by Brandt Legg
Then, emerging from the trees, pursuing him, were six Special Forces soldiers. How did they find Outin? There was an instant to decide—run or fight. Kyle was telling me to run, so I Skyclimbed into the upper branches. Kyle’s powers were much more basic than mine, but he’d been practicing and was able to reach me moments later. The soldiers quickly took up positions below.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
He nodded, trying to catch his breath.
“How did they get here? Did someone follow you that night?”
“No. I mean, we were careful. Crowd was with us. If they followed us close enough to see the entrance, how come they didn’t kill us that night?”
We were high in Outin’s tallest trees, but no doubt these soldiers had come prepared and could use ropes without any trouble.
“It’s been five days, that’s about ten minutes in reverse time in the regular world. Man, how many ways can they play with that? If Lightyear has access to Outin, we’re in serious trouble.”
“We’re in serious trouble either way.”
“Yeah but... ”
“Let’s get out of here and warn the girls.”
“We have to stop them. I counted six. Are there more?”
“I wasn’t doing math, I was trying to get to you! Now we need to get to the girls.”
“You go. I’ll take care of these guys.”
“Nate.”
“The girls are still looking for the fifth lake. They should be somewhere past the outer Windows. Go.”
“You’re asking me to choose between helping you and helping Linh.”
“It’s the same thing. Now go before they attack.”
His expression was a ten-minute lecture in a second. He disappeared down through a hundred shades of yellow globes, floating bubbles and chalky black branches. My plan was not very original nor very soulful. But they were here to kill us, there was the Movement to consider, and I had the Jadeo. They didn’t know what they were doing, yet they were doing it. Five fires vaporized all but one of the soldiers within minutes. The survivor ran until I pinned him on the ground with Gogen while still seventy yards away.
My first interrogation, and thankfully I was on the right side of it. Reading his past with Vising was necessary because we needed the absolute truth and because he refused to speak a word. What his mind revealed to me was very bad news.
35
It took more than an hour to catch up with Amber, Kyle, and Linh. They were hiding in a grove of “light trees” we discovered a few days earlier, and because they were visible from a great distance, the grove became our meeting place. The trees shimmered with cosmic light from the stars below. There was a second benefit: it was impossible to see people hiding in them because of their brightness. They’d seen me coming for ten minutes.
I marched my prisoner and used Gogen to pin him to a nearby tree, then I tossed his four weapons on the ground.
“What’s going on?” Kyle asked.
“We have a problem.”
“Looks like it. What are we supposed to do with him?”
No one spoke.
“Kill him,” Linh finally said.
We all looked at her.
“He was sent here to kill us,” she said defensively.
“And he knows where Outin is,” I said.
“The other soldiers?” Kyle asked.
“Dead.”
“He should be too,” Linh insisted.
“Killing in the heat of battle is one thing. Executing an unarmed man is another,” I said, looking over at the man. He still said nothing.
“I don’t believe in killing,” Kyle said, “but realistically, what are our choices? We can’t let him go. He’ll report everything to Lightyear.”
“It’s unclear whether Lightyear already knows about Outin. The soldiers’ mission was to locate us. They had intelligence we fled to Shasta from the theater.”
“Where did they get that?”
“Who knows, but our friend over there doesn’t even know how they found the veil. He wasn’t with the lead group that located it and was the last one through.”
“You read him; that’s why you let him live?” Amber asked.
I nodded.
“So, do they know or not?” Linh asked.
“Hard to say. They sent a message out with GPS coordinates at the entrance but didn’t describe it exactly.”
“How would you?” Kyle said.
“So it’s possible they may just think we were sighted at that spot and not understand?” Amber asked.
“It’s worse than that. They left a man outside, and we need to go out there,” I said.
“We’re dead,” Kyle exhaled.
“Then we have to kill him,” Linh motioned to the soldier. “We have no jail, and if we leave him, one of us would have to stay behind.”
“Amber, what do you think?”
“I think we should continue this conversation away from him.”
I told the man to lie face down, then used Gogen to hold him there. He would have the sensation of floating through space.
“I agree killing is wrong, but we also know no one really dies so there’s that. I don’t know what to do. We need Spencer,” Amber said.
“Spencer would see this as a major threat to the Movement and kill him in two seconds,” I said.
“Are you sure? He might have a whole different way to deal with it that we don’t know about. Maybe Outin has a portal that just suspends a person or one that sends him to a dimension that makes him a kid again. I don’t know. You yourself said anything is possible here.”
“Hey, why don’t we find some crazy future Window and shove him through?” Kyle asked.
“Who knows the ramifications of—”
Two rapid gunshots—we all hit the ground. I looked up and saw Linh holding an automatic weapon. “We’re wasting time. I’ll deal with the karma.”
“Damn,” Amber said, unable to hide her shock.
“The entire U.S. military may be on the way to Outin, and we’re debating the life of one soldier. If he could have, he would have shot us all.” Linh shook her head. “Now, let’s go get the one at the entrance.”
Kyle stared at the dead soldier. Blood puddled under his body then seemed to vanish into space. I put my arm around my friend. “You all right?” He didn’t answer.
Linh shook her head. “Amber, you want to come with me and get the other one or stay here with the boys? How long do you think he’s going to wait there?”
“We do have Outin’s reverse time to play with. To the guy out there, they’ve hardly been gone yet. If we’re not careful, we could wind up getting there before they went in.”
36
We left the body and headed toward the entrance through a new section of forest. Fearing a possible attack, our steps were slow and cautious. Everyone ignored the Windows we passed except Amber, who tried to get a glimpse into all but the most distant ones. I kept stopping to make sure she didn’t fall too far behind. It wasn’t surprising when Amber called my name from a Window two hundred feet away, but there wasn’t time for any more sightseeing, and I’d given up on ever seeing Dustin again. I waved her off.
“Nate,” she repeated. “Come here, now.”
“What?” I shouted trying not to raise my voice too much.
“It’s Dustin.”
Even Kyle began running toward her. The Window was big enough for all of us to see inside. Dustin was walking back and forth across a narrow railing like a gymnast on a balance beam. Near as I could tell, the balcony was at least a hundred stories up.
“Past or future?” I asked Amber.
She shrugged.
“Dustin, can you hear me?” I yelled into the window.
He turned, not more than ten feet from us, laughing, at the same time tears running down his face. “I told you not to look for me. Go do something else.”
“What should we be doing?”
“The future isn’t all it’s cracked up to be,
little brother. You might—” He teetered on the railing. Kyle grabbed me before I could leap into the Window. Dustin managed to right himself. “You should concentrate on the past, Nate, ’cause it’s a mess here.”
“Where are you? When in time?”
He turned his back and stared down at whatever was below.
“You can actually understand him?” Linh asked.
“What do you mean, of course I can. Can’t you?”
“Dustin is hardly even speaking words,” Kyle said.
“Huh?”
“I’m in Hong Kong. Nate, America isn’t safe anymore.” He laughed hysterically, almost ran down the railing, then turned and came back like a circus performer. “There’s a portal here that goes to Dubai a year away.”
“What year?”
“Nate, how are you talking to him?” Linh asked.
“What?” I repeated.
“It’s just the ramblings of a madman,” Amber whispered.
Dustin wailed with laughter. “Amber, you’re already dead where I am. You and Linh both, but don’t worry, there are lots of others dead with you.” Tears and laughter.
I was grateful they couldn’t understand him. “When is it where you are, Dustin?”
“It doesn’t matter, tomorrow, six months, three years... time’s a funny thing.”
“Help me, Dustin.”
“Go jump in a lake.” Screams of laughter. But after settling down a little, he explained how to find the fifth lake of Outin and why we needed to go there.
“Come back through. Come back to Outin.” I reached my hand into the Window.
“I can’t,” he sang. “I sailed across an ocean of shame. I waited, but you never came. Outin took me across the road, reaping what I have sowed. You wonder what’s in sight. I can’t read and you don’t write.” And he jumped off the balcony. Kyle caught my legs as I was halfway through the Window.
“No!” I screamed. It took all three to hold me back. “No, Dustin!” I kicked and cried, knowing it was too late to save him. I’d been too late to save him my whole life.
37
It took twenty minutes before I could tell them about the fifth lake. The whole time they gently coerced me away from the Window. The Outin time difference was working against us because we needed to get out while the soldier was still alone. We knew we should go to the lake, but with a soldier still at the entrance, it was too risky—everything was.
As soon as we exited Outin, I saw Crowd’s body, and even before reaching him knew he was dead. Bloody bullet holes stained his chest. I read the scene with Vising. He’d been protecting the area, but even soul-powers couldn’t save his human life from the weapons of man. Still numb from Dustin, death didn’t affect me as it used to, but Crowd had twice saved me and was much more a friend to me than any of the other mystics.
“Oh, Crowd,” Amber knelt next to me and touched his forehead. He had saved her too. His death was a sobering reminder that I was not invincible. Months earlier, Spencer had warned not to be seduced by my powers, but after surviving so many attacks and beating death a few times, my ego was inflated. “He’s with Dustin now.”
“Crowd and Dustin... What cost, this war?” I whispered to myself, pushing my palm into the blood on his chest. I heard him say, “It has only just begun, Nate.”
“Look at this,” Kyle hit my shoulder and pointed to broken twigs. “Nate, come on. The other soldier went this way. He can’t be far.”
I shivered, realizing for the first time how cold it was.
“What? Are we going to track him now?” Amber asked.
I could see a path wrecked through the underbrush. The soldier must have been injured to have disturbed the leaves and pine needles so much. Crowd did some damage before he died. “Let’s get the bastard,” I said, pushing past Amber.
“Nate, you can’t avenge Dustin and Crowd. Let’s just get back to Outin and go to the fifth lake,” Amber said.
“We need to stop this guy. There’s still a chance they don’t know about Outin. Let’s stick together. Let’s finish this.”
“How do you finish this?” Amber asked. “How in hell is this ever going to be finished?”
“One step at a time,” I said, picking up my pace.
“One death at a time,” Kyle said.
“Hey, if you guys don’t want to come. I’ll go alone, but I think protecting Outin is probably the best thing we can be doing now.”
“You might think more clearly if you meditated more,” Kyle said.
“I’m thinking plenty clear. If you have a better idea, let me know.”
“I tried,” Amber said.
“Nate,” Linh whispered, stopping and crouching ahead of me. She pointed to our missing soldier, dragging himself behind a downed tree a hundred yards ahead.
38
“What should we do?” Linh asked.
“Oh, you mean you’re not going to run up there and execute him, Linh?” Amber asked.
“It’s your turn, Amber,” Linh shot back.
“Shhh. You two remember who we’re fighting,” I said. We were crouching behind a cluster of young cedars.
“He’s armed,” Linh said.
“He’s injured, and he can’t walk,” Amber said.
“He knows we’re back here,” Kyle said.
“How do you know?”
“Because he stopped once he got around that fallen tree. He would have been out by now.”
“Maybe he’s resting,” Amber said.
“A special ops soldier wouldn’t stop moving unless he was dead. He’s setting up a defense.”
“I’ll torch the tree.”
“Nate,” Amber said.
“Amber, we followed him to stop him. He’s going to die. Do you think Crowd was trying to give him a hug when he did that to his legs?”
“Crowd wasn’t just defending Outin. He was trying to protect us.”
“So am I.”
“Do it,” Linh said.
“Wait,” Kyle said. “What if the fire spreads and you can’t put it out?”
“Maybe that’s the best way to protect Outin.”
“I doubt it,” Amber said.
“Damn it, do you hear that?” I asked.
“What?”
“Choppers!” I looked at the white sky, Skyclimbed up through the trees, and landed unseen fifteen feet behind the soldier. I then quickly used Gogen to fling him high above the trees. I watched him plunge to his death much as Dustin had. The helicopters were getting closer, coming from the direction of the Outin veil. “Run!” I yelled to the others. For the next five minutes, we ran down hill with no idea where we were heading.
“Nate!” Linh called. I turned to see that Kyle had tripped and was still rolling through the leaves.
“I’m fine,” Kyle got up.
“Let’s wait a minute,” Amber began. “Where are we running?”
“Away from them.” I pointed back toward the helicopters. One was landing near the veil while the other hovered. “They don’t seem to know we’re here yet.”
“How long do you think that’ll last?” Linh asked, panting.
“They’ve got us cut off from Outin; we can’t go to the car and we’re not exactly dressed for the cold,” Kyle said, dusting himself off. “We need some help.” It started to snow. “This isn’t the kind of help I meant.” In minutes it went from flurries to heavy snowfall, like it does in the mountains.
“Let’s go,” I started jogging down hill.
“Go where?” Amber asked again.
I gave no answer because there wasn’t one. It was urgent that we move away from the helicopters and at the same time try to get to a lower elevation below the snow line. Beyond that, if we were still alive, I’d figure out where to go. None of them had anything heavier than a fleece, and I was just in a long-sleeved shirt.
It was difficult to tell which way we were heading, even the sensation of moving downhill was lost in the whiteout. I was afraid we might run right off a cliff
. At least the helicopters couldn’t fly either.
“We need to build a shelter. We can use Gogen,” Kyle said. “Keep warm with Lusans.”
“No. They can track me.”
“We’ll die out here,” Amber said.
I stopped. We huddled against each other, our faces inches apart. “You can keep Kellaring on. Do you really think they’ve got enough gifted people to track us all?” Kyle asked. Amber rubbed her hands briskly up and down on my back. I was shaking and finding it hard to think. Linh, although trembling too, handed me a Lusan. We all renewed a bit in its glow. Kyle moved branches with Gogen and was working on a decent lean-to. The pine forest of Mount Shasta in a snowstorm seemed like the quietest place. Night would come early if the blizzard kept up.
Amber stopped rubbing. I caught her glance. “Thanks.” Her half-smile revealed she was still upset, but we were fine. Linh and Amber helped Kyle finish, while I got warm and resisted using any powers. Thanks to Gogen, we were inside in less than fifteen minutes, huddling around three Lusans, tossing out ideas on how best to get off the mountain and where to go once we did. I tried to reach Spencer on the astral, but as usual came up with nothing. It was Crowd who would have typically rescued us in a situation like this. And, ironically, the safety of Outin was all around and we couldn’t get in. With Kyle’s urging, we decided to meditate.
“A solution will come,” he said.
Ten minutes later, the silence was broken by a rumbling growl, and at the same time powerful lights swept past.
Kyle peered between the logs and branches of the shelter. “Sno-Cat!” We pushed through the downside and were running again. Before the lights made another sweep we were safely behind a screen of spruce trees. Looking back, there were at least three Sno-Cats working a line, maybe another one in the distance. “What are we going to do?”
“Get out of the snow, keep running down,” I yelled.
39
For twenty minutes we fought through blinding snow, dodging trees and stumbling over brush. The Sno-Cats moved much slower, and the distance between us increased. They now appeared more like sinister little toys.
