Lycan Legacy - 4 - 5 - 6: Princess - Progeny - Paladin: Book 4 - 5 - 6 in the Lycan Legacy Series

by Veronica Singer

  "We're not going through Fae ," I said. "Aside from the danger, I don't like it there. There's a fairytale cat that has a beef with me. And I have no idea how the different laws of physics would affect this equipment we’re going to steal. My last cell phone never recovered from my last trip through Fae ."

  Mike looked at the weapon he had stripped from the body of our attacker. "I wouldn't want to be around if one of these things malfunctioned."

  I nodded agreement. "I'll just have to work out the spell to make two Earth locations congruent."

  Mike picked up the silver-bullet railgun and started strapping the battery pack to his back. "Okay. I'll hold them off to give you as much time as possible."

  "I might get done before they arrive on this level," I said. Although it would be a close thing. Mike just nodded and continued checking out his weapon.

  I picked up a marker and stepped over to a white-board and started scribbling the combination of math and magical symbols that represented a spell.

  After several minutes I had a rough idea of the shape of the spell. Then I drew a picture of our two worlds, adding in velocity and vectors for our current position on Earth. The globe that represented Fae had a much smaller array of numbers.

  "Why doesn't the second sphere need those parameters?" asked Ashton.

  "Because the Fae world is tidally locked to her sun. She doesn't spin like Earth does," I answered automatically. Then I shook my head in disbelief. "Can you read this, Ashton?"

  "The notation is unconventional, but you're obviously trying to overlay a hypersphere over two or more locations on a pair of 3-spheres."

  "Exactly," I said. "I just need the correct set of coordinates to match the locations, then I can use the coin to create a portal that makes the two locations congruent."

  "It's a straightforward calculation," said Ashton. "But you've got things that don't really exist in your formula." He pointed to another line. "What the hell is the 'square root of the sum of m times e times r?'"

  "That's the square root of summer; it's a vector in four-space," I said.

  "What?"

  "Think of it as the inverse function of the square root of winter," I said.

  Ashton seemed entranced by the math. He murmured as if recalling a fading dream, "I had a mathematics professor at MIT. He showed his advanced students equations like that. It was weird; it was like the math only made sense while he was teaching. We tried going over the equations in study group, but nobody but me even remembered the class."

  I paused and examined the equation. Damn, I couldn't use lunar magic for this. I would have to use earth and fire to compensate. I crossed out the moon and scribbled in some new forces to balance out the equation.

  I barely heard Ashton's comments as I completed the math.

  Despite his scoffing and disbelief, Ashton's kvetching had given me a few ideas on how to complete the calculation. I had the parameters of the spell set up by the time our enemies started pounding on the door.

  I hastily wiped the board clean and prepared to invoke the spell.

  "Hey!" said Ashton. "I was getting that math."

  "Shut up and pick up that transit container," I said. I pointed to the gray plastic container that held the device that had overridden my car to cause the crash. I had hopes that Mason might find a way to counter this method of attack.

  Ashton hesitated, and Mike casually pointed the railgun at him and raised an eyebrow. Ashton hurriedly slung the strap of his computer bag over his shoulder, then bent over and grabbed the container by the steel handles, grunting with effort when he stood.

  I nodded my thanks to Mike, held the coin between sweaty palms, and descended into a light trance. Invoking the spell was easy. Now that I had calculated the locations, most of the energy required was provided by the portal coin Mason had created.

  "Oh my god," whispered Ashton. "There's a hole in mid-air. That's not physically possible. They must be pumping a hallucinogen through the vents." He giggled nervously. "Is that a hole in space to Mars? It looks like Mars."

  "No," I said, "that's Nevada desert. Well, I hope it is. Go on through, Mike."

  "No, I should be last through to cover our retreat." Mike gestured with the railgun. "You go first, Ashton. It's perfectly safe."

  Ashton was mumbling as he walked toward the portal. "You know, if your math is off, there's a non-zero chance I'll be turned inside out."

  "That's why you're going first," said Mike as he put the muzzle of the railgun on Ashton's back.

  Ashton shook his head and said, "What the hell, this is all a hallucination, anyway."

  Then he stepped through the portal. He stumbled forward a few feet and dropped the case to the ground.

  "No explosion of guts," said Mike. "Your turn, Luna."

  I stepped through and my ears popped with the difference in pressure. The hot desert wind was comforting after the air-conditioned chill of the underground facility.

  Mike stepped through and turned back towards the portal. "Luna, can you squeeze the portal down so it's just a bit larger than my weapon's barrel?"

  Through the portal, we saw the large vault door move. I relaxed the force holding the portal open until it was a three-inch-diameter hole in the air.

  Mike stuck his barrel into the tiny portal and activated the railgun. The combination of no gunpowder and no way for the sounds to come back made the weapon eerily silent. Only the recoil that shuddered Mike's body showed the force spent by the weapon.

  Mike didn't use up all the ammo, leaving a small amount in the loader. He pulled the weapon out of the portal and I closed it off, separating us from our enemies.

  Mike turned around, held the railgun muzzle up and flipped the safety, then powered down the backpack.

  He heaved a huge sigh of relief, then asked, "So, Luna, if we're not on Mars, where the hell are we?"

  23

  "We're about two miles from the Moonrise mines," I said, pointing south. "If we hike about two miles that way"—I pointed west—“we'll be on the main road. We can get an Uber from there."

  I stepped up to Mike and placed the portal coin around his neck, slipping it inside his shirt. "Thank you, Mike. We couldn't have escaped without your coin."

  "Don't you have others?" he asked.

  "Yes, but I don't carry them around. It would be like carrying the Mona Lisa in my purse. They're much too valuable to leave unattended."

  "You might need to start carrying one," said Mike. "They make getaways easy."

  "Setting up a jump takes a long time. You saw how I had to do those calculations. Mason can do those on the fly, but I can't. We were lucky I had time to calculate a short jump. A longer jump would have been impossible."

  Ashton plopped down on the container he had dropped. "Why the hell did you shoot up the room we left? Everyone was already dead."

  "Confusion," said Mike. "Now the room is trashed, all the equipment is shattered, and the bodies are shredded. It'll take them days to figure out we aren't there anymore. Hell, they might think one of the railguns malfunctioned and killed everyone."

  Ashton shuddered at the mention of "shredded bodies" and changed the subject. "Why did you bring us out here? Couldn't you have ported us to someplace nicer?"

  "This is one of the few places I had coordinates for." I could have explained ley lines, celestial alignments, and the localized magnetic eddies that made this location usable, but he probably would think I was bullshitting.

  "Let's get going," said Mike. "Ashton, you get to carry the case."

  "What? For two miles? This thing is a two-man lift."

  "What's a 'two-man lift’?" I asked.

  "Anything over fifty-five pounds," Mike explained. "It's a safety rule. Which we routinely ignore in Special Forces. Like for this backpack; it weighs over a hundred pounds when full."

  Ashton nodded smugly. "See! It's a safety rule. We can just leave the case here and send some grunts to pick it up later."

  "No," I said. "We need to
examine this and find a way to counter it."

  "Well, I won’t carry it."

  I stepped over and grabbed the handle of the case, jerking it out from under Ashton and dumping him on the hot sand. "Fine. I'll carry the case and you can stay here."

  Mike did something complicated with the strap on the railgun and ended up with the rifle section attached vertically to the backpack portion, freeing up his hands. He reached over and took the case from me. "No, only an idiot would force a pregnant woman to haul this case through the desert."

  Mike looked at Ashton with disdain. "You're on your own. If you can't pull your weight, we don't need you."

  We were about twenty feet away when Ashton pulled himself to his feet, puffing with exertion. "But you do need me! I know all your secrets. I know Luna is a w…" Ashton's voice trailed off, and he had a puzzled look on his face. "I know you broke into our secure…" Once again, his voice trailed off as memories faded.

  "Do you feel confused, Ashton?" I asked. "Maybe the hot sun is getting to you. We'll leave you here to take a rest. Someone might come for you, eventually."

  I turned and started walking away. Mike instantly followed, his steps quick and light, even with the backpack and the equipment case.

  We were about twenty yards away when Ashton called. "Please don't leave me here!"

  "Will you pull your weight?" asked Mike.

  Ashton stumbled forward, face red with embarrassment. "I can't carry that case."

  Mike turned away and started walking. Ashton jogged up beside Mike and bent over to grab the handle on the other side of the case. With a grunt he stood and lifted so he and Mike were both carrying the case.

  "But I'll help," said Ashton.

  Mike glanced at me, and I nodded. We'd let Ashton try to carry his weight.

  He was sweating in two minutes but persisted. After a half-mile he shook his head, making sweat fly, and said, "Hey! I remember now! The math, the facility break-out, the magic, and the fact that you're a monst—"

  At my glare, he stopped, then continued, "Not entirely human."

  "Better than human," said Mike. "Luna's a saint."

  "Mike, you know I don't like that kind of talk. I'm no saint. Anyway, you're the one who prayed the demon away."

  "That wasn't me," said Mike. "That was the power of faith."

  Ashton interrupted. "I don't believe in faith. There's no such thing as faith, magic, or the super—" He halted as I popped my claws. He held his breath until I retracted them.

  I expected Mike to get angry at Ashton for mocking his faith. Instead he laughed. "Good thing my faith doesn't depend on your belief. 'There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.'"

  "For a religious person, you didn't hesitate to kill that soldier at the base," muttered Ashton.

  "I'm a warrior. Anyone who points a weapon at me gets what they deserve. Sure, I regret killing that man, but he tried to assassinate Luna and me with this gadget"—Mike raised his end of the equipment case—"and when we hunted him down, he pointed a rifle at me." Mike heaved a sigh. "I'll pray for his soul during mass. My next confession will be strange."

  Ashton was silent as we walked, head down and mumbling. Finally, he looked up with a grin and said, "I figured it out! It's a proximity effect."

  "What's that mean?" asked Mike.

  "The memory thing. Why I could only understand the magical math when the professor was around." He pointed at me with his free hand. "Why I can tell that Luna isn't human when she's near."

  I nodded, and he grinned smugly. Then he turned wistful. "I wish I could tell somebody."

  "They’d just say you're crazy," said Mike. "Sometimes I think I've gone crazy."

  The trek through the desert took over an hour, because of Ashton's slow progress, but we finally made it to the road—dirty, covered in dust and sweat, but intact.

  "Okay," I said as we reached the edge of the road, "we just need to call—"

  "Our phones are trashed, remember?" said Mike. My magical EMP had destroyed our phones.

  "See," said Ashton triumphantly, "that's why I let you come with me. My phone works."

  "I could just take your phone," said Mike. "And leave you here."

  "No, no! We're a team," said Ashton. "Let me call an air-conditioned Uber to pick us up."

  Ashton poked at his phone for a minute. "Okay, I can get us a van. What's our destination?"

  "The Galleria Mall at Sunset," I said.

  "Why?" asked Mike.

  "I need to eat, I need to clean up and get new clothes, and we need to show up on someone's security cameras a long way from Nellis."

  "Are you sure you don't want to just go home?"

  "If Mason sees me like this, he might drop a mountain on Nellis. Most of the people on that base are innocent. We killed those directly involved in the assassination attempt. I don't want that on my conscience."

  While we waited, Ashton commented, "We need a cover story."

  "Why?"

  "To explain what we were doing out here in the middle of the desert."

  "I've never needed any cover stories before. Most people mind their own business," I said.

  "It's that memory thing that protects you," said Ashton. "People might not remember you, but they'll remember me and Mike."

  "It doesn't work like that. People don't forget me; they just explain the weird stuff as coincidence."

  "We still need a story," insisted Ashton.

  Mike nodded, so I said, "Okay, whatever you want. You going to tell them we're stranded astronauts who crash landed here?"

  "No, that's silly. I'll think of something," said Ashton.

  Within twenty minutes, an Uber van stopped. A short woman, black hair in a pixie cut, exited the van. She looked us over and shook her head. In her hand was a cell phone.

  "I can't take you," she said.

  "Why not?" I rubbed my pregnant belly. "We really need a ride."

  "You're covered in dirt and you're carrying weapons."

  Ashton surprised me when he said, "Oh, this? This is all fake. Makeup and props. I'm a film student in LA. We're shooting a movie, but our four-wheeler broke down a couple of miles away from here."

  "A movie?"

  "Yeah! We were shooting out there because it looks like Mars." Ashton lifted his side of the case with a grunt. "Our truck broke down and then we had to drag the camera equipment and the props out here to the road."

  The woman relaxed, and her finger dropped from the phone screen. Then her face hardened as she looked at my belly with suspicion. "Is that a fake belly?"

  "Oh, no! This is real. We're expecting twins in two months." I took her hand and placed it on my belly. One twin chose that moment to kick.

  "You're seven months pregnant and running around in the desert for a movie?"

  I gave her my ditzy smile. "It's my big chance. I was so lucky Ashton had a role for a pregnant homicidal killer who turns into a wolf. It's like they wrote the role for me. It hardly took anything to convince my husband to finance the film."

  "You movie people are crazy. My daughter went to LA to try to get an acting job." She blinked back tears. "We haven't heard from her in months."

  "I can look her up when I get back." Ashton gave her a sincere look. "I could probably give her a small part in this film." He looked to me for approval and I nodded. "A paid part at SAG rates. I've got room in the budget for two or three more roles."

  The driver suddenly smiled. "A paid role? She would be so happy. Let's get you nice people out of this heat. My name's Suzanna Denton."

  She popped open the rear hatch. Inside were a couple of mover's blankets. She pulled them out and gestured for Mike to put the case and his ‘props’ inside.

  "I'll put these on the seat so your makeup doesn't ruin my upholstery." She insisted I ride in the front with her because it was the most comfortable seat.

  Once we were seated and the cool rush of the air-conditioning started, Suzanna looked back at Ashton an
d asked, "Where do you want to go?"

  "We need to go to the Galleria Mall in Las Vegas, just like I put in the app."

  Suzanna shook her head and looked at my belly. "I remember what it was like. Do you need to make any stops before we get there?"

  "Thanks for asking. I would love to find a bathroom and get a drink."

  "Great, we'll make a quick stop at a gas station first, then head towards Las Vegas."

  One long pee and snack break later, we were back on the road. I had picked up a cheap prepaid phone in the store. We were still a long way from Las Vegas, so I needed to call Mason to let him know what was going on. I dialed the number from memory.

  "Hello, Mason, how are you? We had a bit of car trouble this morning, but everything is fine."

  "Hi, sweetheart. Do you want me to come and get you? It worried me when you didn't show up for lunch."

  I shifted to Fae, "We were attacked, but Mike and I handled it."

  A long pause. "That sounds like a 'good news, bad news' sentence. What's the bad news?"

  "Marcus is back."

  "Shit." Another long pause. "I knew we should have stuck together. Where are you?"

  "Near the mine, heading back to Las Vegas."

  "How did you end up way out there?"

  "I don't want to talk about this over the phone. Can you meet us in the Galleria Mall in about an hour? We can have a late lunch."

  "Okay, but I can get you there faster."

  "I have guests with me, no magic. We're in an Uber. We'll see you there at about three."

  I could hear the frustration in his voice. "We should probably bring your pack's beta. Do you want me to call Christopher?"

  "No, bring Logan. He's got experience with Marcus."

  When we arrived at the mall, Ashton paid for the Uber with his credit card and I handed him a stack of cash to reimburse him. The way Suzanna's eyes followed the transaction gave me an idea.

  "Suzanna, I don't want to lug those props and cameras around the mall. Could we hire you out for the rest of the day?"

  "I really need to get a few more trips in today to make enough for my next car payment."