Uninvited: A Paranormal Urban Fantasy Novel (The Dark Skies Trilogy Book Two) (15 page)

F
itz gazes
at the sky with disgust. Like a curse, he mutters, “Horlock search helicopters.”

Before they reach us, they make a wide circle and head back the other way, never passing over us.

“What do we do?” Jax asks.

“We get closer,” Fitz replies, getting out of the vehicle. “Then reevaluate.”

Like ninjas, our team creeps from the road through the woods. In a few moments, we’re dangerously close to circling helicopters.

“Damn!” Fitz curses. “They found her ship before we did.”

Crouched low inside the treeline, we finally get a glimpse of the little space ship, sitting peacefully on the edge of the road like a neatly parked car. The gleaming polished dome shines like liquid metal even in the dim light.

“Who are those men?” Calliope gasps, tears filling her eyes.

The craft is surrounded by men in black suits. My old nemesis, Sunglasses-Man stands front and center, pointing and giving orders.

“Bad guys,” I whisper.

An empty flatbed truck backs up toward the ship as the Horlocks prepare to load it up and take it away.

Fitz and his team huddle sin the safety of the woods discussing their options. Things quickly get heated. Frustrated, Fitz turns in my direction gesturing with his hand. It takes me a moment to realize that he’s summoning Jax, not me.

Nevertheless, I use the opportunity to scoot closer so I can eavesdrop.

“….We don’t have the manpower to stop them,” Tanaka hisses. “We’re totally outnumbered. It would be suicide to try to engage. We have to let them go.”

“We can’t lose this craft,” O’Malley argues. “Not if the memory stone is still inside. The stakes are too great.”

“O’Malley’s right,” Fitz says. “Anyone have a suggestion?”

After a beat, Jax says, “Create a diversion.”

“Such as?” Simmons asks.

“Have Calliope summon her Drolgon. The Horlocks are probably prepared from a guardian to be nearby considering they know that Astrid has Tom.”

“And then what?” Fitz sounds interested.

“If Calliope can get him to appear, I can timeshift into the craft without being noticed.”

“That’s crazy,” Simmons says.

“No, that’s a great idea,” Tanaka says at the same time.

“Except we don’t know the location of the memory stone,” Simmons adds.

“In Earth time, I can be in and out quickly,” Jax counters. “In my time, I can spend more than enough time in the craft to do a thorough search.”

Stone-faced, Fitz silently weighs the pros and cons. “We seem to be out of options. I think we have to give it a go.”

Calliope agrees, then disappears into the forest, assuring us that she’ll return with Raki.

Personally, I would not like to use Tom as any sort of distraction or diversion around a bunch of scary black-eyed Horlocks with guns. Even though I know mere Earthly weapons can’t hurt a drolgon, but a shoulder-propelled rocket wouldn’t do some pretty serious damage. Not to mention alien weapons.

Two minutes later, here they come, Calliope riding on Raki’s back like he’s a racehorse. She looks like a princess from a space opera.

It is, perhaps, the coolest thing I have ever seen, and I’m instantly jealous that I’ve never thought to throw a saddle on Tom.

The plan is to bring Raki out at the rear of the ship to divert the Horlocks away from the craft’s entrance. When it’s clear, Jax can get inside and find the memory stone. I’m sent to stand guard out of sight in the tall brush with BrightSky in her full on gleaming sword form.

The diversion is working. As soon as Calliope and Raki appear from the far side of the woods, all of the Horlocks move in her direction, leaving the craft’s entrance wide open.

“Are you ready?” Jax asks me.

“Ready when you are,” I say, and next thing I know, he’s gone.

Armed with information from Calliope as to where to find the memory stone, Jax timeshifts - moving faster than any of us can see — and enters the little space pod.

Meanwhile, I stay hidden. If anything does go wrong, all I have to do is say “abort” into the comm system headset I’m now wearing, and Fitz and his team will come running.

I nervously sit there watching. It seems like it’s taking too long. Jax promised that he’d be in and out. More time passes. Still no Jax.

Just as I’m about to creep forward to look inside the craft, I hear footsteps approaching.

Oh no. Someone is coming. I see a dark suit appear in the shadows. It’s only one suit, so that’s good. I grip BrightSky tighter in case I need her.

Silently, I watch as their watchman wanders the perimeter of the craft. His pace is slow and steady, almost leisurely, which makes me think he isn’t aware or me or Jax. I nearly want to laugh at how dumb he is.

That is until the whole craft lurches. Jax must have bumped something. Unfortunately, this instantly alerts the watchman.

He comes flying around toward the craft’s entrance.

I’m about to abort the whole operation until he steps into the light, and I recognize his familiar face.

The Horlock’s watchman is Chad Olson.

“
C
had
,” I whisper, barely able to form words.

Wearing dark sunglasses, he stops.

My heart flutters wildly inside my chest. I can’t express the overwhelming joy I feel that he’s alive and standing right in front of me.

I throw my arms around him and hug him tight. “I’m so happy we found you.”

But instead of embracing me, he stands strangely rigid, his arms flat against his side.

I take a step back. “Chad?”

But his face shows no emotion, and I can’t see his eyes behind the dark sunglasses.

He suddenly lurches forward grabbing my shoulders. My hands fly up, wrapping around his wrists, but I can’t pry his hands free.

We struggle. My only option is to use my legs. I lean forward, slamming my knee up into his crotch. Normally, this has guys writhing in pain. Chad reacts, but not as much as I expect.

Instead, I grip his wrists more tightly, then swing my elbow up and hard into the side of his head. This knocks his sunglasses right off his face. He’s so startled that he lets go.

I take a step back and realize that Chad now has the same black eyes as a Horlock.

“Chad!” I gasp. “What did they do to you?”

He doesn’t respond. Instead, he silently stares at me with a look so evil and intense it sends chills down my spine.

I turn to run. I know I’m faster than him. Nearly at the edge of the woods, I glance back to see that not only is he keeping up with me, but he’s quickly gaining on me as well.

Changing him into a Horlock has somehow physically changed him as well. He’s faster, stronger, more agile than he was before.

From behind, I feel his iron-like grip wrap around my neck. He’s choking me. I try to cry out, but I can’t.

Reaching up, I try to pry his hands off of me, but he just tightens his grip squeezing my windpipe. I can feel myself beginning to blackout.

Just my luck that the boy I’m crazy about is trying to kill me.

An instant before I lose consciousness, I see a boot come swinging through the air toward Chad’s head. It connects, slamming into his ear, and he instantaneously releases me as he crumbles to the ground.

I whirl around to see Jax standing behind Chad. He just threw a roundhouse kick to save me.

“Are you okay?” Jax asks.

It takes a moment for my brain to refill with oxygen. Rubbing my throat, I say, “I’m alright. You saved me from…” I’m so upset that I can’t go on.

Jax sees my dismay. “It’s not really him. They changed him.”

“Did you find the memory stone?”

“No.” He shakes his head, turning toward the sound of the many heavy footsteps coming toward us. “It’s not there. I looked everywhere. We have to go.”

“We can’t just leave him.”

“He’s a Horlock now. There’s nothing we can do.” Jax retreats into the woods. When he realizes I’m not following him, he pivots. “Astrid! C’mon. We can’t stay.”

“I not leaving him here,” I repeat, looking down at an unconscious Chad on the ground. I’m not sure if this is a gamble worth taking or not. All I know is — Horlock or not — this may be our only opportunity to get Chad back.

The footsteps are almost upon us.

“Fine.” Jax lets out an exasperated sigh. In a split second, he’s standing next to me with Chad thrown over his shoulder like a rag doll.

“Take my hand,” Jax reaches for me, just as a swarm of black suits appears, guns drawn.

Reaching for Jax, the loud - BLAM - of a gun rings out.

I’m afraid it’s too late. But as soon as our fingers touch, I’m rocketed into the time shift with Jax. The world around us seems to stop.

The suits look frozen in place. I see the bullet hanging in the air, surprisingly close to us, maybe six or seven feet away.

Other than a heavy pressure on my chest, moving through the time shift doesn’t feel any different than a Sunday stroll through the park.

We disappear into the thick of the trees, heading back to our rendezvous point. Jax labors to move, and I know this time shift with two passengers is a burden for him.

Fifty yards into the forest, we see O’Malley and two of his men, who appear frozen in place but are really just moving in normal time, approaching us.

Jax moves us behind a small copse of ash trees in order to block their view of us.

“Why are we hiding?” I ask.

“Be better if we don’t have to explain the time shift,” Jax says, letting go of my hand as the world comes crashing back into motion.

Still, when we appear, O’Malley seems shocked. “Whoa! Didn’t hear you guys.”

“Hey, we take the whole silent ninja thing seriously,” Jax brushes it off.

“What’s with the Horlock?” O’Malley questions, instinctively raising his hand to his gun.

“He’s coming with us,” Jax says.

“But — “ O’Malley is about to protest.

“He’s coming with us,” I repeat.

It seems to work, and he relents. “Okay. Then let’s get back to the caravan.”

Jax, nearly worn out from the time shift, hands the still unconscious Chad over to O’Malley’s men and we snake our way back to the road and the waiting caravan of Humvees.

I’m nervous about Fitz’s reaction when he sees Chad. Everyone else wanted to abandon him because he’s been turned into a Horlock. It must be like being changed into a vampire. Once it’s done, it can’t be undone, except with a wooden stake through the heart.

Watching us approach, Fitz’s eyes go wide. “Is that… “ he hurries closer. “Chad! Get him in the back.”

O’Malley adds, “Sir, he’s a Horlock.”

Fitz’s face twists with emotion, and I see his fists clench. “Those dirty…,” he trails off, getting back on point. “O’Malley, you and your security team stay with him but get him in the truck.”

Hurrying toward the caravan, I cautiously ask Jax, “What will they do with him now.”

“If they’re smart, they’ll kill him.”

“Are you crazy!” I object.

“Actually, it’s not. Don’t you get it? He’s part of one larger hive mind that spends all of their time trying to find you, Calliope and the rest of your sisters so that they can destroy you. But you want to drag one of them back to St. Benedicts?”

“It’s my fault that he’s like this now. It would be wrong to abandon him.”

“You have a good heart, but you can’t save everyone. You can’t fix everyone. It just isn’t possible.” With that, he climbs in the Humvee and closes the door.

Standing outside, my blood boils. No, maybe I can’t save everyone. But, in this case, no one is going to stop me from trying.

A
s soon as
our convoy pulls into the compound, I’m met by Ruby.

“Is it true?” she asks, her voice filled with hope. “Did you rescue Chad?”

“Rescue might not exactly be the right word,” I reply as we follow the group back to headquarters. “But, yes, we found him. He’s alive.”

“Is he hurt? Are they taking him to the hospital ward?” she asks.

“No.”

“But why?”

I repeat what Fitz told me on the ride back. “He’s been turned into a Horlock. There have been others who have also been changed then rescued, but no one has ever been changed back. Because he’s part of a sort of larger alien hive mind, he has to be kept in a place where the other Horlocks can’t get to him.”

Ruby looks stricken. “And where is that?”

“There’s a cell. Deep in the ground. It’s enclosed with lead and then encased in ten foot thick walls of concrete. They’ll keep him there until they know what to do with him.”

“So he’s a prisoner?” she asks, but it isn’t really a question. “You captured him. You didn’t save him.”

“Do you think this is how I wanted it?” I ask, shocked that she could think that I would want to do anything but help Chad. “I’m trying to help him. Not hurt him. You have to believe that.”

“I don’t know,” she muttered, turning and marching off. “I don’t know what to believe anymore.”

“They all wanted to leave him behind. I had to talk them into just bringing him back here.”

I head over to the debriefing in the Eye in the Sky building. But when I get there, I’m told I can’t go in.

“Why?”

The guard stands firm. “You don’t have clearance.”

Five minutes later, Jax finds me lingering in the hallway. “You look confused.”

“I am,” I confess. “I’m confused by my entire life. My best friend is mad at me. The boy I had a crush on wants to kill me. Fitz suspects my uncle might be working for the Draconians.”

“That’s a lot.”

“What’s happening in there?”

“A lot of arguing. No decisions,” Jax replies. “Hey, have you been to the old library?”

“What?” This seems like a strange question given the current circumstances.

“The library,” he repeats, then speaks like I’m a little slow. “Have… you… been to it?”

“I’ve been to the school library twice already.”

“No, not that library.” He shakes his head. “The St. Benedict’s private library.”

“There’s a private library?” I try to remember if I’ve even seen this. “No, never been there.”

“You need to go,” he replies with wide eyes. “It might help answer a lot of questions for you. And I’m sure Sister Mary Agnes will love you.”

“Sister Mary Agnes? That sounds like a bad character in a sitcom.”

“Sister Mary Agnes is amaz-balls.” He puts a hand on my shoulder and guides me toward the cathedral.

“Amaz-balls?” I can’t help but smile. “Wow, that’s pretty strong praise. Particularly for a nun.”

“She may be the most interesting person I've ever met on this planet. And I've met some pretty interesting people.”

Jax walks me over to the church. But instead of taking the usual route down to the medical ward, he guides me through the open church sanctuary, past the ornate stone altar and the hand-carved cross that hangs from the ceiling.

Behind all of this, an arched cove juts off from a sidewall near the corner of the sanctuary. We enter a narrow hallway lit by old-fashioned gas lamps attached to the wall.

“Watch your head,” he says as we duck to get through the entryway. “The library is the oldest part of this building. It was here a hundred years before the church.”

The windowless passageway curves gently to the right. It’s enough of a curve that you can only see a few feet in front of you as you walk. I realize that the floor also gently slopes like we’re spiraling down the perimeter of a round building.

“How much farther?” I ask, starting to feel a claustrophobic pressure in my chest. It’s like descending into a tomb.

“Just up ahead here,” he replies with perfect calm.

Finally, a warm glow seeps in from around the curve as the ceiling begins to rise and the walls gently widen. The hallway ends at a doorway flanked by a dark wood, ornately carved frame that leads into what could generously be called a small library.

“Wow, this is beautiful. I feel like I’m at Hogwarts.” The size of the small room surprises me because Jax spoke about it with such awe and reverence that I was expecting something grand like the Library of Congress.

The 20 by 20 space is filled with ancient heavy oak bookshelves jam-packed with dusty books of every shape and size.

“Good afternoon, Sister,” Jax warmly greets a tiny nun, dressed in the traditional black and white gown and habit, who slowly shuffles our way. Even though age has hunched her shoulders, her eyes still twinkle and a big smile fills her face.

“Good afternoon to you, Dr. J,” she returns the greeting, then focuses her bright eyes to me. “Young lady, what took you so long! I've been waiting for you to come and see me.”

“Oh.” This is not the greeting I expected. “I'm sorry to say that until 10 minutes ago I didn't even know you existed.”

She waves a wrinkled old hand in the air. “Eventually, everybody figures out that Sister Mary Agnes is down here.”

“I thought maybe you could give Astrid a tour,” Jax says. “She only recently found out about her past and her actual birth planet.”

The sister nods. “I think I have a few resources that might be helpful.”

Jax turns back toward the entrance. “Fantastic. I have a sick three-eyed Centarian Sloth to look after. So if you'll excuse me…”

“But—“ I begin to protest.

“Don’t worry. You’re in good hands. I’ll see you in the gym at 4 . I have a fresh bag of tennis balls with your name on it.” And with that happy thought, he's gone.

“Come in, my dear,” Sister Mary Agnes waves me farther in. “Would you like a cup of mint tea? It’s very relaxing. Helps tame the stresses of the day.”

I'm not really a big fan of tea. I'm more of a coffee girl, vanilla caramel latte to be exact, but I smile and nod, “I would love a cup of mint tea.”

She shuffles over to a small kitchenette behind a desk that looks like it came from Versailles and puts the kettle on. “I've already taken the liberty of pulling out a few sources for you to look through. I understand that you don't know anything about the history of the Counsel of Light and the Pleiadian Alliance?”

“I know a little bit. But no, not really very much.”

“And, of course, the prophecies.” As she hands me a cup of tea, she adds, “Oh! I have some snickerdoodles too. The brothers at the cafe brought them down.”

This sends a little jolt through me. My uncle makes the best snickerdoodle cookies in the world. “Those are my favorite.”

“So I've heard,” she winks. “I'm sure they're not as good as your Uncle Conrad's, but I was hoping to make you feel at home.”

“How did you—“

“A mutual friend, Señora Mariposa, gave me a heads-up. She's concerned about you.”

Our former landlady, Señora Mariposa owns the Latin deli next to my uncle's karate studio. She also happens to be ancient intergalactic, all-knowing oracle, but that's another story.

When Sister Mary Agnes tries to pick up the heavy tray holding a plate of cookies and the teapot, I intervene. “Let me carry that, sister.”

“Thank you, dear,” she smiles, follow me into the research room.

I trail behind her to the back of the small library where there’s a closed heavy wooded door with a domed top and a thick curved metal handle.

I look down at the tray to see that I’m now carrying three steaming cups of tea. Not two. “Who’s the third cup for?”

At the same moment, Sister Mary Agnes pushes the door open and I see there’s someone already in the research room sitting in a yellow plastic lawn chair with a card table in front of her.

“Señora Mariposa!” I gasp, “What are you doing here?”

“I’ve come to give you a reading,” she smiles. The hefty woman looks totally out of place in the ancient library. “And to have a nice cup of tea with you and my old friend.”

“Where are your card?” I ask when I realize she doesn’t have her ever-present deck of tarot cards with her.

“We’re not reading tarot today, my dear,” she smiles and reaches for my empty tea cup. She turns it over on the saucer and glowing mint green leaves fan out. “Instead, we’ll take a look at the tea leaves.”

“Are there radioactive or something?” I frown at the weedy sprigs on the saucer. They don’t look like regular tea leaves. Instead, they glow a neon green.

“They are a very rare leaf found only in the highlands of my home planet,” Señora Mariposa explains. “I fly up there myself to select each leaf. They are very good at seeing your future.”

I squint at the seemingly random pattern of tea leaves. “What do you see?”

She leans forward and seems to be concentrating on the soggy mess on my plate. “The leaves say that a true warrior, like good tea, shows its strength in hot water.”

“Oh,” I say, not understanding that at all.

“The tea leaves tend to be very self-involved and give their fortunes revolving around the subject of tea,” she explains. “However, that does not make their predictions any less accurate.”

I smile and nod.

“This is helpful, no?”

“Um… not really, Señora M.”

“Well. Perhaps it will be, in good time” she says holding out her tea cup. “Now, be a dear and fetch an old lady some more mint tea.”