Sonora and the Scroll of Alexandria (Book #2)

by T. S. Hall

  A sudden wave of heat and smoke slammed into her, followed by the smell of death. Littered throughout the parking lot were the bodies of her classmates, bloodied and burnt. Allora stood in a paralyzed state, scanning the destruction for some kind of reason for the carnage. Trees were engulfed in flames, buildings were burning, and the sky was a dark-indigo color. In the distance, an explosion shook the ground, and a large balloon of fire erupted. Overhead a skimmer sliced through the smoke, cascading a series of hadron bursts into the gym.

  Allora was knocked to the ground. She noticed a familiar face lying a few feet away, and her heart sank. She frantically crawled to the side of a blond girl whose skin was charred and bloody.

  “Katie, please no. Katie!” Allora said, placing the girl’s head in her lap and brushing the hair from her face. Tears burst from Allora’s eyes as she searched her best friend’s neck for a pulse. It was faint, but she was alive. “You can’t be dead. Come on. Please wake up.”

  Katie coughed slightly, and her eyes cracked open.

  “We failed them, Allora,” Katie said softly, her eyes rolling back in her head.

  “Don’t say that. I’m going to get you help.” Allora searched the sea of bodies for signs of life. From the ground, she saw more familiar faces: Mr. Swan, Mrs. Ferris, Mrs. Winters, Brandon, Jenny, Aunt Lizi, Aunt May, Milly, Bell, Sas, Dax, and Tanner were among the dead. Allora got up and walked through the parking lot. Her breathing became erratic as she stared down at the pained faces of all of those she loved most. When she looked up, she was surrounded by skimmers, hovering in a circle in the sky. From the shadows, hooded men and creatures emerged from the woods.

  Fear consumed her like quicksand. It wrapped itself around her, like a snake constricting it’s prey. There was no escape and no reprieve from the pain. She felt hopeless as the darkness consumed everything. Then she felt a warm sensation come from within. Energy started to circulate through her veins, and a faint glow started to form within her chest. The light grew larger and escaped her body, floating in front of her.

  The sphere of light swirled and formed into an obsidian orb. It was the Eye of the Titans.

  From the depths of the Eye, a voice spoke to her. “Don’t give in to your fear. Don’t let it control you, Allora.” The voice was soft yet strong. Uncle Ben’s voice was unmistakable. “Light will overcome the darkness.”

  The orb slammed into Allora, causing her whole body to become rigid. Out of her arms, eyes, mouth, and body came a blinding light that exploded every hooded figure and skimmer in the area. A gust of wind blew out the fires, and the bodies that covered the parking lot disappeared.

  Allora screamed and sat up in bed. She tossed off the comforters and breathed in heavily. Her hand was shaking uncontrollably as she wiped the sweat from her face. After discarding the sweat-covered pajamas and changing into shorts and a T-shirt, Allora went to the kitchen for some water. She guzzled a glass in seconds. Then she went into the living room.

  “How did I get here?” she asked herself, looking out the apartment window at the ancient underground city of Shangri-La.

  The ethereal ambiance of the glowing city was mesmerizing. It was three in the morning, but the area was alive with traffic. Transports and skimmers flew back and forth from different destinations, leaving lines of light in the glow of the cavern.

  Allora stood inches from the large window for ten minutes, slowly sipping her second glass of water and staring into the distance. The cool air from the vented window chilled her sweat-covered skin. She thought back to the dream that had felt so real. Why are these dreams becoming more intense? she thought.

  A muffled sound came from the hallway. Her heart pounded loudly, and she instinctively clutched her chest. She waited for a few long seconds, searching the dark room for the origin of the disturbance. Placing her glass gently on the counter, she tiptoed through the living room. Hugging the wall, she peered around the corner into the hallway. It was dark, but her eyes had adjusted. She couldn’t see anything moving, so she ventured farther into the hallway. After a quick glance into her room, she went farther down. At the end was the foyer. Slowly inching along the wall, Allora walked on the balls of her feet, moving closer to the dark entryway. Squinting her eyes, she scanned the room. Nothing moved or made a sound. Allora moved forward, stepping onto the cold marble tiles.

  There was something wrong. The hair on her arms rose. From the shadow to her right, a figure glided out toward her. The glint of silver slashed through the air as Allora fell to her left. She crawled backward on all fours, slipping on the slick marble. The shadowy figured lunged downward with the steel blade and sliced through Allora’s thigh. She gasped and kicked at the black hooded figure. The attacker stumbled back, allowing Allora to get up. With some upward momentum, she swung around with her left leg and connected with the figure’s face, knocking it back into one of the pillars. A vase crashed to the ground, and the noise reverberated throughout the apartment.

  The hooded figure pushed off the pillar and lunged forward with the dagger. Allora stepped to her left, arching her side. The attacker’s blade sliced through her skin, cutting her shirt. She winced in pain but used the attacker’s momentum, pulling his arm, and grabbing the figure’s bicep. With her left hand free, she shot up her palm, connecting with the figure’s chin. The attacker pulled free and shot his hand forward, sending a forceful invisible burst into Allora’s chest. She was pulled off her feet and crashed into the wall.

  With her vision fuzzy, she saw the metal glint of the dagger slicing toward her. From the darkness, a light shot through and connected with the hooded shadow. It arched its back but kept falling toward Allora, with the dagger pointed toward her chest. Instinctively, her hands came forward, and the hooded figure slammed into an invisible wall and then crashed into the ground. The dagger bounced on the marble tile, echoing the sound of its deadly metal against the walls of the enclosed room.

  Milly rushed into the room, followed by Katie, Dax, and Tanner. Still wearing her sleeping gown, Milly dug her knee into the limp figure’s back and pulled its arms behind it, securing them together with handcuffs that glowed as soon as they were clasped The lights came on, and Milly’s eyes widened when she saw the cuts on Allora’s side and thigh. A rage came over her. She pulled back the figure’s hood, grabbed his hair, and slammed his forehead into the marble tile. The figure screamed and then groaned in pain as blood gushed from his head. She flipped him over and grabbed his neck, pulling him upward against the pillar. The figure’s face was illuminated by the glowing orb that lit the room. It was Lieutenant Mylar, one of the guards who had demanded that they be scanned upon entering the city.

  Milly became angrier when she recognized the individual and squeezed harder. Her veins protruded from her skin as she pushed the man farther off the ground. He shook violently, making horrific sounds as he gasped for air.

  “Mom, stop,” Allora said, placing her hand on her mother’s forearm. She could feel the tension release, and the man dropped to the ground, sucking in aggressively. “You can’t interrogate a corpse.”

  Milly’s eyes softened, and her shoulders released as she stared back at her daughter. She softly pushed back the strand of hair on Allora’s cheek and examined the two wounds that were bleeding profusely.

  “We need to get you to the hospital,” she said, ripping the bottom of her sleeping gown and pressing it against her daughter’s side. “Hold that there.” Then she grabbed the dagger from the cold tile floor, closed her fist around the hilt, and slammed the blade into the captive man’s knee. The deafening screams sent chills down everyone’s spines. Allora, Tanner, Dax, and Katie stepped backward with their mouths dropped open. The man kept screaming until Milly cupped his mouth and pulled the steel from his leg. A fountain a blood burst from the wound, as Milly simply stared at the slouched man’s pained eyes. “Dax, I need you to rip up one of the T-shirts in the bedroom and bring it to me. Tanner, I need you to use the communication consul in the living room. C
all the emergency number listed in the bottom screen, and tell them that we need a full security response team here immediately, along with an emergency medical transport. Katie, I need you to go to the bathroom and grab the first-aid station that is in the back cabinet.”

  All three sprinted out of the room. The man on the floor scrunched his face, closing his eyes from the obvious pain, while Milly continued to stare at him. Allora just stood at her mother’s side with her hand firmly pressing on the blood-soaked rag covering her wounds.

  “How could you betray your own people?” Milly asked. Her voice was strong and authoritative. The man laughed and smiled painfully. “You think this is funny?’

  “No,” he responded, taking short, quick breaths. “What I think is funny is that you actually believe you have a chance to stop him.” He turned his face toward Milly, glaring back at her. “I didn’t betray my people. You betrayed yours.” The comment pushed Milly back slightly.

  “I sacrificed plenty during that time,” Milly said, becoming defensive. “I had to take care of my family.”

  “And you would do anything for them, right?” the man said. Milly hesitated and then nodded. “Well, while our cities were falling, my family was captured, and the only way that the king would spare them was if I went undercover for the Titans.” Milly sat back as Tanner, Katie, and Dax returned from their tasks. “My wife and daughter have been in an Underworld prison for six years.”

  “Their freedom for my daughter’s life, huh?” Milly said, grabbing the ripped strips of white T-shirt. The man’s silence answered her question. She wrapped the cloth around his thigh and pulled the strip into a knot, yanking at the ends tightly. The man screamed and jerked forward. “Who is your handler?”

  With pained, tear-filled eyes, the man said, “Hades.”

  Milly’s eyes widened, and she again grabbed the man’s neck and pulled him upward.

  “Who is he? What is his true identity?” Milly asked as there was a banging from the front door.

  “Shangri-La Security. Open up!”

  Allora grabbed the handle and twisted, pulling the front door open. Captain Theus rushed in with four security guards. Another security transport pulled up, followed by an ambulance. The entire area filled with security guards, clothed in full battle suits, their side arms drawn.

  “Milly, put him down,” Captain Theus said, holstering his pistol and slowly moving forward into the marble foyer.

  “He’s a spy for Hades,” Milly said, firmly holding onto the lieutenant’s neck.

  “I don’t know who he is,” Lieutenant Mylar said, barely able to get the words out. “I never met him in pers—”

  “Milly, you know the drill,” Captain Theus said, inching closer. He knew that Milly could kill the man with a flick of her wrist. “We will get the information. You have to trust me.”

  Milly gave the lieutenant one more squeeze and then tossed him toward the front door. He coughed as the other security guards pulled him to his feet.

  “Please, you’ve got to save my family!” Lieutenant Mylar said frantically as they pulled him toward the security transport. The guards closed the transport door while he continued to plead for his family.

  Milly filled the captain in on what had happened while the emergency medical services tended to Allora.

  “We’ll need to get her to the hospital and close these wounds,” the medical technician said.

  “Milly, I need you here for further debriefing,” Captain Theus said.

  “Don’t worry, Ms. S,” Katie said as they helped Allora into the medical transport. “We’ll go with her.”

  “I’ll be there in a little bit,” Milly said as Tanner, Dax, and Katie entered the medical transport.

  The door closed. Allora watched her mother through the glass port window from her seated position on the gurney. Flashes of her nightmare popped into her mind, along with the unsympathetic interrogation that Milly had performed. An image of her mother stabbing the lieutenant made her flinch. The medical attendant placed a single dot of liquid on Allora’s arm, which seeped into the skin and instantaneously made her body numb. The transport lifted off as her nightmarish flashes persisted.

  After a minute in flight, the transport eased onto the landing pad, and Allora’s gurney floated into the hospital. The doctor stitched up her cuts with contracting glue, and the pain medication subsided. She was talking with her friends about what had happened when the room suddenly shook violently. The concussion knocked Allora off her bed, and the others dropped to the floor. The building’s windows shattered, and a plume of fire billowed from the base of the hospital.

  The security guard rushed in. “I need you to stay here while I go find out what just happened.”

  The security guard left, and Allora got out of the bed. She grabbed her clothes off the chair and glared at the boys, who stood still with confused expressions. She leaned forward and twirled her finger in a circle, which further confused the boys.

  “Turn around,” Allora said, rolling her eyes.

  The boys did as instructed, and Allora quickly put on her clothes.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” Katie asked, watching Allora’s eyes dart around with thought.

  “Don’t you see?” Allora said, putting on her shirt. “We were never the intended target. At least not the primary one. We were the diversion.”

  “Huh?” Dax said.

  “Hades is not after us,” Allora said, peeking out into the hallway. “He’s after the cyclops, and we need to find him. He’s got to be here.”

  Seeing the rush of hospital personnel sprinting along the corridor, Allora asked one of them where the intensive care unit was and then launched herself down the hallway toward her objective. Tanner, Dax, and Katie followed close behind, weaving through the rush of frantic people, warlocks, gnomes, and elves.

  “Don’t you think that we should have some sort of game plan before we get there?” Tanner asked as they got to the stairwell.

  “Here is our game plan,” Dax said, jumping down and swinging the door to the thirty-fifth floor open. “My fist, their faces.”

  “Very strategic, bro,” Katie said, rolling her eyes. “You’re going to make a great commander one day.”

  “All I know is that cyclops has something that we need to find the location of the scroll, and we need to get it before Hades does,” Allora said, reaching the end of the hall.

  “How do you know?” Tanner asked.

  “He’s the only one who my uncle spoke with about the destination cube before he died. He’s got to have it.”

  As they turned the corner, Allora tripped on something just as a red light shot at her. She rolled along the linoleum and crashed into the wall. In the middle of the hallway were the bodies of three security guards and a doctor. Allora pulled her hand up to examine the slippery red substance layered on the floor. Her hands were covered in blood.

  The hallway lights flickered, illuminating a familiar-looking dark figure with pointed ears, gray skin, and beady yellow eyes. Katie pulled Allora up, and they followed the boys, who were sprinting. Two red hadron bursts shot through the hallway as Tanner and Dax closed in. One of the bursts clipped Dax and knocked him sideways into the wall, while Tanner shot a blue burst at the fleeing drow elf. The blue light missed but hit an empty gurney that exploded from the wall, crashing into the elf. Tanner saw his opening and leapt onto the creature. The impact forced the elf’s head into the ground, knocking him unconscious.

  Katie helped her brother up as he shook his head and held his blackened shoulder. Allora slowed to a stop, kneeling down next to Tanner, who had the elf pinned to the floor. She searched the creature’s pockets. The elf started to regain consciousness, moaning slightly. In the creature’s satchel was the small sapphire cube that he had stolen from the cyclops. It was about the size of a marble, with carved lines, making it look like a tiny Rubik’s cube. Tanner and Allora were staring at the thing when a red glow came from the elf’s hands. Tanner was sho
t backward, and Allora received a kick to the stomach. The cube flew back down the hallway, sliding along the slick linoleum. The elf sprung up and sprinted after it. Katie dove along the ground, grabbing the cube as the elf was closing in. Dax hurled his unhurt shoulder into the advancing elf and clipped his side. They crashed into the wall and slid along the ground.

  Katie threw the cube toward Allora as her brother and the elf crashed into her. The elf regained his footing, kicked Katie, threw Dax into the wall, and then ran after the flying cube. Allora dove for it, fumbled it, and then caught it with both hands before it hit the ground. The drow elf was sprinting quickly, pulling a red hadron burst to his side. Allora had a split second to make a decision. Remembering her training, she pulled in the hadrons that were circulating in the room, created a bubble of force underneath herself, and pushed the energy down, which shot her body into the ceiling just as the elf shot his red burst forward.

  The elf ran underneath Allora as the red burst destroyed the window at the end of the hallway. The drow elf was going too fast and slid out of the opening. There was a high-pitched squeal, a thud, and then silence. Allora wiggled on the ground, trying to catch her breath after slamming back down onto the hard floor. Tanner was getting to his feet, and Dax was helping his sister.

  Allora quickly got to her feet and ran down the hall to the cyclop’s room. The oversized man with one eye was convulsing. She scanned the area, searching for the cause of the creature’s seizure.

  On the side of the bed were three tubes of liquid that fed into straps that looked to be going straight into his body. One of the tubes had an odd-looking black swirl. She pulled at the contraption, but it wouldn’t budge. She searched frantically for something to break the glass, but there was nothing. In her desperation, she pulled back her hand and shot a hadron burst at the swirling, blackening glass case, which shattered. The restraints released, and the cyclops stopped convulsing. His rigid muscles stopped flexing, and he eased back into the bed.