by Lysa Daley
Chapter 51
Somehow I do barely manage to get BrightSky, my shield and defender, up in front of me an instant before the rebounded plasma can slam into me.
I see that the Crimson Lord has the ability to deflect the dark energy just like me. Wide metallic cuffs attached to his forearms caused the black plasma to bounce back.
One of my few advantages has been wiped away.
Now, it’s like we’re playing a deadly version of ping-pong. Back and forth. Back and forth.
This time, as it returns in my direction, my sword diverts the deadly plasma straight down into the sandy floor of the lakebed where it’s absorbed into the Earth.
Meanwhile, the oversized version of Tom has taken out one of the Gorbins. One of the creature’s two heads is missing as its dead body gets swept away by the current.
Unfortunately, Tom is being savagely attacked by the other two. That’s four heads against one. Not good odds.
His three smaller Drolgons are making little headway against the two-headed monsters because they just aren’t big enough to make much of a difference.
But while the Gorbins are viciously battling the Drolgons, the brain has been left completely unattended. I’m stunned to see that absolutely no one is guarding it.
The distance between me, the brain and the Crimson Lord form a sort of equilateral triangle. In a race it’s a dead heat. Can I make it to the brain before the Crimson Lord makes it to me?
I turn and kick as hard as I can. This is the race of my life.
As soon as he realizes what I’m doing, he tries to cut the distance between us by swimming toward the brain at an angle that will intercept me.
I kick my way toward the spinning oscillator. In order to pull the backpack off, I must holster BrightSky across my back.
Intense heat radiates off the brain like an underwater furnace.
I guess we’ll find out if I tolerate heat as well as I do the cold. It never occurred to my uncle to test me for heat as well as cold.
I’m afraid to look behind me but out of the corner of my eye, I can see the Crimson Lord rapidly coming up behind me.
I fight through the current to get to my target. The heat is so intense that the waves push me back making it harder and harder to approach the brain.
The opening that Fitz told me would be just under the thermal oscillator becomes visible as I approach.
Kicking hard, I’m laboring to breathe. My air has begun to run out. The diminishing oxygen levels make my head light. Slowly, I’m starting to feel drowsy.
It’s going to be a race between getting the backpack planted and being evaporated by the plasma.
I have ten seconds to get away after the backpack is planted.
The plan was for Jax to timeshift us up to the surface of the lake. Without him, that’s obviously not going to work.
I have no choice. I have to go to Plan B. And it’s not a good choice. That would be me planting the backpack and getting blown to kingdom come with it.
Oh well. It’s the least I can do. I mean, without me, this poor little defenseless planet wouldn’t be in this awful predicament. Sacrificing my life is probably the least I can do. I know I sound glib, but at this point, I’d rather not live with the guilt of what will happen to Earth if I fail.
Fighting to stay conscious and feeling woozy, I take in a big breath but find that it doesn’t fill me. My lungs burn. The pain is almost unbearable.
Out of the corner of my eye I can see the Crimson Lord aiming his weapon in my direction.
With BrightSky holstered, I’m completely vulnerable.
I’m not going to make it. I can’t think about it. I just need to focus on getting the backpack to the brain.
A few feet away from the oscillator, I lift the bag ready to shove it in.
The Crimson Lord is quickly cutting the distance between me and the brain. He’s going to get there first. If he does, I will have failed.
Suddenly, something yanks him backwards. I can see shock fill his face. I’m just out of his reach.
Chapter 52
From behind the Crimson Lord, Jax rises from the depths. He’s not dead! Still, the wound in his side is visible. His super fast healing abilities must have kicked in. Still, he looks weak.
At best, this is a temporary distraction. Jax clearly isn’t strong enough to hold the Crimson Lord for very long. I may only have a few seconds left to get to the brain.
Rallying, I take advantage of the situation pulling the bright orange rip cord in the backpack which starts the count down on the explosives.
I have 15 seconds before they detonate.
I close my eyes. I’m resigned to my fate, accepting the fact that I can’t get back up to the surface in time.
At least I will have destroyed the thing that’s controlling the lives of millions of humans against their will. Hopefully, Horlocks will soon be a thing of the past on planet Earth.
Suddenly, I feel something pull me backward. Then I’m racing upwards, away from the brain.
I smile, turn my head, expecting to find that my rescuer is Jax.
But it’s not him.
I realize Tom is my savior.
Holding onto me, the Drolgon speeds toward the surface. The murky light brightens as we break through the water.
I gasp as my burning lungs fill with sweet, cold oxygen.
In the air, Tom instantly transforms into the biggest bald eagle I’ve ever seen. Somehow, I’m now being carried gently in his massive talons. Two smaller eagles follow behind us. They must be Tom’s children. But where’s the third baby?
A split second after we’re airborne, the pressure wave from the massive underwater explosion booms up from under us.
Luckily, we’re already far enough away from the surface that it doesn’t affect our flight.
I look down at the water’s surface expecting to see the Crimson Lord come rocketing up after us.
My eyes stay glued to the water’s surface as the shock waves begin to settle from the explosion.
I keep watching, but my foe never appears.
I silently pray that means the Crimson Lord has been destroyed for good.
Unfortunately, it probably also means that Jax has perished as well.
I go limp in Tom’s talons. I fell completely numb. Neither happy, nor sad. Nothing. Just nothing.
As Tom gracefully flies through the winter sky, I lift my eyes toward the heavens. The snow storm is gone. From this height, I can now see far off into the distance. Miles and miles. There are no Draconian warships in sight.
I scan the horizon. Nothing as far as the eye can see. They’re gone. The sky is clear.
Soon, La Barbara Jean becomes visible floating effortlessly on the lake. A cluster of people stands on the bow watching us approach.
Tom descends toward the deck, gently depositing me on the empty stern of the ice breaker, then he lifts back off flying away.
From behind me, I hear my uncle shouting as several people race toward me. Lying on my back, I watch Tom soar off into the distance. When I can’t see him anymore, I close my eyes, totally overwhelmed and begin to cry.
Chapter 53
“Who bought all these new towels?” Ruby calls from a bathroom situated between two empty bedrooms. “I love them. They’re super plush.”
I’m unpacking a box of new dishes in a small but quaint kitchen. “Guess who didn’t think we had enough?”
“Ah, Uncle Conrad saves the day again,” Ruby laughs. “Tell him I like the color.”
“Well, white does go with everything.”
Today is moving day. Ruby and I just signed a lease for this two bedroom apartment that’s off campus right behind the library. Fall semester at Oakdale College started last Monday.
It’s true that I was mad at Ruby for a while after everything happened. But I now realize that she was in an impossible position. How do you choose between the life of your family or the life of your best friend? Sure, she could have handled it di
fferently. But, no one’s perfect. And, to be honest, I just can’t stay mad at her.
My uncle and I are back in California. It’s been nearly two months since we destroyed the underwater alien brain and defeated the Draconian Swarm that threatened this planet.
Once the brain was destroyed and the Crimson Lord was defeated, the former alien abductees who had been turned into unwilling Horlocks all seemed to power down temporarily. It’s like they simultaneously shut off. According to reports, about two to three minutes later, they all rebooted. When they did wake up, they were all back to normal with absolutely no memory of what happened to them.
I’m happy to report that both Waylon, Simmons and everyone we knew who went into the Horlock-state was found safe and sound.
Most of the Draconian warships immediately left our atmosphere. When the brain went down, the alien shields that had been protecting them shut off. The military attacked. After the United States, Russia and China jointly blew up a small Draconian cruiser, the rest of the alien warcraft fleet retreated.
We’ve defeated them. At least, for now.
“Astrid, I’m worried about the security lock on the garage gate downstairs,” my uncle says talking before he’s even all the way through the front door. He’s carrying a large cardboard box overflowing with sheets and pillows.
“The garage gate is fine,” I say, trying to appease him. It’s a miracle that he agreed to let me and Ruby live together at all. “It has a brand new lock. The manager said they just installed it last week.”
“Yes, but only one lock,” he frowns disapprovingly. “That’s not sufficient in my book.”
He’s found a new house to rent even further up the canyon than our last house. And he’s planning to reopen his karate studio. The Mariposas have restored his old space after it was destroyed by the Grail bounty hunters. He even offered me a job assistant teaching three days a week that actually pays a decent amount.
I told him I’d think about it.
I’m still hoping to get into MIT next semester. I’m on the waitlist and have a good shot at it. For now though, I’ll focus on doing the best I can here.
“I have something for you,” my uncle says, his tone much softer.
I set the coffee cup that I’m unwrapping down and turn around to see that my uncle is holding a large wrapped present with an enormous hot pink bow.
“Oh my gosh! The box is huge,” I say, surprised by the lavishly wrapped gift. “What is this?”
“Open it,” he smiles, and I can see that he’s enjoying giving me a surprise gift as much as I’m enjoying getting one. “Think of it as a housewarming present.”
The wrapping paper is almost so pretty that I don’t want to rip it. Almost. I unwrap the box to find a brand new comforter for my bed.
“Where in the world did you find this?” I ask, pulling it out.
This brand new comforter looks an awful lot — identical even — to the one that was on my bed for the last dozen years. We bought it right after we arrived on this planet. It covered the bed in all ten of our houses until it burned up with all of our other belongings when Mr. Johnson set our place on fire.
“There’s no way they still make this comforter more than a decade later.”
“I found it on eBay,” he smiles proudly. “I paid too much for it, but hey, I wanted you to have something to remind you of… I don’t know… us.”
I give him a big hug, and I can see he’s on the brink of tearing up. Despite the fact that he can be a killing machine, at heart, my uncle is really just a big softy.
Instead of letting me see him cry, he turns away, “There’s still half a dozen big boxes in my truck downstairs. I’ll go grab a couple.”
After he leaves, Ruby comes walking down the hallway from the two bedrooms, “I still can’t believe it. He’s actually allowing you to live on your own.”
“I guess miracles do happen. Besides, he didn’t exactly leave me all alone. He left my own personal bodyguards,” I say, pointing at Tom, back in his silky gray cat form, sleeping on a chair in the sunlight. Two spunky kittens nestle next to him.
We lost one of his children in the battle with the Gorbins. After that happened, Tom disappeared for a while. Probably grieving in his own way, but eventually, he and his babies returned.
“Oh jeez, is it already two?” I ask, glancing at the old digital clock on the stove. “I’m going to be late for Organic Chem.”
“You’ll never make it,” Ruby shakes her head. “Too far across campus. You might as well blow it off and come to yoga with Phoebe and me.”
“Nice try,” I smile, grabbing my backpack and hurrying out of our messy apartment. “And I’ll make it. I have 90 whole seconds to go three blocks.”
Of course, I’m late, out of breath and sweaty when I finally arrive. Luckily, it’s a giant lecture hall filled with a hundred of my fellow science geeks, so no one pays any attention to me as I slink in.
Still, there aren’t many seats left. Trying not to call too much attention to myself, I slide into a seat in the back row.
“Excuse me, are you saving —“ I stop when a student in a baseball cap turns his head toward me.
“I’m saving it for you,” he smiles.
“You?!” I say in complete shock. “You keep turning up in the most unlikely places. What are you doing here?”
It’s Jax. Again. I can’t believe it.
“Miss Jones, how nice of you to join us today,” Dr. Ackerman calls me out from the front of the class. Everyone turns to stare at me. “Are you planning to stay for the lecture?”
“Yes, ma’am,” I say, sliding in next to Jax, feeling self conscious.
When all the attention turns away, I quietly repeat, “What are you doing here?”
Jax whispers, “Organic Chemistry is required for all pre-med students. I hear it’s hard. A weed out class. Want to start a study group?”
He’s not wrong. They make this course intentionally difficult. They want people to fail. If you survive and get a decent grade, you might actually have a shot of getting into med school.
“Since when are you premed? Since when are you a college student? At my college?”
Jax is already a trained veterinarian.
“Thought it might make sense to learn the physiology and anatomy of the human body if I’m going to stay on this planet for a while.”
“I’m confused,” I begin. “They told me you went home to Arcturus.”
After I recovered from my little underwater adventure with the Crimson Lord and the brain, my uncle gave me the good news that Jax wasn’t dead after all. He had been pulled from the freezing water not long after Tom rescued me. Naturally, I was thrilled.
But the next thing I knew, they told me that Jax decided to go home. He had officially completed his commitment to the Eye in the Sky team and the Pleiadian Alliance, so he was granted permission to return to his home star system.
He left without saying goodbye.
I was hurt. No surprise, I suppose. Hurt that he didn’t stay to say goodbye. But then I thought back to our conversation on La Barbara Jean when he tried to talk to me because it might be his last chance, and I realized then that he was planning to leave all along. He was trying to say goodbye to me then, and I wouldn’t listen.
“I just wanted to see my family who is still alive back there. There’s not many left,” he explains gravely. “But I’m back now. And I thought of something really important the other day,” he says seriously.
“What’s that?”
“You owe me a burger.”
It takes me a minute to remember what he’s talking about. Back in Argentina, we bet who would be faster in the freezing waters of Cami Lake. I was certain that I would be because Jax was constrained by a thick wetsuit, and I just had on a lightweight tank suit.
“No I don’t owe you,” I reply. “You owe me.”
“I was faster than you in the water, and you know it,” he declares as a very stern girl in the row in fr
ont of us turns around and shhh's us.
“That’s only because you could time shift underwater,” I reply.
“So?” he shrugs. “A bet’s a bet.”
He’s right. In that case, technically, he was faster than me. Not ready to give in and trying to stall, I just murmur, “Hmmmm.”
“Tell you what, why don’t we call it a draw because of extenuating circumstances,” he concedes. “And, this time, it’ll be my treat.”
“Well, in that case,” I smile, “I’d love to have a burger with you.”
“It’s a date then,” Jax says as Dr. Ackerman begins her lecture. k12