Niklosi's Nightmare (First Wave Book 10) (20 page)

“So, what are your plans for this
evening?” Nik whispered through her mind.

BJ almost laughed at the question
since it was pretty obvious what she’d be doing.

“I get to babysit these fools,” BJ
replied, a small smile playing across her face that he was still watching them.

It hadn’t taken her long to figure
out that he was waiting until he knew she wasn’t busy to talk to her. The only
way he’d know that was if he’d been watching her the whole time. It was really
sweet that he was so concerned for her.

“Rolantro didn’t tell you?” Nik
asked, wondering why he’d been told hours ago and BJ hadn’t been told at all.

“I know only the basics. The
details are up to Rolantro. What do you know?” BJ asked, frustrated that she’d
been forgotten about.

“He said you’re leaving there the
moment those men are put to sleep and will come back before they’re awakened.
No one told you?” Nik asked, incredulous they’d left her out of the loop.

“Yeah, that’s new, but I’m sure my
mom would have told me. Mojo says she’s riding Traze pretty hard right now,” BJ
said, sympathy for the man-child oozing through her energy.

“Yeah, from what Rolantro says,
she’s his last hope,” Nik said.

“He’ll be OK. Momma won’t give up
on him or let him give up on himself,” BJ assured him. She could tell Nik
really liked Traze and felt his concern.

“I hope you’re right,” Nik
whispered, looking at the small boy Traze appeared to be.

Nik had to admit Traze looked
adorable with his feet barely hanging off the seat he was in as Bess stroked
his bangs back from his face and handed him a cookie.

“So what are they having you do
tonight?” BJ asked him, hoping to find out more about the plans she’d been left
out of.

“I’m not doing anything. Rolantro
said he only needed Blade and Disc. I think the rest of us are down here for
peace of mind only,” Nik admitted, unwilling to tell her what Rolantro had said
about fixing things with her.

“There really isn’t anything you
can do to help them. Blade and Disc’s abilities are the only reason they’re
being used,” BJ explained, hoping Nik wasn’t offended about not being included.

“I’m glad they don’t need me. I
could use the night off,” he said with a chuckle. “Are there any other cool
places like the grotto?”

Nik felt the sweat pop out on his
brow and knew it had nothing to do with the humidity and everything to do with
his fear that’d she’d outright reject the chance to spend time with him. When
she still hadn’t responded after a long pause, he was getting ready to brush it
off when she finally spoke.

“Yeah, we have a few other
interesting places. I could draw you a map,” she suggested softly.

Nik could feel the hesitancy in her
reply and crossed his fingers that he wasn’t getting ready to blow it again.

“If I was that good with maps, I
wouldn’t have run right into you to begin with,” Nik said with a chuckle,
praying she’d get the hint.

His hopes soared when she laughed
at him.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. If
they don’t come up with something for me to do, I suppose I could at least get
you started in the right direction,” BJ offered, hoping she wasn’t reading him
wrong.

The happiness she could feel
exuding through his energy made her smile broadly.

“I would love that,” Nik managed to
say calmly, though he wanted to shout in excitement.

“Have you even eaten yet?” BJ
asked.

She wasn’t really sure what else to
talk about, but she was also unwilling to stop hearing his voice in her head
just yet. 

He grows on you,
she
thought with a grin.

“I grabbed something on the ship.
You have an idea of what they’re going to do tonight, don’t you?” Nik asked,
figuring she had to know something if she’d tried to warn against doing it.

“Yeah, I know the gist of it. Grai
had it right, they’re going to show them what their future holds. I can’t imagine
it will be good,” BJ admitted with a sigh.

“Kind of like a scared straight
kind of thing,” he prodded, wanting more details of why she’d be against it.

“Sort of, only with mixed results,”
she agreed.

“Mixed? How?” Nik asked as he
relaxed in a chair in the corner of the kitchen.

“They’re human. Even Kyle is half
human; they have free will and can choose their fate. Some will see the warning
and change to become better people, others may see it as an excuse to live as
lawlessly and evilly as they desire since they believe where they go is
inevitable,” BJ explained, wondering which-if any-of the men in the room with
her would be the latter.

“Damn, I didn’t consider that.
Can’t the demigods tell which ones will go bad?” Nik didn’t want to think about
dealing with them if they no longer feared their fate.

“No, it’s all up to the humans and
how they perceive what they saw in the days and weeks afterwards. I would bet
my badge a few will retire though,” BJ said, looking at the ones she suspected
would quit.

“They’ll just replace them though,”
Nik thought sadly, wishing there was an end in sight to their unknown war.

“That may be true, but it’ll take
time, and they won’t be coming after you so hard if they’re low on personnel,”
BJ added, hoping it would make a difference.

“This is them with low personnel,”
Nik said with a grin. “We reduced them by half over the last several months
when we thought they had Grai’s brother, Koda, held captive. It looks like
they’ve only replaced half of the ones they lost.”

“Wow,” BJ was impressed. “Then we
need to see about making them lose half again.”

“You really think this is going to
work?” Nik asked, still doubting that any vision or dream would make the humans
stop.

“For some of them, yes. For all of
them, no. But it’ll definitely get them out of here,” BJ admitted with a grin.

“It could bring a swarm of military
to your door too. What’s to stop them from becoming obsessed with this place
the way they are with our people?” Nik still hadn’t heard anyone talk about a
plan and had no idea how the demigods expected it to all work out.

“I really can’t explain it, and it
won’t be the same as the last time because each of them are different people.
That’s probably why they wanted Discorian and Blade. They will use them to help
speed things up,” BJ explained as she watched the military men laugh and joke
with one another while the major and captain continued going through her files.

“How will the two of them speed
things up?” Nik asked. He was getting tired of feeling clueless.

“Well, one is a spirit walker. He
can find out their fears, hopes, and beliefs. The other can use his compulsion
to make them fearful at the thought of coming here. Those are just ideas though;
I still have no idea what the full plan is,” BJ complained, also irritated at
being in the dark.

“I guess this is one of those
things I’ll have to see to believe,” Nik said with a sigh.

From what he’d heard so far, he
didn’t see how it was going to work, and he feared it would blow up in their
faces. He looked around the kitchen as the assembled group chatted about
unimportant things. He couldn’t understand what they were waiting for and why
they all seemed so casual when BJ was surrounded by the enemy half a block
away.

“You need to calm down,” BJ warned.
“You’re radiating frustration so strongly I can feel you over here even without
being connected to you.”

“Sorry,” Nik said as he sat up and
shielded his emotions. “I just don’t get why we aren’t planning or talking
about the plan. Sundown is in 20 minutes, and they’re talking about kids and
the damn weather signs.”

BJ had to stop herself from
laughing at his irritated tone.

“You’re not a patient kind of guy
are you?” BJ teased.

“Normally I wouldn’t care if they
took all night to compare battle scars, but I got plans for later and want to
get this show on the road,” Nik said before wondering if he’d said too much.

The laughter in her voice made him
smile, and he instantly felt better.

“I’d rather be playing tour guide
any day to this boredom. This hurry up and wait drives me crazy,” BJ admitted,
letting him feel her own irritation before she shielded herself again.

“OK, we’re ready!” Rolantro called
out, immediately silencing the room. “Discorian and Blade, follow behind us.
Once they are asleep, we’ll instruct you in your task.”

Seconds later, the demigods
disappeared in a flash, and from his vantage point in the corner, Nik saw them
reappear outside the front window. He launched himself to his feet.

“They’re out front!” he warned the
others as Blade and Disc ran out front to follow them.

“What the hell are they thinking?”
Grai asked as the entourage of demigods walked down the middle of the street without
caring who saw them.

He ran out front when he heard the
shouts of the guards stationed outside of the police station, fearing the shots
he expected to hear at any moment.

“Heads up, BJ!” Nik called out the warning as he ran out front.

Chapter
Nineteen

BJ heard Nik’s warning seconds
after she heard the guards shouting out front. She rushed between the men, using
her smaller size to slip between them as they all tried to get out of the door.

Before she reached the line of men
with their rifles aimed down the street, she could see the tall, graceful
demigods storming towards them.

“Oh hell, oh hell,” she muttered as
she felt the men tense around her.

“I said, stop where you are, or
we’ll fire!” one of the military men called out.

Kyle and Greg skidded to a stop
beside her as Rolantro threw his arms out wide, his expression thunderous.

“What the fuck?” Kyle whispered,
his eyes wide as he stared at the oncoming group of giant demigods.

“You will cease!” Rolantro boomed.

“Oh, shit,” BJ mumbled as each of
the soldiers became completely paralyzed, but fully aware of what was happening
around them.

BJ could feel the intense fear and
panic of the men around her, and she was shocked that the council had decided
to choose this method instead of putting them to sleep first.

“Divide the animals up between
you,” Rolantro boomed out to his people. “The traitor to his people is mine.”

BJ was stunned when Rolantro pushed
the immobile men out of the way until he was towering over Kyle.

“You are the worst of them because
you betray your own. I have a special place in mind for you,” he growled into
Kyle’s face before he pulled him into a bear hug and disappeared.

BJ stood where she was, knowing the
men were fully aware of what was occurring around them; she didn’t want to give
away that she wasn’t paralyzed as well. Moments later, BJ was the only one left
standing in front of the station.

She looked around to make sure she
was indeed alone and threw her arms up in the air.

“Who forgot to tell me the plan?”
she shouted.

Grai and the others ran out of the
mercantile, and Nik sprinted down the road to BJ as Grai turned on Bess.

“That was subtle? What the hell?
Where was the planning?” he accused.

Bess just smiled and shrugged.

“I guess he wanted to wing it,”
Bess replied.

The little Traze burst out laughing
until Grai glared down at him sternly.

“What? They’re demigods with wings!
Get it? Wing it?” Traze explained with a grin before he started laughing again.

Grai’s lips twitched for a moment
before he got serious again.

“Where are Blade and Disc?” he
asked.

“They are assisting and are
completely safe,” Bess assured him. “Now that it is safe for you to wander
around, there is a special place that I would like to take Traze.”

Although she phrased it as if she
were asking permission, Grai could tell by the way her eyes were swirling that
she didn’t care what his response was. Remembering Rolantro’s warning, Grai
looked at his little brother and nodded his head.

“Take care of him,” Grai whispered
hoarsely.

“I intend to,” Bess said, and
before Grai could ask where they were going, they were gone.

He looked down the street and saw
BJ and Nik talking and realized he was alone.

“I got a hundred-year-old scotch
I’ve been dying to crack open. Want to see what all the fuss is about?” Irwin
asked from the open door of the mercantile.

Grai nodded in gratitude.

“I’d love that. Thanks,” he said,
looking one more time towards Nik and BJ before he followed Irwin into the
store.

*****

“Are you OK?” Nik asked the moment
he got within hearing distance of BJ.

“I’m good. Thanks for the warning.
At least someone tried to tell me something!” BJ said as she threw her hands
up.

“What the hell happened? Why did he
do that?” Nik asked as he did a visual inspection to make sure she was alright.

“I have no idea what he was
thinking or how this is supposed to play out now since no one told me shit!” BJ
shouted the last even though she knew the people she wanted to hear her were
long gone.

Nik suddenly started chuckling, and
when BJ glared at him like he’d lost his mind, he only laughed harder.

“Oh, come on!” Nik said between
laughs. “Did you see the look on Kyle’s face when Rolantro singled him out?”

BJ snickered as she remembered the
terror coming from his energy in waves.

“It was pretty funny,” she admitted
with a grin.

“The way he bowled through the
others to get to Kyle,” Nik said as he held his arms out to his sides and
puffed out his chest. “The traitor to his people is mine!” Nik mocked.

BJ burst out laughing at his
impression of Rolantro, and Nik grinned back at her.

“I’m surprised he didn’t wet
himself,” Nik said.

BJ wrinkled her nose.

“Someone or a few someones did
because it reeked,” she admitted.

Nik laughed harder.

“Let’s get out of here. I’m sick of
seeing this place,” BJ said as she nodded down the street towards the
mercantile.

“I’m with you. I’m sick of the ship
and small spaces,” he agreed as he followed her down the street.

They turned at the mercantile, and
Nik followed BJ onto a path that led into the woods.

“Where are we going?” Nik asked to
break up the silence.

“We’re going to another cave, so
it’ll be cooler in a few minutes,” BJ said moments before she disappeared into
the darkness.

“BJ?” Nik called out as he looked
around for where she’d gone.

Suddenly her hand reached out from
the darkness and pulled him forward until they stepped into a well-lit cave. The
walls and floor were again spotted with fossilized sea creatures, and Nik
wondered if it led to the same grotto he was in the last time.

“This is only one small section of
the labyrinth of caves that lead to the grotto we were in the last time,” BJ
told him, making him wonder if she’d read his thoughts.

“How big is it?” he asked as he
looked around at the intersection they’d just passed.

“There are several hundred miles of
cave systems that connect with the grotto,” BJ replied as she led them deeper
into the subterranean world.

“How do you keep the humans from
finding it?” Nik wondered in awe.

“The elders have the entrances
warded to prevent the humans from seeing them. You go in what you can’t even
see,” she replied with a grin.

“Warded? Blocked somehow?” he
asked, not sure what she meant.

“They’ve carved ancient sigils in
the wall to shield the entrances from humans. I’ll show you what I mean when we
leave,” BJ explained.

“What if one gets too close by
accident though?” Nik could imagine the disaster if a human fell through
something they couldn’t see.

“There’s a repellent built in
somehow. I’ve stood in the doorway and watched people veer away from the
entrances. I’ve never heard of a human coming inside either,” she assured him.

“Sorry, I must sound stupid to
you,” Nik muttered, understanding a little better how the hybrids felt when the
Valendrans introduced them to all their technology.

“Not at all. I grew up with this;
you didn’t. I’d be just as lost on one of your ships as you are right now until
someone explained things to me,” BJ admitted with a shrug.

Her compassionate response only
made Nik feel like more of an ass for overreacting about what she was.

Which I still don’t know for sure,
he
thought,
although it doesn’t really seem as important as it did earlier
either.

“I’m really sorry for being such an
ass,” Nik said with a sigh.

“I know. I don’t think either one
of us have had any fine moments since we met,” BJ admitted with a blush. “Considering
the circumstances, I’m surprised we haven’t shot each other by now.”

Nik laughed, the sound echoing
eerily through the cave passage.

“I am surprised you didn’t shoot me,”
Nik admitted.

“You know what’s funny? I’ve been a
cop for a long time, but I’ve never had to fire my weapon. In fact, the vast
majority of the cops in this country have never fired their weapon in the line
of duty. So, the odds were in your favor that I wasn’t going to shoot you.
Traze on the other hand-” BJ teased.

“Is he going to be OK?” Nik asked,
concerned for the kid.

“Yeah, I think Mom got to him
before he threw himself into the arms of death. We’ll know when we get back,”
she replied then disappeared around a corner.

Nik rounded the corner and sucked
in a sharp breath.

“Wow . . . how did you do this?” he
breathed out.

BJ laughed as she looked upwards at
what caught Nik’s attention.

“As far as I know, we didn’t do
this. This is natural,” she said as she moved further into the large cavern. “This
isn’t the only one either. The humans found one in the Chongqing province of
China in 2013. The locals had known about it for generations though. It’s
called the Er Wang Dong cave system. It has a similar ecosystem as this one.”

Nik slowly walked across the grass
to the outcropping near BJ and stared up at the large, gaping holes in the rock
above that allowed the night sky to peek through the clouds in the cavern.

Lush plants and trees filled the
cavern with color and exotic scents while a small river curved its way through
the rock floor. The entire place looked like a mini rainforest had been tucked
neatly into a cave.

Nik had seen some pretty impressive
cave setups since coming to the planet, but it was the most spectacular one
he’d seen yet.

“This is incredible,” he whispered,
unable to see how far the cavern went back. “How big is this place?”

“Large enough that we couldn’t walk
to the furthest point you can see right now by morning,” BJ said with a huge
grin.

Nik could tell by the way she stood
proudly on a small outcropping that she loved the cave. He could understand why;
it was beautiful.

“How can no one know of this
place?” he asked, certain someone had to have noticed something so vast.

“From above, the openings only look
like dark spots in the landscape. Unless you hover above it in a chopper or
something, you can’t see far enough down to even know there’s a whole world
down here,” BJ explained as she led him down a wide path to the floor of the
cavern.

Nik jumped when a fawn hopped out
in front of them and took off down the path.

“There’s animals down here too?”

BJ just laughed and turned to look
at him funny.

“Why wouldn’t there be? There’s
everything they need in here. It’s even deep enough that the seasons don’t
change, so they have year round food and comfort. Granted, there have been a
few years where we had a dusting of snow down here, but it didn’t last long
before it melted,” BJ explained as she led them to the river.

Nik was surprised at how big it was
now that he was standing beside it.

“This place is just massive,” he
stated as he knelt down to feel the cool water rushing through his fingers. “It’s
another world down here.”

“Mojo and I tried our best when we
were kids to hike the whole thing, but we’ve still never seen it all,” BJ
admitted with a grin.

Nik stood and looked around in
wonder at the butterflies and birds that flew through the misty canopy above
them and the stars that twinkled down through the openings in the rock ceiling.

“This reminds me a lot of a compound
we have called Base Beta. It’s really similar. The one in China, are your
people in there as well?” Nik couldn’t help but ask.

“Mojo and I aren’t really one of
them, so we’re not really included in the knowledge base that they draw from. I
do know that there are several other places like this on the planet, and they
do inhabit them. Where exactly they are? I don’t know,” BJ admitted.

“But you’re family aren’t you?” Nik
asked.

“It’s not like that,” BJ said as
she moved to a large boulder and sat down on it. “I am family to one of them
through my mother’s descendent. In each generation born of Queen Lamoratri, the
demigod powers and abilities were watered down until all that remains for Mojo
and I is the immortality. It’s unlikely that any children Mojo and I have will
get our immortality. So the family ties are pretty thin, and since we can’t
help them in their duty, we aren’t included in things we aren’t meant to know,
and we don’t ask.”

“This is really confusing. We’re
pretty big on family since we don’t have many. Any we find are a treasure,” Nik
said with a shake of his head, trying to understand.

“Ah, but Major Morris is also one
of yours. Would you tell him where all of your bases are? Or give him access to
anything?” BJ countered.