by S. J. West
“And what does everyone else want to do?” I ask.
“Zack and Chandler have been talking with Baruch and Isaiah about helping them with missions they’re sent on. They need something to do. Otherwise, they’ll just go stir-crazy sitting inside the castle all day and night. Gabe knows his limitations, and seems content to stay with JoJo at the castle. At least he can help her make things. She’s determined to make outfits like ours for some of the Watchers here before we have to leave. So, you don’t have to worry as much about those two.”
“It sounds like you’ve all been planning this little coup for quite some time,” I say, feeling a mixture of guilt and betrayal. I feel guilty because I didn’t realize my friends were so unhappy with their situations. I feel slightly betrayed because they didn’t come to me sooner with their concerns. I was supposed to be their center, yet none of them felt like they could come and tell me how they truly felt. It didn’t make me feel like a very good leader.
“We just want to help, Jess,” Rafe says. “Let us.”
“I never meant to make you all feel like I was holding you back from doing what you wanted to. You’re all adults. Whatever you decide, I’ll back you up one hundred percent, and help if I can.”
“Thanks, Jess,” Rafe says.
“I’ll make sure he doesn’t get into trouble,” Nina tells me, giving Rafe a meaningful look.
With those words, Nina rises from being a mere acquaintance to a true ally.
We decide to go back to the castle while Nina searches for a tandem harness. Leah asks to stay with her mother for a little while longer, and Daniel promises to bring her home when we’re ready to try out the harness.
I have no way of knowing if Leah’s mother will want to go back to our Earth with us when the time comes, but I secretly hope she will. A mother who actually loves her child should never be separated from her. But it isn’t my decision to make. It’s Xiulan’s. From what she told us, Xiulan had built a life for herself in the village nestled below the mountain. It isn’t my place to ask her to abandon it.
When we get back to the castle, I ask to speak with Zack and Chandler privately in the library.
“So, Rafe says I’ve been treating you all like a pain in the ass mother hen,” I tell them.
“Rafe would never be that blunt,” Zack says confidently, with a grin. “Mother hen, yes. Pain in the ass, no. And none of us thinks of you that way, Jess. You know that. We just want to feel useful here.”
“I know,” I admit. “He also said that the two of you have been talking with Baruch and Isaiah about helping them with their missions. Mind my asking what kind of missions they are, or am I being too nosey?”
“Just small things, really,” Chandler tells me, with a nonchalant shrug. “Gathering supplies and such. Nothing dangerous, just necessary.”
“Listen, I know I can be overprotective sometimes, but it’s only because I love you. I’ll try not to hover so much and make you feel like you can’t do your own thing.”
Chandler gives me a hug. “Thanks, Jess. We figured you would understand once we explained how we felt.”
As he pulls away, I say, “Just make sure you both stay alive. That’s all I ask.”
“We’ll be fine,” Zack says. “Trust us.”
To me, that sounds like some famous last words. I just hope they’re not.
CHAPTER FOUR
It doesn’t take long for Nina to find the skydiving harness Leah and I need. We have to make a few adjustments so I can get my sword out of its sheath on my back, but, overall, the setup works perfectly. Brand decides that we should position people on the ground to act as an early warning system to watch out for any flocks that Leah and I can’t see coming towards us. We’re all given two-way communication earpieces to make it easier for us to transmit important information. Jered is recruited to join our first outing, which seems to make him extremely happy. Apparently, it isn’t only the vessels who need something productive to occupy their time.
“I think for this first practice run we should go to a place where I know the terrain well,” I tell the group as Leah stands in front of me, her body firmly strapped to mine. “I would like to go to Tunica, Mississippi. It’s an agricultural area with plenty of seed to attract birds, and flat land.”
“I don’t think the birds are too worried about eating anymore,” Mason tells me.
“No, but they should have been there when the seal was opened. It’s not an overly- populated area, so some of the larger flocks have probably moved on by now to find humans to infect, but I’d bet my last dollar there are still a few left there.”
“It’s as good a place as any to try this out,” Malcolm says.
“I agree with Jess,” Brand replies. “She should go somewhere familiar to her. If everyone is ready to go, I can phase us all there now.”
“The sooner we get things worked out, the better I’ll feel,” I tell him.
We all join hands, and Brand phases us to one of the crop fields along Hwy 61. This particular field has been planted with corn. At this time of year, the corn isn’t even knee-high yet. As I suspected, it doesn’t take long for us to find a flock of birds to practice our tactics on. Our next targets automatically seem to detect our presence, and change their trajectory to fly straight towards us. Thankfully, this drove isn’t nearly as large as the one we encountered in China. That one was as big as an ocean liner. This one is comparable in size to a small yacht.
“I’ll position Mason, Malcolm, and Jered around the field to keep an eye out for any more flocks,” Brand says. “Are you ready, Jess?”
“Yes,” I say, lightly touching Leah on the forearms. “Are you ready?”
Leah nods, tightening her fingers around her staff. “I’m ready.”
Before either of us gets cold feet, I propel us into the air until we’re level with the oncoming flock. Involuntarily, I shiver at the sight of them drawing nearer to us. The white, ominous glow of their eyes, and their single-minded determination to reach us, is unnatural. I pull my sword from its sheath on my back, preparing for their approach.
“I’ll follow your lead,” I tell Leah. “You’re a better judge of when they’re close enough for your fire to reach them.”
“Ok,” Leah replies, pointing her staff out while we float in the air, waiting for the birds to come closer.
When they’re in range, Leah lets loose her stream of fire, and I join the flames of my sword with hers. As soon as the birds in the front fly into the blue flames of our combined power, they catch on fire, a fire that spreads rapidly to the ones behind them. In a matter of seconds, they all vanish from existence.
“Good job, you two!” I hear Mason praise through the earpiece I’m wearing.
“Piece of cake, babe,” I reply, earning a chuckle from my husband.
“Birds incoming,” Malcolm says. “Directly behind you, Jess.”
I spin around and see the flock Malcolm has spotted. It’s a little smaller than the one we just killed.
“I see another flock coming in from the east,” Jered warns us. “Your three, Jess.”
“There’s another one coming in from the west,” Brand says, sounding worried.
Before anyone else can say another word, the sound of birds pervades the air around us, making it impossible for me to hear what the Watchers on the ground are trying to tell me. But I don’t need them to tell me what’s coming; I can see it for myself.
It seems as if killing that first flock of birds alerted every bird in the vicinity of our presence. If we don’t do something fast, we’ll soon be engulfed by a tidal wave of them.
Over the shrieks of the birds, I can faintly hear Mason’s urgent voice telling me to come back down, so Leah and I can be phased to safety. I choose to ignore my husband’s overreaction, and decide on another course of action.
“Leah!” I yell at her. “Can you hear me?”
Leah nods, silently letting me know she can hear my voice over the roar of the birds.
“When they get close, I’m going to fly straight up into the air,” I warn her. “When I do, angle your staff straight down, and fire, ok?”
Leah bravely nods again without any argument, even though I can feel her body trembling against mine.
“I’ve got you!” I promise, grabbing her arm for added reassurance. “I’ll always have you!”
After hearing my words of comfort, Leah’s quivering subsides as we wait for the onslaught of birds to reach us.
When the first wave of them is barely two feet away, I propel us high into the air. Leah does as I instructed, and points her staff directly beneath us, discharging a stream of fire from her staff. I hurriedly join my sword’s fire with hers, and watch as the ocean of birds beneath us catches on fire. The convergence of so many flocks spans an area over at least ten acres, but the wave of blue flame from our combined powers takes less than a minute to eradicate every single bird present from existence.
Once they’re all dead, we hear the boys on the ground congratulate us on a job well done. Everyone, that is, except Mason.
“You took too much of a risk, Jess,” I hear Mason say disapprovingly after the others quiet down.
“It worked,” I point out, feeling torn between guilt for ignoring his earlier advice and pride that my idea actually succeeded.
“It might not have,” he replies.
“There wasn’t a better option.”
“Yes, there was,” he says in a strained, yet controlled, voice. “You could have done what I asked you to. One of us could have phased you and Leah somewhere safe. We could have returned later when the situation was more controllable!”
“I thought you would have learned to have a little faith in my judgment by now,” I say, feeling as though he’s berating me like I’m one of our children. “Do you honestly think I would endanger Leah’s life? I knew we could handle the situation. You should have just trusted me.”
“Sometimes you think you’re invincible, but you’re not!” Mason counters heatedly.
“Guys,” Jered says, reminding me that our conversation isn’t exactly private. “We have another flock flying up the highway. It looks like they’re following a small caravan of vehicles driving north.”
I look down at black stretch of highway below us, and see a battered pickup truck with two cars behind it, doggedly being followed by a small cluster of birds. The birds are weaving in between the vehicles, making me wonder how the drivers can even see where they’re going.
“The birds are too close to the cars,” I tell everyone. “We’re going to have to draw them away from the vehicles before we can kill them.”
“Fly as low as you can,” Malcolm instructs me. “They should follow you as long as they can see you.”
“Be careful,” I hear Mason say; no longer mad, just worried.
“I always am,” I tell him as Leah and I dive down towards the small convoy.
The birds sense us before we’re even twenty feet away from them. Like a free- flowing fountain, they begin to fly straight towards us. I change our trajectory slightly, and glance over my shoulder to make sure all of the birds are following us. Even one left behind could cause the death of an innocent. As soon as I’m sure we have them all, I instantly spin us around to confront them. Then, something I hadn’t considered before happens. I must have spun us faster than I’d thought, because the suddenness of the action makes Leah lose her grip on her staff, causing her to say a cuss word I didn’t even know she knew.
I immediately make a nose dive towards her staff as fast as I can, but I remain acutely aware that the flock is following close behind us. I’m not extremely confident Leah will have enough time to pick up her staff and use it before the birds reach us.
While we continue to make our rapid descent, I see Mason run across the field towards Leah’s staff. He picks it up and holds it up in the air so we don’t have to land to retrieve it. Leah reaches out and pulls it from Mason’s grasp as we zoom past him. Without slowing down, I try something I’ve never done before: flying backwards.
“Get ready!” I tell Leah before I spin us around to face the oncoming birds, while continuing to fly away from them.
Leah and I join the power of our talismans together, and summarily destroy the flock.
“Way to go!” Mason tells us.
“Thanks,” I reply, looking back down at the road to see that the three-vehicle caravan has now come to a complete halt. Feeling a false sense of security, the people inside the vehicles step out of them.
“Does anyone see anything else coming?” I ask urgently.
After I hear everyone say no, I breathe a sigh of relief and fly us down to the road to see if the people we just helped need any more assistance.
“Don’t land too close to them,” Mason cautions. “We don’t know who they are or what they’re capable of.”
“I won’t,” I say, agreeing with my husband’s assessment of the situation.
We land about thirty feet away from the truck that was at the head of the small convoy. From the air, I couldn’t tell what type of truck it was. It’s not until I’m standing in front of it that I see it’s a charcoal-grey Dodge Ram.
I immediately recognize the vehicle, but it doesn’t lessen my shock to see the owner of the truck standing beside it with his wife and daughter.
John Austin looks just as handsome in this reality as he did in ours. His short brown hair and deep brown eyes bring back memories of one of my closest childhood friends and Faison’s long dead fiancé. Her grief over his death is what propelled her to travel through the Tear to this reality all those years ago. Now, to stand in front of this Earth’s version of John Austin, I’m forced to remember how much he meant to me as well. All of the buried emotions over the loss of my friend seem to bubble up at once, forcing me to take a steadying breath. I fight back tears as my mind races through countless memories of John Austin from the time he was a little boy until his untimely demise.
“I’m almost there, Jess,” I hear Mason say sympathetically, making me realize he’s close enough to see John Austin, too.
“He looks just like the pictures Faison showed me,” Leah whispers. “I almost forgot he married Shelby on this Earth.”
In our reality, our friend Shelby owns and operates a popular day spa in Tunica. In this one, she looks just the same: waif-thin with long, flaming red hair and pale white skin. Her large green eyes stay fixed on Leah and me with a mixture of awe and fear, which seems like an odd combination.
“Do you think they saw Ravan’s press conference about you?” Leah asks me, obviously having noticed the way Shelby is looking at me, too.
“It would explain the look,” I answer uncomfortably.
As John Austin places a comforting arm around his wife’s shoulders, he rests his free hand on the shoulder of the small girl standing in front of them. From our last visit, I remember Josh telling us that their daughter’s name was Abigail. When Faison heard it, she began to cry, and told me the name was the one she and her John Austin had picked in case their first child ended up being a girl. Abigail looks to be somewhere around seven years old. She is blessed with the same beautiful red hair and kind green eyes as her mother.
As the people who were in the vehicles following the truck come stand near John Austin and his family, I hear Leah’s breath catch.
“Oh, my God,” I say as I see them, too.
Beau, a friend of ours and the maker of the best cinnamon rolls in the world, stands with his wife, Fanny, and their three little girls. Sadie and Vern Myrick walk over to stand on the other side of Beau’s family. Coming to stand beside Vern is a man I know is dead in my own reality. On our Earth, their son, Jamie, lost his fight with cancer when he was eighteen. The Jamie standing in front of us now looks healthy, and well into his thirties.
Since Leah and I are harnessed to one another, the simple act of walking can be awkward, but I don’t want to disconnect us in case another flock attacks and we have to act fast. Seeing our c
onundrum, the people we know, yet are strangers to, cautiously begin to walk towards us. They stop a couple of feet away just as Mason and the other Watchers come to stand behind Leah and me.
“Thank you for helping us,” John Austin says to us. “We weren’t sure how we were going to shake those birds.”
“You’re welcome,” I reply. “We’re just thankful we were able to help you all out. If you don’t mind me asking, where are you trying to go?”
“We heard on the news that the government is setting up a safe haven in The Pyramid in Memphis. We thought we would be safer there than in our homes.”
“I know where that is,” Brand says. “I can phase there to see if it’s a safe place for you to take your families.”
“You’re a Watcher?” Beau asks, eyeing Brand warily. “I don’t remember you.”
“I was never part of the faction of Watchers who took over this world,” Brand explains. “In fact, I fought against their control.”
“And do you stand with or against Ravan Draeke?” Vern asks, not giving away his own allegiance.
Brand pauses to consider his answer carefully, but seems to decide honesty is best in this situation.
“I’m against her,” Brand tells Vern unequivocally.
Vern just stares at Brand for a minute, as though he’s trying to decide if Brand is being truthful. Slowly, he begins to nod.
“Good,” Vern says. “So are we.”
“We recognized you from her last press conference,” Sadie says to me directly. “What you just did for us confirms what Vern and I thought when we saw her blamin’ you for kidnapping her fiancé and makin’ her lose her baby. I told Vern then that she must be scared of you for some reason.”
“I’m not sure she’s scared of me,” I say, remembering how viciously Ravan fought me in our last confrontation.
“Oh, she’s scared of you, hon,” Sadie assures me, with an added nod to emphasize her words. “She’s just tryin’ to make the world do her dirty work for her. She wants you dead, but she doesn’t want to bloody her pretty little hands with the job.”
