Black-Eyed Kids: The Complete Series

by Miranda Hardy

  I’d rather not, I tell him telepathically.

  “There is more,” I say as I put the phone down onto the pack and walk toward a nearby half-dead bush. “I was excited about the phone, and I wanted to know if I could manipulate other things, too, so I attempted with the plant life, thinking maybe I could somehow transfer energy into it to accelerate its growth. It worked, but I discovered something else.”

  I place my hand on one of the skinny limbs of the bush and command my energy to flow into it. Tingly warmth travels from my belly, up to my chest, down my arm, and out of my fingertips. The brown thorny leaves rattle as newly formed buds erupt from its branches. The others gasp as the leaves open up and the withered one become green and lush.

  “I’m speechless.” Dr. B examines the bush. “This is beyond me.”

  I tell the group, “I am not finished yet.”

  Detective Jennings says, “If you make the bush catch fire, I’m outta here.”

  I close my eyes and concentrate on drawing energy back from the plant. My hands grow warm as I begin to draw power into myself. The bush slowly begins to brown, eventually withering away into nothing but brittle and rotten stems. The energy stream envelopes me with a small burst of power. After one final pull of its life force, the plant evaporates into a poof of smoke.

  The tide of energy lingers inside of me for a few seconds. My body craves more of the energy now emanating from everything around me, but I stave off the hunger and turn to the others who stand amazed.

  “How’d you do that?” Detective Jennings asks. “It turned to dust.”

  “We saw nothing like this during our research,” Dr. B says. “How did this never occur to us? Plants are made of energy, just as humans are. So damn obvious.”

  Maverick senses the hope inside me before anyone else. “You can live off anything that’s made of energy. You don’t need to take human lives.” He asks Dr. B, “Why now? If she’s been able to do something like this all this time, why is she able to do it now? Or did she maybe just develop this new power all of a sudden?”

  “It does not matter. I am relieved I do not need to take human lives in order to survive.” A sudden thought comes to me. “Dr. B, do you suppose the others are capable of drawing energy from other sources?”

  Dr. B stares at the spot where the bush had evaporated. “So many questions, but let’s start with Maverick’s. My guess is Astid had to be nearly depleted of energy to get to that point. Desperation and hunger. If I was hungry enough, hell, I’d eat my own shoe.”

  Dr. B’s hypothesis makes sense to me. I say, “After I pushed my own energy into the cell phone, I thought I was going to faint. I could hardly breathe. Then, there was the matter of how I noticed all of the trees’ auras glowed brighter and brighter the more I weakened. I was being drawn to the trees. Eventually, I gave in to the pull. Without thinking, I struggled to get close enough to a tree, and I drew its power into myself.”

  Lisa asks, “What about Astid’s question? Can the other Black-Eyed Kids do this?”

  His mind is racing to formulate his reply. Dr. B is at a loss for words. He wants to input all of this information into his notes, but he left them behind in the cave. He wishes he was at his lab computer right now. He realizes many innocent lives could have been spared had he and his peers realized the Dark Angels could draw energy from non-human sources. The immense guilt takes his breath away.

  “I’m sorry.” Dr. B wipes his sweaty forehead. “This is a lot to take in.” He composes himself before finally saying, “At the very least, Kren should be able to do it, too. But just like Astid, he’d have to be literally starving to death in order to serendipitously find out he’s able to do such a thing.”

  Maverick asks, “And the other BEKs?”

  “I can’t say for sure,” Dr. B replies. “All of this is beyond our science. Now we’re getting into the metaphysical realm a bit. Energy flows all around us. We are a living Monet painting. Energy swirling, atoms and subatomic particles vibrating. The Dark Angels were genetically derived from ancient succubae, so we only focused on how they feed on human energy for sustenance and strength. Now that I’m removed from my research and the lab, it’s plain as day there’s no reason to believe the others can’t do this either.”

  I whisper to no one in particular, “We do not have to kill.”

  The BEKs may never be able to fully integrate into human society, but now we have alternatives for survival. We could co-exist with humans without having to resort to hunting them. With practice, the others can learn to control the dark vibration they emanate, which would allow them to walk amongst humans and interact with them, as long as we keep our black eyes covered.

  For the first time in my life, I have hope. There’s hope for a better future for me and my fellow Dark Angels.

  Maverick exudes enough joy for all of us. “That’s right.”

  “Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Dr. B says as he clears his throat. “Astid and Kren have always exhibited greater power than the others. They are different.”

  “You don’t have to be a Black-Eyed Kid, or Dark Angel-thingy, to give and take energy,” Lisa says. “I know plenty of people who literally drain you when you’re around them. They dump all their negativity on you, and leave you feeling miserable and exhausted. My Aunt Cara is that way. She doesn’t even need to speak, and her presence is enough to suck your energy away.”

  “That’s a good point,” Maverick adds. “And on the flip side, there’s a lot of people we all know who make you feel energized when they’re around you. Right?”

  The others nod as their thoughts turn to their friends and family who either drain them or inspire them.

  “Energy is all around us, right Beck?” Maverick jabs Dr. B in the shoulder with his elbow. “The Black-Eyed Kids are just better at manipulating it. Up until now, you and your fellow evil scientists were focused on developing that ability into a weapon. So, they all should be able to do everything Astid did with giving and taking energy, but maybe they won’t be able to do it as well. Might take practice.”

  What Maverick is saying makes sense. Even Dr. B agrees.

  “It opens a door for a future I never thought possible,” I say.

  “I think I need to sit a minute.” Detective Jennings feels as if he’s a million miles from where he was just a months ago. He would describe all of this as “paranormal mumbo jumbo.” If he hadn’t experienced everything for himself, he never would have believed any of this. “I know this is all good news, but my brain hurts.” He wags his finger at Dr. B. “I still don’t fully understand your place in all of this.”

  Dr. B says, “After I ran away from Level 6, I thought exposing the Dark Angels’ existence to the world would lead to exposing Level 6 for the atrocities they’ve created.” He pauses to take a long breath in and out. “Atrocities I’ve created.” Dr. B turns to me. “That’s why our organization searched for you and the others. Once we went public, Level 6 would have to answer for our crimes. It would set off a chain reaction, and the rest of the dominoes would fall.”

  “Dominoes?” Detective Jennings asks. “Level 6 isn’t the end of it?”

  “Hardly,” Dr. B replies. “There are many Black Projects going on all over the country, in secret installations hidden from the public. Bringing Project Hero to light makes up maybe five percent of all the terrible things going on beyond Level 6.”

  Maverick’s joy is replaced with dejection. “Our mission is pointless.”

  “Not at all.” Dr. B holds up a finger and tries to put his scrambled thinking into words. “Level 6 gets government funding, just like all the Black Projects. However, the government itself doesn’t even know the extent of their experiments. The majority of the funding Level 6 receives is money originally directed towards special aerospace stealth-development projects. Quite legit. Secret, but not too secret. UFO hunters have captured video of new stealth aircrafts being tested in the Nevada desert. However, the government funnels a percentage of that
money into Level 6. That’s how it works for all the Deep Black Projects.” Dr. B goes to his pack and pulls out a file. “There’s only maybe a dozen government officials who know where all of this secret money is going. Conspiracy theorists call them the Majestic 12.”

  Detective Jennings springs to his feet. “Wait, not even the government knows what these other little Black Project groups are doing? Incredible.”

  “Stopping Level 6 is not pointless,” Dr. B says to Maverick. “It’s just a start. Once the public learns everything, all of the Black Projects and the agencies that run them will find it harder to hide in the dark.”

  “I used to trust my government,” Detective Jennings says. “But if the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing, they can claim to not know anything.”

  “Compartmentalization,” Dr. B says. “There are many other secret agencies performing all kinds of Deep Black Projects out there, but even I don’t know anything about them. I was stuck in my little world, like a firefly in a jar.”

  “And the President?” Detective Jennings asks.

  “Every President does have access to a lot of secrets.” Dr. B says with a shrug. “But the Executive Office is also compartmentalized. Air tight. It allows the President to deny all day long, and actually be telling the truth.” Dr. B continues to flip through his file.

  Detective Jennings says, “What you’re saying is, some of the money to develop brand new stealth bombers goes to Level 6. My hard-earned tax dollars are being used to experiment on children?”

  Dr. B stops and nods his head. “I’m afraid so.” He goes back to searching for something in his paperwork. “But we’re not just developing brand new stealth bombers. Oh no. What we’ve got will make those look like prop planes.”

  “Okay, Beck, you’ve got to tell us more about that,” Maverick says.

  “Stealth fighters and bombers are practically undetectable by radar,” Dr. B starts. “Imagine an aircraft that can actually travel in space and doesn’t use conventional combustion or fuel. It uses a new kind of engine that allows the craft to fly without making a sound, and at speeds that could get us to China in minutes instead of hours.”

  Dr. Jennings sits back down again. “A nearly invisible airplane.”

  “Not nearly invisible, Detective. The aircraft is able to manipulate the energy around it to actually mask itself.” There’s a faraway look in Dr. B’s eyes. “It would be invisible to our enemies. It would be the perfect spy plane.”

  Maverick interjects with, “Or a bomber.”

  “Yes, that’s true.” Dr. B’s eyebrows draw together. “Most of Level 6 was…is busy working on Project Aurora, an initiative focused on developing this new jump in aerospace technologies. The other small percentage of us are assigned to Project Hero or other Deep Black Projects. Information from one initiative to the other was scant, and information to outside agencies on Hero was non-existent. There was some cooperation between Level 6 and other agencies, like NASA and the Air Force on Project Aurora, but my group was buried below layers of secrets.”

  “Anyone with that kind of technology would basically have control over the entire world,” Detective Jennings surmises. “I gather they haven’t perfected this stealth airplane yet?”

  “Right.” Dr. B holds up a piece of paper. “But, Project Aurora gets closer and closer thanks to one very intelligent individual.”

  Lisa asks, “Who’s the mastermind?”

  Dr. B holds up a picture of a man for all of us to see. “This man right here.”

  Detective Jennings recognizes the face in the picture, as does Maverick.

  Maverick is about to faint. “That’s my dad.”

  17

  MAVERICK

  BECK NEARLY DROPS the picture of Dad. “That puts a damper on my plans.” Beck’s strategy to destroy Level 6 includes killing him. “Talk about a small world.”

  I lunge at him, but Jennings blocks me. “He wanted to kill him!”

  “How was I supposed to know Dr. Charles Ashe was your father?” Beck backs away from me. “None of the higher ups working on Project Aurora have contact with any family members. No strings.”

  Detective Jennings keeps me away from Beck. “Please tell us what your plan was.”

  Beck shoves the picture of Dad back into his file folder. “Dr. Charles Ashe is the Executive Director of the Aurora Project. He has direct access to the Majestic 12. In plain English, he’s Mr. Moneybags.”

  I want to punch Beck in the face so hard. “Killing my dad is going to single-handedly bring Level 6 crumbling down?”

  “Have we not had enough death?” Astid asks Beck directly. “Even with Charles Ashe gone, Level 6 would find another person to lead the project.”

  “Yeah. How can Project Aurora be so dependent on one individual?” Jennings asks. “Apparently, to the government, we’re all pretty much expendable. Secrets on top of secrets.”

  Beck is feeling cornered. “There were other facets to my strategy. I would also have destroyed as much of the research as possible. Project Aurora would have trudged on, but without Dr. Ashe’s research and notes, they’d be slowed down.”

  I can’t believe what I’m hearing. I thought Dad was just a boring airplane engineer. He had told me his job was to help design planes that were more fuel-efficient. I guess he wasn’t totally lying about that.

  Beck moves towards me, but he can tell I’m still pissed, so he maintains his distance. He’s a smart man. “Maverick, your father is the foremost expert in the field of experimental aerospace engineering…ever.”

  “How do you know all of this?” Jennings asks.

  Beck had told us about all the compartmentalization that kept each other in the dark about the crap they were doing. I tell him, “Yeah, I thought you all kept secrets from each other.” Maybe Astid was right, and we should have let Level 6 capture Beck. Marcus would be here safe and sound. “You sure know a lot about stuff outside of Project Hero, Beck, even though you’re not supposed to.”

  Astid’s thoughts enter my head. Maverick, you were right about sparing Dr. B. Even after all he has done to my family and countless other test subjects, he is the key to stopping Level 6.

  “Like I said, information among Level 6 was scant,” Beck replies. “Your father is the trunk of the Level 6 tree, and I’m merely just one branch. I only learned who ran Project Aurora and diverted money to Project Hero when they brought me to this facility. Dr. Ashe works here and at a secret facility in Indiana.”

  “I’ve had just about enough of your stupid ass metaphors.” I ball my fists up, and I’m on the verge of losing my cool again. The need to put my fist through Beck’s face consumes me. “I already lost my mom.”

  A new revelation weakens my knees. Dad worked for the very group that is responsible for killing Mom, Tarick, and Cadence. Dad is behind the entity that turned Marcus into a BEK hybrid. Now I know why Dad moved to Indiana, and I have the urge to punch Dad in the face instead.

  Astid knows my thoughts, but she has no idea how to comfort me.

  “After I went into hiding, I came back here, to Red Top, which they named after the state park sitting adjacent to us. This installation also happens to be one of Level 6’s least guarded facilities, and I hacked into the network. There were always bits and pieces I was able to catch about Project Aurora, but I never had a name, until I broke into the system. Even though he came and went, I never knew who he was. We never wore nametags and Level 6 kept us all separated.” Beck senses my wrath is being directed elsewhere. “I discovered more than I bargained for. Funds from the military budget goes directly from Project Aurora to Project Hero. Your father is the one in charge of that flow of money.”

  Lisa wraps an arm around me. “I’m sorry, Maverick.”

  I take a deep breath. “I always wondered, why the hell Indiana? He has no family or friends there.”

  Beck replies, “Several prototypes of the TR-3A, codename Pumpkinseed, and the TR-3B, called Astra, are both designed in Ind
iana. Prototypes are built, housed, and tested in Nevada. Here at Red Top, they work on the communications and other reconnaissance technologies. I wouldn’t have learned about all of this had I not been transferred here to work on trying to tame Balor.”

  “Pumpkinseed? Who the hell comes up with that crap?” I force myself to calm down by focusing on the soothing sounds of the rushing water.

  “I assume your father,” Beck says with a flinch.

  Lisa and Astid go to sit next to the falls and share a bottle of water. Neither of them know what to say about this situation. Astid touches my mind every now and then, but she can’t think of anything to make me feel better.

  I go back to the compartmentalization-idea, and I grasp onto one last strand of hope. “What if my dad doesn’t know about Project Hero. The specifics anyway. If things are so compartmentalized, he could be shifting money to you guys and not even know what the hell is going on, right? He probably doesn’t know about all the mad scientist crap you were doing. Project Aurora is a Black Project. Secret, but not too secret. Project Hero is a Deep Black Project. Super-secret.”

  Beck is carefully considering my idea. “It’s quite possible, Maverick. I want to assure you, killing your father was only going to be my last resort. I was hoping to persuade him to work with me. The fact that he meets with the Majestic 12 directly leads me to think he knows everything. But then again, his expertise in experimental, alien-reversed technology is completely irrelevant to the work my group did.”

  “Hold up!” Jennings looks like he’s about to lose his mind. “Did you say alien reversed engineering?”

  “I sure did.” Beck puts his folder back into his pack. “We could never have invented magnetogravatic technology on our own.”

  I try my best to only think of the bubbling brook, but I just can’t. “He was boring to me growing up. And now I learn he’s using alien technology to build invisible spaceships, diverting money to mad scientists, and he’s a member of some secret elite group called Majestic 12.”