Infernal Father of Mine (40 page)

Elyssa looked grimly around the room. "Someone
needs to look for Templar survivors and get them out of here
ASAP."

"We'll inform your people outside," Shelton
said.

She nodded. "Make sure you give them the
details of the engagement and—"

Shelton waved her off. "Don't worry. You don't
have time to waste telling me what to do. Now go!"

The four of us raced toward the large silver
circle surrounding the arches near the apse. Shelton and Adam broke
off from the group and headed toward the corridor leading to the
rear exit. Dad shoved a large chunk of stone away from the Gloom
arch. Mom waved a hand, and a breeze cleared the dust from the
silver ring. Elyssa jogged to the door and returned with a bundle
of rolled-up flying carpets.

"Ready," she said, and stepped inside the
circle.

Mom and Dad joined us. I knelt, jabbed a thumb
against the silver circle and willed it closed. I looked at the
Gloom arch and willed it to activate. With a slight hum, a portal
flickered on within the arch showing a foggy mirror image of the
church. I stepped through first. Elyssa followed close on my
heels.

"Hang on," Dad said. "Are there any Templar
reinforcements coming to guard our backs?"

"Yes," Elyssa said. "The plan is to completely
take over the church, but my father said he was finishing an
operation against the Synod and couldn't spare enough men." She
took out her phone and sent a quick text. "I just let him know to
expect a lot more resistance than the Exorcists." She looked up.
For now, our flank will be wide open. There's no way around
it."

An amused smile spread Dad's lips. He nodded.
"Nothing spices life like knowing you're gonna die."

"David," Mom said in a disapproving
tone.

He held up his hands in surrender. "Just making
an observation."

Elyssa looked at me. "Close the
portal."

I willed the portal closed. It
vanished.

My girlfriend gasped and drooped.

I touched her shoulder. "You're cut off from
your supernatural talents."

She flexed her fingers and stared at her hand.
"I don't feel right."

"I know the feeling." Even though my newfound
abilities granted me more power in the Gloom, the dampening effect
was profoundly noticeable.

"Oh, by the way, I got you something," Dad
said. He tossed me a clear plastic bag.

I caught it and looked at the contents. "My
phone!" I said. "Where did you find it?"

"Storage room near the entrance of the church,"
he said.

I grabbed my wallet, eighty-two cents in loose
change, and my beloved phone, Nookli, from the bag. "I may be stuck
in the Gloom, but at least I can tell the time."

Elyssa wrinkled her forehead and looked around.
"I didn't realize how dense the fog was. Piloting the carpets is
going to be a nightmare."

We made our way outside to the back parking
lot. I noticed a hole in the iron fence where the Templars had cut
one in the real world. I checked the time on my phone. We still had
three hours until the fog cleared, assuming the Gloom kept to the
same schedule. That was a lot of time to be flying blind,
especially when we might have Montjoy and his people close on our
heels.

Elyssa seemed frustrated. "I didn't account for
crappy visibility." She huffed an angry breath and stared into the
foggy surroundings. "This was a huge mistake on my
part."

"It's not your fault," I said. "I should have
emphasized just how bad vision is in here during the day, but it
didn't even occur to me."

Mom made a fanning motion with her hand. The
fog cleared in all directions by about twenty feet. She stopped
fanning, and the fog rolled back in. "I don't think this will help
much while we're flying."

"All we need to do is fly in the direction of
the quarry," Dad said, aiming a finger in the general direction.
"If we take the carpets high enough we won't have to worry about
running into trees."

"What about buildings?" Elyssa
asked.

"We'll need to fly high enough to avoid them as
well," he said.

"How will we know if we're high enough?" she
asked. "We can't see the ground."

I fiddled with my phone. "The GPS works. Maybe
I can use 3D mode to help us avoid buildings."

Elyssa nodded. "That might work."

An even better idea occurred to me.
Minder
Justin, I need you, buddy.
I concentrated on instant messaging
my shade using brainwaves and hoped for the best.

Elyssa gasped. "I feel strong
again."

"Oh, crap," Dad said.

A surge of strength flowed into me. I opened my
eyes. "What's going on?"

"Someone opened the Gloom arch." Dad looked
behind us. "We're not alone anymore."

"Montjoy is sending in the troops," I
said.

"We don't know for sure," Elyssa said.
Something whistled through the air. Her hand blurred and caught an
arrow inches from her face. Her eyes went wide. "Then again, maybe
we do."

Another arrow whistled inches from my head and
clanged off the iron fence. I ducked. "How can they see us through
the fog?"

"With the portal open I'm at full power," Mom
said. "Maybe I can do something." She made a sweeping motion with
her hands. A gust of wind cleared the parking lot all the way to
the door where a group of figures in gray uniforms were aiming more
arrows our way. Each wore what looked like glowing
spectacles.

"Magic glasses." Elyssa made a frustrated
noise. "Why didn't I think of that?" She slid through the hole in
the fence. "We've got to get out of here."

Another volley of arrows deflected from an
invisible barrier Mom had apparently thrown up. She looked at Dad.
"David, go through the fence while I hold them off."

Dad shook his head. "I'm not—"

"Go!" she said in her parent voice.

He climbed through the hole after
me.

Mom backed up as more arrows bounced off the
shield. I heard one of the uniformed soldiers shout a command. Mom
turned, and dove through the hole. Once outside of the fence, we
didn't dare run. There were trees everywhere and fog concealed them
all. We hadn't gone more than a few paces when I felt my strength
dissipate.

"They shut down the Gloom arch," Dad growled.
"Looks like we're back to being normal."

We reached the other side of the trees and
found a clearing. Elyssa unrolled the bundle beneath her arm, and
tossed two flying carpets on the ground. "No choice. We have to
fly." Her eyes went to me. "You still have the coordinates on
GPS?"

I nodded. "We'll need to fly the carpets close
to each other. If we lose sight, it'll be tough to find each
other."

Mom and Dad hopped on one of the carpets while
Elyssa and I took the other. Using a nearby tree to judge our
height, we floated up until we lost sight of the top.

"Going high!" someone shouted from below.
Arrows whistled past. One punched through the bottom of our carpet.
The tip barely missed nailing my rear end.

I willed the carpet forward at a modest pace.
The GPS showed buildings ahead, but I didn't know how high we were
in relation to them.

"I can't believe I didn't think of magic
glasses," Elyssa said. "We wouldn't be running blind like
this."

"You can't think of everything" I said, peering
intently into the fog for any obstacles. "I didn't think they'd be
following us so soon after we kicked their butts."

"They must have realized we didn't have
reinforcements." Her eyes went wide. "Watch out!"

I swerved left and barely missed hitting the
tip of an antenna atop the roof of a building hidden in the fog
below. "Whoa, that was close."

"Justin?" Mom called from somewhere in the
fog.

"Over here," I shouted back.

We called back and forth a few times before
finally drawing close to my parents.

"Distance?" Dad asked.

I checked the phone. "A few miles." I blew out
a frustrated breath. "It's going to take forever at this
rate."

"Let's go higher," Elyssa suggested. A shadowy
shape flitted past. "What was that?"

I shook my head. "I didn't get a good
look."

"I think it was a minder," Dad said.

I pointed up. "We're going higher."

He nodded. "Good idea."

Our carpets rose a distance made undeterminable
by the thick fog. I'd decided to keep going up for at least another
minute to be certain we were above any nearby buildings, but a
shout of alarm from Elyssa caused me to halt.

"Look," she said, pointing straight
up.

Even through the fog I saw lightning streaking
in horizontal bursts across the billowing fog close
overhead.

"Reminds me of the aether storms," Dad said,
his carpet holding steady next to mine. "I think we're as high as
we're gonna get."

It was hard to judge the distance to the
lightning storm, but given the dense aether fog, it had to be
close. I imagined a bolt of magical lightning frying the spells on
the flying carpets and sending us plummeting to our deaths.
"Hopefully we're high enough to avoid any buildings," I said. I
didn't feel terribly confident about my statement since so much
construction on the west side of town involved high-rise
condominiums.

A crowd of minders flew past our position
without a sound except for our collective gasps. I looked up and
saw shadows appear in the fog with every lightning
strike.

"This place is seething with minders," Mom
said, looking all around with dismay.

"Must be social hour," Dad said. "Maybe this is
how they spend their off time."

"Justin, your phone." Elyssa pointed at the
screen. Static flickered across it every time lightning threaded
through the fog. The GPS signal blinked in and out.

I cursed. "We need to drop lower. The aether
storm is playing havoc with my phone."

Dad nodded. "Lead on."

We had to descend for nearly half a minute
before my phone decided to work again. We went forward a few feet
and nearly ran into the side of a red brick building. I slapped the
hard surface. "Son of a—"

"Justin!" Mom said with a stern
look.

"—bad person," I finished with a contrite
smile. "We're never getting anywhere at this rate."

Something clattered off the wall a few inches
from my head.

"Arrows!" Elyssa dropped low on the carpet and
looked behind us. "The Exorcists must have carpets too."

"How are we supposed to outrun them in this pea
soup?" I said with a growl. "I should've taken them out earlier."
Something cold touched my head.

You rang?
said a familiar voice in my
head.

I didn't have time to properly greet my minder.
"We need help!"

I just read your mind,
he said.
Come
with me if you want to live.

I saw Minder Justin floating a few feet to my
left. One of his tentacles rested on my head. "Lead on."

I have a better idea.

My vision blurred and sharpened back to normal.
As I looked around, I realized my vision was much improved. I
couldn't see clear as day, but shadowy shapes of buildings and
other obstructions filled the fog.

That should help you run from those
homicidal maniacs behind you.

I glanced over my shoulder and saw the shadowy
outlines of the pursuing Exorcists maybe fifty yards away. "Dad,
get behind us and overlap the carpets. We're about to go a lot
faster."

He nodded and lined up his and Mom's carpet so
the edges overlapped, and gripped the edges. "Go."

Mom wrapped her arms tight around his waist.
"Never a dull moment," she said.

I willed the carpet forward. It went from zero
to turbo in three seconds. Apparently the Templar flying carpets
were a lot better than their civilian counterparts. I zoomed down
to street level, flying just high enough to skim over empty cars.
The Exorcists shouted and dove after us. I saw a volley of arrows
shoot toward us, but our forward velocity was too much for them to
overcome.

"Why don't they just use guns?" I
said.

"The Exorcists shun technology," Elyssa
said.

I threaded between a city bus and a semi-truck.
"I guess that explains the weird crossbow that dude in the church
used."

Elyssa gripped my waist tighter. "Just pay
attention to where you're going and be glad they aren't shooting
assault rifles."

Through there
, Minder Justin
said.

I felt a tug on my attention and saw the
unfinished condo complex he referred to.

"It's terrifying not being able to see where
we're going," Elyssa said.