Crystal Tomb (Starfire Angels: Dark Angel Chronicles Book 3)

by Melanie Nilles

  Of course, but sometimes she wanted a little privacy, like when she broke down. "Procrastinating?"

  "Sort of…Okay, yeah. Um, how do you remember the sine versus cosine again?"

  So predictable. "SOHCAHTOA. The sine is the opposite side over the hypotenuse—"

  "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember now. Thanks, Raea."

  "You're sure?" He sounded like there was something more.

  "Yeah. No problem." He cleared his throat. "I just wanted to congratulate you on the portal. You know I love that stuff."

  "Sure, Josh. Good luck on your final tomorrow." His only final, but their math teacher ended up grading so strictly that all but a handful of trigonometry students nearly failed, Josh included.

  "Thanks…um…All right. Take care. I'll see you…sometime after finals." He clicked off, and she tucked her phone back into her jacket pocket.

  Poor Josh. He was barely passing trig, one of two classes he needed for college. She'd tried to help him, but he hated studying. Now he had no choice.

  ["He should try basic math back home."] Elis sounded amused, like he smiled. She could imagine how advanced Inari children were expected to be. No, she dreaded it. They were far more intelligent than her, and the way Elis talked about physics theories studied by humans being close or wrong in some points only exaggerated how far behind she was for growing up on Earth. She would be no better off than a young child if she returned to Inar'Ahben.

  ["Speaking of home…"] She glided towards the eastern edge of the town sparkling with street lights. ["I think we should be heading back. That portal will have attracted some attention besides Josh."] And they had attracted angel watchers to the town.

  Elis hesitated to answer but glided level with her so their wingtips nearly touched. ["All right."] His gentle voice came through on the tri-comm. Or was it disappointment she heard?

  ["You just wanted a practice run, right?"]

  ["We're not ready to go around the world yet. Tomorrow maybe."]

  ["Tomorrow?"] As in already?

  ["The sooner we retrieve the Eye, the better, but it will take some timing and preparation. Egypt is seven hours ahead. We'll have to time it so we arrive in the dark hours of morning. It's too late now."]

  ["Can't we wait until after graduation?"]

  ["We've already waited too long."]

  He was right, of course. Elis was always right. They'd waited while she learned to control opening a portal to a designated point. He couldn't do it, or they'd have retrieved the Eye last week. Only a Crystal Keeper with the power of a shard could make that connection. Since she could do it now, nothing could stop them.

  One thing still bothered her, something he hadn't explained. ["Once we have it, what'll we do with it?"]

  Silence. She waited, questions growing in her mind. Did he have a plan?

  They approached McClarron's glowing lights.

  ["Elis?"]

  ["I don't know."]

  Great. He didn't know. Well, that made it better. ["So we're supposed to wait for the Shirukan to discover it when they come again?"]

  ["No."] The word growled from his throat.

  Then what?

  An idea tickled her mind. He wouldn't. Would he?

  That had to be it. He'd said he would never let them hurt her again. ["You want it to choose you as its Keeper."]

  Silence again.

  That was it!

  ["We have to find it before whoever is taking the protectors learns its location."]

  Uh, huh. There was more he wasn't telling her. He could go dead silent when he had something on his mind, or when she was close to hitting the bulls-eye.

  Elis angled down.

  That was it, huh? Not a word. She'd hit pretty close to the mark, but he wasn't getting off that easily. ["Hey. You didn't answer my question."]

  Still nothing. He continued down.

  Raea followed him, determined to get her answer, although she was sure by his tight lips that she was right. Still, she wanted to hear it from him.

  Elis headed towards a field about a mile northeast of town, where they'd taken off. Sure, they'd have some walking, but it was a nice night, and the walk would give her time to pry out an answer. Besides, the field across the street from town that they'd used all spring was a field of green sprouts. Their footprints would be obvious trampling the plants night after night, and the farmer probably wouldn't be too happy about it.

  The flapping of large black wings reached her as Elis touched down. She followed behind, slowing her descent with the flap of her brown wings while stretching her legs down to touch solid ground.

  After landing, she stepped up to him and grabbed his jacket sleeves, intending to hold him until she had that answer. ["Well? Am I right?"]

  Even in the dark, she could tell he looked away to the outline of the nearest line of trees beyond the gravel road where they stood. Raea reached up and, with her hand on his cheek, turned his head. She couldn't see his eyes, but the shift of his cheek muscles under her hand came from his indecision. What was he afraid to say? ["Tell me the truth, Elis,"] she said softly.

  ["Yes! Yes, I hope it chooses me."] He reached up and covered her hand with his, the fabric of his black gloves giving way to skin at the ends of his fingers. Desperation contorted his face in the darkness. ["I can't help thinking if I'd had a shard two weeks ago, I could have come after you myself. If the Shirukan come again, I'm stuck here…I won't let them take you away, Raea."] His voice softened in the end, touching her heart with the sincerity and pleading in his tone. ["Never again."]

  Her insides fluttered to hear him tell her how much he loved her, but he neglected one important argument against it. ["If you have a shard, you'll be a target too."]

  In the quiet of the night, the sound of him swallowing told her he understood the consequences. ["We'll be together."] His fingers tightened around hers while his other hand settled on her back and held her close. Her wings lifted with the rush of pleasure his touch inspired.

  Yes, they would be. There was that. ["Thank you…for being honest."] He had never lied to her, but he was a master of withholding information. ["That's all I wanted to hear."]

  Elis leaned close and she welcomed his tender kiss in the chill of the night. For a few seconds, the rest of the world disappeared.

  When they parted, he pressed his forehead to hers. ["Help me retrieve the Eye."]

  Doubts crept up her spine with the chill of the air. ["What if it rejects you?"] And knocked him out or, worse, killed him? The Starfire entities could be very selective about their Keeper. ["I won't lose you."]

  ["I'll be all right."]

  ["I don't know, Elis…"] Losing him would be like cutting out her heart. He took too many risks for her liking. She couldn't let him do this, but she couldn't let anyone else get their hands on the Starfire.

  ["Trust me."]

  She wished she could this time. He'd been right before, but this was different. The Starfire entities had shown her what they would do to protect themselves from the wrong hands, and that included death. She couldn't imagine them rejecting someone as good at heart as Elis, but she didn't want to risk it.

  A thought initiated a touch of the resonance warming her and made the marks on her hands resting on his chest glow so she could see his face. Damn that pleading look. He knew she couldn't resist. She wanted to deny him but could see no other choice.

  ["All right. We'll go tomorrow evening and get it. You'll have your shard and be a Crystal Keeper."] If it accepted him. Now she understood why his father had never allowed him to try his shard—Naolis didn't want to lose his son. She didn't want to lose the man she loved. The risk of rejection was more dangerous than the Shirukan; at least with the Shirukan, they could fight.

  He kissed her again but she hesitated to return it, afraid of what she'd just agreed to.

  Afterwards, he whispered, ["I love you."]

  She loved him too much, if that was possible. The next twenty-two hours would be torture on her, b
ut he was right—they had to try. She hated him always being right when they faced risks, but he didn't understand this risk the way she did.

  She had twenty-two hours until evening tomorrow, and maybe, just maybe, another answer would come to relieve the burden of her worry.

  For now, all she could do was worry about the outcome.

  Elis stepped back from her and stretched his wings.

  The fingerless black gloves hid his Starburst marks, but the light of them outlined his hand from exposed trails on the undersides of his index and middle fingers and his wrists. Black wings shrank behind him.

  Time to head home. Raea found the resonance and focused the power on her back, clenching her teeth to keep from screaming in agony at the rapid condensing of muscle, bones, and tissues.

  Afterwards, she let out her breath, which she'd sucked in and held through the transformation. "I wish that got easier. How do you do it—make it look easy?" He never showed any signs of pain from the transformation. Then again, neither had Nare when she visited. Was there a secret they hadn't told her?

  Elis took her hand in his, his fingers twining through hers, and shrugged. "I've been through worse."

  Yeah. That might make a difference. He'd suffered enough in the last few years—losing his family to the Shirukan and being beaten by Pallin and nearly killed. While it didn't explain Nare's apparent lack of pain, Raea could understand his perspective.

  She squeezed her fingers around his and started towards the lights of the town ahead. Someday she'd figure it out or gain a higher pain tolerance, but not that day.

  In the quiet prairie night, their steps crunched on the gravel road leading to the highway into town. They were only a mile or two out, based on the section line grids she'd made out while in the air, and she'd grown familiar with the landscape over the course of the last two months and their frequent flying.

  In a nearby pond filled with fresh runoff from the spring rains, frogs croaked their lonely song, while in the eastern sky, the moon rose as a pale crescent.

  What a lovely night. She adored this—a beautiful, quiet night on the prairie. Better yet, she shared it with Elis.

  The crunching of gravel in the calm of the evening alerted her to a vehicle approaching. Funny that she hadn't seen any headlights. Caution tightened in her chest. No one drove without headlights, except someone causing trouble. Had someone been watching them? Had they seen the transformation?

  Angel watchers! The crunching stopped and a couple doors opened and slammed shut.

  Elis halted next to her, his fingers tightening on hers.

  A shadowy figure moved through the pasture to her right, and her heart stopped. Someone had been close enough to see them, but she hadn't noticed anything unusual. This was so not good.

  "Hello?" Raea called out to them and squinted through the dusk to make out the shadows of the face there. It appeared to be a man in dark clothes, but he didn't move casually. Rather, his every movement hinted of a litheness and control unusual for anyone she knew.

  Her heart stopped when he lifted his hands. In the weak moonlight, the shape of a gun pointed from his outstretched arms.

  At the sudden forcing down by Elis, she gasped. A fraction of a second after the click of a trigger, something pinged off the gravel.

  "Elis!" Her mind raced, but this wasn't a Shirukan weapon—they used energy weapons, not projectiles like this.

  "Run!"

  The sound of car doors and voices came from behind, while Elis led her away at a run from both threats.

  Shouts rose from behind with the tromping of multiple pairs of feet.

  A couple seconds later, Elis stumbled and fell.

  Oh, God. No. This couldn't be happening.

  She halted next to him and grabbed his arms to help him up. "Elis. Come on." He put one leg under him, his every movement sluggish. "Hurry up," she grunted with the strain of his weight.

  A second later, he fell back to his hands and knees. What was wrong with him?

  Something poked her in the shoulder. Instinctively, Raea reached to scratch it, but her fingers stopped at the fuzzy end of a small dart. She pulled it out as Elis collapsed at her feet and a wave of dizziness swept through her. She dropped to her hands and knees amid the spinning of everything around her, including the multiple feet surrounding her.

  Strange voices spoke in a language she couldn't understand and faded into nothing.

  A New Threat

  {"Get them in the van."}

  Kalas stood at the open side door of the van and watched as Silur in his natural form moved like a shadow assisting Rik to lift the male. Both Inari lay unconscious on the road but would soon be on the way to their base, which they'd moved to a remote area of North Dakota to be closer to their target. How convenient that most of the area was remote. Even better that the two had left the town for the countryside. It made his job almost too easy.

  The darts proved the two were Inari, although the wings had confirmed it. Inari physiology was sensitive to certain substances common on many worlds, including Earth. The alcohol would knock them out for several hours, sufficient for their purposes, and it had been readily available. Humans consumed the substance in large quantities with little effect, quite the contrast to the Inari sensitivity.

  The two Risaal rolled the male over in the van and returned to retrieve the female. After his underlings dumped her inside with the male, Kalas stepped in with the others and closed the back doors.

  He sat down near the female's body while the others took their positions within the vehicle. {"Take off."}

  Silur buckled into the driver seat and drove off into the night.

  Amid the mild bouncing, Kalas looked down through the dim light of the van's storage area. Interesting that these two had been able to shrink their wings. It explained how they hid among the humans. Did all Inari have that ability? Was that why they couldn't find them? How many more could there be on that world?

  And what of the marks on the female's hands?

  Under the glow of the interior light of the van, Kalas bent over the girl and lifted one of her hands while Rik secured the male's hands in thick binders.

  Odd. The aquamarine marks looked like something had exploded in her palms through the back. They tapered into winding rays ending at her fingertips and just past her wrists. Had all Inari developed this or was it some tattoo or individual mark of this one?

  The male wore gloves, but gloves could be removed. Kalas had to satisfy his curiosity.

  After Rik finished shackling the male's wrists, they switched places in the tight confines of the van's cargo area. Kalas pulled the gloves down from the wrists. The cool of a moment of shock breaking his human camouflage passed with regained control. The male had the marks too.

  Rik paused before fastening the shackles on the female. {"What is it?"}

  {"I don't know."} Kalas grabbed the female's hand and compared it to the male's where he pulled the glove back. Not identical but very similar. What did it mean?

  {"Get her secure."} Kalas let go of the hand so the young officer could finish his task.

  After securing her hands, Rik's eyes went to the female's face, or something near it. {"What's this?"}

  He reached a human-looking hand towards the pendant.

  The moment his fingers touched it, it shone with an intense glow and Rik shrieked, his human camouflage failing to his natural Risaal form.

  {"What are you doing?"} Silur peered back over his shoulder.

  The van swerved, throwing Rik against the door, where he lay unconscious. Thrown by the sudden swerve, Kalas fell over the couple.

  Tires screeched to a halt and Silur unbuckled from the driver seat. Standing hunched over between the driver and passenger seats at the front, he searched the scene until his eyes fixed on Rik. He stepped over the Inari couple's feet and checked for life signs in his colleague.

  {"He's alive."} He turned to study the couple. {"What happened?"}

  Good question. Kalas reg
ained his balance next to the couple and clicked the shackle into place around the female's wrists to secure her. They wouldn't be escaping any time soon. How had they attacked Rik? All he did was touch the crystal.

  He touched the crystal, and the crystal reacted.

  Impossible. That kind of power had only been observed in one crystal and this…this was far too small to be the same. But he had to know, preferably without risking his life. {"Scanner."}

  Silur looked about and reached down for the metal box, which had landed partly under Rik. He pulled it out and handed it to Kalas.

  Careful not to touch the crystal, Kalas held the device close to it and adjusted the detectors. The readings matched those of the D'Nuvar they'd been searching for. This was it.

  But it wasn't all of it. The D'Nuvar was said to be a cluster about the size of a fist and dangerous to the touch. This was one point half the size of the girl's smallest finger and she wore it like jewelry. What had happened to the crystal and the Inari?

  He moved the scanner. While the readings descended from their levels of the crystal itself, the radiation signature was still there.

  {"Strange."}

  Silur leaned closer. {"What?"}

  {"Drive. Let me worry about this. Get us back to base."} Their xenobiologist could analyze this more closely, but he suspected what she would say.

  The young Risaal in human form jerked away and hurried back to the driver seat, obediently buckling in without another word. A few seconds later, the rumble of the engine changed and the movement of the van made Kalas push to keep his position over the Inari couple against forces that wanted to leave him behind.

  Kalas moved the scanner up and down each body, but the crystal readings didn't change. That must have been an error. According to what he saw, the Inari had absorbed the crystal's energy. Maybe that would explain the phenomena they'd witnessed while watching the pair flying. He'd have to discuss this with their commander, yet neither of them was an expert. That was Dar Lorel's position as the xenobiologist. She'd have her chance to study these two.

  Kalas sat back at the rear of the van, confused by the data but intrigued by the possibilities. The couple was secure and the dose of alcohol would keep them out for a while. He could relax, but he wouldn't. They had a two hour drive to their destination, an old missile silo in a remote area of eastern North Dakota. Until then, he would defend their prisoners with his life. They were far more valuable than he had first suspected.