The underground room felt like a tomb. Shay sat cross-legged on the couch, her notebook balanced on her knees. The tip of her pen scratched furiously across the page; it was giving her a sense of control.
Why the glowing rod? Why are we hiding while they fight? Why does Drake always seem to know more than he's telling?
"It's too quiet," Alena whispered. Her voice was so soft it barely rose above the sound of Shay's pen. "Do you think they're okay?"
"They're fine," said Shay. "Grandma knows what she's doing."
"I hate this. It feels wrong, like we're sitting here waiting for something horrible to happen."
"You're not the only one," Myra muttered from across the room. "I hate being stuck down here while they're fighting who-knows-what. It's like waiting for the world to end."
"At least we're not the ones being attacked," said Billy, while pacing the floor. "I'll take being in this underground room over dealing with whatever those things are out there."
Dr. Broke sat apart from the others. Her hands clutched the glowing rod she had grabbed from the empty office. It wasn't just a physical object… it felt like it had a presence, something alive and unrelenting. The faint light it emitted pulsed rhythmically.
"You've been staring at that thing forever," said Myra, breaking the silence. Her tone was a mixture of irritation and curiosity. "What is it?"
"I don't know," Dr. Broke admitted. Her voice was quiet, almost apologetic. "I just… I had to grab it. I can't explain it, but it felt like it was calling to me."
"Calling to you?" Billy let out a nervous laugh. "Great. A glowing rod with a personality. That's just what we needed."
Before anyone could respond, the intercom on the far wall crackled to life. The sound was jarring in the stillness, and everyone's heads snapped toward it.
Grandma's voice came through, steady but filled with urgency. "Keep that rod safe. It's the key to everything. We're holding them off, but don't come up until I say it's clear."
"Key to everything?" Alena repeated, frowning as she looked from the intercom to the glowing rod in Dr. Broke's hands. "What does she mean by that?"
"It means," Shay said without looking up, her pen still moving across the page, "we're not getting any answers until this is over."
Her pen paused for a moment before she added another note to her page… "Something is happening up there. Something big. And it's tied to the rod."
The air outside the farmhouse was electric. The shimmering barrier surrounding the property rippled under the relentless assault. The attackers pressed forward, their movements sharp and erratic. Their drenched faces gleamed under the cold light of the moon, their eyes empty of humanity.
Grandma Shay stood on the porch, the Update Temporal Convergence Rod (UTC Rod) in her grasp. The blue pulse glowed brighter as the rod intensified with each passing second, sending ripples of energy through the barrier.
"Hold your positions!" she commanded, her voice firm despite the chaos. "We can't let them break through!"
Grandpa Mitch crouched beside the CB disruptor, his hands flying over the controls in a blur of movement.
"Almost there," he muttered under his breath. "Just a little more time."
"Take your time, Mitch!" Markey called out, swinging his baton in a wide arc. A burst of energy shot from its tip, striking one of the attackers square in the chest. The man stumbled backward, collapsing onto the grass. "It's not like we're in a life-or-death situation or anything!"
"Less talking, more fighting!" Macie snapped, her baton emitting sharp bursts of light as she disabled another wave of attackers.
Drake moved with calculated precision, his rod glowing faintly as he intercepted a group of attackers attempting to break through the barrier. His strikes were precise, each swing of the rod sending a pulse of energy that left the attackers sprawling.
"They're adapting," said Drake grimly, his voice low but clear. "If we don't finish this soon, they'll overwhelm us."
"They won't get the chance," said Grandma Shay. She raised the UTC Rod high. A powerful surge of energy erupted from its tip, sending several attackers tumbling backward.
"They're coming in faster!" Macie shouted, swinging her baton in a wide arc. The glow from her weapon illuminated the twisted faces of the attackers as they pressed forward, unrelenting.
"Mitch!" Grandma called out, her voice cutting through the noise. "How much longer?"
"Done!" Mitch shouted, his fingers tapping the last command to Activate.
The CB disruptor let out a low hum that quickly grew into a deep, resonating pulse. The sound swept over their yard that had turned into a battlefield, and for a moment, everything was still. Then, one by one, the attackers froze mid-motion. Their limbs twitched unnaturally, their jerky movements stuttering before they collapsed to the ground.
As the attackers lay motionless, Grandma lowered the UTC Rod and gestured toward Mitch, Maci, Markey, and Drake. "Activate the reversion tech. Let's clean this up before anyone outside notices."
The four of them pulled a small device from their belts. Its sleek, reflective surface caught the faint light as he pressed a series of buttons.
"This new tech is a game changer," muttered Markey, glancing at the inert bodies. "Two weeks' worth of memories wiped and reset in seconds. Almost makes me feel bad for them."
"Almost," said Macie, stepping closer as the device emitted a faint blue pulse that swept over the attackers. "Hard to believe we struggled with these situations two weeks ago. Now it's... easy."
Markey didn't look up as he continued pressing commands into the device. "Nothing's easy. We just have better tools now. Doesn't mean we'll always get it right."
The attackers vanished without a trace, the device silently relocating their bodies back to their rightful places… homes, beds, or offices and with the memory they should have to continue forward. As the field emptied, the faint pulses of energy dissipated into the cool night air.
Grandma stood motionless for a moment, the UTC Rod still pulsing faintly in her hand. "Let's not fool ourselves," she said quietly. "We're ahead of them for now. But it's not over."
The farmhouse was eerily still, the battle's echoes fading into silence. Grandma Shay, Drake, Macie, Mitch, and Markey returned inside. Drake moved ahead of the group and reached for the button on the panel on the far wall, revealing the hidden entrance to the underground room.
Grandma Shay started walking down the stairs to the underground room. The others followed her. Grandpa Mitch closed the door from the bottom of the stairs and security was restored inside the home and the perimeter.
The six waiting below looked up in unison as the group descended. Dr. Broke was seated in a chair with the glowing rod resting in her lap. Billy Stream nervously paced ten feet back and forth. Myra Klean sat at one end of a couch, with her arms crossed tightly over her chest to hide her nervousness.
Det. Susan Ques and Det. Mary Prose sat on another smaller couch side-by-side; their faces unreadable. Det. Marcus Parks sat in a chair alone and glanced at Alena trying to remember where he had met her before. He couldn't recall, and he couldn't stop obsessing over it.
Alena and Shay were sitting on another small couch; it was different from the others, plusher with a unique purple-blue-gold pattern no other furniture matched. Shay stared at the pattern wondering if there was a connection between it and something in the room. But what could it be?
Drake's gaze swept the room before landing on Shay. For a moment, their eyes met, unspoken questions hanging in the air between them.
Alena was the first to break the silence. "Is it over?".
"For now," said Grandma Shay. standing at the head of a large steel table. She looked calm, but there was an edge to her posture, an energy that hinted at how much she was holding back. "You're safe. But this is just the beginning."
Dr. Broke stood up from her chair and stepped forward, still holding the glowing rod she had carried from the office. Her fingers tightened around its surface as if it might vanish if she let go.
"I don't know what this is," said Dr. Broke, her voice trembling slightly, "but it's important, isn't it?"
Grandma's gaze softened as she reached out and took the rod from Dr. Broke's hands. For a moment, she held it up, the soft blue glow reflecting in her eyes.
"This is the Update Temporal Convergence Rod," she said, her tone heavy with significance. She paused, then added, "Or as we call it, the UTC Rod, but this is the Master Rod of all UTC Rods."
"I found it sitting on a desk in a small empty office. Why was it there?"
Grandma's lips curved into a faint smile. "You found the Master Rod," she said quietly. "It disappeared fifty years ago, and we thought it was lost forever. It's a good thing you brought it here. Now it's safe again."
"What makes it so special?" Shay asked, stepping closer. She looked between her grandmother and the glowing rod, her notebook poised as if she might write down whatever came next.
"This rod is the key to dimensional control," Grandma explained. "It allows access between timelines, universes, and worlds. Without it, our resistance would be crippled."
"Dimensional control?" Alena repeated, her skepticism clear. "That's… a lot to process."
"It's not for you to process just yet," Grandma said firmly. She set the rod down on the table, where it pulsed faintly. "What matters now is that it's here, and we can protect it."
"We held them off this time," said Grandpa Mitch. "But that was just the first wave. They'll come back, and they'll be stronger."
"Then we'll be ready," said Grandma Shay. Her words were confident, but there was heaviness to them, a weight that settled over the room.
"Drake, you've known about this all along, haven't you?" asked Shay.
Drake hesitated and finally met her gaze. "Yes," he said simply.
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"Because you weren't ready to hear it."
Before Shay could press him further, Grandma raised a hand. "Enough, there will be time for answers later. For now, everyone needs to rest. You'll need your strength for what's coming later today."
Grandma Shay moved toward the stairs, her voice cutting through the murmurs that had started to rise among some in the group. "Everyone upstairs. Let's call it a night."
One by one, they climbed the staircase. Upstairs, the farmhouse felt eerily calm, almost serene after the battle and revelations of the night. Grandma led the group into the front room, gesturing to the collection of blankets and sleeping arrangements already prepared.
"There are enough spaces for everyone," she said, her tone practical but softer now. "Make yourselves comfortable. Breakfast will be ready at eight sharp."
She paused for a moment, glancing at the clock on the mantle. "That's just six hours from now. Later today, it is going to be well… busy. Sleep everyone. Lights out in 10 minutes."
Her words hung in the air as the group settled into their makeshift sleeping arrangements.
"Shay, we'll talk about everything tomorrow. We will discuss everything. Please be patient. Everything will be revealed to you tomorrow," said Drake. I wish I could hold and kiss you. You must wait a little longer, for the right moment.
"Drake, I…" Shay was interrupted by her grandma.
"Shay, you and Alena come upstairs to the guest room to sleep tonight."
Shay and Alena both started up the staircase to the second floor, where her grandparents were. They went to the guest room and Grandma Shay appeared at their door.
"I will talk to you both at 7 am before breakfast. I need to explain a few things to you both, but for now, let's sleep. Lights out soon, Shay." Grandma knew both of them needed to document everything in their Next! notebooks.
Noted… "August 11, 2024… 2 am… I now understand August 10…" Shay and Alena each wrote as fast as their black felt-tip pens would let them write about the recent events. Eight minutes later, they switched off their lights to settle into sleep.
Shay knew one thing for sure, it would be… would be what? Stop thinking and go to sleep!