Fear Darkness (The Fear Chronicles Book 3)

by C. C. Bolick

  “I’ve had a plan for years. Don’t let him out of your sight.”

  I glanced at the young man who sat on the bed watching us. He was my age, maybe younger. “He’s locked in a cell. Why do I need to watch him?”

  The door opened and Pade entered. His face looked as if years had passed instead of hours. “Why are you still here?” he shouted at Dad. Emotions raged—pain, sorrow, anger. I knew all of those emotions.

  I felt every one of them as I thought of my mother in that cylinder. My stomach cramped and bile rose to my throat. I put a hand over my mouth to keep from puking.

  “I was giving Travis a tour of the prison. How is Agent Lockhart?”

  How could Dad act cool, as if the last two hours never happened?

  “He’s seeing a doctor,” Pade said. “I don’t think he’s ready to travel.”

  “A shame,” Dad said. “Travis and I will be leaving as soon as my ship is ready. We had damage from a run-in with one of those solar flares. The phenomenon seems to be getting worse.”

  Pade gave a slight nod. “I know we haven’t taken the time to get to know each other.”

  “You don’t trust me,” Dad said.

  “Have you given me a reason?”

  “Why does it matter if he trusts you?” I asked. “The only thing that matters is if the queen trusts you.”

  He and Pade stared at each other in silence. They seemed to be sizing each other up or issuing a challenge… Pade didn’t look away until after Dad turned to me.

  “There are many layers of politics here,” Dad said. “It’s impossible for me to explain.”

  “I’ve worked under Sylvia,” I said. “I understand politics.”

  “Right.” Dad squared his shoulders. “Do you need me to wait for Agent Lockhart? I can take him back to Earth—”

  “No,” Pade said. “My mother will take him home. I appreciate your help with bringing him here.”

  Dad held out his hand. “We’ve made a good first pass at teamwork.”

  Pade hesitated but shook his hand. I noticed Pade wore gloves and was careful not to touch Dad’s skin. Did he worry Dad might see his future?

  “I’ll be back.” Dad left the room before I could argue.

  Pade stood in silence as he watched the prisoner. The energy field popped and crackled, then hummed. He rubbed his chin as if deep in thought.

  “Are you okay?” I asked.

  “No,” he said. “Agent Lockhart came all this way… We were sure returning his memories would work.”

  “Will the queen be mad at you?”

  He looked at me with an intensity that made me back away. “I did this to help him. We’ve all done whatever possible to help her brother.” Pade took a step toward me. For every step he took, I backed up two.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  Could he hear my voice shake? “Sure.”

  Pade touched the handle of his gun. He straightened as he stared through the energy field. His eyes moved around the cell. Details—he was calculating every angle of the metal walls. Scanning for anything out of place.

  As a good agent, I should have been doing the same. Crackle, crackle was the only sound. When Pade faced me again, the intensity was gone, replaced by something less bitter. Warm, even if it was fake. The prisoner’s eyes bore into him.

  “What did you think about the training session?” Pade asked.

  “Training… session?” I stuttered.

  “Have you considered taking a job with us? Tyler seems to think you’d be great as one of the palace guards.”

  How could Pade change his attitude this quick? Suddenly we were best buds? “I’ll think about it, but I need to get back to Earth.”

  “Your girl, right? You want to get back to her.”

  The less he knew about Rena the better. “I’ve got to make sure she’s safe.”

  “Tyler said she has a power we’ve never seen.”

  “It’s nothing major.”

  “Tell me.”

  Why wouldn’t he leave it alone? “She can stop a nuclear bomb.”

  “That’s cool.” His fingers brushed against the gun. My heart pounded in my chest. “Have you seen Van lately?”

  “No.” I turned to face the prisoner.

  Out of the corner of my eye, Pade took a step toward me, his hand dangerously close to the gun. “If you see him, run.”

  “Got it.” Why did Dad leave me here?

  “Travis?”

  I turned as sweat trickled down my face. “Yes?”

  “Don’t forget about Angel.”

  “Yeah, no problem.” I patted the pocket near my shoulder. She’d get the coin as soon as I was back on Earth and out of this mess.

  Christian walked into the room holding an electronic tablet. Pade approached and reached for the tablet. They talked in Golvern’s language, words I couldn’t understand, and both left the room without looking back.

  I let out a breath of relief.

  The energy field hummed and the hairs on my arms rose. I moved to the field, until I stood close enough to touch the crackling white power that flowed between us.

  “You know who I am,” the prisoner said.

  I took a deep breath. “They called you Chadsworth.”

  “You want to know why I’m in here. I can see the question in your eyes.”

  I stepped back in shock. “You can’t know what I’m thinking.”

  “You’re thinking they have me locked in a cell, just like they had you locked away before your father rescued you.”

  “How do you—”

  “He told me how those humans captured you in the night when you were vulnerable and put you in a coma. They refused you the most basic right of defending yourself.”

  I couldn’t believe Dad told him stuff about me. “They thought I was a threat.”

  He laughed, a deep sound that made me shiver. “They attack where you’re most vulnerable—your mind—and you defend their actions.”

  “I used my powers when I should have known better.”

  He stood and walked to the energy field. “You know what it feels like to be in a cell. And for what purpose? To keep their planet safe? To keep you from harming their people? Are you a killer?”

  “Are you?”

  A light flickered in his blue eyes, the same blue as the queen. “Your answer will depend on who you ask. I didn’t choose to get on the queen’s bad side.”

  Where was Dad? This situation was coming apart faster than the night the agency trapped me. “She wants her brother back.”

  “The queen will do anything in her efforts to make this planet over with her vision, even doom our future.”

  “I don’t care about your politics. I want to go home.”

  “You have your mother’s eyes. You miss her.”

  My anger burned. “You don’t know anything about me.”

  “By now your father has told you who I am. If you help me escape, I’ll make sure you get back to Earth.”

  I considered his words. “They have you locked in a cell. Why should I trust anything you say?”

  “Why should you trust anything they say? Did you choose to come to this planet?”

  “No.”

  “Have they offered to take you home?” When I didn’t reply, he said, “I’ve heard about your powers.”

  My heart pounded faster. I could only pray Dad didn’t tell him everything.

  “Your deadly touch and your ability to make the ground move, in addition to the two powers you inherited from Golvern.”

  Why would my father tell this crazy man about my powers? Paleris was the last person I wanted knowing anything about me.

  “There’s a panel to your right, along the wall. Open it and cut the gold wire.”

  I controlled my voice. “That doesn’t sound hi-tech. You think cutting a wire will overcome the technology that keeps you in here?”

  “As technology advances, so does the ability to overcome it. Sometimes the method used to overcome i
t gets simpler. People learn about technology here, but they forget about the basic workings of an electrical circuit. Cutting that wire will kill power to the field.”

  Nothing about this felt right. I didn’t have a fight to pick with any of these people. I just wanted to go home. But the chance to see my mother again… all it would take was gaining his trust…

  The trust of a killer no one at the agency was able to fight. I turned to leave and he yelled after me, “What about your girlfriend?”

  I froze.

  “You want to get back to her. You want her freed from the agency’s hold. I have experience in fighting their agents.”

  I spun around. How could he know about the agency’s claim on Rena unless Dad told him?

  The door opened and Dad walked in. “Figure out how to break him out yet?”

  “Panel to the left,” I said. “Cut the gold wire. What did you tell him about Rena?”

  Instead of answering, Dad walked to the panel and pulled a screwdriver from his pocket. He removed five screws and opened the panel. Next, he tapped the end of the screwdriver and it morphed into a cutter. With one snip, he cut the wire.

  The field faded. Paleris stepped out and put a hand on Dad’s shoulder. “Thank you, old friend.” He dropped down on his knees below the panel. He felt along the wall until satisfied. “Cut the metal here.”

  Dad tapped the end of his tool and it morphed into a blowtorch the size of my hand. He knelt beside the wall and a tiny light shot out, so bright I had to turn away. When I looked back, Dad had cut out a square large enough for us to crawl through.

  “I’m not going in there,” I said. “I don’t want to die in the walls of this prison.”

  “Four floors down and we’re out,” Dad said. “If you stay here, they’ll shoot you when they realize he’s gone.”

  “You’re setting me up,” I said.

  “No, I’m setting us free.” He climbed into the panel and Paleris followed. I thought about someone seeing me in this empty cell, maybe shooting. I didn’t want to spend years trapped in this prison. Of all people, I thought of Van. He’d laugh if he could see me.

  I crawled into the panel, which was wider than I thought. It was an access tunnel for the station’s electronics. I gripped a ladder with rungs that looked like spokes on a bicycle wheel. They held my weight as I climbed down.

  At the bottom, Dad reached for my hand through a door to the access tunnel. His ship sat across the wide hanger.

  “Where is he?” I asked.

  “Already on the ship and no one is the wiser.”

  “This feels wrong, Dad. I don’t see how we can—”

  “Justify it? I’ll do the justifying for both of us.” He grabbed my arm and teleported us to the ship. Paleris sat at the control panel, already punching in coordinates.

  “Did you make the alterations?” Paleris asked.

  “Everything you suggested,” Dad said.

  He looked at me and I sank into a seat near the back of the ship. When he smiled, I found it hard to believe this young man was Paleris.

  “What did Pade say before he left?” Dad asked.

  I gripped the armrests. “That he wanted me to join the queen’s guard.”

  “Is that all?”

  “He wanted to know about Rena. I said as little as possible. I don’t think he believed anything I said.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Dad said. “We’ll be gone before he can figure out what happened.”

  “Firing our engine now.” Paleris leaned over the control panel.

  “I don’t trust Pade,” I said.

  “Smart boy,” Paleris said.

  The ship rose from the landing deck and shot into space. “We’re clear to the gateway.”

  Instead of sitting at the panel next to Paleris, Dad sat by me. He winked when Paleris wasn’t looking. A message, maybe. Years ago, Dad did this to show me everything would be okay.

  “I thought Pade might shoot me.”

  “Go with your gut,” Dad said. “If Pade feels the need, he’ll shoot you and ask questions later. Don’t forget that.”

  “You don’t think he really wants me for the guard? I think we’d kill each other first.”

  Dad cleared his throat. “Like I said, you don’t know the politics. Let’s get out of here.”

  I shrugged away from him. “Sounds like teamwork is the last thing on your agenda.”

  He nodded and I stared at the colors looming on the screen. At this point, I wouldn’t argue. I’d get to Earth, lose Dad and Paleris, and find Rena. If only my powers would return.

  The colors—yellow, blue, green—spun like a whirlpool, intensifying as we approached. I’d almost forgotten I’d have to die to get home.

  I was getting good at dying.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Rena

  While the doctors checked Bethany’s vitals, I walked to Alfie’s room, which was at the other end of the med-level hall. Dad stayed by the door to her room, his eyes never leaving Bethany’s still form.

  My brother sat in a hospital bed talking to the boy in the chair next to him, Samuel. Skip’s younger brother had befriended Alfie when we first arrived at the base. Alfie’s voice rose and fell with excitement as he described his adventure while Samuel looked on with wide eyes.

  Standing inside the door was Dr. Greene, Samuel’s dad. Along with being one of the agency’s psychologists, his job was to make sure people with powers had a voice, while monitoring our sanity. No one was destroying the planet on his watch.

  “What happened after the fight?” Samuel asked.

  Alfie looked up. “Hey, Rena.” He opened his arms and I hugged him tight, almost falling into the bed with him.

  “I missed you,” I said.

  “Missed you too,” he said. “Thanks for saving us.”

  “Or crashing the party,” Samuel said. “From what I hear—”

  Dr. Greene slapped the back of his son’s head. “That’s enough.” He looked at me. “Going to the senator took guts. I don’t know how this will end, but I’m proud of you for doing what you thought was right.”

  “I made a mess of things,” I said.

  He shook his head. “Before you ran from the base, I told you there was no way out. You proved me wrong.”

  “Yet here I am.”

  “I left this agency thirty years ago. Yet here I am.”

  I laughed and he put an arm around my shoulders. I turned and hugged him. Maybe this wasn’t how I should treat the person keeping tabs on my mental health, but he was more than someone to look after me. He’d welcomed me and Alfie into his close circle of family and friends.

  Before coming to the agency, I had no family other than Dad and Alfie. Now I had more people to care about than I could count on both hands. What happened to the anger I felt the day I ran?

  Dr. Greene pulled away. “You look tired. When is the last time you had a full night’s sleep?”

  “When I lived in the camper.”

  “That would be a problem.”

  “I don’t have time for problems right now.”

  “Make time for your problems or your problems will take more time from you.” He raised his voice. “Come on, Samuel. Let Rena have a moment with her brother.”

  Samuel stood and left the room. Although Dr. Greene closed the door, I knew Samuel waited in the hall.

  Alfie looked up with a grin. “Last time we were here, it was you in the bed.”

  “There are enough beds on this floor to go around.”

  “That was a crazy adventure,” Alfie said. “I finally got to leave the country and go on a spy mission. I can’t wait until I’m old enough to train as an agent like Travis.”

  “That wasn’t a mission. You were kidnapped.”

  Alfie shook his head. “Dad said we were safe as long as I kept my mouth shut and didn’t touch any guns or anything electronic.”

  “You did good. Everyone got back safe.”

  “Except for Louis. Did you really
think he was your dad?”

  “I wasn’t sure.”

  “What happened to him?”

  “Some of the agents stayed behind, but I’m not sure what they have planned for Louis.”

  Alfie reached for my hand and his eyes glimmered with a sadness he hadn’t shown since Mama died. “It was her, Rena. The woman with us. Bethany. I think she was Mama.”

  “I’m not—”

  “I know you can’t tell me. Or won’t. You’re always so worried about protecting me.”

  “Someone has to worry about you.”

  “There’s lots of people here to worry.”

  I smiled. “Were you worried after you left the base?”

  “I knew Dad would protect us. He went undercover to figure out where Louis is getting his weapons.”

  My smiled died. “How do you know?”

  “I’m not dumb. I hear what people say.”

  “Okay, okay.” I raised my hands. “Where are his weapons coming from?”

  “Space,” he shouted and made flying motions with his hands.

  “That’s not funny.”

  “He’s talking to the aliens. That’s how Louis is getting his bombs.”

  How did Alfie get the idea Louis knew anything about aliens? I thought of my visit with Van—Louis had technology that wasn’t made on Earth. Van insisted on figuring out how he got the weapons and then left me at the South Pole. If Van was so intent on keeping me safe, where was he?

  Did Dad know the weapon connection before going to Spain? Maybe the whole base? There were missions when he and Travis refused to give me classified information. Meetings I couldn’t attend. I knew they were hiding things about Louis no one thought I should know; maybe they thought I couldn’t handle the truth.

  “You should rest,” I said.

  “I’m not the only one.”

  I squeezed Alfie’s hand and turned to leave.

  “Where are you going?” he called.

  “To see Bethany.”

  “You mean Mama.”

  “I don’t know that yet, but I plan to find out.”

  * * * * *

  At the door to Bethany’s room, Dad still watched in silence.

  A doctor came to the door and motioned for us to step inside. “It looks like Miss Kruger’s in a coma based on her lack of response to stimuli. Her vitals are normal but her brain activity is all over the map. We need more testing to determine a prognosis. When we have answers, you’ll be the first to know.”