by Brandt Legg
“The president has just signed an executive order consolidating all the investigations into Lightyear’s activities because of national security concerns. Not one member of Congress is disagreeing; there is a power here beyond Luther Storch.”
“What? Who?”
“It’s always about money. See where the money goes, and you’ll find the answer. Who benefits from the way things are?” The captain called Booker to the cockpit.
Amber slid into his seat. “We heard most of what Booker told you. Linh’s upset about her parents.”
“We’ll get them out, Linh,” I said, leaning over Amber. “I’m not waiting for the government to figure this out. We’re going to fix it ourselves. First, we have to stop Dustin from causing any more damage.”
“Why would he do this?” Amber asked. “Is he that jealous of you?”
“No, this goes back lifetimes.”
“Can’t you get him back on our side?” Linh asked.
“Who knows? I still can’t believe what I could have learned in Clarity Lake, but he didn’t want me to go back in. Now I know why. He knew I’d learn his great secret: he and Storch are the same. Outrageous! It’s hard to say whether we’ll ever get back to Outin.”
We drifted off to sleep. When I awoke, Wandus was sitting next to me. I looked over and saw Amber asleep next to Linh. “Where have you been?” he asked.
“In a dream I was in Kyle’s room, but he wasn’t there. After wandering around for a moment, remembering our good times, I saw someone else in the room—a man standing over a table, fitting the last piece into Kyle’s 5,000-piece white puzzle. It was Travis Curry, the guy who wrote the Mayan book, one of the nine.”
“It wasn’t a dream.”
“No, of course it wasn’t.”
“What did he say to you?”
“He looked at me with Kyle’s eyes and told me that the Mayans weren’t wrong, that we just misinterpreted their calendar’s meaning. It is actually just another prophetic marker of the shift, the end of hatred and lies and the beginning of love and truth.”
“You must help with this.”
“Help with the shift? I don’t even know how to stop Lightyear.”
“All through human history people have sought power from external sources—magic rings, swords, castles, weapons, wealth. These are all possessions, but there is no real power there. All the power is within. It’s inner power... thus the Inner Movement.”
“I can stop Lightyear and help bring the shift through IM? In case you haven’t noticed, we’re on the run. The Movement is crumbling.”
“It needs a leader.”
“How do I lead the Movement? That’s Spencer’s thing.”
“Spencer is not a leader; he knows this. He has prepared the Movement for you. All this means is that you will to show them. They will teach themselves.”
“I don’t know how.”
“We’ve talked of this before, my friend. It is the Outviews you must use. They are your soul’s experience. Your soul-powers are from a different place; they seem alien in this world. But the Outviews are all of this human plane.”
We landed a few minutes later on an abandoned airstrip. Booker told us we were in southwestern Arizona. Two Suburban SUVs were waiting. Booker and his people hastily took one and headed in the opposite direction. Ren and the four other IMers, Wandus, Spencer, the girls, a driver, and me bounced along a rutted dirt road for half an hour before finding pavement. I leaned up to Spencer in the front, “Are we going anywhere near Taos? I’d like to see Yangchen.”
“That’s exactly where we’re going, but tonight we’re sleeping at a ranch Booker owns, near Silver City, New Mexico.”
“Do you know if Trevor is alive?”
“I haven’t seen his change. I believe he is, but I have no idea where.”
“Dustin will know.”
“It’s possible.”
“How did you not know about the Dustin/Storch connection?”
“Dustin was blocking it. He’s powerful.”
“He has access to all the Windows of Outin. That’s power!”
“The Windows are extraordinary.”
“We should protect them.”
“We protect one thing.”
“Isn’t it time you returned it to me?”
“Tonight, when we stop.”
“Why not now? I thought we could trust Ren.”
“Tonight.”
That night, after Spencer announced more centers had been raided, he and I went for a short walk into the Gila National Forest, which bordered Booker’s land. He handed me the Jadeo. “This is the thing, above all else. I should not have to tell you this. You’re choosing not to remember.”
“I get it.”
“Then forget the Windows, Outin, friends, relatives, whatever. They all come a distant second to this.”
“This does not mean we have to abandon everyone else.”
“No,” he said, shaking his head, “but it means we know our priorities.”
“More centers falling. They’re overwhelming us. Isn’t there someone in the government? The FBI? Somewhere? How deep is the corruption? Who have they made? Who do they own? How big is Lightyear? I mean I feel like this is becoming a dystopian world.”
“It’s not Lightyear. It’s Omnia.”
“I’ve been afraid of that since I discovered the documents in Hibbs’ safe.”
“Omnia controls the world using Lightyear, corporations, and governments, in that order of importance. It’s already a dystopian world.”
86
In dejected terror, I sat alone in an observation tower Booker had built onto the side of his cabin in order to view distant ridges. We were all on standby, as the authorities seemed to know everything the Movement was doing. I needed to find Dustin and make him stop. Because I couldn’t get to Outin, I explored the outer reaches of the astral and suddenly he was there.
“Dustin, or should I say Storch? How could you? I’m your brother.”
“Nate, it’s not like that.”
“No, I guess not. You killed Dad, so what’s a brother after all... just another problem in your way.”
“Just because we share a soul doesn’t mean I’m working with him, and it sure as hell doesn’t mean I am him.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I knew you would react this way. I knew you wouldn’t believe me.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“See.”
“See? Screw you, Dustin. Do you know—” We lost contact. Two minutes later we connected again.
“Are you tracking me right now?” I asked.
“I wouldn’t even know how.”
“You think I believe that? I’ve got some of the greatest mystics the world has ever known helping me, and not one of them could show me how to project the Storch movie. Who are you really?”
“I could do that because I was Storch.”
“Whatever. Dustin why are you denying this? I’m not coming for you. I’m just telling you that we’re no longer brothers. I don’t ever want to see or talk to you again.”
“We’re always brothers, Nate. From this life and many others. Pretending something isn’t so doesn’t make it not so... brother.”
“My brother wouldn’t kill our dad. Or do you want to deny that too? How about Kirby and the other mystics they’ve arrested? Moab, Marble Mountain, Cervantes, and all the others. How did they find those and Cuba? Only you knew about Cuba!”
“Not true, Nate, there have been raids and arrests that I knew nothing about. Only one person knew everything, and it wasn’t me. I’m not the traitor in this life... ”
“Oh yeah, then tell me who is. Who knew all these things? Spencer? Do you think I’d believe Spencer is a double agent?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
“You won’t believe me.”
“Who?” I yelled.
“You, Nate... You are the leak!”
“W
hat? That’s the best you’ve got? Me? If we were talking on the phone, I’d hang up on you. I suppose I just forgot calling in details to Lightyear.”
“You don’t have to. Someone else is doing it for you.”
“Really? Ha! The fairy tale gets more complicated.”
“Nate, there’s an open channel out of you.”
“I can tell you’re just making this up as you go along.”
“I’m not. You just don’t want the truth.”
“Fine. Stop the suspense.”
“Ever since you’ve been using advanced Kellaring, the person who you traded energy with so that he is tracked instead of you, is that person. If he knows what he is doing, that person can also monitor all your thoughts.”
“Wow, that’s your big theory? Dustin, I traded with Mom.”
“Exactly.”
I was quiet as my mind raced with reactions and implications.
“You know I’m right, Nate.”
“No, you’re just pushing your paranoid delusional anger at Mom onto me.”
“Am I? Why don’t you ask her? A young wizard like yourself ought to be able to get the truth from a simple lady like Mom.”
“I may come for you after all, Dustin.” I ended the connection.
I needed to think; meditation was impossible. I thought of finding Wandus, but I worried time was too short.
It took almost an hour to reach Mom.
“Nate, my God, how are you?”
“Mom, will you tell me the truth?”
“The truth? Nate, are you okay? Of course I will.”
“Have you been helping Lightyear?”
She was quiet for a moment. “Yes... but Nate, I’ve been doing it to help you.”
“Help me? Mom, they want me dead.”
“No, sweetie, that’s not true. They want to clear all this up. They know you’re a good kid.”
“How did they get you to believe this stuff? I’ve been blaming Dustin and Rose.”
“Turn yourself in, and you’ll see I’m right.”
“No. You’re tracking me now, aren’t you? I’m so stupid. Mom, Kyle is dead!”
“I know. You need to surrender before they get you.”
“I hope you’ve got a good enough deal that you’ll be freed soon because I’m done using Kellaring with you anymore, and you’ll not be hearing from me again.”
“No, Nate, don’t do that. You’ll get yourself killed if you keep running. Don’t—”
Less than a minute after we lost contact. Amber yelled, “Nate, we have to go. They may know we’re here.”
87
Seven hours later, we arrived in what could only be described as an organized junkyard—old buses, shelters made from appliance boxes, duct tape, tin foil and car hoods, old trailers and stripped RVs. It was a turmoil of crude cul-de-sacs out of a bad sci-fi flick. Among the wreckage, of whatever “civilization” this was, were people who could have stepped out of the Star Wars bar scene. “What planet are we on?” Amber asked.
“Planet Taos.” Spencer laughed. “We’re about forty-five minutes from Taos.”
“Why aren’t we going to Greater World?” Linh asked. The familiar Sangre de Cristo Mountains were visible out to the east, but the landscape where we found ourselves, in the middle of the vast sagebrush volcanic desert that bordered Taos to the west, seemed as far from the modern world as one could get.
“They’re watching it. This place is off the map and not an IM center, but we’ve got friends here.”
“If they have Greater World under surveillance, isn’t it risky being this close?”
“It’s risky everywhere right now. Besides, the best place to hide is in plain sight. They’d never expect us to be this close to a center.”
I hadn’t spoken since we’d left Silver City. The girls had tried, but Spencer left me alone. I suspected he knew about my mother’s betrayal, but either way, I wasn’t ready to talk about it. I’d switched Kellaring to my only other living relative—Dustin. There were probably a hundred reasons this was a bad idea; it gave Dustin a channel to me, it made finding Outin easier for Lightyear, it put Dustin in jeopardy... my brain had been burning for hours trying to figure all the ramifications and alternatives, and it came down to the fact that there was no other choice. If Dustin was bad, I was not likely to survive much longer. He could have killed me at Outin, but maybe there was a reason for him to have kept me alive longer. To lead them to Spencer? To all the mystics? It was exhausting, impossible work trying to understand the depths of my crisis.
Someone opened the car door from the outside, and I stumbled out onto the ground. Yangchen pulled me to my feet. I was crying.
“Did you tell him?” she asked Spencer as he got out.
“He knows. Nate can feel the change, too.”
“What is it?” Amber asked, as I sunk to my knees.
“His mother is dead,” Yangchen said.
“Oh, Nate.” Linh was suddenly kneeling next to me.
“I did it. I killed her, too.”
“No, Nate.”
“I took Kellaring from her, so Lightyear killed her.”
“It wasn’t Lightyear,” Yangchen said quietly.
“What?” I leapt to my feet, accidently knocking Linh back.
“Good God, Yangchen, this is not the time,” Spencer said.
“It’s too late now, isn’t it Spencer?”
“Tell me,” I demanded.
Spencer waved the IMers in the direction of a sheet metal shanty. “It’s nicer than it looks,” he told them and then ushered us to a “building” constructed of cinder block, tarps, chicken wire, and fiberglass roofing. Inside it was quite different—roomy, furnished like a real house, and clean.
Amber and Linh sat on either side of me, on what seemed to be the plush leather backseat of a 1970s Cadillac. Yangchen sat across from us in a La-Z-Boy. Spencer stood with one leg perched on a wooden bench. “Tell me,” I repeated, “who killed my mother?”
Spencer sighed, as Yangchen began. “It was IF, a faction within the Movement that advocates violence. IF stands for Inner Force.”
“What is this, a comic book?” I asked, repulsed. “Where are they? Take me to them.”
“We don’t know who they are,” she said.
“I bet he does,” I said, pointing to Spencer.
“I don’t believe so,” Yangchen said.
“Nate, I’m sorry about your mother, and although I agree it was likely the work of IF, I cannot be certain. And I have no knowledge of the identities of who supports IF within the Movement.”
“Come on, Spencer, you advocate violence.”
“Not like they do.”
“There are several factions within the Movement. We may all agree on most of the goals, but we often differ on the methods,” Yangchen confirmed.
“We’d like to find them, but our energies have been elsewhere,” Spencer said.
“Why would they kill my mother?”
“She was helping Lightyear. She was the main supplier of information on the centers and your whereabouts.”
Linh gasped.
“Mom didn’t know what she was doing. They had her convinced that it was the only way to save me.”
“Well, karma and time will reveal the truth, whatever it may be,” Yangchen said.
“It was the Kellaring that gave her the access, and now I’ve given it to Dustin. He may be more dangerous.”
“Don’t worry about Dustin right now. He is unable to harm you at present.”
“Who can we trust?” Amber asked.
“Yangchen,” I said, ignoring Amber, “Will you take me to find the dark mystic?”
“Jesus!” Spencer shouted.
“Please, Yangchen.”
“The dark mystic is not someone you’re ready to deal with, Nate. Believe me when I say that,” Spencer said.
“Quit trying to control me.”
Spencer closed his eyes and shook his head.
“He’s right,”
Yangchen replied. “The dark mystic has reached a place of such knowledge that is hard to know... Well, let’s just say there are places where good and evil are seen from different angles, and the difference is a matter of perspective. It’s in those places that the dark mystic dwells.”
“Take me.”
“Nate, I beg for your trust, and in exchange, I will promise you the knowledge needed to find the dark mystic... when you’re ready.” Her unblinking stare held a flickering purple light that pulled me. I could not refuse.
After a long silence, Spencer spoke. “Enough of IF, the dark mystic, and Lightyear. Time is overwhelming us. Nate, you now know that Lightyear is yet another pawn of Omnia, which is at this very moment using is limitless resources to dismantle Booker’s empire. Lightyear will simply be moved from the CIA building over to NSA and renamed. Those agents will still search for anyone connected to the Movement, the soldiers will still track you, and the girls are the next to die.”
I stared at Spencer. “Somehow I’m supposed to defeat the most powerful government and advanced military the world has ever known... with peace and love?” I thought of the night Spencer told me he’d looked into a thousand futures and had never seen a way.
“There is a way,” Yangchen said, gazing out the yellowed plastic window at a stand of juniper trees before turning back to me.
I stared into her wise, calm eyes, seeing hundreds of lifetimes and something startling. I suddenly realized it might really be possible to keep the girls alive and defeat Omnia.
“Oh my God,” Linh gasped.
I turned to see two silhouettes and was both frightened and amazed as Clastier and Rose entered the shack.
END OF BOOK TWO
Outmove
1
Time’s a funny thing, I thought, as I woke Amber and Linh. In the year-and-a-half since Rose returned with Clastier, the world had become a distorted, tortured version of the one where I’d grown up. Hiding and learning were all we ever seemed to do and I was tired of both.
We rushed into the portal. Omnia’s agents couldn’t be far, the heat warning had my body temperature soaring. Our habit of sleeping within sight of a portal, for a fast escape, had kept us alive this long, but didn’t necessarily provide protection. Omnia Agents could pursue us inside and often had.