Liam
I sat with a plate in my hands, staring at the core power supply of all the teleporters in The Tower. My mind was drifting as the bustle of scientists around the machine had not ceased since the whole damn thing stopped working. On a typical day, the noise it made usually droned the walls to life in the room; now, it was so quiet I had no choice but to feel the implications in my bones. What if we couldn't get it working again? Why did I leave Cindy alone with all the children? Why did I leave as soon as Michael dropped them off? How split up were we? Sam and I were on our way. The army ready. Then nothing.
Jessy came in and out of view with his own plate in his hand, circling the mechanics. He had decided to start from scratch and replace every component to figure out what was wrong. Although the communications on En-gannim were not linked to the teleporters, they stopped working at precisely the same moment. My breathing was short, reading the messages an unknown sender had broadcast. I was sure it was Soren, stuck on Earth and as desperate as we were. It wasn't the time to think about what he had done but about using him to fix it. I'd already sent several messages but received no reply… Soren had also not caused this issue; he was suggesting for us to save Isla… The pink stone was on Mirach, and even if we had it, how long would it take us to travel to the other side of En-gannim. Where was Michael?
Samuel sat down next to me, leaning back in the chair, also staring at Jessy, diligently marking off a checklist. "Brother, I have a feeling Jessy won't get it working again."
"No, because we've rebooted it three times, and the power is not the problem… Sam—."
"I know, Liam… This seems personal… A last attack from Ahasuerus."
"If we can't travel… they'll die before we can ever get to them."
"I didn't see this coming—we made no provisions for an emergency… Nahrima is as vulnerable as any other island… Maybe Juliet was right; we should try something else… we're not good rulers."
I scoffed-laughed, "It was never about ruling."
"No… Although none of us had the guts to tell them why we had set out on this course."
"If it were Cindy, you would've done the same thing for me."
"…In a heartbeat…" Sam said on a heavy sigh.
"It's been so long… Do you still remember them?"
Samuel closed his eyes and leaned his head back, "As if they were standing right in front of me… I will never forget the day they died… Seeing my babies murdered… Agatha's screams for her sister… How she was punished for showing any kind of emotion."
"One moment changed our lives forever… Ahasuerus's father was worse than Qadir! It's why we hated them so much."
"Yes, we forget how bad it was because of time… Juliet reminds me so much of my Alicia… I don't know what possessed her to use a teleporter all alone… One mistake set our whole lives on another path."
Jessy replaced another part, rebooted the machine, waited, and swore when nothing happened. He stood with his hands on his hips, his head lowered to the ground with his eyes shut tightly, muttering to himself. "Why do you think he is so devoted to her?" Samuel whispered.
"You were the same way with Ahasuerus… for a long time… totally loyal to En-gannim… You treated Alicia like any other man on En-gannim would… I grew up with a different Samuel than the one sitting next to me now."
"Don't remind me how indoctrinated I was…" Sam said shakily, lighting a cigarette. "Alicia couldn't even speak to me about what she'd overheard… I… don't think I would've believed her."
"You did take a big risk harboring Noya in your home… It was already a big deal for you to help Basaam hide a woman he was in love with… " Sam shook his head, taking another drag. "Only for Basaam to tell her all he learned about the brandings—."
"If I were at home… maybe… I would've figured out who Noya really was… I think Alicia also figured out Noya was a werewolf—the other planets… All on her own… She was intrigued with the possibilities… Ignorantly thought it would mean something in the end… Father and Basaam were good friends."
"Best of friends… And then Alicia traveled to The Tower to talk to him." Samuel chuckled. "What do you think Father would've done if she made it?"
"Approached me to brand my wife or make us all try it…" I laughed lightly, remembering my own dad and mom. "He would've done it himself if…" My smile fell. It was the worst day of our lives.
Alicia was such a good wife to Sam… and because of her, Agatha was soon chosen for Qadir; they had only gotten married a few days earlier. Alicia had been seen by a guard on the floor where our parents lived. Captured. Tortured. Without anyone knowing. Samuel was on some distant Island for business—far away from what was going on… After he returned, the lot of them were called in, and to make an example of how serious Ahasuerus's father was about keeping the brandings a secret, he used Alicia… and her children as examples. We all had to watch as they were tossed into the pink ocean… My parents were next. The biggest mistake Ahasuerus made was not killing Basaam… He was too attached to his brother and the future… Agatha was forced to silence because she couldn't be killed. Qadir was never told what happened.
Sam was never the same… Neither was Ahasuerus. He challenged his father to the throne—won, and because all his children were already dead, he ruled with an iron fist. For years, we watched as things only got worse… Sam had already begun his campaign the day his wife and kids were murdered. Basaam and Sam played their parts, but we needed money… A few years later, I met Cindy.
"Did you love her… like the brandings require?" I asked.
"It didn't matter… How were we supposed to find other men on this godforsaken planet to form a harem for a woman before the age of twenty-one… Our ancestors planned it this way. Every last detail."
Jessy approached us and shook his head. Sam stood, "Okay, enough! All of you stop what you're doing and get the communications working so we can talk to the others." He looked pointedly at Jessy, "Where is Juliet?" The vamp dared to shake his head and look away. Sam sent the other men out of the room to get to work. "Jessy, I'm only going to ask one more time."
"Juliet is in the Dark City with Caleb… trying out timelines."
I jumped to my feet, "Why?"
"She's going to use the tattoo, isn't she?" Samuel asked. Jessy nodded. "How can she make such a decision all by herself? Does she know all the consequences—no! Did she consider how we would feel? NO!"
"Juliet believes Ian will flood En-gannim, Earth, and wherever they need to make a difference… Romero and Iku gave consent because the dheka will be first to die." Jessy played nervously with the plate in his hands.
"What else?"
"Juliet lied… The stone… She took it off Ian's neck… It's not a water and life stone as she suspected."
"She thought… Well, why did she go then?"
"Juliet wants to fix… her life—"
"This is about Louis, isn't it?"
Jessy answered, "It's about all of it—"
Sam cut him off, "Jessy! Get the communications up and running—now! I need to talk to her! As soon as possible."
***
Charlene
Being cut by a red sword wasn't so bad; all you couldn't do was manifest and use any abilities. What I was going through was worse. Romero was going through, too. I was tied to a bed and in the kind of pain, I never wanted to experience again. We were far enough apart to tether on the thin line between dying and barely staying alive. The werewolves had tested it for hours. Once, they had taken me past the point of no return; I had convulsed and broken down. Almost died. The wolves took me back to the last room, where it hurt so much I might as well be dying, yet I could only scream every time my tattoo squeezed the life out of me, warning me to get closer to my mate.
Jade was in the room pacing or rather stomping on the wooden floors. Every now and again, I was granted a chance to breathe and take in my surroundings. Jade sat down next to me, holding my hand in her rough, grey, calloused one. "I have tried to escape twice. They stop me not far from here. I cannot even get out of the building."
I was too weak to reply or even to squeeze her hand. For someone who has given birth three times, I knew the building up of a contraction. My tattoo was doing the same thing, resting and then overwhelming me. I weakly cried out, the chains digging into my wrists and ankles; Jade tried to break them every time she couldn't handle seeing me in pain anymore. "If I could only escape with you! We could hide in the city."
The prospect gave me some hope… If Jade managed it, we could hide... The pain faded… Tears dropped down my temples, "I don't know how long I can go on like this." I had tried to drag Kubra and Carl to me—force them to my side; even Juliet—nothing—no one came! If Juliet could only talk to Liv. Where was she?
***
Michael
None of us could take the Romero's wails anymore. What he was going through could only be described as torture. Why would they do this? To set an example? We had done much worse to them, killing every last one on Zoreah.
I scanned the tiny room they had forced us into after Charlene was politely escorted out by Ben's father. None of us could do anything at the time… What happened for them to become hostile… What did they want from her? They'd asked us nothing yet.
Chris was next to Romero, trying to keep him calm, dabbing his face with a wet cloth, forcing water down his throat every time the attacks ended and the golden hue around him subsided. Chris knew how it felt to be tortured for days on end. My own experience of being locked up and cut every day so I couldn't do anything was definitely a trigger. I didn't want to be held captive—again. How long would it last this time?
The door opened. Uzail walked through with my plate in his hands. The wolves wouldn't know how the new tech worked. I waited to see what would happen. He decided to head for Kubra. "Your wife was uninclined to help us…" Uzail pointed at Romero, "Why the drastic measures to get our message across… We want to go home… Take the plate and make it happen."
"I was here the last time you tried to go up against the dheka… What makes you think you'll succeed this time?"
"Why are you stalling."
"Why are you?" Uzail growled in response. "You know we sent out a signal to get out… You also know we received no reply… Do you really think we planned to be caught after fighting so long?"
"You have one hour to fix this… We want to be sent back where we belong."
"You're wasting my time… I can do nothing from here! If the plate is malfunctioning, what do you want me to do… We don't have spares lying around… You unfortunately chose the wrong time to make your move… There are only two allowed off En-gannim for two weeks, and we have one."
"Where is the other."
"Juliet has it… Let Michael heal, and he will fix whatever is wrong… You know we have no allegiance with the chadari… We don't care where you end up."
"In a few hours, we will have communications from our other attacks."
"Romero can't go on like this! Move him a little closer to Charlene." Kubra rubbed at his own chest, wincing.
"I said, in a few hours." Uzail left.
True to his word, two hours later, he was back—angry as hell, stomping inside. Uzail pulled Chris away from Romero and tossed him across the room like a rag. He picked Romero up and left. Speechless, we watched the doors close. We'd had no chance to talk since they brought us into the room; with Romero fighting for his life, none of us wanted to make it even worse for him.
"How do we get out of this one?" Carl asked.
"Why is the plate not working? We all know it was fine one minute, and the next, Jessy, what? Disappeared?" Chris commented. "Michael, will you try to talk to Juliet again? Ask her if she knows anything."
"I don't know why Juliet is in the Dark City… I don't want to do something while she is busy… Doing it at the wrong time might get her hurt… Charlene almost died when Juliet tried to pull her out."
"I know what she's doing… And you're right… We are on our own with this one… Wait till she contacts you." We all stared at Chris, unwilling to let it go, waiting for him to speak rather than asking. "Fine… She's going back in time."
"Permanently?!" Kubra yelled.
Chris shook his head, "No… I don't know… She might if the situation gets any worse… And now it has… If we can't contact Jessy, it means she can't either… We are literally thousands of miles apart with no way to communicate…"
"Michael, where did you take the kids?" Kubra asked.
"F— I took them to En-gannim."
"You what!"
"The first person I thought of was Liam… The village was a war scene… I couldn't leave them there!"
Chris gripped my arm and stared fearfully up into my face. "Marcus!" We said at the same time. "We asked Agatha to go help Cindy… "
"What are you guys talking about."
"Worst case scenarios… While Juliet and Marcus spent time on his Island, we discussed what would happen if the teleportation suddenly stopped working. If no one could get off an island."
"You guys think… En-gannim can't teleport? Why? It might be the enhancement this far out… Or the giant teleporter giving a malfunction."
"Yes, it could be all those things… But what if it's not."
"Okay, so? What did you come up with… What was your solution to the problem?"
"We went to Earth and stole Helicopters just standing there on abandoned military bases… We also took a s—load of fuel and created an emergency island base in case it ever happened."
"And?"
"Jack was supposed to train pilots when we ever found them… They stayed on Earth with Louis… so it never happened… If Marcus was still on En-gannim, he could fly one… But we took him to the village."
"Look, we gotta get me out of here. I'm the only one who can fix this mess. You guys are going to create a diversion, try to keep them busy, and I'm going to make a run for it… It will take me two days to heal, and then we can regroup."
The door slowly opened, "That won't be necessary… You know, when you talk strategy… It is best not to do it so close to your enemy… We thought you would never let your guard down or risk it. It's been hours of silence…" Azuil sighed, "It seems you really do not know what is going on… So, it is time for plan B."
"No! No plan B" Carl moved to take on the giant.
"Boy, I will kill you… You have no leverage in any of this… Like Fahan, you're very expendable, and we are keeping you alive as a courtesy."
Kubra and Chris held him back, "Stop, Carl, there is no point."
"Michael, with me… The rest of you better say your goodbyes… We are splitting you up… No one is going to die, but it might be a while before you see each other."
Azuil moved fast. His steps hurried. When I was too slow to keep up, he picked me up like a baby and went into a run. I looked back up the street. Everybody was in someone's arms, moving in different directions out of the building. The only one not there was Fahan. We've not seen him since the hall… A gust of wind hit our faces. I looked down at the cause. The street had traveling tunnels sending balls up toward the upper side of the city. When I glanced up the street, Chris was being shoved into one. The wolves released the net, and the glass bubble disappeared into a tiny speck. Chris was moving in the opposite direction, away from me. He was going East… I was going West… Kubra was going North and Carl South. How in the hell would we find each other again… Romero and Charlene were still fighting for their lives.
Azuil took a little street in between two buildings to reach pens with ridable beasts stomping around. Two were already saddled with supplies carried on a third. With so much stuff, I figured they were planning on taking me very—very far away. I was shoved up on my beast, and the handler gave the thing a signal. "Hold on," Azuil said. I gripped the reigns. My beast bolted into a gallop in a straight line out of the city. The stampede of hoof-like feet hit the ground behind me. I never liked having an uncontrollable animal between my legs. I'd never even sat on a horse before Mirach. I didn't need to travel like this. I can jump over galaxies, and what? Never again until they decided I could.
After too long on the thing—my ass hurt; I went up in the air and was brought down hard, bouncing, holding on for dear life. No! No! You're right, Carl… No plan B. Azuil was riding hard and fast behind me. The third one was all the way in the back, bringing the goods with it. Our beasts never faltered or needed guidance on where to go. The path we were on was straight with not many twists and turns… A highway of some kind. The animals were trained to travel from point A to B with a single command.
I pulled on the reigns. The beast yanked me forward—I almost tumbled out of the saddle. I tried to turn. It did the same thing, this time shaking his head violently at the interruption in his work. "Well, you're rather miffy." I had no choice, so I gently pulled on the reins, steering to one side. I smiled. The beast made the tiniest adjustments in direction, keeping at the speed he was at but still turning ever so slightly.
After a minute, I got my ride to loop around and head in a completely different direction. I looked back to see how quickly Azuil would manage to come after me. He fleetingly glanced my way and then straight ahead. WTF! Azuil wasn't even trying. The pair disappeared in the distance; the other beast didn't follow me but kept going straight ahead. I frowned, kicking my beast. If he would let me go, there had to be a reason. Granted, there was only desert waiting on the horizon… Still… I could survive for a few days.
Why don't you want to stop? I pulled and pulled—nothing helped. The thing must be trained to only specific verbal cues. "What, will you run yourself to death…" Don't horses do that? Their hearts give out before they even know they should—maybe—slow down. I stood up in my stirrups, giving my behind a rest. My hands on the reins loosened. The beast, without any warning, jolted back to the track. F—"
I did the same thing again and, with a lot of effort, brought my beast back to its path into the desert. It obeyed until I relaxed. Every time, it course corrected. I will force you into the desert! Or until you collapse.
We went on and on for the longest time—the track and city were distant memories. Kubra was taken this way, so maybe our paths would cross.
My beast finally broke his stride, jogged, and jerkily came to a walk. He took a few steps, his knees bent, and he flopped down on his side. I jumped off, feeling a little guilty. "Geez, I'm sorry! You didn't want to listen." The things panted and coughed, his throat dryer than mine. Water. I circled myself. I was in the middle of f—ing nowhere. I should go back to the city. The wolves would never know I'm hiding there somewhere. My best bet was to go back to the track and follow it to the city… Or risk walking in—I lift my arm and point in the direction I thought the city would be. "What do you think?" The beast lifted his head and dropped it again. I was free, at least. Did Azuil not care if I made it or not? Why go through all the trouble only to let me go?
"Anyway, I'm leaving. See ya!"
The track was too dangerous but trudging through the desert was maybe also not the cleverest plan. I was aimlessly staring down, holding a cloth over my head to keep from the raging sun. The city had come into view a while ago, and I was slowly headed that way. I took one step and wanted to take the next; however, I stopped before I put down my foot. I backtracked and lifted my makeshift umbrella. My gaze drifted from side to side. A cliff… At the bottom, waves the size—I knew full well they could reach—hit the barrier so far down below I couldn't hear or feel it… I followed the trajectory of where and how far this ocean spanned. I couldn't see any end to it. The city had to be built almost on the precipice of this phenomenon… No wonder they vacated.
I turned to follow the only way into the city, and because it was the only way, wolves were guarding the entrance. They also saw me before I could even make a run for it. I was too tired anyway and sat down, waiting for them.
The process started over. I was hoisted onto a beast—the command was given, and the thing jumped into action. I groaned. My stomach twisted unnaturally tight, bringing frustrated tears to my eyes. I didn't want to do this. If I'd known becoming an itoqure would make the object of so much persecution— No, I still would have… When I was human, I was also locked up, so it didn't really matter who you were; struggles would follow… Maybe it was us… Unable to anticipate the enemy's plans—at all.
I wasn't ready to give up, though. This time, I turned in the opposite direction, going the way Carl was taken. A few hours later, my beast dropped half dead, and I walked—found the same massive barrier to a canyon that stretched for the foreseeable future, so deep I would die only thinking about climbing down into it. No ocean, though. And when I walked toward the city, wolves waited for me.
They laughed at me the second time, "This is not funny." The lower-down guards couldn't understand me and pushed their spears into my space. If I was myself, I'd rip you to pieces. Another poke. Is this my future?
I begged for some water; I was given some at the pens, where I got onto my third beast. By this time I gave the command myself, "Vite."
Half into the night, I approached a tiny little building deep in a dark forest. It was quaint and still beautiful, like every house on Mirach—unique. The beast went into a walk and, without me steering, turned off before the dwelling to enter its sleeping quarters for the night. The door opened; Azuil was in his human form. He lifted his chin to me, "Come, there is food and a bed."
Boy, did I feel stupid and useless. My anxiety was so damped down by the amount of energy I expended—for no reason—that I was sadly resigned to my fate for the time being.
Azuil sat on the ground around a wooden board covered in food. He held out a gauntlet. "Closest thing they have to alcohol here tonight."
My throat was so dry I could hardly speak, "Thank, ughm, you." I drained the thick liquid in large gulps. I reached for a slice of meat. Azuil picked something up and held out a red sword. This was the moment. I've seen this movie before. I either accept my fate, let him cut me, and have a good meal with some hospitality… Or, tired as I was—try to fight him. He will manifest, overpower me, and then I'll sleep outside in the filth.
I lifted my arm and stretched it out, "If we make it the same place every time, I'll at least be able to sleep."
Azuil was decently gentle and slowly cut me along my lower arm… Where the red flames opened my skin, flakes of shiny residue stayed behind, illuminating my blood and some specks on my skin. The sword's mark on you was unmistakable—bound and unable to enter the supernatural. He took a napkin and wrapped it around, tying it off in a knot.