who he had marked as weak. He had stumbled off then in shock and wandered into the woods. He reached the community fence and struggled to pull himself up and over it. His flesh ripped on barbed wire. The pain no longer felt good. It no longer made him strong. Weaker he grew.
Twice he fell and began again. Finally, he dropped down on the other side and lay there heaving great breaths as his body grew numb. Could he make his way to Benevolence and convince a human to take a naked stranger in? He stood and staggered forward.
He tried to see into his future but it was now a blank space.
His people were gone. Laura and his sons were gone. And so was he.
He wept from the loss, his tears like fire on his frozen cheeks.
The snow surrounded him like a false welcome blanket, cruel in its glittering luster. It stung his feet and calves. At first it burned and he clung to the pain. Then cold spread throughout him and he felt nothing. He had died today and yet now lived.
The pine trees shook the unwanted snow from their branches. It covered him and soon melted to a chilled glaze covering his body. So tired. Needed to stop for a rest. He didn't know where he headed but something pulled him along.
Manta. Laura. Where are you?
But neither answered.
He trudged on when a voice inside his head smote him down.
Weakling!
He dropped to his knees in terror, haunted by his father's voice. Yes, father.
Go to the well. Now.
This was where his subconscious had been leading him. He staggered up, numb. His feet were cut from scraping on shards of snowy ice. He left bloody footprints with each step.
Trees held him up as he lurched along. Not far. He had built it to punish Caleb, the weak one, but now Caleb was strong—and he was weak. His father had said so. It had to be true. His entire life had been a lie. Wretched self-loathing devoured him.
The cover to the well waited for him. He wrapped his hands around the handle, his fingers blue. Help me, father. He strained. His fingers jerked and he slid the cover off.
Get down in there, Son. Face your fears. You will never be anything if you're weak.
Yes, Father.
Adrian slowly backed down into the well. His feet slipped on the rungs and he fell, crashing down into the icy realm with a splash. Caleb's words crashed into him with truth, 'Deliver me from evil men. Throw them into deep pits from which they cannot escape.'
The cold blasted him in his pit of suffering. He screamed in agony. He shook and tried to hold still. He would not thrash. He would be strong. He could suffer like Caleb and be strong.
Do not fight the pain. It will give you great power, in life and death. Let hate rise you up.
Yes, Father.
He embraced his suffering this time. He would not beg for release. He looked up at the wintry sky. The sun hung over him gracing him with its rays.
Manta, come to me.
They had created warmth in their love. He had known love once.
But she did not come to him now.
Snow kissed his face. As Manta once had.
So much softness.
He drifted away in it.
CHAPTER 47
The fire-bolt streaked across them. It struck their two pursuers and they were sucked from the air into a portal on the side of the wall. Their screams severed the silence. A blinding flash burst and they were gone. A scarf swirled and glided down. It landed and then the wind took it and flung it away again. It skipped across the drifts and disappeared.
Charlie dragged Laura up, but she floundered in the snow.
"Run, Mom! To their ATVs."
She stumbled after him. Exhaustion gripped her as she struggled to move through the deep snow. Benny protested against her with each step.
"Charlie, there's nowhere to go."
"They're gonna kill us now." He yanked her arm heading toward the dead Elyons' vehicles.
"No," she said and pulled away from him. "They would have killed us by now. They saved us."
Panting, he jerked around. "Who?"
"The ones in the ship. They've come again."
The gray mass shone under the sun. At first it looked like one solid construction but looking closer there were seams in it. They ran in uniform shapes. Like entryways.
And then one of the seams glowed. Its square outline radiated light.
"Mom, look."
They clung to each other. Awe flooded through Laura at the possibilities of what this ship meant. She gripped her eldest son's hand while pressing her youngest to her chest. The seams glowed brighter, radiating out.
"Mom, let's go!"
Charlie's fear swept over her as he pulled on her. But she was not afraid.
"No. It's our destiny."
He stood still, accepting her words. "It's opening."
They stood in the snow amongst trees that had grown on their world for millions of years. Wood giants that had died and replanted themselves with seeds in the wind, as humans evolved and civilization grew around them. They stood and watched as this thing, surely from another place across the universe, opened itself up before them like the massive unveiling of a new world. It was real, not just in her dreams. She was
a bridge to it.
The seams broke away. Light poured out. The massive door opened before them like on a giant hinge.
"Oh, my God," Charlie whispered.
"They must have a god, too," she said. Charlie nodded, not taking his eyes off the ship. Snow pillows floated down from the trees. The scent of pine wafted across. The placement of this foreign thing hung surreal in the serene wintry wilderness. It wouldn't be hidden for long.
The door unfolded. Yellow light spilled from it. Figures grew before them.
Laura stood with her sons and waited for their destiny, helpless and amazed.
The community had gone back to work after celebrating the coming of Caleb. He now gathered with the elders in the sanctuary.
Tollen was silent and resigned it seemed to his reduced stature. He now spoke. "When did you know of your special powers to bring the dead back?"
"I've been aware of them since I was a child."
"Why wait until now to show our community this?"
The elders looked at him, waiting. "My father was the leader. I did not want that role. I did not want to give in to my Destroyer gene. I wanted to help those less fortunate."
"What of those who died naturally?"
"I figured it was their time to pass peacefully. Their fate."
The elders nodded except Tollen.
"And all of our executed people buried up on the hill—"
"Most of them I dug up, revived, and set free."
"They are out there amongst the humans?"
"Yes." Rachel appeared in his mind and his heart ached.
"And Adrian?"
"I no longer sense his presence in this world. He is out there in the woods."
"Dead."
Caleb nodded and stood taller. He could rule. He never wanted to before but now his father had met his end. Destiny. And after this meeting the first thing he would do was begin his own destiny—visit his sons.
"It's time for a new era for Elyons," he said louder. Hope filled him with strength. "It's time the humans knew us. We must co-exist in harmony. We must trust they won't turn their backs on a civilization in need, even one that came under malevolent forces. Those forces are gone now. It's time to take a risk. Stop hiding. Start being part of this Earth, not hidden but in full view. Stop giving into our Destroyer genes. It does not make life, it destroys it."
"We risk much," one elder said.
"Yes. They'll discover what we're capable of," said another. "Use us as experiments."
"Maybe not," Caleb said. "There are too many of us for them to hide. Perhaps they'll come to understand there is much we can learn from each other. And there is Laura and her family. Have you informed her pursuers to retain her?"
"Yes."
A male burst into the sanctuary, out of breath.
"You found the human, Ben? Is he all right?" Caleb had seen him in his mind out in the snow and sent another party to bring him in to safety. Laura and her family would be reunited. Like he hoped soon for himself. First he had to take care of business.
The male shook his head. "No, but a ship has landed."
They all stared at him, as if not believing. Caleb's heart pumped loud in his ears. "An Elyon ship?"
"Yes. A mile past the perimeter. Our people messaged back and then communication was cut."
"Do they have Laura and her sons?"
"I don't know."
Caleb looked at the elders. This changed everything.
"I'm going." He strode to the door. "Alone."
He spoke to the wide-eyed messenger on the way out. "Put the community on lockdown. Everyone return to their rooms."
The messenger nodded and rushed out.
Tollen grabbed him as he passed by. "Careful, Caleb. Our people would hate to see their new leader struck down because of a miscommunication. Do you understand?"
Caleb felt the animosity roll off the elder who gripped him. He stared into Tollen's angry eyes and shook away the hand that held him. A force filled him like he'd never felt before. Strength resonated through him. He could truly make a difference now and relieve his people of the dark that had imprisoned them for so long.
"There will be no miscommunication," Caleb said in a low, steady voice. "We will meet our people with truth in our words. There will be no more lies and deception—and death. Do you understand, Brother?"
Tollen held his stare then stepped back and folded his hands. "Yes, Brother Caleb."
Satisfied with the elder's submission, Caleb nodded and ran out the door.
He would have to wait to be with his sons.
They came to Ben in his dreams.
An Elyon looked down at him with kind eyes. He had dark hair like Caleb but eyes like Laura. He spoke with his voice this time.
"Adrian hijacked our ship readied and bound for Earth years ago. We had peaceful intentions. We did not know he was an Underground Destroyer. He came here with his own evil purpose."
"He wants my family."
"No longer. His time is done. We've been working for years to create another ship with our limited resources so that we could come here. This is where you must help us, Ben Fieldstone. You and Laura and Charlie. This is our last chance to survive. Elyon is a ticking time bomb, as you say. Few survivors remain. The last few years have plunged us into an ice age."
"I will help you. My wife is part of your world. And my sons. If I ever see them again." His voice cracked. The Elyon placed his hand on his arm. A strange hand. Like Charlie's. Pale, smooth, and without nails. Warmth melted into him. And love. It overwhelmed him.
"You will, Ben."
He woke up. Laura.
Energy poured into his body.
"I have to rescue my family." He jumped up. They had to hear him with their omniscient presence.
And they did.
Your family comes to us. As do your people.
A door slid open. Yellow light flooded in. He had not seen a door there before. He wiped his mouth and ran out. A figure stood there. The one from his dream. The being held out his hand and smiled.
Come, Ben Fieldstone.
And he did.
Laura looked up at the open door to another world. She stared at the shadows that watched them from above. The government would find them. They had to be watching and waiting, as they always had. Adrian had come undercover. These Elyons did not. What would that mean for her and her family? Would her own government imprison them, experiment on them, as they did her twin?
Her pulse ping-ponged inside as if trying to find release. Charlie's rushed fast too from his wrist as his hand wound tight around hers. Benny's tiny heart beat fast and steady into her breast. All her hearts were here. But Ben's. His wild and loyal heart had been silenced forever somewhere behind her.
Engines rumbled far in the distance. They looked behind them.
"Mom, more of them."
Then a great light flashed.
The last thing she saw were Charlie's eyes wide open. I want to live.
And they were sucked away like the others.
Caleb pushed the throttle on the vehicle faster, pushing it beyond the limit across the snow dunes. The vehicle rocked. He leaned into a turn, avoiding a tree. He sent his mind out seeking these humans he had come to care for, but he found no human life in the vast white wilderness. Charlie and Laura could be blocking themselves from being sought out. The baby was too small to be sought. He had no will yet. But where was Ben? Dead?
And then his past and future rose before him. He slammed on his brakes then sped up. His people were here.
He raced toward the ship then skidded to a stop. He jumped off his vehicle and waded through the snow toward it.
Laura. Charlie.
He looked up at the open door that welcomed him.
CHAPTER 48
Charlie still gripped her hand. They were in a long tunnel. Yellow light glowed all around them. They were in the ship. They weren't dead. Cold blew behind them and then faded as the door they came through sealed shut.
Charlie bent to look at Benny. "He's okay. We're okay."
"It was a transport system."
They walked down the tunnel. It felt supple and soft, molding itself to their feet as they walked.
"Where are we going?" Charlie tugged on her sleeve. Silence hung all around them like they were in their own peaceful bubble floating away.
A gray figure appeared far away. It took shape.
A familiar figure that held her world.
Ben. Wonderful, alive Ben.
She ran.
Yellow shimmered around him.
He took her in her arms. She breathed in, drawing his smell deep in to her memory, tucking it away forever.
"They saved me," he whispered in her hair. "Like you did long ago, Laura. I got another second chance." They embraced until Benny's cries of protest pried them apart. Ben reached his hand down to touch him but Laura stepped back and held her crying son to her chest.
"We all need second chances."
He looked at her puzzled. She stared at him, holding this moment close before he saw what she had born into this world.
She offered him their son. "Benny."
Ben looked at him then back at her. He touched her son's fingers to his own. Benny's cries slowed. That monster…did this. He was with you…inside you…in our home. In our home! They weren't dreams. He snatched his fingers away and stared at her, a frown cutting his forehead in two.
No, they weren't. She couldn't bear it if he couldn't accept this. She reached an arm out, desperate for his love and acceptance, but he stepped back.
"That monster tore our family apart." Ben closed his eyes as if the sight of Benny sickened him.
"No. Never. It's over. He couldn't stop us from being family." She dared to believe he could believe it, too. Benny was the only good thing to come from this place.
"Come on, Dad," Charlie pleaded.
"Hope needs a second chance, too," Laura whispered.
"It must be the desired outcome," Ben finally said and opened his eyes to stare at her.
"Destiny." She smiled at him.
"Fate."
"Forever." Laura handed the baby to him.
A Hidden Element Page 28