Secret Keepers: The Complete Series

by Jaymin Eve

  We all agreed, because there wasn’t much choice. We had to find her.

  You might feel a pinch, Chase added. Don’t let it pull you from the network. Keep your focus here.

  With those words, I locked myself onto his light and waited for the pain. My energy jolted when it came, but it was mild and over so quickly there was no danger of me disappearing. After another beat, a new beam of light entered in our midst, one that was not the bright white I’d grown accustomed to. This one had a tinge of red to it.

  Our blood.

  Hold on to that beam, Daniel said. Use the secret keepers’ connection.

  I felt more comfortable in the network now. It felt almost instinctive to reach out with my own energy and connect to that reddish beam. Find the fourth. Find our fourth, I chanted, urging the light forward, the same way I had when the beams spread off the paper. I needed that light to follow its path. All the way to the last girl.

  The red started to vibrate, moving with such frequency that it blurred. All I got were flashes of color in the darkness. But it wasn’t extending, it seemed to be anchored to us, not interested at all in moving.

  What are you three thinking? Xander asked with impatience. You all have to give it the same goal, or it’s going to just remain where it is.

  Find our fourth, I said.

  Let’s all go with that, Callie chimed in.

  I focused everything again on that red line, that had slowed its vibrations, only to start up again as soon as I mentally pushed it to find the fourth. Just like before, though, it didn’t move. Almost like it was caught on something.

  You said that all seven of us were needed to find the eighth, Emma reminded the guys. So … maybe you all need to bleed a little, too.

  There was a pause, but no one disagreed. Then Daniel said, Jero is on it.

  In the next moment, the red of the blood beam went blindingly bright. It splintered in almost the same instant, part of it shooting away from us. My focus latched on tightly, and I found myself zooming away with the beam. I could feel the others close by as well.

  Focus, I heard Lexen shout.

  Find our fourth. Find our fourth. Find our fourth.

  The moment we crossed out of Overworld and into Earth was very obvious. It was like a jolt, and then a surge, and then a foreign feeling. We were in a place we weren’t supposed to be in. The darkness even had a divide – a chasm – that we had to mentally leap over.

  This is so weird…

  Our lights were dimmer on the Earth side, even though the endless darkness around us remained. The red beam stayed on course, and when it started to slow down, I slowed with it. It spiraled toward a dull, bluish-looking light, which I threw myself toward, letting it guide me up to the surface.

  How did I know how to do this? No freaking idea.

  The moment my energy hit the surface, it was all sun and sand and waves. And since I had been there before, I knew exactly where we were.

  Maya! Don’t follow the light like that.

  The shout startled me and I lost my focus. The sun faded away, and with a snap I was back in my body in House of Darken, my hands still held tightly in Chase and Callie’s. I looked between them, and then the rest of the group, realizing I was the only one back. The others still wore that faraway gaze.

  My parents, Brad, Star, and Jero rushed over to me. “Did you find her?” Star asked, her hands pressed tightly together in front of her. “You’ve been gone for about two minutes. I expected longer. Why are you the only one back?” Her questions picked up pace, rushing together as she wrung her hands.

  I shook my head hard. “I think I might have done something wrong. I followed the light, and it led me to Lanai, in Hawaii. I lost focus and snapped back into my body. Wait a minute … did you say two minutes?”

  “Time moves differently in there,” Jero said. “Usually we can get in and out in under thirty seconds when we need to utilize the network. Two minutes is actually quite a long time.”

  “How do you form a transporter?” I asked, realizing now that there was so much more I could do in there. No wonder the Daelighters didn’t need Earth technology, they had the network. So much cooler.

  Jero’s lips curled up slightly. “You move along the network until you find the place you want to travel. Then you take the lights there and spiral them. Spin and twirl them until they form a solid doorway. If you do it right, the transporter appears in the physical world as well as in the network.”

  “You have to be so careful, though,” Star told me. “Anyone can track and follow you when you do that. To stay off the radar, it’s better just to travel the human way.”

  That should be easy enough to do. Hawaii was just a plane ride away, after all. But it was definitely a lot slower than the transporter. My dad brushed strands of my hair off my face. “Are you okay?”

  I nodded. “Yes, definitely. Mostly because I think it worked. The fourth secret keeper is in Hawaii. Remember that little island of Lanai that we went to for our 2013 holiday … that’s where the line stopped.”

  My dad exchanged a look with Mom, and she nodded, agreeing with what his eyes had been telling her. “What?” I demanded.

  “One of the families was stationed near there,” she said. “They were Astronomers, I think.”

  That had to be them. “We have to get there now before Laous finds her. From what I saw, she was fine. Her energy felt stable.”

  Chase shifted at my side, and I turned to him. “Are you okay?” he said immediately, releasing my hand and Xander’s so he could turn to me.

  I stepped into him, pressing my hands to his chest. “I’m fine. Sorry if I did something wrong back there. One minute I was rising up to the surface to see where the red and blue light stopped, and the next I was back here.”

  He regarded me without an ounce of judgment. “Did you see where she was?”

  “Yeah.” I nodded. “The cord stopped at Lanai, an island near Hawaii. I’ve been there before on holidays.”

  He snatched me up, hugging me tightly, before his lips crushed into mine. I had no idea what was happening around us after that. All I knew was Chase. The feel of his lips. The tether to him that rested in my center thrumming.

  “Guys, seriously, can you all get a room? I don’t want to see my best friend slash sister doing that…” Brad’s complaint registered faintly, and with a disappointed huff I pulled back.

  Mostly so I could flip him off.

  “The number of chicks I have had to see you suck face with…” I trailed off at the panicked look in his eyes. As his gaze shifted to Star, I realized what he was worried about – that once she found out about his past, she might not like the person he was. Later I would remind him that there was no point hiding his past. He would just have to show Star that he was no longer that same guy.

  Everyone was out of the network now, and there was a lot of confusion as they all spoke at once. I realized that no one thought I’d made it to the surface. When I told them I did, the mood lightened.

  “We need to move, now,” Lexen declared, his eyes glittering with white lights. It was freaky when he did that, because I knew the draygone soul he hid inside. He turned to my parents and Brad. “You three should stay here. I will have Star escort you to our home, where you can wait safely for our return.”

  My dad opened his mouth and I recognized that stubborn clenched jaw and pursed lips. He was going to argue about this and generally make life very difficult for everyone until he got his own way. Before he could, I reached out and wrapped my hand around his forearm. “You can’t protect me from this, Dad.” That stopped him in his tracks, and when he slowly lowered his head to meet my eyes, the stubborn emotion had been replaced with sadness. “I know you blame yourself for choosing to involve me in this world … but no matter how this works out, I want you to know that I have no regrets. I have found a place here, a future. I have found more members to add to our family.”

  “Hells yeah, you have,” Emma chimed in, before slamming
her mouth shut and slapping her hand across it.

  Lexen laughed. “She will forever be listening in on your conversations. You might as well get used to it.”

  “Emma is right, though,” Callie added. “I had no family at all, and now I feel like there are so many of you damn people I care about. And that scares me…” She trailed off for a moment. “But I believe that together we’re the strongest team I’ve ever seen. There is nothing we can’t accomplish. It’s … a true family. None of us will be left behind. Laous will not take any more from us.”

  Amen.

  When I returned my gaze to my parents, my dad had glassy eyes. “Take care of my little one,” he said, still looking at me while he spoke to the others. “And welcome to our family.”

  He leaned forward and kissed me on the forehead. My mom kissed me on both cheeks, holding my face in her hands, staring at me. When they turned away – and I was trying not to cry – Brad wrapped both of his arms around me and hoisted me up into his big body. His familiar smell brought back a million memories.

  Brad would always be my best friend, but our lives were changing, expanding. We were finding new people to love and that was a good thing.

  “Come back to me, you hear,” he said as he pulled away, dropping me down to my feet. “Best friends forever does not have an out clause. You’re in for life.”

  I patted his chest, and he cleared his throat and turned away. Star didn’t argue about having to stay behind, she just smiled and hugged her brothers and Emma before she joined my parents and Brad. The four of them then made their way back up to the mountain city.

  I watched them until they disappeared from sight. “They’ll be okay,” Chase told me. “The overlord’s home is protected by the draygones. This is the safest place for them.”

  “I know.” I nodded. “As hard as it is to watch them walk away, I would prefer they were not out in the battlefield. Still, I have to wonder if I’ll ever see them again.”

  There were no guarantees in life.

  “You’ll see them again, Maya,” he said, somewhat fiercely. “I will not let anything happen to you.”

  Before I could answer, low laughter echoed down through the valley we stood in. Chase – and the other overlords – reacted in an instant, moving to surround us. That laughter had been loud and unnatural, and even though I could not see who it came from, there was no doubt…

  We were not alone.

  Chapter 19

  A man stepped out from the shadows. He was about twenty feet away, appearing from behind a nearby rocky outreach. He had dark hair slicked up in the center, olive skin, and a sharp but still handsome face. Tattoos ran across his neck and down into the black long-sleeved shirt he wore.

  He looked familiar. Ish. But I couldn’t recall how I knew him.

  Daniel made a grumbling noise nearby and I turned toward him. “Fraizer,” he said, sounding more than a little annoyed. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  The boys closed in even further on Emma, Callie, and me. Jero included. He had lost every ounce of sadness now, wearing a mask of fury. He looked very fallen angel. Whoever this “Fraizer” was, he was not a popular guy in this group.

  I realized then why he seemed familiar – he kind of looked like Daniel. Less rugged, more attitude, but there were similarities. I tilted my head up and mouthed “brother?” to Chase, and he nodded once.

  “I’m here because I think we need to talk,” Fraizer said, crossing his arms over his chest. His stance was relaxed, legs slightly spread, boots firmly planted. But there was uneasiness in the way he held his shoulders, tension there that betrayed his confident persona.

  Jero took a threatening step forward. “There is nothing you could say which we want to hear. So I guess you’ve come here to die.”

  Lexen reached out and grabbed his brother, but Jero threw that hand off with a violent jerk. “He was part of the group which killed Marsil,” Jero said, followed by a string of hurled curse words. “He needs to die.”

  Daniel didn’t say anything, and the look on his face was difficult to interpret. There was clearly no love between him and Fraizer, but he also didn’t look ready to join the lynching squad.

  “I didn’t kill Marsil,” Fraizer protested. “I was there to try and stop it all from happening. I hoped to let you all know beforehand, but as usual, no one was interested in what I had to say.”

  “You tried to contact me through the network,” Daniel said out of nowhere. “On the day Marsil was killed.”

  When Fraizer turned to his brother, there was a crap-ton of anger in those narrowed eyes. “Even though you don’t deserve it, I was trying to keep you from getting killed. For Mom.”

  Daniel’s face shuttered, and I saw the look Callie threw in his direction. Their mom was definitely a sore point.

  “Aren’t you on Laous’ side?” Lexen drawled, a hint of death in those words. “Now you expect us to believe you have switched sides … that you were there on the day Marsil was murdered because you wanted to warn us?”

  Fraizer let out a huff of air, his cheeks puffing out. “At first Laous offered me what I wanted, a chance to belong. He is family, after all, and I have always been sorely lacking in that department.” Another side eye at Daniel. “But … our goals are no longer the same. I don’t want … if we break the treaty everyone will suffer, and … I don’t think my parents would be proud of the way I acted, so I’m trying to make amends.” He looked between all of us. “He’s on the way now to find the last secret keeper, so I came to the only ones with the power to stop him.”

  The silence felt heavy. No one seemed to know what to say.

  “Where is Laous going to try and find the final keeper?” Daniel finally asked him.

  “Hawaii,” Fraizer said without hesitation. “He’s heading across with some of his trusted inner circle as we speak.”

  Daniel’s question had been a test, to see if Fraizer was actually speaking any truth at all. He’d passed the first step, confirming the location I’d gotten in the network.

  “How did you even know we were in House of Darken?” Chase asked.

  “Laous knows where you are,” Fraizer replied quickly. “When he had Callie the second time, he took her to House of Imperial and planted a tracker just under her skin. Near her right ear.”

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” Callie stomped her foot hard, letting a ton of swearwords drop, and then she headed toward Fraizer. “Let me kill him. Seriously.”

  “It wasn’t me!” Fraizer protested again. “Ever since Laous hooked up with the humans, he’s gone even crazier. A lot of the technology he’s using, private planes and all that, comes from this group called Gonzo.”

  I stilled, an instant feeling of revulsion washing over me. “I know that group,” I told them; every face turned in my direction then. “My parents often talked about how they were an anti-government extremist group who want to ditch the current democratic way of running our country. They want to bring in rule by the people.”

  “They want anarchy?” Emma asked.

  I nodded. “Yep, they believe that if they break down the entire way America is governed, raze it to the ground, then they can rebuild as something much stronger. Less corrupt.”

  “But in doing so, they’re willing to sacrifice millions of innocent lives,” Callie guessed.

  I nodded again. “Yes, it must be a big deal because my parents were rarely ever able to speak about their jobs and lives. It was classified above top secret, because of …” I shrugged. “The alien thing. But they did mention this group more than once. They wanted to warn me. Apparently they have people stationed everywhere, even in high schools.”

  “The human is right, they’re bad news,” Fraizer confirmed. “Connected. Rich. And ruthless. They’re on the way to Hawaii with Laous to track this girl down. If they get to her before you all do, then it’s game over.”

  Urgency thrummed through our group again. I wasn’t sure about the rest of them, but I was ready f
or action. We needed to go now. “Give me a second to set up a temporary transporter back to Earth,” Lexen said.

  Before anyone could reply, his eyes were already doing that faraway stare thing as he went into the network. I focused on the ground as well, remembering how I followed the light down. The longer I stared, the more the grass and rocky ground faded away, before it flickered back and forth between darkness and reality. Ohhh, now I understood what they meant about the first time being the hardest. Because the path was easy to follow now, I just needed to … switch my mind across.

  Lexen’s focus returned in about thirty seconds. Lights swirled up from the ground in front of him, slow and singular at first, but after another twenty seconds a full transporter was there. “Okay, I’ve informed the council and they’re sending backup across to Hawaii,” he told the group. “But that will take them a few hours to organize, so we’re heading there first. This transporter will take us back to the main one in the platform.”

  “What are we going to do about Fraizer?” Daniel asked. He seemed to be avoiding looking at his brother, who in turn was avoiding looking at Daniel.

  “This has got to end!” Callie threw her hands up in front of her, exasperation in her voice. “You two need to bury this bad blood between you. Have you both forgotten that you have another brother in Laous’ hands, one who I don’t believe is a bad guy? He just needs someone to give a damn about him.”

  Daniel’s face was blank, but the corners of his lips were twitching, along with his eye. He was upset. I had no doubt about it at all.

  Fraizer, on the other hand, wore a mask of confusion. “What brother?”

  Daniel answered him. “Rao. He’s our brother, not Laous’ son.”

  I’d never seen color drain from a person’s face so quickly. Fraizer took a step forward and threw a swing at Daniel. The Imperial overlord had a split-second to try to avoid the hit. He didn’t though. He let his brother’s fist connect.