Star Angel: Rising (Star Angel Book 4)

by David G. McDaniel

Jess had nothing. She was exhausted. Wielding, directing that much energy was draining. Never on their journey had she come close to what she just did.

  Never in my life.

  Galfar continued gazing into the distance.

  She was so tired. “How am I supposed to do anything you expect me to do?” Even her voice was weary.

  At that he turned to face her, sudden intensity in his bright green eyes. So much so she felt herself draw back. His eyes seemed to glow with a light of their own in the half-gloom.

  “Determinism, Jessica. That is how. That very thing which you possess so strongly. It is greater in you than any of us. You will succeed. You will make it your fate.”

  At that she almost laughed, and just as quickly the intensity of his gaze fizzled—for her, at least—and she saw simply an old man. Not a sage. Just a man.

  “If I were the creator of my own destiny I wouldn’t be here.” She didn’t want to upset him. “No offense, but my life would be a lot different right now if I had any control over it.”

  “Would it?”

  Of course it would. Her whole everything since Zac arrived over Boise that fateful day had been one knee-jerk response after the next, constantly reacting to events beyond her control.

  But even as that immediate and obvious answer sprang to mind a creeping sense of doubt hedged in. A strange and uncomfortable feeling, that she might actually have had a hand in many of the things that happened along the way. As if, looking back, maybe she did steer things. Maybe she was the one responsible for everything that happened to her, maybe she had been making her own fate, leading her …

  Here.

  Why would I do that?

  She looked around, far and wide, vision suddenly expanded well beyond the immediate area. A shudder gripped her in the cool breeze.

  Determinism.

  Reflexively she brought her knees to her chest and hugged her arms around them. The thunder continued its deep, threatening rumble, far out over the plain. Sunlight was fading, the towering, dark clouds growing more ominous each second. Rain fell beneath their looming mass; misty bands reaching toward the ground. It was the first rain since being on the road and the smell of it had begun to drift on the air.

  Galfar turned his attention to the dark doom brewing.

  “I’m getting a little nervous,” Jess said in the quiet between the increasing clap and roll. Lightning flashed.

  Galfar shifted.

  “About the castle,” she clarified. “What am I supposed to do when we get there?”

  “The Brotherhood will validate you as the one on whom we’ve been waiting.”

  She tried to read his expression from the side. He kept staring into the distance, chewing his stick.

  “I am appointed the Watcher,” he gnawed around it. “They will accept my judgment. Do not worry on that count.”

  “But what am I supposed to do? After they accept your judgment. What will they expect?”

  “Openly they will accept you. As they must. Privately they will resent you. No one likes change, and you promise great change. A new age. They are fat and happy with the order of things. Your presence will mark a new Beginning. For them, however, it marks the end.”

  That only made her more nervous.

  “So why even go there?”

  “To retrieve the key.”

  “Yes, but the key to what?”

  “To what you will need to reach the Amkradus.”

  It was just too much.

  “Why are these Codes so important?” She had so little energy left.

  “By now you should understand. They are a map to restore our true selves. That which you’ve only just begun to tap.” He eased his delivery. “There’s so much more to know, Jessica. A universe of truth. Too much time has passed, too many corners have been turned, the route to that truth has become an impassable maze. The Codes are the route out. The Codes will show us the Way.” He smiled, a genuine smile, and she could see he was trying to soothe her. “Do not worry overmuch.” It wasn’t working. “Many signs have come to pass. All will be revealed.”

  Then he was silent. It was obvious Galfar had no—or would not give any—real answers. When he continued to sit quietly, idly rocking back and forth on his heels, gnawing on the stick, questions rattling weakly around Jessica’s head, unable to make it to words, she decided, finally, she was too tired to press. She slouched forward and rolled her own stick between her teeth.

  The clouds were getting blacker.

  After a long spell of silence she commented: “That’s some storm.” Then, considering things more carefully, realized the obvious: “We’ve got no shelter.”

  “Indeed we don’t.”

  She looked at Galfar. Mildly concerned.

  “What are we going to do?”

  He had no such worry. “Get wet.”

  Then he grinned. “Wonder why we chose to make that our fate?”

  If she wasn’t so exhausted she might’ve laughed.

  CHAPTER 36: VISITORS

  “They’re sitting down to dinner.” Zac crouched at the edge of the trees with Willet, peering up the slope toward the house in the near distance. Zac had been watching Jessica’s house as night fell, seeing details Willet could never make out. At first he tried, straining to see what the Kazerai saw, but had long since given up. Sure, he saw this or that person moving down a hall or past a window and other, vague forms, but only general outlines. Now he’d lost sight of anyone but craned all the same. He thought he spotted two heads moving around downstairs and sitting.

  “Let’s go,” Zac stood unexpectedly and was stepping out into the field. After crouching for so long Willet was slow to rise. He got himself together and followed, catching up and matching pace, stiffly shaking his legs as they walked, popping one knee.

  Zac had no such weakness.

  Willet glanced at his tall companion in the gloom as they scrunched through the field grass. Jess meant a lot to Zac. Meant everything to him, and this was her family in the house up ahead. People to whom she also meant the world, and Zac was coming to them with not the best of news and he looked … well, he looked nervous. Such a powerful example of a man—with or without the Kazerai enhancements—yet he was human like any of them. The emotions of the moment were strong.

  Willet vowed to do what he could to help ease this encounter.

  He understood Zac’s need to go to her family. Fortunately it also made tactical sense, as he was sure there was no way he would’ve convinced Zac to avoid this anyway. Willet believed they could use the house as a temporary base to organize their plan. After all, they needed a place to operate from in these early stages and they had zero connections on this world. They had to find Satori at the heart of the Kel war machine and they were just two guys in the woods at that point. The house and any connections it might have to the world at large would be a good place to start. The fact that it was occupied by friendlies made it that much more desirable.

  Earlier they’d determined the city was intact and, from all indications, operating normally. Willet assumed Jessica’s family would be going about some routine, probably as they always had, which meant they would be the perfect hosts. How far could the Kel takeover have reached? Since there was no obvious destruction here he assumed the aliens must still be implementing some sort of martial law. Willet expected suburban areas like this would’ve, so far, been left mostly alone. Even under strict military curfews the average person would probably be doing mostly what they always did, at least for now.

  All that, however, remained to be seen.

  “Let me speak first,” Zac said quietly as they reached the back of the house. First came a screen porch. He opened it without missing a step, locked or unlocked Willet couldn’t tell by the sound of the pop, and Willet followed him onto the porch to the back door. Zac didn’t pause there either, just twisted the knob and pushed in. That one was definitely locked; the splinter of the door jamb around the deadbolt was proof enough. Zac opened it inward as
easily as if pushing aside a paper flap.

  “Don’t scream,” he said quickly, even as one of the women inside screamed. “Don’t call anyone,” he stepped inside and stopped a safe distance away from the table where three people sat. Slowly Willet closed the door behind and made it stay closed in the broken notch. Zac raised his hands:

  “We’re friends of Jessica’s.”

  That held them. Frozen in action by those simple words. Willet studied the small group. The girl that screamed, a girl probably Zac’s age, must be Jessica’s sister, he surmised. The other must’ve been the mom, the man at the table the father. The three sat staring wide-eyed, mouths open—reactions shifted entirely at the mention of their daughter and sister by name. No one moved.

  After a moment of this Willet realized Zac was stuck too.

  “Jess isn’t with us,” he explained, picking up Zac’s train of thought. “But we can tell you your daughter was alive when we last saw her and, we believe, she’s doing fine.” He decided to state it that way rather than “Your daughter has disappeared and we have no idea where she is”. Something like that was not likely to get things off to a good start.

  It unfroze them. Like the flip of a switch they went from gaping mutes to a flurry of speech. All three at once, standing and pausing as they cut each other off, started speaking again and just kept going, talking over each other for those first few moments, rising from the table and crowding Willet and Zac. Now that it was clear these two intruders shared a professed interest in the well-being of their Jessica the fear was gone and desperate anxiety was in full force. The sister was Amy and she was the most vocal, though Mom was right there with her. Dad got in questions as he could but mostly listened as the women dominated the interrogation.

  The tall Kazerai held his ground, dove right in and took them all the way back. Once the floodgates were open he grabbed the floor and poured out his heart; everything he knew. How he’d come to Earth the first time—he showed them the Icon, explained it briefly; the whole concept barely registering with Mom and Dad who were so caught up in the safety of their daughter, but a little ray of understanding seemed to dawn on Amy—and Zac went on. Like he’d been waiting for this moment. A chance to explain. A chance to meet these people who were so important to him just by virtue of his love for Jess. Soon he was the only one talking as he told them how he and Jess accidentally triggered the device, how they ended up back on his world, Anitra, what happened there—by then some of the significance of this was beginning to sink in for the parents and, as it began to register, Willet saw an additional dynamic among the rest, so uniquely misplaced among the magnitude of the bigger picture; the way they eyed Zac as it became clear he and Jessica shared more than a common adventure and that Zac, in truth, was in love with their daughter. Zac charged on, telling them everything Jess had done, what a hero she was and how she’d left Anitra and returned home that first time. As this sank in further it quite obviously rocked their world, thoroughly upsetting whatever excuses or lies Jess made for her first disappearance, but Willet could tell it was impossible for them to simply dismiss. Not now. The Earth had been invaded by aliens. How could they disbelieve the story that their daughter had been to another world?

  And so Zac spun the tale. Of her return to Anitra and now the understanding was really dawning. That was the last time they saw her. It was Willet’s understanding the local government had done a thorough job of covering events Jess described from her escape. Running in a suit of Skull Boy armor through this very town, blowing up numerous government cars and a warehouse. Amy cried through this portion, and revealed she’d had some idea of the connection at the time, at least a little, after Jess called to let her know she was leaving again. She’d never told Mom or Dad, and it was a gushing relief to finally share it, and the tears continued and Mom cried too as Amy related that desperate conversation with her sister.

  After the chaos Jess described of that day—a missile fight in the downtown area and all else—Willet had no idea what story the government told her family, these people right here, to explain it and had no time to ask as Zac barreled on and Amy’s crying eased and they continued to listen, but to see the look in their eyes what Zac was saying tied things together in a way that, all at once, made sense. Like they’d never been able to believe whatever they had been told but now the story fit.

  Willet could see many things, for Jessica’s family, falling into place.

  Zac continued. He related events with the Reaver and how Bianca had been brought to Anitra by Jess and further the pieces interlocked, even as the scope of the story grew. He told them of the war on Anitra and all else, and as Zac had this chance to come clean, with the parents and the sister of the girl he loved, Willet could see it was being vastly cathartic. Zac’s countenance was clearing with each moment. He told them of Kang and the battle and how their daughter brought the means to save Anitra from the fate of the demon, and as he described those events another connection was made.

  Mom, Dad and Amy recognized him.

  All at once. Zac was the guy who fought that very demon on the fields in Spain. A battle captured on sporadic news feeds and, as they realized that, as the reality of that slammed through them, their expressions shifted, dramatically, and their awe was suddenly overwhelming. Like the breaking of a brand new day. Willet could almost feel it. Like all at once they were standing in the presence of a giant. Was Zac also the one who ripped to shreds so many of the Kel armored units on that very field? That also made the news.

  He was.

  And now they wondered how he could be real. They wanted to touch him—it was almost funny to watch—the three of them transforming to such blatant regard, tentatively reaching to poke him, to see how he felt, to understand how a real-life superhero could exist who seemed so perfectly normal.

  Then it was the family’s turn to drop a bombshell. They told Zac and Willet Kang was alive. He’d crawled out of the hole and at the news of this Willet saw Zac’s rising spirits plunge. Almost like an exhaustion he couldn’t shake. What would it take to kill that bastard? he seemed to be thinking. But Zac struggled past it; kept on with his description of Jessica’s fate.

  To learn that she’d been right there on Earth, not so long ago, shocked the family perhaps more than anything. That she’d so recently been in Spain and they never heard from her …

  But the scale of things by then had thoroughly impinged. It was a shock to learn but even the mother realized her daughter did what needed to be done. There was no way at that point to have safely contacted them, to have risked their lives in the bargain, and as they understood the reality of that and the sacrifices Jess made the sister began crying again and the mother followed suit. The emotions of the moment piled on and they broke down. Zac tried to console them, along with the father who bit back his own tears—the room was suddenly charged with emotion—and Zac, perhaps unwisely, pressed on. Finished the tale. About the Bok, who they were, how he and Jess went after them and chased them to the castle. How Zac was unable to prevent Jess being taken away with one of the Icons, which was now broken, and how they had no way to find her and she was an angel and she was so much to all of them and he’d failed to protect her and now she was gone. And as the truth of that came clean even Zac was tearing. For the family, to hear their daughter had been alive but now no one knew where she was, to be there at the end of the world, trying to hold it together … everything collapsed and they wept.

  Willet was suddenly the only one in the room with dry eyes.

  “Can I get something to drink?” He needed to divert. For everyone’s sake. He looked toward the kitchen; three glasses standing on the table waited on the interrupted dinner. He moved toward them, not sure where things were but hoping it might distract. It did. The mother hurried past him, going to the kitchen and asking if anyone else wanted anything. Amy went to help and Zac and the dad regained what little bit of composure they’d lost. Dad spoke directly to Zac.

  “You should see something
,” he led the Kazerai into the living room, over to a large screen and what looked to be an entertainment center against the far wall. He picked up a control and turned it on. News came up, in the middle of a broadcast, something about rationing of public utilities, information being doled out by a man in a suit who looked calm in the face of what he was saying. Robotic was more like it, thought Willet, and he found himself making his way over to join them as the girls prepared drinks. He went around the couch and stood by Zac and Dad, in front of the wide screen as Dad fiddled with the remote.

  “They’ve got a channel doing just rebroadcasts,” he pressed buttons, flipping stations.

  “So they’ve left the airwaves alone?” asked Willet. That was important. That could be key.

  “Mostly.” The dad found what he was looking for. “Hardly anyone’s broadcasting regular programming. No shows. No anything but news and reports. Everyone’s got a camera and the channels are flooded with information, much of it random as they get it.” He cued some kind of rewind on the station. “Frankly I don’t know what their game is.” Willet knew he meant the Kel. “No one does. Everyone is in a state of panic, hoarding. It’s like preparing for a storm but no one knows when, or where, it’s going to hit.” He found the spot he was looking for. “Here,” he hit play.

  On the screen was an image of several Kel soldiers at a podium, along with a number of humans. “This station’s been showing this again and again. Are these the guys you were talking about?” He directed his question to Zac. Zac had stepped closer though there was no need; the screen was huge and his vision was extreme. He probably could’ve seen it clearly from down the street. It wasn’t a need to see better that drew him to it. No, Zac got closer to be closer, fists clenching. It was that dark, heavy look all over again, the one from the woods.

  At the podium was Lorenzo. Willet recognized him at once from their planning. It was Lorenzo and his fellow Bok, standing with the Kel at that podium and the audio confirmed it, leaving no doubt. An authoritative voice announced them as the new leaders of Earth.