“What the hell is that?” Brayden swallowed as the warrior took notice of the seven lighting on the bridge terrace.
For something thirty feet tall, it walked with dexterous precision and grace, moving with completely fluid human motion. All of them backed away as the thing approached to with twenty feet of them and then dropped to one knee, steadying itself with the pole of the weapon it held. “This isn’t a vacation here, people,” the giant spoke. “Why are all of you still here?”
“Scott?” O’Brien recognized the familiar voice.
It looked at her. “Oh, thanks a lot, Bryn.” The face of the crystalline warrior appeared to frown. “Way to blow cover.”
Now all of them could see a someone situated within the torso of the huge armored warrior, just barely visible through the semi-transparent crystal.
“Scott?” Wynn raised a brow, at O’Brien, “Scott North?”
“In the flesh,” the giant armor bowed, “or crystal as the case may be. I don’t do autographs, so don’t ask.”
“Who are you?” Parker asked.
“Trouble,” Wynn frowned. “He used to be with the Dark clans and then defected to join the Seven. He’s a traitor.”
“Why can’t I feel him?” Romero whispered to Tyler.
“Must be that armor.”
“I’m a traitor. Oh, right. That’s why I’m up at o-dark-thirty, donning this ridiculous outfit so I can play tit-for-tat with an army of morons. I have better things to do, really.”
“So you’re not the anchor’s guardian?” Lear stepped up to ask.
The armor looked at Lear. He extended his hand toward her in fluid, elegant motion, his huge finger lifting her chin. “No, but, I’ll certainly be your guardian. Give me a second and I’ll text you my number.”
O’Brien pushed his huge hand away from Lear. “Get serious, Scott. How do we get out of here?”
“It’s not going to be easy, kitten. Rigel has your family outside the tower. He’s wanting to offer you a trade.”
“No deal,” Wynn glared. “He’s just using them as leverage.”
“Dade! He’ll kill them!”
“Probably.” Scott nodded in the huge armor. “If I know Rigel he’ll off one of your brothers just to make the point. He’s a little obsessed with this place right now. He smells a new toy.”
“Scott,” Parker began, “you obviously know something about this place and the Yin. Can you help us?”
“Trying to, but Rigel’s tossing one of his tantrums at the moment; if we don’t do this just right, someone’s going to end up dead—probably one of the O’Brien’s.”
“No!”
“Relax, Bryn,” Brayden offered. “It sounds like he has a plan.”
“Well, it’s not much of one—it’s dangerous,” Scott admitted. “Rigel has your whole family in the forest outside somewhere. I figure if we kick you out, Bryn, he’s got nothin’ to leverage his way back into the citadel.”
“He’ll use me as bait!”
“Like I said. Not if you’ve been kicked out of the group. They know you’re a Seven agent. Instant liability. If no one cares about you anymore, Rigel’s got nothing. Everyone’s safe, for now. Then he’ll want to use us to gain entrance into the citadel.”
“And by that time you may be able to rescue Bryn’s family,” Parker extrapolated.
“You’re quick, Parker. I’m kinda winging this one.”
“You’re right, it’s not much of a plan,” Wynn agreed. “It puts Bryn is way too much danger.”
“Yea, tough guy, you got a better idea?” the armor asked.
“I’m sure we can think of something better than that.”
“Maybe, probably; but I don’t have time for a committee. I promised to deliver the kitten so that’s pretty much what’s going to happen.”
Wynn stepped in front of Bryn. “She’s not leaving the tower.”
“I’ll arm wrestle you for her?” Scott offered his huge hand.
Wynn pushed his crystalline hand away from the two of them. “She’s not leaving, North.”
“Yea, I thought you might all feel that way. I didn’t get all dressed up for nothing.”
They all saw the long staff he was holding flash.
Parker’s danger sense flared, but it was too late. He wasn’t sure what had just happened. He could see and feel that he and the rest of them were airborne. Then he hit the tower’s interior wall hard—really hard. He tried to lift himself from the floor but something had stunned him but good. He watched the tall crystal armor lift O’Brien from the floor and then leap off the edge of the terrace—just before he blacked out.
61
B ryn looked up into the faces of her halfblood brothers, all of them staring at her.
“Bryn?” she heard her older brother ask, his accent just as Irish-thick as her own.
“Kevin?” she looked at the other faces, “Jan, Kieran?” she sat up. “Where’s mom and dad?”
“Don’t know,” Kevin offered.
“Why are all of you staring at me?”
“Bryn, you look, different somehow.” Kieran nodded at the rest of them. “What happened to you?”
“I—was awakened.”
“How do you awaken a demigoddess?” Jan asked.
“It’s a long story. We need to get out of here.”
“Ha. Easier said than done, sis.” Kieran helped her up from the G.I. cot she’d been laid on after Scott had blasted them with whatever. Out of all of the siblings, Kieran was closest to her age.
“The whole camp is crawling with agents, Bryn,” Kevin informed.
“With ion guns,” Jan added. “The second they see us outside this tent they start putting holes in us.”
Touching them, she filled them with her empathy. “Don’t speak. They’re probably listening. Just feel.”
“They probably took mom and dad to keep all of us in-line, no doubt.” Kevin felt to all of them.
“We’ll have to rescue them, but I need to get all of you safe first.”
“How, Bryn? We’re totally surrounded.” Jan was all for a plan, but things looked pretty bleak at the moment.
She could already feel that someone had taken her gold crystalline wand. Maybe it was Scott or probably the agents who’d changed her clothes into the bright neon-orange bodysuits all of them now wore. She’d been practicing with the wand, using it as a kind of focus for her natural ability. She’d gotten fairly good, maybe not great, but pretty good at using it to focus her will. Maybe what she really needed was a bigger crystal, like the tall golden crystal pole Scott’s guardian armor had been holding. That would deliver some bang, she was pretty sure.
“Help me find some gold crystal …”
* * * * *
“Oh, Jesus,” Parker helped Brayden to his feet. “Now I know what it feels like getting hit by a bus.”
“Yea, not.” Wynn was helping the girls to their feet.
Tyler groaned sitting up against the wall, but his head was clearing quickly. “Man—somebody get me one of those things.”
“Hey—that’s not a bad idea, Chase.” Parker lifted his brow to Brayden. Everyone was getting back to his or her feet. Parker stepped away from Brayden and thought to the tower. His clothes shimmered away as crystalline armor surrounded him, like it was growing quickly all around him—only, he wasn’t much taller than he was normally. And the new armor wasn’t exactly opaque as thin as it was. It looked like someone had simply encased him in thick glass. Still, the crystal armor followed the bulk of Parker’s build, seemingly replicating his thick muscles, pecs and abdominals.
“Nice.” Brayden walked up to him. “Aren’t you a little short for a Storm Trooper, though?”
“Yea,” Parker looked at the near transparent armor. “I was hoping for the big stuff Scott was using.”
“I think Scott knows a few more magic words than we do.”
Parker nodded.
Wynn walked up to the two of them as the crystalline armor was quickly s
urrounding him as well. He stretched out his arms, marveling at how fluid the crystalline structures covering him moved with his every motion, like they were living tissue. Parker scanned Wynn’s new armored form with enhanced vision.
“Oh, man—” Parker frowned. “Not fair.”
“What’s not?” Wynn looked at him.
Parker moved up beside and stood next to Wynn side by side. “Even armored he gets a bigger package than I do.”
Brayden looked at the two of them side-by-side. The tower had left both unclothed and encased in crystal, their full packages neatly but all too clearly slung downward as if each wore bulging faceted glass briefs. He shook his head giving Parker an dubious look. “Yea, I’m not giving either of you two any sympathy in the schlong department. Sorry.” He mocked both of them. At one time, Brayden was definitely on the larger side of Parker. But awakened, both Wynn and Parker bested all of the guys in size now.
“There’s nothing wrong with your size,” Wynn laid a crystal hand on Parker’s thick-glass pec. “I like your size.”
“You guys need a room again?” Romero walked up to them.
Parker looked at Wynn. “You know—”
“Listen,” Brayden moved between them. “You two can play later.” New armor was now moving its way up Brayden’s legs and over his arms until it completely covered him. “We need to find out what happened to Bryn. We should do to the Seven what North was doing to us. Scout around their camp and see if we can find Bryn and her family.”
“Good idea,” Tyler agreed. “I have a feeling this anchor tower can do a lot more than just provide food and shelter. You guys need to test what your armor can do. The ladies and I will see what we can using whatever this place has.”
“Perfect idea, Chase,” Wynn agreed. “Guys, we’re heading outside.”
The three of them began walking toward the edge of the terrace.
“You know, I just thought of something,” Brayden began, stepping off the edge and descending with the other two, “How come Chase always gets to stay with the girls?”
* * * * *
The four O’Brien siblings were escorted through the forest camp to yet another typical dark-green tent resembling most of the others. Armored guards with golden ion rifles surrounded them on all sides as they were led inside.
“Well, Miss O’Brien. Nice to have you back with us once again.”
“Stiles.” Bryn glared at the halfblood lead agent. “Finally brown nose your way out of the Underworld and into a command role?”
“At least I’m not a traitor.”
“That’s a matter of opinion. Where are our parents?” she demanded.
“I’m in command here, Bryn. Just because you get yourself knocked up into a goddess doesn’t put you in charge. You’re already on thin ice with Rigel. Goddess or not, I wouldn’t push your luck at this point. You’re not that valuable.”
She folded her arms looking stormy, her amber eyes flaring once softly at him. His last comment gave her pause. She wished she could read his feelings, but she wasn’t touching him. Without a gold crystal she was a bit blind at the moment.
“Rigel’s willing to offer you a deal for the safe return of your parents.”
“What kind of deal?”
“Evidently, you’ve taken control of the citadel. Locked everyone out. Including our Mr. North now. Let us in and I’ll release not only your brothers, but your parents as well.”
Bryn was unaware that any of them had been locked out. If anything, Scott could have locked all of them out with as much as he knew about the Yin. Maybe he had been locked out somehow. She didn’t know, but she took Stile’s words at face value.
“No deal. Go to hell.”
“Bryn!” Kevin shot a surprised look at her.
“They’re lying,” she declared. “They’re not going to release any of us. They just want into the tower.”
“I could just shoot one of you—” Stiles pulled an ion pistol.
Bryn stepped aside. “Go ahead. Take your best shot. Harm one hair on any of my family and you and your cadre will never, ever, step foot in that place. Ev-er.” Her eyes again flared at the agent.
Stiles looked at her lit eyes. “Very well then. Your choice.” He aimed his weapon at Kevin.
“Bryn—?! Kevin’s voice rang with alarm.
The commander watched her eyes flare with resolve. Their deep amber color looked like fire. A fine shiver moved down his spine as he squeezed the trigger.
“Bryn! Pease!” Jan warned.
Bryn didn’t move. A muscle.
Stiles had worked with O’Brien before, and fairly recently. She’d been a timid demigoddess, easily swayed by even the slightest bit of pressure. But the woman who looked into his eyes now was not the same one he’d worked along side just months ago. This O’Brien was different. As if pulling the trigger on his weapon would somehow mean his own death.
Stiles lifted the barrel of the weapon quickly taking his finger off the trigger. “Alright, O’Brien,” he holstered the gun. “I can see we’re going to have to do things a bit more by the book with you. Let us see how cooperative you are when your parents are standing here with me instead.”
“No! You can’t—” she took a step toward him and suddenly found enough golden ion muzzles pushed against her body her danger sense left her all but paralyzed. “You don’t know what you’re doing. That place will kill us all!”
“That remains to be seen. Take them back to their tent, and keep an eye on them. If they try to escape, kill them. All of them. Including her family.”
The wall of the alcove next to the one that had become their living space showed the inside of the tent where Bryn and her brothers now stood.
“Holy Mary,” fell out of Romero’s mouth as they watched Stiles re-holster his gun.
“She’s very brave,” Lear was holding onto Romero’s hand, their fingers locked and squeezing tightly.
“She called his bluff.” Tyler willed the image to follow them as they moved through the camp, back to their holding tent. “They really want this place.”
“Wouldn’t you?” Romero and Lear let go of each other’s hands. “Look at what this place does. How effortless the Yin were able to do anything they wanted.”
He nodded. “We have to keep—hey!”
“What are looking at?” Romero was trying to see what had caught his attention.
“Look at those tent spikes.”
“They’re gold,” Lear noticed.
“You’re right. Golden crystal—like Bryn’s wand!”
“Yea,” Tyler was moving their view all around. “Looks like the soldiers are using the crystals to anchor their tents—including some of the metallic ones.”
“Do you think she’s noticed?” Lear asked.
“I don’t know. Let’s hope so.”
62
J esus this camp is like a tent city. It’s huge.” Brayden moved with utter silence with the other two guys along the perimeter of the camp. Their crystalline body armor blended perfectly, precisely with the crystal forest all around them, giving them a kind of reflective stealth that left them utterly invisible to anyone looking, even directly at them. “It’s like they’re mobilizing for war.”
“They are,” Wynn assured. “They did the same thing in the Cascades a few years ago while going after an ancient Kir sanctuary that was buried beneath a mountain there.”
“What’s a Kir?” Parker asked. All of them stopped as a well-armed, four-man patrol moved past, only a few feet from them.
“A clan of the ancient gods.”
“Did they get in?”
“No. But I heard they lost most of an army trying to.”
“That’s ugly,” Brayden frowned. “I wouldn’t want to have to kill that many people.”
“What if all of them were bent on killing you?” Wynn asked.
“Yea, let’s not go there,” Brayden winced. “Not killing someone unless I have to.”
“I just hope Chase found
a way to lockdown the tower. I don’t want North going back in there.” Wynn half leapt and half floated to a high branch of a massive crystalline tree, followed by the other two. He squatted looking down over the camp.
“All these tents look the same.” Parker looked over the hundreds and hundreds of them. “How do we find which ones have Bryn’s family? As big as this place is, it could take weeks to find them.”
“It probably won’t be obvious,” Wynn offered. “They’ll try to disguise the holding tent so that it just looks like all the others.”
“Well, that’s not going to help us.” Parker sat on the square branch, dangling his legs off the edge of it.
“Stealth has always been a primary weapon of the Seven, Winter.” Wynn scanned the encampment. “They’ve gotten very good at it.”
“They’ve gotten good at concealing their whole war.” Brayden knelt next to Parker.
Wynn nodded. “I would be a lot easier if we didn’t have to try to look for them through the forest of all of these prisms.”
“Guys, I’ve been thinking—about Lear.”
“I’m sure you have,” Wynn snickered.
“No, I mean besides that—I’ve been thinking about Lyris actually. And this whole prism forest. She obviously grew up in place like this.”
Both nodded.
“I think Lear grew up in and around these anchors.”
“That’s not a bad hypothesis, Brayden. I’ve actually thought the same thing,” Wynn assured.
“I think Lear knows a lot more about these Yin than she’s telling us.”
“I would agree with that,” Parker nodded. “When I’m touching her feelings, it’s like she deliberately tries to hide things from me.”
Prism (Awakened Chronicles Book 3) Page 27