Nyteria Rising (The Thirteenth Series Book 3) (20 page)

“I don’t know, but I’m sure Zac will know if they’re on Earth. We need to get back to my house.” Sam started to lift himself up. “We have a Prison to take care of.”

They had left Mistley Heath; Val hoped for the last time, taking Lailah’s and Eva’s bodies with them. Teleporting back to the house was their quickest option so they left the truck in a secluded area and trusted it would be safe until they had time to return.

Sam’s house was eerily quiet when they got back and they all moved around in silence, exhausted by the trauma they had just lived through. There was a definite sense of relief, but also a sense of apprehension about what would be waiting for them back at the Prison. Sam instructed them that Mike, Susan, Belinda, Jason and Fran should remain at the house and wait for them to return. Wendy had taken the healing book to help Daniel with his burns.

Zac had gone to pack the rest of the Dellatrax for transport back to the Prison and the Hunter was back with his Guard David. Eva and Lailah were laid out in the lounge on mattresses and the rest of them we’re gathered in the kitchen. Val looked out of the window to see the sun rising. Another day on planet Earth; how very different it could have been.

Susan fluttered around Val with a damp piece of tissue. “Look at this scar. You’ll have to get Wendy to get rid of it.” She rubbed off some of the dry blood.

“Stop.” Val gently took Susan’s hand away from her head. “Ok Mum, what were you thinking?”

“Well, looking after you of course,” she said retreating to her comfort zone by putting the kettle on and pulling out cups.

“What possessed you to go and risk getting the Novelia after everything we told you about them?”

“David’s Hunter came to us and told us that there were a lot of aliens massing in one place. He guessed that with the loss of communication that you were losing the fight. It was him that came up with the idea. He said that the Novelia wouldn’t hurt us because we were humans, but that they could kill Lailah and Eva, but we would need to be careful as they could kill you lot as well. He told us they feed off power so if we could get to the Heath and stop you from using your magic, then we stood a good chance of sorting them out. But Daniel took the greatest risk. Teleporting us all, the Novelia could have bitten him at any time, but he didn’t care. You know, Val, he’s just a boy.” She shoved a coffee in front of her daughter.

“Well, you were awesome and I can’t tell you how cool Boden and Hadwyn think you are; I’m going to have to pull a serious stunt to impress them now.”

“I think you already have. When will you leave?” Susan asked pouring milk into a jug.

“Soon; maybe an hour,” Sam interrupted, piling the astrology charts together.

“When will you be back?”

“I don’t know; I can only promise I will keep Val safe.”

She gave him ‘a
look’
one that warned if he didn’t, he would be extremely sorry. “I’ll hold you to that,” she
said seriously, then finished filling the mugs. “Who wants a drink?”

They chorused their orders and sat at the counter. “Put the TV on, Dad.”

“Do you have the sports channels?” Mike asked as he took the remote.

Val tutted. “Seriously, we’ve just saved the world from an alien takeover and you want to watch golf!”

“It’s therapeutic,” he grumbled. “Now I’m going to make you watch the news.”

“I’m not sure which is more depressing?” Val whined, sipping the drink Susan had passed her.

The widescreen TV strapped to the wall lit-up and there, in full HD with surround sound, was Delta. She was dressed to kill and talking to a presenter on Breakfast News. “Eamonn Holmes,” Susan squealed. “I love him. What’s going on?”

“Mum, shh,” Val instructed. “Turn it up, Dad.”

“So tell us, Miss Troughton, what exactly has been happening? We have been watching these videos posted yesterday on Youtube of some children being approached by an aggressive female dressed in black and a strange docile male. The most disturbing fact is that they seem to appear from thin air. Now we also have this film, taken from your house, and we can see that this is the same woman we saw in the Youtube video, shooting in the street this morning.” The footage began and it was immediately apparent that Delta had been filming them as they left the garage, but because the aliens weren’t visible on the footage, it made it look like they were just randomly shooting in the street.

“Well Eamonn, where do I start?” Delta flicked her long blonde hair for the cameras. “I thought this woman
was a good neighbour, so you can imagine how shocked I was to see this. However, I can’t lie and tell you I didn’t have my suspicions. Her family, Mike and Susan Saunders,” at this point she held a picture of them up to the screen, “mistreated her from a young age. She would beg me not to tell anyone. I just wish I had done something to help her back then, maybe then these things would never have happened.”

A mug smashed on the kitchen floor, making them all jolt out of their silent horror, “Liar! You little…” Susan’s outburst was a shock to them all. She was shaking with anger.

“So you’re saying she comes from an abusive background. But how did she do this? It looks like she appears by magic.” One of the children on the bus had been filming his friend doing air guitar when Val arrived. “She then goes on to kidnap the driver and threaten the teachers.” They played another clip of Val running down the bus.

Val defended herself, “I had no choice.”

Delta lifted a tissue to her eye wiping away a tear. “I know you’ll think I’m mad, but she’s been mixing with some really dangerous people, as you can see from this film, Eamonn. Those men in the video she’s with are so scary. I haven’t slept in weeks and this is going to sound crazy, but I think they have been mixing with…” she took a deep breath, “…witches. I think she may have been used for experimentation, or rituals I think they call them, along with some of our other friends.”

“Goodness me, that does seem a very farfetched allegation, although we can see on our screen something out of the normal is happening. Now you have kindly supplied us with photos of these suspects which the
police have agreed for us to show on our website. Do you have any more information for the general public?” He patted her hand over the desk.

“Yes. The last time I saw them they were doing some kind of ceremony. I think live animals were involved.” She hung her head mopping her crocodile tears. “They took my puppy.” She held up another picture of a tiny Chihuahua. “Just don’t go near them,” she sobbed.

“UNBELIEVABLE!” Sam slammed the charts down. “Get on that website now Jason,” he ordered.

“On it already,” he said standing in front of a silver laptop at the table. “Looks like she’s got pictures of us all.”

“Finally, Delta, before we speak to our military expert, Captain Smyth, are the police following this up? Do you know if anyone has been arrested or if they’ll just disappear again?” Eamonn grabbed his earpiece. “I’m sorry to interrupt; we’re just getting some breaking news. It seems that there is yet another video of this particular girl.” Eamonn nodded. “We now have some more footage of her trying to harm some tourist on a roller coaster in Skegness and we are going live to the woman who was actually on it with her.”

“I was saving them.” Val looked around the room for support.

A nervous-looking brown haired woman stood next to a bright red front door, microphone held to her face. “Good morning, Michelle from Lincolnshire, can you tell us exactly what happened?” Asked a male news reporter, out of shot.

“I saved your life, that’s what happened,” Val pointed at the television as if the woman on the screen would respond. The worried looking woman told him all about
how Val had levitated the roller coaster, trying to shake them all off. Then the cameras went back to Eamonn who was starting to talk to Delta again.

“Can’t we switch this off?” Val grumbled.

“We need to get out of here,” Belinda warned them. “We have visitors.”

Val looked out the window and there was a group of armed police in full body armour heading towards the house. The street had been closed off. As if they didn’t have enough problems, she thought angrily.

“Look here, we’re all on this page.” Jason swung the laptop and it was like the FBI’s most wanted page. There were pictures of them all.

“Val, I think we have a problem.” Zac came in waving an envelope at her.

“Zac, seriously! You think? You’ve just missed us being made out to be Chihuahua abducting, rollercoaster smashing, teleporting murderers and the police are here!” Val threw her arms into the air.

He handed her the envelope. She recognised the hand writing instantly. “Where was it?” she demanded.

“On David’s bedside table.”

“How on Earth did she get it in there?”

“What are you two talking about?” Sam interrupted.

“Seems Delta’s been in the house - or had someone drop off a note.”

“Open it.”

The envelope was addressed to ‘The Alien’. Val peeled back the flap and pulled out a card.

“What does it say?” Wendy asked.

Val turned it to them, “It says, ‘Welcome to plan B’.”

Everyone just stared at the card. What was plan B? Well, it clearly started with Delta making them enemy
number one, which she was doing right now on national television. Val was sure that by tea time Delta would be on Blue Peter showing kids how to make traps for them with double sided sticky tape and a wire clothes hanger.

Sam broke her internal mental meltdown. “We need to get out of here and fast.”

“But where can we go, they have our pictures? Everyone knows what we look like now.” Susan looked to Mike.

“I don’t know, but it’s going to be fine.” He put his arm around her.

“We need to get off this planet,” Val said to Sam.

“I agree. The only place to take them is the Space. Get everyone and everything we need into the lounge. We’re going on a trip.” Sam directed Boden, Hadwyn and Zac. “Bring David down and put him with the others. Susan, get any supplies you need together. Fran and Jason, take anything you think will come in handy from the office. We’re leaving. Hurry!”

Val glanced out of the window. The police were still there, gathering in groups, in full protective kit. It wouldn’t be long before they were battering the door down.

She quickly helped Sam to roll the charts up. Each held an abundance of secrets that she would possibly never understand, but they were important and Sam needed them. “These charts, Val, are all I have left until Wendy gets her full powers. We need to keep them safe.” They had five tubes. “Where would you put them if you had to hide them from the world?”

“Tough question. I’ve got to hide my family and you’re right, the Space seems like the best choice. Why not take them there?”

“I agree, for now they aren’t safe on Earth.” He tied the tubes together and rested them over his shoulder as
the first blow on the door echoed through the hall. “We need to go!” he shouted urgently as he made his way to the others. They had all congregated in the lounge with their piles of equipment. “Zac, Boden and Hadwyn, I need you to ask me no questions; I need you to simply forget what you see before you see it.” They nodded.

“What about our families? Surely when they can’t find us they will look for them?” Susan asked him.

“At this moment I can do no more than protect you. Your families may be questioned, but they will not be locked away or treated like Val will be if they get their hands on her.”

Susan saw his point. “I understand. Let’s go.”

Sam strode over to a small oak chest of drawers; he pulled open a drawer and brought out a sphere similar to the one he had taken Shane away in. It started to expand.

Val grabbed her mum’s hand. “It’s going to be ok.” She held it tight. The bubble engulfed them all. Everything went dark and they felt the sensation of brief motion. After a few moments the bubble slowly receded and Val saw the grey rocks and markings of the Space. “Well, that wasn’t so bad,” Mike said, a note of relief in his tone.

“Where is this place?” Hadwyn looked around him.

“You’re in the centre of Alchany.” Val patted his shoulder. “Come on, let’s get everyone inside.”

Sam led the group in a procession towards the door. “It’s very grey,” Fran commented to Val.

“I know, but wait till you see what’s behind that door.”

Their arrival had been observed on the cameras because Alsom had the door ajar as they approached. Val waited for the others to repeat her reaction to the boy with wheels. He wasn’t alone and he came speeding out
with Taran in tow. This time Enoch was with them. “Come in now!” he urged.

“Val, they have wheels,” Susan said as Taran spun around her.

Val ruffled Taran’s hair as he came around a second time. “I know. Awesome aren’t they?”

“What’s wrong?” Sam asked Enoch as he hurried them through the metal doorway.

“It’s the Prison. It all happened too fast. There was nothing they could do; they didn’t stand a chance.” Enoch welcomed each one as they came in. “Sam, Nathan has control of the surface.”

“What are you saying?” Boden became restless. “What has happened to our Prison?”

“They came in ships. We watched it from our screens. There were a lot of them, but I honestly didn’t think they could win. How could they take down the whole planet? The Prison is so strong. But they did and it took only a few hours.” Enoch was visibly shocked and in no way relieved to see the cavalry arrive.

“Sit down and tell me what’s happening on the surface, my friend,” Sam encouraged him gently. They all grouped together to listen.

“A virus. They surrounded the planet and released some kind of airborne agent. No one stood a chance. They were breathing it in before they knew how Nathan would attack. He tricked them into believing he was going to launch an assault, and offered then the chance to surrender, but that was never his plan at all.”

“Do you know what sort of virus?”

“No, I don’t know. We haven’t dared to go onto the surface to try to get a sample. But it was like everyone gave up. They became docile with no will to fight. Then
the Nyterians arrived and just rounded them up. Follow me.” He stood and beckoned them up the grey hill.