by Mikayla Lane
“When she was little, she had a hard time understanding why we were here. She questioned everything, tried everything. When she wouldn’t stop using that form, they started beating her. She would shift to air on Monday and spend the rest of the week healing from the beating. Then do it again the next Monday.”
Chance drew in a shuddering breath.
“One day, they took her away. She was gone for almost a month. When she came back, she couldn’t shift to air any longer . . . and she was never the same again,” Chance said sadly.
“What did they do?” Mikal asked angrily.
Chance shook her head and her eyes warned Mikal to calm himself in front of Katie. It took a lot more effort than Mikal expected to calm himself down so the little girl wouldn’t feel his anger and think it was directed at her.
When he had his anger under control Chance answered him.
“We don’t know what happened to her. She won’t speak of it, and pushing her only makes her distraught. We’ve never had much time to speak with one another, and we didn’t want to spend that time upsetting her,” Chance said, hoping that now they were free, Katie would tell her.
Mikal gave a curt nod, determined to find a way to heal the small child. He pasted a smile on his face and tugged gently on the child’s hand until she looked up at him.
“The ship is coming, the warm wind will hit you . . .” he said as the wind from the craft began to hit them all.
Katie giggled and held her arms up to him.
“Will you take me up?” she asked with an adorable smile.
Mikal’s heart melted at the innocent trust he could feel in the child, and he picked her up in his arms and cuddled her close to his chest.
“I would gladly fly with you,” Mikal said, swallowing the lump of emotion in his throat as he held the frail child.
“Oh . . . look!” Katie said in awe as the ship de-cloaked and the door opened in the bottom.
Katie looked at Mikal a little nervously and he grinned at her.
“Hold on, little one. We’re going to fly,” he said as he dissolved into air and shot through the sky, depositing her feet on the floor of the ship.
Seconds later, Chance came in followed by the other girls, and Katie squealed in happiness before hugging Mikal and all of her sisters again.
“We’re cloaking, bro. Get everyone secure,” Deacon called out from the pilot’s seat.
Mikal and Chance got the girls seated and strapped in, then both sat across from them and secured their own belts before sighing in unison.
“We did it,” Chance said, her energy flooded with happiness and relief.
Mikal took her hand and squeezed it gently.
“We’re going to get them all,” he vowed, determined to free all of his people from the labs. Including Koda.
For the first time in her life, Chance had hope. And looking at her smiling and excited sisters, she really believed they would finally find happiness.
Chapter Eight
Mikal was completely unprepared for the welcome they received when they landed at their abandoned airport. Lara, Dree, Angel, and the Tezarian brothers had stayed behind, and it looked like they’d been really busy while they were gone.
Mikal stepped out of the transport first and immediately stepped to the side when he saw the banner hanging between another transport and a helicopter.
Chance grinned and did the same when she looked up and turned with Mikal so that they could see the look on the sisters’ faces when they came outside of the transport.
Katie was the first one to hop out, and she sucked in a deep breath and stared with wide eyes at the banner until her sisters became curious and stepped out to see why Katie was so quiet.
Dree, Lara, and Angel were nervously hoping the girls would feel safe and welcome, watching their reactions carefully to make sure they weren’t scaring them. The Tezarian males all stayed back so the females wouldn’t feel overwhelmed.
“Is that really for us?” Macy asked quietly as she stared at the banner and the table laid out with cake, ice cream, and sodas.
Mikal chuckled at the hastily-made banner of several white sheets duct taped together that read, “Welcome Mary, Rylie, Macy, and Katie!” and nodded his head.
“Those are your names, so it’s for you,” he said.
“Is that really a cake? Will I really get to try it?” Katie asked, her hand shaking a little as she reached up to clutch Mikal’s tightly.
“You’ve never had cake?” Mikal asked incredulously before he wished he hadn’t.
Katie shook her head as she stared at the lopsided disaster covered with chocolate frosting. To her, it was the most beautiful cake in the world because she would be able to see what it tasted like.
“We weren’t allowed sugar,” Macy said, also staring at the cake.
“Or to celebrate anything,” Mary added, looking around the hangar.
Dree had been bouncing in place since before the transport landed, and now she just couldn’t take the wait anymore. She bounded around the table towards the girls.
“My name is Dream, but all my friends call me Dree. So you better call me Dree,” she said with a big smile as she kneeled down and looked at Katie.
“That,” Dree said as she pointed back at the cake. “Is my very first time making a cake, and I made it for you and your sisters with my sisters. That’s Lara and Angel. Will you please come try a piece and tell me if it’s any good?”
Katie looked nervously up at Chance and Mikal. Chance was too busy holding back tears of gratitude to the women for trying to make her family feel welcome, so Mikal nodded his head at Katie.
“How about you and Dree go cut a piece for me too?” he asked the little girl.
Katie slowly pulled her hand from Mikal’s and placed it in Dree’s. Within seconds, Dree was pulling the little girl towards the table, chattering wildly about choosing the flavors and decorations.
Mikal nodded at the other sisters who were hanging back with him and Chance.
“Come on, let’s see if Dree can bake a cake,” he said with a smile as he headed to the table.
He was surprised when Katie ran over to him with a piece of cake in her hands and held it up to him.
“Here is your piece, Mikal,” she said with a smile.
“Thank you. Where’s yours?” Mikal asked as he took it from her.
Katie grinned and spread her arms wide near the lopsided sheet cake.
“It’s so big! Besides, no one should be left out,” she said as she grabbed another piece that Dree cut and ran over to hand it to Dread.
The determined little girl refused to sit down and try a piece until everyone in the hangar had a plate and plastic fork, including Deacon who was still in the transport waiting for the extraction order from his siblings still at the lab.
Everyone held their plates and watched Katie to see her eat her first bite of cake, and they weren’t disappointed. Her pretty white eyes grew wide as the chocolate icing hit her tongue and she closed her eyes and moaned.
Unable to wait a minute more, her sisters also took a bite and before they knew it, their piece of cake was gone. Dree took a bite and grinned.
“Did I do pretty good?” Dree asked Katie with a wink.
Katie nodded her head.
“Thank you so much. You are the best cook ever!” Katie said before she hugged Dree.
Dree chuckled, her eyes welling with tears as she returned the hug.
“Just you wait. We have these wonderful black cards that Grai gave us, and as soon as you’re settled, we’re going to do some shopping online,” Dree said as Angel and Lara nodded and grinned.
Deacon threw his empty plate in the trash and got Mikal’s attention.
“I’m heading back for pickup,” he said, letting Mikal know he’d be in charge until Chris returned.
“Be safe, brother,” Mikal said as he watched Deacon sprint to his ship.
Mikal felt Katie’s hand slip into his own as he watched his
brother’s ship disappear before the bay door closed behind him.
“Maybe he can teach me how to drive one of those so I can fly again,” Katie whispered.
Mikal picked her up and held her close.
“One day, you will fly with me, the way we were meant to,” he promised, determined to do whatever it took to heal the damaged child.
“Mikal,” Lara said in his mind. “We need to get them settled in. We have much to discuss when the others return.”
Mikal turned and looked at Dree, who seemed to be the ringleader of the welcome committee.
“Where did you set them up to sleep?”
Dree grinned broadly and clapped her hands together.
“Follow me! They’re in the girl hall. With me!” Dree said as she skipped towards one of the hallways that led to the living quarters built underground.
Chance turned to Katie and held her arms out for the girl. Katie quickly kissed Mikal’s cheek and jumped into Chance’s arms.
“Good night, little one,” Mikal said as she and Chance followed Dree.
When the females were out of sight, Mikal joined Lara, Angel, and the Tezarian males-all of who radiated a simmering anger that he could well understand.
“The real docs are coming to make sure they’re OK. They’ll be here soon,” Dread said somberly.
Mikal knew that their doctor and Lauren were coming and was relieved that Sergei knew enough about his physiology to know if the girls were physically well.
“That little one . . . she breaks your heart,” Drago said with a sigh.
“We’ll find the others,” Angel promised as she hugged her softhearted mate.
“Our brothers will be here in a minute. Let’s get things ready in the conference room,” Lara said, wanting to get the planning started on raiding the other labs.
Trick snagged another piece of cake from the table and crammed it into his mouth, chewing quickly before licking the frosting off his lips and wiping his mouth on his sleeve.
“If you tell my sister I did that, I’ll deny it,” he said as he took another piece and ran into the conference room with it.
Mikal looked at the others questioningly.
Mir chuckled.
“He bet Dree that her first cake wouldn’t be edible. What he doesn’t know is that the first cake wasn’t. That’s her third attempt,” Mir said.
Mikal laughed and shook his head at the fle’ te’ Brazar siblings and their endless pranks and jokes on one another. He’d come to adore them and the fle’ te’ Trugh brothers as well.
“So how much are you bribing the both of them to keep their secrets?” Mikal asked, throwing an arm around Mir.
Mir looked at Mikal with feigned surprise.
“Me? Damn, you really don’t think much of me,” Mir said, looking downcast.
Lara smacked him on the shoulder as she passed him.
“He’s bribing Dree with laundry duties and Trick with weapons cleaning and prep,” she said with a grin.
“Damn it, Lara! Stop doing that mind shit!” Mir said, irritated his schemes were now outed. He quickly manifested a ball of light in his hand and threw it at Lara’s retreating back.
They heard the transport docking as they took seats around the conference room table and waited for their siblings to come in and for Chance and Dree to get back from getting the females settled into their new beds.
It wasn’t long before Chris and his brothers entered and began to seat themselves around the table.
“I sent Amun and Dr. Mussberger to another location and picked up Sergei and Lauren on the way back. Dree and Chance are with them now and will be here shortly, so let’s get started,” Chris said as he nodded at Siggy and Dante.
Mikal held up his hand.
“Wait. Why did you send Dr. Mussberger away?” he asked curiously.
Chris sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
“Because there isn’t a person here who wasn’t on the verge of killing him for what he helped do to those girls. He had too much information regarding your heritage, and I felt it was safer for him . . . and your people, that he be out of reach,” Chris admitted, hoping his brother would understand.
Mikal’s initial reaction was anger, but the more he thought about it, the more he agreed with his brother’s decision. He had a feeling that the more they learned of how the girls were treated, the harder it would be to keep Dr. Mussberger alive.
“It was a good decision to make,” Mikal relented, glad his brother had taken the decision out of his hands.
Chris nodded his head at Mikal, relieved his brother wasn’t angry with him.
“OK, so we got into the computer systems,” Dante said as he typed on his comm and everyone’s began to beep.
Siggy chuckled.
“He just sent the info to your comms so you can follow along,” Siggy explained.
“What he said,” Dante said with a grin.
Siggy cleared his throat.
“We’re going to avoid the crap part of this, but to sum it up, we were able to trace back to only one more lab. The good news is we believe if we get into that one, it’ll lead us to another. All medical information that we found has already been sent to Lauren and Sergei,” Siggy said before shooting a pointed look at Dante.
Dante set his comm on the table, leaned back in his chair, and looked around at his siblings. When each nodded slightly, Mikal knew that something was up. They’d found something.
“Tell me,” Mikal said, staring directly at Dante.
“We found hundreds of files and notes from archeologists and experts in ancient history. Mostly the shadow group’s Smithsonian buddies. They gave them a basic description of your people, their abilities, and added their own observations of the captives,” Dante said, then looked back down at his comm.
“What did they think?” Mikal asked, wondering if he wanted to know by Dante’s unenthusiastic reaction.
“They didn’t come to any conclusions, they just gave a lot of suggestions,” Dante said, keeping his eyes averted from Mikal.
What the hell would they be hesitant to say? he wondered, looking at each brother individually, each one looking away from his gaze.
Mikal folded his arms across his chest and singled Chris out.
“Tell me,” he said, holding Chris’s gaze.
Chris nodded his head once.
“We found a file. More like an incident report. In November of 1966 civilians reported sightings of a flying man with wings in multiple locations around Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and the TNT area north of there. Some reports were that the man was white, others that he was black with red eyes. He was called the Mothman,” Chris said.
Chris looked down at his comm and continued.
“According to the reports, they used to have Alpha One leave from the lab for missions and return when they were completed. During a few of the Mothman sightings, he had been out on missions and lab staff assumed that it was just Alpha One leaving from or returning to the lab. At the time, they cautioned him to be more careful of being seen around the humans.”
Chris sighed and rubbed his hand down his face.
“The sightings continued for a year. The doctors and security noticed that Alpha One was returning later and later from his missions, and he’d begun to be less complacent and more demanding of freedoms for he and the females,” Chris said, then paused, drawing a deep breath.
“Go on,” Mikal encouraged.
“On December 12, 1967, lab security reported that Alpha One had not come back on time from another mission. This time he was more than 10 hours late,” Chris said.
Siggy put a picture of a bridge on the wall of the conference room as Chris continued.
“They sent security out to search for him and discovered him on the Silver Bridge in Point Pleasant, with what they described as a black version of Alpha One. They were able to dart Alpha One and leave him disabled on the bridge while they turned their attention to trying to capture the other one,”
Chris said, his eyes never leaving Mikal’s.
“The dark man fought, trying to protect Alpha One from lab security, but there were too many, and he eventually realized he couldn’t save him. When they knew they were going to lose him, security switched to live fire, figuring he was just as useful dead as alive,” Chris said, trying to judge Mikal’s reaction.
“Continue,” Mikal said simply, trying desperately to remain as impassive as he could.
“They ended up firing on the dark man while he was on the bridge. The reports state he disappeared, and they didn’t know if they had hit him or not. Alpha One was interrogated when he was returned to the lab,” Chris said.
“I remember that,” Chance said as she came into the conference room and sat next to Mikal.
“I was only a child. After that, they stopped letting anyone leave from the lab for a mission or return on their own. That was when they stopped letting me spend time with Alpha One,” Chance added.
Chris nodded his head.
“That makes sense. Alpha One told them that he’d met another of his kind. The dark man. The man told Alpha One that his name was Indrid Cold, and he was looking for his missing son . . . Mikal,” Chris said watching his brother’s eyes grow wide.
Mikal drew in a deep breath and clutched the arms of his chair. Grai had told him that when he’d found him, he was able to tell him only that his name was Mikal. But his biological father verifying it was a little overwhelming. Although his mind was desperately trying to wrap itself around what his brother was telling him, he needed to know the rest. Immediately.
I’ll process it all later, he thought.
“Chris . . .” Mikal said, conveying his need for the rest of the information with that word.
Chris looked back at his comm.
“For days after the bridge incident, sightings of the dark man continued to increase. People said that they felt like the flying man, Indrid Cold, was trying to tell them something. Warn them of something. But the humans couldn’t understand him. Whether it was fear or a language problem we don’t know; there are no specifics,” Chris said, looking back at his comm.
“What we do know is that three days later, the bridge collapsed and killed 46 humans. After that, the sightings of the dark man, Indrid Cold, stopped. The collapse was blamed on a single eye bar defect which the lab and security were later able to confirm through military contacts, was created by the weapons fired on Indrid Cold three days earlier on the bridge,” Chris said, shaking his head at the senseless tragedy.