Into the Forest Shadows (30 page)

His hands came up again as the bunts started
another chorus of screams as her phone rang again. She grabbed his
coat and yanked him towards her. The move knocked him off balance,
causing him to fall against her.

With his lips right on hers.

She reached up to snake her arms around his
neck, holding him in place. His lips were cold and stiff, but she
kept her own lips pressed up to his.

His breath played softly on one of her
cheeks. His lips warmed. Then they moved. She found her own lips
getting nibbled gently by his, his head tilting slightly for a
better angle. Kate leaned towards him, liking how it had turned
into a proper kiss.

His eyes popped open and he put her away from
him in one sudden movement, "What are you doing? Did you just kiss
me?"

And Ayden was back. Kate felt a thrill right
down to her toes. "It worked, didn't it? Can we get out of here
now?"

He sucked in his breath, looking around him
as if suddenly awake in a strange place. Which wasn't far from the
truth.

The loud thump of the bough of a tree hitting
the ground gave Kate the diversion she needed. Diasis and Captain
Straos jumped out of the way. She headed in the opposite direction,
yanking Ayden after her.

But even towards the core of the city trees
moved where they had only been stillness before. One of the larger
trees twisted itself, reaching high up into the sky. Ayden jerked
her behind one of the few trees not moving.

Kate grabbed her still ringing phone, looking
down at the identity of the caller. Her eyes widened.

"Mom!" She flipped open the phone, demanding,
"Mom? Is that you? What are you doing here?"

The trunk of a nearby twisting tree shimmered
with light. From the top of it a bright laser-like beam shot out
across the tops of the trees into the center of the mesa
forest.

"Kate?" she heard her mom say through the
sound of other trees firing bolts of light towards the center of
the forest.

A brilliant glow from the center of the mesa
eclipsed the strength of the sun. A bright red bolt shot out over
their heads and the barrier trees. Kate instinctively ducked.

In the distance she heard an explosion.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

The phone went dead. Kate stared at it in
horror. "The forest just shot down Mom!"

Kate saw Bunbun pop his head out from Ayden's
jacket near the neck. She shut the phone and shoved it into her
pocket. She grabbed him, putting him right up against her
forehead.

She thought of Grandma and all the things she
could remember. She remembered what she'd overheard from the Shadow
Creatures as well as all she knew about the spores. The catch
phrase Grandma used to trigger the hidden memories. She murmured it
to herself, hoping it might do something to release anything else
that might be swirling around her head.

Taking Bunbun away from her forehead, she
turned him so his forehead touched the tree right below the red
mark.

"We shouldn't touch these trees, remember?"
Ayden whispered at her.

Her knuckles brushing against the soft bark,
"I don't know what else to do! Maybe he can transfer whatever is in
my head."

Bunbun squirmed in her hand, twisting his
head around to look at her. She could almost see it in his eyes;
the poor little bunt wondering what she was trying to do.

Kate pulled him away, nuzzling him. "Now
what?"

A loud whistling noise cut through the
air.

Dirt, trees and rocks exploded into the sky.
Ayden pushed Kate back against the tree. They heard objects hitting
the other side of the trunk. The ground rumbled under their
feet.

The silence afterwards was deafening. Kate
pushed Ayden away, crawling around to look past the tree.

A human shuttle sat at the end of a long
ditch, the nose buried in soil and forest debris. One of the rear
engines had been completely blown away. The city might have
successfully shot it down, but the crashing shuttle had taken out a
wide path through the barrier trees. Which meant the protective
wall would not be able to protect the trees in the city.

Bunbun squealed, kicking his way out of her
hands. He disappeared down a hole before either of them could catch
him.

"Let him go. He's in a safer place than we
are. We should move further into the forest. Maybe we can find a
tree that is more awake," Ayden whispered to her. "Maybe one of the
trees that fired those shots? Something had to have been awake
enough to do that!"

Kate nodded, pulling back. The door of the
shuttle pop open and a familiar brown head come out.

She froze. Her mother was alive!

A large man with red hair and a light brown
rimmed hat on his head followed her.

"Uncle Henry!" Ayden whispered fiercely.

"That's the uncle who rescued you?" Kate
asked. The man looked so different from Ayden.

Then her eyes caught sight of a moving shadow
along the still intact barrier trees.

Diasis. And he was silently padding his way
towards the shuttle, his form hugging the ground.

And neither her mother or Uncle Henry had a
clue they were being hunted down by a Shadow Creature. She burst
out from behind the tree, grabbing one of the small rocks that had
rained down from the crash.

She threw it at Diasis as hard as she could,
shouting, "Get away from them, Shadow Creature!"

Her mother and Uncle Henry turned towards
her, startled. Diasis snarled at her. He turned back towards the
shuttle, breaking out in a full run.

With one swift movement Uncle Henry reached
for his belt. A staff like Ayden's extended, the cutting edge
glowing bright. Uncle Henry stepped in front of her mother and
swung the axe.

Diasis turned in mid leap, barely dodging the
cutting blade in time. Her mother stumbled back towards the door of
the shuttle while Uncle Henry stood his ground, placing himself
between Diasis and her mother.

Kate heard him yell, "Get inside and seal the
door!"

"It's damaged! It won't even close!" her
mother shouted back.

"You will leave this place! How dare you
bring violence here," the Watcher screamed from above.

Diasis glanced up, snapping at the air.
"Look, a Watcher has joined us. Come down, I am anxious for a
meal."

The Watcher took off from his perch, diving
at Diasis. The two flying Shadow Creatures also took off, pursuing
the Watcher.

Kate stood in the open, unable to stop
watching. Not only the shuttle but also the sight of additional
shadows moving through the the break in the barrier trees.

"They will be mine, Kate," Diasis shouted at
her. "Watch those you love die!"

She felt Ayden come up behind her. Uncle
Henry turned and yelled at them, "Get out of here! We'll hold them
off!"

Captain Straos shouted from the middle of a
clearing where no tree could reach him, "Diasis, you will not kill
them. Not until I find my technology!"

Diasis bared his teeth at Captain Straos.
"You will not order me about as one of your slaves. This family
pack has defied me for the last time. They will now die!"

"Do you forget I already have one of them at
my command? The second will soon be mine," Captain Straos said with
a gesture to Kate. "A small exposure and these two newly arrived
ones will be mine. I wish to know what knowledge they have first.
Then you may have them."

Kate didn't like that dismissal one little
bit, but she hated the implied threat against her mother. And
Mother never had any of the tea! She retreated around the tree,
studying the forest leading deeper into the city.

She heard Diasis say, "I want them all."

"And you shall have them. Just as soon as we
find the secrets of this city. Speaking of family."

Kate turned back. Captain Straos was still
where she'd last seen him. He hadn't tried to extended his control
of the spores inside her again, either. But through the spores
inside her she could feel his emotions. He was content.

And that made her suspicious.

Among the break in the trees, Kate spotted
something with bright colors coming towards them. A tall form
surrounded by the lower bodies. Dark bodies. Slinking along from
shadow to shadow.

A mass of Shadow Creatures, and in the midst
of them walked a woman wearing a bright purple top with a prim
white apron around her middle.

Grandma.

She walked like the Gatherers in the spore
camps. Her movements stiff and jerky, her face showing no emotions.
Captain Straos watched the progression with a satisfied look on his
face that fueled Kate's rage.

Grandma came to a stop next to him. Captain
Straos pointed at Kate. "You sent Kate here. I want you to take me
to what you sent her here to retrieve. Lead me to the
Ancients."

Grandma walked forward, stumbling on a root.
Her face revealed nothing. Kate shook her head, but Grandma didn't
even glance at her.

She paused near a group of trees, spinning in
a full circle. She stopped, facing Captain Straos.

"The Ancients, Ms. Blackstone. Find their
technology," Captain Straos shouted.

Grandma spun around with a series of small
steps.

"You are asking the wrong member of the
family." Diasis said, slinking towards Grandma. "The spores have
addled her head. Kate if you wish the old woman to live you will
give Captain Straos what he desires."

"I'm not stupid," Kate shouted. "We are dead
no matter what we do. Grandma knows that, even thought she's filled
with spores. That's why she won't help."

Grandma's head came up, looking in her
direction. For one brief moment Kate thought she saw a spark of
recognition before the passive blank expression descended over her
face.

She heard a noise from Captain Straos. "I
have given enough chances. Honor is fulfilled. Diasis, the old
woman is yours."

Grandma turned towards the trees and stepped
in front of one with great bulbs along the trunk. She turned
towards Kate as Diasis prepared to spring, saying with a loud clear
voice, "Coconut chocolate cake is in the oven."

Kate heard herself gasp from a long ways
away. Her eyesight began to narrow even as she watched Grandma turn
back to the tree. Turned, stepped forward, and absorbed by the
tree. Diasis sprung, his claws only striking bark.

Kate reached out to steady herself against
the sacred tree as she lost all of her eyesight.

She found herself sitting in Grandma's living
room with a cup of vile tea in her hand. Grandma poured more into
her cup. "Sorry about the new pass-phrase. This needs to be
protected. It could be used to hurt them."

"Hurt who?" Kate cringed. "Stop. I don't like
this stuff!"

"I'm not important now. None of us are. I
have never met an Ancient, but through the trees I know a few
things. They are currently asleep."

"What if things go wrong, like what you
talked about before?" Kate asked, purposely moving the teacup away
from Grandma so she couldn't fill it up anymore.

"Drink the tea. It might be the only thing to
protect you in the future. Where was I? Oh yes, the sleeping
Ancients. You might have to wake one."

"How would I do that?"

"How does the forest communicate?"

"How should I know? What do you mean
communicate? They're only trees."

Grandma gave a knowing smile, the sort her
mother sometimes used. Kate had never liked it, making her feel
inferior, as if she didn't know something.

"You will know. Soon. And that is how you can
wake them if the time comes that you may need to. And whatever
happens, put them first. Not me, not your mother, not the city or
anyone in it. The Ancients."

Kate snapped back to reality. Not one bit of
Grandma remained. The tree ate her?

She heard Captain Straos shout, "Diasis, you
may have all except Kate! She is mine!"

Diasis reared up and howled in pleasure. The
other Shadow Creatures joined in. The shapes moved quickly to
surround the shuttle. Her mother retreated inside while Uncle Henry
stood guard outside the door.

A brave man, Kate had to give him that. But
he wouldn't be able to stand up to them for very long. The Shadow
Creatures severely outnumbered them far too much.

Ayden bent down and took the staff from her
belt. With a flick he extended it and activated the cutting blade.
He handed it back to her, whispering in her ear, "We go down
together."

She took the staff, not liking the weight of
it in her hand. Now that it was no longer the simple walking staff
she didn't know what to do with it.

Ayden whirled around, his staff whistling
through the air. A dark body howled in pain and retreated. Other
shapes moved forward. The loud roar of engines filled the air,
shaking leaves out of the canopy.

Kate backed against the tree, the hood of her
cape falling to her shoulders. Some of the trees reacted to the
violence, coming alive, but Kate quickly noticed that the Shadow
Creatures knew which trees to stay away from. The fact Captain
Straos almost got clobbered was a small victory.

The roar in the air increased. The tree next
to them shimmered in light, firing a bolt of energy towards the
center of the forest.

A cloud of white filtered down through the
air. "Ayden?"

"How much of the stuff do they have?"

"They'll infect the entire forest with
spores!" Her immunity wouldn't help anyone if she couldn't find an
Ancient that could use it to help others.

And she still didn't know what an Ancient
looked like. Why did Grandma neglect to give her a few clues?

A dark shape shadowed the forest. She
identified it at once.

So, they'd finished the repairs to the
Newcomer ship.

A bolt of light shot out from the ship,
hitting the tree that had produced the bolts fired towards the
center of the mesa. Kate and Ayden dove around the other side of
the tree as it exploded in a deadly cloud of wood fragments.