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Callan waited for Kaz to deliver Thylan to the center of the common area. He normally would never allow a TecKnati this close to the MystiK children, but there was little time left. Callan could not risk succumbing to the wraiths and leaving the Sphere without solving one last problem.
Thylan was regaining consciousness when Kaz dropped him on the hard ground. The TecKnati groaned and flopped over on his back.
MystiKs emerged from community structures, and some drifted in from the woods protected by the ward. All of them eyed the white-haired TecKnati who was sitting up and trying to pull his hands apart. Kenja had offered to bind him head to toe, but Callan only wanted his eyes covered, plus his wrists and ankles cuffed.
Neelah rushed in, pushing past several children, and shoving them behind her. She hesitated for a moment, staring at Thylan. Finally, she found her tongue. “You bring that scum inside here?” When no one answered her, she raised her gaze in Callan’s direction. “Kill the TeK and toss his carcass outside the ward.”
Rayen walked over to stand beside Callan and whispered, “She’s always seemed shy, barely speaking the few times I’ve noticed her. Her showing up now would fit the traitor.”
He nodded. “I thought the same thing.”
“Any ideas yet?”
Callan said, “Yes, but I’ll wait to see if I’m right.”
Zilya and Etoi marched up to the central area and both paused, staring down at Thylan. Etoi twisted her face into a frown that wanted to be a threat and ended up just unattractive. “Why does he live? He tried to kill us.” Etoi stepped up her anger when she pointed at Rayen, but her words were still for Callan. “She’s made you soft. First you let her TecKnati friend stay in the village. Now you bring this pig to taint our air.”
Zilya showed no reaction at all, which was unusual. Maybe she was trying to figure out which response would be of greatest advantage to her.
Callan asked Kenja, “Would you remove his blindfold?”
Kenja pointed a finger then made a flipping motion with it and the blindfold ripped off.
“Ow,” Thylan complained. “That was stuck to my hair.”
Zilya’s eyebrows lifted, and she angled her head, which gave her a better position to see Thylan’s face. She turned to Callan, her gaze snapping from him to Thylan and back. “This is perfect. Let’s demand SEOH send us home or we’ll kill his son.”
Thylan twisted slowly around and stared at her.
She gave him a haughty snub. “Do not look at me, you worthless TecKnati.”
Thylan chuckled. “That isn’t going to play, Zilya.”
“You do not know me,” she argued a little too strongly.
Callan had heard enough. He addressed Zilya. “But you know who he is, and you were the only one who had the autonomy to make decisions that would hide your deceit.”
“How dare you!” Zilya said, but not with the kind of certainty it should have had.
Callan continued, “And for a while I thought it was Etoi.”
“What?” Etoi screeched.
“But then it dawned on me that she wasn’t creative enough to do this on her own, plus I couldn’t figure out her motivation for standing by as our children died.”
Zilya’s voice shook. “You will pay for accusing me of treason, Callan.”
Thylan had scooted around to face Zilya, but he tossed his words over his shoulder at Callan. “You want to know her motivation?”
“Shut up, Thylan,” Zilya ordered.
“Are you kidding? I’m sitting here tied up in the middle of a bunch of crazy MystiKs, stuck in a Sphere that there’s only one way of leaving, and I’ll never get to use it at this point. You were supposed to open the ward for my two scouts and make sure they got the computer.”
“Shut. Up!” Zilya screeched, losing her superior composure.
Thylan’s anger rose with his words. “I sent men inside right where you left a marker outside the ward. They never came out.”
Callan offered, “We’re turning those two loose as you speak. I made a deal with them.”
Thylan grunted. “Figures. Zilya was doing this because she thinks she’s going to end up as part of my father’s inner circle with all the money and power she could ever want once the MystiKs are eliminated completely from our planet. She offered to be the MystiK consultant to the TecKnati to help them catch and prevent MystiK interference in our space program until that time, didn’t you, fool?”
Etoi was staring at Zilya as if the woman she’d admired had changed into a croggle.
Zilya snarled at Etoi, “Don’t look at me that way. You helped.”
“I didn’t know what you were up to. I thought you were going to get us out of here.”
Children started shouting, “Traitor. Traitor.”
Callan’s voice cut through the melee. “I’ve heard enough. Lock up Zilya and Etoi with this TeK.
“You can’t do that,” Zilya argued. She and Etoi backed away as one, but they froze, and their arms jerked down to their sides.
Screaming, Zilya tried to break loose, but Kenja appeared next to Zilya and continued moving her hands in a motion that spun a wrapping around Zilya and Etoi, pinning them back-to-back.
Etoi yelled at the Uberon leader, “You will die when I am free.”
Kenja gave a tired shake of her head and gagged the traitors.
As Kenja transported all three prisoners in an impressive display of her kinetic strength, Rayen spoke to Callan in a low voice for his ears only. “How could she live with herself after the death of those kids and you-know-who?”
He understood that Rayen meant Mathias. Callan squeezed her fingers. “I don’t know, and she will have to answer for her actions, maybe even to him some day.”
Nodding, Rayen looked around. “Where are Tony, V’ru, Gabby, and Jaxxson? We have to find out if they’ve unraveled the prophecy.”
Callan said, “That may not make any difference.”
She swung around in front of him with her fierce warrior face. “We will not quit trying. Would you call to Jaxxson and find out—”
“I already called to him a few minutes ago. Here he comes now behind you.”
Jaxxson and Gabby walked up with Tony and V’ru following. V’ru still wore Tony’s hooded jacket that swallowed the kid, but Callan had to admit that Tony had reached V’ru on a level that no one else had, including Callan. V’ru had no brothers or sisters and Tony treated him as a brother.
Callan had never thought he’d feel a kindred spirit with a TecKnati, but Tony had surprised him.
“What are we doing, people?” Tony asked, reminding Callan why Tony still grated on his nerves at times.
Rayen asked, “Did you get the computer working?”
“Yes and no.”
“This is not the time to joke around, Tony,” Rayen snapped.
“Hey, do I look like I’m jokin’?” Tony handed the computer to Rayen. “That is beyond state of the art for the best we have to offer back home right now, even beyond our next ten years of technology.”
V’ru lifted a worried gaze to Tony and prompted, “But?”
“But I’m not using that technology until six months before it will be discovered in our world.” He patted V’ru on the shoulder. “My word is better than gold.”
“I know.” Still, V’ru now looked reassured.
Gabby piped up, “We have most of the prophecy figured out except the traitor and the outcast.”
Callan filled them in on what happened, saying, “So Zilya’s the traitor entering as a friend, but departing as an enemy. Who is the outcast?”
V’ru scratched his nose. “I think it’s Rayen, because she’s C’raydonian and in our world that would be an outcast.” As soon as V’ru said that he looked over at Rayen, “But we don’t think of you that way.”
“It’s okay, V’ru. I’ve felt like an outcast, and it has nothing to do with all of you. It’s just because I don’t understand why my family sent me through time, but I don’t hold it against them either.”
Tony searched the sky. “If this show has to happen by moonset, we have maybe fifteen minutes. Everyone needs to figure out their places and what we’re doing.”
“You’re right,” Rayen agreed. “We need somewhere to put the computer.”
Jaxxson walked to the center of the common area, and everyone backed away. He pointed both hands toward the hut where Callan and Kaz had used a table to strategize ways to defend the village.
A small slab they’d used as a work spot floated to the center of the common area and paused waist-high in front of Jaxxson. He turned to Rayen. “Will this do?”
“I don’t see any reason it shouldn’t.” She placed the computer in the center and the laptop covered most of the surface. “Okay, V’ru, what should we do now?”
V’ru said, “Me?”
“You’re the one who knows the most about the prophecy, right?”
“Of course, he’s the one,” Tony said, giving V’ru a pat on the shoulder. “Do your stuff, V’ru Man.”
V’ru’s shoulders squared, and Callan thought his chest puffed out some. Moving his hands up and out, V’ru produced a holographic display with “Damian Prophecy” at the top. The following lines read:
The future is in the past [Prophecy]
One will seek and all will forfeit [Rayen]
When three become one [Rayen, Gabby and Tony]
The End has begun [end of chaos, return of peace]
The gateway will open [a way out of the Sphere]
A path will close
A friend enters as enemy [Zilya]
An enemy departs as friend [Tony]
Day of birth as Red Moon rises [Callan]
Night of end when last Moon sets [deadline]
Three must unite [three powers]
For the scales to right [bring the world back into balance and punish
SEOH, maybe send the MystiKs home]
The last will lead when others cede [Callan]
All turn to the outcast [Rayen]
The past speaks to alter the present [Rayen’s ghost]
A bond of two will set us free [Gabby and Jaxxson]
Callan started to ask V’ru why he thought the prophecy meant the MystiKs would end up going home but changed his mind. Mathias had said to keep hope alive with these kids.
V’ru pointed out, “We haven’t determined what A path will close means.”
Gabby and Jaxxson exchanged a quiet look. Tony sent Rayen a little headshake that Callan read as saying to not mention the destroyed transender sites.
When Kaz quirked an eyebrow in Callan’s direction, Callan said, “It means no more MystiKs will be sent here.”
“Ah.” V’ru pointed at the display and filled in that bracket. Sounding more confident of himself than he had in a while, V’ru started dictating instructions. “The prophecy requires power to activate the final stage.”
“What is that final stage?” Jaxxson asked.
V’ru cut his eyes at Tony who nodded so V’ru said, “Tony and I think the prophecy will reach fulfillment when a time lock opens. Based on what we know about the history of Antonis, Lysandra, and Damianus, I believe the computer must be powered up to maximum capacity to activate that last step.”
When he got head nods, V’ru said, “Based on the words three must unite and a bond of two will set us free, and the fact that it points to one who will lead when all others cede, I think Callan, Gabby and Jaxxson should power the computer.”
Callan ignored the sick feeling that this wouldn’t work and stepped up to the computer.
Gabby ran over to Rayen and hugged her. “I hope you manage to go home.”
Rayen whispered something and Gabby said, “I’m at peace because of our bond.”
That gained a smile from Rayen even though tears clung to her eyelashes.
Gabby hugged Tony who stiffened then shrugged and hugged her back. He said, “See you on the other side, Sweet Cheeks.”
Hurrying, Gabby joined Jaxxson and Callan.
The last thing Callan wanted these children to witness was wraiths dragging him to his death. He paused and caught his breath at that thought.
He could do this.
Mathias had faced his final hour with honor.
Callan would do no less, but he could admit to himself that he had never expected eighteen to mean the end of his life and regretted losing the chance to experience that life.
Kaz’s empathic gift meant he knew exactly what Callan was going through.
When Kaz took a step forward as if he wanted to help, Callan gave him a subtle hand signal to stay back. Nothing Kaz could do would change the fate Callan faced.
With effort, Callan calmed his breathing and prepared for the end. He’d shared the truth about Mathias with Kenja and Kaz. The two of them had been ordered to throw a shield spell over everyone except Callan and Rayen as soon as a wraith showed up.
She wouldn’t want to be blinded during that moment any more than Callan would if the tables were turned.
But he had asked Kaz to do whatever it took to prevent Rayen from sacrificing herself.
Rayen said, “Hurry up you three.”
Callan forgot about everyone except her. Would the bond hold and their souls eventually find each other?
He took one last look at her and swallowed the lump of regret clogging his throat. Why couldn’t they have had more time together? He drank in his last vision of her.
This was worse than facing death.
He took a step toward her.
Rayen had been leaning forward, as if she was pulling against an invisible tether held only by her mind. When he moved, she ran into his arms, kissing him first.
He hugged her tightly. Why did he have to give her up? She was his reason for breathing and looking forward to the future. Closing his eyes against the onslaught of emotions, he pulled inside himself and opened his mind to her. Rayen?
She was there, filling him up and bursting with love, yet hurting at the same time. Purple energy misted around them in a soft haze. No one could intrude when they were together this way.
Her voice whispered, I don’t want you to go, but I don’t want you in this Sphere any longer either.
He would be strong for her. When I do this and I’m gone, my soul will search for you. If I had the choice to lose only my life in trade for just one more minute with you, I would do it. His throat moved with a hard swallow.
You said those words to me in a dream. I want to believe our bond is solid, but what if it didn’t work with me? I might have doomed you to never having a life with anyone else, Callan.
I don’t care. You’re all I ever want. If this is all we get, then the memory of holding you will comfort me forever, because I will never replace you.
She shook with a sob. I can’t do this, but you have to go before the wraiths come. Rayen pushed back from him, eyes red and tears glittering. She smiled past her sadness. “Go before it’s too late.”
He kissed her once more and walked back to the computer.
When he glanced over at V’ru, the kid had tears in his eyes. Callan forced a smile for him and said, “What do we do, V’ru?”
Scrubbing a hand over his face, V’ru said, “Each of you place a hand on the keyboard, starting with Gabby, then Jaxxson, then Callan.”
Gabby and Jaxxson stacked their hands, then Callan put his on top. The computer whirled and the monitor brightened with one circle that was braided with gold, bronze ... then silver.
