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The tortalone Rayen and Kaz rode swooped low over the carpet of fluorescent trees, a sea of peach, aqua, and purple vegetation below them that gave way to dark blue and white. They landed in a large clearing and the tortalone trotted slowly across dark blue grass that would be shin-high on her. Black-and-white striped flowers that looked feather-soft darkened to coppers and reds in the shade. When they stopped, it seemed as if they were in the middle of nowhere, but she knew better. Callan and a handful of the MystiKs around his age had used their combined power to create a ward that mimicked the surrounding woods to hide their village.
The cool air that had wafted over them while flying disappeared, and the sticky heat returned with a vengeance. But once that red moon vanished beneath the horizon, the air near the ground would chill.
She climbed off the tortalone and ran over to help with Gabby. Tony passed her down to Rayen, then Gabby once more floated at her normal space above the ground. Rayen snagged the hem of her shirt then the three of them followed Kaz. He could have passed through the ward easily since he was a MystiK, but they couldn’t. He paused and lifted his hands, then spoke an incantation for ten seconds before turning to them.
“You may pass through.”
They did, and the other three warrior boys followed them.
While Kaz closed the ward, they continued in the direction she recalled as being toward the village, but they were quickly surrounded by a new group of warriors.
This bunch looked threatening even at six and seven years old. That was because they were Uberons, part of an elite MystiK Warrior division.
A young woman Rayen’s age, known as Kenja, led the Uberons.
Rayen had been through her share of run-ins with that one.
Kenja appeared in their path, so fast and close they almost plowed into her.
Gabby shrieked and paddled her hands in the air, trying to back up.
When Kenja smirked at Gabby, Rayen wanted to strangle her, but Gabby wielded words the way Kenja handled a spear.
Tony gave Gabby’s shirt a tug and she floated forward. Gabby used her lofty advantage to rake Kenja with an imperial look. “Did you give up fighting your inner demons and just join them, Kenja?”
“Your sarcasm is wasted.”
“It generally is on the ignorant.”
In a blink, Kenja’s expression switched from calm to the promise of retribution.
Rayen didn’t want a repeat of her last altercation with Kenja. There was no time for it. “Either help or get out of the way, Kenja.”
With a tiny move of her head, she redirected all her aggression at Rayen. “You have less than three hours until my agreement to stay at this village has been fulfilled.”
Then Kenja disappeared as quickly as she’d arrived.
Gabby muttered, “I’ve got levitation-itis, I just climbed off a flying turtle, and we still don’t know if that computer is going to work. She does not want to mess with me.”
Kaz stepped up beside her. “Problems?”
Rayen shook her head. “Nothing new.”
He led them into the center of the camp where more sleeping quarters had been created from tortalone feathers hanging from poles and vines to form walls. Some of them had red tips as well as gold. Now she understood where someone would find a six-foot-long feather.
She caught the approach of another female. Headache number two. Zilya of the Governing House and senior pain in Rayen’s backside.
Short, white-blond hair flared across Zilya’s head, and a smattering of black and diamond jewels were embedded in her perfect cheek. She had that mix of haughty and exotic that would always cause easily distracted males to drool. Her tunic-style gown was an odd yellowish, almost golden, material, not shiny, but elegant in its simplicity. Strange half-moon designs were sewn in a deeper burnished gold down the front. Callan had mentioned they indicated her status, but having her clothes speak for her seemed unnecessary. Her arrogance announced her status all on its own.
She stepped into their path.
Rayen ground her teeth. What was with everyone wanting to get in my way right now?
Zilya spoke with the single purpose of commanding attention. “Do you have the computer?”
Tony sounded impatient. “We have a computer, but I don’t know that we have the computer, and until I get a chance to work on the device we do have, I won’t know if we can use it to scam them.”
She brought out her tone of superiority. “You were supposed to—”
“Hey, sister,” Tony snapped. “We’ve had our own troubles. I need time and a workspace. If you can’t provide that, then you’re in the way.”
Everyone was on edge.
Tony, Gabby, and Rayen had barely found each other and left before someone caught them. Kaz had taken lead on the warrior duties, which included keeping this group safe and alive. Zilya was a pain of the highest order, but she looked worn around the edges, too.
Rayen raised her hands. “Can we all call a truce for a couple of hours until we free Callan?”
Kaz crossed his arms and addressed Zilya. “I will see to what they need.” When she started to interrupt him, Kaz was quick to cut her off. “Where is Jaxxson?”
“In his healing hut.”
“Take Gabby to him.”
“I am not a servant.” Zilya stomped off.
Kaz smiled at Rayen. “Problem solved for now.”
Jaxxson shouted, “Gabby!”
They turned as one toward the path that led to his hut. Jaxxson stepped forward, his naked chest showing above the skirt-like covering that reached just above his ankles. He was muscled in an athletic way, not like Callan’s powerful build. His blond hair was a dark honey shade, and his rich brown eyes were for Gabby only.
He rushed up and stopped short. “Gabby?”
She sighed. “At least I’m not sick this time and my power isn’t trying to kill everyone, but I can’t fix this—” She pointed her finger at her boots. “Or figure out how to move around when I’m up here.”
Jaxxson smothered a chuckle, walked over, and pulled her into his arms.
Red flagged Gabby’s cheeks when she looked at Rayen, then at Tony, who smirked. She asked Jaxxson, “Can’t you just pull me through the air? That’s what Rayen does.”
Jaxxson walked off, explaining, “I would never risk you bumping into a tree.”
Rayen doubted there was any real issue with drawing Gabby along by her hand, but those two had something special going on that had changed over the past two visits.
She was happy for Gabby but hoped her friend didn’t end up with a broken heart.
Who was she to talk? Rayen was in just as deep when it came to caring about Callan.
She wasn’t backing away, but where Gabby had a life to go back to, Rayen had nothing. She would take what little time she had with Callan and be thankful for it.
Kaz pointed across the clearing to a small structure. “That hut has a table and chairs. Callan and I have used it for planning sessions.”
Tony was looking all around. Half listening, he said, “Sweet. Okay, I need V’ru.”
Despair graveled in Kaz’s voice. “V’ru has been in deep depression since learning of Callan’s capture ... and since you left. He speaks to no one.”
Nothing was deterring Tony. “Take me to him.”
Rayen followed Kaz and Tony toward the isolated area V’ru had chosen for his kamara, the bubble thing that some MystiKs could create to use as personal quarters.
She didn’t recall V’ru’s kamara being this deep in the wooded area. Maybe he’d moved it.
V’ru and Callan were G’ortians, a type of rare MystiK that was more powerful than normal. Even though V’ru was only eleven, he was a prodigy who’d been born with his brain holding all the known history of mankind up to the current year in his world.
Tony salivated to have the knowledge that V’ru held in one tiny finger, but he’d also grown close to V’ru, who reminded Tony of his own little brother, Vinny.
On the way to the kamara, Tony shook his head at Kaz. “You can’t leave a little kid alone like this.”
Kaz turned defensive. “We respect the privacy of others, particularly a G’ortian.”
Tony turned on Kaz, fury rumbling in his biting words. “He’s a freakin’ kid. Little freakin’ boy, not a G’ortian, not a future MystiK ruler, just a kid who’s frightened and who just lost the one person he believes will take him home.”
The look in Kaz’s eyes hurt Rayen.
All the MystiK children captured and sent to this place had suffered. Kaz had been one of their most fierce protectors. Rayen touched Tony’s arm. “No one meant to mistreat V’ru.”
It took Tony a minute to pull himself back under control. He exhaled hard and spoke with compassion this time. “I’m not yelling at you, Kaz. I’m yelling at the way your leaders have treated him. V’ru has no identity. No sense of who he is beyond being a resource. All I’m saying is that it’s up to us to take care of him. He’s only a kid.”
Rayen’s throat swelled at the way Tony cared for V’ru. Tony had put everything at risk to help her, Callan, and everyone else here. His little brother was in a foster home. Tony was determined to get into a school called MIT as soon as he could so that he’d eventually be in a position, which would allow him to bring his little brother home.
After what had happened back at the Byzantine Institute, Tony might not be able to do that for a long time, if ever.
Kaz reached over and gripped Tony’s shoulder, looking him straight in the eyes. “You are right. We will do a better job of caring for V’ru.”
“Thank you.”
Another fifty feet into the woods, they found V’ru’s kamara. Rayen recalled the one Callan had made for her to sleep in on their last visit to the sphere. It had been more luminous than this one.
She frowned at V’ru’s. It was as though the energy fueling his kamara had dimmed.
Tony put his hand on the kamara and called out in a cheerful voice he must have pulled out of his pocket, because he was anything but cheerful right now. “V’ru Man, it’s me, Tony.”
No reply.
“Need you to come out and talk to me.”
Silence still.
Shoulders down, looking defeated, Tony lowered his voice and said with genuine worry, “I’m concerned about you and Callan both, V’ru. I can’t do anything to help either one of you unless you help me. Callan’s depending on you, and I am, too.”
The kamara’s glow brightened, and in the next instant V’ru stood beside Tony. V’ru’s skin looked pale. “What can I do? I’m just an information vessel.”
Tony sent a sharp look at Kaz who, to his benefit, merely gave a quiet nod of understanding.
Dropping into a squat that put Tony closer to eye level with V’ru, he smiled at the boy. “Still got the hoodie on, huh?”
V’ru nodded. Tony’s dark gray hoodie swallowed the kid and hit him past the knees.
Putting his hand on V’ru’s shoulder, Tony said, “You’re the most important person on our team. I can’t even get the computer I brought to boot up without you.”
V’ru’s eyes lit up. “You brought a real computer?”
“Yes, sir. And I’m pressed for time. So, if you—”
V’ru waved his hands around. “Where is it? Show me.”
Tony stood and led the way back to the hut Kaz had pointed out. He spoke in a low tone the whole way, talking computer terms, with V’ru nodding enthusiastically.
Kaz walked beside Rayen and leaned down to say, “He’s right. None of us realized that V’ru is kept on a virtual pedestal and not allowed to be a part of this village. His knowledge is revered, but he is more than that and we should have noticed the hardship his position puts on him.”
Finally, things were smoothing out. “Thank you for recognizing that Tony has V’ru’s best interest at heart.”
Shrugging, Kaz quipped, “Even a TeK has useful information on occasion.”
She turned to remind him that Tony was not the enemy here just because V’ru had determined Tony carried TeK blood markers, making him an ancestor of the people in Kaz’s world.
But Kaz’s lips twitched with a smile, so she gave him a shove and he surprised her with a chuckle.
Tony and V’ru had almost reached the hut when Zilya’s voice rang out. “You cannot share knowledge with him, V’ru of the Records House.”
V’ru froze. Poor thing was terrified of Zilya.
All the good Tony had accomplished by getting V’ru out of his bubble was about to disintegrate.
Tony wheeled on Zilya. “I thought we had this straight about not messing with him.”
“We have nothing straight, TecKnati. You will not access V’ru’s database.”
“Then Houston, we have a problem, because that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
