Dorian wrapped his arm around my shoulder. “We’ll be together, even if we can’t be close like this. There’s no one else I’d rather have beside me.”
In only a few hours, we would journey to the Immortal Plane. I hoped his confidence would prove justified. I squeezed his cloak between my tight fingers and forced myself to appreciate our tiny moment of peace for the night.
Tomorrow brought a new, dangerous adventure.
Chapter Twelve
The smoke had entirely cleared from the air by dawn the next morning. I rolled from my cot with a groan. Stepping up to the door of the tent, I took the clearer air as a positive sign. Our group had rested, restocked, and prepared for our journey. Well, as much as one could prepare for an adventure into a treacherous supernatural world. I’d slept like a baby as soon as my head hit the pillow last night in the tent I shared with Zach.
During our quick breakfast of instant grits, Bryce insisted we couldn’t leave without informing our families. We had to say our goodbyes. After all, if we didn’t come back…
I wouldn’t have dreamed of leaving without calling my parents, though I suspected they would be upset. After a few days in Chicago with them, we’d left for Scotland, and now I had to leave on shady vampire business again. Yeah, they’d be thrilled.
I hovered beside Zach as he called from his cell phone.
“Hey, Mom,” he said with a smile. “Yeah, so we’ve had a slight change of plans… yeah, we only just got a free moment to call. So, basically…” He briefly summarized the plan for my parents. There were benefits to not being on the Bureau payroll anymore. He didn’t give them exact details, but it was a hell of a lot more than we ever could say when we were soldiers. My parents were understandably worried, since Zach and I’d had to leave right after we returned from our harrowing adventure on the run.
As was often the case, I was grateful for his easy way of speaking. The recent media training had helped him in all areas of life, including the best way to gently break the news to our parents that their only daughter was headed off on a long-term mission. The fact that he was going to briefly visit them after the summit before heading back to Scotland would hopefully help to lessen the blow.
I checked my watch. If it was seven thirty a.m. for us, then my parents would just be sitting down for their usual eight thirty a.m. breakfast.
Zach offered the phone. “They’ve got you on speaker so they can both hear you.”
I took it from him. “Hey, guys.”
“Oh, Lyra,” my mother said, her voice pinched. “Your father and I saw that press conference. We’ve been worried sick. Why didn’t you call us?”
The oncoming guilt trip was well earned. I should have called, but time fell away from me as we prepared for our journey. International calls were abhorrently expensive, too, and my bank account was in no place to charge international fees. I hated that I’d made my parents worry. “I’m sorry, I should have. International calls are a little difficult at the camp though.”
“We understand, kid,” my father said. “Looks like you handled the situation like a pro, from what we saw before the cameras cut off.”
I stifled an awkward laugh. Dropping to the floor and hiding was not only what you were supposed to do when guns went off, it was the only thing I could do, as a technical civilian. Still, it was a little embarrassing. “Yeah, it was madness. The Scottish police did an excellent job of securing and managing the scene, even though the shooter got away. I was glad to have them there.” I didn’t let myself bitterly add that I’d been unable to actually contribute myself.
My mother cut in. “You looked so collected and confident during those questions. Who taught you to speak to the media like that? I was so proud.”
I cringed inwardly. Did they see the question about Alan? I nearly flubbed that one. I bit my lip as I stared up at the sky over Moab, which was blissfully free of any stone insects.
Even though I knew my parents were unhappy that I was continuing with the vampire missions, they were still proud of me. Zach shot me a smile, and I turned away from him, hiding my red-rimmed eyes. How many times would I have to say goodbye to my family? It was the nature of the work, but almost losing them once had been the worst experience of my life.
“Guess I must have picked it up from my talks with Congress,” I said, using an exaggerated humble brag to hide my actual feelings. While they were heaping praise on me, why not mention that, too?
“Lyra,” my dad said, his tone serious, “I’m obviously worried about you going on this mission. Your mother is, too. I’m sure it comes as no surprise that we would rather you didn’t go into an unexplored, separate plane of existence inhabited by terrible monsters. Of course we don’t agree with everything you do, but we do respect that you’re fighting for what you believe in.”
“I second all of that,” my mother said. “We know that you’re tough and smart and brave and that the people… and the vampires around you will keep you safe, just as you will keep them safe.”
Part of being a Bureau family meant that letting your child go on dangerous missions was par for the course. I doubted it made it any easier, though.
I felt my throat tighten with rising emotion. “Thank you. I love you guys.”
“Come back in one piece, okay? No extra teeth, if you can help it,” my father said wryly.
I heard my mother huff and a brief thud on the line.
“And you’d better take that seriously,” my father said with a hint of laughter in his voice, “because your mother just swatted me for that joke.”
“I’ll try,” I said and glanced toward Zach. “I’ll put Zach back on, okay? I love you.” I passed my brother the phone and rubbed my eyes. I missed my parents dearly. They’d suggested in certain subtle ways that they didn’t approve of my relationship with Dorian, but they knew without a doubt that he would do everything he could to protect me on this mission, even with his life if it came down to it. Perhaps that was some small comfort.
Zach ended the call and wandered back to me. “Tough call, huh?”
I nodded and stared at him in the early morning light. “You’re sure you don’t want to come with me to the Immortal Plane?” I attempted a half-smile, but it fell flat.
He smiled tightly and nudged my arm playfully. “The slots filled up too fast,” he teased. A pensive frown crossed his face. “At least one of us should be here to keep things moving. We need our Scotland group in top form after that press conference. Besides, I feel pretty good about all the work I’ve been doing with Major Morag. She’s a beast with military strategy and diplomacy. I’m learning a lot.”
I felt a pang of happiness for him, mixed with the bittersweet realization that this would be our last reunion for some time. My brother was growing in ways that were taking him away from me, but I was excited for him… even if it made me sad that he wouldn’t be beside me this time. I’d taken his constant presence for granted.
“I like my place in life,” Zach said with a genuine grin. “I have my hands full. I’ll keep up the investigation into the Edinburgh sniper and keep working with Fenton and Clemmins to make sure the Bureau stays on track.”
I nodded with a soft smile. “You can come on the next Immortal Plane adventure,” I promised him. “When you’ve toughened up and have two working legs again.”
Assuming my party comes back safely…
He hugged me suddenly, squeezing tight. “Keep your wits about you, Lyra.”
“I will,” I whispered and thumped him hard on the back, grateful for his comfort.
Over Zach’s shoulder, I spotted Sike hovering awkwardly nearby. He waved, afraid to break up our familial moment.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Sike said, “but could I borrow the phone?”
There was only one person Sike would want to call on a phone. Zach handed it over without a word.
“I don’t know if she’ll even pick up,” Sike admitted as he took the phone.
It struck me how bizarrely
small it looked in his gangly hands.
He pressed something on the screen and frowned. Music began playing. “Uh, how do you find the dialing thing again?”
I sidled over beside him and helped type out the number in the phone app. He was the vampire with the best grasp of technology, thanks to Louise, but most of his experiences were on computers with large screens. A smartphone was too much.
Sike pressed the phone to his ear when it began to ring. Zach shuffled back into the tent, busying himself with double checking my food provisions. He couldn’t fool me—his eyes were also rimmed with red from oncoming tears. Would he be okay with me shipping off to the Immortal Plane? I wanted to throw my arms around my brother, but something about the stiffness of his shoulders told me not to come closer. He needed a moment alone. I stayed by Sike.
I can’t exactly leave Sike with the phone. I stepped back, making it clear that I was on hand if he needed any technical help but trying not to eavesdrop. I hoped his call wouldn’t upset Louise. Should I have stopped him?
“Hello?” Sike pressed the phone closer to his face, talking directly into the microphone. “Yeah. It’s me. Sorry.” He pressed his lips into a flat line as Louise said something.
It was impossible not to hear bits of the conversation. I couldn’t hear exact words, but Louise didn’t sound happy.
“It can’t work.”
I heard Louise’s strained voice, then it grew muffled. The air felt suddenly hot. I glanced up at the sky, wondering if I should comfort Sike after the call or if he would prefer to be left alone.
A pause followed. “It was a tough mission. Yes, I’m okay,” Sike muttered.
He quieted as she said something else. “I understand, Louise. Good luck. I wish you well, even if I can’t be next to you. I only wanted to say goodbye. Just in case.”
Sike ended the call and handed the phone back to me. To my surprise, a broad grin broke out on his face. Then I saw the tightness around his eyes. Poor Sike.
“I can’t wait to get to another plane,” he quipped, then quickly walked a few steps away, signaling that he didn’t want to talk about it. He put his back to me, facing the outcropping where our chopper had landed the day before. It was our designated meeting point for the mission.
Roxy tapped me on the shoulder. “I just need to make a call real quick.” I handed the phone over to her. Sike hovered nearby, but his eyes were trained on the desert landscape with a wistful look. I wanted to ask him more about his situation, but I held back. It wasn’t my place to over involve myself.
“Mom, stop trying to talk me out of it,” Roxy said tersely, her conversation drifting to my ears. “I want to do this. Period. End of story. Now, hand the phone over to Jacob and Suzy. And then the rest. Yes, all of them.” There was a long pause. “Jacob? Tell Mom to stop crying.” She turned away from us.
I tucked my hands beneath my arms, feigning a chill on them so I could actually hug myself tightly. Something about Roxy’s call made me want to cry more than calling my own family to say goodbye.
“Yes, I will try to come to your ballet recital when I get back,” Roxy muttered with a shake of her head. “No, Suzy, I can’t bring my gun to show off to your friends. I’ll just have to impress them by flexing my muscles.”
I flattened my lips tightly to keep from laughing, knowing that would earn me a punch in the arm from our fiery teammate. Despite her tough outer shell, I could see what an amazing sister and daughter she was. Her family didn’t approve of her becoming a Bureau soldier or her dangerous lifestyle, but she made it work by proving her worth over and over.
“Jacob, stop interrupting,” Roxy snapped and then composed herself. “Come on, honey. I already told you that I love you. Yes, I think you’d be a great soldier, but don’t tell Mom. We’ll talk about it when you’re older. For the love of—let Georgie on the phone before he starts hysterics. I can hear him starting to wail in the background. Did you guys take away his action figures again? Karate Steve is not to be touched while I’m gone.”
Kane tapped his foot in the red dirt impatiently. I raised an eyebrow as he stared at Roxy with his lip curled. Did he think we were weak to call our relatives? Or did he hate that the human woman who often matched him in sparring talked openly about attending a dance recital?
“I want to use the human phone,” he admitted through gritted teeth when Roxy finished. “To call Halla.” He struggled with his confession. It was as if both the phone and his need to call his mother made all the cells in his body riot. Roxy stared at him, her face and eyes pink from her emotional call. She wiped her cheeks roughly and smirked.
“You can have it, but only if you admit you’re a big old mama’s boy,” she taunted. He huffed.
“It’s not shameful to have a good relationship with your parents.” He lifted his chin proudly. “At least she knows better than to beg me off a mission.”
Roxy rolled her eyes and dangled the phone in her fingers in front of him. “Well, we can’t all have monstrous mommies that are happy to send us off on mysterious missions in alternate dimensions.”
He said nothing, only extended his hand expectantly with a stony look. To my surprise, Roxy sighed wearily and moved to stand next to him. “Here, let me show you how to do it. She should be at the barracks, right?” She muttered in a lower voice, “You big baby.”
I snorted and shook my head at their antics. Behind them, Bryce talked on another phone. It might’ve been the same burner phone that he used in our wild missions on the run. He bent his head as he spoke. I could see the word “Morag” on his lips. I turned away to give him a moment of privacy.
Everything was too intimate out in the open, but we had no choice. These could be our last calls for a long time… possibly forever. I swallowed the grit in my throat as my stomach sank. My gaze landed on Dorian and Laini, who stood next to each other.
“I’m not sure how long we’ll be,” Dorian said into the phone. He must be talking to the vampires left at the barracks. “Bravi will be there with you soon. Trust Morag with everything.” There was little emotion in his voice. All business, all leader-Dorian.
He didn’t need to call family. His only family member was coming with us to the Immortal Plane. Laini rolled her neck and watched the landscape, just as Sike did. Did they find their new home beautiful? Or did they look forward, in some nostalgic way, to seeing the familiar landscape of the Immortal Plane?
Arlonne sat beside them with her chin in her hand. There would be nobody for her to call. The sour taste of melancholy entered my mouth as I forced myself to turn away from her. This moment was yet another reminder of how much the vampires had lost, how little we had to call back to, and how tightly we had to cling to what we had left.
We all had our reasons for going to the Immortal Plane.
Zach joined me. He wiped his nose on his sleeve. “Allergies, right?”
I smirked. “I love you too, Zach.” I slung my arm around him. “Even your allergies.”
“You know, you still snore,” Zach teased as we gathered my gear and began to head out of the camp.
Instead of being annoyed at his teasing, I felt only overwhelming love for my brother.
“It’s payback for your gas,” I said snarkily, but I couldn’t look at him. If I did, I might cry. Zach and I had cheered each other on through every step of our training and gone together on practically all our missions once I joined the upper ranks. This would be the first time I faced danger without him. When would I see him again?
The sunrise was magnificent today. I sucked in a breath of cool morning air as I stared out at the desert, deliberately not looking at the tear for a moment. As we reached the summit, we found the vampires gathered nearby with a small flock of redbills. I cheered inwardly upon seeing Dorian’s sassy redbill, Drigar. We’d come a long way since he tried to eat me and I threatened to turn him into chicken wings. The last time I saw the large bird was before the Chicago HQ mission a few weeks ago, when we’d had to leave him behind be
cause of his injury. We’d left him here in the Canyonlands with the other redbills to recover, and it seemed he’d done just that.
We planned to take four redbills, two people to a bird. Laini and I would take one together. Dorian would ride with Bryce, Roxy would go with Arlonne, and Sike would join Kane.
Dorian stood in the center of our group, his arms folded. He seemed better after some rest, but I wanted him to feed soon. His expression was determined, but the hollows under his eyes worried me.
“We should go over some basic ground rules for the Immortal Plane before we take off,” he said. His glacial eyes studied the human volunteers, including me. “Never ever assume anything in the Immortal Plane is friendly. I don’t care if it’s sapient, animal, or plant. Most creatures will leave you alone if you don’t bother them and stay out of their way.”
Roxy clicked her tongue. “So, they’re more afraid of us than we are of them?” she guessed hopefully.
Kane let out a sharp laugh. “Not a chance. Always assume that you’re in the way of something and be on high alert.”
“He’s right,” Dorian said gravely. “Immortal creatures will likely leave you alone if you’re smart, but there’s no guarantee. Every creature could be harmful to you. Since this is the first time we’ll have humans inside the Immortal Plane, we can expect the learning curve to be steep. Very steep.”
I scooted a pebble in the dirt, fidgeting as I took in his words. The empty swarm had perfect camouflage for rocky or dark areas. If there were more creatures like that, we would have to be doubly attentive to our surroundings, as Kane had said.
“Second rule is that humans do not wander off anywhere without vampires. Ever. There are no maps and no familiar landmarks for you when we go in there. There will be no sun, stars, or technology to guide you. You will be in completely unknown territory, so if you need a bathroom break, one of us is coming with you. Sometimes things… change.” Dorian said the last part slowly.
Darklight 3: Darkworld Page 14
