Blood in the Fire (Timelaws Trilogy) (7 page)

Elizabeth             

We moved through the maze of caves for another four hours. At each turn, Anton and I disabled guards and anti-intrusion measures. Our power-levels had started to dwindle and fatigue was setting in. My legs were soar from crouching against the wall and I had paused multiple times to stretch my aching muscles. Several clusters of locked-up prisoners had met us as we treaded on, but none had Eln’s DNA.

At first the extra oxygen in the atmosphere had given us some added liveliness. Since then, short bursts of adrenalin followed by long periods of intense silence had worn everyone out. Mark and Luke looked especially worn. Their motions were sluggish and less alert. Had they been agents with powers, I would have sent them home, but as it was, they needed one of us to take them off this planet. Anton and I couldn’t overlook the importance of our mission. Even so, I didn’t think any of us could keep up the search for much longer. 

Halfway through a long hall, Anton halted.
There are definitely people behind this wall,
he told us as he waved his hand to the right. I peered past my brothers to make out Anton’s expression. He turned back and met my eyes to let me know we’d shared the same thought. Prisoners hidden behind a solid wall would be harder to get to. Breaking through this barrier could lead us to Eln.

So what are we waiting for?
Mark asked.
Let’s appear on the other side.

How many life signs?
I asked Anton. We were both hesitant to face more guards and weapons.

Three. I think,
he replied.
But we have a bigger problem. This wall is highly defended and I don’t see an easy way to pass through or bring it down without setting off every alarm and anti-intrusion system in here.
He was being careful not to say what I knew he meant: it would take hours to disable the security embedded in this wall and we didn’t have the power to do that and defend ourselves for that long.

Anton looked up from his monitor and we exchanged another look through the darkness. There was something else too. A room as well defended as the one behind this wall had a very good chance of containing Eln.

We’re just going to have to bust in,
Anton said.
If we find Eln in there, we’ll take down the two wizards, grab him and teleport out before World War Four comes raining down on our heads.

I moved out of position to read over Anton’s shoulder.
It’ll happen too fast,
I said, studying his readouts. His figures moved expertly over the dimly backlit screen as he worked to show me all the information it contained.
Even if we use brute force, the alarms will go off at least thirty seconds before we can make it through this wall. At best. An army will come down on us long before we can execute any plan to take out two wizards and escape.
I sounded confident, but I’d only had a few moments to survey the readouts and my stomach churned. Anton put a comforting hand on the small of my back as I continued to mull over his monitor.

“Is retreat ever considered?” Luke whispered. He spoke out loud to protect his private thoughts.

“We’re too close,” I replied verbally. “Eln could be on the other side of that wall. Do you want to give up, or do you want to be creative?” My own words made me nervous.
How much would I risk to execute this hypothetical solution?

Luke sighed. I smiled ruefully as his eyes turned away from me. After all we’d been through, he wanted this too. “If the alarms have to sound, then why don’t we set them off elsewhere?” Luke suggested. “You know, a diversion.”

My wistful smile blossomed into a proud grin.
Not bad,
I replied with my mind.
Obviously, we would still have to set off the sensor connected to this wall, but I can do it remotely.

How would that help?
Mark asked. I felt his tightening chest through the mental link. The notion of splitting up made him anxious.

The system will relay to them my location,
I replied.
That’s where they’ll look.

Anton continued the thought.
One or two guards will come to check out this area, but we can set up an illusion for them. They won’t be looking very hard because they won’t expect to find anyone.

An illusion?
Mark probed.
What if they stay and watch the wall?

Won’t matter,
Anton replied.
We
o
vertake their senses. In this case, sight and sound. Then, send them neural messages we design. Our team can be here and working, and they will think they are standing in an empty hallway.

Tamer will walk you through it,
I instructed while looking at Anton. He nodded and initiated contact. The version of this spell that Anton and I could pull off wasn’t very sophisticated. At best, we might be able to block a neural signal, but creating a fake one was beyond our skills, especially given that the wizards were trained to sense such deceptions. Tamer could show a pair of guards what they expected to see.

However, I did have second thoughts about pulling our resident psych expert away from his post. Without him there, our escape would have to be done in two stages: first, transport to the planet’s surface and then get to the ship that awaited us in orbit.

Before I could voice my doubts, Tamer appeared. He started to set up the illusion while Anton worked out a way to bring down the wall. Neither one said anything about the risks we faced. I didn’t either.
It’s a good plan.
My private affirmation did little to quiet the sense of impending danger taking hold of my stomach.

Instead, I went to stand guard as far away from my team as I dared. If I ventured too far, the caves could shift and take me away from them. The darkest spot, located midway between two lamps would provide good cover. I crouched there with my back against some rough boulders and stared into the black. My eyes would need to adjust if they were to spot an incoming wizard.

Do you think this will work?
Mark asked me telepathically. He couldn’t see me. I looked back and spied him standing in a shadow, arms crossed and leaning back against the wall.
Was he scared?

It’s not the biggest risk we’ve ever taken,
I replied.
Unfortunately, it is a one shot deal. Either Eln is behind that wall or we’ve failed this mission.
The enriched oxygen atmosphere in these caves was making me a little lightheaded. I paused to take a controlled breath.
After I set off the alarm, we won’t have much time; and once we leave these caves, there’s no coming back.
I didn’t mention the fact that we would need to budget our power precisely. It would take us down to our last drop to pull this off and that was assuming nothing went wrong.

I guess we’d better hope he’s in there,
Mark said.

Hmm,
I agreed.
That and that there aren’t any surprise security measures keeping him, or us, here.
My thumb ran along the side of the laser gun in my hand and I felt the smooth surface slide against my skin. The object seemed like a toy and didn’t do much to reassure me against the looming blackness stretched out before me.
Mark’s got good reason to be scared,
I thought privately.
We’re going to need a lot of luck to pull this one off
.

Prison Caves – November 2184

Luke

There was a time when I liked having a tough, smart baby sister. Sassiest five-year-old I’d ever met. Even in kindergarten, Liz didn’t take crap from anyone. Not me, not Mark, not the kids at school. But this 'I take care of myself' attitude, which I was so proud of when she was five, was not so hot at fifteen. She needed to be snapped back to reality.

The problem: what reality?

When she said we were going on a mission, I thought it would be a trip to the post office or something. Maybe, find some undercover aliens posing as mailmen and expose their evil plot to destroy letters. Honestly, I don’t know what I’d thought. I knew there was at least some danger or else she wouldn’t have ended up hospitalized. But I never expected this. The danger was too real.

We weren’t on Earth. This rotten air was not Earth atmosphere. I used to think I knew where Liz was. Sure, she was a teenage girl, and I thought maybe she fibbed sometimes. I wasn’t delusional. But most guardians can narrow their teenager’s location down to within city limits. Not me. My baby sister didn’t just sneak into a club when she said she’d be at the bowling alley. She went to a whole different planet in some other year! And the kicker: I wasn’t sure I could stop her. Her eyes, like Mark’s, always spoke volumes on what she was thinking, and her thoughts on this matter were
not even if you cement my butt to a pole.
The girl was as stubborn as a buck getting milked. She was going to continue taking part on these missions, whether I forbade it or not.

But how could I possibly allow her to do this?
I’d seen the urgency in Anton’s expression when he’d watched her walk away into the darkness.

“I don’t have to go anyplace special, but I can’t stay here,” she’d said to me with a smile before she left. I couldn’t, for the life of me, figure out why she was smiling. Nothing about this looked funny to me. I hadn’t understood much when they were talking shop, but I did catch the fact that she’d transferred most of her power to Anton, keeping only what she needed to complete her part. That made one thing clear: we couldn’t afford surprises.

Tamer and Anton wrapped up their conversation. My younger cousin gave Anton a reassuring pat on the shoulder and checked his watch.
We still have three minutes and thirty-four seconds Earth time before Liz set off the alarm,
he announced.

Then he walked toward me.

“Let’s chat,” the kid invited and tipped his head to indicate a corner away from everyone else. My eyes sought out Mark, who was sitting on the floor and tearing up a piece of paper he’d fished from his pocket. My brother could never just sit. His hands or his feet or some part of him had to be doing something. He shrugged, so I followed Tamer. I didn’t say anything, just thought about how weird he looked in that green uniform. It was right-on fancy and I was used to seeing Tamer wearing torn jeans and unclean t-shirts—even in winter. His face was the same though: dark and a little scraped up.

“Do you know why you’re here?” he whispered. I remained silent, figuring it was a rhetorical question. “Cause Liz’s got more principles than will do her good,” he continued. “She could have wiped your memory. It’s allowed if it’s the only way to protect our secrets. Now, Liz ain’t a psych expert, but short-term amnesia isn’t hard to induce.”

“You have a point?” I barked, not itching to have my brain tampered with, especially by my sister.

“Yeah,” Tamer replied. “You’re not going to stop her from being a Dark, and she’s not going to meddle with your memory. That leaves you two choices: support her, or make her life more dangerous.”

Now my cousin was telling me how to be a parent to my little sister. Didn’t he understand that she was just a kid? And so was he for that matter. Both of them were acting like they understood what it meant to be grown-up. Maybe that’s the difference between kids and adults. Kids think they know what it takes; adults are scared as hell that every decision they make is the wrong one.

“How does keeping Liz away from these…” I gestured to the walls in frustration. “These things, murderers, make her life more dangerous?” I am a foot taller than Tamer and I can look mean when I want to. Even my sister wouldn’t dare talk to me like this.

However, Tamer wasn’t finished. “Two days ago, Anton instructed us to evacuate Earth. But I couldn’t explain to Kathryn and Dave where I’d be going. I stayed vulnerable just to avoid a fight with my parents.”

“Liz said what happened two days ago was a one-time thing,” I countered. I wanted my gruff voice to scare him, but already our hushed whispers in these otherwise still halls made me nervous.
What if a guard heard us?

“You’re not getting it.” Tamer leaned in a little and softened his tone. His eyes probed the corridors behind me as he spoke. “On Patrick’s birthday, I came home, two thirds of my power drained. I’d lost a family during a political relocation.” I could hear from the hoarseness in his throat that this was hard to talk about, but he kept going. “Their son touched a wizard-enchanted socket while they were packing. It electrocuted everyone in the house. The ordeal lasted a full four minutes. Current ran through our bodies and took control. Only I had powers, which I was busy using to keep myself alive.” Tamer kept his expression even, but I saw him clench and unclench his left fist as he prepared to tell me the next part of the story.

“The worst part is that it was my fault,” he continued. “When I had scanned their home for traps, I missed that one. Electric sockets are supposed to produce electricity and the extra surge from this one was camouflaged by a spell. I was unfamiliar with the alien technology powering their home.” He took a deep breath, then kept going. “After the incident, I had to rush home to make Patrick’s party. I couldn’t tell Kathryn that I needed to skip birthday dinner to get some shuteye. I couldn’t mourn the family while eating birthday cake, and I couldn’t find the fugitive wizards until I’d first gorged on burgers, sung happy birthday and pretended that I was having a swell time. All I wanted to do while everyone was singing was yell for them to shut up and let me sleep.” Tamer paused.

I watched him gather himself without comment. I didn’t want him to see pity in my eyes. Did he really think he, Anton and my sister should carry the weight of the world on their shoulders?

Tamer turned his head so he could look me straight on. Impressive for someone six inches shorter than me. “I did find the wizards in time, but I was taking a risk, letting a birthday party delay me. If I’d failed, they would have used mind manipulations to start an interplanetary war.” Tamer studied my face like he was trying to figure out if I was getting his message. I kept my expression neutral so he continued, “Can you imagine how much it would mean to me if I could just go home after crap days like that and not have to pretend everything was just peachy?” He grinned sarcastically, but I remained stone-faced.

“What you don’t get,” I said, “is that my first duty as her guardian is to keep her safe.” Tamer had no idea what it is like to be responsible for your brother and sister. That night after I’d learned about our parents’ death, I stayed up in bed terrified of what lay ahead. I was scared for my siblings, for how they would be changed by the loss of their parents. Even more, I was scared for myself. How could I possibly be expected to take Mom and Dad’s place? I’ve been trying to figure it out since. Our parents always seemed like they were born being parents. They always had the right answer, always knew what needed to be said or done to provide a good home. I was a kid, thinking about parties and college. There was nothing about me that said “parent.” How much could I change in one night? Especially given that I didn’t want to change. I didn’t want the rest of my life to be about raising my brother and sisters.

Tamer thought I was the one with the blind spot, but there was so much he couldn’t see. Night after night, I’ve stayed awake, thinking about what was best for Liz and Mark. I wondered if I was pushing them too hard on homework or not enough, tried to figure out how I could be there for them to talk to if they needed me and tried to anticipate their every need. And one thing I knew, one thing Tamer couldn’t know to consider, was that, as much as I needed Liz, Mark needed her even more. I didn’t think my brother could come back from experiencing her death. His happiness was more important to me than whatever good Liz was doing fighting these wizards out here.

Liz will set off the alarm in T minus twenty seconds,
Anton proclaimed telepathically. Tamer walked past me to stand near Anton and I took my place against the wall next to Mark.

Elizabeth

The alarm I’d set off blared in my head. The telepathic noise was almost enough to interrupt my thoughts. Battling for my sanity, I couldn’t gather enough information about my landing site for a precise teleport touchdown. The last thing I wanted was to materialize in the middle of a rock formation. Instead, I overshot, and materialized seven feet in the air. My stomach churned as I plummeted, and then the ground pounded my body. A sharp pain shot up my ankle, followed by a hard impact into my arm and shoulder.

The wind got knocked out of me so I just lay there on the hazelnut, grass-like vegetation. My senses hadn’t yet figured out up from down when I heard his voice. “You really thought you could break into one of our high security prisons?” the wizard asked. “I scanned you. You don’t even have enough power left to teleport off this planet.” His tone was sweet and soft, but that made it all the more sickening.

My weight shifted to my left arm as it strained to help me turn over. My body was sore. My other arm tingled as though it had been numb and jabbing pain swallowed my ankle, but I didn’t have time to think about any of that now. It took me a moment to struggle to my feet as my pursuer waited. My ankle forced me to stumble when I straightened up and eyed him for the first time. He looked like your average wizard in blue uniform: short, blond, skinny, with a long pointy chin and thin green eyes. I did notice one abnormality though. Most wizards had three fingers on each hand, like a tripod. This one only had two fingers on his left hand.

“There must be at least a hundred guards who work at this prison. Not one of them had the skills to grow you an extra finger?” I jeered. Small talk would buy me time.

“What matters,” Stumpy replied, “is that I had the skills to follow your teleport.” As he spoke, I started to take in my surroundings. We were on the top of a flat cliff, not far from the edge. Rocky, gray mountains and chestnut valleys surrounded us. The wizard grinned, and, in his sweetest voice, he offered, “However, if you would like me to show you my medical skills, I’d be happy to oblige.”

His face disappeared behind a large ball of fire, about the size of a cow. It zoomed toward me.
How did he conjure that so fast?
I fell forward and lay belly flat on the ground as the sphere whizzed an inch above my skin. The two burns on my back throbbed from the heat: a reminder of how painful a hit would be. The vegetation behind me exploded with fire. I could erect a shield, but that would use the last of my power reserves and it wouldn’t last long.

I scrambled up and backed away from the hot blaze. There wasn’t enough time to poison Stumpy through his shield. I could teleport away, but he would follow and I didn’t have the power to mask the trail. Another fireball appeared and forced me to leap to my right and land on my injured arm. It exploded less than a foot away, causing more of the grass and shrubbery to ignite. Flames leapt at my shoes and skirt and singed my skin. I took one moment to study Stumpy’s glowering expression before I started backing up toward the edge of the cliff. Without turning away from him, I got to my feet again, but I was cornered between him, the ledge, and the blaze. The guard watched me to see what I would decide. His green eyes were narrowed in concentration and his lips moved to the tune of a spell. I couldn’t hear the words above the sound of the crackling fire.

Stumpy grinned again and his perfect white teeth reflected the orange glow from the fire. The smoke scratched my throat and made me dizzy but I tried to keep my breathing slow and normal. My enemy had finished his spell. I let my gaze fall away from him just for a moment as I looked around to see what he’d done, but I couldn’t see far past the smoke and fire that surrounded me. Nothing seemed different. Then Stumpy spoke. “You’ll be calling me for a house visit when you need someone to take care of that nasty flu you caught. You can run now, but if you want to live, I expect you’ll be coming back.”

What flu?

I didn’t have time to contemplate the wizard’s puzzles. My lungs burned, forcing me to gulp at the smoke-laden air. If I stood here much longer, I would pass out. Stumpy disappeared behind a newly formed fireball and all I could think as I turned to run was
please, no more fire.
My feet reached the ledge and the fireball gained on me. There was nowhere else to go so I jumped. My heart sank as I fell to the valley thousands of feet below.