Angelica and Uriel came back, both aggravated and breathing heavily. “We need to get away from here as soon as possible,” Uriel replied.
Deena came out and joined us. She frowned at the sight of blood on the diamond floor.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“Cassiel. Not to worry, that’s just one less problem for us, for the time being,” Araquiel said. “Let’s go.”
Speechless, we followed Araquiel through the hallway, headed farther north. With just a few more explosive charges left, we were one step closer to the conclusion of our first mission for GASP. I had to admit, I liked it.
Being surrounded by my people, still-brainwashed, did make me feel uneasy. But the weight in my stomach was quick to dissolve whenever I thought of Amal and Amane, who were currently working on their mass memory wiper—the one tool that would give our brothers and sisters a chance at a better life.
A life without Ta’Zan’s lies.
Being here wasn’t as troublesome as I would’ve thought. I had a focus, a clear purpose, and four incredible fighters by my side. The Faulties were doing their part, shedding their own blood and putting their lives at risk to make all this happen. The Draenir, already close to extinction, were also out there, fighting for a better future—one where they weren’t hunted or infected with genetically engineered plagues.
On a different level, in another corner of the colosseum, Douma and Raphael were suffering in captivity for our freedom, in a way. Everyone involved was engaged, sacrificing something for GASP to defeat Ta’Zan and prevent this world from coming to an end.
We had our part to play. And I was more than eager to do it.
Harper
Tensions were running high on Mount Zur.
Every single GASP agent around was on edge, quietly waiting to hear from our people on Strava. To avoid a nervous breakdown, most of them kept themselves busy with various tasks—liaising with our other bases in Eritopia and on Neraka, checking on the new recruits, and preparing various activity reports. Anything to take their minds away from the fragile, yet incredibly important operation currently taking place on Strava.
Caspian and I were in the command center, along with Amelia, Arwen and Brock, Field and Aida, and Phoenix and Viola. Caleb and River were back in The Shade, but they had their earpieces on at all times, so they could talk to Rose and Ben. Victoria and Bastien were with little Voss and Vita, who was finding it increasingly hard to even move. I didn’t think we’d get Bastien out of the command center to begin with, but Victoria had convinced him that he needed a bit of a break—his nerves were stretched too thin. He was bound to come back soon. Nobody could keep Bastien away for too long.
Whether it was supposed to be like this for Vita or not, we weren’t sure, since we’d never had a fae-incubus hybrid before, but she was doing her best to keep herself calm. Bijarki was a prisoner in the diamond dome, and that couldn’t possibly help with her condition, but still, I had to admit that I admired our little fae. She was as fierce as ever.
The Daughters and Arwen occasionally checked her vitals and general health. Everything pointed to a good pregnancy, but her mobility issues didn’t seem natural. Then again, maybe we were all just more worried than usual.
“The fae ship is in orbit,” Phoenix announced, keeping his eyes on one of the telescope screens.
The seven hundred and forty-two fae sent by Sherus and Nuriya were on that shuttle, patiently waiting for a green light to pierce Strava’s atmosphere. We had Araquiel, Herakles, and the diamond dome prisoners on the line, but we kept it clear, in order to make communications easier. The entire operation was remarkably complicated and time-sensitive, so having a clear comms channel was essential to pass crucial messages along.
“How are they holding up?” I asked Amelia, who checked the message screen and their vitals, all transmitted through a plethora of experimental sensors Phoenix mounted inside the ship, with Arwen’s help. I had to admit, Phoenix and Arwen made one hell of a team when it came to combining technology and magic.
“They’re okay. Their vitals are relatively steady. Some of them are off-the-charts nervous, but who can blame them?” Amelia replied.
“They’ve picked up some space debris from orbit,” Viola added, narrowing her eyes at the video feed. “I think it’s helping them stay hidden from potential eyes on the ground. We don’t yet know what space observation technology Ta’Zan has.”
“Was it on purpose?” I murmured.
“I don’t think so. I think it’s pure physics. Objects in orbit tend to be drawn to larger objects. In this case, the shuttle,” Phoenix said. “Either way, it works for us.”
“I wonder what Nathaniel and his crew are up to now.” Arwen sighed, leaning against the back of her chair. “We haven’t heard from them in an hour or so.”
“I think we’d know if they ran into any kind of trouble,” Field replied. “Amane and Amal have eyes and ears on the place, plus Isda’s around. I don’t think we’re lacking intel right now. It’s just the calm before the storm.”
“Well, we’d better survive the storm,” Aida said. “I want my brothers back, dammit!”
“We all want them back, hon,” Brock replied gently.
Elonora’s voice came through our earpieces. “Harper? You guys there?”
I clicked my earpiece on. “I’m here, Lenny. What’s up? How are you guys doing in that dome?” I asked.
“Um… mostly okay,” she replied, her voice strained and shaky. “Arwen, Brock? You around?”
“Wait, define mostly okay,” Caspian cut in, his brows drawn into a sharp frown. Had it not been for him, I would’ve lost my senses days ago. Even in these circumstances, I found myself gazing at him, thankful to the universe for bringing him into my life.
Well, technically, I’d sort of barged into his, but that was just a minor detail.
“We have a bit of a problem with Kale,” Elonora replied.
As if their chairs were on fire, both Arwen and Brock shot to their feet, staring at the second telescope screen, which had settled over the diamond dome and Ta’Zan’s colosseum. We couldn’t see much inside, since the diamond plates were angled to distort everything, but it gave us the feeling that we at least had eyes on them.
“What’s wrong with my Kale?” Arwen asked.
I could almost feel her frayed nerves and stomach-churning concern for her daughter. I probably would’ve been worse if that was my daughter out there.
“She’s gone into Word-mode again,” Elonora explained. “Corrine, Ibrahim, Lumi, and Hunter are with her. She’s stable, but we don’t know for how long, or when she’ll come back to us. We’re in a bit of a pinch now, because of the—”
“Bilocation spell,” Brock cut her off, fear locking his jaw. “You need four witches for the spell to work. It’s bad enough you only have one and a half swamp witches to begin with.”
“Uh-oh,” Amelia murmured, understanding the size of the trouble pending.
“But my baby. Is she okay? Do you know what happened before she blacked out?” Arwen asked.
“She’d taken her position in the dome. We were waiting for Araquiel to give us the green light so we could get the spell started,” Elonora replied. “We don’t know how these episodes start, anyway.”
“Does she seem… dangerous?” Brock murmured, clearly pained by a genuine fear that Kailani might lose control and release another deadly pulse. I couldn’t blame him. Our closest friends, our grandparents, and our great-grandparents were in there, our allies… hundreds of innocent people.
“Brock!” Arwen snapped, not ready to deal with that side of Kailani’s swamp witch powers.
“I’m sorry, my love, but we have to ask that,” Brock replied, trying to comfort her. “Your parents are in there. There are a lot of people in there. We need to be realistic.”
Watching them made my heart twist itself up in a painful knot. I would’ve given anything for the power to put an end to everything now, before more peo
ple got hurt. I would’ve stopped at nothing to get everyone out of there, to reunite my people with their loved ones… to turn Ta’Zan into a pile of ash before he tore more families apart.
“She seems calm,” Elonora finally replied. “Her eyes are glowing white, but Hunter is holding her close, and Lumi is watching over them. The others were told to drop as soon as we hear the hum we heard during her last episode. It’s the only thing we can do, in here.”
Phoenix shook his head slowly, a muscle angrily twitching in his jaw. “If they can’t set the bilocation spell, Araquiel can’t risk detonating the charges once they’re set. If we don’t blow that place up, the fae can’t enter Strava’s orbit without a swarm of Perfects tearing the shuttle apart. Without the fae, the Hermessi won’t awaken, and Amal and Amane’s mass memory wiper won’t be enough to tip the scales in our favor. Ta’Zan is still rebuilding his ships. He’ll block the comms again. Telluris. Everything. We’ll be back to square one, but with an enemy who’s learned a few of our tricks.”
Arwen’s knees gave out. She sat back in her chair, with Brock kneeling next to her, trying to help her stay focused.
“Kale’s a fighter, my love,” he said reassuringly. “She’ll get through this.”
“But will she get through it in time?” Amelia breathed.
“I’m sorry, Arwen,” I said. “We’re all trying to look at the bigger picture here. This isn’t just about Kale anymore.”
“I know, I know,” she replied, wiping a solitary tear. “It’s kind of hard not to look at it like that, though.”
“What about the fae?” Elonora asked.
“They’re still in orbit, waiting,” I replied. “The sooner we move this along, the better. They’re using the fuel reserve to keep the shuttle from moving away from its original entry point. If that runs out, they may have to either go in at another location or wait a day to go in above the winter-summer cluster, like we planned.”
Suddenly, the background of our comms channel was filled with the sound of battle. Weapons fired. Grunts and wailing. Short screams and swords clashing. Herakles came through, breathing heavily.
“Lenny? GASP? Anyone?!” he called out.
“Herakles?” Elonora croaked. “You actually found the general channel. Well done! I thought you’d have more trouble with the earpiece’s frequencies—”
“What’s the holdup in there?” Herakles interrupted her. He was definitely impatient and most likely fighting someone as he spoke.
“Nathaniel and Araquiel are still planting the charges,” I said, joining the conversation. “They’ll let us know when they’re done. If they’re not saying anything, it’s probably because they’re ducking hostiles in there.”
“Dammit,” Herakles cursed. “I’m losing more people than I would’ve wanted out here, and the Draenir aren’t doing too well. They’re sending more Perfects over on our side, and I don’t think we can last much longer. I mean, we’re doing our best to draw their attention here, but we can’t keep this up forever!”
Elonora groaned with frustration. “I’m sorry you’re having to deal with that, Herakles, but we’ve got some issues of our own. Even if Araquiel and Nathaniel’s group gets the job done, we can’t get the bilocation spell started. Kale went into Word-mode.”
Herakles’s reply was a string of curse words so lewd, my ears caught fire, and I was seconds away from removing my comms piece altogether and crushing it under my boot like a bug.
“Sorry,” Herakles then added, clearing his throat. “Okay. Okay… We’ve got this. We’ll try to hold them off for as long as we can,” he said. A thud in the background made my spine tingle. “Oh, that was close,” Herakles then muttered. “We’ll stand by for an update.”
“You can do this!” I said to him. “I know you can. Just don’t let the Perfects see you. Go deeper into the woods if you have to.”
“Harper’s right,” Elonora replied. “They’ll come after you, either way. But the jungle is your turf, not theirs. Make the most of it. It’ll buy you some time!”
We all heard the click that followed. Herakles was offline. Whether that was deliberate or not, I wasn’t sure. I could only hope. I closed my eyes for a moment, praying to all the gods and all the stars for all this to work out in our favor. We’d done nothing but good. Whatever we’d done wrong, it was never with malicious intent.
We didn’t have much left to do. Araquiel was going to tell us once he and Nathaniel succeeded in planting all the explosive devices. Amal and Amane were going to do the same, once they completed their mass memory wiper. They had their own secret escape route, ready to be used at a moment’s notice. Our people in the diamond dome, however, had no choice but to wait for Kailani to wake up. They couldn’t leave without the bilocation spell, because there were too many Perfect eyes on them, too many for them to handle, even with their collars off.
I looked at Caspian once more, seeking some sort of comfort. Our souls were bonded forever. His presence alone was enough to soothe me, but his warm smile did even more. He took my hand in his and held it tight for a moment, then pressed his lips against my knuckles.
“She’ll pull through,” he whispered. “Nothing’s going to stop her from doing her duty. Not even the Word. You know that.”
I gave him a brief nod. Caspian had a point.
Kailani had a way of beating the odds whenever it got rough. She’d snapped out of these seizures before. She was one of the truest fighters I’d ever come across. With her family and her loved ones at stake, she wasn’t going to let anyone or anything get in the way.
There was more fire in Kailani than in all the Perfects and Arch-Perfects put together.
Kailani
My blackout had taken me to the strangest dream state.
I was faced with versions of some of the people I was supposed to love, yet I felt nothing. They were like distant memories forged solely to catch my eye. Everything was surreal, and I’d found myself entranced by the littlest of details.
But at least I was finally facing the Word.
Appearing to me as a dark silhouette, the Word’s presence weighed heavily in my subconscious. The film theater around us was huge, and yet it seemed tiny with the two of us in it, as if the walls were shrinking and closing in.
I’d waited a long time for this, and I had so many questions that I didn’t even know where to start. But the Word wasn’t going to let me take the lead on this conversation. With a low male voice, it spoke directly to my soul.
“What took you so long?” the Word asked.
I cocked my head to the side, slightly confused. “I’m sorry, there wasn’t an instruction manual for any of this,” I replied. “You have no idea how many times I’ve tried to reach out, to talk to you.”
“Clearly, you didn’t try hard enough.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I did everything that Lumi asked. I listened to every message you sent me, but, for some reason, I can’t remember a single word. I don’t really understand how all this is supposed to work.” I sighed. “Believe me, if I knew how to get to you like this, I would’ve done it sooner.”
The silhouette moved across the narrow stage in front of the cinema screen. My eyes were fixed on the shadow, completely ignoring the snippets of my life, so colorfully displayed across the canvas. I knew everything that had happened already, anyway. I was more interested in what lay ahead, and only the Word could tell me what that was.
“But here you are, Kailani,” the Word said.
“Here I am,” I muttered, stretching my arms to my sides. “What now?”
“You tell me.”
I felt my blood simmer.
“I’m pretty sure you’re the one with the answers, Kailani.”
“How so?”
“All you need to do is tell me what you want,” the Word said.
This felt like a test of some sort. That meant coming up with good and honest answers. Seems easy enough.
“I want to become a swamp witch,” I replied. �
��It’s why I took the apprenticeship, after all.”
The figure was quiet for a while, and, once again, I could feel it looking at me.
“What do you want, Kailani?” the Word asked again.
All I could think of was waking up. I knew this was a dream. My feelings were missing. My people were gone. Hunter wasn’t here. My body was back in the diamond dome, on… Strava. With that memory, everything else flooded my consciousness so hard and fast that I nearly lost my breath. The truth came back to haunt me. The four Draenir on my conscience. The bilocation spell. My family, my friends, billions of innocent people were relying on me to pull through.
But how could I, if I was stuck in this movie theater with a shadow of the Word?
“I answered your question, didn’t I?” I shot back.
“This isn’t a job interview. I’m not here for you to impress me. I need you to look deep inside yourself and tell me what it is you want to do. Unless there is crystalline clarity in your mind and in your soul, I cannot grant you the authority to ascend, Kailani.”
The urgency of my situation back in the real world made me snap.
“You’re still messing with me!” I shouted, letting the anger take over. “Dammit, you are playing games, even now, as the entire world is about to burn! My parents need me! Hunter needs me! I’m stuck here, indulging in your… whatever weird fantasy this is, and you’re toying with me!”
The Word chuckled, and the sound of that was like nothing I’d heard before. It resembled a low growl, like that of a wolf about to tear its prey apart. I was compelled to take a step back, fearing that the shadow might jump off the stage and lunge at me. But the Word didn’t move an inch.
“What have you seen so far in this dream, Kailani?”
I took a deep breath, trying to get a grip on my emotions before they jeopardized everything. I couldn’t let my smart mouth or short temper destroy this connection with the Word. Sure, I was frustrated that it had taken so many incidents to get here, but… Eyes on the ball, Kale.
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