True Traitor (First Wave Book 7) (23 page)

“I am truly sorry . . .” Fiorn said quietly.

Grai walked over to the cage and laid a hand on Fiorn’s shoulder.

“I know that. You made a mistake. Let’s not continue that any longer,” Grai said, holding his hand out for Fiorn.

Fiorn looked up at the mutant and put his hand in his and allowed Grai to help him stand. Grai nodded at him.

“Let’s get this energy fixed in your mind so we can talk about an alliance. There is much to discuss and we need your help,” Grai said with a smile, putting his own thoughts aside to help.

Fiorn shook his head.

“I still don’t know about any other energy,” Fiorn said, struggling to remember what happened to him.

Tristan smiled at him. “That is where Lara comes in,” he said as he waved his hand and the golden energy dissipated from the bars as the door popped open.

Grai stepped back as Fiorn walked slowly out of the cage. Thjodhild flew into his arms and he caught her up, hugging her closely.

Tristan gave them a moment before saying, “Come we must do this soon, I can’t hold that energy off for too much longer. It is very strong.”

Tristan gestured out of the door and Fiorn looked questioningly at Grai and Thjodhild before he began to walk outside. Lara sent out a shower of golden energy that kept the other hybrids from following them as Tristan led Fiorn back to the large school.

Lara looked at Tristan questioningly and he chuckled. “I think you went into the building too quickly the first time or you would have fixed this already,” he said by way of explanation.

Lara shook her head.
The kid was pretty good at being evasive
, she thought with a grin. The moment they stepped into the School, she understood what he meant and Lara threw her arms in the air and laughed as she skipped through the middle of the room towards the hallway.

Ivint and Grai looked at Tristan curiously. Tristan shrugged and grinned as he followed beside Fiorn down the hallway after Lara. When they got to the newly melting area, Lara threw up a golden shield so that Fiorn wouldn’t have to see Leif’s blood on the ice in the other hallway.

They stood and faced the area where Fiorn had True tried to blast through the ice with her fireballs and Lara held her hands against the hole that had been made. She turned to the others and grinned.

“Tristan, throw up a shield,” Lara said, gesturing towards the others.

Tristan raised his hand and a golden shield sprang up in front of everyone but he and Lara, while she placed her hands on either side of the hole that True had made in the ice. Within moments the ice wall began to glow with an eerie golden light.

Grai and the others watched in amazement as the wall of ice seemed to shimmer with the golden light and a tunnel appeared in the middle of the ice where True had begun the hole. Lara’s hands shook for a moment and she concentrated more deeply as the others watched something come through the shimmering tunnel in the ice wall.

Seconds later something flew from the hole, caught in Lara’s hand, before the golden light disappeared and the ice wall was again intact. Even the hole that True had made with her fireballs, was now gone, a solid wall of ice again blocking the hallway.

Lara turned to the others as Tristan released them from behind the shield he’d erected in front of them. Grai was the first to see what Lara held in her hand and his eyes widened in surprise.

“What is that?” Grai asked as he gestured to the elaborate gold and platinum scepter in her hand.

“The truth,” Fiorn said, the wild look completely gone from him now.

Lara grinned and nodded.

“It is the Relic of Truth. The relic would not allow Fiorn to be here unless he vowed to protect it until it was time to be found. When Tristan told him it was time for the truth, the protective energy that the relic imbued into Fiorn assumed that the relic was in danger and triggered the problem in his brain. One energy fighting the other. He should be fine now,” Lara said, her excitement over the discovery vibrating in her energy.

Grai shook his head.

“I thought you can’t use that. That you could only use the Relic of Knowledge,” he said, confused.

Lara chuckled. “I can’t. But, I can keep it safe until we find the ancient prime meant to use it. And more importantly, it negates the need for the protective energy to be triggered in Fiorn’s mind again,” Lara explained.

“Wait,” Thjodhild said, holding up her hand to get everyone’s attention. “That’s it? He admits he was an arrogant asshole and caused Grai’s mother years of pain, and you take something from here and now . . . he’s fine? What are you taking and why? What right do you have to it? And how do we know that Fiorn is fine now?” she asked incredulously.

Tristan smiled patiently at Thjodhild and took one of her hands into his own.

“Lady Warrior, it was Fiorn’s self-hatred over what happened to Granala Skardard that created part of the problem in his mind. It was his own guilt that created a mass of negative energy that was triggered when he saw my father. I inadvertently set off the relic’s protective energy when I told him to tell the truth to release the negative energy in his mind,” Tristan explained, sending her patience and energy to help her open her mind and understand.

Lara grinned at the feisty shield maiden. “I will prove to you that I am among its rightful owners,” she said cryptically before shooting Thjodhild with a bolt of golden energy.

Information and images flooded Thjodhild’s mind. What seemed like hours later, but was actually a few minutes, she nodded her head at Lara. “I understand. Welcome to Beta Base,” she said before turning to Fiorn, tears shimmering in her eyes.

“My love?” she said hoarsely.

Fiorn did nothing about the tears streaming down his own face and he picked his mate up into a gentle hug. Lara and the others grinned while quietly making their way back out of the hallway and into the main room.

“Can you feel it?” Lara asked with a smile as she spread her arms out and tilted her head back.

Mikal stood beside his brother and wrapped his arm around his winged shoulders with a brilliant smile. “It is very intense. What is it?”

Lara smiled. “It is the real God particle. The energy and knowledge that the World Gods intended for humanity resides here. Thjodhild was right to protect this place. We must help her do so,” she said.

Tristan smiled down at his brother and pointed up.

“It is a place where the energies converge. The true rainbow bridge to the realms of my people and many others. The knowledge here is a history of Earth, lost history and knowledge, placed here to be kept safe until the time comes for it to be used again,” Tristan said, enjoying the brotherly love flowing between he and Mikal.

A doomsday bunker
, Grai thought.

“What kind of knowledge?” he asked.

Tristan pointed to one of the shelves.

“Advanced medical knowledge, cures for diseases that are known and unknown,” he said before gesturing to another shelf. “Technology, farming, forms of governing . . . Everything they will need to rebuild their world and evolve,” he said.

Grai looked around at the architecture and size of the place and shook his head.

“They built this whole place to store the knowledge?”  

Lara shook her head.

“No, this has all been here from the beginning. Most would know it as the Garden of Eden, Asgard, Agartha, Mount Olympus, and etcetera. It is truly magical,” Lara said, her energy vibrating higher with the powerful pulsing of the building.

“We wondered if that was the case. I had secretly been calling it Asgard myself,” Thjodhild admitted, walking into the room with a subdued Fiorn.

Fiorn cleared his throat and looked to Grai. “I am sorry . . .,” he began before he hung his head in shame.

Tristan and Mikal looked expectedly at their father and it humbled Grai to know that were counting on him to be an example to them. It also frustrated him because he honestly wanted to plant his fist in the man’s face for endangering his mate and children. Not to mention his people, because he was too cowardly to face the consequences of his own arrogance.

When long moments passed, Grai could feel the disappointment beginning to build in Tristan’s energy and he cleared his mind of everything but being a good father. To both of his boys. He stepped up to Fiorn and crossed his fist over to his shoulder, bowing slightly before righting himself.

“I would like for us to start over. As allies. I am Grai T’Alq, President of Freedom Enterprises and leader of the mixed hybrids forces,” Grai said, holding his hand out to Fiorn.

Fiorn took a heavy, shaky breath and held his shoulders back. Then he took Grai’s hand.

“I am Fiorn Erikson, Valendran fool and truly grateful for a chance to correct this,” Fiorn said, his energy throbbing with hope.

Grai shook his hand then let it go with a smile.

“I think we have all been guilty of being a fool once or twice.”

“This would be one of those times,” Tricia said, standing in the doorway holding Grace with Lauren beside her.

Everyone turned and Thjodhild cackled with laughter before she patted Grai on the arm. “Boy, you better get your family settled before you come back to talk about an alliance. I’ll have Darina settle your family into the home next to True and Leif,” she said before leading Fiorn from the building.

Grai had just begun walking towards his mate when he felt the quick breeze go by and looked up to see Mikal cuddling his baby sister in his arms as he opened her blanket to look at her.

“Father . . . mother, she’s beautiful,” Mikal said in awe as he looked at the tiny, perfect little girl in his arms.

Tristan shot a golden string of energy at Mikal freezing him completely in place while he plucked his sister from his brother’s arms.

“I get her first!” he said with a grin, unfreezing his brother with a snap of his fingers.

Mikal chuckled and pulled out his comm, taking a picture of the true image of their little brother, holding their precious new sister. His siblings would kill him if he didn’t show them and he sent it to all of their comms at one time before putting it away and crossing his arms over his chest to watch.

Grai moved to Tricia and put an arm around her, leading his family outside where they were met by an excited Darina.

“Let’s get your family settled,” Darina said, anxious for the meeting of clans to begin.

Chapter Twenty One

Countdown Clock to Human Discovery

4:00 Hours

This is a WFWZ Radio News update. Telecommunication providers tell us it could be more than a week before destroyed cell-phone towers are repaired after an early morning landslide near Burnt Tree Ridge.

The damage to I-70 has caused traffic snarls along alternate routes. The Colorado State Patrol is sending extra officers to relieve local police who have been trying to direct traffic along the back roads.

Pfc. Mikey Davis sat at the bar at the NCO club. He’d just arrived and decided to stop when he saw it on his way to the barracks. Figuring this was the best place to find out if anything was going on, he looked around the room at the scant number of people, wondering how to broach the subject.

The bartender set another beer in front of him.

“Something bothering you, son?”

Mikey looked up at the older man and shook his head. “Not really,” he said before taking a sip of the bitter brew.

Mikey was wrapped in his own thoughts when the bartender slid a shot of whiskey next to his beer.

“This one’s on me. For that thing that’s not really bothering you,” the older man said with a smile before he left to fill a couple of more glasses with beer.

Mikey ran his finger over the rim of the shot glass a few times before picking it up and downing it quickly. He’d barely put it down before the bartender was there to swoop it up and rinse it before putting it in a tub below the bar top.

Mikey looked up at the TV playing in a corner of the bar with the closed captioning on and looked at the bartender. He could have smacked himself in the head for not thinking of it sooner. If anyone had heard anything, it’d be the bartender. He spends his time watching the news and listening to news all around him.

“Hey,” Mikey said, clearing his throat a little. “You heard anything about I-70 being shut down near the Burnt Tree Ridge area?”

The bartender crinkled his forehead in concentration for a moment.

“No, I can’t say that I have. Is that where you came from?” he asked, pulling up a stool behind the counter near Mikey and sitting down.

Mikey sighed and nodded his head.
So much for the bartender being a good source
, he thought.

“You got someone special there that you’re trying to get to?” the sharp eyed bartender asked.

Mikey shook his head sadly.

“No, sir, I just needed to get away for a while. I’ve always loved that area and go there every chance I get when I’m on leave,” Mikey admitted, nodding his thanks when the bartender gave him another shot of whiskey.