AIR Series Box Set

by Amanda Booloodian

  “Let's double check. Leave him to stew a bit.” Logan left the room without another look back.

  I watched the man for a minute before heading back to the control room. He had the answers and there had to be a way to get them out of him.

  Back in the control room, things were chaotic. Barry was back. He looked worn from his short foray into the field. He stood at the monitors with Kyrian, watching for more portals. The tech had a display of where the portals had arrived. Nothing new was showing.

  Hank, too, looked like he had run a marathon. His tie was undone and he slumped in a chair shuffling paper work.

  “We need a list of the missing Lost,” Logan said as we walked up.

  “It's in the file,” Hank said without looking up.

  “We think someone might be missing from the file,” Logan said.

  I sat down at the desk next to us, logged into the system, and started looking up the information.

  “There's no one missing from the file,” Hank said.

  “The man knows an elf when he sees one. Gotta be something there that we missed.”

  Hank looked up at Logan. “No offense, but you have giant ass ears. If I had never seen an elf, I'd still guess you were one.”

  “He knows we exist,” Logan looked intense, “and he hasn't seen my ears. It's not like I go around wearing them in public.”

  Without thinking, I drew up the Path. My head pounded and blood rushed in my ears. They must have had the portals up and running in the basement levels. Even from the main floor, two stories above, I could see the Path curve down. Individual Paths were dragging low to the ground as if gravity affecting the Path had increased tenfold.

  I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. The pounding stopped and I opened my eyes to look at my partner. Logan's anger was muted by worry. Outwardly, he kept himself in check, but I could see his anguish over the thought of a missing kinsman.

  “Logan,” I said, “I'll work with Hank. Will you call Jonathan and ask him to look in on Gran?” Hopefully hearing his family would calm his nerves.

  Logan nodded and walked away. Hank and I watched him leave. Looking back at Hank, I saw his concern reflected in the Path.

  “We haven't seen anything about missing elves,” Hank said quietly.

  “I see that most of the Lost in the area have been contacted.”

  Hank nodded. “MyTH helped us out there.”

  Something else stirred in Hank's Path as he opened a file on his computer. I watched as gray streaks stretched around him. Looking around the room, I saw that others had similar traces in their Path. Barry had dark gray wrapped around him as he talked to Kyrian. As Kyrian left the room, I saw that she had thin tendrils of gray so dark that they appeared black.

  Two men from another team approached Hank. They too bore the marks. Guilt? Anxiety? Over the day’s work, no doubt. Not for the first time did I wish I could read my own Path. How much guilt was I wearing from the day? We lost Vincent today. I told myself repeatedly that he'd be back, but he was still gone. Nothing could change his sacrifice.

  Hank cleared his throat. “It's, ah--- well, I'm sorry about today.”

  I took another deep breath and dropped the Path. The only response I could muster was a nod. I turned my attention back to the computer and started poring over the notes from MyTH.

  “We should call and check to see if MyTH has found anything new.”

  Hank cleared his throat again. “Yeah, I'll follow up. Make sure they've heard from any elves in the city.”

  Logan walked up with Rider while Hank was on the phone.

  “Everything okay at home?” I asked.

  “Yeah. Jonathan, Susan, and Gerald are over at your place. They're going to sit tight for the day.” Logan was visibly relieved. Now that he knew his family was safe, he'd be better off.

  “Everyone else is accounted for,” Hank said as he got off the phone. “Listen, I probably shouldn’t say anything, but we have to consider this.”

  “Consider what?” I asked.

  Hank looked uncomfortable. “The timing of the guy downstairs waking up.”

  We stood staring blankly at Hank, waiting for him to fill in the blanks.

  Hank sighed. “I told Barry about the prisoner. He remarked on the timing of Vincent disappearing.”

  “No.” I shook my head. I wasn’t even going to entertain that thought. “Vincent said it would be days before he woke up. It’s been two days.”

  “I thought you all would want to know,” Hank said watching Logan.

  “Thanks for the heads up,” Logan said. He watched as Barry headed our way. “Time to head back down to interrogation, then.”

  “I'll go with you,” Barry said. “Did he give anything up when you went down there?”

  “He knew Logan was an elf,” I said. “That's the only thing we got from him.”

  Barry nodded. “I'll go down there with you. Rider, you help Hank out.”

  The three of us ran into Kyrian as we headed to interrogation.

  Barry frowned and pulled Kyrian aside. “I thought I asked you to oversee portal transfers.”

  “I'm on my way down to sub level two now.”

  Barry nodded and watched her leave before heading once more to the interrogation room.

  “Cassie, let us know if you see anything in there,” Barry said. “Maybe it will throw him off guard.”

  That was not what I wanted to hear. Reading the Path would drive me to collapse, but I nodded. I took a few deep breaths and opened myself up. Barry didn't know of the changes to my power, and I wasn't about to offer anything. I did want to make sure that I held back the roaring tide of the Path before we faced Seth.

  Logan didn't bother with the fake smile when the three of us entered the room.

  There was no preamble. “I want to walk,” Seth said.

  Logan laughed, leaning forward in his chair. “That doesn't happen here. We can make sure you see the light of day every now and again, though.”

  “And if I get to prison and tell the world what they've chosen to ignore for so long?” Seth said.

  “You'll look like the cell block crazy,” Logan said.

  “And if I tell you where the freaks are? Where they all are?” the man asked. “I'd say that's a fair deal for a walk.”

  “And you want us just to let you go. Let you at them again?” Logan's voice rose.

  “Cell block crazy it is, then,” Seth said.

  Logan's laugh became condescending. “You getting to see the light of day was the deal. You tell us nothing and we're sticking you in a deep hole.”

  This was getting us nowhere. The Path only showed that the man was pissed off, but we could tell that by looking at him. I brought up a feeling of safety and trust and I struggled with the emotion. It didn't pour out of me so much as seep out. The emotion pushed at Seth’s anger. The new emotion wrapped around the man and clung to him. Logan looked at me. I nodded.

  “Let's start with your name,” Logan said.

  “Henry Smith.”

  Muddy sparks popped into the man's Path. I took a guess at their meaning.

  “He's lying,” I said.

  Logan raised his eyebrows at Seth.

  “Great. Another freak. It's Seth Grouse,” Seth said.

  I didn’t comment when Logan looked my way, unsure if he was telling the truth or not this time.

  “This is what happens when freaks and demons get involved in business,” Seth said.

  “Let's talk about that involvement,” Logan said.

  Seth leaned back as far as his cuffed hands would allow. “You're not getting anything else out of me.”

  Logan kept talking, but got nowhere. I worked myself into exhaustion trying to make the guy trust us. Nothing worked.

  Dragging myself out of the chair was difficult. I uncuffed Seth from the table, ready to take him back into a holding cell. Barry opened the door.

  “Excuse me, Director.” Kyrian was walking up the hallway. She looked us ove
r. “Did things go well here?” She glared sharply at our prisoner.

  What was she doing here? My brain was foggy from lack of sleep. A sharp pain erupted in my lower abdomen. Seth elbowed me in the diaphragm and delivered a strong uppercut straight to my chin. I toppled over. He pulled my tranquilizer gun.

  Logan reacted quicker than Seth expected. I could see Seth's face, but not Logan's. Seth's face paled and his gun wavered as he turned to shoot my partner. I’m not sure what he saw in my partner’s face. The fight would be over almost as soon as it began.

  A deafening shot filled the room. Seth fell to the floor. Loud whistling in my ears, caused by the gunshot, muffled out the voices.

  I pushed myself upright against the wall. Kyrian held her gun. She looked too afraid to drop it. Barry calmly talked to Kyrian. He slipped in beside her and took her gun. Logan didn't bother to look at Barry or Kyrian. Instead, he came over to me. He handed me my gun and looked me over. He nodded and then checked Seth's pulse. I could tell by Logan’s reaction that the man was dead.

  What happened? Oh, shit. Is this my fault?

  Chapter 24

  The blood pooling on the floor would never reach me, but I wanted to get away from it all the same. The ringing in my ears quietened as I pulled myself from the floor. Barry and Kyrian were talking outside the door.

  “Call the cleaning crew to come down here,” Barry said.

  “I killed a witness.” There was fear in her voice. “Did you get anything out of him before...”

  “We got a name, but nothing else. We'll spin it for D.C. It will turn out.”

  Barry and Kyrian walked away.

  My face started to swell. I sat down at the table opposite where Seth lay.

  “I'll wait on the cleaners.” My voice sounded foreign, dull and listless. Had I really caused all this? Our one witness was dead on the floor because I got distracted.

  “Listen,” I swallowed and took a deep breath, “about what happened in here. There are no excuses. I am so sorry I let this happen.”

  “I have a feeling this would have happened to any of us.” Logan tried to look through the one-way mirror.

  “Doesn't matter,” I said. “He got my gun and aimed it at you.”

  “Even if he had shot, I would have taken him down before the drugs kicked in. He wouldn't have gotten to the other side of the table.” Logan ran a hand through his hair. “Never got the chance to stop him, though.”

  “This doesn't look good for Kyrian,” I said.

  “It doesn't,” Logan said. “She killed our only witness.”

  I lowered my voice. “Lethal force seems out of character for her.”

  “Unless she has something to cover up.”

  I shifted in my seat and looked at Seth's lifeless body. “Do you think she's behind this?”

  Logan shook his head. “It's suspicious, but we don't have any evidence. Let's keep our eyes on her.”

  We heard noises down the hall and halted our conversation. I stood as someone pushed the door fully open. The cleaning crew had arrived.

  “Let's get you upstairs,” Logan said.

  I raised my eyebrow at him.

  “Injury-induced altercation at work. We're off to see the doctor.”

  I had seen the doctor way too much lately.

  Rider found us soon after Dr. Yelton gave the order to go home and get some rest. I wasn't going to argue with that order.

  ***

  Everyone was already up when I made it downstairs the next morning. Rider and Logan were in the kitchen.

  Gran patted my cheek when I entered the kitchen, and then cupped her hand over mine. “It sounds like Vincent knew what he was doin'. You've gotta trust in that. I'm sure he'll be home soon.”

  There was worry in her eyes. I tested the air around her as she left. Still blocked. Maybe tonight I could sit down with Gran and really explore what was going on with her. I could tell she was uncomfortable.

  Rider gave me a worried look as I grabbed my coffee.

  “That man hit you yesterday and you still have a bruise on your face. Should that still be there?” he asked.

  My hand immediately went to my face. The bruise was an ugly purple. “It'll fade in time,” I said.

  “But, why is it still there?” he asked.

  “Humans are a bit more fragile than werewolves,” Logan said.

  I frowned at him. I hated the idea of being called fragile.

  “I'm amazed,” I said to the room at large, “that with all of the events of yesterday, there were not more people hurt, and no one seems to have seen anything.”

  “So, yesterday seems to have caused some confusion and kept you all busy,” Rider said, “but caused very little damage over all.”

  “But why?” I asked.

  “Maybe if we start with what could open the portals, it would help us find out why,” Logan commented.

  “Okay, so what opens a portal?” I started. “We know they happen naturally from time to time, when the energy builds up in an area, but that is obviously not the case here.”

  “Witches can open a portal,” Logan added with a cowboy twang, “but there needs to be a lot of them working together to build up enough energy to open one.”

  “In my world,” Rider said, “they are on lines of power. The lines are always strong enough to open a portal, but someone needs to guide that energy to one spot on the line to open it. It only takes about two or three people to open a line. One to open it and one or two to direct its energy, ensuring that it opens where we want it to open.”

  Logan nodded thoughtfully. “In my world, it took one person to open it and direct it, but that person couldn't be the one walking through. The energy is stored in certain materials. We build up the energy reserves over time, so a portal can be ready to open when we want it to. The materials we use are attuned to certain worlds, so direction can't be changed. For instance, the cloudy blue crystal I used to come here wouldn't take me to Rider's world or the centaur world, only to here.”

  “We've gathered information from natural portals. Our office portals use electricity to open when we need them to,” I said. “A computer can use that information to direct the portal. When I first started, they mentioned something about vibration resonance. I didn't really understand it all, but Hank told me it was kind of like dialing into a radio frequency, only using vibrations.”

  “That's a lot of worlds that were dialed in today,” said Logan.

  “But they seemed random,” I replied.

  “Random would be easier than on purpose,” Logan added.

  “But there was no power source, at least not that I could see. Well, downtown had electrical lines and transformers.” I mulled that over. “Most sites were away from everything though. Do we know if there was electricity near all the sites?”

  “Not where the gremlins came in. We were lucky there wasn’t metal around,” Logan said.

  “Can portals be opened remotely?” I asked.

  Rider shrugged, but Logan thought the idea over. “Possibly, since there doesn't seem to have been a guide. A power source is missing. These portals were apparently random. Hank said the gremlins came from two different portals. Even the numbers seem to be random. Two in some areas, while only one in other areas.”

  “But when two were close together, they came from the same place,” Rider added.

  “Maybe something in the area is attuned to those worlds,” I suggested. “We can check the historical data to see if any other natural portals have popped up in those areas over the years.”

  “Could explain the random locations,” Logan mused. “Possibly the energy as well. Let's say that a natural portal bridged this world to the gremlins in the past, somewhere around this location. The energy would have flared in the area and died away. Much like we saw on the screens this morning. It probably would have happened in both worlds, but what about the area in the middle?”

  “You mean between the worlds?” I asked.

  “Had a
chance to talk to Vincent some about the area between the worlds. The company doesn't know much about it, but as a Walker, Vincent's been there. The way that he described it made it sound almost like Wonderland and Hell all rolled up and thrown into space. It wraps itself around other worlds and portals bore their way through it. The thing is, once a portal bores through it, the ends close and the tunnels sometimes remain,” Logan said.

  “Vincent mentioned this?” I asked.

  “Not in so many words. But with what he described and with what I know about portals, it might be possible. I wish he was here so we could get some more information,” Logan said.

  I looked around the room, once again hoping to see Vincent walking around a corner.

  “If I'm right, though,” Logan said, “it may only take a spark of energy to open the line.”

  “That was a lot of sparks at once,” Rider said. “Who could do something like that?”

  “Cassie here probably could, if she learned to control the Path in multiple areas at once. Vincent might be able to with his expertise. Other creatures could as well. Certain elementals, demons...” Logan's voice trailed away. I shivered at the thought of demons, but shoved the memories back down into the shadowy depths of my mind.

  “Is there a way to control demons?” I asked. “Our prisoner seemed to know one.”

  Rider spoke up, “You said it yourself yesterday, Cassie. You have to know their weakness.”

  “Some demons have slipped into our world in the past,” Logan said. “If someone actually brought them here, and found a way to exert some control over them? Well, it's possible they could have opened random portals.”

  I couldn't sit still any longer. I started washing out the coffee pot and cleaning the counters.

  “Could one of those-- one of those things have blocked Gran?” I asked. My hand trembled as I scrubbed the counter down.

  “Also possible, but someone local could have done that as well, maybe without even realizing it. She doesn't work for the company, but anyone inside the company would know that your Gran comes up with some pretty spectacular stuff,” Logan said.

  I froze. “Someone inside the company?” I asked, tossing that idea around. “I don't like the sound of it, but you're right. Kyrian has acted a bit strange.”