By
Kim Richardson
SMASHWORDS EDITION
*****
PUBLISHED BY:
Kim Richardson on Smashwords
The Alpha Nation, Mystics Book 2:
Copyright © 2014 by Kim Richardson
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Prologue
The door swung open, and Mrs. Dupont strode into the room. Her black suit clung tightly to her tall narrow frame, and her short white hair glowed softly in the semi-darkness. The angle of the light amplified her monstrous feline features. She looked like a lioness. She crossed the room, stood by the bay window, and looked out over the river below. She stroked the heavy burgundy drapes lovingly with her gangly fingers and smiled with bulbous red lips.
“The girl changes everything.” Her voice quivered with excitement.
“With her, we can finally commence the Great Junction. I have waited a lifetime for this opportunity to set the worlds right, once and for all. And now we don’t need to wait any longer.”
Nazar lounged comfortably in a lush leather armchair facing a large stone fireplace. His single white eye glowed in the dark like a large pearl as he watched Mrs. Dupont. He drummed his fingers on a short crystal glass brimming with gold liquid.
“And you’re sure she’s the one?” he nodded feebly at her.
Mrs. Dupont stared out of the window for a moment.
“Of course I’m sure. Her seventh sense is stronger, more potent. She is the last of her kind…the last of the bloodline. I’ve been researching her for most of my life. So you see, Nazar, of course I am sure.”
Nazar stared at the fire. The flames glimmered in his eye.
“But what about Elizabeth? She’s also from that same bloodline. We had her tested remember? I’m sure she remembers what we did to her to get those results. We could use the girl as leverage? Elizabeth will come out of hiding when she knows we have her daughter - I’m sure she will - I know her. We grew up together. I know how she thinks. She’s probably been watching over her kid all this time. She’ll come to us as soon as we have her, trust me.”
“That won’t be necessary,” answered Mrs. Dupont, still gazing out of the window.
Nazar frowned. “We’ve been searching for Elizabeth relentlessly since she escaped from Troll City. Are we simply going to forget about her? She’s been spotted in Tudar Village. I’ve already sent a team out to apprehend her. Should I tell them to forget about it?”
Mrs. Dupont turned from the window, her face pinched severely, looking more like a beast than a woman. “No. Let them take her alive. I have different plans for Elizabeth now that we know of her daughter’s existence. She’s been replaced with something far better.”
Her eyes widened excitedly. “I know where her precious daughter is — she’s in a North American Hive, mixing with Agents. But not for long; I’ve already taken steps to ensure her release. She will be with us shortly.”
She crossed the room and made her way towards a mahogany side table. A set of decanters lay on a silver tray. She poured herself a drink of light gold from one of the decanters and let it swish in her mouth before she swallowed.
“The sentimental leprechauns did us a service by releasing Elizabeth all those years ago.”
She set down the glass and poured herself another. “I believe this was meant to happen, their stupidity actually worked in our favor.”
“And what favor would that be?” Nazar leaned back in his chair and swirled the contents of his drink with his wrist.
Mrs. Dupont raised her glass to her lips and said, “The girl. The leprechauns thought they were doing Elizabeth a favor by letting her go, but in the end it was a favor to us. They gave us Zoey, something grander and more powerful. We should be thanking them, really.”
Nazar watched his mistress swallow the rest of her drink. “Perhaps we should send them a thank-you note,” he grinned.
“Perhaps.” Mrs. Dupont’s cat-like eyes blazed eagerly.
“The girl’s senses are more powerful than Elizabeth’s ever were. She knew this, of course, which is why she tried to hide the child from me for all these years.”
Mrs. Dupont laughed a sick, wet laugh. “I should be thanking Elizabeth for getting herself pregnant in the first place. Her child will be the key to bring about the Great Junction. The Alphas have been waiting for her for centuries. The true Originals had planned for this all along.”
Nazar leaned forward, balancing his glass with his fingers and hesitating to press the point.
“You believe she has the same abilities as her mother? Are you quite certain?”
“Yes. I know she does.” Mrs. Dupont’s face twisted grotesquely in an attempt to smile.
“…And I know her gifts are more powerful than her mother’s ever were. I have already glimpsed what she can do. Her talents are limitless.”
Nazar raised an eyebrow. “I’m not convinced Zoey is the girl with immeasurable power mentioned in the prophecy. The scriptures are vague. We can’t be certain they refer to her—”
“I am certain Zoey St. John is the one.” Mrs. Dupont’s eyes flashed dangerously.
Nazar’s face tightened as he finished his drink. “Of course, if you are certain…”
Mrs. Dupont placed her empty glass carefully on the table and turned to face Nazar.
“We must focus all of our energies on making sure she fulfills her potential. I cannot afford any more errors. The end of this world is within our grasp, and Zoey is the key to its destruction.”
“…And if she doesn’t agree to play her part in the great matter?” Nazar smiled weakly.
Mrs. Dupont lowered her eyes. “Then she dies.”
Chapter 1
Dust Devils
A hot breeze caressed Zoey St. John’s face, and the dry golden wheat fields that stretched out in front of her swayed like great amber waves in a stormy sea. The air smelled like fresh dirt and home-baked bread.
It had been ice cold and windy outside the Hive in Toronto. Five inches of brilliant snow had carpeted the grounds before they had left. The instant heat had come as a surprise when she had stepped out of the mirror-port into the vast fields around San Antonio.
It was the first week of January, and the second year in her operative program had begun. Zoey had been delighted that Agent Ward and Agent Vargas had promoted her.
Second year Operatives were now expected to handle more dangerous and hostile mystics. They were undergoing intense combat training and went out on field assignments on a weekly basis. So when Agent Vargas had announced that Agent Barnes and Agent Lee had requested that Zoey accompany them on a field assignment, she had jumped willingly to the challenge.
She was still wearing her dense wool jacket and felt like she’d just stepped into a sauna fully dressed. She unzipped her jacket and let the air cool her.
“So…what exactly are we waiting for?” She traced her fingers along the golden boomerang that was fastened to her left wrist by a gold bracelet. When she turned and glanced at Agent Barnes, she saw that he was smiling.
“You’ll see.” Agent Barnes shared a look with Agent Lee like they knew some secret inside information, and she didn’t.
Agent Barnes dropped a large black duffel bag on the ground, and the contents rattled inside like large metal pots.
Wiping the sweat from her brow, Zoey stared out over the rippling fields. For a split second she thought she saw a human shadow. But when she strained her eyes against the sun, the shadow disappeared.
“I don’t get it,” she said. “We’re
in the middle of a giant field with nothing but wheat surrounding us for miles around. Are we going to make cereal?”
A sudden gust of wind rustled through her jacket, and her red hair waved out above her back. A large gray cloud covered the sun, and the shadow relieved them from the burning rays. “Patience, Little Red,” laughed Agent Barnes.
He slipped his leather jacket from his shoulders and let it drop to the ground. He smiled at her mischievously.
“Get ready. Here they come.”
Zoey followed his gaze.
“Here who comes? I don’t see anyone or anything! Is this like a test or something? Do you want to see how gullible I am? I’m still very new at this. You found me, remember? Why are you smiling? I don’t see any—”
The rest of her words died in her throat.
Across the waving fields of wheat, a gigantic black funnel hung down from a gray storm cloud. It spiraled violently, and the bottom of the vortex whipped back and forth like a massive tail. Thunder roared and crackled, and the winds intensified and slapped Zoey’s face with debris. The tornado moved in their direction at an incredible speed, destroying everything in its path like a giant vacuum. Clouds of wheat and dust filled the air around it as it advanced. The fierce winds sounded like millions of animals crying out at once.
The funnel split apart, and for a moment Zoey thought it would be all over. But a few seconds later it reconnected itself and kept moving on. The skin on Zoey’s arms prickled with goose bumps. As it came closer she realized that this was no ordinary tornado.
It wasn’t wind. It was thousands of semi-transparent furry gray creatures which were flying in circles. Their moving bodies formed a giant mystic funnel. They had bulging red eyes and abnormally large mouths with rows of sharp, shark-like teeth. They looked like a cross between wolves and monkeys, with pointy ears, large torsos, and gangly limbs. Their gaping mouths crushed and swallowed massive rocks, earth, trucks, remnants of a shattered shed and, to Zoey’s disgust, a few unsuspecting cows. They devoured everything that was unfortunate enough to be in their way. Her blood turned to ice as she saw the excitement and pleasure gleaming in their eyes - they enjoyed demolishing and killing everything.
The ground shook as the mystic tornado swirled closer. Then she smelled a sickening combination of wet dog, rotten meat, and skunk. The putrid fragrance made her eyes water.
Zoey stared open-mouthed. “What in the world is that?”
“Dust devils,” answered Agent Barnes. “Nasty little critters. I haven’t seen a combo this size for years.”
“It doesn’t look like a McDonald’s Big Mac combo to me — just saying.” Zoey blinked the dust from her eyes and tried to breathe through her mouth. She coughed and inadvertently inhaled another wallop of eau de toilette.
Agent Barnes looked delighted and exhaled, “Oooh!”
“Their sole purpose is to destroy,” he said. “They crave it…need it…live for it. They take pleasure in killing and destroying. They eat anything, and I mean anything. A dust devil combo this size can wipe out an entire village in a matter of minutes and leave the land barren.”
Zoey forced the images of flying cows from her mind and let anger replace her sorrow for the poor beasts.
“So,” she began, squinting through the dust and debris, “Tornados are really thousands of dust devils?”
“Precisely,” said Agent Lee. His black trench coat billowed behind him in the fierce winds like a superhero’s cape. Zoey could see the glee in his eyes behind his sunglasses.
What was wrong with these two? It was as clear as rain they were enjoying themselves.
“Well, most of the time,” said Agent Lee.
He turned to Agent Barnes. “These winds are totally killing my hair. I say we nail these suckers and get out before I look like I gave myself a 1980s perm.”
Zoey frowned. She had no idea what he meant by that.
The mystic tornado roared like a thousand angry bears.
“So how do we stop it — stop them I mean? This thing is huge,” said Zoey.
The tornado was really close. Her jacket flapped, her hair slapped her face, and she felt herself being pulled into the vortex.
Agent Barnes wet his index finger and held it in the air, as if to test the wind direction.
“The key here is to shatter it and separate them. A single dust devil is easy enough to contain, but they hardly ever stay by themselves. They’re attracted to each other like magnets. And the more they gather, the more deadly and massive they become. We’ve got to stop this bad boy now, before this area becomes a total loss.”
“So how do we split them apart?” Zoey spit the dirt from her mouth and reached for her boomerang. But she knew it wouldn’t make any difference. It would probably get swallowed up, and she’d never see it again. She’d probably get swallowed, too. Not a very good prospect. She left her precious boomerang safe around her wrist.
“Dust devil tornados depend on a host of complex, interrelated forces,” answered Agent Barnes.
“The basic anti-dust devil combo strategy is to take the smallest of these factors, the one most amenable to change, and to change it. It’s like throwing a wrench into the smallest cog of a machine, in hopes that disrupting one part of the system will cause the entire assembly to shut down.”
Zoey strained against the force of its pull. “So if we disturb the flow, then it shuts down. Like a stick in a wheel?”
“That’s right,” shouted Agent Lee over the winds. “They’ll be disoriented for a bit, not knowing what hit them. Then they’ll split apart, fall, and turn to dust.”
“Which gives us a few minutes to sweep them up before they get back together,” interjected Agent Barnes, “And by the looks of it, we better get started.”
He rummaged through his duffel bag and pulled out what looked to Zoey like hand-held cordless vacuum cleaners. He threw one to Agent Lee who held it like a gun and aimed it up at the roaring dust devil. He made blasting sounds with his mouth and pretended to shoot at it.
“We sweep them up with this.” Agent Barnes handed her a pink hand-held cordless vacuum cleaner.
Zoey took the contraption and wrapped her fingers around the plastic handle. She was right. It was a hand-held vacuum cleaner. It weighed about the same as a medium-sized cooking pot. The label on the front read:
Dust Devil Buster - Flexi Vacuum
Cyclonic Action, holds 75% more dust devils!
Perfect for dust devils, sand imps and more.
7-year guarantee!
Caution—too many dust devils may result in the loss of suction.
Zoey snorted and then looked at the two other dust devil busters. “Why is mine pink?”
Agent Barnes’ face fell. “Why? You don’t like it? I thought you’d like pink.”
“Why? Because I’m a girl?”
“Well…yes.”
Zoey shook her head. “My life just gets weirder and weirder.”
Zoey strained to keep her balance. The stench was toxic, and the tornado was so close that she could see the dust devils clearly through the flying debris. They were running around in circles like giant hamsters sprinting around their hamster wheels. Their red eyes gleamed in delight.
“We don’t have much time left!” yelled Agent Barnes.
Zoey could see that he held a small black sphere in his right hand.
He grinned. “This baby is a fire-bomb. Think of it as our wrench. After I throw it, it will explode and cause the tornado to collapse. Be ready to sweep up as many disoriented dust devils as you can before they reform. Trust me - you don’t want to be around when they wake up - so it’s real important that you sweep all the dust. You can’t leave any remains.”
“Got it. I’ll be a good housekeeper.”
Zoey grinned with a rush of excitement. She knew this wasn’t going to be easy, but she was flattered and honored that the agents had chosen her to work with them on this assignment. This was totally awesome.
Agent Barnes lifte
d the firebomb and pointed.
“Zoey,” he bellowed, “you take the right side of the field. Run as fast as you can. Agent Lee will take the left, and I’ll stay here in the middle. I’m going to count to ten…at ten I’m going to throw the firebomb. Got it?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Let’s go, people! We’ve got some cleaning to do!” Agent Barnes clapped his hands together enthusiastically.
Without another second to waste, Zoey clutched her pink dust devil buster, trying not to look too disgustingly happy. She sprinted across the yellow fields, counting in her head as she went.
One…two…
Her heart hammered against her chest as she jumped over a tree trunk, careful not to trip, and kept running. The wheat whipped her legs as she picked up speed.
Three…four…
In her peripheral vision, she could see the giant dust devil thrashing forward. The mystics roared in pleasure as they ripped the earth apart.
Five…six…
Her seventh sense prickled her skin as she pressed on.
Seven…eight…
She gripped her hand-held vacuum tightly as she thrashed through the tall grass. The dust and grass particles in the air tasted like bitter tree bark in her mouth.
Nine…ten…
Zoey halted. She whirled around, squinting against the dust and flying debris. She stood close in the shadow of the massive mystic tornado. She couldn’t see through it, and for a horrible moment she thought the Agents had been swallowed whole. But then the tornado shifted, and over the horrible roars and grunts from the mystics she heard a loud pop.
The tornado stopped spinning suddenly, and the mystics fell like heavy rain. As soon as their bodies touched the ground, they burst into gray dust, like ashes from a fire.
She was able to see Agent Barnes as the cloud of dust parted.
“Sweep them up, Zoey!” he shouted.
Mystics 3-Book Collection Page 27