Awoken (12 page)

“Oh. Well, that’s fine then.” Michael fell back into his chair. “So, for all you know, we could all be turning into six-headed lizard men?”

“Possibly,” Diggs replied with a straight face. “Although, those who’ve already mutated, like you, Lina, the dollmen, even VEN, already have some idea of the course of your transformation.”

“Wait a second, the VEN…”

“…Were created using earthbone,” Diggs said. “Within months of capturing the dollmen, VEN scientists developed an earthbone fusion process to bind DNA from one animal to another, hardening skeletal structures, enhancing muscle strength and stamina. In the last few years, they’ve birthed an army of these hybrids. A curious, and nearly universal, side effect of the bonding procedure is a discoloration of the tests subjects’ irises, resulting in one green and one brown eye in hybrids, regardless of base species.”

Michael cringed. “Crows, cats, and dogs with mismatched eyes. What about Smiley the wolfman? Is he a hybrid, too?”

Diggs looked down at the table. “They are called ‘belua’,” he said quietly. “It’s Latin. It means beast or monster. It seems even genetic engineers have a sense of humor. Anyway, they are volunteers, every one. Too late, they discovered the human-grafting process was flawed.”

“I don’t know about the rest of them,” Michael said, “but Smiley’s operation seemed to work just fine.”

“He is still flawed, Mike,” Diggs said. “You and Melina are pure melds. You both have clean bonds with the earthbone without the corrupting influence of foreign DNA. The belua are different. They’re a hybrid combination of human and animal DNA held together by earthbone. This is why they possess such bestial secondary forms. Chemical suppressants are needed to keep the transformation in check.”

“They’re werewolves?”

Diggs grunted a short laugh. “Not really. Wolf DNA, by itself, was deemed too feral for grafting. The belua are more of a were-zoo.”

Michael smirked. “Good one.”

The dollman’s head popped up out of the covers as the outside door opened. “The thief returns, Awoken.”

Lina walked in, scowling at the dollman. “I told you to stop calling me that, you little pest. My name is Lina.”

The dollman sunk back into the covers. “This one does not like the thief, Awoken. She is not yet of the People.”

“Thank God.” Lina turned to Diggs. “Is Sleeping Beauty up to speed?”

Michael’s eyes narrowed. As guilty as he felt, he wasn’t about to let Lina treat him as if he wasn’t there. “You could ask me, you know. I’m right here.”

“Have it your way,” Lina said. “Do you understand how you have screwed up my life yet, or should I draw it out for you in crayon?”

Michael shot up from his chair. “You’re not the only one with problems, Lina.” He flooded his eyes with silver. “Does this look like pinkeye to you?”

“Shiny eyes, how horrible for you,” Lina sneered. “Are you turning into a bald monkey without a nose? I don’t think so.”

A growl sounded from the bed.

Lina whirled on the dollman. “Shut it, short stack, or I’ll flush you.”

“That’s enough,” Diggs roared at them. “Are you both complete fools? Your lives are in danger. Now, stop this childish bickering and sit down.”

Glaring daggers at Lina, Michael sat back down. How could she blame him? This wasn’t his fault. She was wrong, completely wrong.

Lina plopped down in the remaining chair and stuck out her tongue at him.

Diggs folded his hands in front of him. “Now, we have some choices to make.”

Michael ran his finger over the groove the dollman’s claw had left in the table. “What choices?”

“VEN will be searching for you now,” Diggs began. “Both of you. As I see things, this leaves us two options. The first, we hide. Given time, there is a good chance I can, if not halt, at least stabilize your mutations.”

“And the second choice?” Lina prompted.

Diggs nodded toward the dollman. “Our little friend seems confident that the elders of his tribe can extract the waystone from your hand and even reverse your mutation. And, of course, Mike needs the waystone to help him control the stonesong. We could go to the dollmen city.”

“Sounds like a no-brainer.” Michael pushed his chair back from the table. “What are we waiting for?”

Diggs held up his hand. “Hold on, Mike. Going to the dollmen city is risky. VEN agents have been searching for the entrance for years. The hybrid cat you ran into back home called you a
Primary
. That means VEN considers you a priority target. If they catch us, they will bring you and Melina to the Farm. And what they do in that pit would give you nightmares.”

“The VEN are the seekers of blood and bone,” the dollman said from the sheets. “And they are legion. This one has killed many of the Fallen, and still they hunt the People.”

Lina touched her fingers to her silvery hair. “If we hide…can you change this back, Diggs? Can you take out the waystone? I can’t go home like this. Not like this.”

Reaching across the table, Diggs took her hand and gave a gentle squeeze. “I’m sorry, Lina. Earthbone mutation is aggressive and, as far as I know, irreversible. All I can hope to do is halt the process, not reverse it. I can surgically remove the waystone, but the earthbone has already changed your cellular structure. You’ll remain as you are, and if I don’t stabilize you soon, your mutation will worsen quickly.”

“How quickly?”

Diggs released her hand.

“Difficult to say,” he hedged.

“Tell her, Diggs,” Michael said. “If we’re trying to decide what to do about this, she needs to know.”

“How quickly?” Lina repeated.

Diggs sighed. “Judging from the rapid changes you’ve experienced since your exposure, I would estimate complete reconfiguration of your cellular structure within two, maybe three weeks.”

Tears, bright as crystal against her alabaster skin, rolled down Lina’s cheeks. “Two weeks?”

“I’m sorry, Melina,” Diggs said. “I promise you. I’ll do everything in my power to halt the process before that happens.”

Michael’s blood began to boil. Two weeks, and the VEN corporation stood between Lina and the only people who could help her. What gave them the right to seal her to such a horrible fate? That wasn’t fair. Worse, it wasn’t right.

“We’re going to the city.”

“What about VEN?” asked Lina. “What if they catch us?”

“She’s right,” said Diggs. “You have no idea how dangerous they are.”

“I don’t care,” Michael said. “We’re going to the dollmen city. You were right, Lina. I lost the waystone. I used the stonesong without thinking about you. This is my fault. I have to fix this.”

“What if you can’t?” Lina blurted. “What if the VEN catch…I mean, what if VEN catches us?”

Michael began to answer, then stopped himself. He wanted to help Lina, but acting without thought was what had gotten him into this mess. Was going to the dollmen city another mistake?

“The Fallen cannot stop he who was sleeping, thief.” Torn sheets draping his arm like a ghostly shroud, the dollman pointed toward the window. “Do you hear the stone calling? He is the Awoken, bane of the Betrayer and chosen of the People of the Mountain. Neither beasts nor man shall sway his destiny. He is the Awoken.”

Diggs’s blue eyes bored into Michael like twin drills. “I won’t sugar-coat it, Mike. This is life and death, and there’s no turning back. Are you sure this is what you want to do?”

Michael’s gaze followed the dollman’s finger to the window. For just an instant, something tugged at the stonesong, a distant thrum like far-off thunder. “We’re going to the dollmen city.”

Brushing the tears from her ears, Lina smiled. “My parents are going to kill me anyway when they find out I ducked dance camp. I had an awesome routine worked out for this year’s competition, too. Now, Shelly Patterson will probably win again, and she’s such a little diva.”

Diggs rose from the table. “Only the dollman can show us the exact location of the entrance, but air samples taken by VEN confirm earthbone concentrations are greatest in Kentucky, and most likely originate near the Mammoth Cave system in the national park. That’s a long drive from Michigan, and we’ll have to stay clear of the main roads, which will add a few hundred miles and a couple days to the nine-hundred-mile road trip. Let’s get moving.”

As he picked up his backpack from the floor and the others gathered their belongings, Michael caught the dollman watching him with bright, unknowable eyes. “You really believe all that destiny stuff?”

“Listen to the words of the earth and bone,” the dollman replied, cryptically. “I hear them even now.”

“Earth and bone, huh?” Michael shook his head. “Well, I don’t hear them. What are they saying?”

The little man smiled and lowered his eyes. “Behold the Awoken.”

The green marble cut past the blue, overtaking the marble with the red and yellow swirls as they sped around the rim of the plate. Around and around the marbles lapped, avoiding maple syrup and pancake crumbs as if they were oil slicks on a racetrack.

“Should you be doing that in here?” Lina asked.

Michael’s concentration faltered, and the blue marble leapt from the plate and went skittering across the table. “There’s nobody here but us. Besides, I need the practice and merging with glass is way safer and easier than rock.”

Sending out a tiny surge of the stonesong, he drew a score of marbles to the center of the table. Focusing his power, he painstakingly began to stack them atop one another.

The pillar was several inches high and topped by a spinning crown of six red marbles before Lina knocked them over with her fork. Marbles flew in every direction, several falling onto the floor.

“Hey,” Michael protested. “I was doing pretty good that time.”

Lina simply glared at him. “Stop showing off and put those away before someone sees you. It’s like babysitting a two-year-old with superpowers.”

Michael grinned and set the open marble bag between them.

“Shazam.” Every marble on the table rolled into the bag of its own accord.

“Cute. What about the ones on the floor?”

“Wait for it.”

A marble peeked over the edge of the table, and then all the marbles from the floor hopped up onto the table and zipped into the bag. Scooping up the bag, Michael closed the drawstrings with a flourish. “Ta-da.”

“You’re an idiot. Can I finish my pancakes now?”

Michael sat back in the red vinyl booth and shrugged. “Be my guest. I’m full.”

The diner had a blue neon sign outside naming it “Jericho’s Pancakes n’ More.” In Michael’s opinion, the sign should have read, “Jericho’s Pancakes and You Don’t Need Any More.” Half of one of the diner’s culinary monstrosities had left him feeling like an overinflated balloon. Bored, he’d spent the last half hour practicing with the marbles. Glass didn’t feel the same as rock, but the melted sand still retained a spark of music the stonesong could reach.

Lina squirted another helping of maple syrup onto her heaped plate. She’d already finished three of the huge pancakes and was in the process of inhaling a fourth with no signs of slowing. Her appetite had been growing steadily for the last three days—a side effect of her ongoing mutation, according to Diggs. More silver appeared in her hair every day.

“I can’t believe you’re even using the stonesong around me.” Lina speared a helpless piece of pancake, jamming the morsel into her mouth. “After what happened last time.”

“Diggs says I’ll only merge with you if I lose control of the stonesong, or if I try to use more than I can handle. Moving marbles barely takes any power at all. Plus, I don’t get as sick after.”

Lina made a face. “Still not normal.”

Michael laughed.

“What’s so funny?”

“Lina, you’re as strong as an ox and can jump like a gazelle. I can move marbles without touching them, and my eyes are silver under these sunglasses. If we were in showbiz, we’d be millionaires.”

“I’m already rich. Even if I wasn’t, I wouldn’t want to be if it meant I had to be a freak.”

Michael’s backpack shifted next to his thigh. The flap opened a crack, revealing a pair of gleaming silver orbs. “This one is hungry, Awoken. May this one have some food before the thief eats it all?”

“I told you to stop that,” Michael said. Tearing off a section of his unfinished pancake, he handed the piece to the little man. “I’m Michael, or just Mike, if you want. And Lina gets mad when you call her the thief.”

“Yer dang ruht, I doob,” Lina mumbled through a mouthful of mashed pancake.

The dollman retreated into the backpack with the pancake clutched tightly in his claws. “Tell the thief this one is sorry, Awoken Michael Or Just Mike If You Want.”

Michael groaned. “Looks like I’m going to have to give you a name if you’re ever going to get this right.”

“This one is of the People and not an elder. This one has no name.”

“Give it up, Mike.” Lina pointed to his plate. “What’s wrong with your food?”

“Nothing.”

“Why aren’t you eating?”

Michael grunted. “I’m too busy wondering if your legs are hollow.”

Lina pushed another forkful of pancake into her mouth. “Wud do yoob mean, ol owe?” she garbled, spraying squishy yellow bits across the table.

Michael threw up a hand to ward off the sticky shrapnel. “Gross! Swallow your food before you talk. Or if that vacuum you call a mouth isn’t fast enough for you, maybe we can have the waitress set you up with an IV full of maple syrup and pancake mix.”

Lina gave him a truly disgusting grin before swallowing. “You’re just jealous. I’m the girl, but you’re the one eating like an anorexic ballet dancer.”

“Correction. I eat like a normal human being. You eat like a starving hippo.”

“So now you’re the expert on normal?” Lina waved her fork at his sunglasses. “Those have got to be the stupidest-looking pair of shades I’ve ever seen. Maybe if Diggs hadn’t wasted so much money on them, we wouldn’t be stuck in Hicksville, USA.”

Michael pushed the glasses further up his nose. In the movies, the hero never had to worry about little things like money. Even poverty-stricken heroes, like Spiderman, could travel to alternate dimensions in distant star systems without ever seeming to worry about the rising price of gas. As it turned out, though, going on an adventure to find an underground city full of short, pasty gremlins was expensive. They needed to eat, and Diggs’s pickup was down to half a tank of gas. Diggs had left them at the diner while he went in search of a cash-paying job in town.