by Lynn Vroman
“A nest?” I stayed on the floor, too comfortable to get up. But a thought niggled at my brain. “You think Exemplar is actually starting a war with Empyrean? Like an all-out…war?”
“Highly unlikely. It’d be a ballsy move. They probably brought a few Guides to make sure Empyrean didn’t become any stronger than what it alrea–Oh, right. That’s it!”
I pulled myself to my feet, his excitement making me nervous. “What?”
“Like you said, we pick a fight. If we can get those list people to fight with us, we’ll use bait in other worlds to get the Synod to notice. They’ll send an army if we cause a huge stir. We find the nest and kill the Guides. And then with the Warden’s help, any Protectors we kill, their energy will stay in that dimension, make it stronger.” His smile brightened. “This could be our way to close the lines. For good.”
“You think that will work?”
He tugged at his hair, his eyes wild and shining. “If we make other dimensions stronger than Exemplar, they won’t be able to do anything but leave everyone alone, starting with Empyrean.”
Crazy plan–reaching, really–but it sounded better than the nothing we had at the moment. “Well, let’s get the list.”
He folded me into his arms, his face bright. “There might be an end to this.”
“Tarek…when it’s all over, I’m staying here.”
His arms tightened. “You can’t. Arcus is too–”
“If we can make other dimensions stronger, we can do the same to Arcus.”
He kissed the top of my head. “I like the way you think.”
The squid disagreed. Their squealing symphony so high it made my eardrums sting.
Tarek shoved past me on his way to the door. “Stay here.”
Nope! I ran up right behind him.
“Damn it, Lena.” But obviously, whatever riled up the squid was more important than me listening because he kept moving.
The screeching pierced my ears as we raced for the castle, following the squid as they swung with speed I had never witnessed from tree to tree. But when the forest’s edge came into view, I ignored the ear pain and moved faster.
“Belva!”
Where the blue ice met the rich soil, my best friend stood, reaching out to one of those gigantic pink abominations. A thick trunk slithered from a tree, meeting her hand with a gentle stroke while squid perched in the closest trees looked as though they bowed their heads–the queen and her court. Tarek and I stopped, with me slamming into his back, when the animal touching Belva’s hand let another tentacle escape the tree to nuzzle her cheek.
“What the hell?” I had a hard time closing my gaping jaw. The scene looked innocent, sweet. I almost forgot how deadly the things were.
“I have no idea.” Tarek groped for my hand, holding so tight my knuckles clenched together, and moved forward, slow and cautious.
The squid didn’t acknowledge us, their focus solely on Belva petting their pink, squishy friend. When we got close enough, I let go of Tarek, ducking underneath the amorous squid’s limb, and touched Belva’s shoulder. “Hey, pal. Ah, what’re you doing?”
Her smile had the animal audience making purring noises as her admirer’s tentacle played with her lips. “Making new friends, apparently.”
I shot Tarek a raised eyebrow, and he gave me a weak shrug. Clearing my throat, I said, “Why don’t we go inside, okay? Let these guys, ah, get back to whatever it is they…do.”
When Belva sighed and her smile disappeared, the animals whined like toddlers. Taking a step back, she waved a hand in the air, motioning in the direction of the woods. With muted grumbles, the squid all retreated in unison, scaling their tree trunks and climbing deeper into the verdant, thick leaves.
Tarek stomped a path to the castle, shaking his head while I grabbed Belva’s hand, her face flushed and breathtaking.
“How’d you do that?” I pulled her up the icy path, hoping none of those things followed.
“I…I don’t know.”
Laughing, I bumped her shoulder with mine. “You’re the goddamned squid whisperer.”
TROUBLE AT HOME
“No, Lena. Not happening.” Jake stomped back and forth by the fire, the blanket he had wrapped around him thrown on the floor.
“It’s all we got right now, Jake.” I switched attention to Farren, who sat next to Mom and Belva on the couch. After we told him about Belva’s little animal show, he couldn’t stop gazing at her, his reddened face full of awe. I nudged Farren’s shoulder. “You okay with it?”
With what looked like effort, he peeled his eyes away from Belva’s face. “Yeah, I’m game. In and out, I’m good at that.”
Belva’s hand went to his leg and squeezed. She frowned, but kept quiet.
Farren leaned forward, his big palm covering her hand, and pointed his eyes at Jake. “I’ll take care of her, old man. She’ll be fine.”
“I can’t… It’s not safe.” Jake knelt down in front of Mom. “Jacie, we can’t let her. She’s just a girl.”
Tarek came up behind me, putting his hands on my shoulders. “No, she isn’t.”
That he had my back, even when I knew he was scared, swelled my heart. But Jake ignored him, keeping his attention on Mom. “Jacie?”
Her eyes filled as a shaky hand cupped his cheek. “Lena hasn’t been just a girl since she was five years old. I believe in her.” She lifted her eyes to mine. “You come back, Lena. Come back.”
“I will, promise.” I turned into Tarek’s arms. “Thank you.”
He hugged me close, and whispered, “If anything happens, if they hurt you, they’ll pay.”
∞ ∞ ∞
Farren opened a portal in the theater, bringing us right into the kitchen. The lights were all off and the only sounds keeping us company were the humming coolers. Still, I felt the need to whisper. “The kitchen? Really?”
“Did you have somewhere else in mind? A resort, maybe? Disney World?”
“Shut up.” I left his arms to look out the tiny window on the door. “Oh, damn.”
“What?” Farren came up behind me, breathing down my neck. “Oh…damn.”
The lobby sat bare, nothing off. Nope, except for the yellow police tape glaring at us through the glass doors in the main entrance.
Farren cleared his throat. “We got problems.”
“No kidding.” I backed away from the door and went for the coolers. “Want a drink?”
With a shrug, he opened the cooler himself, picking up a Coke. We stood there, drinking soda, studying the blinking light inside the cooler.
“Need to get that fixed,” he said.
“Yeah, I’ll add it to the list.”
Farren grunted, throwing his empty bottle into the recyclable bin. After a loud, obnoxious burp, he went back to the door, peering through the window. “Police involved isn’t a good sign.”
“I would say it’s not.” I threw my own empty in the can and went to stand beside him. “Time to figure out what’s going on.”
He nodded. “We need to get the paper.”
Really? Man, even in a crisis. “You think now’s the time to read the latest headlines.”
“Yeah, especially if we’re a part of them.”
Oh. “Point made.” I glanced at the digital clock on the wall–3:00 a.m. Arcus time definitely didn’t coincide with Earth’s. “There’s a Quicky Mart open twenty-four hours down the street.”
“Looks like that’s where we’re headed. But we need to stay off the sidewalks, in case…”
“In case of what?”
He smiled, challenge lighting his dark eyes. “Use your big brain, Lena. Figure it out.”
I thought for a second, and then…police, crime… “Right, good idea.”
“I’m full of them.”
“You’re full of something all right.”
I grabbed the spare keys to my place from the office before sneaking out the front doors and into the humid night. Farren led the way using side streets and backy
ards until we made it to the bright beacon that was the Quicky Mart. A brilliant red sign claiming they sold cigarettes at the state minimum graced the window.
One thing I hated about these little places? The damn music piped into the speakers. All the elevator music did was encourage me to leave fast, which was probably the goal. The bright, fluorescent lights put me in a good mood, though. “Ginger, I’m thinking clown, maybe Bozo?” I pointed to a security mirror, and Farren’s eyes followed my finger.
The Arcus color wasn’t as kind to his red hair and fair skin as it was to me. I looked good after a dose of Arcus–not conceit, a fact. The first time, when my bed had pulled me into the dimension, I came back looking like an amplified cover girl. First time I had unwanted attention, too. Of course, it faded, which I prefer.
Farren had no problem with his new face and laughed at his reflection, his cheeks flaming red on skin so white the blue veins underneath looked like the thin, squiggly lines on a road map. “Now, I can make this work.” He rubbed his chin.
“Yeah? In what world, Dracula?”
Eyes so dark they were black, he’d definitely pull it off. Well, he could pass for Dracula’s redheaded stepbrother. “I’ll still have the ladies drooling. Bet?”
I went to the newsstand and grabbed yesterday’s Pocono Record. “Imma pass, thanks.” I held up the front page. “Shit. Besides, I think catching attention for you right now isn’t a good idea.”
Farren’s picture, the one I gave Belva of him in the ring looking dangerous and mean, smeared the front cover with the byline: Wanted for Kidnapping and Possible Homicide.
“Oh…oh, yeah, that’s not good.” He snatched the paper from my hands, giving the bored cashier a quick glance before skimming the article. “Looks like Belva’s parents think I’m some sort of raping kidnapper. And…goddamnit, a body was found at your place.”
I grabbed him by the elbow and charged out of the store, the tinkling bell on the door sounding like an angry rattle. “Whose body?”
As we walked, he kept his eyes down. “Don’t know. They didn’t give a name. But…you and your mom are wanted for questioning.” He switched directions. “Jake too.”
“Where’re we going?”
“Well, we can’t go to your house.”
“Obviously.”
“And so I guess we’ll do a B and E into Wilma’s, come up with a plan.”
“Sounds good.”
We cut across backyards, the single alarm to our invasion a few yappy dogs. As we slunk up to the back window of her house, we both scanned the inside, making sure everything looked normal. When Wilma’s living room appeared as dull and quiet as usual, Farren took off his shirt and wrapped it around his fist. “Back up a sec.”
I moved behind him as he jabbed the old window, the sound partially muffled by his T-shirt. With a grunt and a wave, he gestured me forward. It didn’t take much for him to heave me into the shattered window. I landed on my ass and rolled in time to miss his boots on my face. “Damn, easy, Ginger.”
“Gotta be quicker.” He stomped by me and headed to the television. For the short stint Farren lived with Wilma, he managed to get the cable turned on. She hated it, but never got around to shutting it off.
Thank God, she didn’t because as soon as he turned to a local channel, our faces smeared the screen.
∞ ∞ ∞
From an earlier recording, we watched Belva’s mom cry into her husband’s shoulder in front of their multimillion-dollar Tudor. Her dad’s face was pale with deep, saggy bags under his eyes, which added to his scary words about the big, mean-looking redhead who spent too much time sniffing around his innocent daughter. Oh, and he mentioned the low-life trailer scum she began hanging around. All us trash were in on some terrible kidnapping murder spree with Belva being taken hostage. In seconds, the story shifted to an unknown man’s body stripped naked and cuffed to the old radiator underneath my living room window.
Belva’s parents didn’t surprise me at all. They had made sure I understood Belva’s association with me wasn’t acceptable. On more than one occasion, I made sure they knew I didn’t give a shit. But the guy… “Well, who the fuck is that?”
Farren shook his bright red head as he sat on the edge of the couch. His black eyes grew so hard and cold, I’d definitely mistake him for a vampire if I ran into him on the street. “A decoy.”
“Ah…what?”
He lowered his head before turning to face me again. “Deee-Coooy.”
Nuh-uh. Nope. “Don’t.” I punched him in the shoulder.
He brushed it off like a mosquito bite and stood. “Remember how I said the authority found ways to make Protectors pay? Well, I just got paid.” He dragged a hand through his hair and shut off the television. “My face all over the news, that’s what they want. If I ever came back here–which, ha, I did–I’d be on the Most Wanted. Guarantee my DNA is all over that guy. I get busted, sent to jail, and well, I can’t exactly open a hole around people, right? I’m stuck in prison. Spend my life there if I’m lucky. Or maybe one night, I have a visitor who finds it necessary to gut me and have my energy destroyed.”
I laughed. Couldn’t help it. Talk about conspiracy theory. His serious face caused my laughter to dry up, though.
“Not funny, Lena. Not funny at all.”
I tilted my head, keeping my butt planted on the couch. “Oh, come on! You really believe that? Besides, who the hell would think of doing something that…that psychotic?”
“Me. It was my MO. My specialty, you might say. Varies with each dimension, but the concept stays the same.”
My insides grew cold.
He made eye contact for a second before staring at his booted feet. “Not so funny, huh? When I told you about all those faces that haunt me? There was a time I had no trouble sleeping. Targets, that’s all they were. And the innocent casualties? Part of the job.”
Farren. Funny, sensitive, awesome-friend Farren, a cold-blooded killer. I swallowed. “So, who do you think that guy was?”
A deep sigh wracked his body. “Some poor dumb bastard in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
I swallowed again, or at least tried to. My throat felt like I had an active beehive lodged in it. No, I wouldn’t admit a strong pull of fear tightened the knot in my stomach. So, Farren was a sociopath… No, no he wasn’t–not anymore. God, I hoped not anymore. “Well, um, I guess we need to be careful.”
He looked up, and the hurt tightening his cheeks made my heart lurch. Definitely not anymore.
“You’re afraid of me,” he said.
I went to him and wrapped my arms around his waist. No, he was my brother. Because we didn’t share the same blood meant nothing. “I’m not afraid of you. Afraid for you is more like it.”
His body shuttered as his arms slipped across my shoulders, holding me tight. “Glad I have you, kid.”
“Not a kid, but right back at you.”
Farren rubbed my upper arms with a loud half-yell, half-groan. “Ah, okay, enough with the sappy. I’m not good at it.” He headed to the bathroom. “Where’s the list, anyway? And don’t say–”
“In my bedroom, under my mattress.”
“Yeah, don’t say that.” He turned the knob and shut the door behind him.
I stalked up to the door and banged on it.
“What?”
“Why can’t you open a hole in my room?”
His groan was louder than the pee hitting the toilet bowl.
“What? I mean that’s the easiest way, right?”
After the toilet flushed and the water stopped tinkling from the sink, he opened the door a crack and peeked through. “How many times do I have to tell you? We can’t open a portal to jump into a portal in the same dimension. It’s physics.”
If he didn’t stop talking to me as if I were slow, I’d have to rearrange his handsome face. “Okay, you’ve never explained it and why didn’t you take us to my room in the first place?”
He stalked to his old room
where he still kept a lot of his stuff. “Because I didn’t want to chance a Protector waiting for us there.”
“Did you ever think they might be waiting at the theater or here?”
“They’d be dumb to wait here. No one wants to go against Wilma in a one-on-one, and… I guess I didn’t think it through all that great.”
I crossed my arms, the sweat and grime from the stay in Arcus mixing with the summer heat of the mountain. The feeling crawled under my skin. A shower was a must, even if I had to change back into these clothes. At least I could wear one of Wilma’s shirts.
When I didn’t say anything, he shrugged. “Hey, I’m not used to being on the other side. Give me some credit.”
“We don’t have room for mistakes, agreed? Think things through from now on, Ging–damn! What’re you doing?”
He unbuttoned his jeans and pushed them down his hips. “If you don’t get out, you’re getting a show.”
I covered my eyes and pulled the door shut. “You’re a pig.”
His laugh echoed through the door. “And you’re annoying.”
Touché.
∞ ∞ ∞
As far as plans went, ours sucked. All we needed were five minutes to get in and out. Unfortunately, Farren spotted the two unmarked police cruisers sitting near my driveway. I highly doubted they’d be nice enough to let us attempt to save the universe by giving a blind eye.
Okay, maybe that sounded dramatic. A little. Their lives wouldn’t be too affected. This life, anyway. They’d thank us if they knew there was a solid chance they could spend the next few lives as a squid in Arcus or worse in another place.
Whatever. That didn’t matter now. The list did.
The plan involved diversion. A small fire–actually, a big one was the first option. Farren wanted to torch the theater, said Jake would understand. I disagreed. The place had more memories in it than the Smithsonian. At least it did for Jake. If all went right, Wilma could persuade local law enforcement and Belva’s parents to forget the dead body and kidnapping thing. Didn’t give justice to the poor guy chained to the radiator, but we’d take care of revenge for him. I wished we had his name. The first casualty in the attack on Earth and no one even knew it.