by D. N. Leo
“I can try one at a time, see which one works.”
“Oh, no. No random shooting when I’m around, please. You’ll miss even when you’re shooting with purpose.”
Lorcan shrugged. “I have a feeling Bricius will be back soon. Can you walk yet? We should get out of here.”
“I can only wobble at the moment. Can you see yet?”
“About ten percent . . .”
They felt the cave shudder, and a rumbling noise hovered in the air as if the cave was moving.
“Shit!” Lorcan stood up, hauled Ciaran up to his feet, and they trekked down a quiet wing of the cave.
Chapter 34
The sun had almost gone down. The desert sand became hard, and the temperature dropped. Orla searched aimlessly while Roy and Mori tried to hold her back.
“We have to have a system, Orla. You’ve already looked in that spot,” Roy said.
“The hole was there. And it was just here before,” Orla exclaimed.
“But the sand has shifted. If we keep repeating the process, you’ll never be able to find them,” Mori said. Then she tilted her head up to sniff the air.
“You can smell them?” Orla asked.
“Not Ciaran, but yes, I can smell Lorcan from a mile in clear conditions. I bit him before, remember?” Then Mori gestured for silence. She sniffed again and raised her hand to point at a patch of sand.
“It’s solid ground, Mori,” Orla said.
“There will be a hole. She’s guessing the movements underground,” Roy said.
“Are they moving in this direction, Mori?” Orla asked.
Mori nodded. Orla looked at Roy, and they both pulled out their guns and aimed the beams at the sand. The sand loosened in large patches and soon funneled down, turning into a hole. Orla ran to the edge of the sand patch and looked down into a cave.
“Lorcan!” she called.
“Ciaran!” she called again.
There was no sound but the breezes blowing up from the hole. “Breezes!” Orla said, then looked at Roy who had arrived at the same thought.
Roy stood up, called out for Mori. “There are breezes. It might be a tunnel, not a cave. Can you find out where the other end is?”
Mori nodded, concentrated, and sniffed the faint scent in the air. She followed the scent, she strode, galloped, and pointed. “There, over there!”
Orla and Roy rushed in that direction. Around a curve at the top of another hill, there was the open mouth of a cave.
“Lorcan!” Orla shouted into the darkness. There was a low growl from a dark corner in response to Orla’s call, and the enormous creature they had just fought on the hill stepped out, glowing on one side and bleeding on the other. It staggered a bit on the injured side. Orla pulled her gun and shot at it. The beam pushed it back, but the wounds weren’t fatal. The creature spat out a jet of fire at Orla, and she rolled on the ground to avoid it.
Roy stood in front of Orla and fired. Similar to what happened with Orla’s gun, the beams from Roy’s gun didn’t do much damage to the creature. It reeled, but then advanced again. “Technology doesn’t do much for you,” Orla said to herself, “but let’s see how magic does.” She curled her fists and threw two fireballs at it. Its tail and wing caught on fire. While it frantically tried to put out the fire, Mori leaped at it and pushed her knife into its eye. It roared and swung its free arm, throwing Mori several feet away to lie on the ground beside Roy and Orla.
Orla sent in more fireballs, but the creature had learned and spat out jet of liquid venom to extinguish the fire quickly. Orla, Roy, and Mori backed up to avoid the venomous spray. They hit the edge of a cliff as the creature limped toward them.
“Should we jump?” Orla asked.
“Too high,” Roy said.
“We can jump in fox form.”
“I said it’s too high, Mori.”
The creature advanced. This might be the end of them, Orla thought. The creature roared. It wasn’t a sound of triumph, it was a sound of terrible pain. It roared again, reeling toward the cliff. Orla, Roy, and Mori rolled out of the way as the creature continued toward the edge of the cliff. Roy prepared to give it a final push over.
Behind the creature, Lorcan and Ciaran ran out from the darkness of the cave. Lorcan had electrocuted the creature twice, and he fell to his knees, drained of energy. Ciaran charged at the creature with a knife. “Don’t let it fall off the cliff,” he said, diving at the creature to grab its tail. Roy pulled at one leg, and Mori and Orla got the other leg. Ciaran jumped on top of the creature and arced his knife down into its brain.
Chapter 35
Ciaran stabbed at the creature until its life was drained. When they were certain it was dead, they turned the body over. Ciaran yanked open a layer of wrinkled skin on its belly, pulling loose the knife with the stone tucked inside. The creature wriggled, its eyes sparking again with energy. Ciaran used the knife with the indigo stone to stab it in the heart.
This time, steam was expelled from its heart and brain. It was finally dead.
Ciaran flopped onto the ground, puffing.
Orla rushed to Lorcan, asking, “What happened to your eyes?”
“They bled a bit. But they’re okay now.”
Orla wiped away the blood on his face and looked into his striking blue eyes. She kissed his cheek. Lorcan brushed a tear that escaped from her eye. “I’ve only got fifty percent of my vision back now, but it’s coming back slowly. I can see that you are still alive and beautiful.” He smiled. Orla cried. He pulled her into his arms and said, “It’s okay now, honey. As long as we’re together, we’re going to be okay. Don’t cry.”
Ciaran sat up and checked his wrist unit. “We’ve got a signal.”
“We’re getting out of here,” Roy said and pecked Mori’s cheek.
From the sky, a ring of light came down, encircling a large area of the sand. The light circled and spun, and the Raven house appeared at a position totally different from where it was before. “We’ll get back to the island now,” Ciaran said and strode toward the back door of the Raven house.
The group pushed into the short corridor and through the house with no resistance, and they made their way onto the street. Ciaran kept looking at his wrist unit for new messages and signals. Then he turned toward the group with a grin. “They’ll open the portal for us back on the beach. Once we’re away, safe and sound, they’ll rotate the dimensional shield on this island. Then everything here should be back to normal.”
A flood of relief washed over everyone. Orla jumped up and hugged Lorcan. Roy pulled Mori into his arms and kissed her tenderly. Ciaran looked across the street, saying nothing, waiting until the scene of joy and affection was finished.
“What’s that, Ciaran?” Orla asked.
“I beg your pardon?”
“Why were you looking at the bakery? Hungry?”
“No.” Ciaran smiled.
Orla raised an eyebrow, then turned around. “Who’s hungry?” The show of hands suggested that Orla was going to have to make a trip to the bakery. She winked at Ciaran. “And what would you like?”
He shook his head. “Nothing. Thanks.”
“Come on.”
“Okay, a bagel would be nice,” Ciaran gave in. Orla grinned and sauntered across the street. Shortly, she was back with food for everyone. She gave Ciaran his bagel, and he thanked her and quickly shoved the bagel into his pocket. Lorcan laughed through a mouthful of pastry at the surprised look on Orla’s face. Ciaran noticed it, too.
“I apologize if I offended you, Orla. The bagel isn’t for me. Madeline mentioned how much she’s missed bagels, so I thought it would be nice if I could bring her something.”
A tear rolled down on Orla’s face. Lorcan wiped it off and cooed, “Oh, come on, honey. I love you just as much as he loves his wife. I’d die for you! All he does is bring Madeline a bagel . . .”
“I love you, too,” Orla said.
Ciaran shook his head and smiled to himself.
&nb
sp; “Let’s go,” Ciaran said. Before he turned to leave, he saw the boy standing at the corner of the street in full view. “Jacob!” Ciaran said to the group because he knew if Jacob was one hundred percent in his view, the others wouldn’t be able to see him. Ciaran approached and crouched so that he was at eye level with the youngster. He looked into Jacob’s tear-filled eyes. His skinny shoulders started to shake as he sobbed.
“You know your father died?”
Jacob nodded, and a tear rolled down his face.
“I’m so sorry for your loss. I know he tried really hard to get you off this island. Before he died, he asked me to take care of you. Did you know that?”
Jacob shook his head, and more tears rolled down.
“If you trust me, you can come with me to my place. I know people who will help you and take care of you.”
Jacob picked up a rock and wrote on the street. “Where?”
“It’s a place far away from here. A universe full of nice people.” Ciaran smiled.
“Xiilok?” Jacob wrote. The smiled faded from Ciaran’s face. He shook his head. “I live in Eudaiz. Xiilok is not a very nice place. There are many bad people living there.”
“Bricius is a good person. He helped me. He told me Lorcan had killed my father.”
Lorcan couldn’t see Jacob, but he could see the words on the ground. He opened his mouth to say something, but Ciaran gestured for silence.
“Jacob, a Yakuz creature killed your father. Lorcan didn’t do it. Bricius is not the good man you think he is.”
Jacob shook his head. “He saved my life. He taught me how to hide in different dimensions.”
“He didn’t save you. He killed Michael and made you take Michael’s body. That’s not how someone should live, Jacob.”
“He said he’d protect me.”
“If you believe what Bricius says, why come to me? Lorcan is my friend, and I trust him.”
Jacob started to cry out loud and shook his head.
“You don’t know why you came to me?”
Jacob continued to shake his head and cry. Ciaran tried to look into Jacob’s eyes. “Did Bricius hold you against your will?”
Jacob shook his head, then he wrote, “He was injured, and I left him. Am I a bad boy?”
“No, you’re not a bad boy. You’re confused. But you have good survival instincts. You took the opportunity to leave Bricius. It tells me that he’d threatened you in one way or another. Jacob, did he tell you if you ever leave him, he’ll hurt your father?”
Jacob shook his head and cried again. “He said if I tell, the bad people will kill everyone on the island. I didn’t tell anyone, but people kept dying.” He wiped the tears off his face and continued to write. “When he told me my father was dead, I left him. I only worried about my father and not others. I am a bad boy.”
Ciaran turned Jacob’s shoulders so he looked into Ciaran’s eyes. “How old are you?”
“Ten.”
“Do you know what a ten-year-old boy should be doing?”
Jacob looked down at the pavement. Ciaran tilted his chin up. “You should be going to school, learning, and playing with other kids. You shouldn’t have to worry about the fate of an island or whether someone will kill your father if you say the wrong thing. I can’t change what happened to you in the past, but if you trust me and come with me, I promise you will have a home and people who love you.”
“Nobody will love me for nothing.”
Ciaran stared at those words coming from a child. He turned back and saw Orla and Mori had teared up. He cleared his throat. “Well, if you come with me, my wife, Madeline, will be looking after you. She loves kids. Maybe you should bring her something as a gift?”
Jacob contemplated then wrote, “Is she nice?”
Ciaran smiled. “She’s very nice. I love her with all my heart. If you like me, you’ll like her.”
Jacob nodded, then pulled out a small stone box with exquisite carving on the lid. Ciaran didn’t need extensive knowledge in antiques to know that this was a precious item. Jacob opened the box, showing that it was empty. Then he wrote, “Dad told me to put one hope in here a day, and my wish will come true when I have enough hope. But the box was always empty, so I took it to the beach to put some sand into it. Then Michael and I got attacked by something in the water. But I still put a hope in it every day. Do you think Madeline would like to have it?”
“This is too precious for a gift, Jacob. I am sure Madeline will love you even without it. But if it makes you feel better, yes, you can give it to her, and she will love it.”
“It’s still empty, though.”
Ciaran smiled and pulled out his bagel. “This is my gift to Madeline from this trip. Why don’t I fill your box with it?”
“It’s just a bagel from the bakery! Don’t you have anything more precious?”
Ciaran laughed. “Madeline used to live in New York, and she loves bagels. Where we live now, there is no such thing. So yes, a bagel is very precious to her now.”
Jacob nodded. The bagel was too round for the box, so he broke it in smaller pieces and squeezed it in. Then Jacob put the box in Ciaran’s hand and signaled him to hold on to it. Ciaran nodded, slid the box into the pocket of his shirt, and smiled at Jacob.
“Are you a guardian angel? Mother said she would get guardian angels to come and protect me and Father. But then she died, and the angels have never come.”
“No. I’m just a man. But I’m lucky enough to have talented people to help me. People like Lorcan, Orla, Roy, and Mori. See, they are waiting for you. They are good people, and they will help you, too.” Jacob nodded.
Ciaran’s wrist unit signaled. He looked at it and then turned around to talk to the group. “Brandon is attacking one of the portals in the Daimon Gate to distract them from opening the portal for us. They’ll still do it, but they can only hold it open for a very short time. We’ve got to get moving now.” Then he turned toward Jacob. “Are you coming with me?” Jacob nodded and trailed behind Ciaran.
They had only gone a block when Roy and Mori stopped them. “Werewolves and a lot of were-creatures ahead,” Roy said.
“That’s the shortest way to the beach!” Orla exclaimed.
“We’ll have to detour via the bush,” Mori suggested. They veered right to a smaller alley which led to the bush and ran as fast as they could.
Chapter 36
The group exited the bush at the beach far from the spot where they had landed before. They raced toward the landing port. Ciaran kept checking his wrist unit while running, keeping an eye on Jacob at the same time. They felt the ground start to shake.
“What’s that?” Mori asked.
Ciaran looked at this wrist unit. “Movements of energy underneath the Earth’s surface. This is what we had seen before sending you guys back here for the stone.”
“Can we open our individual portals, the way we always do?” Lorcan asked.
“No, not with the size of our group—and when every force in the multiverse that wants this Indigo Stone is watching out for the teleport so that they can attack us. We need to the Daimon Gate’s teleport system. It’s the best and the safest.”
“Better than Eudaiz’s?” Lorcan chuckled.
“I hate to admit it, but teleport is not our strongest suit. However, Eudaiz offers the safest destination for us, so we’ll be using the Daimon Gate’s teleport system to get to the transitional zone, and then we’ll travel to Eudaiz from there.”
“We’re not going back to the Daimon Gate now?” Orla asked.
“No, that route is too predictable.” Ciaran smiled.
They had almost made it to the middle of the long sand beach when they saw a wave surge up at the horizon.
“That dragon again!” Orla shouted.
Lorcan looked at the size of the monster’s head rising up from under the water, and he knew they were in deep trouble.
“It’s very ugly for a dragon,” Ciaran said. “Jacob, can you hide in anothe
r dimension for now?” Jacob nodded, ran away and disappeared. “We have to kill that creature,” Ciaran said.
“How? Last time Orla blocked its wave with the sand, and it gave us just enough time to run away. But now we don’t have a portal to run to,” Roy said.
“A dragon is a mythical creature. This one is not. It’s a very big and ugly reptile. If it’s an animal with a tangible form, there’s a way to kill it,” Ciaran said.
“But we need a realistic way to kill it right now. Any ideas?” Lorcan asked.
“Not yet.”
The sea creature ascended higher above the water’s surface and started moving inland. Each movement created a large wave which penetrated deeper inland. The group with withdrew, further away from the shoreline.
“Going back to town is just inviting the creature to drown the whole island,” Ciaran said as the creature raised its tail fifty feet above the water and slammed it down, sending water flying inland to rain down on them. The creature whacked its tail again. A wave a story high rolled in and crashed on the shore. Orla charged to the front of the group.
But Lorcan pulled her back, saying, “No, Orla.”
Orla broke away and darted toward the water. Her eyes had turned blank. She raised her arms and created a wall of sand that rolled upward toward the sky and smashed into the wave. But the water was stronger and broke through the sand wall, leaping onto the land. Although the water had been weakened, it still had enough force to hurl everyone like rag dolls, smashing them against hard objects, before withdrawing to the sea, dragging everything in its way with it. Everyone clung to the rock cliffs, trying to hold on through the withdrawing force of the water. As soon the water had cleared the beach, they flopped onto the wet sand.
“Any solutions, Ciaran? I don’t think we can survive another wave,” Lorcan asked.
Ciaran saw the creature raise its tail, about to create a second wave. Its beady eyes pierced through him as if enjoying the sight of the vulnerable humans before it. Ciaran raised his arms, indicating that he wanted to say something, and the creature stopped, its tail hovering in the air. Ciaran spoke quietly through his teeth to his friends, “It’s listening to me. Is it safe to assume that it’s a shapeshifter, and the other half it is human?” Ciaran punctuated the separate words shape and shifter to make his point.
