by Belle Malory
Phoenix’s stomach growled at the mention of breakfast. They’d been eating gas station food the entire trip for fear of stopping anywhere else. A real, home-cooked plate sounded amazing. They quickly finished getting dressed, then made their way back to the house.
“There’s only one route that leads here,” Davaris said, nodding toward the deserted road. “Keep a lookout for cars.”
Phoenix nodded. DOE officials would come, eventually. They knew all there was to know about every keeper, every last facet of their lives. Every school they attended, every house they lived in, every relative, every friend—Phoenix figured they knew more about his history than he could even remember.
Davaris had told him about his aunt and uncle on the ride from DC. Although he’d grown up in Detroit, he used to spend summers out here with his younger brother while their mom traveled for work. They were a very tight-knit family; Hamilton was the closest thing Davaris had to a father. His dad died when he was young, and spending the summers here meant the world to him. He didn’t want to get his aunt and uncle mixed up in this, but the land out here was a prime location to work the energy.
Once they were back at the house, they sat on the front porch steps to eat breakfast. Wyla was sweet but quiet. She handed them their plates, kissed Davaris on the top of his head, then went back inside the house without asking any questions.
“So where are we headed?” Davaris asked his uncle, before shoveling a big bite of eggs into his mouth.
“Picker Place.”
Davaris swallowed his food, a slow smile spreading across his face. “That’s perfect. You’re brilliant, Uncle Hammy.”
“What’s that?” Phoenix asked.
“An old abandoned trade market. It’s located right between Indian reserves and government property. It should’ve been demolished years ago; the place is falling apart. Extremely unsafe for anyone traveling through.”
“So we get the pleasure of demolishing it ourselves?”
Davaris nodded. “There are plenty of old warehouses with no one around for miles. It’s the perfect set up.”
“What about satellites?” Phoenix asked the two of them. “You don’t think they’ll pick up on the explosions?”
Hamilton shook his head. “The tribes established a privacy policy with the government long ago.”
Phoenix knew enough about government to know that certain branches didn’t comply with those type of agreements.
Davaris seemed to guess the direction of his thoughts. “The market is in a valley between two canyons. We shouldn’t be seen.”
Phoenix gulped his orange juice, growing more and more excited. The emotion got the best of him. He shook out his hand when he realized his palms were sparking.
“That’s been happening to me, too,” Davaris said, cracking his fingers. “It’s getting harder to hold back.”
Gritting his teeth, Phoenix sucked in a strained breath. The energy was like a ripple expanding inside of him, and stopping it felt like he was fighting his own biochemistry.
“Pretty soon we won’t have to, right?”
“Right.”
As soon as they finished eating, they headed out to Picker Place in Hamilton’s dune buggy. “I have to drive manual in this thing,” he explained. “So hold onto the side bars because the ride can get bumpy.”
Riding in the dune buggy reminded Phoenix of a roller coaster, especially with Hamilton behind the wheel. The man moved like a snail while walking, but driving was a different matter. The breakneck speed would’ve scared the crap out of most people, but he thought it was pretty awesome.
“It takes about an hour to get there,” Davaris shouted over the roar of the engine.
It looked like they were headed into the middle of nowhere. Good thing too. He wasn’t sure what would happen when he and Davaris finally got the chance to release Fang’s energy, but he was thankful no one would be around to get in the way.
They arrived a while later, dust flying up around the tires as Hamilton parked the dune buggy outside a myriad of rotting wooden buildings.
Phoenix looked around. There was an eerie ghost town vibe going on here. Gusts of dry, hot wind rattled creaky old doors. Every window in the building up ahead was shattered, a sign above the door read Picker Place Antiques and hung from one nail.
“This one should be good for your first demolition site since it’s not close to the other buildings,” Hamilton told them. “Let’s go through the place and make sure there’s no wildlife holed up inside. Afterward, well…I guess you boys can get to it.”
They checked out the building thoroughly, finding only cobwebs, broken boards, glass, and more dust. Then they walked back outside, circling the perimeter.
“Looks empty to me.” Davaris glanced at him, unsure. “Should we go for it?”
“Yeah.” Phoenix grinned, an idea coming to him. “I say we go at full force. Let’s not hold anything back.”
Davaris eyes rounded. “Full force? You sure about that?”
He nodded. “Why not? Aren’t you ready?”
“Yeah, but…I don’t know, man…what if we cause mass destruction?”
“Come on, we’re not that strong. We’ll stand way, way back. We’ll make sure your uncle is out of the way, and we’ll just let it all out.”
“Okay,” Davaris let out out a deep breath. “I’m letting you call this one. Let’s try not to blow each other up.”
Hamilton got back in the dune buggy and drove far enough away where he wouldn’t be caught in the crossfire, but close enough to watch.
Phoenix and Davaris stood back, about a hundred feet from the building. “You think this far enough?” Davaris asked him.
Phoenix stepped back a few steps more. “If we get too close, I’ll manipulate the explosion to go around us.”
Davaris nodded. “You ready, man?”
“On the count of three.”
They both turned toward the building and focused.
“One…” Phoenix said, his voice low and controlled.
“Two…”
They didn’t even make it to three before flames burst, the explosion splitting into the air like one long thunderclap. Phoenix was propelled upward. He braced himself for a hard fall; Nika wasn’t here to save him this time.
He landed on the ground with a hard thump, knocking the wind from his lungs. He gasped for breath, his ears ringing.
Holy mother of God.
He hadn’t expected the energy to shoot out of him like a rocket launcher. He coughed and turned onto his stomach, trying to see through the mass of flames and billowing smoke. His eyes stung and his whole body ached from the fall, but he felt supercharged, as if he had the strength of ten men.
“Davaris?” he choked out, worry sinking into his gut.
Please let him be all right.
Pushing himself up off the ground, he shouted Davaris’s name several more times before getting an answer.
“I’m over here, man. I’m okay!” Behind him, Davaris lay on his back in the sand, his face and arms covered in ashes. He watched as he slowly sat up, holding his head in his hands. “Are you good, Nix?”
“Yeah!” He looked down at his body, inspecting it for injuries. Something was different. His body felt like his again, except more powerful. He laughed, then looked back at the explosion. “I’m bloody well fantastic.”
Seventeen
“This is stupid.” Reagan crossed her arms over her chest while staring out the window. The outer walls in this part of Section 3 were entirely made of glass, a perfect place for stargazing.
Kennedy adjusted the lens of her telescope, focusing in on a far off asteroid. “You don’t believe in stargazing?” she asked her sister.
Reagan snorted and rolled her eyes. “No. Do you?”
Kennedy shrugged. “Maybe.”
There were a lot of things that she never believed in before coming here. She couldn’t write off stargazing as complete bullshit, not when her role as the twelfth keeper was
too bizarrely connected to astrology.
“I can’t believe Hunter of all people wanted to do this.” Reagan eyed the apartment door down the hall. “That stargazer didn’t even look legit. What was up with that long dress and all the metallic tattoos, huh?”
“No idea.”
Reagan continued to eye the door skeptically. “What do you think they’re talking about in there?”
“It’s a reading, Rea. They’re probably talking about Hunter’s future.”
Kennedy wasn’t as surprised about it, especially after seeing the changes in him. Everything about him changed, from his missing curls to the way he spoke, and the things he said.
“Well if that’s what he had questions about, I could’ve helped him out. Between his bad grades, the drugs, and Ava freaking Penbrooke, his future is going down the drain.”
Kennedy leaned close to the telescope, peering into the viewer. “You’ve summed it up real nicely, Rea, but we both know he wouldn’t have listened to you.”
“No, but he’ll listen to some two-bit stargazer who looks like she drank the crazy juice.” Reagan looked over at her curiously. “What are you looking at anyway?”
“An asteroid.” Kennedy leaned away from the viewer and enlarged the holographic manual she pulled from her brace, zooming in on the paragraph that described it. “It’s named Pallas-Athene. According to ancient mythology, Pallas was the protector of cities, the goddess of wisdom, and a warrior queen. Cool, huh?”
“They put all that grandeur on a floating space rock?”
“Pallas orbits the sun, just as Earth does.” Kennedy frowned when she looked over at her sister. “You could be wrong about stargazing, you know. Everything out there holds its own energetic pattern. The moon is also just a floating rock, but it’s powerful enough to control our ocean’s tides.”
“So?”
“So the human body is made up of mostly water. Who’s to say the moon doesn’t affect us?”
“That’s ridiculous,” her sister scoffed. “What are they teaching you in this place?”
“Reagan, I get that you’re logical, and you need scientific proof for everything, but some things are just beyond rational explanation. I’m not saying I believe in it, but I’m not saying I don’t either.”
“Sound conclusion, if you ask me.”
Both Kennedy and Reagan startled at the unfamiliar voice.
The stargazer was beautiful, but then most of them were. This one looked like something out of a fairytale, with her flowing silver dress and her pearlescent skin. Her hair was white-blonde, pulled up into a perfect bun on the top of her head.
“Kennedy Mitchell.” Hints of a smile played at her lips. “This is truly my lucky day.” She moved closer, staring. “I always wondered what meeting you would be like. Your eyes carry the depths of Neptune within them. Simply captivating.”
Behind her, Reagan choked on her laughter.
“Um, thanks,” Kennedy said, then glared at Reagan for being rude.
“I’m Calaya,” the stargazer introduced herself. “I used to consult with Phoenix, long before you met him. We often talked about you.”
Kennedy stilled. “Me?”
Phoenix had never mentioned that before.
She nodded. “It’s all in the stars, you know; as above, so below. Yours is a very powerful, fated connection. He never believed me, of course. But then, his mind works differently than yours. Much like your sister here, he needs tangible proof to believe anything.”
Kennedy pressed her lips together. Phoenix had never mentioned any of this. Before she could stop herself, she said, “How much do you charge for a reading?”
Reagan snorted. “Good grief, Kenn. Not you, too.”
Calaya said, “For you, nothing.”
“I wouldn’t feel right…”
Calaya waved that aside. “Oh, love, don’t even worry about it. Most of my clients are billionaires. Your reading is free because it matters to me.”
She hedged, shuffling her feet. “All right. If you’re sure.”
“Come along. My apartment is just a few doors down.”
Reagan plopped down by the window. “I’ll just be here waiting on the both of you.”
She ignored the frustration in her sister’s voice. “Hunter should be back soon. Research some stars in the meantime.”
“Whatever. I’d rather take a nap.”
Kennedy followed Calaya down the hall, Reagan still grumbling as they left. She felt bad for leaving her sister alone, but she had questions. So many questions. And yeah, for all she knew Calaya could be full of crap, but it didn’t hurt to listen. This mission weighed on her. She wanted some sort of sign. Something to let her know she was making the right decision.
“I don’t think this was a coincidence,” Calaya said, holding her apartment door open for Kennedy. “So if you have any direction you’d like this reading to go into, just let me know.”
It was dark inside, but something glowed up ahead. “Well, I was wondering…oh…my.” Kennedy’s mouth hung open as Calaya closed the door behind her.
Calaya winced. “I know it’s a little different, but it helps me work.”
A little?
This was not your average living room. There was no furniture anywhere, no screens, more floor to ceiling windows—all clearly set up to be a stargazer’s workspace. The floor was lit up with an astrological chart, divided into twelve separate pieces. If that wasn’t already incredible enough, a hologram of the solar system filled the room, the stars shining in miniature versions of the real thing, all of them orbiting around a small orange globe at the center.
It was spectacular.
“I already have your birth info,” Calaya said. “I’m going to plug it into my system so you can have a visual of what I’m describing. Ah, here we go. Take a look at the floor. This is your birth chart.”
Kennedy glanced at the floor, but then the stars started to shift. She watched as they moved and orbited around her.
“I’m recreating the sky to reflect how it was on the day you were born,” Calaya explained. “This is your energy, Kennedy. These were the forces at work as you took your first breath.”
“What does it all mean?”
“It’s a reflection of your talents, your weaknesses, your history.” Calaya moved to the center of the birth chart. “Astrology is both a science and an art. Anyone can draw up a birth chart, but not everyone has the ability to read it. For example, look over here. Your sun is in the twelfth house. The twelfth house rules what is hidden. It rules the subconscious, your intuition, compassion, dreams, secrets…”
What’s hidden. Okay…interesting. “But what does all that have to do with me?”
“Everything. It’s no surprise to me that as the twelfth keeper, you were the last to be found, nor is it that Fang was the first. She was made up of headstrong Arian energy that blazes straight forward. You’re made up of something entirely different. Your power lies in everything that can’t be seen.”
Kennedy tucked her hair behind her ear, staring at the chart as if it were made up of Egyptian hieroglyphics. She understood none of it.
“Let’s go through it together,” Calaya said.
Over the next hour, Calaya went over every aspect, describing the cycles of her life in better detail than she could. They talked about her father’s death, and how strongly it impacted her. They talked about her family and her home. They talked about how out of place she felt upon first moving to Olympus. Calaya said, “Olympus isn’t to blame. You will feel out of place no matter where you go. Because you’re so connected to the other side, living in the physical world puts a strain on your very nature.”
Kennedy twisted her brace, shifting uncomfortably. “I don’t know…I don’t feel connected to any type of spirit world, if that’s what you mean. I don’t see ghosts or have psychic powers.”
Calaya tilted her head. “Have you ever felt out of place even in your most comfortable environment? At home with your family
? Do your other family members look like you?”
“Well, no. But—”
“Do you have similar personalities?”
Kennedy slowly shook her head.
“And what do you dream about?”
That struck a chord.
Calaya’s eyes pierced into her knowingly. “Dreaming is part of the subconscious, remember? That’s how you stay connected. When you sleep, you forget the part of you that is human.”
“Actually, I have had some weird dreams lately…” Kennedy told her about the dreams of future Phoenix, and the fear she felt about the possibility of them being real premonitions. She described each one in detail. After she was done, Kennedy asked her if they meant anything.
Calaya thought about it for a few moments. “Trust your intuition. If it felt real, then it was.”
That wasn’t what she wanted to hear. She’d rather stick her head in the sand and refuse to believe in the possibility of Phoenix getting lost in some distant star system.
Denial was easier. Much easier.
She really wanted those dreams to be meaningless. Weighing that against the possibility of them being real hindered her instincts.
Calaya studied her face, frowning. “Would you rather not receive any messages?”
Kennedy shrugged. “Hypothetically, let’s say they’re real. What’s the point if I can’t do anything about it? How can I change the future, if the future has already happened?”
“Maybe you can’t change it. Maybe you can. Who knows. The point is that you can receive messages from the future. And if you can receive them, you can send them.”
Hmm.
She never considered that before.
“How?”
Calaya shrugged. “That’s something you have to figure out on your own. What I can tell you, is that the stars show you gaining strength. Whatever path you’re currently on, it will be transformational.”
She chewed on her lower lip, wondering if this was about the upcoming mission. Is that where the strength came from?
She decided to tell Calaya about it. “My department is sending me to visit another planet to learn from their keepers. I’m torn about whether or not to go. That’s actually the main reason why I wanted this reading. I guess I was hoping you could tell me if the stars have anything mapped out for me.”