Revenge: The Gray-Matter Chrolicles: Book 1 (The Matter Chronicles 4)

by P. G. Thomas

  Grabbing it, after John opened a cupboard door, he pushed it inside with a dozen more. “They thought they could drink me under the table, being so young, but they didn’t spend four years with dwarves. Left them puking on the front yard, again.”

  “Are you still going to have a liver when you are, oh, I don’t know, twenty-five?”

  John smiled, “It was a challenge that brought out the dwarf in me.”

  “Anything else come out? Like your lunch, small intestine?”

  “No, most of those kids have only been drinking a year and only domestic beer. You have no idea what I would pay for some of that dwarven beer with the honey in it.”

  Opening up the cupboard, Eric began to count the drinking trophies stuffed inside, “So, what happened with Lauren?”

  “I don’t know. I received the call about an hour ago, and there’s an Amber Alert out for her triplets. When I went to the police station, Lauren just tapped my Ironhouse ring.”

  As John went to take the coffee to the others, Eric stood in silence. What? Ironhouse?

  Setting the tray of coffee and mugs on the table, John looked at his three friends. Lauren, her dark hair now cut short, the purple streak forever vanquished. Having grown a few inches over the years, putting on a few more pounds, she was no longer the little school girl from the bus on that fateful day. She was now a young lady standing five feet eight inches, weighing around 120 pounds. He remembered how she fought so hard against accepting the role of an Earth Daughter. An unassuming schoolgirl one day, and the next, the weight of an unknown land filled with a fleeing population, and the mysterious problems thrust onto her shoulders. Even though it had failed to kill her, it came close several times. Once she accepted the Earth Mother mantel of responsibility, of how she fought so hard for the children of Mother, her divine benefactor. Even killing over 200,000 soldiers of the invading armies, but in the end, she saved the lands of Calicon. Recently, three little daughters had kept her busy; Samantha, Hope, and Brooke, but that was before this day had begun. In high school, she was called the Purple Princess, but in Calicon, she had several names; Earth Mother, Moth Flame, and Thorn, but when they arrived back home, she accepted a new title; loving wife of Ryan, and last year, it was upgraded to include her new role: mother.

  Ryan had a different nickname for her: my love. A year after they returned from their strange adventure, he had married Lauren. Their parents, thinking they were too young, were unable to stop the true love that had grown, so in the end, they embraced it. Lauren, having just finished her college diploma, discovered she was pregnant, and Ryan was in the last year of university. To make ends meet, they worked part time at the company owned by Lauren’s parents, and both families helped them through their young struggles.

  The scars from Ryan’s accident had faded away long ago, but his love for Lauren had grown more intense. Before the strange accident, he was unable to even talk to her, as a rift that exceeded the distance between the Sun and the Earth separated them. A year before the bus accident, he had been on a date with Samantha, Lauren’s sister, that ended with a brutal car crash, resulting in her death. Even though the police cleared him of any wrongs, it never made it right with Lauren, and she had continued to blame him for the injustice of that night. When they were in the lands of Calicon, an exceptional change happened, as the mystical place recognized a rarity in Ryan: titanium, a unique metal that attracted magic. As a result, the world healed and rebuilt him, but the rage at seeing Lauren in trouble fueled the machine, which he now contained. With the new abilities, he could reconfigure his body as needed, allowing him to help save the people, shattering the curse that had haunted him, and to win his true love. After the car accident, the kids at school had called him ‘Frankenstein’ because of all of his scars, but he was looking forward to when children would call him a different name, ‘Daddy,’ spoken by his three young daughters. In Calicon, they called him the Unnamed, but Lauren called him ‘pushover,’ as all she had to do was ask, and he would do whatever was necessary to see her smile.

  Logan was the same size as Ryan, five feet nine inches, 160 pounds or so. At twenty-one, he was the same age as the rest, excluding Ryan, who was one year older. There was one other; his fraternal twin Lauren, who was several minutes senior and would never let him forget it. His hair was now cut short, no longer the tangled mess that everybody had joked about birds nesting in, and his appearance presentable. His interactions with the Bastards in Calicon had led him into the world of social work so he could help care for the less fortunate. With some help from John, he was graduating at the top of his class. Before the bus accident, he took great satisfaction in pushing Lauren’s buttons, but after having the divine entity known as Sister pull his strings for four years, he realized what he had done. Even though he expressed no regret, he now understood. Words and numbers still continued to challenge Logan, but in Calicon, he could control fire and water, like a blacksmith who had mastered hot iron. It was the sky elves who had named him Sister’s Voice, but it was the divine entity herself who had given him the title of Bastard.

  Then there was Eric, ‘Mount Eric,’ the one that towered heads over the rest. Six foot eight now, 240 pounds. A sports prodigy who, during his first game of university football, sustained a concussion so massive, he was never able to play again. John had encouraged him to get a full scholarship, instead of an athletic sponsorship, which Eric was thankful for. When released from the hospital, he switched his major to sports medicine, and with the help of John, he was one of the better students in the class. In Calicon, he was the Champion of the People, but it was the elfin Earth Mother who had called him carnage and genocide: a storm of death. Lauren, as the Earth Daughter, had issued an Earth Bond to make the six-foot long sword, forged by the four-foot tall Ironhouse dwarves, serve Eric, but it was not a relationship of raptures. The sword she named Tranquil Fury was much more than that, and its intent went beyond restoring peace to the troubled lands. Its purpose; to learn the meaning of life through death. At the final battle, it was Eric that rode out alone, greeting the black-clad army of Darkpaye, teaching them a lesson they would never forget. In those strange lands, he found his place in this world, realizing his height had little value, as he now measured his worth by the size of his heart—because he was now a dwarf.

  “What happened?” asked Eric.

  Pushing back the tears, Lauren took a few deep breaths. “I was sitting in the park, rocking the stroller back and forth. The triplets had just fallen asleep, so I pulled out a book, and when I reached out to the stroller, it was gone. Looking down the path, I saw a portal with the stroller rolling into it, but the ground was flat. Before I could stand, the portal winked out, and I screamed. Everybody was looking at me, but nobody could see the triplets. As I was running out of the park, somebody must have called the police. I was trying to get home, but they stopped me. The police started to question everybody, wanting to know where the triplets were, but I didn’t know what to say to them. My cell phone was in my purse, which was in the stroller. What could I say?”

  Before anybody else could speak, John quickly interjected. “Did you say anything to the police?”

  She struggled to maintain her composure, “Just that I wanted to talk to my lawyer, and they finally took me to a phone. That’s all there is. When a portal opened up, my children disappeared into it. John, what’s happening?”

  On the drive to his office, even though John had prepared himself for her explanation, the simplicity of it caught him off guard. He struggled to make the connection between the kidnapping of the triplets and Calicon. Because, in-between those two worlds, there was a portal similar to the one he had generated, which shocked him into silence. Is my machine responsible for this? Am I?

  “Did you see anybody in the portal,” asked Ryan, “like Mirtza or Gayne?”

  “No, there was just a room.”

  As Lauren had been talking, Eric pulled a small bottle out of his coat pocket, which he had brought to toas
t their friend Zack. Even though six had traveled to Calicon, only five had returned because of their families. Zack, born into a world of adoption and foster homes, had found what he wanted the most in this world—on a different one. Cracking the seal on the gin bottle, Zack’s favorite breakfast beverage, Eric half-filled his cup and took a drink. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

  “Just stop for a second,” Logan interrupted, “My nieces are—they’re in Calicon? A portal?”

  Nodding her head, Lauren fought back the tears. “It looked just like that night when we stepped back into our world outside of the diner. The same, a portal to Calicon.”

  Logan reached for the bottle of gin, “They’re not on Earth? In Calicon?”

  Lauren started to cry as Ryan pulled her to his chest, “John, how do we get there? I want my daughters back.”

  “I checked the star charts when we came home, and I don’t know where Calicon is. Even if I could build another machine, we don’t have the magic to power it. Somebody must have—only Mirtza knows how to operate it, and he wouldn’t.”

  “What do we do?” asked Eric.

  John began pacing around the office, hoping to avoid both the questions and intense looks from his friends, but when he heard a knock at the door, without thinking, he opened it, “Steve?”

  It was the detective, “I took your advice, counselor. There’s an arrest warrant waiting for your client at the police station. Let’s go.” Steve pulled the pen from John’s pocket, “It might not be admissible in court, but I know you’re all crazy. Portal, what next, alien abductions?” As one hand pulled out an earplug, “Yeah, it’s a transmitter,” the other reached for his firearm, “Are we going to do this the easy way, or the hard way?”

  John clenched his teeth, “Sons of a bit—”

  The lights flickered when a bolt of lightning exploded in the stormy night.

  Steve pulled out his two-way radio, “Dispatch, send up the support units. I have five to take into custody.” Putting it back, he pulled out his handcuffs. “Lauren, walk over here, and place your hands behind your back because I’m taking you in.”

  She cast a glance to John, wiping away her tears, “Do I have to?”

  He nodded, “Right now, yes. Do what the detective asks, as we don’t want to make this worse.”

  As Lauren stood, so did Ryan and Eric.

  Seeing the look in Ryan’s eyes, Steve withdrew his firearm.

  “Ryan, don’t do something stupid,” began Eric. “Listen to John, and once we get her out on bail, we’ll figure this out. Just stay calm.”

  Trying to hold back her sobs, Lauren gave Ryan a kiss on his cheek, pushed him back into his chair, and then let the detective restrain her.

  As the handcuffs snapped closed, a great crack of thunder erupted overhead, and an even louder bang sounded from outside. The lights flickered but came back on.

  Taking a few steps back into the hall, Steve pulled out his radio, moving towards the stairs. “Dispatch, dispatch, do you hear me? What’s the ETA on my back up? Dispatch? Dispatch? Are you there? Do you read me?” He put the radio back into his pocket, “Its dead, so I guess we’ll have to go to them.”

  Another clap of thunder erupted, immediately followed by another massive detonation from outside. The fluorescent lights flickered again, exploded, causing the emergency lights to engage. While it startled everybody, Steve, standing beside the stairs, lost his balance. Leaning the wrong way, unable to recover, they all heard his horrific screams of pain when he tumbled down the flight of stairs, followed by the sounds of his gun, as it continued its journey down to the next level.

  Pulling out his smart phone, John turned on the flashlight app before racing down the stairs. “I think the building was hit by lightning, twice. The first one may have broken the grounding cable so don’t touch anything metal.” He looked down at Steve, “Are you hurt?”

  As he tried to push himself up, Steve’s head arched back, his teeth clenched, groaning in pain, “I think I broke my hip.”

  John scanned his lower torso, “I think you may have also broken your left knee.”

  “Damn cheap implants. Crap, this hurts!”

  “Eric, Logan. Help me straighten out our broken dick!” He heard them chuckle in the dark. “Let’s see if we can make him more comfortable. Ryan, help Lauren down the stairs.”

  After easing Steve’s pain, John turned off his flashlight app and then dialed 911, but once again, lightning struck the building, being so loud, that it was almost deafening. Another explosion caused the emergency lights to short, casting them into complete darkness.

  “Sons of a bitch,” began Steve, “this is one Mother of a storm!”

  In the dark, nobody saw Lauren smile, or heard the words she whispered, “Please let it be you.”

  John looked up at the dark ceiling, “It must have hit a rooftop transformer or an air conditioning unit.” Trying to get his cell phone to work, it was unresponsive. “There must have been a static discharge that knocked the cell towers out.”

  Then they heard, “Can’t we just leave?”

  John shook his head, “No, Logan. We’ll wait until help arrives and then go down to the police station to get this cleared up. Everybody just remain calm and get comfortable. Does anybody have a light?”

  From behind John, a small light appeared, like a candle, but its location was outside of the building. As the rest watched in amazement, it started to move, growing brighter.

  Then all heard Lauren exclaim, “Mother, thank you!”

  Chapter 2

  John’s eyes went wide, “Mirtza, is that you?”

  Holding up a candle, an old man of seventy years, maybe more, and the days had been unkind to him. With a thick gray beard hanging from his chin, deep lines etched his face. His cheeks and eyes were sunken, and the arm that held up the light source looked skeletal. The silent figure set the candle down, rummaged through his black robe, and pulling out a small ceramic jar, he quickly rubbed some of the contents onto his ears, lips, and throat.

  “John, John Ironhouse. How did you get here?”

  Holding out his hand for the jar, John applied the translation ointment like first shown so long ago before passing it to Eric. Helping Mirtza to stand, he then hugged him, “Are there any lanterns?”

  Shuffling his feet over to a bench, Mirtza picked up several large crystals, placing them into a gold candle holder, that filled the room with light. It was a workshop, or what used to be one, as aged cobwebs hung from the corners, and thick dust covered almost every surface, except for the worktable beside the old man.

  “Do you kids know this homeless vagrant?”

  Eric looked down at Steve, “Shut up!”

  Confusion echoed from Logan’s voice, “Where back in Calicon?” Rolling up his sleeves, he looked at his bare forearms, “There wasn’t a portal!”

  “John, what the hell is going on?” asked Ryan.

  “Are the triplets here?” asked Lauren.

  “Damn!” The surprise even registered in Eric’s voice, “Any ideas, John?”

  As their eyes became accustomed to the light, Lauren and Ryan began staring at the back of the room, looking at a rusty stroller built for triplets, but covered in cobwebs so thick, it looked like a prop from a horror movie. With her hands still secured behind her back, Lauren went to it, knelt down, and began to cry uncontrollably. Beyond the rust and cobwebs, moisture, rot, and bugs had eaten most of the metal and fabric, leaving a ghastly image of what looked like a zombie stroller. On the bottom rack, covered in more dust, sat Lauren’s purse. John’s focus, however, was his machine sitting in the middle of the room; the one he had built to take them home.

  Ryan helped Lauren to her feet, wrapping his arms around her, letting his shirt absorb her tears, and wishing there was some way he could absorb her pain.

  Then everybody started talking at the same time, asking questions, but in the small room, all of the words became a gigantic ball of noise.

  “EVER
YBODY SHUT UP!” Eric turned to Mirtza, “Where are we?”

  “In the Bright Coast. This is Gayne’s basement,” replied the tired voice.

  “Son of a motherless goat—” Eric bent down to Steve, “The key! Now!”

  “No, she’s a wanted fugitive!”

  “Not here. Now give me the key, as we have bigger problems than you right now. If you don’t, I’ll just knock you unconscious and take it!”

  “That would be an assault on a police officer!”

  “No, I have five witnesses that’ll say you showed up unconscious, so give me the damn key!”

  “Can’t do it, kid.”

  Eric knelt down trapping one of Steve’s arms, pinning the other, and then he rifled through the detective’s pockets until he found it, which he raised over his head.

  Grabbing it, Ryan undid the restraints and walked them back over, “Maybe we should handcuff him, so he can’t cause us any trouble. Then gag him, so he’ll shut up!”

  “The guy can’t walk, so I don’t think he’ll give us any problems. Mirtza, is there someplace bigger we can talk?”

  “We can go upstairs, as Gayne is absent and the house is empty.”

  Eric sighed, “Ryan, Lauren, help Mirtza up the stairs. John, Logan, see if you can find a blanket so we can use it to carry…,” He then looked down at the detective, “Steve?” The prone officer nodded. “Get a blanket so we can carry him upstairs.”

  Ryan’s anger was beginning to show, “Leave him. We can come back later.”