by Lysa Daley
“Why would she do that?”
“I don't know. There's something weird about her. Something I don't trust.”
“Okay,” Bella responds but her tone makes it sound like she thinks I’m crazy.
I don’t care what she thinks. Inside his paddock, Tom's eyes are closed. He looks peaceful. I don’t see him breathing. For a split second, I fear the worst.
Bella, who probably thinks he’s dead, quietly calls his name. “Tom. Tom-boy.”
Ever so slowly, Tom opens one eye.
Jax steps out from one of the nearby stalls. “What's going on?”
“Please tell me that Tom is okay?” I implore him.
“We just had this conversation a few minutes ago.”
“I know. Tell me that he's okay now. Tell me that nothing happened him in the last 15 minutes.”
“What could have happened to him in the last 15 minutes?” Jax comes around to look at Tom.
Bella has to go to say, “Astrid thinks the Calliope tried to poison him.”
“What?” Jax says, his head swiveling towards us.
“No, I said I think it's possible,” I try not to sound totally insane. “She gave him a bone. Please, just check him over.”
Jax half-heartedly examines Tom. “As far as I can tell, he's perfectly fine. He's not showing any signs of poisoning or distress.”
“Maybe you should run a blood test anyway,” I suggest quietly.
Jax levels his gaze at me. For a moment, I think he's about to walk away. But instead, he nods. “Okay. I'll rush them through and let you know how they come out this afternoon.”
I don’t care what they say. I know I’m not crazy.
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
The prison cells live deep underground.
The elevator descends to the area where they’re holding Chad takes five minutes.
Breaking the silence in the small elevator, Ruby says to Jax and me. “I have never been in so many underground areas as I have in the last week.”
We all smile. She’s not wrong.
Then I ask, “How’s he doing?”
“They haven’t told us much, “ Jax answers, staring up at the electronic floor numbers counting down as the elevator continues its descent. “But he’s alive. That’s all I know.”
The numbers keep ticking: 18… 19… 20.
“Why so far underground?” I ask Jax.
“The Draconians and the Grays can communicate telepathically,” he explains. “We’ve made an attempt to block that communication in prisoners — or patients — who have a bug implanted by encasing the area in ten foot thick walls of concrete. The whole area is then lined with lead.”
“And that works”? Ruby asks.
He shrugs. “We don’t know for sure. All of our calculations make us think it does.”
Stepping out of the elevator, we’re met by the kind face of Dr. Maggie. “Thanks for coming. Walk with me.”
We follow her down the stark doorless corridor toward double doors in the distance.
“I’ll just jump in and tell you what’s going on,” she says with an urgency in her voice. “We have attempted to remove the bug in Chad’s head.”
“Like Ray?” I ask. They tried to remove Ray’s bug, and now he’s dead.
“Wait. I’m lost. What exactly is a bug?” Ruby asks.
“The Grays and Draconians use bugs in human victims. We don’t know a lot, but we do know that there are different types. It’s a sort of virus that settles in the brain. A living implant. The one that Ray had — implanted by the Grays — was considerably weaker. We think that’s how the Grays control the victims they abduct. Most abductees have the same bug used for tracking and recall.
“Unfortunately, the bug the Draconian’s use to create Horlocks is much stronger. The implantee loses their own free will and becomes a slave to the virus. The bug connects them to a sort of hivemind. The Horlocks are all interconnected.”
“So the real Chad isn’t even in there anymore?” Ruby asks.
“No,” Dr. Maggie says. “He’s still in there. Somewhere. But his own free will is suppressed.”
We arrive at the door and stop. She turns to us. “Prepare yourself. He’s not in good shape? He had brain surgery earlier today.”
“How many people have survived this surgery?” I ask.
“So far?” she replies. “No one has lived more than 24 hours.”
I gasp, and Ruby wraps me in a hug.
“However, we didn’t remove the bug this time. We learned from Ray’s bug that they’re light sensitive. Instead, we were able to pin down the bug in Chad’s brain then we shot it with lasers.”
“Did it work?”
“We’re increasingly confident that the bug has been disabled,” she says. “We implanted a nano-tag. A tiny little monitor on it.”
“You left it in his head?” Jax asks, surprised by this development.
“We’re hopeful that we’ve neutralized the bug. So far there’s been no sign of activity. And removing it proves to be fatal.”
“How long since his surgery?” I ask.
She looks at her watch. “Three hours.” Before we can react, she continues. “We’re hoping that even in his unconscious state if he hears your familiar voices then it might jumpstart his own brainwaves, bringing back the part of him that has been suppressed.”
Dr. Maggie enters a code on the keypad and the metal door automatically hisses open.
Chad is barely recognizable. We slowly approach the bed. My heart aches seeing him like this.
There’s a breathing tube down his throat and a machine that is taking breaths for him. Half a dozen IVs snake from his arm. The top of his head, including one eye, is wrapped in stark white bandages.
Ruby takes his hand and quietly speaks. “Hi, Chad. It’s us. Ruby and Astrid. Jax is here too.”
There’s no response. Just the mechanical rhythm of the machines. Dr. Maggie focuses her attention on a monitor that measures brainwaves. The quiet, even blip blip blip remains constant.
“Hey pal, we’re all rooting for you,” Jax tells him. “We want you to get better real soon.”
Again the machines stay the same.
Finally, I step up to the side of his bed. I have to fight back the tears because I know I’m the reason that he’s lying in this bed in the first place.
“Hi, Chad. It’s Astrid. I’m so happy you’re back with us.”
At the sound of my voice, the blip blip blip gets faster and stronger.
“Astrid!” Ruby begins. “He recognizes your voice.”
“He’s still in there!” Jax adds, as the three of us embrace. “They didn’t destroy him.”
Dr. Maggie’s on her feet, moving between the equipment.
“Come back to us, Chad.” I move closer, joy swelling up in me, and take his hand. “We’re waiting for you here.”
Suddenly, a panel of alarms starts to wildly beep. But Dr. Maggie swivels toward us. “Stop talking to him!”
“What’s wrong?” Jax asks.
“The bug is alive,” Dr. Maggie says, her eyes wildly watching the monitors. “Somehow it’s active again. I think it’s transmitting.”
“Transmitting where?” Ruby asks.
“It only goes one place,” Dr. Maggie replies. “Back to the hivemind.”
The alarms bring the rest of the medical team running. We back up as they get to work.
“I’ll stay and assist,” Jax says. It occurs to me that I forgot that he’s a trained medical professional as well.
Ruby and I stand silently watching as Dr. Maggie’s team tries to assess the situation.
“How strong is the signal?” Dr. Maggie asks a nurse/technician.
“Strong,” he replies darkly. “Stronger than before.”
“Can we block it?” Jax asks.
But before anyone can answer, another alarm goes off, and Chad starts to convulse.
“His heart is crashing,” Dr. Maggie says. “Get the
cart. I’ve got severe ventricular fibrillation and dangerous levels of arrhythmia.”
A serious looking machine is pushed in by the nurse, as Dr. Maggie picks up a pair of paddles.
But before she can shock his heart, Chad’s convulsions subside and the monitors slows to a steady pace.
“What’s the reading?” Dr. Maggie asks the nurse/tech.
“Signal is fading,” says a nurse, reading a monitor. “Signal is faint.”
“Heart rate stable,” another nurse declares as the whole room collectively takes a sigh of relief. “Nearly back to normal.”
Jax steps around to the tech’s monitor. He examines the readings.“The transmission signal has stopped.”
Ruby squeezes my hand.
Jax looks up at the group. “The bug appears to be dead.”
Chapter 42
“Wake up!” a voice fills my groggy brain as my eyes slowly blink open. “Astrid! Wake up.”
Ruby’s frightened face fills my line of sight. “What’s wrong?” I ask.
“We need to get to the monastery. Right away,” she says, pulling my covers off.
Shaking the sleep from my head, I swing my feet to the floor as Ruby throws jeans and a hoodie at me. It’s still pitch black outside. The wall clock reads 4:15.
“What’s happening?” It sounds like a battlefield outside.
“We’re under attack or something,” she says, pulling on her shoes. “I think those evil aliens finally found you.”
I hurry to get dressed. We’re nearly out the door when something occurs to my still not-awake brain. “Wait! I should probably take BrightSky with me.”
With the red umbrella clutched in my hand, we follow the stream of other students down to the lobby and outside.
“Oh my God! Look!” Ruby points to the ink black sky. “It’s another meteor.”
A flaming orb screams toward the earth not more than a mile north of St. B’s. It looks just like the one that landed near my house a week ago.
“It’s not just one,” I add.
Right behind the first meteor, a second one follows. Then a third, fourth, fifth.
Spinning a circle, I see the sky is filled with meteors.
“We are definitely under attack.” I just stand there staring.
Ruby tugs my sleeve, pulling me behind her. “Come on. We need to get inside.”
A uniformed member of Fitz’s team tells us where to go. “Everyone head over to the fallout shelter in the basement of the cathedral,” the officer shouts to everyone who passes, until he sees me. “Except you. You’re supposed to report to HQ.”
I hesitate. “I don’t think we should split up.”
“Go,” Ruby says, “We’ll catch up later.”
Reluctantly, I follow the panicked and confused students, mostly still in their pajamas out into the dark night, then veer off toward the Eye in the Sky building.
In the conference room, the adults cluster around the war table. They’re in the middle of a heated conversation. The mood is heavy. Fitz, standing at the head, nods in acknowledgement at me.
Calliope, standing sheepishly to one side, is already there.
“We have two choices,” Fitz says. “Either put the shields up and sacrifice the secret identity of the monastery. Or we take the chance that we can cut them off before they get here.”
“We still have time,” Jax argues. “We can cut them off before they ever get a chance to make it to the compound.”
“It’s too late,” O’Malley argues, “This compound has already been compromised. We need to put the shields up. We have two Sisters of Light here. And we need to keep them protected.”
Tanaka counters, “We’ll be totally exposed. The anonymity of the compound will be lost. Every radar within a thousand miles will pick up our shields.”
Fitz puts an end to the bickering. “O’Malley’s right. Raise the shields. Our headquarters has been compromised. The Eye in the Sky will have to relocated either way. The safety of these two girls outweighs our need for secrecy. The entire reason we exist is to help keep the alliance strong and nothing will keep it stronger than keeping them safe.”
Tanaka nods grimly, seems to understand what’s at stake. “The shields will be up in less than five minutes,” he says as he hurries out.
Simmons marches in, looking grave. “Sir, we’ve counted 22 meteors so far.”
“Have we confirmed the presence of the Grail, any alien?” Fitz asks.
“Yes,” she answers, pulling up video on the big white board on the wall. “Grail and Draconians. They are rapidly splitting and disguising themselves as our soldiers. Looks like they came prepared.”
The video we’re watching is shaky and unsteady. Because of the night-vision lenses, everything plays in a murky black and sickly green. But, even still, the glowing carcasses of the cracked meteors are visible on the forest floor.
Men run wildly in every direction. Complete chaos. The surrounding sounds of war, along with the electronic hum of their alien weaponry, bombard the video.
In the distance, a black caravan of Horlock vehicles approaches from the North. This is a coordinated attack.
“The bunker,” Fitz say to Jax. “Get them down there now. It’s the only way we’ll get them away from here without being seen. You’ll find a small craft that will take them far from here.”
“Yes, sir,” Jax replies.
Above our heads we hear explosions. “There is not much time,” Fitz adds. “It sounds like the monastery’s perimeter has been breached.”
It turns out you get the bunker through Sister Mary Agnes’ library.
“Good morning, all,” she says with a bright smile, like it’s a regular morning, as we come racing in.
Except the kitchenette - the only modern thing in the whole of the library - swings open to reveal a tunnel. Ancient stone walls that once were lit only by lanterns have been updated and are now lit by the harsh light of dangling subway bulbs.
Sister Mary Agnes holds open the door to the passageway. “Just like me, this tunnel has been here for hundreds of years, and I am the gate keeper, the guardian of this realm, and I allow you to pass.”
We walk slowly on the uneven stone floor. The tunnel seems to go on and on. Eventually, the passageway gradually narrows, finally coming to an end at a rickety wooden staircase.
Jax climbs up the small stairs, unlatching a heavy lock. “It’s stuck.” He has to use his shoulder to heave the little door open. As the lid slowly groans open, part of the Earth that has grown over this secret exit, rips away.
Jax pokes his head out like a rabbit looking for a fox. “Okay ladies, the coast is clear. Stay low and follow me.”
No one sees us crawl out of the opening in the earth, still we hear fighting all around us. The plan has been for Fitz and his men to try to draw the enemy away from this area.
“How far is it to the port?” Calliope asks.
“Not far,” he says, advancing a few paces, then suddenly stops. He cocks his head like he’s heard something.
“What is it? I ask, unable to see or hear anything in front of us.
He raises a finger to his lip and shushes me.
Suddenly, Raki appears. He’s snarling aggressively at us.
Calliope steps out in front of Jax, “Raki, it’s me!”
The beast looks past her, towards me, it continues to growl. Hunched low, the Greater Valarian Drolgon pulls a clawed arm back ready to strike me.
“I think Raki wants to eat me.”
From the other side, a second enormous beast leaps in front of us an instant before Raki’s deadly claws can slice me open.
It’s Tom!
Call him off,” Jax yells to me. “Don’t you understand? If they fight, Raki will kill Tom!”
Chapter 43
The two massive creature circle each other, snarling and pawing at the ground. Raki is so much bigger than Tom.
Both animals are bound to protect us: Tom is my guardian while Raki protects Cal
liope
As the beast size each other up, no one knows what will happen.
“I can’t stop him,” Calliope says. “He feels threatened by Tom.”
“Sort of seems like Raki is the threatening one,” I suggest. “What will happen?”
Jax says, “Either they’ll become friends or…
Calliope finishes his thought, “Or they’ll fight to the death.”
They each attack, their bodies slamming into each other. In a tangle, they fall to the forest floor, rolling end over end, knocking down everything in their way.
“We have to stop this!” I plead with them.
I glance at Calliope and swear I see a little glint of pride in her eyes. My dark suspicions resurface. She wants Raki to win. She wants Tom dead.
“There’s no way we can’t stop ten tons of fighting Drolgons,” Jax shakes his head. “We can only stay out of their way.”
Tom gets blind-sided by the sharp sting of Raki’s tail. Raki follows up with a vicious attack that leaves Tom whimpering in the dirt.
But then suddenly, Tom rebounds. He springs up, knocking Raki off balance with his body weight. Calliope’s bigger Drolgon tumbles to the Earth.
The tables have turned. “Yes! Tom!” I cheer him on.
Tom has the advantage. He may be smaller, but his stamina is greater. He manages to get Raki pinned the ground. But Tom doesn’t kill her beast. Instead, Raki bows his head, and Tom steps off.
“What’s happening?” I ask, confused.
“Well, I’ll be! Raki’s become submissive,” Jax smiles. “Your scruffy cat just beat a Greater Valarian Drolgon twice his size.”
Tom allows Raki to get up. Defeated, the larger creature slinks off into the woods.
Tom turns toward me, and I’m about to run to his side. I’m so happy that he’s alright.
But before I get to him, a blast booms out behind us.
Tom’s hit, a wound in his side. He wails in pain and thunders down to the ground.
“He’s been shot!” I cry out to my two companions. But their faces show no emotion. Then I spin in the direction of the blast to see a horrible vision from my nightmares.
