by Sarah Noffke
“Yes, well, move the testing for the virus into the next phase and have it ready tomorrow for a new subject,” Mika said, feeling Haiku at his back. The director of security often walked softly, probably due to his martial arts training.
Haiku lowered his chin when Mika spun to face him. He knew that he was still in trouble for what Kris had gotten away with. She’d managed to sabotage the surveillance and therefore was successful at getting Rio free. Maybe Haiku wasn’t able to stop this, but someone had to be responsible for the things that went wrong at Olento Research, and it wasn’t going to be Mika.
“I have a job for you,” Mika said, getting straight to business.
“Yes, sir,” Haiku said.
“The woman who leaked the photo to the newspapers, Marianne Magner, you’ve found her current location?” Mika asked. This shouldn’t have been a difficult task. They’d already been to the woman’s house many times, since this was Kaleb’s mother. He must have returned to his family home and exposed his true identity to the woman. This wasn’t something he expected many of the werewolves did, knowing their family wouldn’t ever accept them and furthermore that they were putting themselves and their family in danger.
“Yes, as you suspected, she’s back at her home in Salt Lake City. Do you want me to bring the woman into custody?” Haiku said, eyes still averted.
“No, I want you to kill her,” Mika said. The woman was making too much trouble for him and she was going to be stopped.
Chapter Five
“Children don’t come into the dream travel ability or powers until they hit puberty.”
- Dream Traveler Codex
Connor obviously wanted kudos for slapping down three pages of handwritten notes about Olento Research. However, he wasn’t going to get it. He’d apparently spent a lot of time with the handkerchief so that he could pull apart as many of the images that it supplied. Adelaide guessed that it wasn’t easy for psychometrists to analyze the information they are given from an object. It’s probably about like having a series of dreams, all filled with places and people that the dreamer didn’t know.
“I guess we can work with this,” Adelaide said, sighing dramatically, like disappointment was eating her up.
He narrowed his eyes, but smiled still. “One day, at least once in my life, I’m going to earn your reverence,” he said to her, standing on the other side of the conference room. She felt like she never left that room, and maybe it was because that’s where she felt closest to her father. It was the home base for the werewolves, who always seemed to be seeking her out, and hopefully that was because they respected her. Needed her expertise.
“Oh, Connor. I’ll give you a bag full of pennies if you will please hope at a wishing well for something else. Anything else that is way more likely to happen,” Rox said, sitting in her usual seat next to Zephry.
“I like going for the impossible. It works best with my defeatist personality,” Connor said to Zephyr, his eyes on Adelaide.
“I know what he likes,” Rox said with a whistle. “Is it just me or is there tension—”
“Finish that sentence, whore face, and I’ll hypnotize you until your nose bleeds,” Adelaide said.
“Ouch. She wouldn’t be so testy if I hadn’t hit a sore spot,” Rox said, slapping Zephyr on the arm.
Adelaide tried to pull her focus to the pages Connor had given her, but his gaze was lighting a warm fire under her and she knew all too well Zephyr and Rox were whispering in the corner. None of these people valued their lives.
“Bum-bumpita-bum-bumpita-bum!” Kaleb sang from the hallway. Adelaide tore her curious eyes up to find him marching like leading a band, his knees coming up high as his arms alternated swinging up and down in front of his face.
Adelaide pressed both of her hands to either side of her head. “Look, someone is playing make-believe again,” she said dryly.
“I’m here to save the day,” Kaleb sang from the entrance to the conference room, coming to a halt with a salute.
“What kind of superhero are you pretending to be today? Would you like me to assign you a secret mission? Go fetch me some tea. You have to battle the napkin trolls and sugar packet gnomes to accomplish this mission, but I have complete faith in you,” Adelaide said, trying to suppress the grin threatening to be revealed on her mouth.
“I might have a similar mission for you. I could use a sandwich,” Connor said, with a laugh.
“I’ve already been victorious on my mission,” Kaleb said, puffing out his chest. “I’ve done that which you all have failed. I have found our missing werewolf.”
“What?” Zephyr said, bolting to an upright position. He was always doing that, like he couldn’t remain seated when big news was announced.
Beside Kaleb, something flickered and then solidified. It was the invisible girl, the one that Adelaide had kicked out of the Institute.
“Kaleb, you bloody wanker! That’s not a werewolf! We’ve gone to great lengths to keep that vermin out of here,” Adelaide said, jumping out of her own seat.
Too distracted by sizing up the invisible woman, who had a large smirk plastered on her face, no one noticed the figure approaching until he was standing just behind Kaleb. “Don’t mind her. She’s with me,” Rio said, smiling wide, his dimple surfacing as he did.
“Yes!” Zephyr said, clapping both his hands together. He jumped up on the table and slid across it, landing on his feet gracefully. Kaleb stepped out of the way just as Zephyr reached out, taking Rio’s extended hand and pulling the larger man in for a side hug. “You’re back! Are you okay?”
Rio’s smile hadn’t dropped when he high-fived Connor on his other side and nodded. “Yeah, I’m perfectly fine and I escaped thanks to this gal,” he said, throwing his chin in Kris’s direction.
“You?” Adelaide said, sizing Kris up. She was about her age, but everything she wasn’t. Tall, tan, and brunette. “Why’d you let him out? What are you planning? What does Mika have you doing?”
“Nothing,” Kris said. “I don’t work for that asshole anymore. I don’t want anything to do with Olento Research ever again.”
According to Adelaide’s lie detector skills, the invisible woman, who was now solid, wasn’t lying. However, this still didn’t add up.
“She promised to get me out of Olento Research if I got her back into the Institute,” Rio said.
“Why? Why do you want to be here? You’re a Middling and you know probably from spying on us that we don’t allow Middlings in the Institute, or traitors or spies,” Adelaide said.
“I also have the ability to become invisible or make anyone else invisible. And I know so much about Olento Research that I can help you,” Kris said.
“But why? Why would someone who did all the horrible things that Mika assigned to them want to help us?” she said.
“Because I realized it was wrong. I recognized that when I gave you back your book. That’s when I wanted to work for the Lucidites and use my powers for good,” Kris said, her voice not pleading, but her hands starting to shake from the nervousness.
“It’s possible that she really had a change of heart,” Zephyr said. “She did give you back your book and release Rio.”
“Yeah, but we aren’t in a position to allow a potential threat on our team. We are better off not having her here at all,” Adelaide said. She saw the advantages of employing a person like Kris on the team, but she also saw the risks. She’d seen them before and that’s why she’d had her evicted from the Institute. Kris was less of a risk outside the Institute, giving Mika information, than she was inside these walls.
“Morgan was my brother,” Kris blurted out, making every one go still.
“I’m sorry,” Connor said, his words hoarse.
A single tear peeked out of the corner of Kris’s eye and slid down her cheek before she held her breath, seeming to hold in the tears with it. She shook her head at her brother’s murderer and then nodded. “I don’t
blame you,” she said. “This is all Mika’s fault. I spent all this time spying on you, but I didn’t tell Mika anything that I learned while here. I promise. I lied to him. But while I was here, I learned how good the Lucidites are. I realized how horrible Mika is and—
“You didn’t realize that when he had men abducted or mutated them into werewolves?” Adelaide said, cutting her off.
“I made a mistake. I admit that I went along with some horrible stuff, but when I knew better, then I did better. All I can do going forward is be a better person,” Kris said, and then let out a surrendering breath.
That didn’t feel like enough for Adelaide. However, hadn’t she been like Kris at some point? Operating from her own place of unknowing? Adelaide had done her fair share of bad things, but when her emotional intelligence grew, then her actions changed. And even now, with her own son, she wasn’t always making the best decisions, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t trying to change. Sometimes that’s all a person needs, the opportunity to change. A second chance.
“I want to help you all. That’s why I freed Rio. I wanted to prove to you that I could be trusted and more than anything, I want to be a part of the effort that brings Mika down,” Kris said.
“She could have just gone off on her own, but instead she came here,” Rox said, giving Kris a measuring stare. “I say we at least listen to what she has to say. Give us something we can work with.”
“Well, for starters, I know that Mika is going after that lady who is running the werewolf protests. That was the last thing I heard before I let Rio out. He was having his security team go after the woman to stop her,” Kris said. “And then—”
“That’s my mother,” Kaleb said, his eyes widening with horror.
“Which means we’re going to have to intervene,” Zephyr said, certainty in his voice.
Chapter Six
“It is the act of dream traveling that strengthens a person’s mind and feeds the energy that creates the special ability.”
- Dream Traveler Codex
The old house was supposed to bring up feelings of loss, right? Kaleb failed to understand why staring at his childhood home produced no feelings of longing or nostalgia. Was he blocking his emotions, like how he stopped time?
“Okay, Runt, you know the drill?” Rox said, checking that her trusty knife was in its holster at her waist.
“Yeah, FBI Blondie, I’m good,” he said, his voice hollow as he stared out the window of the SUV at the two-story house that had been his whole world for so long. But in truth, Kaleb never felt that he belonged there. “I’ll sit here, like the good boy that I am, and warn you and Invisible if there’s a sign of trouble,” he said, resenting the plan. Why when they were on a mission to rescue his mother did he have the lamest job? Kris got to do reconnaissance to ensure the coast was clear. Rox got to go in and flash her badge at his mother and bring her out safely, protecting her from any of Mika’s demons that popped up. And Kaleb got to sit and watch and radio if he spied trouble, which was the easiest job in the world, well, besides sleeping.
Nodding off seemed like a good idea right then, but that was only because Kaleb had been too worried the night before to sleep or dream travel. This was his mother, and they were here to rescue her from Mika’s evilness. She’d brought it all on herself, but still he didn’t want anything to happen to her. But he also didn’t want to see her again. His own mother had exposed him as a werewolf. She’d looked at him coldly when he confessed what he was and rejected him. But that’s how it had been his whole life. That’s probably why he was so indifferent at present. He just wanted this whole operation to be over so he could return to the Institute, the place that actually felt like home. The place where he was a badass agent. Yes, he was still an outcast, but that was only because he was better than the rest with a superior skill and they were jealous that he’d bypassed the holy training.
“All clear,” Kris said over the radio that was plugged into Kaleb’s left ear. “Marianne is in the back of the house, in the garden.”
It felt weird to hear someone refer to Kaleb’s mother by her first name, but stranger was that she was a part of this operation. How weird his life had gotten. His sisters would have criticized him profusely for all this trouble he’d brought on his family simply by existing. They’d say it was because he’d gone off on a backpacking trip and if he would have just stayed in school this never would have happened. His sisters were the direct byproduct of his parents. Full of judgment.
“Show time,” Rox said, opening the SUV driver’s side door. “I love this part.” She exited, giving Kaleb a wink.
“Wish I knew what it felt like,” he said dryly.
“Stop sulking, Runt. It makes your pretty brown eyes look sad like those of a basset hound,” Rox said over the radio.
“I’m not sulking,” he lied, closing those brown eyes, feeling something well to the surface.
Finally. Finally Kris had been assigned to a mission. And so immediately after joining the Lucidites. They knew she was a valuable asset and didn’t think lesser of her because she was a woman. Trey Underwood, the Head Official of the Lucidites, had extended a warm hand to her, welcoming her with a sincere smile. That was a man she could happily work for. He was everything Mika wasn’t. And he led the Lucidites in ways that built them up and promoted goodness. Never before had Kris felt such a strong loyalty to a person or the place they ran. But now she knew she’d made the right decision to risk it all to be a Lucidite. Finally she’d arrived. And she was their very first Middling. However, Trent, the head strategist, said after this mission she’d have to go through training, but she was all too happy to do that to be an agent. And Aiden was going to study her to understand how her invisibility worked. Everything was finally okay. Morgan was still dead, but at least his death had led to something positive. That’s how Kris used to think before Mika had poisoned her mind. She used to think in terms of positives like returning home; that’s how she thought now.
“I love you, Morgan,” she said under her breath, staring up at the blue sky, tears welling up in her throat. She shook them off and returned her gaze to where Marianne Magner was trimming roses along the back windows of her mansion.
Kaleb would be all right. Not now, not tomorrow, and probably not in a few months. But one day his wounds would heal and he’d come away better for everything he’d been through, Rox thought. He was so young. She remembered being eighteen and thinking she had everything figured out. How wrong she was. And at almost twenty-five she knew she was still so immature as far as life experiences went, although she had more than most people her age. Still, she respected Kaleb for what he’d done so far. He’d walked away from the family tree so he could find his own sunshine. One day he’d discover it. And now, it must be difficult to be here, on a mission to rescue his mother after his father’s death. Rox didn’t know how she’d feel in that situation. Her parents had been her foundation and she was their world. She shared that with Zephyr, but unlike him, she could go home. Rox knew this made his heart ache because she saw it in his eyes when he didn’t think she was watching.
Rox tramped through the side yard, her wedge heels mashing down the green grass. She couldn’t see Kaleb on the passenger side because of the dark tint of the windows when she turned back to the SUV. He’d get a more challenging mission in the future. All he had to do was hold on for it.
Rox pushed the white picket gate open, entering the backyard. These people had really tried to create the idyllic home from the stories with this brick mansion, but they’d failed to put the one thing in it that mattered the most. Love. Rox’s dream house wouldn’t have a picket gate because it would have no fences. It would sit on the top of a mountain, free rolling hills flecked with wildflowers stretching out around it. She smiled to herself at the thought. There was no way that she’d feel claustrophobic in a home set in such a perfect place.
A sound met Rox’s ears as she neared the back of the house. Marianne wa
s humming, she guessed. Rox confirmed this when she peeked around the corner of the house. A woman about her mother’s age was pruning roses, a sad tune reverberating from her closed mouth.
“Mrs. Magner?” Rox said, striding forward. The best way to gain trust was to announce one’s presence at once. That’s not the strategy she’d used when apprehending Zephyr, but he was different. She knew he’d run if she didn’t jump him. And secretly she wanted to leave a lasting first impression, which Rox thought she’d easily accomplished.
The older woman looked up, a startled expression in her brown eyes.
“I’m Agent Rox Spear, with the FBI,” Rox said, unfolding the badge that always earned her instant trust.
“Oh my, is this about the werewolf? Is this about Kaleb?” the woman said, holding the pruning shears in a gloved hand.
“Yes and no,” Rox said. “Your protests have angered an extremely dangerous organization and I’m going to need you to come with me.”
“Organization? But they’re werewolves…” Marianne said, her gaze falling on one of the topiaries as though it could answer the gap in her understanding.
Behind Rox, she heard the back gate she’d just come through click.
Kaleb watched as Rox trudged through the side yard. She looked about like she was heading back there to sunbathe in her sundress and sandals. Maybe he’d start calling her Fashionista instead of FBI Blondie. Coming up with nicknames was something Kaleb took extremely seriously. He laid his head back on the rest, his eyes closing for a moment, the sleepiness making the ambient noises over the radio feel instantly cozy. He always enjoyed small noises, like grass crunching underfoot, or people breathing or a door shutting. They lured him to sleep usually.
