by Peter Telep
“I think Solomon was forced to recruit her, the same way he has to recruit me. She’s powerful, and they wanted her as a mask, but they didn’t think she could fight back. But she can. And now that’s driving them all crazy.”
Keane nods.
“Can you do a me favor?” I ask. “Can you get Joshua and the rest of the caravan to meet us here?”
“Why?”
“Just do it.” I glance over to Meeka. “Will you and Steff jump with me back to the Hall? We’ll stay connected.”
“Why are we going back?” she asks.
“Will you help me or not?”
She makes a face, grabs Steffanie, and together, we make a jump—
Right into my father’s hospital room. Joshua’s doctor is with him, and she steps out to give us privacy.
“What happened?” my father asks.
“Julie showed me as much as she could, but you’ll fill in the blanks. And not just for me. For everyone.”
“Doc, you need take this one step—”
“No, I’m done listening! I tried to be a good son. But you keep on lying!”
I glance over at Grace’s empty bed like it’s a grave.
Seeing this, my father grows more defensive: “You don’t understand—”
“Yes, I do!” I lean toward him. “You jump to the Hood right now. Do you hear me?”
The girls look shocked.
My father hesitates, his cheeks glowing red. But then he closes his eyes and says, “Okay. I’m there. Waiting for you.”
I grab Meeka’s hand, and Steffanie grabs mine. We return to the Hood and cross over to the sectional, where Joshua’s caravan gathers around us, along with the man himself. My father stands beside him, nodding, as if he already knows what’s about to happen.
Meeka squeezes my hand. “This is what you wanted.”
It certainly is. But first thing’s first. Even though we’re all here, technically we’re not all connected. If some of Joshua’s people spoke to me, I couldn’t hear them or be shown their memories because we haven’t sent or accepted invitations.
So I urge everyone to do that. No exceptions.
Joshua asks me why.
And now it’s my turn to keep him guessing:
“You’ll see.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
Julie showed me a lot, but she couldn’t explain much because Solomon interfered and caused too much pain.
Now I’ll get those details from someone else: my father. And I admit there’s a chance we’ll be tracked by Solomon. He’s probably using the Armadis to see where we go. In fact, he could be watching us right now…
But I don’t care. I’m on a mission.
Once we’re all connected, I take the entire group into my memories and show them the cathedral and the Armadis floating beneath that massive ceiling. I share everything Solomon told me about the Lords and Ladies of Galleon.
And then we visit the nomads, the rumms, and, finally, the grren inside all of those tubes. The entire group crowds into each hall. Meeka’s eyes well up. Steffanie’s hand goes to her mouth. Keane bites his lip, about to curse.
“They’re doing something with the grren,” I say.
My father clears his throat. “I was going to explain all of this at Brandalynn.”
“Explain it now,” I snap.
“The grren project six personas at the same time. Their wreath is much more powerful than ours.”
“I’m falling asleep already,” I tell him. “Cut to the chase.”
“They want their DNA,” my father says. “It’s part of the process. It’s how Solomon transformed. You need the grren’s DNA to do it. And that’s why the Galleons are taking them, so they can turn more Florans into them.”
“Wait a minute,” Keane says. “Mama grren was at the Palladium, and I heard they were keeping a grren there for experiments.”
My father nods. “Martha was aware of our research. She might’ve been following up herself.”
“How did you and Solomon get the DNA?” I ask.
He shrugs. “He already had it on Earth.”
“Maybe he got it from the Palladium,” I say. “And his army attacked to get us and the DNA.”
“That’s possible. He kept me for a while before we started the experiments. Maybe he was waiting for it.”
“What about the nomads?” Joshua asks. “And all the Florans they’ve taken. Will they be turned into masks or forced to join the Armadis?”
“No,” I say, beginning to shiver. “Not all of them.”
I close my eyes and take the group into space.
To show them something.
While they take it all in, I focus on their faces, trying to gauge their reactions.
Joshua’s stunned. So are the girls.
Keane looks a bit confused.
But my father… he glances over at me…
Because he’s known about this all along.
“This is Galleon,” I tell them. “Or at least it was.”
We float before a planet that looks more like a death star under construction than a world.
Why? Because it’s been blown apart, with rings of debris still orbiting the shattered globe. The continents have turned black, the oceans gray. No clouds. No atmosphere. No life.
“What happened?” Joshua asks.
“Dad, would you like to answer?”
My father removes his glasses. “There was a war between the First Ones and the Galleons.”
“So what happened?” Meeka asks. “Did anyone actually win this war?”
My father purses his lips. “Hard to tell. We’re not even sure what happened to the First Ones—”
“But we do know what happened to the Galleons,” I say, jumping to another memory.
And this one causes their heads to draw back in shock.
“They rebuilt their world,” I tell them. “And they still call it Galleon…”
An enormous ship floats soundlessly in space, and it’s even bigger than the planet we just saw.
It’s shaped like a hollow globe of six interlocking wreathes positioned at different angles. It reminds me of the models of atoms I’ve seen in science class.
The wreaths are made from gigantic leaves, but you can tell they’re not real leaves. Each wreath rotates slowly around the blank face of a mask suspended in the center by cobwebs of blue energy.
I show them a different angle of the ship, one with Flora and its two moons in the background. And then we watch the ship jump and reappear behind Earth’s moon, with Earth’s powdery glow in the distance.
Now I take them up close to one leaf, which is covered in more feather-like designs that brighten and come alive, shifting, fluctuating, reforming into different shapes…
Into faces… and then finally into the personas of people like that young woman and her daughters who were taken at the Hall of Vines, along with Rific and the rumms and everyone else who was captured.
Thousands more appear all over the leaf. They scream and cry and pound against the hull like they’re trapped in the very fabric of the ship.
But really…
They are the ship.
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
“We’ll need to stop here!” Joshua cries as we stare at the ship. “We’ve reached Brandalynn.”
“Okay, but we need to go over this,” I say.
He gives an exaggerated nod. “We will.”
So I jump us back to the Hood.
And everyone’s just looking around.
Stunned over what we just saw—
A ship constructed from the personas of prisoners.
“Get back to your body,” Joshua urges me.
I take a deep breath and nod.
But returning feels weird now, like I’m putting on a shirt that’s way too tight.
The second I’m conscious, a wave strikes and knocks me across a hard metal surface.
I roll over and look up.
Nothing but gloomy sky… but then a signal li
ght flashes and burns a circle into the black clouds.
“Doc, get up!” Meeka shouts.
More waves crash against whatever I’m lying on, and the wind’s ripping through my hair. Okay, I’m on a platform rising straight out of the Rosengate Sea. It’s about the size of an oil rig but hovering just a few feet above the water.
Something like a cellphone tower races up to the clouds, with that beacon winking from its top.
Directly behind me lies a smaller, rectangular structure with a deep alcove and faded sign:
BRANDALYNN II RESEARCH
Since my father took Joshua here once before, Joshua’s wreath recorded the way. He, in turn, must have connected with the driffs and guided them to this exact location, way out in the middle of sea.
Grandpa nuzzles up to me. I grab his snout, and he helps me to my feet. The other grren fall in behind us.
Meanwhile, Joshua’s caravan has pulled their bikes onto the platform, and they’re hustling toward the entrance.
Hedera arrives after them, lights her persona, and says, “Glad you’re back.”
“Glad we made it.”
“Yeah, barely.” She glances at Joshua, who’s leaning down and connecting with a driff who climbed onto the platform. Based on Joshua’s earlier comments, I’m guessing these two have known each other for many years. I assume Joshua is thanking them for their incredible sacrifice, and I wish there was some way we could make it up to them. What they did for us is hard to consider without choking up.
“The driffs saved our lives,” Hedera says.
I tighten my lips. “I just hope we’re worth it.”
Just then, Steffanie rushes up. “He didn’t connect!”
“Who?” I ask.
“Blink! They took him! The masks took him!”
“How?” I ask. “Was he distracted?”
She starts crying. “We don’t know. We checked the Hood. We checked everywhere. He’s just gone.”
I look around the platform, now getting swamped with waves. “Damn! Did they get anyone else?”
“I don’t know!”
My father’s persona flashes ahead. “This way!” he orders.
I grit my teeth and shove past everyone toward my him. “Dad, Blink’s gone. He did some terrible stuff, but he doesn’t deserve this. He doesn’t deserve to be a part of that ship. Are you listening to me? I said he’s gone. What do we do? How do we get him back? I mean, he was just taken. There has to be some sort of initiation process, right? So we can still get him back. Dad!”
He finally looks at me, and his expression is all the answer I need. There is no initiation. There’s no golden hour. Blink’s gone, and there’s not a damn thing any of us can do about it.
“We have to get moving,” he says. “Now.”
I curse under my breath and follow him.
The rest of the caravan is already inside as we duck into the alcove. I wonder how much time my father has before they come for him. It’s already getting dark.
His persona jumps to the head of the group and leads us through a large hatch that reminds me of the ones back at the aqueduct beneath the Palladium, only this door is twice as big, allowing the grren to fit through. Two of Joshua’s men seal it after we pass through.
We continue on through another corridor lined with pipes and reach the open doors of an elevator at the end. This lift must be used for moving large equipment because our entire group fits inside.
My father speaks softly to Joshua, and I can’t hear what they’re saying. The doors slide shut with a sharp thump. Air hisses like the brakes on a giant truck. A computer voice mentions something about pressurization complete. My stomach dips. We’re going down.
Keane, Steffanie, and Meeka look numb.
“Poor Blink,” Keane says.
Meeka glances at me, tears welling up. She knew Blink better than anyone. “I think he went with them intentionally. He wanted to punish himself for killing those nomads back in Verbena.”
“That kid’s had nothing but bad luck for his entire life,” Keane says. “Sucks.”
“Yeah,” I agree.
After a tense moment of silence, Keane clears his throat and says, “My ears are popping.”
“Mine too,” adds Steffanie.
“Where are we going now?” I ask my father.
He lifts his voice above the murmuring caravan and goes into scientist mode: “This platform built was about thirty years ago, but the site on the ocean floor was discovered a few years before that. We’re headed there now.”
“What’s down there?” Keane asks.
“We found a lab that’s over fifty thousand years old. The First Ones drilled into the ocean floor and built it there, perhaps for security or scientific reasons, we’re not exactly sure. It’s deep though. Over a quarter mile.”
“Hollis told me about this,” I say.
“He told you about the lab we found under the city,” my father says. “But we had to destroy that one before we jumped to Earth so Solomon couldn’t follow us.”
That fact gets me thinking. “Okay, so you said the only way back to Earth is here. So there’s another engine.”
“That’s right.”
“So why didn’t Solomon just come here instead of building his own engine? He must’ve known about this place.”
“Oh, he came here. Many times. She fought him off for years until he finally got in and stole the parts he needed. At least he couldn’t take our engine because we locked him out of the computer. She wouldn’t let him get near it, anyway.”
“Who’re we talking about?”
“You’re about to meet her. Anyway, there’s another lab in Larkspur, deep in the mountains, and one of my other teams located a fourth one in Faldareach beneath the ice, but we still can’t get inside those sites.”
“And this was all secret government stuff?” Meeka asks. “So no one else knew about it?”
“That’s right.”
“What was so terrible about telling everyone the truth?”
My father sighs with regret. “Those weren’t my decisions.”
Meeka hardens her expression. “Yeah, and look where all the lies got us.”
My father’s tone softens. “Meeka, you’re right. And now we’ll share as much as we can.”
“I just hope it’s not too little, too late,” she says.
“Not this time,” my father says.
Whatever that means.
“Uh, excuse me, sir,” Hedera says. “So there’s definitely an engine down there that can take my people to Earth?”
“They saved our lives,” I tell my father. “I promised them. And I plan to keep that promise.”
“I wouldn’t send them now,” my father says.
“He’s right,” Steffanie adds. “Something happened to the rumms. I mean, we all saw them. Maybe Wexx got his hands on the neutralizer and gave them all the shots, so they were vulnerable. Or maybe something else. Might not be safe.”
I face Hedera. “Let’s find out what happened.”
Her brows come together. “It’d be ironic if after all this you send my people there, and they just get captured.”
“Yeah, it would. Let’s be sure first.”
The elevator clunks to a halt. More air whooshes. The doors finally slide apart to reveal a lean woman with white hair that darkens to a silver as it spills across her shoulders. She reminds me of Ms. Martha, who reminded me of Storm from X-men, but this woman’s older, maybe in her sixties, but her eyes do seem younger.
She’s dressed in a light green tunic with matching pants and black shoes like moccasins with laces glowing a pale yellow. An old pendant with the Monkshood symbol of the wreath dangles from her neck. Is she a desper? Then what is she doing in a First Ones’ lab? Despers aren’t exactly fans of the aliens they think are controlling and imprisoning us all.
Yes, that necklace raises questions, and so does the fresh scar that extends from her left eye, wanders across her cheek, and then picks up again
across her neck, like she was slashed in the face with a blade that nearly killed her.
“Everyone?” my father begins. “I’d like you to meet my mother, Brandalynn Harrison. She’s one of the most brilliant xenoarcheologists on the planet. They built this facility and named it after her. She’s been the director here for the past fifteen years. She never gave up on our work, even after the withering, and she’s the reason I became a scientist.”
My jaw drops. “Are you serious?”
He nods.
“But you said your parents were dead.”
“I wasn’t sure we’d ever see them again.”
I glare at him.
He sighs. “Come over here, Doc, and say hello to your grandmother.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
“Wow, Doc has her eyes,” Meeka tells Steffanie as I stand there, glued to the floor.
My grandmother opens her arms, like she’s coming in for a hug. Wow. Most awkward moment of my life—so I just back off and thrust out my hand. “Hi.”
She smiles… and a tear slips down her cheek. “Hi.” We shake quickly.
“The last time I saw you, you were just a baby,” she adds.
I glance at my father’s persona. “Do I have any other relatives you’ve lied about?”
“Doc, please…”
And so here we are—me, my friends, Joshua’s entire caravan, Hedera and Rattle, and a pack of grren—waiting to see how the most uncomfortable family reunion in the universe will turn out.
“I like the silver hair,” Keane says to my grandmother. “It’s like wisdom or something.”
She grins. “I don’t get much company, but when I do, they either want to kill me or bring long lost grandchildren. So yes, it’s a very strange life. But welcome… welcome to my home. Please, everyone, come on…” She limps away from us, down the corridor.
“What happened to your leg?” I ask, shifting up beside her and wondering if I shouldn’t have asked.
“Oh, it’s all right. It’s healing well,” she answers. “So’s my face…”
“Did Solomon do it?”
“One of his nomads, but don’t worry about that. First, you’ll eat. And rest.”