228. Weird Sensations


    Marcus


    “What’s going on?” I asked Iku as we fought side by side.


    “It’s rather self-explanatory.”


    Yazen gave a command to the dheka villagers, who rallied behind Iku and his wife. Manifested, the tiny group melded into a wall of pitch-black air around them. In bursts, as the wolves got too close, their collective energy seemed to grab hold of the attackers, swirl around them, and drop bodies in their wake. The formation was solid, but I had already, when Chris and Michael dropped me in the midst of this chaos, counted our ranks: Selena and Jamal were teleporting randomly through the frontlines, killing from sporadic angles. Jack, Warden, James, and five of Juliet’s women, including me, were fighting the stragglers in between the mele. The dheka were around fifty men and women; servants, family, and a few soldiers. It would not be enough. The desert horizon shrouded with werewolf army men was only the fringe of what lay behind it. Soon, they would increase the number of soldiers sent out to test our defenses. We would fall first. The two riphaths would go next, and I didn’t know how they overpowered the shadows or if they even could.


    And so it happened; the eclipse flickered; the sun behind the wolves filtered through the many bodies steadily marching toward the village, catching all our attention. They had decided to send all the men in at once. “What now?” Flanking groups on the outside separated from the main army and surrounded us. The dheka had no intention of standing down, firmly holding their formation.


    A buzz faintly originated from the wolves; the noise grew louder to an overpowered whirr in the air, and before we knew or could run, a vamp fell at my feet, a spear lodged into her chest, sticking out the back. I dropped to my knees, hands in the air, weapons stabbing the sand around me. A dheka fell in between the darkness, breaking the wall they’d created. Selena and the women had followed my lead, surrendering. The wolves sent out more spears into the ignorant or arrogant shadows. The second dheka fell. “Yield!” I yelled. Yazen came back to human and lowered onto his knees, commanding even Iku to follow. “What were you thinking taking on all of them?”


    “It did not start out this way,” Iku said.


    “Does anyone know where Juliet is?”


    “No!” the whole group answered, cutting me off and subtly telling me to shut up. The wolves had instantly lowered their weapons, relaxed back into ranks, and came to a stand. I scanned the crowd, waiting for their general to emerge. At this moment, he would be the only one allowed to move… We waited… and waited.


    Half an hour later, over the dunes, a single figure emerged, making his way leisurely through the men. Strange… Why would he hide so far away—like a coward? Behind him, more wolf heads popped out, and a young boy was dangling off the ground between them... Oh, no! Shai. He was the young dheka who we all had taken under our wing. Charlene’s personal guard. The boy was the one who met Michael and Juliet the first time they ever arrived on Mirach. He took care of Katty for months. Iku growled. My own teeth bared, my gaze flickering over the general’s face to figure out what he planned to do. Even though the dheka didn’t negotiate with terrorists, it didn’t mean all of us wouldn’t retaliate if they hurt him.


    Oh, that’s where the general was; on a manhunt for the village communication warning to the dheka army. Well great. No one was coming to help us. Shai was supposed to get away… No one knew Mirach was under attack, and we were stuck in the one village hours away from any town or city… I could make a run for the tunnels under the rec center. How will I release the ball? I reverted back to French and hoped anyone would be able to understand me. “Two people have to make a run for the balls.”


    “Through this sand,” Jack retorted, “A little late, don’t you think.”


    “I was thinking diversion… We have two riphaths to work with.”


    “No!” Iku said, in French, “We already tried. The wolves were waiting.”


    All we could do was wait for the four men to make their way to us. The two released Shai; Iku intercepted the young man and pulled him into the middle of the dheka.


    Strangely, the general came to a stop in front of me. “Marcus.”


    With raised eyebrows, I said, “I haven’t had the pleasure.”


    “No. My name is Xeno… Our only objective today is to get back home.”


    Oh, this is interesting. This whole ordeal was to make a statement. “Yazen? Are you inclined to let them go?”


    Xeno interrupted, “We have already detained Romero and Charlene if it makes any difference when deciding.”


    My brow furrowed for too many reasons, “You know those types of games won’t work here.”


    “Yes, frustrating… I told my superior… General Uzail agreed with me; nevertheless, our Queen thought it might be incentive enough for Juliet to… let’s say put her foot down.”


    I chuckled, “If she were here.”


    “Marcus, if you can arrange it, they may leave,” Yazen said.


    “It’s your lucky day. I’ll need a plate, though.”


    “No allegiance to the chadari?” Xeno asked.


    “We can always go help them fight on Palmyra.”


    “Very well,” Xeno signaled; one of his lackeys handed the glass to me. I took it and sent Jessy a message.


    Me { The Wolves want to go home. Think you can organize for us }


    My thumb tapped the screen; Jessy was usually quick in his replies, even if it was only to say, ‘Give me a minute.’ The seconds ticked by. I was not used to being left on read.


    I sent another to Samuel.


    Me { Sam. Jessy not responding. Urgent. }


    I stared at the glass—couldn’t do anything else. A frown formed between my brows when two minutes passed with nothing but cricket static.


    Xeno held out his hand for the plate and scanned my messages, “Your subordinates are either disrespecting you, which I don’t think is the problem, or?”


    My frown found my chest, tightening the building tension at what the cause could be. “Will you allow me to teleport the two of us to where Charlene and Romero are? Maybe the communications are down.”


    “Certainly.” Xeno turned and addressed the wolf at his side, “Escort everyone into that home and detain them there. Subdue the two riphaths for good measure.” My head turned to see what they planned to do with our only escape. Selena yelped. The wolf held a short sword made of Fahan’s red rock. After a moment, Jamal reached for his shoulder, his paw stained red when he removed it and looked down. Jamal put pressure on the wound. The dheka refused to leave their shadow manifestation as the wolves pushed spears at them to get moving.


    Xeno and I walked a little into the desert. I was not going to waste time trudging all the way to the rec center. The spot where our station was outside the village was still clearly marked with a patch of stones placed neatly in a circle. I lifted the plate and sent a signal. After thirty seconds, I growled. “This is what happens if you take any time off.”


    “No luck?” Xeno remained calm.


    I held his gaze, impressed with the man’s self-control. “I don’t know what is going on. I got here less than fifteen minutes ago.”


    “Hmm. I’ll have to send someone to verify if they are also experiencing—” he chuckled, “technical difficulties.”


    “Funny.”


    “Not to worry… I’ve also not heard anything since the last report came through… I thought maybe you’d know how to fix the coms.”


    “I do… We, unfortunately, moved all our equipment back to En-gannim a while ago… It’s all run from there.”


    “Pity,” Xeno said, ushering me toward Romero’s home.


    He handed out orders, speaking in their native tongue, “These two houses seem closer to each other than the rest… Split them into two groups… Make camp; we’re staying for a few days.” Xeno turned to a wolf, “You head for Akl-hir. Tell Uzail Marcus can’t communicate or travel.”


    A few guards in the house headed for Iku and his wife. “ Touch me! Lose hand.” The wolf hesitated and decided to take the rest of the dheka to Kubra’s house and leave only Iku and his wife with us.


    “With the way your heart is pounding, I guess you’re not faking,” Selena ventured.


    I shook my head. I had no idea why Mirach was cut off from En-gannim. The uncertainty was worse than knowing En-gannim was under attack from Ian, who had found a way home. “Is anyone going to tell me where my wife is?”


    Jack reached into his pocket and pulled out a pencil and a notepad. One corner of my lip curled up; I was back in France when my grandfather was watching me, and we couldn’t talk about anything. The group didn’t want the werewolves to know where she was. Jack handed it to Iku.


    He scribbled and held it up for me to read, ‘She is on the path to our dark city. She is probably already there.’ Iku wrote again, ‘Soren knows what the other stone does.’


    Nothing made sense! His random facts didn’t add up. Juliet wasn’t sure about the stone. How could Soren know? I grabbed the pad.


    Me


    [ Why is the stone a problem? What does Juliet plan to do there? ]


    Iku


    [ Water and Life stone. Put it down, endless water—flooding. ]


    I swore—loudly.


    [ Juliet is going back in time ]


    I swore even louder and tossed the pad against the wall. The pencil went next. No wonder Juliet was so reticent during the months we were alone! Was she saying goodbye? How could she decide all by herself? Why not take the stone? Why not kill Ian and get Earth back! She had a million options, yet she— I remembered our talk; Juliet had asked me where I’d want to go. I swore and lifted my chin to the roof, closing my eyes... Chris didn’t want to do it. Juliet had been studying nonstop during those months we were together. Was this what she was planning? Juliet knew how dangerous the stone would be. If Soren dropped it somewhere on En-gannim—the water would mix with the pink oceans. We’d never be able to pick it up again. My chest constricted… The whole planet would be gone. My breathing was shallow. Is that why we can’t make contact? Had it already happened? Naji!


    Selena could probably sense my visceral reaction. She picked up the pad and read the messages. She scanned the floor for the pencil and wrote.


    [ Juliet cut off any teleporting. Only Jessy can send anyone. Two weeks. Even piggybacking. Whole En-gannim and Palmyra. She wanted no interruptions. ]


    It doesn’t explain the coms! How did I fix this? Where was Michael and Chris? As if she was giving me the answer, Selena winched and placed a hand over the cut on her arm… F—. Once the two landed to protect Charlene, the wolves contained them! So, Louis was on Earth… We were stuck in the village... Chris and everyone there is also captured. If Juliet can’t communicate or talk to Jessy, she will be in some abandoned city—all alone. I rubbed frustrated hands over my face, hoping Samuel could fix this—quickly.


    ***


    Juliet


    My mind was consumed with Louis’s sweet words, urging me to choose all of them. When he opens up and tells me how he actually feels, my whole world falls into place. During our tumultuous relationship, it had only happened a few times, and I desperately needed the reassurance. Unfortunately, that was not my Louis. Nor could I tell the real one I thought I was pregnant only to get him to mend his ways. I softly opened my eyes. My son was deep in thought. In a way, I felt further and further away from this timeline. Distanced from the people and my feelings. Connected to others who will never exist. “Caleb,” I said softly. He jumped up and held out a vial, ready to pierce the skin on my neck, “No, I don’t think I need it.”The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    The room was not spinning; my equilibrium was as tranquil as it was before I went into the dream. I didn’t feel sick, nor was my head an emotional mess. Was my life with Marcus so strenuous it made me lose all my faculties?


    “A ‘I told you so’ will probably be mean,” Caleb said and rested his knees in the sand.


    “Fine, you were right… I can’t choose Marcus.”


    “No! Look at you! You’re glowing… So far, I vote for Michael… Did his timeline solve everything?”


    I laughed, “Yes, definitely… It would. But Louis found me, and every time screws things up… Gets involved… The rest of them soon follow… I try to make it about one, but it ends up just putting the other’s lives on hold.”


    Caleb shrugged, “Louis seems to have you dug out in his bones… You’ve been out for ten minutes again… Same thing as last time?”


    “Yeah, ten years…” I said, smiling. “Ten amazing mind-bending years. I didn’t want to ever leave.”


    “Hmm, pregnant in this one?”


    “Yeah, again at the end,” I rubbed over my very flat belly.


    “Weird.”


    “Have you learned anything? But you probably didn’t have time to do anything in ten minutes.” I slowly got to my feet, wanting to stretch my legs. The heaviness of my pregnancy followed into this life, and I arched my back as if I would deliver any second.


    Caleb watched the gesture and frowned, “Still difficult to come to terms with your new age—your old life?”


    “Pish Posh! Forty-four feels wonderful.”


    Caleb picked up an open book he got from the Mirach library, “I did check a few books about the stones…” He pointed at some images. “Well, you see here…” He flipped the pages. “These two pictures are so close to each other—no one would be able to tell… Yet, no mention of the one Ahasuerus carried… The water-stone was clearly described, though… It’s brown, and according to the books, thousands of years ago, Zoreah was really different; plant life everywhere, abundant quantities of beast species.”


    “I see. So you think—brown—Zoreah. And the teleportation stone? Any sign of it?”


    Caleb dug in his pack, took out the plate, and handed it to me. What did a plate have to do with the stone? I scanned the screen and looked up at him. The threads were riddled with one-way communications… “I guess Jessy fell asleep? It’s only been a half hour since his last message. Why the overreaction on your part?”


    “The last time he sent us food was hours ago… And—.”


    “And what? What happened?”


    “Chris’s mother is still alive.” My mouth gaped. I took hold of his arm and waited for an explanation. “Why didn’t you tell me if you died in the dream, you die here,” Caleb said softly, looking away.


    My mouth pulled in a way, “Honestly, I didn’t think you had the guts.”


    His eyes snapped back to mine, “What!? Well, I did.”


    I laughed lightly, “Did you use protection?”


    His features clouded with—what? Disappointment. “I… did want to... Argh, anyway, it didn’t work out.”


    I frowned and watched him closely, “Caleb! Why did you go?” He didn’t say anything. What else could he have planned? If he really wanted it to work out with this girl… He could’ve gone back multiple times and manipulated the situation… Although, Caleb wouldn’t. So, why…? Chris’s mother! The swatch, the stone. “You went to find out what happened to the stone. Why?”


    Caleb stepped away from me, “It didn’t look like you really wanted to do it. So I thought… if I had the stone without you knowing… I could end all this… You’d never have known.”


    I laughed lightly, “No, I guess I wouldn’t have.” Caleb handed me water. “So where is she?”


    “Earth—best guess… Or Ahasuerus said absolutely anywhere… But there is more.”


    “I’m ready.”


    “Warden… was Jacklin’s watcher before he got assigned to two people. He was there when Satya talked to Qadir after the birth. He took Chris to the orphanage.” I cleared my throat and drank some more water, feeling rather disgusted. No wonder Warden doesn’t like me. Well, if he’s in love with Jacklin like Carl believes, he should’ve been happy I came into Louis’s life… Although he could’ve told Chris, us, anyone. “Sam knew all this time.” Caleb went on, “The two have been looking but can’t find her.”


    My nausea was back, “So how do we find her?” I placed my fingers against my lips, trying to stop the gag reflex in the back of my throat.


    “We need someone older than the two of us—combined… Unless… Satya is already dead, stuck somewhere on Earth in a cell, unmanned and trapped.”


    I clutched my stomach. Chris didn’t know his mother, but I figured he’d be upset nonetheless if we caused her death… I… caused her death before he even knew she was still alive... She could’ve died already four years ago when I killed Qadir… To focus on anything else, my queasy feeling reminded me Caleb was also hungry. Food would help us both. “Okay, let’s go hunting. Is there anything in here to eat, or do we have to travel all the way back to the entrance and then the valley?”


    “The dark city has nothing to eat, only freshwater… Maybe we should follow the stream out rather than paddling upstream… Don’t really know how we’ll manage either way… We don’t know how far this place goes. Or if another entrance will lead to—”


    “Yeah, okay! I’m sorry! I didn’t think this through. I’m so dependent on Jessy and thought this was going to be an adventure.”


    Caleb rubbed my arm, “Seems like the last trip was… You’re in a really good mood… Come tell me all about it… What’s half a day to wait for the last two… Or do you want to call it quits?”


    “Are you also worried something else might be wrong?”


    Caleb nodded, “It could help just to check in with Michael, maybe.”


    “Oh, yes! I can make a quick call; he could help us.” I closed my eyes. I thought about Michael and gave him the tiniest nudge. Unexpectedly and immediately, my body became very rigid. My ass stung from his hold on my limbs. Michael was controlling himself but still forcing me to move. My arm lifted. Michael made me put my index finger and thumb together and wave it about. Caleb thought I was going crazy and laughed, “What are you doing?”


    “Asking for the bill, I guess… It’s not me!”


    “Is there maybe another interpretation?”


    “Write! He wants me to write… Do we have paper?”


    Caleb dug in his pack, “We’ve been carrying notepads to communicate when we need to speak.” He handed it to me, smiling. “Kubra started it for Charlene… Like texts.”


    “Why did no one tell me?” I nudged again, and Michael, to the best of his ability, let me write…


    { I O U }


    Caleb came to stand next to me, reading what I wrote. I nudged again.


    { Bad }


    “I don’t get it,” Caleb said.


    “Michael is cashing in on an IOU… I still owe him for… Uhm… Anyway, they’re in trouble, bad trouble. He needs me to come!”


    “What will we do?”


    “The tunnel system on Mirach is complicated. I didn’t research what terminals to get off and change stations to get to where Charlene is.”


    “We’ll have to make the whole trip back to Romero’s village—again?”


    “Urgh, I can understand why Michael might be in trouble with the wolves, but En-gannim? My mom? She won’t ignore you. Neither would Agatha. Where is Marcus?”


    “Try anyone else,” Caleb urged.


    “I’ll nudge on Louis.” My arm jumped up, and I made the signal again, “What is going on? How do they all know to make me write.”


    Louis waited patiently until I nudged and forced my hand to move.


    { Help }


    “Oh no,” Caleb said softly, “Marcus, quickly.”


    I tried to nudge. I’ve never done it with him. I pulled and sent energy, closing my eyes. A second later, my arm jutted out. Caleb and I went into peals of laughter. I couldn’t write; my hand was so scribbly. Caleb and I couldn’t figure out what I had tried to put on paper.


    “You’ll have to ask again.”


    “It might not be the same message,” I nudged Marcus, hoping he would understand to repeat his message.


    { Help }


    “His first message was not help; it’s way too long,” Caleb pointed at my first attempt.


    “That looks like a B—”


    “This is an L if that’s a B—”


    “A—


    “Black?”


    “And an O or a U— two O’s…


    “Blackout!” Caleb exclaimed.


    “Heh, En-gannim is experiencing a blackout?”


    “I thought their power was sustainable.”


    “It is,” I frowned. “Unless the planet’s temperature is suddenly cooled down by water.”


    “No! Who would have the stone?” Caleb turned away from me, “The real water and life stone. How would they get to En-gannim? You ordered no teleportation… We have to stop speculating.” Caleb walked around in a circle. “Okay, answer me quickly and without thinking.” I nodded, “If you permanently went back in time, who—”


    “Chris!” I said without thinking.


    Caleb paused amid his pacing, “Then what are you doing here?”


    “Sorting out my shame and guilt.”


    Caleb let out a pouted puff of air, “Too deep for me, just yet… Maybe we should finish them quickly… In twenty minutes, you could be done! By then, we’ll have to get out of here either way if Jessy hasn’t come back to us… However, leaving and coming back is going to make our entire trip a waste.”


    I couldn’t agree a trip to the dark city could ever be a waste… Although Caleb was right about why. Unconsciously, I would always choose Chris. I walked toward the middle of the room and plopped down.


    ***


    Soren


    I’d been picking up rubble for a whole day and finally found my way down into the Embassy. The building did take up an entire block. What was I thinking? I was wasting time. Didn’t really know what I was looking for anyway. It was dark and dusty, and it took a while to get the generators up and running. The light slowly came to life, and the air switched on. I could breathe and began going through the different floors. Much of it was offices, detaining cubicles for creatures and medical areas for the wealthy vamps on Earth who needed care only En-gannim could offer.


    The rooms I was looking for were ones filled with tech, equipment storage, and plates. When Ian first declared war, they used En-gannim communication mixed with methods from Earth. He’d built and prepared the infrastructure on En-gannim on various Islands under their control to be able to speak incognito. Although Caleb probably found out about it, I was hoping in some way to communicate with anyone—for now.


    I kept moving down into the basement floor by floor, deeper underground. There were at least seven sub-levels, all the size of the whole block the building stood on. On the last one, I found what I was looking for and also—tunnels; I sighed, seeing another circular dark expanse that led somewhere. I left the exploration for the time being and took apart equipment and connected it with others. Juliet had said there was a division of scientists from Earth and En-gannim working on her ideas down there. Luckily, it was left as is... I found some sort of device that I figured, looking at the PC screens, were enhancers and a way to send signals rather than needing coordinates. Wow, if we had this, things would’ve run much smoother for us. It had Juliet’s laziness written all over it—user-friendly.


    An hour later, I managed to connect it all and sent out a message.


    Me [ Is anyone getting this? ]


    My screen flooded with communications from, of course, unknown speakers. They had to be key players in the areas we had surveilled on En-gannim.


    [ En-gannim teleporter power shut down ]


    [ Palmyra no teleportation ]


    Ian had kept tabs on Palmyra?


    [ Liam, Agatha is with me. If this is you, please tell us what’s going on and what we’re supposed to do. No one can go anywhere. Have not heard from anyone in half an hour. ]


    Half an hour? What happened in the last half hour?


    [ Who is this? ]


    Probably Samuel or Jessy. Seemed like they could only receive a message from me and reply to me… Or state facts, hoping someone would see… They couldn’t read what everyone else was saying to me… How will we fix it if they don’t know how to change the communications. S—. So I would need to walk them through it or—


    [ Does anyone know where Juliet and Caleb are? ]


    Juliet was stuck somewhere like we were? None of them were together.


    [ Liam, is that you? ]


    Okay, what was going on? I was hoping to ask them to have mercy on Isla, yet no one could teleport. All my efforts were for nothing. They were worse off than we were. Isla would have no way to get off the Island.


    I took a chance: Me [ Use stone? ]


    [ Stone with Charlene ]


    [ Stone with Charlene ]


    [ Stone with Charlene ]


    “Argh!” I wanted to smash the thing to pieces.


    I had to try: Me [ Found Ian’s army wives. Hidden on En-gannim Island and dying: Coordinates. ]


    [ Who cares. We will all die if we can’t teleport food and water anywhere. ]


    Me [ Reboot power: Process ]


    [ Tried not working ]


    [ Who is talking and opened this line of communication ]


    [ Michael, Marcus, and Chris in trouble ]


    I put down the device. It was useless to try to fix the communications if they couldn’t put the teleporters back on… Why was the coms down anyway… There really was only one person left without any accountability—Jacklin. She’d been running around for months and, if I had to guess—accumulated all she needed to do whatever this was. Maybe a tactic to force Juliet back to Earth. If she had a device that could render the teleportation obsolete and put it on again—not bad.


    I, absently and without any control, rolled out of the chair, unable to keep my eyes open anymore—landed on the floor with a thud. Everything I’d done meant nothing. There was also no coming back from this and restoring what I screwed up. My eyes closed, and my mind was forced to shut down.