Trevor turned back to Nicole. “I’ll be coming and going as much as possible tomorrow to keep you updated on everything. Jack and Anna have already started fighting monsters, as you know. They’re barely maintaining their ground, especially as more and more lesser beings congregate. But they’re doing their best.”
Nicole frowned. “Jack and Anna are actually fighting?”
“No, not them personally, but they’re directing pretty much everything.”
“Please tell them we appreciate all they’re doing—this would be disastrous without their help.”
“I think they realize that,” Trevor said.
They exchanged goodbyes, he disappeared, and Nicole and Lizzie turned off their lights and went to sleep.
Chapter Ten
Nicole woke up in the middle of the night, gasping for breath. She clutched her chest, trying to breathe through a pounding magical pulse that was stronger than any she’d felt before.
She rolled over and looked at Lizzie. The girl was still asleep. Or was she dead?
No! Impossible.
Nicole jerked to her feet, stumbling to the other bed. She shook Lizzie’s shoulder.
Lizzie stirred, then woke, scrambling to a sitting position. “What’s wrong?”
“The pulse,” Nicole gasped. “Can’t you feel it?”
Lizzie shook her head. “Where’s it coming from?”
Nicole gasped again, slumping to her bed. “I don’t know, I don’t know.” She clutched her chest. “It just . . . started pounding. How can I feel it . . . and you not?”
“Because it’s probably coming from the Great Ones—you’ve got a link to them that I don’t have.”
“Can’t . . . breathe . . .”
Lizzie jumped to her feet, grabbing at the necklace. “Take off the elixir.”
“No—”
“I don’t care what Rebecca or anyone else says. That thing survived without you touching it for several hours before. It’s intensifying the pulses, I’m sure of it.”
Nicole protested, but she wasn’t strong enough to stop Lizzie from yanking the necklace over her head.
The moment it was no longer in contact with her body, the pulsing faded. Not completely—she could still sense it—but enough. She curled onto her side, groaning, hands to her chest.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“I’ll set it here on the nightstand. Put it back on in the morning. Hopefully, by then, the magic will have subsided.”
Nicole nodded, then looked at Lizzie. “What do you think it means?”
Lizzie shrugged. “Maybe they’re coming and are reaching out to you.”
Nicole froze. “You’re right.” She gingerly got up from her bed, ignoring the lingering pain in her chest, and peeked out the curtains. It was black outside, with only a few streetlights casting dimly on the parking lot. Would she be able to see the Great Ones if they were there? What if they were outside the window, like the monsters had been at Anna Morse’s the first time?
Nicole let the curtain fall shut and returned to her bed.
Lizzie fell asleep quickly, but even after Nicole turned the light off again, she lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling, panic rolling over her in waves.
She tried to reassure herself that if the Great Ones were there now, they’d have done something already. They wouldn’t just sit outside, waiting for Rebecca to arrive tomorrow afternoon.
Tomorrow.
Was Nicole ready? Did she even know what would be required of her or how to use the elixir? No, obviously not. But hopefully, someone in her group would be able to figure it out.
***
Nicole didn’t fall asleep again. As soon as the first rays of sunlight filtered through the slit in the curtain, she jumped into the shower.
Today was the culmination of everything. All of her stress, frustrations, worries, and responsibilities, the pressure on her to be perfect and perform—all of it—would be over. Either she or Rebecca would be dead.
Nicole hoped it would be Rebecca.
She smiled as she rinsed the shampoo out of her hair. Of course she hoped Rebecca would lose.
The smile was chased away, however, by a thought that slammed into Nicole’s brain.
Rebecca was dead.
They couldn’t kill her any more than she already was.
She would keep coming back, keep influencing people unless Nicole and her friends figured out a way to get rid of for good.
Was there something they could about do that?
And what about Nicole’s parents? She knew they were evil—her mother, especially. Could Nicole intentionally cause their deaths? She thought over this the rest of her shower, unsure what the answer to that question would be.
As soon as Nicole was out of the shower, Lizzie hopped in. Nicole waited until Lizzie was finished before trying the necklace on again.
The pulses didn’t return, thank goodness.
The two locked up their room and headed downstairs for breakfast. Dave and Elyse joined them, and Nicole could tell they hadn’t slept much either. Only Lizzie was refreshed and energized.
“Did either of you sense any magical pulsings last night?” Nicole asked.
Both adults shook their heads, and Nicole filled them in on what had awakened her.
“I would agree that the Great Ones are nearing,” Dave said. “Maybe they reached out to you—checking to see how close you are.”
“Whatever they were doing, it felt like it was going to kill me.”
“It might have,” Lizzie said, “if I hadn’t taken that thing off her.” She motioned to the necklace.
“But it’s not hurting you today?” Elyse asked.
“Not at all.”
“Well, maybe they’re wanting to go easy on you.”
Nicole hoped that was the case.
They finished up their breakfasts and headed out to the trailer to restock the truck with more devices. The plan was to surround as much of the city as possible to protect the citizens who lived there.
They were just finishing up when Elyse and Dave hesitated, then looked at each other.
“That’s something you won’t feel very often,” Elyse said.
“No kidding,” Dave said, grinning.
Lizzie tilted her head, looking back and forth between the two of them. “What’s going on?”
Nicole was just as clueless.
Elyse smiled. “Just wait. You’ll figure it out soon enough.”
They all hopped back into the truck and headed to the same place where they’d had dinner the night before.
Halfway through the meal, Nicole dropped her fork, her eyes widening. “Holy smokes! I can feel it!”
“Now you?” Lizzie wailed.
Nicole turned to Lizzie. “Hundreds and hundreds of Aretes! All heading this way—it’s the weirdest and coolest thing ever.”
Lizzie folded her arms and fell back into her seat. “Great. That means I won’t feel it until they’re right outside the door.”
Dave and Elyse chuckled, and Nicole relaxed in her chair, enjoying the sensation of the approaching Aretes. It wasn’t painful, like with the Great Ones. It made her limbs buzz with energy. A sense of euphoria raced across her body, warming the chill that the night’s events had brought. It made her feel more awake than she had in months.
“This is so awesome,” she said, then hesitated. “Is it addicting?”
Elyse shook her head, smiling. “No, it’s not, and it’s not messing with your brain. That much positive energy in one place really does something for the moods, though, doesn’t it?”
Nicole nodded. She couldn’t remove the grin from her face and had a hard time finishing her lunch.
They were just finishing up when her cell phone rang. It was Coolidge. “Wow, we can totally tell you guys are on your way!”
“Yes, we are—just pulling into the outskirts of Salmon. And a huge group of Tarians is close behind. We have a police escort—they don’t. But they’ll catch up qui
ckly. Are things in place?”
Nicole sobered. “Yes. All the devices are set up and activated around the city and around the link.”
“What about up in the mountains? Around the machines?”
Nicole shook her head. “We haven’t had time or enough equipment.”
Coolidge cursed. “We can’t risk having any area unprotected. I’m bringing a few more things . . . we’ll have to make them work.” His voice muffled, then became clear again. “We’re just about to your hotel. We have to leave as soon as we get there.”
Nicole ended the call and got to her feet. “Time to go—they’re almost to the hotel.”
Dave threw a wad of cash onto the table, and the four of them rushed out of the restaurant. They piled into the truck and Dave peeled out of the parking lot, zipping down the street to the hotel.
Lizzie yelped. “I feel it! I feel it!”
No one responded. Nicole forced herself to relax her grip on the seat—her fingers were white.
Dave pulled into the hotel parking lot with a lurch that made Nicole glad she wore her seatbelt. He tore around back to the trailer just before a police car with sirens and flashing lights arrived, followed by Coolidge and a long line of buses.
Nicole hopped out of the truck, suddenly feeling overwhelmed and insecure. She was grateful for Dave and Elyse—their presences were calming.
Coolidge joined them. “Where do we send the Aretes?”
Dave pointed. “To the base of Copperhead Peak. Let me lead you there now.”
Coolidge turned to Nicole. “Are you ready? This is about you, after all. You’ve got the elixir?”
Nicole’s right hand went to her necklace while the other found the map to the machines folded in her back pocket. “Yes, I do. And yes, I’m ready.”
Along with the map was the laminated sheet of paper and the full-size paper from Mrs. Morse. Nicole wanted to have as many ways to communicate with Jack and Anna on hand as possible.
Coolidge nodded. “Let’s go.”
Nicole took a breath and hopped into Dave’s truck again. Dave drove north through Salmon and Carmen and back to the farmer’s property.
The farmer was obviously ready for them—he sat on his porch with a rifle on his lap and a grim expression on his face.
“Will his gun work?” Lizzie asked.
“Nope,” Dave said. “And he knows it. He wants it with him, though, in case our equipment fails.”
Nicole totally understood that. If she could have, she would have brought a gun too.
She checked the front pocket of her jeans, making sure her bracelet was there. She had no desire to overdo it today and end up unconscious, her brain damaged.
Dave instructed Nicole and Lizzie to wait in the truck while he told Coolidge where to have everyone set up. Nicole watched as bus after bus dropped off Aretes, wondering how they’d managed to get the buses up that far on such a narrow road. And how would they get them turned around so they could head up to North Fork, where the drivers would be paid to wait until the end?
She swallowed, not wanting to think about that “end,” whatever it would be.
There weren’t a lot of hiding places available, apart from a scant amount of trees that surrounded the field. But pretty soon, the Aretes had settled in, and Nicole couldn’t see anyone. She knew the reason Dave wanted her to wait in the car—she and Austin were now avoiding each other completely until the elixir was gone and the Great Ones couldn’t sense her anymore. No one wanted to risk any problems. But the blocker he now wore didn’t stop her from feeling his pulse as the previous one had, and she could tell he’d joined the man on his porch. His hiding place would be in the house.
Nicole watched Dave and Coolidge rush back to the truck. Elyse hopped in the back with Nicole and Lizzie, and Coolidge got up front with Dave.
Dave reached over the seat and looked backward as he pulled to the main road again. “The farmer says for us to follow the dirt road up to Smout Creek. We’ll hide the truck there and then go on foot.”
The dirt road they followed for a short time wasn’t very well maintained, and it was a bumpy ride. Nicole didn’t mind—it helped clear her thoughts.
She really hoped her task would be obvious when they got there because she still hadn’t heard anything from anyone on how to actually destroy the machines.
Once the group had hidden the truck and made sure it wasn’t visible from the fields, they started up the small canyon. A little dirt trail ran alongside the creek most of the way, only requiring them to cross to the other side a couple of times.
Nicole counted her steps, not sure what else to do. She was far too distracted to enjoy the scenery, and talking was almost completely out of the question as the other members of the group were a bit more out of breath than she and Lizzie were.
Lizzie was a dancer and usually loved being at the front of whatever hiking group they were in, but Nicole could tell she was just as nervous as Nicole. They made small talk here and there, only discussing what might be happening back on the field.
About half an hour after they started their hike, Coolidge’s walkie-talkie went loud with static, then Austin’s voice sounded through the tinny speaker.
“The Tarians just arrived. The devices you set up seem to be working—they have no idea Aretes surround them.”
Nicole breathed a sigh of relief. Hopefully, it would stay that way.
“I’m heading out with Joe now,” Austin said.
Nicole and the rest turned to watch. They were high enough now that the Tarians pouring onto the field from their own buses looked like ants.
Austin and Joe were easy to see—they were the only ones close to the farmhouse.
Austin was posing as the farmer’s son. Nicole watched intently, holding her breath as the people who appeared to be the leaders of this particular Tarian group walked over to meet the two men.
Coolidge handed her a pair of binoculars. “Do you recognize them?”
Nicole held the device up to her eyes, adjusting a bit until the man and woman came into focus. She saw the Alerter in the man’s hands before she saw his face.
“It has to be Andrew and Shana—there’s no way Andrew would let the Alerter out of his sight.”
The man turned to look back toward his group, putting his face in Nicole’s view, and she nodded.
“Yup, it’s him.”
She reluctantly handed the binoculars back to Coolidge, wishing she’d brought a pair for herself.
She didn’t need them, however, to know that Joe was acting well the part of an angry farmer whose fields were being invaded. He waved his arms jerkily, feigning anger, while Austin pretended to try to calm him down.
Andrew and Shana both pulled guns. Joe dropped his rifle, which Austin picked up and held casually by his side.
The Tarians “won” this argument, and Nicole and the rest watched as Austin and Joe retreated to the farmhouse while the Tarians went in the opposite direction to set up in the field.
Austin’s voice came over the speaker. “They’re definitely ready for war,” he said, “even though they don’t expect much here. They did say that we will have some other-worldly visitors pretty soon.”
“Did they mention when?” Coolidge asked.
“No. Just that we’d know when it was happening.”
The group started up the trail again, listening to Austin and Coolidge’s continued conversation.
“They’re building bonfires all around the link,” Austin said. “Most of the Tarians look like they’re here to worship, as Nicole’s informer told us. Several of them, however, are well armed.”
“With what?” Coolidge asked.
“Firearms. Which should be useless.”
Nicole nodded. Good. She felt bad for Joe, though. He’d spent so much time on these fields, preparing them for the grain he was now growing. To have all that work wasted? She could only imagine how depressing that would be.
Good thing he would be reimbursed. She intend
ed to make sure he didn’t suffer for however many years these fields would be unusable after this event.
Nicole pulled the map out from her back pocket, wanting to make sure they were still heading in the right direction. They were. They wouldn’t reach the turnoff from the trail for a while.
With breaks every now and then to make sure they weren’t getting dehydrated and to check on the progress of the Tarians, they continued upward for another hour.
Finally, Nicole saw the first sign mentioned in the notes on the map.
A large, burned-out tree stump, about five feet across. How it had grown that large up here before getting chopped and stayed that long without rotting or someone hauling it off was beyond Nicole, but she was grateful it was still there.
Ten paces after they passed the stump, they veered to the right into the underbrush and scrub oak.
The going was difficult and slow now. Nicole was sure nothing but small animals had passed through this foliage since Rebecca and Christopher themselves had been there.
She checked the map frequently, making sure she knew what signs to watch for, and counted the steps until she or someone else found the next thing—a rusted lamp that had been affixed to a boulder. From there, they were to watch for an old door that rested in the side of the hill.
That was the part that had Nicole a little nervous. Apparently, the door led to a tunnel that Rebecca and Christopher had dug . . . and the details on the map after that were sketchy. The map showed the location of the machines on the other side, but what happened after she and the others entered the tunnel wasn’t clear.
Elyse spotted the lamp first. “It’s here!” she called back in a loud whisper.
Nicole clutched the elixir when a magical pulse rushed over her. “They know we’re close,” she said.
Coolidge looked back at them. “Good. I’d hate to surprise them.”
Nicole wished she shared the sentiment. She’d been hoping they could get in and out unnoticed. Apparently, that wouldn’t be the case.
The door wasn’t far beyond the lamp, but it was heavily covered in underbrush.
Coolidge and Dave grinned at each other, pulling machetes out of their large packs.
Reclaim, Mosaic Chronicles Book Five Page 14