The Twelfth Keeper Boxed Set: Books 1-3

by Belle Malory

Twenty-Three

  The appetizing aroma of maple syrup woke Kennedy the next morning. After realizing she’d slept for seventeen hours straight, she dragged her stiff body from the bed and headed into the kitchen where Matilda set out a plate full of warm waffles covered in gooey syrup and powdered sugar.

  Kennedy couldn’t help but smile at the sight of all that food. Today was going to be a better day, especially if it started with waffles.

  As delicious as it was, she only picked at her plate. She should’ve been starved, considering nearly a full day had passed since her last meal. But she wasn’t. Matilda badgered her to eat more, warning her that her training schedule would be grueling. She did try to force some down, especially since the android had gone out of her way to remember what she liked eating for breakfast.

  On the bright side of things, Kennedy arrived at Level 3 on time.

  Still out of it, but on time.

  Ashley would’ve been proud.

  Just as Professor Mason told her, a short meeting took place in the lobby. One of the instructors gave Kennedy her schedule. She downloaded it to her brace and scanned the list of activities they planned for her.

  If she thought keeper training was anything like school, she’d completely missed the mark. Biggest difference was she couldn’t leave at three in the afternoon. Training was apparently an all-day thing, lasting until seven at night.

  And the first item on the list? A five-mile run.

  Awesome.

  That explained the spandex uniform and running shoes. She looked back over the list. Most of her activities were going to be physical. Hey, maybe it’s not such an awful thing, she thought, sighing. Maybe I’ll finally lose that baby fat for good.

  Positive feelings went straight out the door when she actually started running. First off, she hadn’t been sent to a gym. There were no treadmills to be found. A mile long loop that circled around Level 3 was where she’d be running. The same loop where she’d seen Deacon running with his regiment the day before.

  Kennedy tried to keep up the pace, but quickly realized it was impossible. The rest of the keepers had been training far too long. By the time she was done with her first mile, everyone else was on their third.

  It wasn’t long before she was drenched in sweat. At this rate, she wasn’t sure how she was going to get through all five miles. Her heart was already going to explode. Her lungs were heaving, about to collapse.

  It was painfully embarrassing each time another keeper ran by. She felt like crawling under a rock, except there were no rocks. Just an endless mile-long cement passageway.

  Kennedy’s steps slowed against her will. She wanted to keep up, felt like she needed to prove she wasn’t a lazy ass, but simply couldn’t. With each step, she got weaker and weaker.

  They’ll expect you to be slow, she thought, trying to reassure herself. This is your first day. No one expects you to be a track star.

  A hard knock into Kennedy’s shoulder thrust her whole body forward. She tried to catch herself, but lost her footing and slammed to the floor.

  Lying on the cement in a heap, Kennedy winced at the pain. She lifted her hands to see they’d been scraped bloody. Stinging beneath her uniform, her knees felt as if they’d shared the same fate.

  “Keep the pace or watch out!” Fang turned around to glare at her, her eyes slit into straight, scornful lines. She jutted her chin just slightly, then ran out of sight.

  Kennedy looked back and forth between her bloody hands and her twisted legs. What a pathetic mess. Tears sprung to her eyes, blurring her surroundings, but she held them back. She refused to cry.

  “Oh my,” said a familiar voice. “Here, let me help you, girl.”

  Alanna approached from behind. She wrapped Kennedy’s arm over her shoulders and helped her up. “You okay?”

  “I think so.” She wiped her stinging hands on her uniform, then tested the weight on each ankle, hobbling. Both were sore but neither felt broken.

  “What happened?” Alanna asked.

  Kennedy glanced in the direction Fang ran, seething. “Nothing,” she mumbled. “Guess I tripped.”

  “Your skin is too red. Looks like you been tryin’ too hard.” Alanna placed a hand over her arm. Kennedy felt like she’d been doused with a bucket of ice water. “Feel better?”

  She did. A million times better.

  “How did you do that?”

  “Your body is mostly water,” Alanna said.

  “Right.” Creepy. “Does this mean you can freeze people?”

  “Don’t know,” she replied, grinning. “Never tried before.”

  Good thing, too. It was probably a horrible way to go.

  Wow, Kennedy thought. If it was possible for Alanna to freeze people, it meant Colton could boil them. She shuddered, thinking that might be the more excruciating death.

  These people truly were weapons.

  On some level, it was a comforting thought, knowing people were capable of protecting Earth, that they actually existed. But Kennedy was here, living among them, acting like she was one of them. In the midst of real power.

  Forget in the midst, she was sitting on the damned throne! And she had no business being there.

  “Be best if I walk with you,” Alanna said. “Just ’til we get back to the trainers, so they can check you out.”

  “Okay. Thanks.”

  What had Lexie said her specialty was? Dirt and plants?

  “Hey, Alanna?”

  “Yes?”

  “If you and Colton can manipulate water—”

  “You can manipulate water,” Alanna reminded her. “Colton and I only influence it.”

  “Right. Well, if we can manipulate and influence water, what exactly can the other keepers do?”

  “You haven’t been told yet?”

  “Nope.”

  Alanna looked to the ceiling. “Where to begin,” she breathed. “Let’s see. You know our circle, you, Colton, and me, we deal with water. Well, it’s da same for the others. Three keepers belong to each element, water, fire, air and earth.”

  A girl ran by, a long platinum-blonde ponytail swishing behind her. Dominika Orlov, from Russia. Alanna used her as an example. “Air.”

  Other keepers ran by, and Alanna labeled each of them for Kennedy. “Dat one’s a Fire. Another air. Earth.”

  My specialty is geographical nature, Lexie had said. Meaning she controlled earth.

  It was all starting to come together now, piece by freakish piece.

  “So that’s how our planet protects itself,” Kennedy said. “With its own elements.”

  “Yes, girl. How are your legs? Still okay?”

  The fabric of her pants stuck to her knees, and the skin beneath them stung. But she was walking steadily. “I’m all right.”

  Alanna kept a tight grip around Kennedy’s upper arm. “Okay, but let me know if you need to stop.”

  “Sure.”

  She was nice, Kennedy thought. Alanna was really nice. It was going to be hard to think of the keepers as this separate, powerful entity, knowing some of them could be nice. She’d almost rather them all be like Fang. It would be easier to prove she didn’t fit in here.

  “How do you do it?” Kennedy asked. “How do you freeze water?”

  “You ask complicated questions.”

  No kidding. “I’m entitled to a few.”

  Alanna smiled, flashing a set of braces Kennedy hadn’t notice before. “True.”

  “So describe the process to me. You know, for training purposes. So I’ll know how to do it too.” She coughed, getting that last part out. Just saying she could do something similar to what Alanna could do sounded untrue. Like the biggest load of crap ever.

  Alanna didn’t seem to notice. “I don’t know how exactly.” She scrunched her lips to one side. “I guess I think of water as an extension of myself. I believe it will freeze and it does.”

  “Wow, that,” doesn’t help at all, “is helpful. I’ll try and remember that.” Kennedy c
leared her throat. “You know, for when I try.”

  “You haven’t already tried?” Alanna asked, her brows drawing together. “When I found out, I went to my pool and tried dat very night.”

  “No, not yet.”

  “Not yet?” Alanna’s was incredulous. “You were told you can move water and you’re not even curious?” She shook her head, clicking her tongue. “Somethin’s wrong with you, girl.”

  Agreed. There was totally something wrong.

  She was trapped in a place where she didn’t belong.

  ~ ~

  A small hiss escaped Kennedy’s lips. Dr. Sigly glanced up, looking mildly surprised by the noise. She swabbed alcohol on Kennedy’s knees with less pressure.

  “You don’t handle pain very well, do you?” The doctor’s words sounded more like an observation than a question.

  Kennedy answered anyway. “No, not really.”

  Dr. Sigly threw the red-stained gauze into a trash bin. “Good thing you don’t need stitches then.” She removed a tube from her desk drawer, uncapped it and applied a clear jelly-like substance to Kennedy’s right knee. “Liquid bandage,” she explained.

  Better to just look away, Kennedy thought. Dr. Sigly’s office felt cold and sterile, as if it were normally vacant. She wondered why the white walls and the empty desk didn’t have any pictures of her family or friends. The place was mind-numbingly boring and could use some sprucing up.

  Thoughts of family reminded Kennedy to ask about the telephone.

  “Telephone?”

  “Communicator, or whatever you guys call it. Isn’t there one on this level? One that connects to Earth?”

  “Oh. Right. Of course.” She cleared her throat. “There is one available, but it’s extremely expensive. Each resident is allowed eighteen minutes a month. And you have to be scheduled in advance.”

  Kennedy felt her face drop. Eighteen minutes a month. That wasn’t…much.

  “Is everything okay?” Dr. Sigly asked. “You look a little pale.”

  “Yeah. I just didn’t realize…”

  “That it would be limited?” she finished. “Unfortunately, that’s the way of it. I can schedule you, but I recommend you get a little more settled into training first. Perhaps allow some time to pass so you’ll have news to impart to your family?” She plastered on a smile for Kennedy, but it came across as obligatory. Bedside manners, or something. “Also, you’ll need to get a message to them, to let them know what date and time you’ll be able to talk.”

  Slowly, she nodded, trying to accept the inability to speak to her family on daily basis, the inability to speak to Hunter on a daily basis.

  Eighteen minutes. That was crap.

  Twenty-Four

  Knees and hands fully cleaned, sanitized and bandaged, Kennedy headed for her first class. She was going to be late but couldn’t help that.

  She pressed a button on her brace, looking over her schedule again. PLANET STUDIES AND RESEARCH was listed from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Taught by Professor Mason.

  Wonderful. After the way he reacted to her tardiness the last time, she could anticipate a worthy punishment this go-around. Something equivalent to being tarred and feathered, she was sure.

  At least the classroom wasn’t far; it was right off the main lobby. As Kennedy approached, a lively discussion resounded from inside.

  She debated whether or not to go in right away (What could a few more minutes hurt?) but decided against it.

  She pushed the door open as quietly as she could manage.

  Lexie’s voice was the first one she heard. Mostly because she was yelling. And by the looks of it, her ranting was directed at one Professor Mason.

  Interesting.

  “Enlighten us, Professor, because I’m sure we’d all be happy to hear this. If General Vickard and his assemblage of douchebaggery are not planning to send troops into Sae-yer territory, then what exactly are the plans?”

  Oh boy.

  Kennedy spotted an empty seat in the back. She tiptoed over and slipped into it before anyone noticed.

  “Do I look like an officer, Alexia?” Mason said, with a mixture of sarcasm and irritation.

  He stood in the front of the classroom, leaning against his desk. His arms were crossed, and he wore a miserable expression that said, we’ve gone over this before. “As much as I’d like to give you that information, you know I’m not privy to the general’s operations.”

  “And why the hell not?” she demanded. “We are protectors of this planet, in case you’ve forgotten.”

  “Believe me, no one’s forgotten.”

  “So tell us how the general is taking action. What has he done to keep our world safe from Sae-yers?”

  Kennedy puzzled over that word Sae-yers. She didn’t know it. Then again, the way Lexie said it, with such vehemence, made it sound like she was probably better off not knowing.

  “General Vickard does not take his job lightly. He’s taken many precautions over the last few years. He expanded the World Army, implemented the Peri-Guard—”

  “Fuck the Peri-Guard!” Books rattled as Lexie banged on her desk, startling everyone in the classroom.

  If everyone wasn’t awake before, they certainly were now.

  “Everyone knows that bullshit unit wouldn’t know a meteor shower if one flew past them, much less a Sae-yer ship.”

  “Okay, you’ve officially crossed the line.” Mason looked down at his brace. “I believe you’ve set a new record, Alexia, getting kicked out of the classroom and it’s not even ten.”

  “If you weren’t my professor, I’d call you an ass. Oh, what the hell, I’m in trouble anyway. Ass.”

  He pointed to the door. “Step outside. You know the drill.”

  Lexie grabbed her bag and marched for the back of the room. The door slammed shut behind her, echoing loudly.

  Wow. Big difference compared to the girl Kennedy met the other day.

  “I’ll be right back,” Professor Mason told the rest of the class. Lexie must’ve really worked him over. “By all means, talk amongst yourselves. Practice Nonan greetings. Be productive.”

  He walked towards the door, and then he was gone.

  “Hey, when did you get here?”

  She glanced up to see Colton sitting in the desk to her right. A giant bag of Night Brite lollies were on his desk, and his lips were glowing bright fuchsia. “At the tail end of whatever that was,” Kennedy said, wagging her finger between Lexie’s empty desk and Professor Mason’s.

  “Caught that, eh?” he asked. “Happens a lot.”

  “Sounded that way.”

  “Lexie’s very,” he struggled to find the right word, “passionate. I guess. Well, we all are. But she’s more vocal than the rest of us.”

  He used the word us in a way that made her feel excluded.

  It sunk down into her bones, separating her from the others. Colton was only making conversation; he didn’t mean to make her feel left out, but she felt the sting of it anyway.

  Because there would always be a them versus her.

  She might as well stamp the word outcast on her forehead, because that’s exactly what she was. At least until she could go home where she could mesh again with normal human beings.

  “Nite Brite?” Colton held out his rainbow-colored bag.

  “No, thanks,” she said. “I ate a big breakfast.” Which was true, but she really just didn’t want her mouth glowing all sorts of crazy colors on the first day of class.

  Kennedy scooted into her seat, trying to get more comfortable. “Can I ask you a question, Colton?”

  “Shoot.”

  “What does Sae-yer mean?”

  He stopped sucking on his candy. “They didn’t tell—”

  “No, they didn’t,” she said, already guessing what he would say. She had heard that question too many times over the last few days. And sheesh, by the way people around here acted, whoever “they” were should have told her lots of things. Perhaps given her a preemptive meeting,
get her up to speed on the on goings of Level 3. “It’s safe to assume I know nothing.”

  He frowned, looking like he didn’t want to answer her question.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, assuming she came across as offensive. Hunter had told her before that the way she said things often came out wrong. “Indirectly rude” was how he termed it.

  “It’s not you,” Colton assured her. “I just never imagined myself telling anyone about them. Explaining them—it’s really dark, grim stuff. The kind of stuff that makes you cling to your bed at night.”

  Admittedly, his words were chilling, but she didn’t let it show. “It’s okay,” she said. “I’m going to find out eventually anyway, right?”

  Colton stared at her, frighteningly lost. “Yes, but to tell you, Kennedy, would take away a lot of your notions about how the world works, how safe you believe we are, the innocence of living. You sure you’re ready for all that?”

  Kennedy tried reassuring him with a smile, but couldn’t muster one up. She went with being direct and straight-faced instead. “Tell me what it means, Colton.”

  He sighed, like he had hoped she would change her mind. “This is going to sound crazy.”

  She shifted in her seat.

  “Okay.” He veered his body to face hers. “China’s Great Disaster wiped out over two billion people. Killed them. Dead. Within seconds.”

  Colton needed to get out more if he thought that was breaking news. “Everyone knows that, Colton.”

  “And what do you think caused it?”

  “A toxic meteorite.” Or so she thought. But by the looks of Colton’s face, it wasn’t.

  “That was the cover-up story told to allow people to sleep without fear.”

  She swallowed. Okay.

  “An alien race killed them, Kennedy. Sae-yers.”

  Twenty-Five

  Kennedy stared at Colton, unmoving. She half expected him to elbow her in the side and say, “Just kidding!”

  He didn’t. He just sat there at his desk, staying very still. As much as she wished he was, Colton wasn’t joking

  An alien race demolished China. An alien race murdered two billion humans.