by C. C. Bolick
FEAR
DARKNESS
The Fear Chronicles Book 3
C.C. Bolick
FEAR DARKNESS
Copyright © 2020 by C.C. Bolick
Dirt Road Books
All Rights Reserved
ISBN 978-1-946-08922-9
Cover Design by Fiona Jayde Media
Edited by EbookEditingPro
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Books by C.C. Bolick:
Leftover Girl Series:
Leftover Girl
Secrets Return
Prison of Lies
Illusion of Truth
Fate of War
The Agency Series:
Run Don’t Think
Love Don’t Wait
Fight Don’t Fear
Heart of a Traitor
The Fear Chronicles:
Fear Justice
Fear Power
Fear Darkness
Fear Tomorrow
Fear Darkness
Rena Mason found fear and learned to control her powers. Now she plans to fight her way back inside the agency. Before she can save Travis, she learns he’s disappeared. Travis isn’t the only one missing; her dad and brother have been taken by Louis.
Travis Payne spent years searching for his dad. Now his first priority is keeping Rena safe. When Travis wakes up on the other side of the galaxy, he knows he can’t protect her. The only way for him to return is by helping a traitor he fears—if he can afford the price.
Aliens aren’t the only danger the agency faces. As Rena prepares to take down everyone who betrayed her, the only thing left to fear is the darkness her mama knows well…
Table of Contents
Characters
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Characters
Regina (Rena) Mason - Recent recruit to Earth Under Fire, has the power to start or stop a nuclear explosion, daughter of Agent Donald Mason, who worked for the agency before retiring to raise her
Travis Payne - Agent with four powers: can teleport, see the future, cause an earthquake by slamming his hands together, and burn a person’s skin with his touch
Earth Under Fire - U.S. agency that started as a Department of Defense project and now has bases worldwide. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, it was created to monitor humans with powers and protect the masses from those ‘gifted’ people with hostile intentions. Also monitors alien activity and keeps the public blissfully unaware of threats from space, specifically from a planet called Golvern.
Donald Mason - Rena’s dad and agent, left the agency for twelve years before returning to his job, has no powers
Alfie Mason - Rena’s eight-year-old brother
Rosanna Castillo - Rena’s mom, died three years ago in a car wreck, had nuclear powers like Rena, worked for the agency for a brief time before she disappeared eighteen years ago, only Donald Mason knew where she was
Louis Castillo - Rosanna’s husband at the time she disappeared eighteen years ago, is searching for Rosanna and determined to claim Rena as his daughter, obsessed with using nuclear bombs to keep governments of the world in check
Skip Greene - Agent with the ability to go into a ‘power-up’ mode where his brain acts like a computer allowing him to fight and react faster than normal humans, also has a photographic memory
Sylvia Greene - Director of the agency, Skip’s grandmother, has same power as Skip
Angel Greene (Lockhart) - Married to Skip, known as a vampire because of her power to control people, super-strength, ability to heal fast, and need to drink blood
Dr. Joel Greene - Skip’s father and psychologist for the agency, helps people with powers deal with their gifts
Jon Lockhart - Angel’s adopted dad, has power to erase memories and bring them back
Noah Payne - Travis’s father and Donald Mason’s old partner, disappeared twelve years ago
Erin Watts - Doctor from Chicago, came to the agency to interview for job of genetics specialist
Tyler Greene - Skip’s older brother; has same power as Skip, forced to leave Earth after betraying the agency during a gold heist
Rachelle Whitman - Grew up with Angel, has power to raise and lower the temperature, was sent to base at South Pole after freezing Atlanta and surrounding areas
Hannah - Former agent, held as a prisoner after betraying the agency, has ability to borrow powers
Senator Jeffrey McCall - U.S. Senator who ensures funding is appropriated for the agency, currently running for president
Agent Dallas - Previously an Air Force pilot, went to South Pole to help Rachelle deal with her power
Charlene Sanders - Forced to work as an agent at fifteen, has power to shoot with precision, lived as a human before being kidnapped and taken to Golvern more than twenty years before
Van Jauler - Commander of the prison on Golvern, wants to kill Noah Payne
For my mother
She’s the reason why I can
Chapter One
Rena
Erin took one last drag from the cigarette and tossed it on the ground. With the tip of her shoe, she smashed the red embers into the pavement. “That didn’t feel nearly as good as I thought it would.” She picked up the cigarette butt and threw it in the nearest trashcan.
I bit my lip to hide a grin. Most of the people I’d seen smoke would have tossed the butt without another thought. “How did you think it would feel?”
She shrugged. “Smoking was cool in high school, but now I understand why people quit.” Erin looked at the pack in her hand, which shook no matter how many times she pinched her arm. No, this wasn’t a dream. Only one cigarette was missing. She threw the pack into the trashcan. “So much for that fix.”
We were dancing around the subject of Tyler, the guy she’d loved in high school. As she stared through the windows of the restaurant, I knew he wasn’t far from her mind. At a table inside sat Angel and Skip. An hour ago, Erin found out Skip was Tyler’s younger brother. To her surprise, she also found out Tyler hadn’t died on an Army mission as she’d been told.
“Maybe we should go inside,” I said.
She hesitated. “Not sure I’m ready for this. I came to the agency to interview for the job of genetics specialist, not to find out the biggest secret of my life was no secret at all. I thought I was the only one who knew about Tyler’s powers.”
I shivered with the wind’s icy fingers and pulled my jacket close. “The agency knew about my powers long before I did.”
A loud boom came from the street and I jumped. “Was that a gunshot?” Glancing around, cars almost filled the restaurant’s parking lot. People approaching the door didn’t flinch, only walked inside.
“Sounded like a car backfired,” she said. “I’ve been to some bad parts of Chicago. I know the sound of gunfire.” Erin reached for my hand and turned up my palm. “You don’t seem scared.”
Not a trace of blue sparkled along my palm. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to blow us up. I’m in control, remember?”
“That’s what you keep saying.” She dropped my hand. “I cried for weeks after they told me Tyler died. Now I find out he’s still alive and he’s been working for a secret government agency. I also find out other people have powers—like you and Travis. Hundreds of powers exist as if this was some movie, not reality. On top of all that, Tyler has a younger brother who looks just like he did at eighteen. I swear it’s like looking at a ghost.”
“Tyler looks older now, but there’s no doubt they’re brothers.”
“You’ve seen Tyler? At the agency?”
“No. He betrayed the agency before I came to Atlanta. Sylvia made him leave the planet to keep from being tried and convicted as a traitor.”
“Did you say leave the planet?” Erin put a hand over mouth. “The Tyler I remember couldn’t hurt anyone, even if he wanted to. Despite the fact he looked like he should be playing in the NFL, he was the nicest guy I’ve ever met. What did he do that made him a traitor?”
I reached for her arm and pulled her toward the door. “You should hear this story from Skip.”
Without a sound, she followed me to the table in time for a waitress to lay a plate of sausage and gravy biscuits in front of Skip, along with a waffle and four strips of bacon. Skip had insisted we drive to this restaurant in a town twenty-five miles from their hotel. He didn’t want anyone from his team to see us.
Erin dropped into the chair across from Skip. “You must be Tyler’s brother. He’s the only one I’ve ever met who could eat enough for three and then order more an hour later.”
“Skip’s metabolism is off the chart,” Angel said. “He eats like a linebacker. This is normal for him.”
“Don’t make sports jokes,” Skip said. “You know how much I hate football.”
“You hate football and your dad loves it,” I said. “Makes sense I guess.”
Skip smiled. “My dad and I are nothing alike. Haven’t you figured that out yet?”
I laughed. “You two are a lot alike. You both belong at the agency.”
“And you don’t?” As Skip cut the waffle, he avoided Erin’s gaze. “With your power you deserve to be higher on the list than number five. I wonder if you’ve been reclassified since we left.”
Angel and Skip had been on a mission at a high school in Virginia for the last three weeks. Their job was to figure out why students were shifting into animals at night. Sylvia had insisted this paranormal mission demanded Angel’s gift, but I still believed she sent Angel and Skip away to punish me for not working harder to control my power.
“Please tell me you’re done with the mission.” I poked my fork into a patty of sausage and lifted it to my mouth. Beside me, Erin stared at Skip as if he was the only person in the room. Her silverware, still wrapped in a napkin, sat next to her plate. “I think we all need to get out of here.”
With a shake of his head, Skip took a bite of the waffle. “I’m not so sure. After breakfast, we need to think seriously about what’s going on here.”
What’s going on here? The agency was holding Travis in a room on the isolation floor, keeping him in a medically-induced coma so he couldn’t be a danger to the base. I thought of his body lying across that bed, fitted with tubes and electronics, dressed in a white outfit. It wasn’t right to keep him there. He’d helped me find my power twice; the second time I used my ability to fly and took control of my powers. When the agency needed me, I’d defused one of Louis’s bombs and saved the base from a nuclear explosion, along with the city of Atlanta and surrounding counties.
It wasn’t right for the agency to keep us apart. Travis gave me directions on how to escape the base and I’d used my first opportunity to run. He’d even left me the key to his Ferrari. At least he got to drive it once before giving it to me. I smiled as I thought of Travis planning my escape.
The smile died when I remembered the agency’s director, Sylvia Greene, was holding Travis hostage to teach him a lesson. Or teach me a lesson, I wasn’t sure.
Skip coughed and guzzled half his glass of water. “Go back over what Travis did. I want to hear the details about his conversation with Senator McCall and why Sylvia got so upset.”
I thought back to that day in the conference room when Louis insisted the agency bring me to his home in Spain. “Sylvia didn’t want to turn me over to Louis. At first, Senator McCall was against me going. When Travis argued we were out of options, Senator McCall showed him a picture of Louis’s house. As soon as Travis saw the house, he teleported me there.”
Angel lifted her glass of water and took a sip. She shuddered at the taste. “If what you say is correct, Travis went against Sylvia with Senator McCall’s urging. She shouldn’t be mad.”
“She looked ready to hit someone,” I said.
“Sylvia likes to be in control,” Angel said. “Senator McCall has power over the agency. Because he makes sure funding is appropriated, he has the final say. In case you didn’t catch on, she hates the senator. He’s not my favorite person either.”
“Or mine,” Skip said.
While we talked, Erin lifted her fork and picked at her food.
“I don’t get it.” Angel fixed her eyes on me. “Why hasn’t anyone from the agency come after Rena and Erin?”
Skip looked over me and Erin. “Maybe Sylvia doesn’t know where they went.”
Angel burst into laughter. “Do you honestly believe Rena was able to get out of that underground base without her knowing? She stole Travis’s car and drove all the way to Virginia, crossing three state lines, without anyone at the agency figuring it out? No way is that possible.”
With a shrug, Skip tried the biscuits. “What did Travis tell you before the coma?”
“Why put him in a coma?” Erin asked.
We all looked at her.
“They could have sedated him,” Erin said. “Why go to the trouble of putting him in a coma? It doesn’t make sense.”
“Sylvia ordering Travis put under is a show of power,” Angel said. “Several months ago, Travis almost died and ended up in a coma. No one thought he would wake up.”
Erin took a bite of her eggs and I felt relief. At least she wasn’t freaking out. “But he did.”
Skip nodded. “Angel’s blood has healing powers. By giving him a drop to drink, she saved his life and healed him from the inside.”
Erin’s eyes were huge. “A drop of blood?” She looked over Angel. “What are you?”
“She has powers like the rest of us,” I said. “They call her a vampire.”
Erin choked and I slapped her back. “Vampire? Are we talking the blood-drinking kind? That, I would like to see.”
Angel’s eyes glistened. “Trust me, you don’t want to see me drink blood.”
The table was quiet for several minutes. “She also has super strength,” I said. “And she can control people with her mind. Plus, there’s the power that allows her to live forever—”
“Forever is a long time,” Erin said.
“My real father was four hundred years old when he died,” Angel said. “He killed thousands of people throughout those years.”
“How did he die?” I asked. “No one ever told me.”
Angel lifted her glass and I wondered if she imagined blood instead of water. She sipped the water and placed the glass back on the table. “I killed him.”
“That’s it?” I asked. “I need more of this story.”
“Although my blood can save the lives of humans, it had the power to kill him. It was the only way he could die. In the end, he begged me to end his life.”
Erin gave her a skeptical look. “It didn’t bother you to kill him?”
Skip dropped his fork, which clanked on his plate. “She didn’t have a choice.”
I patted Erin’s arm. “In a few days, this will all seem normal.”
She turned to me. “Does this seem normal to you?”
“I can’t change the fact people have superhuman powers or that terrorists want to blow up the world. Three m
onths ago, all I wanted was to get out of the Florida town where I grew up. I never imagined me getting out would mean working for a secret government agency or that I would have the power to stop a nuclear bomb.”
“So, you just roll with it?” she asked. “No thoughts about the power this agency has or how they use it?”
“You interviewed for a job,” Skip said. “At any point did you think of going back home before the interview was over? Did anything make you stop and think, ‘hey this job might not be for me?’”
Erin shook her head. “Only when I talked to Rena. Sylvia came to Chicago and recruited me. She insisted my skills would be useful to the agency. She had confidence I could do the job. Also, she knew I could handle the weird part.”
Skip checked his phone. “The rest of the team is assembled for our morning meeting. We can’t avoid them for long.”
“You have a morning meeting like Sylvia?” I asked.
“Don’t go there,” Skip said.
Angel laughed. “He thinks it makes him look legit. Who else would believe we’re leading a team of agents when we’re barely out of high school?”
Skip held up his phone. “Time to go. Now.”
We all stood and walked out of the restaurant without a word. Skip and Angel wore their black agent suits, which brought stares from other customers. I still wore the blue jeans and white shirt from when we left the airport. Like me, Erin had no extra clothes. We’d both left the agency in a hurry and didn’t take time to pack a bag.
Outside, I approached the Ferrari and Skip grabbed my arm. “You can’t drive that. One of the other agents could recognize Travis’s car.”
“I can’t leave it here,” I said. “Travis would never forgive me for losing his car twice.” He’d only gotten the car back a few days before after a total rebuild. Because of me, he’d crashed the car into thirty feet of water.
“I’ll take care of the car later.” He pointed to where Angel opened the door to their SUV. “For now, you’re with us.”
