The Twelfth Keeper Boxed Set: Books 1-3

by Belle Malory

  Gowan glanced up from the virtual map he’d been studying. “What, er, exactly is ish time?”

  A sly smile played at Gabby’s lips as she glanced over her shoulder to answer his question. “When you tell someone from Campeche to meet you at seven, to them that means sevenish.”

  Lexie rolled her eyes at that, but then again, she remembered what living in a remote part of the world was like. The farm in the south of Wales where she’d grown up was about as small town as it got. People were generally more relaxed, they didn’t adhere to strict schedules, and time sort of stood still. A much simpler way of living.

  Stars, what a different life that was. So much had changed over the years it now seemed like a distant dream. The simple act of being here, standing on Earth’s soil again and breathing in the fresh air was something she’d badly missed. So what if the driver was late. Who cared if it was as hot as balls. She was back on Earth. Nothing else mattered.

  A giant mosquito landed on her arm, spoiling the moment. Brilliant. She swatted the beast away.

  Moments later, the air cooled. Lexie stopped sweating, her whole body relaxing under the sudden shift. Even the mosquito left her alone.

  Hoshu threw his arms around Gabby, hugging her. “I knew we brought you for a reason.”

  “Apart from me being the only one that knows the area and can speak fluent Spanish?” Gabby asked.

  “Who cares about that when you’re a walking air conditioner?”

  Lexie smiled gratefully. “Thanks, Gabs.”

  “Yes, it’s loads better,” Gowan added.

  This particular mission was meant for Earth keepers, and they were all here. Lexie shared a circle with Gowan and Hoshu, but Gabby was an air keeper. She resembled a graceful swan surrounded by a pack of farm animals. A hilarious image, but not far off the mark. Earth keepers were built with sturdy bodies, thick necks, and strong jawlines. All three of them had tanned, somewhat ruddy complexions with dark brown hair and wholesome earthy-hued eyes.

  Gabby, on the other hand, was petite with long bluish-black hair and eyes that reminded Lexie of billowing smoke. A thin white scar marked her left cheek, disappearing into her hairline, but it oddly enhanced her ethereal beauty.

  “Here comes the van.” Gabby jumped up from the curb, dusting off her legs.

  Hoshu pulled his backpack off the ground, slinging it over his shoulder, and Gowan pressed a button on his brace, collapsing the map into nothing. A rusty beige van pulled up a few seconds later, the brakes squealing loudly as it came to a stop.

  “No, AC, sorry,” the driver told them as he hopped out of the van. “Es broken.”

  “It’s okay,” they said in unison.

  Lexie lifted herself up, taking a seat in the front passenger’s side. Hoshu and Gabby followed in next, settling into the back, and the driver slid the door shut behind them.

  “What the devil—” Lexie glanced down, feeling something sharp pecking at her calf. “A bloody chicken?” she screeched.

  The driver got in on his side, picking the chicken up and placing it into Lexie’s lap. “Es Pablo,” he said, followed by something in Spanish.

  An eruption of giggling came from the back of the van. Lexie turned to see Gabby covering her mouth with her hand.

  “He said you took his seat,” she explained.

  “The chicken’s seat?”

  She nodded. Both Gowan and Hoshu smirked too; clearly the lot of them thought it was hilarious.

  The driver pressed a button on the dash, yelling vamos! Then he banged on it a few times for good measure. The engine rumbled to life, and salsa music exploded from the speakers.

  “Do I have to hold him the whole time?”

  “Ye chose to sit up front, lass,” Gowan yelled over the music, his Scottish brogue more pronounced.

  Lexie glanced down at the chicken in her lap, wide-eyed. It started to flap its wings. She tucked the chicken between her arm and her chest, holding the legs between her fingers. Her family had always kept hens, preferring to cook eggs fresh from their henhouse to store bought, and holding the chicken in her lap brought back a wave of nostalgia.

  “How far away is this place anyway?” Hoshu called out. “And what’s the name of it again?”

  “The name of our hotel is Casa del Sol,” Gowan replied, “It’s about twenty miles outside of Ryder’s land.”

  “So what’s the game plan?” Lexie asked.

  The van bounced over a bump in the road; the chicken squawked, ruffling its feathers. You better not poop on me.

  Gabby leaned forward in her seat. “There’s a Mayan village bordering the edge of the land. I say we go there first, see if anyone knows anything, and then start scouting the land.”

  “How do we get there? Did DOE get us our own vehicle?”

  “There’s an ATV rental company next to the hotel. The roads don’t venture into the village, and it’s not safe for cars. It’ll probably take us a good three to four hours to get there.”

  Someone had mentioned that the majority of Campeche was covered in low tropical rainforest. Lexie hoped the villagers knew something. If not, finding the gemstone would quickly become a needle-in-a-haystack dilemma.

  She glanced down at her brace, noting the time. “It’s getting late. Let’s head out tomorrow morning so we can make it back before dark. Getting stuck in the rainforest after dark doesn’t sound like my idea of fun.”

  “Agreed,” Gowan replied.

  They each settled into their seats; it was going to be a long drive. Gabby tried to strike up a conversation about politics with Gowan, but he fell asleep during one of her longer rants, and so she powered up a game of virtual sudoku on her brace. Hoshu was spread out across the backseat reading, and the driver whistled to his music as the van bumbled along the Mexican countryside.

  Lexie was happy for the moment of solitude, choosing to stare out her window, appreciating Mother Nature in all her glory. Watching the rolling hills pass by, the blur of trees contrasting against the bright blue sky, smelling the richness of earth all around her, all brought on an innate peacefulness. Visiting Earth always gave her this feeling, like coming home. Although it wasn’t her family’s farm, being down here still felt more like home than Olympus ever could. The space station’s cold exteriors and starry views got old fast, never a cool winter breeze or a rainy day to put a spin on their surroundings. The earthy, animal scents she associated with home were nonexistent up there. It truly was like living in a box, and she was unsure how she’d been doing it for so long. Being the Earth keeper she was, it seemed to go against her very nature.

  The time passed quickly, and a little over an hour later, the van came to a stop in front of a small one-story brick hotel with vines covering the front walls. A café was attached to the hotel, tables and chairs spread out across the front patio. Lexie’s stomach growled at the thought of food. None of them had eaten since leaving Olympus.

  “Wake up, Gowan,” Gabby said, nudging the sleeping giant. “We’re here.”

  He yawned, rubbing his eyes. “Already? Felt like I just dozed off for a few minutes.”

  Lexie lifted Pablo from her lap, who was surprisingly calm for a chicken, and stretched out her arms to hand him back to the driver. “Here’s your amigo back.”

  The driver said something in Spanish, Gabby translating for him. “Pablo isn’t his friend. He’s selling him to the owner of a taquería. By tonight he’ll be someone’s dinner.”

  The driver’s mouth spread into a wide snaggletooth grin. Lexie stared back at him, horrified. She quickly tightened her grip around the chicken, clutching him to her chest. “Come on, Pablo. I’m taking you with me.”

  The driver started to protest; she tossed him a few globals, an amount she imagined was far more than he would’ve fetched from the taquería owner. The driver stopped yelling and thanked her profusely.

  Hoshu said, “And what are we supposed to do with a chicken?”

  “I don’t know,” she snapped. “He’ll just h
ave to tag along.”

  ~ ~

  Later that night, after checking in to the hotel, Lexie met the other keepers for dinner in front of the café. The hotel owner’s wife, Aranza, was the chef—and a good one too. She brought more food than they could ever possibly eat, loading their table full of tamales, enchiladas, tortillas con queso, horchata, and a bottle of red wine with no regard to checking their IDs. She even brought a handful of seeds for Pablo.

  Aranza’s five-year-old daughter, Noeli, played out front while they ate. She asked Lexie something in Spanish while kneeling down to pet Pablo.

  “She wants to know if he’s your pet,” Gabby said.

  Lexie turned to face the cute little girl. “Yes, but you can have him as long as you promise not to cook him for dinner.”

  Gabby translated, and Noeli beamed.

  “Mamá!” Noeli shouted, picking up the clucking chicken, and running off to find Aranza.

  “Good call, suckering in the little girl,” Hoshu said dryly.

  Lexie stuck out her tongue at him.

  The wine helped them all to relax. Gowan, who was normally very serious, loosened up, joking and laughing with everyone over dinner. Lexie couldn’t remember the last time she’d smiled so much, the last time everyone wasn’t so stressed by the recent events. The Sae-yer attack had put a bleak, almost deafening effect on the keepers, DOE, and everyone in Olympus.

  “How is everyone doing? Bien?” Aranza asked, coming by to check on them. She leaned over the table to light the candle in the middle, the sun setting fast on the horizon.

  “The food is wonderful. Thanks,” Lexie replied, rubbing the fullness of her stomach.

  “Glad to hear it, and thank you for Noeli’s chicken.”

  “You’re doing me a favor by taking it off my hands.”

  Aranza smiled and refilled their wine glasses before leaving them alone again.

  “Mason would have a fit right now if he knew we were drinking on the job,” Gowan said, reaching for his glass.

  Hoshu snorted. “Who cares what old white beard has to say. We’re not stuck on Olympus where he can order us around.”

  Cheers to that. It was nice not having to worry about so many rules and regulations for a change. Lexie was growing sick of the strict monotonous keeper schedule, and she hadn’t lived on Olympus nearly as long as the others. A little freedom never hurt anyone.

  Gabby frowned, the white scar on her cheek sharpening. “You guys…I can’t stop thinking about Davaris and Phoenix.”

  At the mention of those names, everyone fell silent.

  “This may sound selfish,” she began, looking around the table. “But I keep thinking, what if it had been an air keeper? I used to be deathly afraid of Dominika. We all know she can be a little…unbalanced.”

  Lexie couldn’t stop herself from snorting. Unbalanced. That was a polite way to describe someone who tried to literally chew off her trainer’s leg.

  “Anyway,” Gabby continued, “I was sort of happy when she disappeared. But what if it had been her that died? Then I’d be the one holed up in a cell, wondering if I’d ever make it out alive.”

  “Jesus, Gabs, are you happy she’s alive for her sake or yours?” Gowan asked, his voice laced with disapproval.

  “That’s not fair. You don’t know what it’s like to train with her everyday. The three of you have a close bond.”

  Callous as it was, Lexie understood where Gabby was coming from. It could’ve been any one of them. Whatever energy fueled their abilities was clearly a powerful force, almost like a lifeline that seemed to bleed from one keeper into another, and one they all needed to take seriously and treat with respect. They had been shown the hard way what happened when that lifeline was cut. They could all feel the break, but nowhere near the extent that Davaris and Phoenix were feeling it.

  Lexie cleared her throat, trying to think of a way to dispel the tension. “I think what Gabby is trying to say, is that we’re all connected, and that sometimes we take it for granted.”

  “I can speak for myself, but yes, that is the point I’m trying to get across,” Gabby agreed, “and if something happens to one of us, the way it did to Fang, our support system crumbles, which is why we need to learn to take care of each other.”

  Lexie stretched her arms out, touching both Hoshu and Gowan who sat on either side of her. “You know, as much as you two annoy me, I’m glad you’re both still alive.”

  “Likewise,” Gowan grunted uncomfortably.

  “Eh,” Hoshu said, shrugging. “I could take you or leave you.”

  She punched him in the shoulder.

  “Ow!” He rubbed the spot where she’d hit him. “Damn, I was kidding. We’re not in Martial Arts and Combat, Lex.”

  “Then don’t be such an ass next time I pay you a compliment. If I were the one dead right now, you’d be in a lot more pain than that.”

  “Excuse me, may I sit?”

  They all looked up at the same time as a young man approached the table, gesturing to the last free chair between Gabby and Hoshu. He snuck up on their table so quietly no one had heard him.

  Lanky and muscular, he had deep-set brown eyes and an olive complexion. His dark hair was tucked back behind his ears, falling just below his lightly stubbled chin.

  “We’re kinda busy here, hoss,” Hoshu said, brushing him off.

  “I’m just looking for a moment of your time,” he said in perfect English. “Dante Trevino, at your service.”

  He scooted the chair back, falling into it casually. Looking around the table, a slow grin spread across his lips, lighting up his face. He obviously knew who they were.

  “I didn’t realize we were in need of anyone’s service,” Hoshu said, watching Dante with hawk eyes.

  Lexie caught herself doing it as well. Keeping this mission kept out of the spotlight was a priority; they all knew that.

  “Word has it, you’re scouting land.”

  “Word seems to travel fast,” Gowan said, his voice low.

  Dante shrugged lazily. “In case you haven’t noticed, there’s not that many people around. My father owns the building next to the hotel. He’s the guy you’ll need to see to rent your ATVs. You are planning to rent ATVs, aren’t you?”

  “Yes,” Lexie answered when no one else did. “We’ll be by in the morning. Is that what you came to see us about?”

  Dante shook his head, steering his gaze on her. She looked straight into his eyes, noticing the penetrating intensity there, and flinched. Whatever this kid was after, she was sure he was trying to downplay just how much he wanted to get it.

  “No,” he said after a few seconds. “I’m here to find out if you need a guide. I know this land better than anyone…and I couldn’t pass up the chance to meet a few of the legendary keepers. It’s not everyday celebrities pass through here.”

  “We’d appreciate it if you kept your knowledge of our visit to yourself,” Gabby told him very diplomatically. “We need to stay low key in order to do our jobs.”

  Dante nodded. “Of course, I understand.”

  “Pleasure to meet you,” Gowan added. “If we decide we need a guide, we’ll be in touch.”

  The flat out dismissal didn’t go unnoticed.

  Dante’s grin faded, but he stood and stretched as if it didn’t bother him. Before leaving, he looked around the table once more. “See you guys tomorrow morning. There’s a lot of terrain to cover. Without my assistance, you guys will get lost out there.”

  “We’re not as incapable as you might think,” Lexie said, a defensive edge to her voice.

  “You need me,” Dante insisted.

  Then, just as quietly as he came, he slipped away again. No one spoke until he was far out of earshot.

  “Don’t trust him,” Gowan spoke up first.

  Lexie snorted. “You don’t trust anyone.”

  “Especially him.”

  Gabby laughed at that. “You three are a lot more alike than you think. It was obvious that no one at
this table trusted the guy.”

  “Well, if we’re alike, we’d hate to find out what you have in common with Dominika,” Hoshu pointed out.

  “The mental case? Absolutely nothing,” Gabby sputtered, and set down her wine. “Then again, it’s not like she’s an open book. If we did share things in common, I’d have no way of knowing. The only person she’ll talk to is Kennedy. What does that say about our twelfth keeper?”

  Lexie shook her head. “Don’t go there, Gabby. Kennedy made it her mission to break through to Nika. She worked hard to gain her trust, and I, for one, am glad to see our seventh keeper finally interacting with someone.”

  If Kennedy hadn’t relentlessly tracked Dominika down in Russia, they might never have found her, and worse yet, they wouldn’t have known that Maxwell Ryder had been the one behind the Sae-yer attack.

  “That’s a little unfair, don’t you think? We all worked hard to break through to her, especially within our air circle. Remy and I tried for years to get along with her,” Gabby said.

  “It doesn’t matter who did or didn’t try. Someone finally did. That’s all that matters.”

  “Stop the bickering, both of you,” Gowan said, cutting into the conversation. “Today’s been a long day. We could all use some sleep, if you ask me.”

  Amber and purple hues streaked the sky, the sun almost completely set now. Lexie stifled a yawned at the mention of sleep. It had been a long day, and tomorrow would be an even longer one. Scooting her chair back, she said, “Should we meet back here in the morning?”

  “Yes, let’s reconvene at dawn,” Gowan instructed.

  Hoshu groaned in response. “Dawn? Really? We’re still jetlagged as it is.”

  “We need to cover as much territory as we can during daylight hours. I’ve been looking at the maps all day, and the roads are confusing,” he said with a sigh. “As shady as that Dante lad is, we may actually have to consider his offer.”

  “Perhaps,” Lexie allowed. “Let’s talk it over in the morning.”