Tech cleared his throat and said, “As for the bomb, we’re going to make it appear as if it knocked you out. You’ll wake up in a hospital with the medical records to prove it. All you have to do is say you were there with Andrew, heard a bang, and then everything went blank. We’ll take care of the rest.”
Christine took a deep breath, shaking out her hands. “I think I can handle that. But what about everyone else down there? That tentacle monster is still on the loose.”
Godlin gave a grunt. “We don’t know where it is.”
“If it comes back, we’ll deal with—” Tech started, but Mouse leapt up from his chair, flailing, as if stung by a bee.
“It’s Rap! She’s here. … But I didn’t transport her; someone else did.”
“What do you mean you didn’t transport her? How else could she have gotten in?” Godlin asked in an impatient tone.
Mouse’s lip quivered as he slammed his hands down on the table. “A breach! Someone breached my security system!”
Chapter Nine
Mouse reached up and adjusted the glasses on his face, compulsively pushing them up the bridge of his nose every few minutes. Andrew watched him closely and noticed his eyes flickered back and forth as if staring out a car window.
Dynamos stood up and pulled down on his electric green shirt, straightening it. “I’ll get her.” He left the room with brisk steps.
“Is she okay?” Andrew asked Mouse.
Fixing his eyes on a point in the middle of the table, Mouse answered, “I don’t know. The computer told me she came here, and I know I didn’t do it.” He pointed to the side of his head.
“It won’t take Dynamos long,” Godlin said in a reassuring tone.
Andrew tried to focus on something else until Dynamos returned. He decided to take the time to quiz himself on his fellow Keepers.
To Godlin’s right sat Walker, who seemed timid. Andrew had not heard her say much, but he remembered Godlin and Raptor talking about her—how she could replace herself for the Stone of Power. Next to her was Dynamos’ chair, but he had left to find Raptor.
One chair over from that was a woman wearing a bright red scarf. She folded her hands together, leaned back, and watched everything with a critical eye, as if she was silently judging everyone around her.
Beside her, Tran and Tech whispered to each other. He suspected they were best friends.
Mouse sat to Tech’s right. He tried to take his seat again, but his nerves would not allow him to. Every time he tried to sit, the chair slid out from under him. With a last attempt, Mouse jumped backwards and landed firmly in the chair. He grinned as he grabbed the edge of the table and pulled himself forward. Andrew smiled to himself, sharing in Mouse’s small victory over the chair.
The Keepers looked like a close-knit group. Andrew wondered if he would be welcomed into it. He glimpsed Godlin, who watched the doorway with a frown. He expelled the notion of being an outcast from his head. Godlin and Raptor had already accepted him, even if they had been a little skeptical at first.
Dynamos returned to the conference room, carrying an unconscious Raptor in his arms. He made his way over to the table.
Walker stood up and moved out of his way. The color in Tech’s face drained. His hands gripped the armrests on his chair, wrinkling the leather.
Godlin motioned for Christine and Andrew to move. The two teenagers jumped up from their chairs and stepped out of the way as Dynamos laid Raptor down on the table.
“How is she?” Godlin asked.
“Alive,” he said softly. “This was with her.” He handed Godlin a sealed letter, spotted with blood. Everyone returned to their seats around the table, pained expressions on their faces.
Raptor took a weak breath but did not stir.
With a growl, Godlin ripped the letter open. The Stone of Fire fell out, but he caught it before it hit the ground. Godlin closed his hand around the ruby and read the letter aloud.
Dear Keepers,
I appreciate you bringing me the Stone of Power. I could not have gotten it myself. In return for your generosity, I am returning the Stone of Fire and your precious Stone of Past. Once Raptor becomes conscious, she will make everything clear.
Godlin went silent and held up the letter for everyone to see. At the bottom of it was a signature, a cursive V with a line cutting through the bottom of it, like a long tail.
A few of the Keepers gasped, but the rest sat in stunned silence. Dynamos leaned across the table and motioned for the letter from Godlin. With a jerk of his hand, Godlin flung the letter at him, his jaw gritted in anger.
Dynamos studied the letter, feeling the paper between his fingers.
“That’s Venom’s signature,” the woman with the red scarf said.
“No, that’s impossible,” Tech said, rising to his feet, his hands resting on the table’s edge. “Venom was put into a coma.”
“But her last transmission …” Mouse interjected.
“Don’t you monitor that, Mouse? He’s still in the hospital, right?” Tech stared down at him.
“He is, but—” Mouse started to say.
“See! Then it couldn’t be him.” Tapping the table with a finger, Tech emphasized each word.
Godlin snarled. “It doesn’t matter. The fact is someone hurt her, and they have the Stone of Power.” He turned away from the others and pressed his fist into his forehead.
Tech threw a hand up and fell back into the chair. Closing his eyes, he wiped his hand across his face.
Andrew held his breath as he glanced around. Everyone focused on either the table or the ceiling, not making eye contact with the others around them.
Walker spoke up in a soft voice, breaking the empty silence. “I can substitute myself for the Stone still.”
“No, we’re not that desperate—not yet.” Godlin’s voice softened as he turned to her.
Walker stared down at the table, running her finger along the edge of it.
“Godlin, do something,” Andrew begged. It scared him to think Venom had returned.
Godlin’s shoulders sagged as he let out a sigh. He placed a hand on the side of Raptor’s neck and another over her chest. There was a moment of stillness. Then Godlin pressed down on her chest. Andrew was not certain what he had done, but with a harsh cough, Raptor woke up.
Raptor rolled off the table, trying to get up. Catching her by the arm, Godlin guided her to sit in one of the chairs.
“Venom,” she muttered loud enough for Andrew to hear.
Staring at her in amazement, Godlin asked, “Are you sure?”
Raptor glared daggers at Godlin, clenching her jaw.
“Venom did this?” Disbelief ran rampant in his voice as he gripped the table for support.
Andrew dropped heavily into the chair near him. He felt hollow in his chest, but then a tiny spark of anger filled it. Venom had caused the Keepers a lot of grief over the years. He had seen Raptor’s pain in Tenebris over Bringer’s death, even if she had tried to hide it. For the first time in his life, he genuinely hated someone.
Tech recovered first from the shock. “Okay, it’s really Venom. Now what?”
“Find him and smash his face in,” Raptor growled through gritted teeth.
Godlin placed a hand on her shoulder. “That may be a bit extreme.”
Raptor snorted at him and rested her hand on her chest, just below the neck. She let out a breath of relief, but then she scrambled to sit upright. “The Stone of Fire!” She started checking her pockets.
“I have it, Raptor,” Godlin said softly. He opened his hand, showing her the ruby.
“And the Stone of Power?” Raptor asked.
Godlin gave a slight shake of his head.
“Are you okay?” Andrew leaned over to her.
“I’ll be all right. Don’t worry.” She closed her eyes, reclining back into the chair. “I spoke to Earth. Andrew is a Keeper, but I don’t know what role he needs to play.”
Walker spoke in a soft voice as she
glanced up. “I would guess he’s here to replace Venom. Earth created him as the Keeper of plants. It would be reasonable to assume it could create a replacement.”
“Possibly,” Raptor said. She opened her eyes, her attention turning to Mouse. “Can you find that bastard?”
Mouse tapped on the edge of the table. “No. I mean, I’ll check the computer, but you just poofed here.” He rocked his chair back and forth. “I don’t know how he managed it—finding a hole in the system.”
“He must have hacked our systems,” Tech said. “Venom’s the only one who would know how.”
Mouse’s head bobbled about. “I don’t know … maybe. Yes. No.” Confusion came and went, then concentration, and finally an idea lit up his face. “He’s got to have a teleportation system of his own—that would let him do it.”
“Well, someone planted that virus in the system, and it can’t be coincidence that it’s the same day our security is compromised.” Tech gave Mouse a doubtful look.
“He’s not that good! It has to be someone else.”
“Slow down, what virus?” Raptor interrupted their back and forth.
“I’m working on it! There’s a virus, and it’s knocking out communications.” Mouse stopped as Raptor’s eyebrows rose up.
“Slower than that,” she said.
“Er.” Clearing his throat, he continued, “Someone embedded a virus into an encrypted message, and it’s attacking our deep space communication system. I sent Gadget and Selena out to try to stop it.”
Raptor pressed a hand to her face. “Oh, you’re kidding me. When did this happen?”
“About an hour ago. Also, you should know when I went to destroy it, it leaked into …” Mouse’s pitch started to rise higher, but he stopped himself, took a breath, and said in a calmer tone, “I cleaned out the original virus, but our devices are going haywire. It infects one communication device, takes over, and then jumps to two more. It takes time for it to take over a device. Right now I can get ahead of it, but the farther away it gets, the harder it becomes to stop it.”
“Is it affecting our implants?” Raptor tapped her ear.
“No, no. Just the long range—outside the solar system stuff.”
“What about Selena and Gadget?”
“It seems to be heading a certain direction, infecting some devices and not others. I thought if I sent them out ahead of the virus, they could start fixing systems in front of the line, maybe help me corner it. I’m sorry, I should have caught it sooner.” He pointed at the doorway with both hands. “I need to get back to the computer. It’s a mess—the whole thing!”
Her shoulders sagging, Raptor said, “You did the right thing. If anyone has a chance of stopping it, it’s them. Go.”
Mouse jumped up from his chair, causing it to slide across the room. He raced to catch the chair and pushed it back under the table. He bowed his head to the group, and then ran out of the room.
“Now what?” Tech asked.
“Now we deal with the shifts, Venom’s monster, and the Stone of Power.” She forced herself to sit up in her chair, seeming to have regained some of her strength.
“That thing is his?” Tech asked. “Godlin told us about it.”
“And it’s targeting and killing human Questers.”
Several gasps filled the room. Andrew knew the creature had killed people at the fair, but his stomach tied into knots at the prospect of it targeting Questers. He noticed pinched lines of worry etched onto Christine’s face. He reached over to her, taking her hand.
She gave it a squeeze, but said to Raptor, “What about our friends and family? They could be hurt. I need to get back and help them.”
“I’m sorry, but Earth has made it clear that you need to be here. I don’t know why, but I think you might be in danger.”
“From?” Christine’s eyebrows shot up as the color drained from her face.
Raptor shrugged her shoulders. “Maybe the monster, maybe something else. I just know if we send you back and something is after you, then it will put everyone around you in danger.” She turned to Godlin. “Look into it. Christine disarmed the bomb for us; she deserves that much.”
“I’ll have it in a few hours.”
“But if I just call, then we’ll know.”
“Christine,” Raptor said, turning her gaze back to her. “There are no phones here. We’re in space on Jupiter’s moon, Europa. We came here through a dimensional portal, allowing us to skip over vast swathes of space in an instant. It would take at least forty-five minutes for any signal to reach Earth from here.”
Slumping back in his chair, Andrew tried to imagine how far away from home he was, sitting in this normal office chair. When Raptor had mentioned space, he thought they orbited Earth, but he never imagined he would be on a moon of Jupiter. He wondered if he could find a window to look out.
“So I’m stuck here.” Dejected, Christine lowered her eyes to the floor.
“I meant to send you home after Tenebris, but Earth wouldn’t have ordered this if it wasn’t serious.” Raptor motioned a hand toward her. “Besides, we may need your help. With the Stone of Power in Venom’s hands, we might need you to get it.”
“I’ll think about it.” Christine narrowed her eyes a little and then cut them over to Andrew.
Andrew blinked, noticing the waves of annoyance rolling off Christine. He kept hoping she would come around and help the Keepers out, but she continued seeking out reasons to distrust them.
Brushing her red hair back out of her face, Raptor said, “Anything else anyone would like to report? Like what we’re going to do about that monster?”
“We’ve talked. It’s able to open portals,” Godlin said. “We have no idea where it is, but Walker doesn’t recognize it. We’re not sure how to kill it or even what its weaknesses are.”
“I vote for the shoot-‘em-up tactic—keep going till it’s not moving,” Tech said. Lifting his hands as if they were a pair of guns, he shot them in Raptor’s direction.
Raptor smirked at Tech.
“We’ve got Mouse watching the news for any signs of it,” Godlin said, clenching his jaw together.
Raptor leaned forward in the chair. “Once it appears, we’ll go with Tech’s plan of shooting it.”
Tech pumped his fist into the air, looking pleased with himself. “What about Venom? You talked to him.”
“He’s obsessed with uniting humanity. His plan is to kill off Earth’s stronger Questers and get the weaker ones to follow him. I think he hopes it will force Earth to make him a Keeper again.”
“Would the planet do that?”
Resting an open hand just below her neck, Raptor said, “I don’t know. Something Venom is doing scared Earth, which frightens me too. We need to be on our guard against him at all times.”
Tech took his sunglasses off as he sat forward in his chair. “Hold on. Walker, without the Stone of Power, how long will it take you to restore the dimensions to normal?”
Walker watched her reflection on the smooth table. “A few days, but it is just as effective.”
Raptor narrowed her eyes, but Tech spoke first. “Ten to one, Venom’s aware of that. He’s probably betting we’ll take the long way by using Walker in place of the Stone.” He pointed the earpiece of his sunglasses toward Walker.
“Your point?” Raptor slanted her eyes at him.
“Simply distraction. If we’re too busy dealing with bigger problems, we can’t threaten his plans. Whatever he’s doing will take time. The only question is, what is he hiding?”
“You might be right. We’re missing something.” Raptor made a fist at her side and then smiled tightly.
“We must deal with the shifts first, regardless,” Walker said.
Slipping his sunglasses back on, Tech said, “There we go. Venom puts us in an impossible situation, and meanwhile he’s free to continue his plans. I say we find Venom, get the Stone back, and sabotage whatever he’s doing.”
“Normally, I would ag
ree, but these shifts are too dangerous,” Raptor said. “I promise, Tech, we’re not going to ignore Venom. He’s a psychopath with his finger on the trigger button. I won’t play his game, and we will go after him, in due time.”
Tech smiled in approval and inclined his head.
Raptor forced herself to stand, holding onto the edge of the table. “Walker, keep on those Stones. I want them even if we don’t have the Stone of Power. That’s our priority mission. We’ll worry about Venom later. The rest of you, find something constructive to do. Now.” The other Keepers stood up and funneled out the door.
Turning to head for the door, Raptor stumbled on her first step.
Godlin caught her. “You need to rest.”
“I realize that,” Raptor replied.
“You okay?” Tech asked as he approached. Squinting his eyes, he reached out to touch Raptor’s shoulder. Andrew saw genuine worry in his gaze, despite his earlier gruffness.
Godlin glared at him.
Backing away from Godlin, Tech held up his hands defensively. “I’m sorry, all right. I didn’t know Venom would hurt her.” He bowed his head, averting his eyes.
“It’s okay, Tech, I’ll live,” Raptor said. Even though she stood upright, Godlin supported most of her weight.
“Good.” Tech seemed to brighten, a smile reappearing on his face.
“Go help Walker, please. I’m sure there’s a Quester Stone she could send you to get.”
“Right.” Tech turned and left the conference room, a slight spring in his step.
“He’s so weird,” Raptor muttered just loud enough for Andrew to hear.
Chuckling softly, Godlin said, “He’s just excited you want to shoot the crystalline creature.”
“Oh, was there another plan?”
“Study it for a weakness before attacking,” Godlin reminded her.
Raptor gave Godlin a weak grin. “Ah, and how many watch hours did he bet I’d go with shooting it?”
Speaking between a cough, Godlin said, “One.”
Stone of Power (Keepers of Earth Book 1) Page 12