Aegis League series Boxed Set

by S. S. Segran

  Mariah, anxious for their meeting, kept herself occupied by surreptitiously levitating the small bouncy ball in her hand. The others spoke quietly amongst themselves, still discussing everything that had been brought to light.

  “I still can’t figure out how we could ever forget all this,” Tegan murmured. “The village, its people, the Elders, our powers . . . the battle at the mountaintop.”

  The group looked out toward the water, silent. Mariah dropped the ball back into her hand and released a breath. “I can’t believe we were part of that.”

  “Explains our dreams and why they were so much alike,” Jag said.

  “All that death and destruction.” Kody shuddered and stared down at the water. “And those things—those beasts of murder.”

  Tegan nestled her head on his shoulder. “You saw everything from your vantage point with Elder Nageau . . . Can’t imagine how horrifying that must have been.”

  Mariah made sure no one on the wharf was looking, then hurled the ball as far over the waves as she could. Just when it was about to hit the water, it came flying back toward them. Kody put up his hand and caught it right before it hit him. He tossed it back to her. “Careful. You could have nailed me in the face with that.”

  She looked at him apologetically, then sighed. “What I want to know is, why is it that none of us except Jag had our dreams until this trip?”

  Aari rested his hands behind him and leaned back a little. “I may have an explanation. Not for why we started having our dreams, but why Jag’s been having his for a while.”

  Jag’s eyebrows rose. “I’d love to hear this.”

  “You’re somehow the only connection that the Elders have had with us since we left the valley.”

  “You mean my dreams were some sort of a link with them?”

  “Maybe.”

  “But why?”

  “My guess is that the Elders wanted to maintain some kind of connection with us. They trained us for a reason and maybe they were keeping us close through you.”

  “But why did we lose our memories of Dema-Ki and all our experiences there?” Kody groaned.

  Aari shrugged. “Dunno. It could be that maybe our abilities needed to be concealed for some reason?”

  “Then why is it all coming back now?” Mariah asked.

  “I wish I knew.”

  “Whatever the case, it’s back and that makes us a force to be reckoned with,” Kody said; Mariah could see him making an effort to shake off his gloom. “Because we’ve got powers!”

  “Not that we should flaunt it,” Jag cut in firmly.

  “Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, Captain.” Kody gently butted heads with Tegan. She shoved him playfully.

  Mariah swung her legs back and forth over the pier. “Do you think it was the Elders who wiped our memories clean?”

  “Why would they do that?” Aari asked. “Especially when it’s connected to something as important as the prophecy—”

  “Prophecy? What prophecy?” asked a cheery voice.

  The friends started at the sudden interruption. They craned their heads to their right as Tony sat down beside them and breathed sighs of relief as Jag shook the newcomer’s hand. “Tony, it’s good to see you!”

  With a bright smile, Tony said, “Likewise. When I got your call last night, I knew I had to come see you guys again.”

  “Hey, Tony,” Tegan called. She pulled up her jeans slightly, revealing striped socks.

  “No way!” Tony looked as if he’d just seen the greatest thing in his life and reached out to high-five her.

  She laughed and slapped his hand. “Because we actually get to see you again today, I wanted to surprise you.”

  “And you sure did.” He looked back at Jag. “Over the phone, you mentioned something about memories that you’d lost starting to come back?”

  “Yeah. Sorry for not telling you much, but we felt that it would be best if we could speak face-to-face with you.”

  Tony nodded slightly.

  Mariah watched Tony closely as the five quickly filled him in on the events of the previous summer, leaving out crucial details regarding the prophecy and their innate abilities; a tugging at their gut instructed them not to divulge anything else. By the end of it, Tony looked blown away, which Mariah wasn’t sure was a good sign. Still, she was hopeful.

  “We’re not making this up, I swear,” Jag said.

  “No, no,” Tony assured him hastily. “I believe you. Just . . . wow. Now I know why I thought you guys looked familiar when we first met. You were in some media reports.” After a brief period of silence, he said, “So . . . how do you think I can be of help?”

  “The Elders told us that, when we returned to our lives, we would not be alone,” Aari answered. “There would be people here who would help us.”

  Mariah swallowed, nervous as the moment of truth hung over their heads like an axe on a fraying rope.

  Jag looked about as well as she felt as he spoke. “They said that they’d placed special people around the world and . . . and we wondered if . . . you were one of them?”

  The group’s hopes sank the instant they saw that his words had left Tony completely nonplussed.

  The young man shook his head, pained. “I . . . I’m sorry. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  Doing all they could to hide their disappointment, the friends looked away. “It’s alright,” Jag said through a tight smile.

  Tony seemed distraught. “I wish I knew what you meant, but—”

  “It’s alright, Tony,” Jag repeated.

  There was another pause in the conversation. The group looked on as two dragon boats practice-raced; the craft carried ten rowers on each side who energetically worked their paddles.

  Tony shifted uncomfortably, then asked, “What will you do now?”

  Mariah and the others didn’t take their eyes off the dragon boats. “I guess we’re just gonna continue our trip,” Jag responded. “We checked out of our hotel a day early. All our stuff’s already in the car.”

  “Where to next?”

  “We’re driving down to San Diego in a bit.”

  Tegan stretched out her feet. “I can’t wait to check out the zoo and Sea World.”

  “And the USS Midway,” added Aari and Kody in unison.

  “Sounds like you’ll be having a blast,” Tony said. He rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m just sorry I’m not who you thought I was.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Jag said. “If anything, we should be apologizing. We called you away from your girlfriend and had you drive out all the way from Morro Bay.”

  Tony gave Jag a friendly smack on the back. “I like being with you guys! Trust me, there really was no harm done here. I learned a lot about the five of you. It was enlightening. But there was something you said, right when I joined you guys—about a prophecy?”

  Mariah and the others froze; they thought they’d managed to wriggle out of that question at the beginning. Thankfully, Jag recovered with ease. “It was an inside joke,” he said dismissively.

  Mariah couldn’t tell if Tony bought into that, but the young man didn’t push further.

  Tony looked at his watch. “Mind if I catch lunch with you guys before we part ways?”

  The teenagers’ faces lit up and Kody exclaimed, “Of course not!” The group pulled their feet back from the edge of the wharf and helped each other up. Together, the six of them made their way to a fish and chips place not far down the pier.

  From behind the windows of a crowded restaurant, a man watched the group stroll past. He inspected them with a careful eye as the teenagers chatted animatedly with a light-haired man. When they turned out of sight, he leaned back and rubbed his short beard, then glanced down at a black bag that lay by his feet. He picked it up. Unzipping it, he reached in and cautiously removed a pouch. When he was sure no one was looking his way, he opened the pouch and pulled out a glass container that was filled nearly to the top with a glowing liquid. It was exac
tly like the one that he’d tossed into the teenagers’ Jeep a few days before.

  He stared at it for a while, debating with himself, until finally reaching a decision. Pressing his lips together, he glared and placed the container back in its pouch. He would wait and see if he needed to use the device again.

  15

  The friends arrived at San Diego smack in the middle of rush-hour. They’d been happily following their GPS to their hotel along the freeway but were stunned to see the lines of cars ahead of them as they neared the city. They sat with the air conditioning on full blast, not aware how hot it was outside their vehicle. They’d tried to pass the five-hour drive from Santa Barbara with some games, but after playing scavenger hunt on an app and a run of thumb wrestling, they’d gotten bored and couldn’t wait to get out of the traffic. They hadn’t spoken for a while now, each retreating into their own personal space.

  Jag rested his chin on the steering wheel and glanced at Aari, who was fiddling with his phone as he rode shotgun. His sling bag sat across his knees. Every time Jag would make an attempt to engage him in a conversation, he only received distracted, one-word responses.

  Letting out a sigh, Jag leaned back and tried to stretch the kinks out of his legs. He knew the silence that had converged upon the friends was largely due to Tony not being a Sentry. They’d had such high hopes. That wasn’t the only thing that was unsettling the group, though—all five of them were at a loss. They’d wanted someone to tell them why their memories and powers were just returning and what they were supposed to do.

  We need guidance, Jag thought sullenly, but with no one around them providing direction, the friends were nothing more than wanderers who harbored abilities for reasons they weren’t sure of. What do we do now?

  He sighed again and looked up at the rearview mirror. He saw Kody reading a brochure with such intensity that he didn’t notice Tegan balancing an empty plastic bottle on his head.

  “What are you looking at, Kode-man?” Jag asked.

  “I’m trying to find a good restaurant around here,” Kody answered. “By the time we get out of traffic it’ll be dinner time.”

  Mariah snorted. “You and food . . . ”

  “We have a beautiful relationship. If food wore a white dress, I’d marry it in a heartbeat. I’d put a ring on it.”

  Tegan threw her head back, laughing. “It’s scary that I don’t doubt that.”

  The traffic moved in starts and stops. Jag grumbled as he scratched his temple. “When we get to the hotel, take twenty minutes to freshen up. We’ll meet in the lobby and head out for dinner.”

  “Yes, sir,” Tegan barked, looking dead serious.

  Jag smirked, glad that the group was perking up. “Ha-ha, Ms. Funnypants.”

  “Hey, hasn’t that van been following us since that gas station several miles ago?” Mariah asked suddenly.

  Jag frowned and checked his mirrors. “What van?”

  “That black one a few cars behind us, in the other lane.”

  He found it a second later. “I don’t think so. There’s a ton of vehicles going the same way. Are you still worried about us being followed after Vegas?”

  Mariah pouted. “Maybe.”

  Aari yawned and put his phone down. “This traffic is ridiculous. Hope it’s not this busy when we visit the Midway museum tomorrow.” A smile worked across his face. “I can’t wait to see that ship. We’re actually going to be on an aircraft carrier that saw action during the Vietnam War and Desert Storm.”

  “That’s all good, Aari, but I just found a Malaysian restaurant,” Kody said, looking up from his pamphlet, “and I can’t wait to get my satay fix.”

  Aari gasped in mock astonishment. “Food trumps an aircraft carrier?”

  “Only until my hunger’s gone,” Kody promised.

  “Mmhm . . . ” Aari reached out to turn on the radio. He shuffled through a few channels before landing on a talk show that caught the friends’ attention.

  “ . . . But does this mean we’ll see rising gas prices soon as well?” a gravelly-voiced man asked. “I mean, that’s how it tends to work, right? I don’t want to be driving to the studio one afternoon and get a heart attack ’cause gas shot up to ten bucks a gallon!”

  “I dunno,” joined another voice, a woman this time. “I think the main worry right now is food. The prices of bread and other grain products in some places have nearly doubled in the past two weeks alone. Had to do a double take at the baked goods section while doing groceries yesterday.”

  “Just a matter of time before we’re going to have to pay more for red meat too, then,” the man moaned.

  “Give up on meat!” the woman said. “Being vegan is a much healthier lifestyle.”

  “Hey, if I want to eat meat, I’ll eat meat. Besides, I heard that even San Joaquin Valley’s been hit hard. Hundreds of acres of fruits and vegetables, gone. And—hold on.”

  There was a moment of silence followed by the sound of shuffling papers on the radio as the group waited intently.

  When the male radio host spoke into the mic again, he sounded solemn. “We’ve just received some news and it ain’t good. Looks like whatever’s hitting our crops at home has spread to other parts of the world. Scattered reports are beginning to trickle in from farmers in Asia and Europe claiming substantial loss of crops.”

  “That’s not something we want to hear . . . I hope someone gets to the bottom of this real soon,” the woman muttered, “because if it doesn’t stop, things are gonna go south faster than you can say ‘What on God’s green Earth!’”

  The hosts soon moved on to other local happenings. Jag turned down the volume. “That’s not good,” he said darkly.

  “This crop disease or whatever it is that’s going around, has anything like this happened before?” Mariah asked.

  “Well, yeah,” Aari said. “But I don’t think it’s ever spread this wide or, for that matter, this quickly.”

  The traffic began to ease up at last. Jag stepped on the gas, relieved to be moving. They drove through the city, taking in the sights that zoomed by. It wasn’t long until they found their hotel and checked in. While Jag went to park in the basement, the others carried their bags to their rooms.

  Once they’d freshened up, they regrouped in the lobby and made their way back to the Jeep. They piled in, Aari beside Jag once again and Kody in between the girls in the back. “I guess we’re going to that restaurant you found, huh?” Jag asked as he passed Kody the GPS to key in the restaurant’s address.

  “No question,” Kody said.

  As Jag put the car in reverse to back out of the slot, the sound of tires screeching filled the underground parking. Alarmed, the friends turned to look through the rear window. A black cargo van was stopped right behind them, blocking their exit.

  Jag heard Mariah breathe in sharply. “Oh my God, it’s the same van I—” Her sentence ended in a scream when her door was thrown open and a figure clad all in black yanked her roughly out of the car. She struggled violently against her assailant but a rag was quickly pressed to her mouth and nose and she passed out almost instantly.

  At the same time, Tegan’s door was flung open, as was Aari’s. They were both pulled out of the vehicle by two more dark figures. Their cries for help were muffled by rags held up to their faces; they barely had any time to fight back. Jag watched in terror as they lost consciousness as well.

  “Jag, what—no!” Kody yelped as he in turn was pulled from the car.

  Jag moved to get out of the Jeep but stopped short when he saw an attacker headed to his side of the car. He thought of locking the door, but another idea came to mind. He braced himself, waiting until the assailant was close enough. From the build of the body, he could tell that the man was a regular gym rat.

  Jag hesitated, now unsure of himself and his plan. As the man reached for the door handle, the only thought he had was: Here goes nothing. Come on, you jerk.

  He lifted his feet and the moment his door was wrenched open
, he struck out at full force, catching the aggressor square in the stomach and throwing him back a good ten feet. Jag was out of the vehicle in an instant. He saw his friends’ limp forms being tossed through the rear door of the van like rag dolls. The girls were the last to be dumped in.

  With a roar of outrage, he leapt toward the van. Before he could get close enough, he heard what sounded like the muted report of a gun and felt something hit his back. He lurched forward with his arms outstretched to break his fall but found that he was weakening rapidly. He fell onto the concrete floor as his vision began to blur. His muscles wouldn’t respond to his will and he found himself a helpless, limp mass on the ground.

  A dark shape stepped in front of him. Heavy, rough hands grabbed him by the arms and dragged him up. Jag tried to fight, but the most he managed was a weak twitch of his fingers.

  He was shoved unceremoniously into the large vehicle, on top of his friends. The last thing he saw before blacking out was the back doors being slammed shut, blocking out any light from the outside.

  16

  Wake up, Jag.

  You must wake up.

  JAG!

  Jag groaned quietly as his eyes opened. He saw nothing but darkness. For a moment, he thought that he’d somehow lost his eyesight until his senses slowly started to function again. He could feel something wrapped around his head, covering his eyes. His arms were behind him and his wrists were wrapped in some kind of binding.

  Suddenly, whatever he was lying on rattled, bouncing him, and he let out another quiet complaint before realizing that he was swaying ever so slightly, as one would in a moving vehicle. Two male voices speaking softly to his right reached his ears. Jag could hardly make out what they were saying, but judged that the voices were coming from the driver and his passenger.

  Slowly, he began to recall the final moments before he’d lost consciousness. Oh, awesome, he thought bitterly. Kidnapped.

  He should have been scared, and rightly so, but he was irate, mainly at himself. Why had he dismissed Mariah’s concern when she pointed out the van earlier? Why hadn’t he reacted quicker to save the others from their attackers?