by C. C. Bolick
I pulled together every ounce of power and shoved it at the neutrons, sending the particles skipping across the spectrum and colliding with atoms until my entire view was filled with explosions. The explosions wrapped around the mini-sun like the warmth of a hug and slapped against the tide of explosions from Mama’s side. The colors merged into a blinding white light that covered the sun and faded from existence as if I’d never called to a neutron.
“Success,” Mama said. “Goodbye for now.”
“Wait, where are you going?”
“Not me. You.”
The scene at the lake faded, replaced by the searing pain of fire crawling up my legs. Alarms screamed, too many to count and I tried to shake off the fire. Ahead of me, Van fought the panel as if the buttons were an enemy and Agent Dallas leaned over as if she couldn’t catch her breath.
Yes, I needed to breathe. As soon as I took a breath of the heat, my lungs burned. Tears ran down my face.
Rachelle jumped to her feet. The ship no longer shook, which meant maybe we’d stopped the flares. Which didn’t seem to matter since we were all about to die. She held out her hands, her face tight with concentration. Her power… She could stop the heat.
A chill flowed through the air and calmed my burning skin. The fire disappeared. Van said something that sounded like “she was right.” He backed the ship away from the sun and Agent Dallas scrambled to follow his orders.
Rachelle fell to her knees and then face-first onto the black glass at our feet. Agent Dallas glanced back as Van shouted commands and hit buttons faster than I could follow. His only focus was getting us away from the sun.
I dropped on my knees next to Rachelle. Her eyes were closed and her breathing… I wasn’t sure if she was breathing. With tears streaming down my face, I lifted her body back onto the seat. The ship turned and a picture of Earth came on the screen. We flew at a breakneck speed, faster than when we traveled to the sun.
Agent Dallas turned around only once more, long enough for me to see the tears in her eyes. Van never turned around.
I cradled Rachelle’s head in my lap until we reached the base.
Chapter Sixteen
Travis
I didn’t sleep after seeing Rosanna. I cleared the call log on the cell phone and placed it back on the kitchen table. In the living room, I laid across the couch until light poured in from the morning sun.
During that time, no noises came from within the house or outside. Not even Dad’s pet drone made a sound. When I sat up on the couch, the drone watched me from one corner of the room. I tossed the blanket over the drone, but a yellow light flashed through the fabric.
This house gave me the creeps. I laughed when I remembered Dad won the island in a card game. A whole freaking island. I stretched my legs and thought of my bed back at the agency. Home. I pictured myself in my bedroom but nothing.
No powers yet.
The door to the kitchen opened. Paleris and Louis walked through with plates of food. I didn’t recognize anything on their plates, which meant I probably had no business eating it. Just who was Louis and where was he from? They didn’t look at me as they headed for the room with the guns.
Paleris’s war room. Dad walked through a moment later and pointed to the door. “Going in to hear their plans? I’m sure Paleris has found the most efficient way to kill everyone on the planet by now.”
“Thought I’d look for a way out of here,” I said.
“Haven’t you already found a way out of here? I thought you were an agent.”
“And I thought you were going to level with me.”
Dad smiled. “No time for honesty this morning. Perhaps after lunch. Don’t leave the property.”
We were on an island. Where did he think I’d go? “Are you going to listen in on their conversation? Maybe help them blow up the world? Or stop them?”
He checked his watch. “Just killing time.” Dad entered the war room and closed the door behind him.
I laid my head back on the couch. How was I going to get back to Rena? Not only that, I had to stop a madman from killing every human while my father killed time.
Or maybe not. Dad could see the future. Did he know Paleris would fail? Either way, debating this wasn’t getting me back to Atlanta. I considered entering the room and listening to their scheme, but I knew how that conversation was probably going. It involved money, truckloads of weapons, and pitting at least two governments against each other.
World domination in a nutshell. Dad’s calm demeanor was starting to bother me almost as much as Paleris’s drive to destroy Earth. Paleris hated humans. So what? We had freaks here who wanted to wipe out everyone on the planet. People like the agents I worked with were the first line of defense.
Rosanna was right. I trained as an agent and it was time to start acting like one.
I walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge. Nothing I wanted to eat, but I did need food if I wanted to fight my way out of here. I took a few bites of what looked like sausage. Nope. Even the boiled eggs didn’t taste like eggs.
The drone dog slammed against my legs. I glanced down and it held a box between two of its arms. Claws gripped the box that was about the size of… I grabbed the box and opened the lid. A laser sat inside.
Good thing I had a brush with laser training. I paused as I held the laser which was lighter than the gun I usually carried. Since Dad could see the future, was he playing some kind of game? Maybe he wanted to see how far I’d get if I ran.
At least now I had a way to defend myself. The drone watched me with purple eyes. Unable to think of anything else, I patted its head and the drone hovered to a corner and powered down.
Now I knew why Dad always had the best toys for us to play with before he disappeared. Those computerized drones weren’t just experimental human technology. They were alien technology. I thought about what it would have been like growing up on the other planet, surrounded by technology.
I slid the laser into my pants and walked outside, down the steps, and into the sunshine. The path where I’d tripped the night before held no danger now. I walked to the ship and then beyond until I reached a beach area. A view of the ocean stretched around me.
I pulled out the laser and fired it at a palm tree down the beach. A red beam hit the tree and it disintegrated. I wondered what this setting would do to a person.
Dad said something about traps. I examined the sand between me and the ocean, but found nothing out of place. Just a beach with sand and the normal moss and shells that washed up on a beach. Not to mention trash. I sat on a stretch of sand untouched by the morning’s waves. I’d stay here until I got my powers.
Or someone found me. In that case, I’d shoot first and ask questions later.
* * * * *
The sun was high above me when I heard a woman’s voice.
“Glad you took my advice.”
I glanced up at Rosanna’s transparent form. “You were right. I’m an agent and I’ll get out of here.”
“Why didn’t you try the ship?” she asked. “You could be halfway across the galaxy by now. At least to Atlanta.”
“I’d have to fly it and I don’t want to die today.”
“You think you might?”
“I don’t want to take the chance.”
She sat down next to me on the sand. A wind blew, causing the collar of my black shirt to flap. Not an inch of her form moved. “Regina flew into space with Van, to the sun. I helped her stop the solar flares.”
My heart pounded as I watched Rosanna. “Is she okay?”
“Regina is fine. Her friend is suffering. When the ship’s thermal protection failed, she made the ship cold to save them all.”
“Rachelle. Damn. I missed all of that?”
“We stopped the flares, so your phone should work better now.”
“Tell me you didn’t let them send Rena to the sun so I could get Sylvia on the phone.”
“No, but I was curious to know if we could affect the
sun. It was quite a large-scale event. Without combining our powers, calming the magnetic field would not have been possible for either of us.”
“Calming the magnetic field with a nuclear power… who dreamed up that scheme?”
“As far as I can tell, Senator McCall. Sylvia fought against him, but I can’t stop wondering where he got the idea.”
“Wait ’til I see that man again.”
She glanced around. “Why are you sitting on a beach?”
“As soon as my powers return, I’m out of here. Dad says I have less than twenty-four hours.”
“We don’t have time for you to sit here and wait for your powers to return.”
Time? She was starting to sound like Dad. “I thought we agreed there’s no way off the island.”
“You’ve got to stop the man with Louis.”
“They’re plotting like any other nut jobs bent on world domination. I don’t know which of them is crazier. Please tell me Louis and Rena aren’t—”
“They’re not,” she said. “If the agency ever forced Regina into using her powers in a deadly way, I planned to use Louis as leverage. He would have followed Bethany to the ends of the Earth believing she was me.”
“Was she you?”
“Yes, but that’s not the point. I used Louis like he used my power to threaten governments years ago. I could still use him if necessary. The person I’m worried about is the man plotting with him.”
Rosanna’s lack of feeling over using Louis surprised me. Maybe she was a better agent than I’d realized. “He plans to use his alien technology to turn Earth into a war zone.”
She nodded. “He’ll kill you if he gets the chance. I heard him tell Louis you were in the way of his plans.”
Next to me a white shell glittered, half-hidden in the sand. I wiped away the sand and dug out the shell. “That’s just what I wanted to hear.”
“He’s not alone.”
“What do you mean?”
“When I took over Bethany’s mind, I had control of her body. This young man has someone else inside his head. An evil presence is forcing him to plan this destruction.”
“He wants to blow up the planet,” I said. “The evil presence is called Paleris.”
She stared at the rise and fall of the ocean. “That name sounds familiar.”
Could she smell the salt in the air or did she rely on memory? The drone pet was creepy, but sitting beside a dead woman made me wonder if I’d been too quick to pass judgment. “He’s the same man who took Charlene from the agency more than twenty years ago. No one could fight him.”
Her transparent face twisted into a grimace. “That man can’t still be alive.”
“He died, but he took over the body of another person to live longer. The younger man is the brother of the queen of Golvern. If she dies, he could take over.”
“I thought politics were bad here,” she mumbled.
“Can you stop Paleris? Maybe give him a boot out of the head he’s taken over?”
“Other than Regina, I’ve only been able to enter the mind of someone in a state of rest. An alert, active brain emits a strong barrier I can’t cross.”
“He’s got to sleep sometime.” She went silent and I glanced at the empty spot next to me.
“You were warned, boy.”
Boy? At the edge of the path stood Paleris, with a hardened face that wasn’t any older than mine.
“He can’t see me.” Rosanna appeared and waved a ghost-like hand in front of his face. “That’s one advantage at least. I’ll see what I can do.” She faded and I wanted to call her back, but I also couldn’t let Paleris know I was talking to anyone.
“Your father doesn’t have the guts to do what he should have years ago.” A laser appeared in his hand that he pointed at me. “I’ll take care of his weakness.”
Dad appeared behind Paleris and held up his own laser.
Paleris laughed. “You would shoot me, old friend?”
“If you shoot my son, yes I would. He’s all I have left.”
“Except for your wife.”
Dad didn’t waver. “Even if she lived again, she’d never look at me if I let our son die.”
Paleris lowered his laser. “Only he who masters regret masters the universe.”
“I’ve got something to show you at the house,” Dad said. “A solution to your problem.”
“You saw my future,” Paleris said. “You knew I didn’t plan to shoot.”
“No,” Dad said. “I knew I did.”
They walked up the path toward the house. I looked around for Rosanna, but she was gone. I called her name until my throat hurt.
Only the wind answered.
* * * * *
By dark my powers hadn’t returned. I’d stowed the laser under thick brush between the house and ship, off the path, placing a marker so I could find it in the dark if needed. When my powers returned, I could call for it with only a thought.
I sat on the couch as Louis paced the room while barking orders into his cell. Paleris sat next to me. Between us he held a gun pointed at me. A real gun this time, not a laser. Like Charlene, this man had the power to make a perfect shot every time. Where he wanted the bullet to go, it followed. His finger twitched where he gripped the trigger and I wondered if he’d use a kill shot or make this painful.
Dad was gone—where he didn’t say. Which suited me fine. During my afternoon stuck in this house with two black-hearted monsters, I listened as they debated the best way to end life on Earth. Quick… painful… all-inclusive. Neither could determine the optimal method. Their argument made me laugh at one point. Paleris gave me a glare and I stared at the collage of drawings on the opposite wall. If only I had one of those flying machines to get me out of here.
Louis wanted to blow up the entire U.S., but only after getting Rena back. I wanted to say his plan was useless. He’d never make Father of the Year in her eyes. I doubted if Paleris cared if Rena was saved or not.
Paleris would probably write Louis off as a business expense the moment he no longer needed someone with knowledge of how to fight Earth’s governments. According to Louis, the best way was to let them fight each other. I couldn’t disagree.
In ten hours, they’d fire a nuclear warhead at the U.S. and broadcast China’s claim of responsibility. They would ensure the world saw this as a legitimate attack and World War III would begin. The missile would carry China’s signature and its launch path would be traced to a small island off China’s coast. It sounded too easy and probably was with their access to technology.
“This entire planet will be at war,” Paleris said. “When I tire of watching the humans destroy themselves, I’ll finish off the wretched species.”
Louis hung up his phone and gave Paleris a grim look. Was he feeling the heat now? Maybe he regretted this alliance.
“It doesn’t matter if everyone on this planet dies?” I asked Louis.
“As long as Regina lives,” he said. “Paleris has promised us a home on his planet and a prominent place in that government.”
Which made no sense if Paleris hated humans. He’d probably kill Louis and Rena before they reached the gateway. Now probably wasn’t the best time to challenge his plans. “I need some air.”
Both men stared at me.
“I’ve heard enough about killing the planet,” I said. “It’s getting old. Quit talking and get it over with.”
Paleris lifted the gun and pointed it at my head. “If you’re ready to die, I can speed up the process.”
“I need air,” I yelled at him. “I need a place to think outside of this house. It’s like an oven in here.”
“Don’t you care if everyone on this planet dies?” Paleris asked.
“For once, I’m with Louis. As long as Rena lives, I don’t care what happens to anyone else.”
He lowered the gun, seemingly impressed. “Get your air but go no farther than the ship.”
I groaned and made sure both heard my frustration. Jumping
to my feet, I stomped out of the room, through the kitchen, and down the stairs. I let out a sigh when I reached the ground. A tirade of anger was one language they both understood.
Rain fell in huge drops and I thought of the vision from my coma when it rained. The cold water trailing down my face represented how I felt. There was no way out of this.
My father was a traitor to both Earth and Golvern. He’d sent weapons to Louis to torment Rena. He’d brought me back here with a killer who had control over my mother. Paleris would never trust either of us. He’d never give Dad the code to get Mom out of the cylinder. As much as I loved my mother, she died eighteen years ago.
She was still dead. If I wanted to save the other people I cared about, I’d have to let go of this dream of saving her. A week ago, I didn’t know this dream existed.
I could only hope Rena would forgive me for getting involved in an interstellar conflict.
When I found the laser and held it in my hand, I thought about Dad. He’d left me here, which wasn’t a surprise, but why leave me with a laser? Unless he wanted me to shoot Paleris.
I glanced up at the house. The living room window glowed. Maybe he’d realized this bargain with Paleris was a dead-end game. Killing Paleris would stop the destruction, even if he took me with him.
Maybe this was how I was supposed to die. I ran back to the house but stopped when I noticed Paleris stood at the base of the stairs. Rain drenched his clothes, but his smile never wavered.
“If you refuse to help me, you’ll never see your mother alive again.”
“She died years ago,” I said. “You didn’t take her from me.”
“But I control her future.”
“She wouldn’t want you to hold power over me or my father. Bringing her back isn’t worth the price you’re asking.”
The gun from earlier appeared in his hand. “Your father has told me your power to see the future will be stronger than his. I’m prepared to overlook your human blood if you’re willing to help me retake Golvern.”
“You hate humans.”
