by Ron Francis
What now? Connor wondered, the fatigue form battle beginning to hit him.
*****
The more Tina watched, the less she believed her eyes. How did that man throw all of those guys without touching them? That's not possible. She was freaking out while she watched the people that were being attacked drive off their attackers. There were two duels going on that looked pretty personal and one of them was over pretty fast. She watched in horror when the big man slashed the other. It looked like the other man almost lost his leg. The man that won the other duel saved him and while they were fighting, there was a light so bright she had to shield her eyes. Where had that light come from? Did it come from the same man that threw all those people? His hands are still glowing. Then, the girl who took the knife to the chest sat up for a brief moment, and they both collapsed. Tina turned her attention back to the last remaining fighters. Their battle looked so personal. The ending was abrupt with the larger man falling. Her fear ratcheted up a notch when one of the people pointed in her direction. Two guys turned into birds and began flying away, her way. She barely had time to think about how it was possible for people to turn into animals when two men were grabbing her arms. She screamed and struggled while they brought her over to the rest of the group.
*****
By the time Jan brought Tina to the clearing, she was crying and babbling inconsolably. She was mumbling about swords and animals and light. The young lady was terrified. She stood before John trembling and holding back tears. Jan looked at John and asked, "So, what do we do with this one?"
"She's seen a lot, dad," Liam said to John with a solemn nod.
"That she has, son," he replied while rubbing around the bullet wound in his shoulder.
Thomas was a little more conscious now, and he didn't like where the conversation was heading when Jan said, "I hate to say it, but we're not ready to be exposed."
"No," Thomas started to surprised looks from the rest of the group. "And the fact that you're even considering it shows how far the Council of Light has fallen."
"But she's seen us! She can expose us, Thomas." Jan argued.
"I won't, I didn't see anything, I promise." Tina cried. She was already shaking before the realization of what they were talking about hit her. "Please, I was just in the cave doing some research on the Native American drawings for my paper. I didn't do anything wrong." She was sobbing and babbling, and Thomas couldn't take it anymore.
"We will not ruin an innocent life because we could not keep our affairs in the shadows. We're supposed to be the good guys." He looked at the girl and asked in a soft voice, "What's your name, sweetheart?" She looked up at him, still shaking, tears rolling down her cheek and did not reply. "It's all right, I promise, no harm will come to you. I'm Thomas, what's your name?"
"T...T...Tina," she stammered. "Please, I won't tell anyone anything." She began to cry again.
"It's all right, Tina. I promise you have nothing to fear from us. We've just been through a rough day and you surprised us, that's all. I can't tell you anything about what you saw, all I can say is that we are good guys and it's very important that our organization remain a secret. Can you do that for us?" He lifted her chin with two fingers, and looked in her eyes.
She looked back at him and nodded. "I think... I think I can do that. You're really not going to kill me?" She started to let hope rise in her that she would make it through this ordeal alive.
"No, of course not. What kind of good guys would we be then?" He looked at Liam and Trevor and added. "Two of my associates are even going to help you get safely off the mountain. For our safety, I can't tell you their names."
"But you told me your name." Tina replied, a little confused and still very frightened.
"Only because one of my friends already called me by name in front of you. It's all right. I promise you'll be safe." More trucks arrived while they were speaking, and Thomas knew he had to go. He knew that if he didn't get his wound treated soon, he'd be in trouble. He looked back at Tina and said, "I have to go, but I promise my friends will get you to safety. Everything will be all right, Tina."
Liam helped her up and they began walking with Trevor towards a pair of dirt bikes one of the pickup trucks provided them. Jan came jogging up alongside them. Tina looked frightened, but he held his hand out and said, "I'm really sorry I scared you, Tina. I promise you'll be safe with them." He pointed to Liam and Trevor and then quickly turned and ran to one of the trucks.
Chapter thirty-five
Once he was on the road, Thomas began to dose in and out of consciousness. John looked down at him, beaming with pride for his future son-in-law and wishing his best friend could be here to see the man his son had grown into. He was so thankful Thomas had been able to save Abby, although she was not out of the woods yet, he knew she would survive. He was beginning to feel weak from his gunshot wound, now that the adrenaline of battle had passed and he looked over at another close friend hoping they could save his leg. Jan looked exhausted and more than a little bit upset with himself. John looked over to him and said, "It's all right, Jan, you've never been in that type of situation before." He knew the young man was mad at himself for even bringing up the possibility of hurting an innocent girl to protect their secret.
"It's not all right, it's inexcusable. Thomas was right. We're the good guys; we have to be better than that." He put his head in his hands.
"Well then, thank Thomas when he wakes up and count yourself lucky that he stopped you from doing something you would regret forever." He placed his hand on Jan's back. Here was another son of a close friend and he doubted that he would have been able to carry out what he had suggested.
"I wouldn't have done it, you know."
"I know, Jan, I've known you your whole life."
"I'll still always regret that I even suggested it." He slumped back into his seat.
"It was a moment of weakness, it happens to the best of us." He thought about his own moment of weakness, recalling confronting Lucas after Lucas had killed Asaph.
"Are you here to kill me, John?" Lucas asked, a mixture of sadness and defiance in his voice.
"No, Lucas, I couldn't do that to Tommy. He cares about you too much. I might get myself into trouble for this, but I'm letting you go."
"What do you mean, he cares about me? I threatened him! I fought his friends, and I stood up for my insane father. How can he still care?"
"He never thought you were evil. He just thought you were stuck in a rough place. I agree with him. Still, you have shed the blood of light warriors, so you won't be able to come with us, but for Tommy's sake, I'm letting you go."
Lucas lowered his head, almost ashamed, "Thank you, John, and thank Thomas for me, too."
"I will, Lucas. Just one more thing, some advice, really. Antonio and Darcy have it in their minds to rule the Satarra clan without you. If you go back with them, I don't expect your lifespan to be very long. You seem like a smart kid and you probably have a backup plan in place. I suggest you use it. Sooner or later, Tommy will want to find you, and it's my hope that you'll still be alive when he does."
Lucas nodded his understanding. He had been thinking the same thing. He thanked John and melted into the shadows before John rejoined the group.
"What are you thinking about, dad?" Connor asked, putting his arm around his father.
Connor's question broke him out of his thoughts about Thomas' misguided friend. "Nothing much, Con, just hoping to get this bullet out of my shoulder soon." He frowned and Connor nodded while the truck continued towards the hospital. "We have to get a huge team up there to clean up that mess before the authorities get there. With some luck, Liam will help the girl forget for a little while to give us the time we need."
"He will, Dad, and don't worry; Grandpa, Mark, Dyson and William already have a team on it. For now, let's just rest. When we get to the hospital, we'll be facing the wrath of Grams for what happened to Abby." Connor leaned back and let out a sigh.
"And Thomas will be her new golden boy for saving her," John said with a thankful look on his face.
"I'm okay with that, dad, as long as I still have my little sister." He placed his hand on his father's uninjured shoulder, and looked at Thomas, Abby, and Pete all unconscious, and none of them in good shape.
*****
Trevor, Liam and Tina reached the bottom of the mountains. Trevor noticed that Tina was still trembling. She had just seen the worst the Ethereal world had to offer, and then expected to be killed for it. Who could blame her for being shaken? "So, Tina, what was your report about?"
"What?" Tina wasn't sure what to say, these guys seemed normal enough, but she couldn't get everything she had seen out of her head.
"The report you went up to the cave to work on, what is it about?"
"It's a report about uprooting indigenous peoples from their ancestral lands, for my anthropology class."
"I hope you get an A on it. I just finished my first semester of college out in Texas. I love it."
This guy is a college guy? She wondered. Maybe he is normal. "I'm a sophomore over at UVA. I love it there. I want to be a forensic anthropologist like Bones."
"Who?"
"Bones, you know the television show."
"I've never seen it."
"You've never seen it? Well you're missing out then. It's about this super smart forensic anthropologist that works with the FBI to solve crimes. It's my favorite show."
"I'll have to watch it then," he replied.
Is this guy flirting with me? He is kind of cute, but he's one of them, whoever they are and they all frighten me, except the one called Thomas, and... maybe this guy. "Are you sure you can't tell me your name?" She asked with a shy smile.
"Yeah, that would be a bad idea. Well, we're off the mountain, where to?"
"My car is about a half mile up the road."
"All right, hold on." He hit the throttle and the bike sped up.
This isn't bad, I'll wind up getting home way earlier than I even would have before all of this... whatever this was. "I'm right here on the left, the powder blue Edge. Thanks for the lift, Texas guy."
"No problem, Virginia girl." He winked and Liam came over and smacked him on the back of the head.
"Now, Tina," he said after she put her backpack on her front seat and settled into the driver's seat. "You've had a very rough day, and even though it all turned out all right, you're really tired." His eyes began to glow slightly and then, Tina let out the biggest yawn she could ever remember having.
"I'm sorry, guys. I don't know where that came from. I must be really tired."
"Well, you have had a rough day," Trevor joined in. "Why don't you take a nap before you hit the road."
"That's a good idea, Tex, I think I need to sleep twenty minutes or so, before I drive back towards DC; my mom will worry if I'm not back soon, but I think I can spare the time." She gave them a shy frown and then put her car seat back and closed her eyes. Trevor made sure her car was locked before he and Liam got back on their bikes.
"Nice flirting, Trevor." Liam began, a little annoyed.
"What, she was cute and I'm a guy, what's the problem?"
"The problem is that she's a normal human that knows all about us. With any luck, she'll wake up tomorrow and think this was all a dream. Either way, you can never contact her again, for her safety and for ours. Do you understand?"
"Yeah, I understand. And thanks so much for having this conversation with me right now. In case you haven't noticed, it's been kind of a rough day. A little fantasy might not have been a bad thing for me, but you had to be the dream killer." He pulled his helmet on and got on his bike.
"I'm sorry, man, sometimes I'm the wet blanket in the Fitzpatrick family. I didn't mean to kill your good time. It's just really important that she not know who we are."
"I know, and I'm sorry I'm so memorable." He laughed and fired up his bike. Liam just shook his head and followed.
*****
Asa was beside himself, his plan had been flawless. He had waited until the last group of light warriors were going to be transported back to civilization. Devlin was defeated. Thomas was injured and the warriors with them had been fighting for hours. His best men should have been enough. Where did it all go wrong? I lost my father, Malachi, Bartholomew, Sam, Jake and Stephen. Thomas lived, Abby lived and even Lucas was allowed to leave alive and well, but not for long! He will pay for killing my father. Asa mused over everything that had happened that day, and realized it would take some time to rebuild his forces before he could make the move he intended to make today. His inclusion on the Shadow Assembly would have to wait. His destruction of the Fitzpatrick family would have to wait, and if Rupert was still inclined to work with him, his domination of the Council of Light would have to wait.
He couldn't believe Devlin had revealed to Thomas that he didn't kill his family. It was true, although he was actively seeking their death at the time. He also couldn't believe Devlin had figured out it was him. What was I supposed to do, Thomas' parents were too stubborn and I had a better plan for Thomas' safety. Still, it was unfortunate that Thomas knew. Now, he would always be looking over his shoulder. He had no doubt that Thomas already dreamt of payback. That was just one more thing he would have to hide from until he was strong enough to deal with it.
While he thought about the best place to both hide and rebuild, his thoughts drifted to Thomas. His powers were off the charts. His Mage abilities are far too strong to be secondary. All of a sudden, the thought hit him; he has two primary abilities. He must have inherited each of his parent's primary abilities and maybe their secondary abilities as well. His mother's secondary Paladin ability added to his father's primary Paladin power could be the reason his Paladin abilities are so strong. Then there was also that thing he did where his hands glowed bright and he healed his fiancée. He thought some more about that, and realized, I have never even heard of any Ethereal being able to do that. I had just assumed that the Ethereal race was losing power because of the number of Ethereals that have none, but it may be that the most powerful Ethereal of all is among us now. He was going to have to capture Thomas, or at least his DNA to see if there was anything replicable there. He was also going to have to figure out how to get Devlin's plague and modify it to make normal humans subservient instead of driving them mad. He figured the Shadow Assembly was already destroying most of the infectious gas they had created, but he knew Antonio would keep some for himself, just in case.
Not many had shared Devlin's vision of killing off most of the world's population so they could rule the survivors, but that was just too big a weapon to let it slip away. That was a weapon that would no doubt be unleashed should there ever be another purge. Asa liked his idea better, instead of destroying each other, they would all serve him, and then, any Ethereals that did not fall in line behind him would be purged by his billions of human servants. Asa took some small comfort at the thought of that, and he left to go contact Rupert. He had to let him know how the events had unfolded. Their plans would take a bit longer, but Asa was optimistic.
Chapter thirty-six
Tina woke up to the sound of tapping on her window. It took her a moment to realize she was still in her car, but it was dark out. She squinted against the glare of the flashlight shining through the window. The badge pressed up against the glass let her know it was a State Trooper. She rolled her window down after the tapping came again. "Hello officer," she started, unsure of where she should go from there. She was still groggy and really tired.
"You can't sleep here, miss, do you mind stepping out of the car?"
"A... all right," she stuttered. "May I ask what this is about?"
"I need to check your identification, ma'am, I have a priority alert to look for this car."
"Okay, but this is my car. I just fell asleep after hiking all day and working on my paper. I... I didn't know you weren't allowed to sleep here, but I was too tired to drive home. I'm sorry." She handed h
im her license and wondered if she should tell him about what she had seen. What did I see? she thought. It seems a little fuzzy. I better not mention it or he'll think I've been drinking, or worse.
"Tina Barlow, there are a lot of people looking for you, young lady."
"Me, why? My mom knew I was coming here, and I'm only a few hours late. I just fell asleep. My dad always told me that if you're tired, you should pull over and catch a nap before you continue driving. That's all I did." The officer speaking was a tall man with a little extra padding around the middle. He had thick cheeks and a kind face. She couldn't see the other officer very well because he was backlit by the police cruiser's headlights.
"Ma'am, it's four o'clock in the morning. Your mother said you left just before dawn yesterday morning. Do you remember what time you stopped to take your nap?"
"I think it was around three in the afternoon. I don't know exactly. That would mean I slept for thirteen hours, I wasn't that tired."
"Did anyone give you anything, did you take anything?"
"No, sir, I don't do drugs." She started to tear up because she didn't think he believed her. She knew she was going to be in trouble and she couldn't figure out why she had slept so long.
"It's all right, Tina, no one thinks you did drugs, we're just going to bring you to the closest hospital to run a few tests. Your sister is already on her way to meet us there."
"But I didn't do anything, I promise, I was just tired." She was really confused, and she hated that she felt so whinny, and that they thought the worst of her.
"We believe you, but unless you have a good explanation for why we found you in a dead slumber, thirteen hours after you said you began your nap, we think something might have happened to you. Besides, we're under orders from your sister, and we usually try to do what the FBI tells us. It'll be fine. We'll even get you some dinner while the doctor's run some tests."