An Uncommon Truth of Dying (Broken Veil Book 2)

by Marie Andreas

  Aisling looked down at herself. “I feel the same. How do we know if it’s working?”

  Stella held the scanner gizmo of Caradoc’s. “Mind if I demonstrate?” At his nod, she aimed it at Aisling. The pinging sound was still there, but growing weaker.

  “That’s one issue done, and I am glad none of you are calling Nix to us, but we do need to get a move on figuring out how to free London,” Maeve said.

  Dailten and Harlie had been quietly watching everyone, but both stepped forward.

  “We’re going to storm it,” Dailten said proudly.

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Everyone waited for the two to elaborate, but they just stood there smiling.

  Bart shook his head. “A handful of agents and us are going to storm a blob that has taken over all of London. Do you two know how large London is or how insane that sounds?”

  “Yes.” Harlie smiled. “Six hundred and seven square miles for the greater area, but the area of the dome is a bit less than that. We’ve estimated only five hundred and two square miles to be currently covered. As for the insanity, yes, but we need to go far outside of what we know, to destroy what could not be.” He nodded serenely as if he’d just clarified the meaning of life.

  “You slipped into your mystic-on-the-mountain voice with that last bit,” Aisling pointed out.

  “He did.” Bart narrowed his eyes at both of them. “I assume you two have a plan? Something that indicates how we storm it? Something clearly defined?”

  “We use the fey and human forces. Most of the HLF is still outside the dome, and while not a military group, they are pissed that their name is being used in such a way—they are not involved with Nix.” Caradoc had clearly been multitasking on both projects. “It appears their higher ups are missing and presumed inside the dome.”

  Maeve went to one of the laptops. “I can help encourage their involvement. I’m not a member, but I know a few people who are. But even if we get them and others to join, shooting it isn’t going to take it down.” She questioned their actions but Aisling noticed that she’d sent out a few emails and was composing more.

  Dailten held up the case with the green goo rock dust in it. “We get enough of this made, use flyers to get it dispersed over the dome, then attack. The dust and spells will weaken the dome enough for us to take it down.”

  Noise from outside the barn indicated the others were back.

  Reece, Jones, and Narissa came in first, the rest stayed outside. And it looked like there were far more people with them than when they’d left.

  Reece came to Stella. “We need you, your box, and those slivers. We cleared the area, but found more agents from assorted agencies coming this way. Word got around that we’re the place to be.”

  “How many more?” Bart was already heading for the door.

  “Fifty-three. Once they’re cleared, we can start trying to find more. Any luck in getting the tracking off?”

  “Yep and yep.” Aisling hooked a thumb over to where Harlie, Caradoc, and Dailten stood. “We’re cleared and they’ve figured out how to save London.”

  Stella and Bart went to go check on the other agents, with Jones and Narissa going out as back up.

  Caradoc explained a brief version of the plan to Reece.

  “Will it work?” Reece looked over the schematics and notes, but didn’t look optimistic.

  Dailten nodded. “We don’t have much choice. It’s this, or Nix keeps London. At least until that lincolica spell he created collapses in on itself and takes everyone and everything inside London with it. Making the extra dust won’t be a problem, we have a lot of stones and it’s a fast process.”

  “We still won’t cover all of the dome, but all of the cells for the HLF are converging on London already, I convinced them to work with us,” Maeve said.

  Reece ran his hand through his hair. “We need more people, even if this dust works and we can get enough magic using flyers up and over the dome, the fire power we’ll have will be minimal. There’s no way to cover the entire area. Can we use small planes or drones to disburse it?”

  Caradoc scowled. “No. I already thought of planes and drones, but there is a static charge coming off that dome. In every computer scenario the drones dropped and the planes crashed. It’s tech, not magic. Flyers won’t be affected.”

  “I might be able to help.” Greely spoke from the barn doors before anyone inside noticed he was even there. “Sorry I took off like that in London, no idea who to trust. But I picked up on the call for agents to come here. I like the testing for possession by the way, I wish we’d had that a few months ago.” He sighed. “But I have connections to the Royal Army; I can get more forces on the ground and in the air.”

  Bart and Stella were still working through the crowd of agents with Mott’s box, but Aisling knew Jones wouldn’t have let Greely through unless he’d been cleared.

  It was already after nine on an extremely long day. Once the agents had all been cleared, not a single sign of possession among them, people were settled down and told to rest.

  Of course, that still meant sorting through the specifics of the attack, so Aisling and the core team worked until Bart finally pushed them off about midnight.

  They had thirty flyers with them, with at least another eighty reported from the Royal Army. Luckily for them most flying fey weren’t fond of massive cities like London, so they lived outside of it. They would all meet with the army and the humans at a set meeting spot tomorrow afternoon.

  Stella bunked with Aisling and Maeve and they were all settling in with a bit of tea to unwind. “I should have told Bart; he is our leader after all. But Reg and Grundog contacted me once the news of the dome on London went worldwide. They are either here in the U.K. now, or on their way. He’s gathering the Ckiong to do their own attack on the dome.”

  Aisling shook her head slowly. “More fighters are good, but why do I think there’s a problem?”

  “Because, while Reg and Grundog like us personally, as a whole the Ckiong don’t trust other fey or human organizations. Trying to get them to work with us would be problematic to say the least. I’ve tried calling Grundog twice in the past hour, but it goes to voicemail. There are over two thousand trolls in Ckiong, they would go a long way to increasing our ranks.”

  “Damn right they would.” Maeve topped off their tea. “We have to get them on our side. If the HLF is working with us, they bloody can too.” She grumbled, pulled out her phone, and started stabbing in a number. “I am tired as hell and we’re going into battle tomorrow...hello? Reg? Good to hear you. This is Maeve. What’s this about your people not fighting with us to free London?” She nodded to Aisling and Stella and stomped off into her room to continue the call.

  “I didn’t even know she had his number.” Aisling watched the shut door.

  “Me either. He must have taken a shine to her. And judging by the raised voice from Maeve, he might be regretting he gave it to her.” Stella gave a small smile.

  “Yelling sometimes is the best way to deal with a troll.”

  “I agree. That’s why I didn’t tell Bart. If anyone had officially contacted them, Reg would have been obligated to say no. He’ll have a very hard time doing that to Maeve.” She cleared away the tea. “I know it’s late, and we’re both tired. But I want to teach you some shielding spells. We’ve no idea what we’ll be facing tomorrow.”

  Aisling started to shake her off. Her mother had tried to teach her advanced shielding, but somehow it never worked. Then she realized that with her magic released, it should work now. “Can we do it quickly? I’m exhausted.”

  “Yes, nothing fancy, just basic shielding for you and whoever is close to you. Probably can get a good ten foot spread each direction as long as it’s short duration.” She got to her feet. “Now, let’s do it.”

  An hour later an exhausted but satisfied Aisling rolled into bed. She had some marks on her arms to show where Stella’s tests had gotten through, but she could shield now. M
aeve had tottered out a while ago, said she got the damn trolls to join the fight, then went to bed.

  Morning came far too soon.

  The knocking on the front door wasn’t welcome nor quiet. She rolled to her feet and went to open it.

  Reece looked far too awake, aware, and sexy to deal with after three or four hours of sleep. “Just wanted to see how you all were doing?”

  She didn’t miss the emphasis being on the word you and not all.

  “Stella taught me to shield, Maeve got us some more support.” She pulled him inside and explained both while she made coffee.

  “That’s amazing. Both things actually.”

  “What’s amazing?” Maeve asked as she stumbled into the kitchen, claimed a mug, and got some coffee. She gave Reece a look. “You do not appear to have stayed overnight.”

  “Because I didn’t.” Reece laughed. “We’ll need to coordinate Reg with the rest of the team, but that is amazing that you got him to join in.”

  “That is an issue. The Ckiong won’t follow Area 42 or any other group. I gave him the full details. He and his people will happen to meet us there, then decide to join.”

  “But that...is very troll.” Reece sat down the coffee cup Aisling handed him. “I suppose Bart has to come here to learn of this, and we can’t tell anyone else?”

  “Yup.” Maeve took a sip of her coffee, dumped it down the drain, and started some tea. “I love the smell, but can’t take the taste.”

  Reece left with a quick nod to Stella as she came into the kitchen.

  “That’s how he’s getting around Ckiong stubbornness. Good job, Maeve.” Stella came in. “Are we ready for a battle that will go down in history?”

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  The morning was a blur as more agents filtered in, were checked by Stella and Dailten, then put into groups. The plan was to send the people they currently had to circle London, leaving coverage on the northern side to the army. The only exception would be the flyers—they would all have to meet Bart’s group in Amersham to get their goo rock dust. Amersham was close enough to the northern edge of the dome, that it worked as a strategic base; the southern part of the town had been swallowed by the dome,.

  Those who had been sheltering in other Area 42 locations had already been coming down and would circle the dome as well. MI-6 had lost the majority of their agents to the dome, but the ones still out, as well as the free Closen, would also meet in Amersham. So far there hadn’t been signs of the enemy, but that didn’t mean Nix didn’t have his clones and other fighters ready to retaliate when the dome came under attack.

  Only Maeve, Aisling, Stella, Reece, and Bart knew that Reg and his marching Ckiong army would also be in Amersham—by coincidence, of course.

  The grinding of the dust had taken all night. But they now had over a thousand packets. They didn’t have that many flyers yet, so Stella had harnesses made so each flyer could carry multiple packets. The ground assault would be first as a distraction, then the flyers would start. The spell that went with the powder was simple and all of their current flyers were fine with it.

  “What sort of resistance are we expecting?” Greely was helping load the last of the dust packets. He’d gotten commitments from just under a thousand Royal Army retirees. Even though the king and queen of the U.K. agreed something needed to be done, they wanted to wait things out before officially reacting.

  Bart’s crew didn’t have the luxury of time. Aisling felt it on the back of her neck as she helped load dust as well. Watching the news, both official and what a few Area 42 agents who were outside the dome were sending back, didn’t show any changes in the dome, but she felt it on another level. The dome was solidifying.

  “No idea.” Bart checked his guns and loaded them in a pack. “There’s been no signs of activity around the dome, no sightings of Nix, and no more demands.” He turned to Greely. “Unless the royal family has received some?”

  “Not that any of my sources are saying, but the Royals do appear to be setting up Edinburgh as a fortress. No one in or out.” Greely already looked better than he had in London.

  Bart snorted. “That won’t help them if Nix has the ability to throw another dome their way. He will find a way in.”

  “They never believed me about him either. Oh, the Royals recognized he was a dangerous criminal, but they doubted me when I said he was more.” Greeley scowled. “What about the High Council and the fey royals? This is a fey situation after all.” The British royal family was always human, it was an agreement made long ago. But the fey High King and Queen had no jurisdictional boundaries.

  “They aren’t responding.” Bart gave a quick glance to Aisling.

  The High Council had said they would be looking into it. But Aisling and the others were pretty sure they were extensively aware of things, and waiting to see how they played out. Her mother was somehow involved, which meant the rest of the Council at least knew, and might have been working with her on this. They’d agreed no one else outside of their immediate circle needed to know that.

  Everything was mostly ready and packed when Reece came up to Aisling. “Can I talk to you for a moment? Alone?” His gray eyes were dark with worry.

  Aisling nodded to Bart and followed Reece to the cottage she’d stayed in. He shut the door, then took her in his arms. The first kiss was quick and filled with an urgency far beyond passion. Aisling returned it, then allowed herself a look in his eyes when he pulled back.

  “That was great, really. But?”

  “I don’t want to lose you.” He smiled, but his eyes still looked worried. “I can’t explain it, maybe it’s that precog kicking in, but I just feel like—”

  Aisling kissed him to cut him off. She put how much he meant to her into her kiss. They were going into a battle of unknown elements—there was always a chance one or both wouldn’t survive.

  They finally broke from the kiss. “I wish we had more time.” He traced her cheek. “No matter what happens, save yourself.”

  “Only if you will.” She kissed him again, running her hands up his back.

  A knock at the door cut them off.

  “Aisling? Bart says we’re ready to go.” Maeve could have just opened the door—chances were she’d seen the two of them go inside together.

  “On my way.” Aisling started to reach for the door, but Reece grabbed her hand.

  “I do love you too, you know.” His eyes didn’t look as upset as before, but there was an intensity there. “Don’t forget that. No matter what happens.” He released her hand, opened the door for her, and they joined the others.

  They might have only had two hundred people gathered here, but the number of weapons was impressive. Bart and Caradoc were driving a huge farm truck with what looked like a missile launcher strapped on its bed. Considering Aisling hadn’t seen any such thing on the grounds before, odds were that Caradoc had made it.

  She rode in a car at the back of the line with Reece, Stella, and Maeve. Jones drove the car behind them with Harlie, Dailten, and Narissa. All told, fifty-one vehicles wound their way south to Amersham.

  There were fewer cars on the motorway than normal, but Aisling heard the radio crackle that they were being followed.

  “Damn it.” Reece grabbed the radio and contacted Bart. “I’m going to drop out and see if we can come up behind them.”

  “They might just be out for a drive?” Caradoc’s voice responded.

  “Doubtful. Jones, you want to stay or take off with me?”

  “We’ll go with you. Next right?” Knowing Jones, it had been far too long since he’d had a chance to kill someone and was looking forward to some action.

  “Yup.” Reece took the exit and picked up speed. Jones followed, and three of four cars behind them did as well. “Bart, the convoy still has one tail. We got three to follow us. We’ll meet you in Amersham.”

  Aisling looked back at their new friends, but they were still too far to see well. “Can’t tell who they are, anyone have a
clue?”

  Stella closed her eyes in focus, then opened them. “They are speaking Japanese. At least the last car is. The first two cars are silent.”

  “Lazing, again? Are they still after me? We’re heading toward Nix; they can go find him themselves.” Maeve turned and glared at the cars behind them.

  “Who knows with them. I’m still...damn it. We’re blocked in.” Reece started swearing as a dead end appeared. “This isn’t on the GPS. Jones, get your folks ready, we’re going to have to come out fighting. Try and get your flyers in the air before they notice.” He didn’t wait for a response, but spun the car to face the oncoming vehicles. The first two cars blocked their exit—the last stopped further back and on a slight rise.

  Gunfire came from the first two cars. Reece, Aisling, Maeve, and Jones returned it. Dailten and Narissa were up high above them and Stella had closed her eyes again. Harlie stayed in Jones’ car but looked to be doing what Stella was—sitting with his eyes closed.

  She opened her eyes and yelled. “Wait! Don’t shoot at the last car!”

  Before anyone could respond, the two front cars exploded and debris flew high in the air. Aisling ducked back into their car, but only smaller pieces came toward them.

  The third car had blown up the other two.

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  “That was different.” Jones crept up to their car. “I didn’t see what happened, but I assume none of you have a rocket launcher?”

  “It was the last car. They didn’t like something about the other two.” Stella kept her eyes closed as she did her spying. “This was a setup to get rid of those two cars, but now they are debating what to do with us. And they are Lazing.”

  “We can’t sit here forever, we do have a battle to get to, you know.” Maeve scowled at the third car, but so far no one came out. “I can turn myself over to them if they will let the rest of you go.”