by Jaymin Eve
I felt her statement deep in my soul. The truth of it. We could do this.
18
It took Emma thirteen minutes to master the mystery picture. I was pretty excited for it to get around to me, but also nervous, because I had no idea what to expect. Callie was next, and while I had a side view of what looked like a dark blue pattern sprinkled through with lights, the image was angled away from me, limiting my vision of it.
Instead I watched Emma, who was now staring off to the side, unfocused. I wondered what she was seeing. Was she actually in the network? It seemed that the only way to know was to go there yourself, so I’d just have to work on my patience.
“This is insane,” Callie snarled, breathing deeply, until eventually her face relaxed. “I just need to calm down, I just need to focus.” She started murmuring to herself. “I can do this.”
“You got this, Cal. Just follow the lights,” Daniel said, lifting their joined hands up slightly. “I’ll help you go the rest of the way.”
It took fourteen minutes before her eyes took on the same unfocused cast as Emma’s, then apparently, she was in. Jero took two steps to the right and I tried to breathe through the absolute rapid pounding of my heart, feeling it in my throat and hearing it in my head.
“Your turn, Maya,” he drawled. Chase swung his head toward him, like he was shocked by something.
“No nickname?” Chase asked him. I was confused, but I figured this was a “Jero” inside joke that I’d hopefully find out one day.
Jero’s lip twitched a little. “I’m working on it,” he replied, with a lopsided smile.
He lifted the frame higher, and for the first time I could see exactly what it was. Like Emma, I was familiar with it. It was one of those three-dimensional images hidden inside a two-dimensional pattern. You had to readjust your focus and you could see the hidden image inside. I was always terrible at it. Like … horrendous.
The pattern was akin to a night sky filled with a million shooting stars, beams of lights crisscrossing each other. My eyes flicked across to Chase, who was watching me closely. As he inclined his head at me, the smile he wore never faded. You got this, that look said. And I nodded. So what if I sucked at this sort of thing when I was younger? People learned new skills every day.
Turning back to the image, I tried to calm my mind, blocking out the world around me.
Come on, Maya. No matter how hard I tried though, the damn picture still just looked like a night sky. It reminded me of when I’d been in the transporter, all of that darkness, with the pinpricks of light in the distance. Only these lights were closer and smudged into each other.
Maybe I needed to just focus on one light in particular and try to see which smudge belonged to it. I searched around for one near the edge of the image. It had a tail that spun and flipped around, crossing back in on its self. I continued to follow, losing the path once or twice and having to backtrack, but I eventually got there. As I reached the tail it … moved. So I continued to follow its path … which continued to move.
That feeling of excitement inside of me brought the thrum of energy in my hands to greater heights.
“That’s it, sayana,” Chase murmured close to me. “Follow that light.”
It extended off the page, and I kept my focus, scared if I lost sight of the line for even a second, I’d lose whatever ground I’d gained. It spiraled down the side of Jero’s leg toward the ground. It was easy to follow now; there were no other lights to interfere. The moment the beam hit the green grass, it solidified.
Lifting my eyes, I stared at all the lights on the image, tracing some of their paths, and without any effort this time, all of them started to move. It took me ten minutes to have hundreds of bright lights anchored to the ground. They were vibrating, and I could hear noises, maybe even voices coming from within them.
One twanged loudly at me, and within it I felt Chase. I mentally reached for his light and it hit me in the chest. The energy I felt when I was near him filled me up, then it dragged me down into the ground. I didn’t physically move, but my consciousness was going with that beam of light, and then I was “standing” … existing … in a world of darkness. Only it wasn’t just darkness, there were beams of light everywhere, crossing in front of me and over each other.
There was a lot of noise here at first, but when I focused, most of the chatter died away. I could feel them all here: Emma, Callie, Lexen, Daniel, Xander, and Chase. I couldn’t see them, but I recognized the bright beams of light around me. The seven of us glowed, running almost parallel to each other.
Maya, you did it, I heard Emma’s words in my head.
Be very careful what you say here, Lexen reminded us. All conversations can be recorded and overheard in the network.
We fell somewhat silent, and I wondered what we were supposed to do now.
Let’s start with a little test, Daniel suggested. Try to find Jero. His energy will be close to ours, because he’s physically near us.
I hadn’t had much time to get to know Jero, but that didn’t seem to matter. I only had to picture him in my mind, had to remember the sad, heavy emotions he carried around, and my light immediately shot toward a tattered-looking beam about ten yards away. It strummed at me, almost like a greeting.
We can feel if someone is searching for our energy, Chase told us. Jero will know, but if he wanted to respond or communicate, he would have to enter the network.
Callie’s light went bright then and I felt like she was laughing. This is just like virtual reality. Our bodies are where we left them, but our consciousness and vision is now in another world.
That was true, and while there wasn’t much going on in the way of world building here, I felt the vast endless opportunities that lay beyond us.
Okay, now that we have found Jero, let’s try for someone on Earth, Emma suggested. Maybe my guardians. For those who have met them and know their energy.
That wasn’t me, so I sat that one out.
Easy as, Emma finally exclaimed.
That was definitely a positive, but since none of us had met the last secret keeper, it was no doubt going to be more difficult. I hoped they had a good plan.
Lexen sounded serious. We’re going to have mere seconds to find her, because the moment we locate her rough proximity, we need to cut the connection. Otherwise she could be found by others.
Daniel interrupted: And if there is any instability with Earth’s energy while we do this, we’re also going to have to abort immediately.
So how do we do this when we haven’t met her? Callie asked.
The pause felt very long, but it was probably only a second before Xander answered: Jero is going to prick each of the secret keepers’ fingers … if they are agreeable to this. We’ll mix the three drops of blood together, and then he is going to send it down into the network.
We all agreed, because there wasn’t much choice. We had to find her.
You might feel a pinch, Chase added. Don’t let it pull you from the network. Keep your focus here.
With those words, I locked myself onto his light and waited for the pain. My energy jolted when it came, but it was mild and over so quickly there was no danger of me disappearing. After another beat, a new beam of light entered in our midst, one that was not the bright white I’d grown accustomed to. This one had a tinge of red to it.
Our blood.
Hold on to that beam, Daniel said. Use the secret keepers’ connection.
I felt more comfortable in the network now. It felt almost instinctive to reach out with my own energy and connect to that reddish beam. Find the fourth. Find our fourth, I chanted, urging the light forward, the same way I had when the beams spread off the paper. I needed that light to follow its path. All the way to the last girl.
The red started to vibrate, moving with such frequency that it blurred. All I got were flashes of color in the darkness. But it wasn’t extending, it seemed to be anchored to us, not interested at all in moving.
Wha
t are you three thinking? Xander asked with impatience. You all have to give it the same goal, or it’s going to just remain where it is.
Find our fourth, I said.
Let’s all go with that, Callie chimed in.
I focused everything again on that red line, that had slowed its vibrations, only to start up again as soon as I mentally pushed it to find the fourth. Just like before, though, it didn’t move. Almost like it was caught on something.
You said that all seven of us were needed to find the eighth, Emma reminded the guys. So … maybe you all need to bleed a little, too.
There was a pause, but no one disagreed. Then Daniel said, Jero is on it.
In the next moment, the red of the blood beam went blindingly bright. It splintered in almost the same instant, part of it shooting away from us. My focus latched on tightly, and I found myself zooming away with the beam. I could feel the others close by as well.
Focus, I heard Lexen shout.
Find our fourth. Find our fourth. Find our fourth.
The moment we crossed out of Overworld and into Earth was very obvious. It was like a jolt, and then a surge, and then a foreign feeling. We were in a place we weren’t supposed to be in. The darkness even had a divide – a chasm – that we had to mentally leap over.
This is so weird…
Our lights were dimmer on the Earth side, even though the endless darkness around us remained. The red beam stayed on course, and when it started to slow down, I slowed with it. It spiraled toward a dull, bluish-looking light, which I threw myself toward, letting it guide me up to the surface.
How did I know how to do this? No freaking idea.
The moment my energy hit the surface, it was all sun and sand and waves. And since I had been there before, I knew exactly where we were.
Maya! Don’t follow the light like that.
The shout startled me and I lost my focus. The sun faded away, and with a snap I was back in my body in House of Darken, my hands still held tightly in Chase and Callie’s. I looked between them, and then the rest of the group, realizing I was the only one back. The others still wore that faraway gaze.
My parents, Brad, Star, and Jero rushed over to me. “Did you find her?” Star asked, her hands pressed tightly together in front of her. “You’ve been gone for about two minutes. I expected longer. Why are you the only one back?” Her questions picked up pace, rushing together as she wrung her hands.
I shook my head hard. “I think I might have done something wrong. I followed the light, and it led me to Lanai, in Hawaii. I lost focus and snapped back into my body. Wait a minute … did you say two minutes?”
“Time moves differently in there,” Jero said. “Usually we can get in and out in under thirty seconds when we need to utilize the network. Two minutes is actually quite a long time.”
“How do you form a transporter?” I asked, realizing now that there was so much more I could do in there. No wonder the Daelighters didn’t need Earth technology, they had the network. So much cooler.
Jero’s lips curled up slightly. “You move along the network until you find the place you want to travel. Then you take the lights there and spiral them. Spin and twirl them until they form a solid doorway. If you do it right, the transporter appears in the physical world as well as in the network.”
“You have to be so careful, though,” Star told me. “Anyone can track and follow you when you do that. To stay off the radar, it’s better just to travel the human way.”
That should be easy enough to do. Hawaii was just a plane ride away, after all. But it was definitely a lot slower than the transporter. My dad brushed strands of my hair off my face. “Are you okay?”
I nodded. “Yes, definitely. Mostly because I think it worked. The fourth secret keeper is in Hawaii. Remember that little island of Lanai that we went to for our 2013 holiday … that’s where the line stopped.”
My dad exchanged a look with Mom, and she nodded, agreeing with what his eyes had been telling her. “What?” I demanded.
“One of the families was stationed near there,” she said. “They were Astronomers, I think.”
That had to be them. “We have to get there now before Laous finds her. From what I saw, she was fine. Her energy felt stable.”
Chase shifted at my side, and I turned to him. “Are you okay?” he said immediately, releasing my hand and Xander’s so he could turn to me.
I stepped into him, pressing my hands to his chest. “I’m fine. Sorry if I did something wrong back there. One minute I was rising up to the surface to see where the red and blue light stopped, and the next I was back here.”
He regarded me without an ounce of judgment. “Did you see where she was?”
“Yeah.” I nodded. “The cord stopped at Lanai, an island near Hawaii. I’ve been there before on holidays.”
He snatched me up, hugging me tightly, before his lips crushed into mine. I had no idea what was happening around us after that. All I knew was Chase. The feel of his lips. The tether to him that rested in my center thrumming.
“Guys, seriously, can you all get a room? I don’t want to see my best friend slash sister doing that…” Brad’s complaint registered faintly, and with a disappointed huff I pulled back.
Mostly so I could flip him off.
“The number of chicks I have had to see you suck face with…” I trailed off at the panicked look in his eyes. As his gaze shifted to Star, I realized what he was worried about – that once she found out about his past, she might not like the person he was. Later I would remind him that there was no point hiding his past. He would just have to show Star that he was no longer that same guy.
Everyone was out of the network now, and there was a lot of confusion as they all spoke at once. I realized that no one thought I’d made it to the surface. When I told them I did, the mood lightened.
“We need to move, now,” Lexen declared, his eyes glittering with white lights. It was freaky when he did that, because I knew the draygone soul he hid inside. He turned to my parents and Brad. “You three should stay here. I will have Star escort you to our home, where you can wait safely for our return.”
My dad opened his mouth and I recognized that stubborn clenched jaw and pursed lips. He was going to argue about this and generally make life very difficult for everyone until he got his own way. Before he could, I reached out and wrapped my hand around his forearm. “You can’t protect me from this, Dad.” That stopped him in his tracks, and when he slowly lowered his head to meet my eyes, the stubborn emotion had been replaced with sadness. “I know you blame yourself for choosing to involve me in this world … but no matter how this works out, I want you to know that I have no regrets. I have found a place here, a future. I have found more members to add to our family.”
“Hells yeah, you have,” Emma chimed in, before slamming her mouth shut and slapping her hand across it.
Lexen laughed. “She will forever be listening in on your conversations. You might as well get used to it.”
“Emma is right, though,” Callie added. “I had no family at all, and now I feel like there are so many of you damn people I care about. And that scares me…” She trailed off for a moment. “But I believe that together we’re the strongest team I’ve ever seen. There is nothing we can’t accomplish. It’s … a true family. None of us will be left behind. Laous will not take any more from us.”
Amen.
When I returned my gaze to my parents, my dad had glassy eyes. “Take care of my little one,” he said, still looking at me while he spoke to the others. “And welcome to our family.”
He leaned forward and kissed me on the forehead. My mom kissed me on both cheeks, holding my face in her hands, staring at me. When they turned away – and I was trying not to cry – Brad wrapped both of his arms around me and hoisted me up into his big body. His familiar smell brought back a million memories.
Brad would always be my best friend, but our lives were changing, expanding. We were finding new people
to love and that was a good thing.
“Come back to me, you hear,” he said as he pulled away, dropping me down to my feet. “Best friends forever does not have an out clause. You’re in for life.”
I patted his chest, and he cleared his throat and turned away. Star didn’t argue about having to stay behind, she just smiled and hugged her brothers and Emma before she joined my parents and Brad. The four of them then made their way back up to the mountain city.
I watched them until they disappeared from sight. “They’ll be okay,” Chase told me. “The overlord’s home is protected by the draygones. This is the safest place for them.”
“I know.” I nodded. “As hard as it is to watch them walk away, I would prefer they were not out in the battlefield. Still, I have to wonder if I’ll ever see them again.”
There were no guarantees in life.
“You’ll see them again, Maya,” he said, somewhat fiercely. “I will not let anything happen to you.”
Before I could answer, low laughter echoed down through the valley we stood in. Chase – and the other overlords – reacted in an instant, moving to surround us. That laughter had been loud and unnatural, and even though I could not see who it came from, there was no doubt…
We were not alone.
19
A man stepped out from the shadows. He was about twenty feet away, appearing from behind a nearby rocky outreach. He had dark hair slicked up in the center, olive skin, and a sharp but still handsome face. Tattoos ran across his neck and down into the black long-sleeved shirt he wore.
He looked familiar. Ish. But I couldn’t recall how I knew him.
Daniel made a grumbling noise nearby and I turned toward him. “Fraizer,” he said, sounding more than a little annoyed. “What the hell are you doing here?”
The boys closed in even further on Emma, Callie, and me. Jero included. He had lost every ounce of sadness now, wearing a mask of fury. He looked very fallen angel. Whoever this “Fraizer” was, he was not a popular guy in this group.