Obscure, Mosaic Chronicles Book Seven

by Pearson, Andrea

  Nicole’s feet were yanked out from under her, and her head slammed against the dirt. Pain shot over her scalp and between her eyes. She yelped as her face was bounced against the floor—she was being dragged across the dirt toward a huge Agarch.

  Panic overwhelmed Nicole. She struggled against it, struggled to break free, but couldn’t. She didn’t know whether it was because she was physically weak from her fall or because the Agarch truly was that much stronger.

  Jacob grabbed her arms, trying to stop her from being dragged more, and Nicole felt magical pulses spread through the room as the Aretes began attacking.

  The root-like appendages that had snaked around her ankles loosened. The Agarch turned its attention to the four Aretes who had sprung into view.

  The walls around them began shivering and shaking. The hard-packed dirt above started falling.

  A sudden whirlwind burst through the room, spreading dust everywhere. Nicole shielded her face, knowing what she had to do—find the talisman. Coolidge was right. That was the most important thing, above helping her friends.

  She turned just as the woman Arete shrieked and dashed across the room, holding a gnarled club above her head and swinging it at Nicole.

  Nicole rolled to the side. She rolled the other way as the insane woman attacked again.

  The third time the woman tried to attack, Jacob had his pole out, and Nicole fully realized why the guy had chosen the robes he wore. When he spun, she felt insane amounts of magic bursting from his robes and flowing through his body, ending at a point near his eyes and head. He grew visibly stronger, larger. His attacks were more purposeful, and soon, the woman was cowering on the floor. Nicole stared at her—why hadn’t she used her Arete powers to stop them?

  The Agarch and Nicole’s friends continued battling, their magical attacks flying through the air. Water poured in through the dirt, then was stopped by a howling, shrieking wind. Fire roared on the pillows, but dirt dumped down on it, suffocating it. Nicole couldn’t tell who was controlling what—the pulses were going everywhere.

  The Agarch seemed to be evenly matched with the four Aretes. It also seemed to be distracted.

  Time to find the talisman.

  Trusting that her friends would be okay, Nicole sneaked from the room and leaned against the wall, just out of sight, in an empty hallway. She closed her eyes, concentrating on the magical pulses that surrounded her. It was impossible at first to separate what was going on behind her from the magic that came from objects, but finally, she was able to do so.

  The talisman’s pulse led down the hall.

  Nicole dashed that way, slowing just before the hallway opened into the big room lined with doorways. Cloths fluttered in those openings, stirred by the magical attacks still going on behind her. She prayed her friends would be strong enough to continue distracting the Agarch.

  She prayed they’d be strong enough to save themselves, if it came to that.

  Then a thought occurred to her. She could use the talisman! This was the Water talisman, which, according to Lizzie, meant it would be able to hide them. She didn’t know how it worked, but hoped it would be strong enough to literally hide them from the Agarchs.

  The pulse coming off the talisman directed her to one of the openings on the right. Nicole glanced back, looking at the one she’d come through, memorizing the orange color of the blanket that covered the doorway.

  She turned again, following the talisman’s pulse into a narrow, dark hallway. It was way too small for Agarchs. It must be for humans.

  She walked quietly, carefully. It had been hours since she and the others had seen the Silver Arete digging in the fields.

  At what she assumed was the end of the hallway fluttered another blanket, this one black. Nicole slid it to the side by a fraction of an inch and peered past it. The Silver Arete was slumped on a pile of pillows, his head in his hands. An expression of intense pain was etched on his face, illuminated by the single torch on the wall opposite him. Nicole hesitated. What could she do to help him? He was obviously miserable.

  “Hey,” she whispered.

  The man jumped and whirled, then nearly passed out from the effort of his movements. He fell against the wall behind him.

  Nicole rushed to his side, grabbing his arm, keeping him from dropping. He shied, pushed her away.

  “What’s wrong?” she said.

  The Arete glared at her. Hostility flowed through the room and Nicole wondered if she’d made a mistake. He didn’t want her here. She swallowed. Despite his gaunt looks, he was probably dangerous.

  She held her hands up. “I mean you no harm,” she said, feeling a bit silly for saying something so cliché. The man wouldn’t know the line came from countless books and movies back on earth, though. “I only want to get the talisman.”

  The Arete stared at her. His face was expressionless. He couldn’t understand a word she was saying, and she had no idea what was going on in his mind. The hostility was still there, though.

  She was wasting precious time. She pushed outward with her magic, trying to find the talisman. It was pulsing from beneath the cushion where the Arete had been sitting.

  She wondered what role this man had played in the surprise attack.

  Nicole pointed to the cushion. “I need to take it with me.”

  The man’s eyes narrowed when he saw where she was pointing. Still, he didn’t say anything—his mouth hadn’t opened once.

  Nicole took a step closer to the cushion.

  The man jumped at her, but Nicole was ready. She pushed a gust of wind at him, flattening him against the wall. She was surprised at how easy it was. A bit of guilt overcame her, though, when she took in his shape—he was so malnourished. It reminded her of pictures of Holocaust victims. She couldn’t believe anyone survived through situations like this.

  It didn’t take much energy to keep the Arete in place, and Nicole lifted the cushion, finding the talisman where she knew it would be.

  Nothing held it there and she pocketed it, then glanced at the Arete. His eyes showed shock and surprise mere moments before the mask was lowered again. What was he shocked about?

  “I wish I could help you. And if I can, I promise I’ll come back . . . or I’ll send someone back. You don’t deserve to live this way—no one does. It’s inhumane. Horrible.”

  She stepped backward cautiously, carefully. Her back bumped against the wall near the doorway, and she slid across it until she was able to step into the hall.

  Nicole turned and fled the way she’d come, mentally commanding some of her powers to hold the man in place as she raced to the door outside of the room where she’d left her friends.

  She peeked inside. The woman was unconscious on the floor. Coolidge was moaning, collapsed next to her, massive amounts of blood pooling beside him. Dave and Elyse were unconscious, lying across cushions. Jacob was gasping, holding his stomach, rolling on the floor just on the other side of the huge Agarch, which was facing Nicole.

  It didn’t seem to notice she’d returned—it was shaking, shivering. It wasn’t until this moment that Nicole spotted Austin perched on the Agarch’s back, pulling its antennae, squeezing, doing who knew what to stop the beast from attacking and killing people.

  Nicole released her hold on the Arete, calling all of her magic back, hoping she could do some damage before the man found them. She racked her brain, trying to remember anything she could about Agarchs from when she’d worked around them in Arches National Park well over a year ago.

  Rain. The rain had brought the fossils back to life. In which case, a lack of water should do damage.

  She didn’t have a lot of time before she would max out on her powers. Given the fact that she wasn’t even close to mastering her Water abilities, Nicole combined her efforts—she forced as much wind into the room as possible, commanding it to chase the water away from the Agarch, while at the same time pulling water from the beast.

  That got the thing’s attention.

  It
seemed to pull another well of strength from inside when it realized it had a new enemy. Nicole could tell it was close to being defeated, and she marveled at the strength of her friends who were now in such desperate conditions. She’d never guessed that four Silvers could actually take on an Agarch.

  Austin slid off the back. “Don’t do that, crazy woman!” he shrieked.

  Nicole didn’t have time to wonder why he was freaking out before she was picked up by tentacles and slammed against one wall, then another.

  Dazed, she shook herself, trying to get up.

  “Lady, stay where you are!” Austin screamed. “I almost had it.”

  No, he didn’t. If Austin couldn’t remember who she was, it meant he was close to passing out. If he used even a bit more of his power, he probably would.

  Nicole realized she’d need to take a different approach. This time, she feigned unconsciousness while gathering her powers. Wood. Was there any wood? She couldn’t pull water from the Agarch, but maybe she could force wood, dirt, and air inside it. Dry it out from the inside out. It wasn’t exactly an animal and it wasn’t exactly a plant—but it needed water to survive, she was sure of that.

  She built up all the materials she could, then while Austin was still pulling antennae and the Agarch was stumbling on its root-like feet, Nicole was searching the alien for an opening—any opening—where she could force her elements. She found one at the top. It would have to do.

  As fast as she could, Nicole whipped the dirt, dust, bark, and air into a frenzy, directing it to the Agarch and swarming the thing with the little bullets of clods and wood.

  The Agarch shivered. Nicole dumped her concoction over the alien, feeling as it entered what she assumed was the Agarch’s mouth, then filled the monster’s every passageway.

  The beast collapsed, nearly landing on top of Coolidge, then rolled over, crushing Austin, who shrieked out in pain.

  “Austin!” Nicole leaped across the unconscious woman, circling the Agarch. “Are you okay?”

  “No, woman—get away from here. Can’t you see how much danger we’re in?”

  “Yes, and we need to get everyone out.”

  She bit her lip, looking at the people who’d been injured. How was she going to do it? Jacob was nearly incapacitated.

  Just then, Akeno entered the room.

  “Oh, good—help me!” she said

  “That’s what I’m here for,” he whispered, glancing around. “I can’t help much, unfortunately. If we can get them into a big-enough space, I could shrink them—that would make transporting them much easier. But until then, we’ll have to drag them out.”

  Nicole nodded. The Agarch shivered as she and Akeno pushed it as hard as they could, freeing Austin’s leg.

  “It’s busted,” Austin said, cradling it.

  Nicole didn’t respond. She pushed her hair out of her face, then turned to Akeno. “Can you enlarge a door anywhere in this place?”

  “Yes, but it’ll be small.”

  “That’s fine—do your best.”

  Akeno disappeared for a moment, then reappeared. “It’s in the hallway.”

  Nicole motioned to Jacob. “Help me get him out there first. He has to open the way.”

  They dragged Jacob down the hall to the door.

  “Jacob, can you hear me?” Nicole asked.

  He didn’t respond.

  She turned to Akeno, knitting her forehead. “What do we do?”

  Akeno had his finger against his potted plant. “Not this—we don’t have time. The Agarch is calling for more. They’re on their way.”

  Nicole wrung her hands. What were they supposed to do? “How much time do we have?”

  “They’re in another compound, from what I can see in this Agarch’s mind, but we don’t have much time. Maybe five minutes.”

  “Can you shrink them enough to make it easier for us to carry them?”.

  Akeno nodded. He sprinted to the end of the hall, then turned, reached his hand out, and made a pinching motion with his fingers. Jacob disappeared from where he lay next to Nicole, reappearing in Akeno’s arms about the size of a two-year-old.

  Akeno cried out in pain.

  “What’s wrong?” Nicole asked.

  “It hurts me, picking up things that are too heavy for my one arm to hold. I can’t shrink things with both arms. Just have to prepare better for the sudden weight.”

  Nicole blew the wind from her lungs. “Okay. Give him to me.”

  Akeno handed the still-unconscious Jacob over, and Nicole put him in the room with the Silver. She wasn’t shocked to find the Silver sitting on the cushion. He turned glazed-over eyes to her, then shook himself. When he realized who was visiting, he glared, but made no move to harm her.

  Nicole set Jacob on the cushion next to the Silver. “Don’t touch him,” she said.

  The Silver stared at Jacob, a surprised expression on his face. She wondered what he was thinking. He was probably shocked to see someone who was a full-grown man, but only a couple of feet tall.

  Somehow, she instinctively knew this would be the last place where the Agarchs would think to look. They must hold humans in disdain, and that would be on her side.

  Nicole raced back to the room where her friends were. Dave and Elyse were just coming to, and Austin was lying beside them, fanning their faces. His own needed fanning, but Nicole could tell he still had no idea what was going on or who these people were.

  She rushed to help Akeno with Professor Coolidge.

  Elyse groaned, then sat up, one hand on her head. She saw Nicole and Akeno, and stumbled to her feet to help.

  Between the three of them, they were able to get Coolidge beyond the curtain, where Akeno was able to shrink him.

  Same as before, Nicole raced Coolidge to the Silver’s room, praying that moving Coolidge around wouldn’t kill him. She set him on the cushion.

  The Arete growled at her. Nicole sensed his anger building again. She didn’t blame him, but knew it was misplaced.

  He could cause damage to her friends if she left him alone again. Nicole swept out with her magic and grabbed a wooden chair. She quickly dismantled it, then used it to hold the Arete to the wall. It would last longer than wind, especially if he tried to fight back.

  Nicole gasped when she sensed the Agarchs approaching. She couldn’t ordinarily feel them. Were they trying to intimidate her and her friends? That was very likely.

  Hurrying quietly, cautiously back to the Agarch’s room, Nicole pulled the talisman from her pocket. She stared at it, trying to figure out how to get it to work. Was she supposed to command it? Heat it? She didn’t know.

  Dave had come to, and between him, Elyse, and Akeno, they got Austin out into the hall where Akeno was able to shrink him, then Elyse, who was close to passing out again. Nicole picked them both up, feeling weird about carrying her boyfriend, especially since he still had no clue who she was. Rather than getting angry, he cried out in pain, his voice several octaves higher than usual, when she accidentally jostled his leg.

  “Sorry, Austin,” she murmured.

  He grumbled in response, then cried out again.

  He was making way too much noise. Nicole knitted her eyebrows, hating that she needed to do this to him. She sent a tendril of magic to his vocal chords, commanding them to be silent. Immediately, his cries of pain disappeared, and she was able to place him in the Arete’s room with the others.

  By the time Nicole headed back again, she was winded, exhausted, panicked. The Agarchs were streaming through the main door, their anger evident—pushing outward, flooding over her.

  Akeno met her halfway to the Agarch’s room, holding Dave. “Can’t get the Arete woman,” he said.

  Nicole shook her head. “Won’t be able to help her today.” She took Dave and led the way to the Silver’s room. “I have an idea,” she whispered when they got there. “You tell me if it’ll work. It’ll require a lot of effort on your part.” She rushed to continue. “You’ll shrink people over and o
ver again until they all fit into Minya containers.” She held her breath, waiting to see what he’d say.

  He bit his lips. “I’ve never done something like that before,” he whispered.

  “Do we have a choice?” she asked. “Is there anything else that would help? We need to hide. We can’t get away from here without Jacob’s help, but he’s far too injured to do anything, and there’s no way we can carry everyone.”

  Akeno held up his hands. “I’m not disagreeing with you—what you’re suggesting looks to be our only option, other than waiting it out in here, where we’ll eventually be found.” He glanced at the Silver and dropped his voice. “Or turned in.” He looked back at Nicole. “I’m just not sure it won’t kill them in the process.”

  “Do you have Minya containers here?” she asked.

  “Enough for everyone, aside from me.”

  “Good. Let’s get to work.”

  Akeno nodded.

  He stood on the far end of the room while Nicole positioned all the injured people opposite him. Austin’s face was red with anger—he was totally and completely ticked off at her for making it so he couldn’t talk. But she didn’t care. It was necessary.

  Akeno began shrinking them one at a time. First, Coolidge, since he was the most injured.

  The Arete’s room was very small, and by the time Coolidge was in Akeno’s hands, he was only a foot smaller. Nicole took the professor from Akeno and ran him to the other side of the room while Akeno shrank the next person.

  Back and forth they did this, shrinking each person until everyone was small enough to be tucked into a Minya container.

  Nicole gently touched Austin’s head as she laid him inside. She smiled at his irritation. “I love you,” she said before snapping the container shut.

  Akeno handed her a rubber band. “That one broke last time we used it. You’ll have to use this to keep him from falling out.”

  Nicole glanced at Akeno in shock. “Holy cow—how’d you guys figure this out? Who was the lucky person?”

  “Early was in it. She fell, yes, but because she can fly, it didn’t hurt her.”

  A sudden pulse burst through the room, washing over them. Akeno and Nicole both turned, facing the entrance to the Silver’s room.