Dark Matter (Interchron Book 3)

by Liesel K. Hill

  “Be quiet, Lila,” Joan said firmly. Why did her daughter have to be so damn stubborn? Joan’s stomach dropped as Jonah turned slowly back to Lila.

  He chuckled. A dark, chilling sound. He stalked slowly and aggressively toward Lila as he spoke, taking one step with each sentence. “Do you think the Jonah you knew was the real one? Do you think he cared for you or for any part of this group? Stupid woman. You do not even figure in the prophecy. You're worse than useless, and always will be. You will live and die in your mother’s shadow.” Abruptly, Jonah’s hands came up. They shot out with lightning speech and shoved Lila’s shoulders, knocking her backward. She fell flat onto her back with a cry of pain. “And you will never be remembered."

  A third, monstrous screech came from the blond drone. “Goooo!”

  Jonah spun on his toe and started in the direction of the oncoming Arachniman army. Lila, tears coursing down her cheeks and still trembling, watched him go.

  "Lila," Joan sobbed, keeping her eyes on the army and the six people leading it as Jonah moved closer to it. "Are you okay?"

  Lila struggled to roll onto her side, crying out in pain. She must have broken ribs. Easily Healed when they reached Interchron, but Joan's heart ached to see her daughter in pain.

  Jonah walked right past the Council of Six and into the ranks of Arachnimen. They practically parted for him, closing ranks again once he’d passed.

  "No," Lila sobbed. It wasn’t an answer to Joan’s question. She hadn’t acknowledged her mother’s presence for several minutes, now. Her sob was for Jonah. For his actions and his retreating figure. With slow, trembling movements, she pushed her way up onto her hands and knees. "No," she said more firmly.

  She dragged one knee upward and set her right foot flat on the ground.

  "Lila," Joan said. "Don't get up. Take a minute to—"

  Lila lunged upward anyway. With a grunt of pain, she got up on both feet. She stared after Jonah. Joan twisted at the waist to see his shoulders and head disappear as he cleared the Arachniman army and headed downhill.

  When he’d gone, the light in the blond drone’s eyes went out, and she hit the ground with a sickening thump, obviously dead.

  Lila staggered a few feet forward and Joan threw an arm out to stop her progress. Her hand slapped the front of Lila's knees, and Lila stopped. "You can't follow him, Lila. You’re hurt, and it won't do any good. He's gone."

  Lila stared toward the horizon, wet eyes unblinking. Her chest began to heave, shallowly at first, then quickly growing more violent.

  "Lila,” Joan said, worry rising in her chest. "Slow down. You're hyperventilating."

  Lila didn't slow down. Her breathing grew faster and faster. "No!" she screamed.

  Lila raised her hands, palms out, to shoulder level, splaying her fingers as far as they would go.

  Joan held her breath. She felt her daughter’s rage. A rage Lila had kept carefully in check since her childhood. Something terrible was about to happen, and Joan had no idea what.

  In a lightning-fast motion, Lila curled both hands into fists.

  A loud crunching noise came from the enemy force heading toward them. With cries of agony, every single member—Arachnimen, Trepids, and the Council of Six—hit the ground. The air filled with screams and wails of agony.

  Joan gasped. She didn’t need to investigate further to know what happened. Lila had always possessed an unimaginable talent for manipulating bone. She’d broken the bones of every member of that Army. Given how they’d all crumpled to the ground, she must have at least broken all their legs. But how much more?

  Joan gaped up at her daughter. Lila bent at the waist, her torso falling forward. She put her hands on her thighs to catch herself, keeping from falling onto the ground entirely, chest heaving. Joan laid a gentle hand on her daughter's knee. "Lila," she said softly.

  Lila didn’t give any indication of hearing Joan. Her face hardened and she straightened, opening her hands again.

  "Lila, don't! Please! You regret —"

  Lila closed her fists. Another collective crunch, louder than the first, echoed across the canyon, making Joan flinch. The agonized cries of the collectivists in front of Joan went silent.

  Lila fell to one knee, and then onto her butt, eyes staring blankly at the grass in front of her. Her mouth hung open, and she panted. Joan wanted desperately to reach her, to pull her into an embrace, but perhaps it was better in this moment that she couldn’t.

  Joan dropped her eyes to Maggie. Her skin had lost all its color. White as fresh snow, she didn't look alive anymore. Joan still detected Maggie’s vital signs, but just barely.

  She, Lila, and Kristee sat silently on the side of the canyon together. Joan barely breathed. A frigid wind rose and blew their hair off their shoulders.

  Joan shivered. Not only physically, but down in her soul as well. The wind felt like the ghosts of the army that came to end them. The army Lila had ended instead.

  Salla appeared from somewhere. Her eyes widened in horror at the scene. Without ado, she helped Kristee move to sit beside Joan. Grasping Lila's arm so they all touched her, Salla Traveled to Interchron.

  *******

  Karl felt it. His sense of Tenessa…deepened somehow. Before, he’d had only a sense of location, her vital signs, and a vague sense of her mood. He now sensed every emotion and physical sensation she did.

  "What did you do?"

  Tenessa glanced up at him. "We..." She stopped, studied the ground, and took a deep breath. "We deepened the bond by two levels, not one."

  Karl stared down into her eyes, hardly daring to believe it. "You’ve quantumly entangled us."

  “Why? Why not only go one level deeper and sever the bond?”

  “We were taught that the Cupola bond is addictive. Once a Separatist is part of one, they’ll fight and scream and rake their fingernails across the world, rather than let it go.” She dropped her eyes. “That’s why it’s forbidden.”

  “You make it sound like a drug.”

  She looked up at him. “We don’t care what it is.” A tear trickled down her cheek and dripped off the edge of her chin. She didn't appear to notice. "Use it to come find us." She sniffed. “Please."

  She turned away, but he still gripped her arm, and used it to pull her back toward him. “If you want to be an individual then let me help you be one.”

  She shook her head. “Without my sacrifice, the Separatist will die. Then what would be the point?”

  “I’m not asking you to do that, Tenessa!” Karl growled, desperation eating a hole in his gut.

  She gave him a sad smile. “We’ll do it anyway.” She looked down at his chest and swallowed before meeting his eyes again. “It’s about needing one special person, needing them constantly and on a deeper level than anyone else in the world.”

  Karl stared at her. Had she memorized every conversation they’d ever had? “Yes,” he murmured. “And having a unique relationship with them.”

  “Our relationship with the Separatist is different than with any other entity on earth. Perhaps we’ve already achieved all we can.”

  She turned, her eyes falling on Marcus. "Be wary of your brother, Healer. The information we have says he's worked for the Union all along. Be vigilant. The Union wishes to abviscerate him. He knows too much and has betrayed them more than once."

  Marcus stared steadily up at Tenessa from where he sat against the cave wall. "Isn't that a contradiction?” he asked calmly. “If he's worked with them all along, why would they want to kill him?".

  Tenessa frowned. "Our information says he will betray you. We do not know more." She turned enough to glance back at Karl. "I must go."

  Karl lunged forward and grabbed her arm. "No! Marcus, help me!"

  Tenessa fought him off, struggled to get away. In truth, it wasn't difficult for her. Every movement sent a sharp pain through Karl's ribcage. Marcus struggled to his feet and put a hand on Karl's arm.

  Karl stared down at the hand. Twenty full seco
nds passed before comprehension dawned. Alarm, mixed with raged, constricted his chest and he gazed into his best friend's eyes. "Don't you dare."

  Marcus met Karl’s gaze with sadness. His mouth settled into his hard line. "She's right. It’s the only way, man."

  "Stop him,” Tenessa said, backing toward the cave’s entrance. “Save him, and yourself."

  It took Karl a minute to realize Tenessa addressed Marcus. She’d reached the mouth of the cave.

  Karl lunged after her. Marcus grabbed him by the arms, holding him in place. Marcus’s exhaustion should have kept him from restraining Karl, but Karl’s injury proved more dire. "No! Tenessa—" Karl shook with fury. He broke one arm free from Marcus’s grasp, ignoring the lancing pain in his rib cage. Something thudded against the back of Karl skull, he fell heavily to the rock floor.

  His body felt hazy with pain, and his vision blurred. Still, he felt Marcus beside him. Heard the clack as he set down the rock he’d used to hit Karl over the head. Karl couldn’t make his body obey him, so he focused on his outrage, hoping it would burn through everything else.

  “Thank you,” Marcus said from somewhere above him. No one answered, and after a moment, Marcus spoke again. “Tenessa?”

  Karl heard the soft swish of movement.

  “Do you believe it?” Marcus asked. “That Karl can use the bond you just created to save you from the collectives?”

  Several moments of silence reigned before Tenessa’s soft voice wafted into Karl’s ears. “We do not believe there is much hope for such a thing. But if any individual can accomplish it, the Separatist can.”

  “Then you’ve become an optimist,” Marcus said.

  Tenessa didn’t answer. The sound of her retreating footsteps made panic form in Karl’s chest, but his body still refused to obey him. Voices drifted into his ears from far away.

  "Where are the Separatists that held you captive?" A deep, male voice asked.

  Then came Tenessa’s firm, confident answer. "The Separatists have abandoned us.”

  A second male voice spoke after a short pause. “She speaks the truth. The cave is empty. The Separatists have gone.”

  They must have done a neurological scan, as Tenessa predicted. If her other predictions about the collectivists’ stupidity didn’t prove true, her sacrifice would be for nothing. If the Arachnimen so much as looked into the cave, Marcus and Karl would be killed. Or assimilated.

  “We wish to return to the Union,” Tenessa said firmly.

  Even in his weakened state, Karl's heart lurched in fear. He didn’t want to have to listen to Tenessa die.

  Silence that seemed to stretch for eternity finally ended when the male voice spoke again. "This is not ours to judge. We will take you to the Council of Six."

  A stampede of footsteps began again, marching directly past the cave where Karl and Marcus hid. The steps moved further down the canyon, with Tenessa, no doubt, in tow.

  Sometime later—Karl didn't know how long; in his state, he had a hard time judging the passage of time—he felt the signature of Traveling, and not his own.

  "David sent me to fetch you. Is Karl okay?"

  Karl recognize the voice as Salla’s.

  Marcus answered. "We need to get him back to Interchron."

  The all too familiar sensation of Traveling enveloped Karl. It washed away his anger, if only for a moment.

  Chapter 44: Vanished

  Salla appeared beside David. He turned to look askance of her. The wind howled around them and the air crackled with static electricity. Doc and the Bartholomew drone still stood in a neurological gridlock.

  "Got them all back to Interchron,” Salla called over the wind. “You are the last."

  David nodded and stepped forward, putting a hand on Doc’s shoulder. “Let go, Doc! Everyone is safe. We need to get back to Interchron.”

  Doc nodded, took a deep breath, and pushed Bartholomew away from him. It really wasn’t a physical push. David new it had been neurochemical, but Doc used powers David himself did not possess.

  As soon as Doc let go of the drone, the yellow light disappeared from it’s eyes. Bartholomew had fled.

  Immediately the male drone looked disoriented. An instant later, he began to cry again, fat tears leaking down his cheeks. The backlash of emotion had taken him again. He staggered forward, knife raised.

  David lunged in front of Doc and stabbed the drone in the chest. The young man fell, tears and all, at David’s feet.

  Without another thought, David whirled back toward Doc and Salla. “Let’s go.” Only then did David notice the lines around Salla’s eyes and the way her hands shook slightly. Something was wrong. "What is it?" he asked.

  "Maggie has been stabbed. I'm not sure..." Her voice broke, and she paused to collect herself.

  Fear lanced through David's heart.

  Salla took a deep breath. "I'm not sure she's going to survive. Marcus is with her."

  Numbness overwhelmed David so abruptly, he forgot how to move. Doc, beside him, stared down at the dead drone. He looked as numb as David felt, and more listless.

  "Come on," Salla said. "We need to go."

  When he didn't move or answer, she stepped toward him. "David. Are you okay?"

  He shook himself. He most definitely did not feel okay.

  Salla held out her arm. He stared at it for several seconds before realizing she wanted him to grasp it. He did so, his hands feeling utterly weak. "If Maggie is dead," he whispered. "I will become Vanished."

  Salla’s frown deepened. "What?"

  David didn't answer. After a few seconds, she seemed to decide he wouldn't. She reached out to grasp Doc’s shoulder, and they Traveled.

  *******

  They landed roughly on the slopes outside Interchron, as usual. The instant his feet touched the rocky slope, David's legs became invigorated with new energy. He ran through the entrance and into Interchron, making a beeline for medical. The corridors passed in a blur. He took no notice of them. The faster he ran, the more panic built in his gut.

  When he stepped into medical, his eyes swept everything, taking in details.

  On one side of the room, Karl sat on another bed. His eyes stared the wall. They looked both angry and shaken. Strange. David had never seen Karl look like that. On the second bed, Lila sat. She didn't look injured, but tears coursed down her cheeks and she sniffled softly. Joan stood by her daughter’s side, looking stricken. One of her hands rested on Lila's arm. Every few seconds, it slid up and down Lila's arm in a way both absent and motherly.

  Maggie lay on the table in the center of the room. The hilt of the knife protruded from her chest. Energy swirled around her. Most of it, David couldn't identify. No doubt it was the energy of Healing, and he wasn't a Healer. Doc went to stand on one side of her bed. Marcus, covered in sweat, stood on the other. He looked more haggard than David felt.

  Two other people David recognized as Healers stood at the foot of Maggie’s bed. They couldn’t come anywhere near Marcus in their Healing abilities, but spent most of their days in medical, seeing to the basic needs of the people living here.

  Marcus left Maggie’s side and crossed to David as he entered. Marcus moved in a stilted, stumbling way, and David registered faint worry. His brother was either exhausted, injured, or both.

  "How is she?" David whispered when they stood face to face

  "Not good," Marcus said. He looked on the verge of tears. "Do you remember the boy we found, before the canyon first formed? The Arachnimen stabbed him in the throat. I tried to Heal him. The wound was too big. He died anyway?"

  David did remember. He nodded, swallowing the lump of fear in his throat.

  "Maggie's injury is similar, except worse. The knife is roughly the same size. It's acting like a stopper for her blood, but if I pull it out, she’ll bleed out rapidly. Not to mention, it's in her chest, rather than her throat. It’s pierced vital organs."

  "You're the best Healer in the world, Marcus,” David said, his voice quiv
ering. “You can pull it out and Heal as you go.” Even as he said it, David identified the flaw in his argument. Marcus did that exact thing with the boy at the canyon. The boy still died.

  Marcus stared at David for long seconds. "That alone will not save her, David. The boy at the canyon died, because not because of the injury itself—I managed to Heal it and keep his blood in his body—but because of the pain. Moving the knife causes such exquisite pain, the entire body, system by system, goes into shock. It’s the shock that kills them. The only way to save Maggie is if she doesn’t register the pain. So her body doesn't go into shock.”

  David understood, of course. Marcus wanted him to take Maggie's pain away. So she would live.

  Marcus gazed down at the floor and took a deep breath. His face crumpled briefly, then quickly smoothed out again, without any tears falling. He stared David straight in the eye. "Don't do it for me, David. I've been awful to you. Do it for the rebellion. Because she's the key to the prophecy. Do it for the freedom of mankind. And to atone for your past." Marcus swallowed. "And do it for her. Because I know you care about her."

  David studied his brother, thinking about the woman who fifteen years ago whispered that David and Marcus would need one another. He already knew his answer, even before Marcus finished speaking.

  "No, brother,” he said quietly. “I'll do it for you. Because she's yours." He stepped past Marcus and went to Maggie's side.

  *******

  Doc listened to the exchange between Marcus and David with an ache in his chest, thinking of Bartholomew and silently bearing witness to a moment he felt sure would prove historic. Marcus and David took up positions on either side of Maggie’s bed. Marcus held his hands out, palms down, above Maggie's face, and shut his eyes. David, directly across from him, put one hand on Maggie’s shoulder and the other on her waist, his fingers laying lightly across her belt. Then the energy began.

  Doc was a physician by profession. He didn't possess the neurochemical talent for Healing Marcus did. So, he couldn't see the energy swirling around Marcus. Similarly, he couldn't see energy swirling around David that allowed him to take away Maggie's pain. The ability remained unique to David. Doc felt the energy, though. It hung in the air like static electricity. Like a medical scan, the kind done with a conduit stone, was being performed on the entire room.