Copula Chronicles: The Complete Collection: Origin, Descend, Ascend, Legacy

by Venessa Kimball

  I rise off the bed and walk over to my bag. Unzipping the front pocket, I pull out the Copula Ezra gave me back in Miami. As I run my hand over the cold glass separating the mechanical parts from the open air of our world, I remember Anna’s words. Never stop fighting.

  Unclasping the chain, I fasten it around my neck and grab my jacket.

  CHAPTER 30: THE PACT

  Nate

  She chooses Xander. I collected that much from the scene at her door. Her dodgy eyes avoiding me. Her disheveled shirt. Xander standing behind her. Huh, I know she thinks I read her mind, but it wasn’t necessary. It’s clear what I interrupted.

  As I walk from the lower level quarters, ignoring all of the others, I try to clear my mind of the scene I just witnessed between Xander and Jesca. When I reach the warehouse level, Ezra is already sitting in the front seat, talking with the driver and my emotions are completely in check before I climb into the car.

  “Where’s Xander?” Ezra asks as I shut the door.

  “He’s coming.”

  Ezra looks back at me, but I avoid him as I look out the window.

  Xander opens the door on the other side of the truck and gets in. I don’t bother looking at him.

  “Ready?” Ezra questions Xander.

  “Yeah.”

  Most of the ride, Ezra talks Xander through keeping his block up and his emotions in check. He reminds Xander that everything now is superficial and just to keep his mouth shut. No questions.

  “And don’t engage him.”

  Ezra’s comment catches my attention. “What do you mean?”

  Ezra glances as me, then back at Xander. “You Sera boys are known to have tempers. Don’t let your emotions get the better of you.”

  We pass swarms of wandering civilians and military vehicles peppering the sidewalks and roads. I didn’t think it could get worse, but it has. I look over at Xander, taking in the scene just like me. “Hey.”

  He looks over at me.

  “When everything goes down. Look for me and Jes.”

  He nods. “Okay.”

  I can feel his fear and worry all of a sudden. He may have hid it well from Jes, but I can feel it coursing through my veins. “Nothing is going to happen to you or Jes. We’re stronger together. Got it?”

  With more intention, he nods. “Yeah, I got it.”

  The truck stops about three miles out, our mental blocks rock solid all the way around. As Xander gets out of the car, I feel like I should send him off. It might be the last time I see him.

  “I’ll be right back.”

  I get out of the truck and call to him, “Xander.”

  Turning around he walks back to me, concern all over his face. “Yeah.”

  I wrap my arms around him, catching him off guard.

  His hands finally tighten around me as we both give each other a hard pat before pulling back. I turn to head back to the truck when he calls to me. “Hey Nate.”

  I stop and look back at him as he stands in the middle of the road. “Whatever happens, I will take care of her.”

  I nod and turn away, holding my breath and every emotion wanting to release until I get into the shadows of the backseat.

  CHAPTER 31: THE PLAN

  Jesca

  Sebastian is the first to notice me enter the room. “Did you get some rest?”

  I lie and nod as I walk over to join them at the table. Balthazar’s pointing to a body of water on a map. “We should enter Aokigahara Forest here, near Lake Motosuko.”

  I watch Balthazar show Sebastian how we will enter the forest. While they are talking, I take in the enormous size of Mount Fuji. Sebastian glances over at me and notices what I am wearing around my neck. “You’re wearing it.”

  My hand immediately goes to the Copula hanging from my neck as I look down at it.

  “Yeah.”

  Ezra and Nate come into view as they walk toward us. I look down and focus on the multiple lakes and the topography surrounding the forest on the map, not wanting to think of how dropping off Xander went and not wanting to look into Nate’s judgmental eyes again.

  Sebastian and Balthazar tell us that the drive to Lake Motosuko normally would take five-and-a-half hours, but with the climatic conditions and the possibility of military checkpoints, it might take longer.

  Sebastian says, “We will need to pair up and combine abilities in order to remain safe in Aoikigahara Forest.”

  Nick’s eyes suddenly bulge. “Can’t we like skirt the forest? Levitate! Go over it?”

  Balthazar responds flatly, as he starts to fold the map. “No, we have to go through the forest. All other access points will take us the roundabout way to the site of the wormhole. We have to hit it straight on.”

  Nick interlocks his hands above his head, and he starts pacing. “Ahhh! That place is bad mojo man. We’re talking about once-you-check-in-you-don’t-check-out type of shit.”

  Ang crosses her arms over her chest. “The souls of the dead confuse and manipulate those that try to pass, trapping them with no other way out but insanity and death. It’s called Suicide Forest for a reason.”

  It isn’t the first time I’ve heard that, but I guess its Nick’s by the way he’s staring at Ang frozen in place. “Shut the hell up Ang! Are you serious right now?”

  She nods at him, setting him off. “Shit! Oh, nah, nah, nah. How the hell are we supposed to get through that fucking nugget of an obstacle?”

  He puts his hands on his hips and looks at Sebastian, Ezra, then Balthazar.

  We all turn to them for answers as well, but Balthazar hitting the table and laughing maniacally is what we get.

  “Ha! Yes! Of course! The souls!”

  “Why is that thrilling to you?” I ask

  Balthazar turns to Sebastian, and then looks at Ezra, hoping one of them will realize his elation. Ezra speaks slowly as he thinks things through. “The gamma ray burst coming from the black hole within the Andromeda galaxy—you think Michael wants more from this intersection and invasion?”

  Sebastian adds, “Sanderson is having Sam place this wormhole right in the middle of a hot spot of lost souls to move the intersection along exponentially. With the high-electromagnetic charge of the sight, the cosmic link with what is beyond the black hole in Andromeda will be nearly bulletproof.”

  Balthazar nods. “And, with a highly charged wormhole, along with the intersection of our galaxies, Michael is going to send a handler through the wormhole with hopes of passing through the blackhole and coming out on the other side.”

  Ezra’s eyes move rapidly as he thinks aloud. “He trusts Sam. My bet is on him. But, when he goes through, something can pass back through. It’s a two way street once the wormhole is locked in place.”

  Balthazar runs his hand through his hair and nods. “Theoretically, yes.”

  I interrupt, “But that won’t happen because we are going to close it before it gets to that point.”

  Ezra puts one hand in his pocket and covers his mouth with his other, not eager to confirm my words.

  “Right?”

  He glances up at me. “Yes, that’s the plan. Jesca, Nate and Xander will combine their abilities to help Jesca close the wormhole as quickly as possible. The rest of the team will hold off the Sondians and anything that passes through the wormhole. I’ll take care of Sam.”

  Nick chuckles a little. “Anything?” Ezra glares at Nick, and Nick quickly becomes serious. “Yeah, got it.”

  Absentmindedly, I run my thumb over the smooth exterior glass of the Copula around my neck as I glance at Isabel and remember Corinna. “Who will subdue Corinna?”

  Siobhan speaks up, “Isabel and I will take Corinna.”

  Elicia eyes Ang, then looks at Isabel with concern. “Ang and I will help. You might need some extra hands.”

  The phone in
the middle of the table suddenly vibrates. Balthazar picks it up and reads what must be a text. “Monica Leal is here with her team. They are pulling into the warehouse with the additional transportation right now.”

  It’s a surprise to me that Monica Leal embodies a female version of Ezra Kahn. When she walks in to the safe house flanked by her team of six, Monica Leal radiates a confidence and presence I can only compare to Ezra’s.

  Her dark-brown hair is pulled up in a high bun as she strides toward us, scanning the living room and all of us. Introductions are made quickly and when she gets to Ezra, he adds, “I’m sorry about your mother.”She nods and holds her head high. “Thank you.”

  “She’s come to you again.”

  Sebastian’s blunt regard seems insensitive, but Monica doesn’t seem to take offense as she answers him. “Yes. Three days ago was the first. And, yes Balthazar, I’ve already considered it as well.”

  Ezra questions, “Considered what?”

  Balthazar responds, “The idea that Monica and Jesca are both experiencing visitations from their deceased parents because of our increased physical proximity to their plane of existence.”

  Sebastian begs the question, “Why hasn’t Anna reached out to her before, Ezra?”

  Ezra runs his hand over his jaw as he thinks on this.

  I’m doing my own thinking. “Anna told me that she was too far to reach me before.”

  Monica’s is softer suddenly. “My mother told me the same. Said she’d felt my life force moments before she came to me.”

  Sebastian nods expectantly. “Their plane of existence could be in the Andromeda galaxy.”

  “Or beyond it.”

  Nate’s addition to Sebastians theory has me looking at him now. He believes it too.

  Ezra folds his hands together on top of his head and walks toward the open living room. “I can almost bet that Sam was more than eager to go when Michael had asked him to cross through the wormhole in hopes of discovering what was on the other side of the black hole.”

  As he swats at the table lamp, sending it across the room and smashing to the floor, he shakes his head. “In life he stalked her, obsessed over her. Now in death he’s doing the same.”

  I watch Monica talk with Ezra quietly before we load into the trucks. After hearing Balthazar, Monica and Sebastian’s theories on what is on the other side of the black hole, I agree with Ezra. Sam wants to get to Anna. What if he’s trying to right his wrong though? Ezra wasn’t there when Anna passed. She let me in to see through her eyes the night she visited me. He was panicked, afraid after his sickening rage. I don’t think its standard practice for a trained assassin to panic and plea with the dying. I’m thinking he might have not been trained, but commanded. Maybe even Ushered.

  Before we get into the truck, I approach Ezra as he shifts bags around in the truck. “I won’t let him have her, Ezra. Whatever it takes, I will—”

  All of a sudden, Ezra turns to me and engulfs me tightly as he finishes my declaration. “—do whatever it takes. I know you will and that scares the hell out of me.”

  Resting my head against his chest, I let my eyes fall shut and listen to the beat of my father’s heart.

  CHAPTER 32: DOWN THE HATCH

  Xander

  I knock on the metal door of the warehouse. Sam said it’s the only metal building with two wooden doors on the street. The sound of a latch being lifted has me on guard as one of the doors opens.

  “Name?”

  I answer the Japanese man greeting me with the surname I despise. I have to play the game.

  “Alexander Crest.”

  He moves back from the door and motions for me to pass.

  I pass a Lotus Elise and a Porsche before descending a flight of stairs leading to another door.

  Once I open it, I’m welcomed by the smell of crisp linen and Jasmine along with all the niceties Sam has always been accustomed too. As I look around, it carries the same modern flare as the house in Miami.

  The Japanese man walks past me, down the hall and stops at a door.

  Knocking twice, he waits until the door opens, then says, “Alexander Crest.”

  Sam steps through the door to look down the hall at me and grins with that shitty smirk of his. “Xander.”

  Fuck.

  I force a smile and clear my throat. “Dad.”

  The fatherly sentiment is painful, but hugging him is torturous.

  “Corinna.”

  Hearing him say her name so casually is messing with my head as I tighten my first buried deep in my coat pocket.

  Corinna rounds the corner of the doorway Sam just came from. The way she approaches is cat-like and seductive, something not evident in the kind, easy going and sweet Corinna back in Miami. She’s not that person any more.

  I glance down briefly, right my conscience and look up at her with a smile. “Corinna, you’re as beautiful as ever.”

  Passing Sam up, she comes straight toward me, runs her hands up the length of my chest, then kisses me. I try to remain unfazed by her bold, seductive aura as she slowly pulls back and grins. “Hi Xander.”

  I try to appear unaffected by her as I look over at Sam giving me a heavy stare. “What would you like to drink?”

  Walking back to Sam, Corinna runs her hand along his chest before parting from him to sit on the sofa. The way she’s staring at me is unnerving. It’s no longer a seduction, but a feat of sizing me up and working her way into my head. Sebastian warned me she would do that.

  “Vodka and water?”

  Sam’s suggestion is good enough. “Yeah, sure.”

  I might need two of those fuckers to take the edge off.

  I move into the living area and sit in the chair across from Corinna. Her probing is like a dull pain in the front of my head as she tries to slither in. I raise the bar of my mental block and instantly see her jaw tighten before she looks away. I can’t help grinning at my triumph. “So Corinna. I hear you’re coming along with your training. Sam’s told me how accomplished you are.”

  With the small dig at her telepathic prowess, she glares back at me. “Yes, well there’s always room for improvement. And I never give up.”

  Sam is oblivious to our exchange as he hands me a drink. “Truly extraordinary, Xander. If only all of us where so lucky to have an ounce of the strength she possesses.”

  As Sam sits next to Corinna on the sofa, she shifts closer to him. As he speaks, she runs her hand along his thigh. “Maybe when I return things will change. Right sweetheart?”

  Wait? What? I raise my eyes from her sensual affection to Sam. “Return? Where are you going?”

  Before answering, he hands his drink to Corinna for her to partake. “Actually, it’s where we’re going when we open the wormhole. You, Corinna, myself and whoever else we might want to join us.”

  Me? What the fuck?

  Corinna hands Sam his glass and he raises it to me before bringing it to his lips. “Down the hatch my boy.”

  CHAPTER 33: CRIES IN THE FOREST

  Jesca

  The roads are vacant of any cars, except for military and law enforcement vehicles. We are flagged by military checkpoints on our way to Lake Motosuko, just as Sebastian suspected. At every stop, Balthazar warns us to be on guard since the soldiers could be Sondians wanting to attack us.

  It’s midday, and the sky is peppered with dark clouds against a reddened backdrop sky, electrified with constant shards of arc lightning.

  Xander is at the forefront of my mind. I hope he’s keeping it together.

  “What the hell is that?”

  I look at Nate to see what he’s talking about. I follow his finger pointing out the window. “There. It’s not arc lightning. What’s that?”

  Suddenly, a pale wave of light rolls across the sky, changing the reddened tone to orange brief
ly. Eerily, it reminds me of the color of the sky in my visions.

  “Gamma ray bursts. They aren’t normally visible to the naked eye,” Ezra says.

  Balthazar chimes in, “Under normal circumstances, they are millions of light years away, too. That’s not the case any longer.”

  I keep my eyes on the burst that’s coming in waves every couple of minutes. “Can they harm us?”

  Sebastian explains, “Us? No. Normal humans? Yes. In small amounts, radioactive waves can be used to fight disease. But, the power of these waves can obliterate an average human’s cells. They may last a week before cells no longer regenerate and begin breaking down, but that’s only if they remain sheltered.”

  I consider the additional reason for the fellowship to move along the mass implantation Balthazar and Sebastian spoke about as I stare up into the sky.

  “If they are implanted with our Copula after the cells have already begun breaking down, can they be regenerated? Can they heal?”

  Balthazar shakes his head as he looks out his window. “That we don’t know. We are at the cusp of a transformation for our world and humankind.”

  The night camouflages any scenery around us as our trucks move through the vacant road, the tree line parts and reveals Lake Motosuko in the distance. The water is dark, but lit briefly by the gamma ray bursts and sporadic arc lightning.

  We turn down a gravel path no wider than the width of the truck and head toward the lake. The sound of crushing gravel beneath the truck’s tires ceases as Balthazar parks the truck between two large trees. Sebastian, Balthazar and Ezra are the first to climb out. I’m about to follow, when Nate’s hand takes hold of my wrist, holding me in place. Feeling the urgency in his touch is a familiar one. The urgency and fear he’s shown before when it comes to my safety. My response is eager. “What is it?”