A cramp knotted Ryan’s gut. “Oh, no. Is this going where I think it’s going?”
“–guided the viewer over to our house and it was nothing but a pile of lumber – the same ruined house on the cover of the Eternal.”
Emma screamed. “They’re dead? Mom and Dad are dead?”
Ryan threw up. A hot gush of acid surged straight up his throat and out. He couldn’t help it.
As he tried to control his lurching stomach, the truth sank deep into him. He’d feared it, perhaps he’d even suspected it, but he’d never acknowledged it, never let it take root in his consciousness. But it had always been there, bubbling under the surface.
For an instant he hated Telly, wanted to lash out at him for making him face that truth, but then he felt an arm around his shoulders as Telly drew him and Emma to him. He lost track of how long they leaned against their big brother, sobbing, but Ryan finally had to pull free.
“Did…does anyone know what happened to them? Did anyone find their… them? Is there gonna be a funeral or… who’s gonna bury them?”
Why was he asking these stupid questions? They seemed to fill his head and he had to let them out.
Telly said, “I couldn’t go through the newspaper. I suppose your Aunt Sandy will take care of things.”
Ryan couldn’t help but notice the “your.” Sandra was Dad’s sister, no blood relation to Telly.
Telly went on. “Even worse for me at the time was that I thought I’d lost you guys too – that the Silent Ones had got you.”
“I guess this means we’ll be orphans when we get back,” Emma said, pulling herself together.
Telly’s smile looked forced. “I like that you said ‘when.’ You know Aunt Sandy’s crazy about you two. She’ll take care of you.”
Ryan had no problem with Aunt Sandy, but… “Can’t we stay with you?”
The question seemed to flummox Telly. Like he’d never even considered it. Most likely he hadn’t.
“Well, yeah, well, I…I guess so. But I can barely take care of myself so it’ll probably be you guys taking care of me.” Telly offered a weak chuckle at his attempted humor.
Ryan wasn’t buying that. Telly had done a pretty good job of finding a place for himself among the Uberalls and making himself valuable to them.
“Look, I’m sorry for you all,” Dillon said. “Really I am. But the sun’s getting awfully low and–”
“Right-right-right,” Telly said. “You guys have got to get to safety. So do I.”
“You can stay with us at the Jantzes,” Emma said. “Pleeeease?”
Ryan could understand why she wanted the three of them together. He wanted all his remaining family close by tonight.
“Who are the Jantzes?” Telly said.
“No-carns who took us in.”
Telly shook his head. “Wish I could, but I’ve got to get my steamer back to the compound tonight. Ergel has been hanging around there and I think something’s up with him. I’ve caught him watching me a few times.”
“Ergel!” Ryan said, feeling again the sting of the troll’s lash on his back. “Doesn’t he ever give up?”
“He’s up to no good,” Dillon said. “You can count on that. But never underestimate him. He’s much smarter than he pretends.”
“I wonder what he’s up to now,” Ryan said.
30
“When does Henrel gets his rewardation?”
Ergel gave his fellow troll a hard look. “When Ergel is satisfied this is the right house.”
“I follered them from the farm and sawed them go through that front door right there with my own two eyes, I did.”
The two of them crouched in a thicket of scrub brush with a good view of the house.
“Maybe they was just visitating,” Ergel said. “We been sitting here for a hour or two and ain’t spied hide or hair of ’em.”
“We seen lycanses.”
“But we ain’t seen the two humanses.”
They’d seen what looked like a typical lycan family – mother, father, and three kiddilies – a little boy and a little girly, and a bigger boy. Ergel recognified none of them.
“Maybe they’re off on a trip.”
“Maybe. After you follered them yesterday you shoulda stayed to make sure.”
“Henrel’s got a job to do. He’s got sheeple to tend.”
“Then get to it. It’s getting late.” He glanced at the setting sun. “I’ll be going too.”
“About Henrel’s reward–”
“Boil yer rewardation!” Ergel said. “We’ll meets here at first light, then work out a schedule to watch. Right now we both better be gettin’ indoors.”
He didn’t want to get caught out on this night.
31
“I can’t believe it,” Emma said, fighting the lump in her throat that kept coming and going. “I just can’t believe they’re really gone.”
She sat between Dillon and Ryan as the Armagost truck bumped and hissed along through the encroaching dusk. Each time they passed beneath a shadowed tree, the darkness became more real.
“I know what you mean.” Ryan said. “Just a week or so ago, everything was fine. Sure, Telly was missing, but we were pretty sure he’d show up soon. But since then, it’s like we’ve been living in the worst nightmare imaginable – and it just suddenly got a whole lot worse.”
Emma shook her head. “I just can’t imagine the world – us – without Mom and Dad.”
“I know, I know.” She heard a sob building in her little brother’s throat. “It’s not right, it’s not fair, it–”
Something went pop! and the truck cab began filling with steam.
“Oh, no!” Dillon said as he turned the steering wheel to the left. “This can’t be happening! Not now!”
“What?” Emma said. “What’s happening?
“Sounds like we blew a gasket,” he said as he pulled to a stop. “Just pray we didn’t.”
He jumped out and dropped to his hands and knees, peering under the truck. After a moment he jumped up and began kicking the fender.
“No! No! No!”
“What is it?” Emma said.
“We blew a gasket.”
Ryan said, “I thought that was just an expression.”
“Is that bad?”” Emma said, worried now.
Dillon kicked the fender again. “About as bad as it can get. Without a gasket there’s no seal on the pipe running from the steam chamber to the motor.”
“Don’t we have a spare?” Ryan said.
“Doesn’t matter. Even if we did, I don’t know how to replace it – and if I did know, we’ve no tools.”
Emma glanced at the sun, setting behind the trees. “But that means…”
Dillon’s expression was bleak. “Right. This truck’s dead – at least for tonight. And we’re miles away from the Jantz place.”
Ryan hopped out on the other side of the truck. “Can’t we tie something around the pipe?”
“Afraid not. There’s too much pressure in the line. The gasket has to be a perfect fit.”
Ryan pressed his hands against his cheeks. “I didn’t think it was possible, but our nightmare just got worse.”
“We can lock ourselves right here in the truck,” Emma said.
Dillon put his hand through the open window space in the driver-side door. “The window’s broken. Doesn’t roll up. And even if it did, a bunch of hungry lycans in full feral would have no trouble smashing the windshield to get at you.” He pounded his fist on the hood. “If only Telly hadn’t been so late! We’d have plenty of time. Now…”
Ryan motioned to Emma. “We’d better get moving. Now!”
Emma slid out on the driver side. “What about you?” she said to Dillon.
“I’ve got to get moving too – but in the opposite direction. I need to be as far as possible from you two when the moon rises.”
“You wouldn’t…hurt us, would you?” Emma said, staring into his eyes.
He looked away. “I
won’t be me. I’ll be someone – something else. I won’t know who you are.”
“But the other night in Balmore… you saved me.”
“That was a stress change – totally different. We’re in control then. The full moon makes us crazy. If I come upon you tonight when I’m like that, I’ll try to kill you.”
“No, you–”
“And the next morning, when I’m me again, I won’t remember a thing. Many of us lock ourselves up on the full-moon night so we can’t hurt anyone. But too many of us think luning is part of our heritage and that it shouldn’t be denied. They’ll be the ones out roaming in packs tonight, and I’ll be right out there with them.” Dillon looked embarrassed by his words.
“Why? I thought you–”
“Because I’ll never get to my lock-up in time tonight.”
She touched his arm. “I’m sorry. It all our fault. You were trying to help us.”
“It’s nobody’s fault – except maybe the mechanic who didn’t check the seals on this piece of junk. It’s all just a run of back luck. But we’ve no time to waste. Follow the road to the fork, then head left. It will take you straight to the Jantz place. Move as fast as you can. You don’t have much time.”
“Where are you headed?”
He pointed along the road they’d just traveled. “That way. I want to put some miles between us.” He grabbed her shoulders and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. “Run! Now!”
Stunned by the kiss, Emma touched her lips as she watched him dash away. She hadn’t expected that.
And then Ryan was yanking on her sleeve. “You heard the man, Em. Run!”
He took off down the road and Emma followed, running for her life.
She and Ryan…quite literally running for their lives.
32
Made it.
The sun had just dipped below the horizon when Telly pulled up to the gate of the Uberall compound. But the gate was closed and two sasquatch stood guard.
He leaned out the window and said, “I need to pull the car in.”
“Not tonight, Teddy,” growled the one on the left.
Apparently he knew Teddy, but looked like every other sasquatch he’d ever seen.
“But–”
“You know what night this is.”
“Park it over there,” said the one on the right. ‘We gotta keep this locked. You know that.”
“Ain’t no way we’re letting the likes of you in here,” said the other one.
Here was the catch about being a human pretending to be a lycan: Everyone expected you to turn into a wolf during the full moon, so they locked you outside for the night. And you couldn’t tell them you weren’t a lycan because then they’d lock you up and make you a slave – or worse.
He parked the car, waved to the two sasquatch guards who were now placing themselves inside the gate, and trotted off into the dark.
Falzon didn’t believe in cages for lycan Uberalls – he wanted them to change every month so they’d all be well blooded for when he was ready to invade Humania. But he didn’t want them running around inside the compound attacking every non-lycan in sight, including their fearless leader. So he locked them out until dawn.
Telly had faced this last month, so he knew what to do. He’d been terrified then, certain it was his last night alive, but he’d found a solution.
He’d seen a couple or three of his fellow Uberalls of the lycan type morph into wolflike creatures when arguments became physical. He’d noticed how their hands became taloned paws, great for ripping but lousy for gripping. Which meant they couldn’t climb a tree.
So now he followed the wall until he found a sturdy tree with a branch within reach. He jumped, caught it, and scrabbled up until he was straddling it. Then he moved higher until he was pretty sure his feet weren’t visible.
This tree wasn’t the same as last time. He wanted a new one because he’d fallen out of the first. He’d dozed off and found himself on the ground the next morning. Good thing no lycan had happened upon him while he’d been out cold or he wouldn’t have awakened at all.
As he settled into the crotch of a larger branch, he checked out the compound through a break in the foliage. Outside the entrance to the lab, he was a bit surprised to see that vile troll, Ergel and a thin, angular nossie in his yellow jumpsuit approach the main entrance to the lab.
What were they doing there in the middle of the night?
As Telly watched them, he saw them unfold a pair a canvas camp chairs and set them up on each side of the double doors. As they took their seats, the nossie stretched out, his long legs like a stork’s, while Ergel’s stubby ones didn’t completely reach the ground.
Telly grinned at the sight. That odd pair were pulling guard duty. Probably an extra precaution because of the full moon. Looking up to the second floor where a single window still blazed with illumination, Telly was startled to see Dr. Koertig within, standing over a workbench, twiddling with an energy coil for the breach generator.
To his surprise, Telly had grown to like the pluriban. He couldn’t imagine why. Koertig wasn’t the least bit friendly – to Telly or anyone else. As a result he had not a single friend among the Uberalls and, as far as Telly could tell, not a single friend outside the compound either. Which appeared to be fine with him since he was interested in science, knowledge, discovery, solving problems. And that was… it.
Telly shared those interests, but he also like to think he had a sense of empathy and a set of ethics to go along with them. So far he’d seen none of either in Koertig. The pluriban probably believed they’d blur his critical faculties.
Telly guessed he admired the scientist’s brilliant mind, and liked his blunt speech. Telly’s feelings were not easily hurt – he’d spent most of his life out of step with the world around him – yet he always knew where he stood with Dr. Koertig.
Liked his work ethic too. Look at him there, working away long after everyone else had quit for the day.
Telly made himself as comfortable as possible and watched the professor work.
33
“We’ve waited about as long as we safely can,” said Orin Jantz.
“I understand, sir,” Cal said. “I can’t imagine where they could be.”
They’d all been waiting for Emma and Ryan to return, their collective anxiety growing with every passing minute since sunset.
His wife Irina nodded vigorously. “Yes. The moon will be peeking over the horizon any minute now.”
“The cages! The cages!” cried little Ella Grace, clapping her hands and jumping up and down. “I love the cages!”
“That’s really dumb,” said her brother Ben, older by a whole two years.
“Now, Ben,” said Irina. “Be kind.”
“Well, who wants to be locked up all night?”
“You won’t remember it anyway, son,” Orin said, opening the basement door. “Now let’s go.”
He held the door for his wife and children, then followed them carrying a small kerosene lantern that illuminated the cellar way. He motioned to Cal.
“Come on down, son. I want to talk to you.”
Cal followed but stopped on the stairs when he saw the four cages that waited in the windowless basement. The thick steel bars were anchored in the stone floor. Each was separated from its neighbor by a curtain.
“I’ve locked all the doors and windows upstairs,” Orin said as he guided Ella Grace into a cage and locked its door with a big, old-style mortise key on a large ring. “But you should check them again just to make sure.”
“What about Emma and Ryan?”
“If they arrive, let them in, of course. If anyone – anyone – asks for entry, let them in.”
“But–”
“When we shift, we lose our power of speech. We can only howl or growl then. So anyone who can speak is not a luner.”
Cal hoped they arrived soon…or had found a safe place to spend the night.
“You’ll be safe upstairs.” He was locking
Ben in a cage now. “The luners won’t be able to catch your scent through the doors and windows, even if they come through the yard.”
Cal watched as he locked Irina in a third cage.
He had to ask. “Why the curtains?”
“Mostly so the children don’t have to see their parents change,” Irina said. “It can be frightening.”
“Doesn’t frighten me,” Ben said.
Ella Grace chimed in with, “Me neither! I like it!”
“Don’t you all change at once?”
Orin shook his head. “The more changes you’ve been through, the sooner it comes. The oldest change first, and then on down the line.”
“Even babies?”
“Even babies,” Irina said.
Despite all his years here, Cal realized he knew so little about lycans. He’d spent his time among the human enclave in Balmore. He’d watched lycan luners running through the streets on full-moon nights, but usually from the window of a locked room on the third floor. He’d never imagined children changing.
“Take this, boy,” said Orin as he held up the lantern.
Cal took it, held it chest high and watched the elder Jantz locking himself into the largest of the cages. He hung the key on a wall hook within easy reach.
“Is that such a good idea? What if–?”
Orin flashed a bitter smile. “After I change, even if I had the presence of mind to try the key – which I wouldn’t – my paws would be unable to manipulate the key into the lock. But I need it handy for the morning, otherwise we’d be trapped.”
Cal looked from Orin to the wall where, next to the key, hung what appeared to be several robes fashioned from thin, tan fabric.
“Is there anything else you want me to do?”
Orin’s hands gripped the bars as he shuddered and his eyes rolled up for a second. “The moon is rising. I’d rather you didn’t watch. You really don’t need to see this…”
“Oh, yeah, sure, of course,” Cal said, backing up the stairs.
Family Secrets (The Nocturnia Chronicles Book 2) Page 15
