Mikal (Second Wave Book 3)

by Mikayla Lane

  Grai pulled away and looked at his son, unshed tears shimmering in his eyes.

  “Don’t thank me, son. I’m grateful every day to have you and your siblings in my life. Just don’t scare me like that again. Any of you,” Grai said as he looked around at the subdued faces of his other children.

  Chris cleared his throat and pointed upwards.

  “Deacon’s here. Let’s get the hell out of here,” he said, glad they were all going home.

  As they loaded into the transport, Mikal looked around and noted someone missing.

  “Where’s Ranger?” he asked, wondering where the cat was.

  Grai shook his head.

  “No way were we bringing the cats when we knew they experimented on animals here. I wasn’t afraid of what the cats would do so much as I was worried about what crap the humans left behind in the environment that could harm the cats,” Grai said, glad he’d made that call when he’d seen inside that building.

  Mikal had been right when he’d said he thought they’d kept people there as well as animals. From what Grai had seen, the place had been used for something stronger than a regular human, and he’d ordered the removal of anything that could tell them if it had also been a lab used for the hybrids or Mikal’s people.

  They landed back at the hangar to the cheers of those left behind, and Mikal scanned the crowd for Chance.

  “She’s still knocked out in the medlab,” Dree said as she grinned knowingly at Mikal.

  Mikal tried not to blush as Grai whistled to get everyone’s attention.

  “I don’t have to tell you that you can’t stay here; it’s too dangerous for the females, Indrid, and Mikal. Until this dies down and we know what we’re facing, you all need to disappear for a little while. I will allow your suggestions of where you want to spend some quality time together,” Grai said, waiting for them to have a fit.

  He was surprised when they looked at one another, contemplating where they wanted their new home base to be for a while.

  “They are Hyperborean. I say we take them to the safest place on the planet,” Blade suggested. “Home.”

  Mikal looked taken aback for a moment while his siblings nodded their heads, more than willing to see the infamous Base Beta. Some of the Valendran hybrids were already onsite protecting the ancient knowledge and relics discovered there.

  Grai could see Mikal considering it, and he contacted Thjodhild to let her know they would be coming before turning to his son.

  “Thjodhild is having a wing of the castle prepared for them. Think of what Indrid could teach all of you about that place and your history, son. You know it is the best option, and you all can work just as easily from there as you can anywhere,” Grai said.

  Lara put a hand on Mikal’s arm until he looked down at her.

  “What better place for them to heal and enjoy being outside? They would be completely protected at all times,” she said, smiling as Mikal nodded his agreement.

  “As long as Thjodhild is OK with it,” Mikal said while his siblings got excited about seeing the place.

  Grai grinned broadly and slapped his son on the shoulder before pulling him into another hug. He kissed Mikal’s head.

  “Thank you for going. You stay safe, son, and keep your family safe. All of them,” Grai said hoarsely.

  Mikal knew that Grai was speaking of the females they’d found as well as his biological father, and he was overcome with love and respect for Grai and his willingness to accept them all.

  “Thank you, Father. For everything,” Mikal said, knowing Grai knew what he meant.

  Grai pulled away and looked at his son.

  “You will learn as you grow that you have to make many sacrifices for your children and the people you love. Some are easier than others. This was easy-because it makes you happy,” Grai said before he turned to his other children and the Tezarians.

  “Get your gear and get ready to go! We leave in 20 minutes!”

  *****

  Chance awakened to excited whispers. She sat up quickly, trying to remember what had happened and was immediately surrounded by her sisters.

  “Chance, get up!” Rylie said.

  “We want to go outside!” Macy added.

  Chance tried to clear her head and looked around the large, unfamiliar room.

  “Where the hell are we?” she asked nervously, as she stood.

  “You’re home, Mommy!” Charlie shouted from the doorway.

  Chance turned to her daughter in relief and saw Mikal holding her in the doorway. Everything came rushing back to her, and she ran to the doorway, putting her arms around Mikal. He hugged her tightly with one arm, the other still holding Charlie.

  “I am well. Do not be angry with my father. He was only protecting my family until I could return,” Mikal said gently, enjoying the feel of her in his arms.

  Chance pulled back and wiped her tears as she looked up at him with a watery smile.

  “I’m glad you’re back,” she said simply, her heart racing as her excited sisters surrounded her.

  “I’m going outside,” Katie said as she ran around Mikal and stopped right outside the door.

  Chance panicked at the look on the 12-year-old’s face and rushed to her side only to stare in wonder at the massive hallway they were in.

  “Where are we?” she asked in wonder as Mikal came out beside her with her other sisters.

  Mikal chuckled at the reaction of the females to what was known as the castle to the hybrid inhabitants of Base Beta.

  Situated in a massive crevice deep in Antarctica, Base Beta was an ancient city. Part of which was not under ice, but was a paradise with a second sun that shone 24 hours a day. Extinct creatures lived beside Fiorn Erikson’s hybrids, who were protecting ancient relics and knowledge hidden within a thawing building the hybrids called the school.

  Mikal began to explain this to Chance and the other girls as he led them down the extensive hallways of the main building and outside into the sunshine. They were immediately greeted by a small herd of wooly mammoth that reached out their fuzzy trunks to be petted.

  Katie and Charlie, the two youngest, squealed in excitement while the others vibrated with happiness as they petted the large, furry creatures.

  “Mikal,” Indrid said, running out of the castle to his son.

  Indrid slowed to a stop when he came to the girls and the mammoths. With a smile of affection, he held his hands out to the creatures, and they all walked over to him, nuzzling his hands with their trunks.

  “Yes, my friends,” Indrid said, speaking to the large creatures. “I have missed you as well. Go now; we will play later.”

  The girls said “aww” when the group of mammoths moved away, walking down a large covered walkway that appeared to be built specifically to accommodate the large beasts.

  Indrid looked up at Mikal, his eyes taking in his son. He’d been stunned to awaken in their home and feel his son nearby. He had immediately set out to ensure he was all right.

  “How did you know to come here?” Indrid asked.

  Mikal felt a little awkward talking about it while the girls were there, but they all needed to know who else was here and that they would be protected.

  “Hybrids, like my father and his people, found this place long ago. When they saw that humans with bad intentions wanted it, they stayed to help protect the knowledge and relics from being found,” Mikal explained.

  “We know that, son,” Indrid said. “The guardians allowed them to settle here. This is only the second time I have ever felt your presence here. The last time was recently but not for long. I assumed you didn’t feel the pull of the bridge.”

  “What bridge?” Mikal asked, already suspecting the answer.

  Fiorn’s mate, Thjodhild, mother of the legendary explorer, Leif Erikson, had been here for decades and had already suspected it was the location of the rainbow bridge.

  Indrid smiled at his son. His energy was throbbing like a heartbeat; his excitement at being
home with his child was more than he could have hoped for. Not wanting to ruin the chance to bond with his son, he looked around at the rapt faces of the females and decided to do what he knew would please Mikal.

  Indrid motioned over to a large gazebo near the repository.

  “Come, let me tell you a story about where you come from,” Indrid said, leaning down to smile at Katie and Charlie.

  Katie clapped her hands together and looked with excitement at Mikal. Even the older girls vibrated with curiosity, but Mikal had a hard time noticing it since his own curiosity was more than piqued.

  Mikal nodded and carried Charlie to the gazebo, setting her down between him and Chance as Katie and the others crowded inside, everyone looking to Indrid to begin his story.

  Indrid waited until everyone was seated in the gazebo before he pointed upwards where the aurora colors danced magically above them in red and green waves.

  “We come from a planet called Hyperborea. Long ago, before the time of the parents of my parents, one of our people was visited by a being who taught him how to travel the energy strands that connect the worlds of our creator,” Indrid began as he sat beside one of the females.

  “He didn’t know at the time that the knowledge was forbidden to our people and he taught it to many. They traveled the strands, coming upon many unique and different worlds, and when they returned they told many stories of what they’d seen and the adventures they had,” Indrid said.

  He couldn’t help but notice that some of the hybrid inhabitants had come out and sat outside of the gazebo, listening just as raptly as his people. The one person he wanted to pay attention the most, Mikal, was staring at him blankly, leaving him to wonder what was going through his son’s mind as he spoke.

  “Please don’t stop,” Katie said, bringing Indrid out of his own thoughts.

  “Of course,” Indrid said with a kind smile for the adorable girl. “It wasn’t long before most of our people were traveling to places where we weren’t meant to tread. There were many worlds, early in their evolution, where just our presence caused irreparable harm to their inhabitants because of our abilities and technology.”

  “Of course, we didn’t mean any harm. We were only trying to learn, but the impact was enough to resonate to the creator, and we were given a choice. We could guard the energy bridges to the worlds we harmed to prevent others from doing what we had done, or the knowledge and memories would be stripped of us and our people cursed to suffer the same trials and fates of those we’d interfered with,” Indrid explained.

  “What did you do?” Katie asked on a whisper.

  “We became sentinels. Some call us watchers,” Indrid said.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Indrid felt the surprise in the energy of his son and those outside the gazebo. It was obviously not what any of them had expected to hear, but it was the truth, and Mikal and the females he found needed to understand their birthright and responsibility.

  “Should the small ones be hearing this?” Mikal asked bluntly, wondering if Indrid was going to say something that would frighten Charlie or Katie.

  Indrid smiled gently at the small girls as he answered Mikal.

  “It’s all right. There is nothing to be frightened of in our history. We chose to try and make amends for the mistakes we’d made. The threat of being cursed wasn’t exactly a pleasant option to consider as you might imagine,” Indrid said with a grin.

  “What exactly is a sentinel?” Mikal asked.

  Indrid looked at his son, trying to suppress his smile at Mikal’s curiosity.

  “We guard the bridge to ensure those who shouldn’t be here don’t come through either side. This place is the where the bridge exists for this world, and it is where our people have lived for thousands of years on this particular world,” Indrid explained patiently, expecting more questions.

  “What do you mean, ‘on this world’?” Mikal asked.

  Indrid chuckled slightly.

  “I can feel your bond with another of the bridge’s regular patrons-a light bringer. So you know that there are other worlds and realms. It is this bridge that allows them to pass between this world and theirs. It is we who allow them to use the bridge,” Indrid explained.

  I didn’t know a damn thing about this bridge until recently; how the hell could I be allowing anyone to use it, Mikal thought, shaking his head.

  “That makes no sense. I didn’t even know of the bridge. And how does that explain the school? All those relics and scrolls?” he asked.

  It was the school that everyone wanted to know more about. Ancient scrolls of knowledge were stored in stone jars and relics of precious metals were encased behind the school’s walls of ice. The building had been thawing over the years, but it had recently begun melting at a faster rate.

  Indrid looked over at the school as he nodded his head.

  “That is actually called the repository. It is the other part of our duty as sentinels of this world. When we came with our abilities and our technology, we led the people from the true creator. We keep the ancient items and the truth protected for the next conversion when the people will be ready to learn the truth and use the knowledge wisely. It will be then that our service to this world will no longer be required, and we can choose to leave if we wish. Or stay,” Indrid said, shocking Mikal and the others who’d gathered outside of the gazebo.

  “Leave where?” one of the hybrids sitting outside of the gazebo asked.

  “To our home. We are beholden to a chosen world until we are no longer needed. That is when our part of the debt owed by our people is completed, and we can finally choose to see our home world again, stay on the world we assisted, or assist our people on another planet to complete their debt,” Indrid explained carefully.

  “How many of us are here?” Mikal asked, trying to grasp the enormity of what Indrid was telling him.

  “There are only four fully awakened sentinels. Much of our people are in suspension, awaiting the beginnings of the conversion when they will be needed the most. Once the energy begins to shift, the guardians will have a hard time fighting off those who wish to come. The sentinels will all be needed to protect the evolving humans,” Indrid explained, wishing he could have explained it to his son when he was young, as was the custom among their people.

  “Aren’t the guardians and sentinels the same thing?” Katie asked in confusion.

  Indrid chuckled and shook his head as he patted the girl.

  “No, the guardians are the spirits of our ancestors who perished here. They guard this place, allowing only those the creator wants here to remain. Which is why you are all here,” Indrid directed the last at the hybrids outside of the gazebo.

  “There’s ghosts here?” Katie asked fearfully.

  “Sort of, but not really ghosts. They transfer their energy to the protection of this place when they die. It is their energy that keeps the humans and their technology from coming near. Once we are free of our debt to this world, their spirits will rise to the after-death,” Indrid explained.

  “So they’re prisoners here too?” Katie asked fearfully as Mikal began to stand.

  “No, honey! They are happy here. They aren’t prisoners at all,” Indrid rushed to explain.

  Mikal was done with the children hearing anymore; the last thing he needed was for Katie or Charlie to have more nightmares.

  “Why don’t you guys go get some cookies and milk from the kitchen?” Mikal said to the females as he glared at his father.

  Noticing the change in the energy of the two men, several of the hybrid women came forward and took Charlie from Chance and led her and Katie to the kitchen. The older females remained behind, wanting to hear what Indrid had to say. Once the children were out of earshot, Indrid turned to his son.

  “Mikal, there was nothing scary in what I was going to say,” Indrid said, a little irritated that Mikal thought that he’d scare the kids.

  “They came from terrible places. You can’t tell them that dead peop
le are trapped here without scaring the hell out of them!” Mikal argued.

  “They aren’t trapped here! They stay in order to com-,” Indrid began, but Mikal didn’t let him finish.

  “To finish out their curse? Do you know how that would sound to a small child? Hell, do you know how that sounds to adults? We’re cursed because our ancestors made a mistake. I think we get it. Details about being trapped here on our death are unnecessary for the children to hear!” Mikal said, his voice rising in his anger.

  Indrid could feel the low hum of anger running through Mikal’s energy, and he knew that his son had much to say to him. He looked around them and noticed the hybrids had completely disappeared at some point during their heated exchange.

  Chance looked between father and son and felt it would be a good time to find the kitchen with the others. She stood and held her hand out to the Rylie and the others.

  “Let’s go find Charlie and Katie and explore a bit,” Chance suggested.

  Mikal and Indrid stared at one another while the women left the gazebo area and headed in the direction they’d seen Charlie and Katie taken earlier.

  “Tell me what is really wrong, son,” Indrid said when the females disappeared from view.

  “Where is my mother?” Mikal asked.

  Indrid sighed and sat down heavily near Mikal.

  “Her name was Shamira and she was a hybrid, like the ones here. Shamira was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen, inside and out. You were born shortly after our joining, and we were so happy,” Indrid said before he choked up and struggled to calm himself so he could continue.

  Mikal’s anger receded a little when he felt his father’s pain and love for his mother. He waited for Indrid to compose himself so he could find out what happened to his mother.

  Indrid cleared his throat and pulled himself together.

  “Part of our duties to this planet are to prevent those with the ability to travel the bridge in their mind from bringing back dangerous beings. I was hunting one such creature when we were attacked by a group of Relians,” Indrid said, chuckling at Mikal’s surprise.

  “We are not fools, Mikal. We may guard the bridge and this place, but we do know of what is happening on this planet. It makes it even more important for us to attend our duties. Anyway, your mother couldn’t shift, so I hid the both of you and led them away before killing them. When I returned, you were both gone,” Indrid said.