The Starborn Saga (Books 1, 2, & 3)

by Jason D. Morrow

  “Thanks,” Mora said. She seemed happy to hear that Evelyn was on her side.

  Evelyn reached out to touch the girl’s arm, pretending to be warm, but she only wanted to see what she was all about. The second her hand touched Mora’s arm, a burst of thoughts shot into her mind.

  So much death. So much loss. Evelyn saw the greyskins chasing her up the building. Mora pulled the cranes down with her mind. She was able to move things >

  “Are you okay?” Mora asked.

  Quickly, Evelyn let go of Mora’s arm, realizing that she was close to giving herself away. She folded her hands together on the table. She then looked at Mora in the eyes for a very long moment. Evelyn remembered thinking before that this girl was the kind of person to lead people against Jeremiah. She had a compassion for human life, a drive for what was right. And now this girl was a new Starborn. She possessed all the qualities Evelyn had been waiting for.

  It was the same girl, wasn’t it? Evelyn had only touched her for maybe a couple of seconds, but the thoughts had whizzed by so quickly. Evelyn was almost sure it was. She needed to touch her again to be sure. No. She didn’t. She was sure. This was the same girl. And her gift was truly powerful. Still, she wanted to touch her for little longer, just to see exactly how her parents died. To remember all that she had seen before and what had happened since that time. But there was little doubt. This was the one.

  Evelyn shook her head, trying to erase the thoughts going through her head. “It’s nothing, sweetheart. Old joints acting up.” It was a pitiful lie, but she knew Mora wouldn’t question it. The two of them stood. “You might want to head back to Connor’s place. I wouldn’t want you to be seen by Screven guards and get caught. It will do none of us any good.”

  Evelyn led her to the front door. Mora politely thanked her for the food and salve for the wound. Evelyn smiled and waved, but she barely heard anything Mora said. All she could think about was how powerful of an ally she would be. Better than that, how powerful of a leader she could be when Evelyn was gone. Evelyn planned to kill Jeremiah before she died, but if her plans failed, Mora would be a powerful replacement to carry on with the Resistance. There would be more for the next leader to accomplish. There were still wild greyskins in the world. There were still people that needed help. The Starborns were meant to help these people. Mora had the compassion within her to do that. To carry on.

  She watched as Mora crossed the street. She became worried, however, when a Screven SUV stopped next to Mora and guards got out to question her. The scuffle brought in everyone. Krindle, Heinrich, Connor.

  Evelyn couldn’t hear anything as she watched them through the window. There was nothing she could do, but in the end it seemed like Heinrich and Connor had been able to persuade Krindle to let her go. No doubt, they were ordered to get her out of Salem. Evelyn wasn’t sure what would happen, but she knew where the girl was from. With Jeffrey’s help, she could get back to Springhill if she needed to.

  Mora looked up as the guards pulled her to her feet. She caught Evelyn staring through the window, but eventually, Mora turned away.

  Evelyn walked away from the window and moved to the kitchen. She pulled her special radio out of one of the drawers and pressed down on the button. “Jeffrey are you there?”

  It took a few moments, but eventually, his voice sounded over the radio. “I am, what’s up?”

  “You should come here tonight,” Evelyn said. “We need to talk.”

  The radio was silent for almost an entire minute and then came the response. “No problem. I will be there after dark.” Evelyn put away the radio and sat down at the kitchen table. There was so much to think about.

  That night, Danny and werHeather sat in Evelyn’s shack. She would have asked Heinrich to come in on the meeting too, but he had taken Mora and Connor out to look for Aaron. Evelyn hoped they would bring her back, but it was unlikely. They would either take her to Screven or send her on her way home. Either way, it wouldn’t be too hard to find her again. She would be back at Springhill eventually.

  They all sat in silence until Heather spoke up first.

  “What are we meeting about, exactly?”

  Evelyn shook her head. “I want Jeffrey to be here for this.”

  “Why doesn’t Jeffrey just move to Salem?” Heather asked. “We always have to wait for him.”

  “With a gift like his, why would he need to live here?” Evelyn said.

  “Because he can’t get within a mile of his target,” Danny snickered. Heather smiled at this too.

  Evelyn didn’t think it was funny. The three Starborns she had taken under her wing were getting restless. Evelyn had been looking for that extra person to add to their team, that leader that could carry on, but the others hadn’t been too happy to hear her say that. Of course, each of them thought the team was perfect as it was. Heather had been flat-out offended that Evelyn thought she was too hot-headed to be a good leader. Danny didn’t like the sound of it, but he didn’t complain too much. Aaron had just been quiet. Evelyn imagined he might have been hurt by her words, but she was looking out for them. She knew they would all perform greatly with a solid team, and they didn’t have that right now.

  At the time, they didn’t know that they were meant to start a Resistance that would carry all across the colonies. They had no idea that teams were being built in so many locations. When the revolt began in Salem, it would begin everywhere - even in Screven, though the Screven team was far smaller than the others. It was so difficult to start something so close to the enemy. Jeffrey was pulling his weight though, that was for sure.

  After a few minutes, they heard a knock at Evelyn’s door. Heather went to the front and opened it, allowing Jeffrey to come in.

  “Why don’t you just teleport to one of the chairs next time instead of making me get up?” Heather said.

  Jeffrey had gotten used to her sarcasm. “Well, I wouldn’t want to accidentally choose the wrong seat and sit on you.”

  She rolled her eyes.

  “Sorry I’m late,” Jeffrey said. “Teleported about half a mile south of here.”

  “Told you,” Heather said.

  “It’s alright,” Evelyn said.

  Jeffrey took a seat at the table and they all sat, waiting for Evelyn to tell them what was on her mind. She took in a deep breath, realizing that she hadn’t really thought about how she would say it.

  “I found her,” Evelyn said.

  “Her who?” Danny said.

  “Mora. She’s a Starborn.” She turned her head to Jeffrey. “Do you remember the girl in Springhill? The one you had asked about?”

  Jeffrey thought for a moment then shook his head. “That was such a long time ago. I really don’t remember.”

  “Well, it’s her,” Evelyn said. “She’s the one that will complete our team. She has the spirit of a leader in her. She’s passionate. She cares about the world, but mostly her family. And she only discovered her gift recently.”

  “Great,” Heather said. “A rookie. So, you’ve chosen a newborn Starborn to be our little team leader?”

  Evelyn shook her head. “I just want us to have a strong team. And I think we will have it with her as an addition.”

  “What can she do?” Jeffrey asked.

  “Move things with her mind,” Evelyn answered.

  The room was quiet as the others pondered. Evelyn knew that more help in the coming revolt would be welcome, even for Heather, but she also knew that Mora wouldn’t join the fight without some provocation.

  “She doesn’t know of Jeremiah’s evil,” Evelyn said. “We have to convince her of that. So, there is a lot of work ahead of us.”

  “When will we meet her?” Heather asked.

  “I don’t know. Krindle forced her to go with Heinrich and Connor to help look for Aaron. From there, I’m not sure if she will go to Screven or if she will be taken home. My hope is that she will be brought back here so I can talk with her.”

  “I don’t think it should be a
talk,” Jeffrey said. “If you want her badly enough, you’ll want to show her. And gradually too. If she’s going to Screven to get help, it’s g

  oing to take a lot of convincing to get her to just reject her plans and join our side. Start with showing her a meeting or something.”

  “Meeting?” Evelyn asked.

  “Sure,” he said. “Like between Danny and Heinrich or something. Show her that there are people who are really doing whatever they can to get out from under Jeremiah’s thumb.”

  Evelyn nodded at this.

  “So, you’ll let us know when and if she gets back to Salem, right?” Heather asked.

  “Of course,” Evelyn said. “But all of you know what this means. If she joins with us, then we will begin our fight here at home. The Starborns will lead the revolution.” She looked at Jeffrey. “Perhaps other people in different colonies and villages will join with us once we’ve started.”

  “Better hope somebody joins with us,” Heather said.

  Evelyn had left out the fact that there were other groups just waiting for Salem to make its move. She didn’t want her Starborns to get big heads about the Resistance. She wanted them to stay humble. To know they were small in number so they wouldn’t be over confident. But she knew she couldn’t keep it from them forever.

  The four of them talked at length through the night about how things might play out over the next few days, though Evelyn knew there was no telling what would happen. Not only were there so many different factors at play, but Jeremiah was unpredictable. All of this could work against them too. What if Mora took the opposite view and vowed to fight against Evelyn and her Starborns? Evelyn didn’t like entertaining the thought.

  Danny and Heather eventually left and it was just Jeffrey and Evelyn. He reached out and touched her hand. Of course he knew she could see into his mind whenever he did that, but neither of them cared. Though she was about twenty years older than he, they held a special kind of relationship. It wasn’t love. It wasn’t parental. The best way Evelyn could describe it was that the two of them were dear friends. They always would be.

  Jeffrey had never blamed her for the death of his lost love Sarah. He only used it to fuel his drive to help in the Resistance against Jeremiah. Evelyn was grateful for him. She was sure that she could have never done this without him. Especially the part of setting up pockets of resistance, ready to strike throughout the colonies.

  “We need this girl, Jeffrey. I just know we do.”

  “If you are that certain, then I’m sure she will join us.”

  “Jeremiah has been alive too long,” Evelyn said. “It’s way past time for him to go.”

  “He will be gone sooner than you think, Evem">“lyn. Sooner than you think.”

  CHAPTER FIFTY

  My body was shaking. Someone was trying to wake me. The first thing I noticed was how difficult it was just to open my eyes. There was so much mucus on them that I had to use my shirtsleeve to wipe three or four times just so I could get them open. My nose was just as bad. Eventually, I could see Christopher and Jeffrey kneeling over me on the ground. Thinking back, I remembered passing out. I recalled sitting at the table with Jeffrey and Christopher and everything going black.

  When I tried to sit up, the pain in my neck and joints was almost unbearable. It felt like the worst fever I’d ever had. My brow was sweating. I was cold. When I looked down at my arms, they had begun to turn pale, with almost a hint of grey tone. I would have vomited if I could have. I felt like I was so close to the end. How were there still so many hours left? Maybe there weren’t after all.

  “How long was I out?” I ask them.

  “A long time,” Jeffrey answered. He walked to the front of the room and drew the shade. Sunlight broke through. “It’s early morning.”

  My eyes widened and my chest seized at the thought. “How early?” I asked.

  “Dawn just broke,” Christopher said.

  “So, I only have a couple of hours?”

  Christopher didn’t answer.

  I felt the urge to cry, but all I had in me was goop. This infection wouldn’t even allow me feel sorry for myself.

  “How could you let me sleep so long?” My words were angry and harsh.

  “We tried to wake you throughout the night,” Christopher said. “I knew it was coming close to time, so I healed your symptoms a little to try and wake you. Now it’s dawn.”

  “Did I miss anything?”

  “We don’t know,” Jeffrey said. “Apart from some screams in the distance and groaning of some nearby greyskins, it’s been quiet on this side of the city.”

  “I’ve got to talk to Connor,” I said.

  Not caring that they were watching me, I shut my syrupy eyes and focused on Connor. His head instantly shot up when he felt my presence. He was walking down a long hallway and looked over his shoulder to see if anyone was near him. He ducked into a closet when he felt the coast was clear.

  “Where have you been? I thought something must have happened to you!”

  “Something did happen to me,” I said.

  “Are you alright?”

  “I need updates.”

  “I’ve been working all night,” Connor said. “I’ve been able to avoid Anthony and Jeremiah. I don’t think they’ve thought about me since they captured the others. I haven’t even seen Trace the entire night, though. I don’t know what’s up with him.”

  “Updates,” I repeated.

  Connor shook his head. “I’ve been able to find out where everyone is located. I just have to get access to the cell control room. I can only get Danny, Heather, and Allison out though. I know where Aaron is, but he isn’t where I can help him.”

  “What about Evelyn?”

  “Jeremiah has her in a secure location. I can’t get to her eitdthher. I’ve heard that he plans to make some sort of announcement in the next few minutes. I’m not sure what it’s about though.”

  “I have an idea,” I said. It felt hard to talk. It felt hard to breathe. “Just work on getting the others out. Tell them to meet us down in the basement level of the Center.”

  “You’re here?”

  “About to be. I hope.”

  “Be careful.”

  “I will.” I opened my eyes slowly and I looked up at Christopher. “Did you get any of your strength back?”

  He nodded. “Some, yes.”

  I shook my head apologetically. “I’m going to ask you to heal my symptoms just one last time if you can find it within you.”

  “That’s why I’m here,” he said.

  “Just how to do you plan on getting into the Center?” Jeffrey asked. “Walk through the front door?”

  “You’re going to take us there,” I said, as he helped me up to my feet.

  Jeffrey snorted. “You don’t want me to even try to get you in there. It won’t happen.”

  I could feel my face flush with anger. We didn’t have time for his excuses.

  “You are so afraid of messing up and using more strength than you have, you haven’t been able to teleport within half-a-mile of a place! You have to stop making excuses and get us in there, or Evelyn and all the others are going to die! And even worse, Jeremiah will live.”

  Jeffrey stood with his mouth open. Christopher stared at me with wide eyes. But I was running out of time. I didn’t feel like dancing around anyone’s feelings.

  “We’re going to drive the truck full of explosives right down the road, straight toward the Center,” I said. “Before we hit the wall, you are going to teleport us and the truck into the basement level.”

  “You’re crazy,” Jeffrey said.

  “And you’re going do it. Maybe you’ll die. Maybe you won’t.”

  “Easy for you to say,” Jeffrey said. “You’ve only got a couple of hours left, if even that.”

  “You’ve joined up with the wrong crowd if you’re afraid of dying,” I told him. I let him stand in silence for a moment. “Now you can drive the truck and help us, or watch
us go in by ourselves, knowing full-well that you did nothing to help.” It was harsh. I hated saying the words. Jeffrey had been nothing but good to me and the others. But he needed a swift kick in the pants. None of us was safe. All of us risked death for this operation. He should be no different.

  He stared at me for a long time, before finally nodding. “Okay. Let’s go.”

  Christopher somehow found the strength to help me to the entrance of the building. Jeffrey peeked out the door. There were several greyskins lurking around the truck full of explosives.

  As soon as we walked out, they turned their heads toward us and instantly started to run. These greyskins were fresh. I held up a hand and pinned one of them to the truck. Jeffrey pulled out a pistol and shot the other two in the head. He then pointed the gun at the struggling greyskin that I held on to, but looked at me.

  “Mora,” he said. “Do you think you could move the greyskin away from the truck full of explosives?”

  “Right!” I said, grabbing the greyskin through the air and shoving it to the ground. Jeffrey pointed his gun at it and fired a bullet into its brain. Christopher helped me into the front of the extended cab truck and he sat in the back as Jeffrey climbed into the driver’s seat. Jeffrey started driving through the misty morning. An ominous fog shaded the streets and alleys. I didn’t like not being able to see fas risked r ahead of me.

  I felt Christopher’s hand grab my shoulder and instantly, he started taking away my pain. He held on for as long as he could before falling to his side in the back seat. I couldn’t help but revel in the newness of having the sickness lifted from me. It felt too good not to smile, but I also couldn’t believe that Christopher had been able to take so much from me. Yet I knew it wasn’t perfect. I knew the sickness would come back, and it would come back fast. Over the next couple of hours, the virus would take over me and I would be dead.