Zoey knew it was true. She could feel it. At first she felt a cool sensation, like a sudden shiver. She felt it crawling along her spine inside her, and she shuddered. It was like another entity had invaded her body and was using her. She could do nothing about it.
And then she felt a hot stinging pain like little knives slicing her skin. She watched her reflection flicker and warp. Her bones cracked and the pain intensified. She cried out. Her body was on fire, and she could smell her skin burning. Then the burning stopped.
She opened her mouth, but she was too weak to cry out. She blinked. The symbols on the stones glowed red—and then she fainted.
When Zoey opened her eyes, she felt the coolness of stone against her cheek. She raised her head and looked around. She lay on the ground - she had fallen off the dais. She rolled over and managed to get to her feet. She blinked the dizziness from her eyes and could see right away that the mirrored walls had disappeared, and the original glass walls had returned.
And something else - a blue light shone in the dark sky.
Zoey shuffled to the glass wall and stared out. Outside the city wall an enormous blue hole about two hundred feet wide stood alien and majestic in the forest. The blue inside of the hole stirred and wavered like water.
Inside the hole was another world. She could see it clearly. It was the same world she had seen before when the interloper had opened the portal above London - a red world of wind and rain and fire - vast deserts of smoke and ash. The Nexus.
“It worked,” she said, without turning around. “You’ve got your Great Junction.”
Her eyes burned. She wanted to punch something, but her hands were still tied behind her back. Unwillingly, she had enabled Mrs. Dupont to open a giant portal between the worlds. She knew it was bad, and that it was her fault.
“Thanks to you,” said Mrs. Dupont, delighted. “I knew you could do it. I knew you were the one. Beautiful, isn’t it?”
Zoey blinked away her tears and turned to face the woman. “If I did this, then I can undo it.”
Mrs. Dupont laughed. “It cannot be undone, my dear. The two gateways are aligned. The doorway is open, and it can never be closed. ”
She turned and walked over to one of the tables. She reached out and grabbed a decanter with golden liquid and a small glass. She was going to drink to her success.
Zoey felt the sting of where Mrs. Dupont had bled her, but she also felt her strength slowly return. It wasn’t over yet - she still lived. There was still time to get a sample of the black oil. She pulled at her restraints. She had to get out of here somehow.
After Mrs. Dupont had poured herself a large drink, she held up the glass for Zoey to see.
“The best crystal of both worlds,” said Mrs. Dupont, as she raised her glass to her lips.
“This is mystic crystal. You can’t get this kind of quality here. I had to kill several people to get some. A shard of this crystal will cut through anything—even the strongest metal. It’s delicate and deadly, just like me.”
Zoey crossed the room and made her way towards the table.
“Too bad you’re not old enough to celebrate this moment with me,” said Mrs. Dupont as she poured herself another. “I’d offer you a drink. It’s quite good you know, Château Mont-Redon. It’s French. ” She took a sip.
“I don’t feel like celebrating. You used me.” Zoey stepped closer and examined the crystal glass.
Mrs. Dupont smacked her lips together. “We’ll make a great team, you and I. I know you can’t see that now, but you can be so much more here with me than with the Agency. You’re too good for them, too strong. Your abilities would be wasted, like mine were. But I will make you invincible.”
Again, Zoey stepped a little closer.
“Think about it, Zoey,” said Mrs. Dupont as she balanced herself clumsily. “Just think about what you’ll be able to do. You’ll be worshiped. I’ll be worshiped. We’ll be worshiped together.”
“Not going to happen.”
Mrs. Dupont looked at Zoey and lowered her glass. “Hmm? What did you say?”
“This—”
With every bit of strength she could muster, Zoey head-butted Mrs. Dupont as hard as she could.
The cat-faced woman cried out and fell backwards on the ground. Her glass flew out of her hand, hit the ground, and shattered on the hard floor.
“Man that hurt.” Zoey’s head spun from the hit, and a giant bruise started to rise on her forehead. She lowered herself to the ground and grabbed a shard of the broken mystic glass with her fingertips.
Mrs. Dupont moaned as Zoey carefully began to cut her bonds with the shard of crystal. She cursed as she sliced her fingers and her palms. It wasn’t as easy as in the movies.
Mrs. Dupont moaned again, and her head lolled back and forth.
Zoey was desperate. Sweat trickled into her eyes as she held the shard carefully between her thumb and index finger and pressed downwards again. She heard a satisfying snap.
Her hands were free.
It was her turn to moan as she rubbed her wrists and shoulders. Her hands were bleeding, but she was sure it was nothing compared to what Tristan and Simon were probably going through. And then she checked her boomerang. Mistake number one, the Alphas hadn’t disarmed them. They were arrogant and stupid.
Zoey pocketed the crystal and ran over to the table to get a sample of the black oil. It moved like a mass of black leeches. She placed it on the table cautiously and then reached into the folds of her red uniform and pulled out an empty vial. With some effort, she was able to pour the black oil into her vial without spilling any. It was thick, and somehow that seemed to help. She screwed on the top and then pocketed her sample.
“What…what are you doing?” breathed Mrs. Dupont. She was still sprawled on the floor and trying to focus.
“Getting me and my friends out of here.”
Without another moment to waste, Zoey bolted for the elevator and pulled the metal gate across. She pressed on the brass button with the letter B, and with a slight jerk the elevator descended. Zoey breathed heavily. She unclipped her boomerang and stood with her legs apart, ready to fight and run.
The elevator stopped with a slight judder. She saw no one through the gate, so she pulled it open and started running.
Please be okay, please be okay, she told herself, as the first throng of Alphas came into view. She ran madly into the crowd, searching desperately for Tristan and Simon.
A woman with a scar on her face stepped forward to intercept Zoey. She heard the sound of a blade being unsheathed, and she spun to dodge the first swipe of the Alpha woman’s sharp sword. The woman smiled maniacally. Her blade flashed out again, but Zoey ducked, whirled, and kicked the woman hard in the chest. The woman doubled over, and Zoey backhanded her across the face with her boomerang. The blade fell from the woman’s hand as she crumbled to the ground.
A crowd of onlookers had formed around Zoey. She slashed her boomerang like a sword, and the crowd parted in front of her.
She sprinted across the chamber, searching for her friends. Her eyes burned as her stubbornness to find them fueled her with energy. More and more Alphas were staring at her. She didn’t have much time.
“TRISTAN? SIMON?” she bellowed at the top of her lungs.
“ZOEY! OVER HERE!”
Zoey choked back a sob and turned towards the voice. With her heart hammering in her ears she charged into the crowd, hitting anything that came in her way.
Suddenly, her stolen pants loosened and she tripped over the bottom. Zoey went sprawling on the floor and hit her chin on the hard ground. She tasted blood in her mouth. She didn’t have time to think about the pain. Struggling to her feet, she felt a sharp pain in her ankle but she staggered on, the pain lessening as she kept going.
She was nearly there…
Finally, she saw them about thirty feet away.
They were standing next to a large cage where a lizard-like mystic and another that looked like a cross bet
ween an octopus and a man were already hooked up with tubes and wires. The bear-man and the man with the whip stood next to them, talking to another Alpha in a white lab coat. The only things missing from the cage were Tristan and Simon.
Zoey’s rage escaped in a roar, and she sprang into action. The Alphas in the crowd were in such shock at seeing a crazed girl roar like an animal that they actually stepped out of her way. All except the bear-man and the man with the whip; they turned to meet her.
Faster than she would have thought a man as large as a bear could move, the bear-man hurled himself at Zoey. She dodged and spun around, missing his giant fist by a centimeter. But she was not quick enough. He kicked her in the stomach, winding her, and she went down. From the corner of her eye she saw him spring into the air as though he had springs attached to his feet. She felt the air move above her, and just as the bear-man was about to crush her, she darted out of the way, rolled on the ground and came up behind him, driving the sharp end of her boomerang into the back of his head.
The bear-man hissed in pain and stumbled back. “I’m going to kill you for that, agent.”
Zoey waved her boomerang. “I’d like to see you try.”
He growled and black gleaming claws emerged from the tips of his fingers. He snarled like a wild animal, and she could see fangs like large daggers growing in his jaws. He launched himself at her again.
She dodged to the side—but he slammed into her shoulder, and she went sprawling. It was like being hit by a train. Pain exploded in her back as he picked her up with claws that cut through her flesh like knives. He tossed her to the ground.
Zoey rolled. Ignoring the pain in her back, she staggered up. The bear-man sneered and came at her once more. But this time Zoey was ready. With lightning speed she hurled her boomerang straight at the man’s temple. He never saw it coming. It hit him with a crack like the splintering of wood and ricocheted back to her.
The bear-man staggered, his eyes rolled back into his head, and he crashed to the ground.
“Zoey, watch out!” she heard Tristan cry, but too late.
She saw a flash of green, then the whip wrapped itself around her upper body and pinned her arms to her sides. It squeezed her harder and harder as it burned through her skin. She screamed in agony.
The man with the whip sneered, pleased at the pain on Zoey’s face. His eyes widened, and he pulled on the whip again. She could feel her lungs crushing under the pressure. Her face turned red, and she felt her boomerang slip from her fingers. She was suffocating.
“Zoey!”
With his hands bound, Tristan slammed into the man with the whip, and they both crashed to the ground. The whip rolled from the man’s hands. The coils of the whip loosened immediately, and it fell to her feet.
She grabbed her boomerang and jumped over the scorching whip just as the man got to his feet. He threw back the whip in an arc above him and slashed it violently towards Zoey. She dove out of its path, and the tip of the whip sent chunks of marble and dust into the air beside her. She dived and rolled as she threw her boomerang again, but the man intercepted it easily with his whip.
The boomerang fell to the ground, and the man laughed wickedly at the fear on Zoey’s face.
She leaped towards her boomerang, but the whip wrapped around her throat and tightened before she could get to it. She choked and began to stagger forward.
Together, Tristan and Simon slammed into the man’s back, kicking him in the knees. The man cried out, and for a second his focus turned to Tristan and Simon. It was enough for Zoey.
She yanked the scorching hot whip from around her throat, leaped towards her boomerang, grabbed it, and hurtled it straight for the man’s head. It hit him right between the eyes, and she could almost feel his brain move inside his skull. He crashed to the ground with unblinking eyes.
For a second Zoey just stood there, impressed at her own luck. Then she pulled out the crystal shard and cut away Tristan and Simon’s bonds.
Tristan and Simon beamed at her.
“You were awesome,” said Simon. “You fought like a real agent.”
Zoey hadn’t expected to blush at the compliment.
The room was unnaturally quiet. The other Alphas were staring at them. But they were transfixed by what had happened and weren’t sure how to proceed.
“What happened to you? How did you escape?” asked Tristan, looking over his shoulder at the crowd of angry Alphas.
Zoey told them what had happened as fast as she could in one breath. “And I got the sample,” she said finally.
“Who are you?” said Simon, impressed.
Zoey lowered her voice. “We need to get out of here. There’s a mirror in that room where Mrs. Dupont killed Xenor. We need to get to that mirror, and then we can go home—”
“GET THEM!”
Mrs. Dupont commanded from the crowd across from them. Zoey could see the spit spurting from her angry mouth. Her hair stuck up on one side and her face was twisted in fury. She looked like a panther ready to kill.
“TAKE THEM DOWN! NOW! DON’T LET THEM ESCAPE!”
“Uh…guys,” said Simon. “I think it’s time for us to make a run for it. What do you say?”
The Alphas turned on them like a giant angry red wave.
“RUN!”
Tristan led the way, and they crossed the chamber into a throng of blood-red uniforms.
Tristan’s skin shone blue. Using only his fists and his legs, he ploughed through the first wave of attackers like a human tornado. Zoey forgot where she was for a second as she watched him take down two men that were built like professional wrestlers. He was that awesome.
“Hurry. We need to get to the staircase.” Simon ducked as a woman hurled a metal baton towards his head. He pulled out his slingshot and shot her directly up her nostril. She screamed like a banshee, dropped her baton, and ran off in the opposite direction.
They bolted towards the large staircase, but a crowd of burly Alpha men blocked their path.
“Great, here comes the testosterone fraternity.” Simon armed his slingshot.
“Take one more step, and you’re all dead,” the first one said, with an ugly sneer.
Tristan stepped forward, smiled, raised his hands in a challenge, and waited.
The seven Alpha men closed in around them, their uniforms stained with dirt as though they had just come from a mud fight. Zoey caught a glimpse of Mrs. Dupont storming her way through the crowd. She would reach them in seconds. Zoey didn’t want to think about what she would do to her friends if she caught them again.
The rest of the Alphas in the dungeon chamber stood back, like boxing fans waiting for the battle that was to begin, thrilled at the prospect of Zoey and the others being ripped to shreds. “Don’t let them escape!” shouted Mrs. Dupont over the thumping and grinding of the machinery.
Zoey had a closer look at their uniforms. What she had first thought was dirt was unmistakably blood. Their uniforms were splattered in mystic blood.
Zoey narrowed her eyes and gripped her boomerang.
The Alpha men grinned. Their sharp knives glinted in the soft light.
Tristan raised his voice, making sure the Alphas heard him. “On three…”
Simon and Zoey readied themselves.
“THREE!”
Before the Alphas could react, Tristan slammed into the first three, creating a path for Zoey and Simon. Two Alpha men came straight for Zoey. But before they could get close, her boomerang ricocheted off their foreheads, and they fell into the crowd.
“Nice!” said Simon, running alongside her.
Zoey winked at him, caught her boomerang, and followed the fallen bodies that Tristan had left behind as he cleared a path to the stairs.
They bounded up the stairs three at a time. Zoey winced as the wounds in her back stretched as she climbed. When they reached the top, she looked back. The staircase trembled under the weight of the hundreds of Alphas dashing up the steps behind them.
“Quick,
help me with the door.”
Tristan shoved with all his might on the heavy iron doors. Zoey and Simon joined him, and together they pushed them closed with an echoing boom.
“They don’t lock!” Simon ran from one side of the doors to the other. “They’ll be up here any second now.”
Tristan put his back against the doors, pinning them shut. “I’ll keep them shut for as long as I can.”
“Which won’t be long…” Simon turned in terror from the door to Tristan.
“I know you’ve got super strength my friend, and I don’t want to sound patronizing or anything like that - but there are like hundreds, maybe thousands of those sick red suits out there. You won’t keep them out for long.”
Tristan’s blue skin intensified. “So why don’t you shut up then and help me then.”
“Right.” Simon pressed his body against the door. “But, don’t expect miracles from these biceps—”
BOOM!
The iron doors rattled as though a giant had smashed them with its fist. The hinges shifted slightly, and the doors parted enough for Zoey to see a flash of red cloth. Tristan pushed all his weight against the doors, and Simon did his best. She could hear the screams and shouts of the mad mob outside. The doors shook under more pounding, but miraculously they stayed in place.
Simon’s feet slipped on the marble floor as he pushed and his face turned red. “It’s not as easy as it looks,” he said through his teeth.
“Whatever you need to do, Zoey, do it fast!” said Tristan, the strain of the doors’ weight showed on his face.
“Yeah,” agreed Simon, breathing heavily. “I don’t want to go back in there.”
He pointed his head towards the transfiguration chamber. “They were going to make me have tentacles. Can you imagine that? Me - with tentacles?”
Zoey turned from the doors. “Okay. I’m going to get the mirror I saw on that desk — and I’m coming right back. Don’t go anywhere.”
Mystics 3-Book Collection Page 43