Mystics 3-Book Collection (35 page)

“Hi, Zoey. It’s been too long since last we
met.”

“Hi, Rusty,” said Zoey. Her smile widened
when she saw the shock on Stuart’s face. “It has been way too long.
I missed you guys.”

Rusty McFearsome’s eyed the bracelet in
Stuart’s hand.

“So you’re the thief, eh?” he said,
glowering deeply. “No one
steals
from the leprechaun gang
and gets away with it. BOYS!”

The eleven other leprechauns leapt off their
bikes and flexed their muscles dangerously. They looked ready for a
fight.

Stuart backed away slowly. “I’m not a
thief!”

Rusty raised an eyebrow. “Are you calling me
a liar?” His voice rose ferociously.

“No—but—but
I
didn’t take it.”

“What’s that you got there in your hands,
then? That’s
my
bracelet, that is. It went missing this
morning, and my spies told me that I’d find it here—along with the
thief that stole it.”

Stuart looked at Zoey as he slowly realized
that he’d been trapped He pointed his finger at her.

“You! You did this to me! You set this
up!”

Zoey shrugged and looked innocent. “I don’t
know what you’re talking about.”

“
She’s
the one who stole it, not me!”
cried Stuart. “She’s trying to frame me, to get back at me!”

“Never seen our king look so scared before,”
whispered Simon so that only Zoey and Tristan could hear. “This is
like an early Christmas present. Thank you, Santa.”

“I’m telling you. I didn’t steal
it—
she
did.” Stuart pointed to Zoey. A cold sweat broke on
his face. “I just took it from her to report that she stole
it.”

“Do you hear that, boys?” said Rusty. “He’s
trying to put the blame on a girl to save his own skin. If that’s
not cowardly, I don’t know what is.”

“This is ridiculous,” spat Stuart, “I’m
going to get Agent Ward.”

He started forward, but a bald and heavily
scarred leprechaun with a serial-killer look stood in his way. He
crossed his arms over his wide muscled chest and shook his
head.

“I don’t think so,” said Warty O’Wicked.
“Not if you know what’s good for ya.”

Rusty cracked his fingers. “You know what we
do to those who steal from us?” he asked.

He smiled. “We put them in the
Cage
.”

“The what? What are you talking about?”

Stuart was suddenly surrounded by eleven
leprechauns. “Stop this at once! What do you think you’re doing?
Get out of my way!”

A leprechaun with a green Mohawk waved a
large club at him. “Move, and I’ll pound ya, pretty boy,” said
Crusher O’Looney.

Stuart looked around in a terror. The tiny
men with tattoos, and piercings, and big ugly weapons had him
cornered. He looked at Zoey, and for a moment she thought she saw a
silent plea for help in them. But when she didn’t respond, he
lowered his eyes and coldness returned to his voice.

“I hate you,” he growled.

“Well, at least we have one thing in
common,” Zoey answered, just as coldly.

Rusty took the bracelet from Stuart. “I’ll
take that now.”

The leprechauns bound his hands and feet,
and Stuart’s panic turned to rage.

“Don’t do this,” hissed Stuart, his face
twisted. “Zoey, tell them! Tell them we were just playing around.
Tell them that this is just you’re idea of a joke!”

Zoey smiled calmly. “Yes, this
is
a
joke. Jokes on you, King.”

“NO!” He bucked wildly as Warty heaved him
onto his ride.

“HELP! Someone help me! HELP! HEL—”

Crusher stuffed a cloth in Stuart’s mouth.
“Man, the gab on that one. We’re going to have
so
much fun
with him. Thanks, Zoey.”

Zoey smiled at the leprechauns. “No, it’s me
who should thank you.”

She looked over at Stuart and lowered her
voice. “You’re not actually going to
hurt
him, are you?”

Rusty winked at her. “Of course not, we are
civilized
leprechauns, after all.” He clapped his hands
together. “All right, boys. Ride on out!”

Crusher dropped his club and spread his arms
wide. “Come and give us a hug.”

She laughed and embraced the leprechaun. She
felt someone hug her from behind and looked down to see Warty, his
eyes filled with tears.

“Will you come visit us?” said Warty, his
voice wavering. “We miss you, you know. You remind us so much of
your mother.”

He let Zoey go and blew his nose noisily
into a handkerchief.

“I will,” she said. “Promise.”

Crusher wiped his eyes on his arms and both
he and Warty made their way back to their bikes.

“See you, Zoey.”

Their engines roared into life, and the
leprechaun gang disappeared back into the forest, with Stuart
draped over a seat, and Claudia chasing them and screaming like a
banshee.

“Got to get this on film!” Simon ran after
the motorcycle gang with his cell phone.

Zoey smiled. Payback was awesome.

“Where are you going now?” asked Tristan
after a moment of silence.

Zoey sighed heavily. “Management’s expecting
me.”

Tristan looked back towards the forest.
“I’ll go after Simon to make sure he’s not going to do anything too
stupid. I’ll see you later then.”

“If I’m still here,” said Zoey sounding a
little deflated. She turned around and started back towards the
hive, then halted.

“Tristan?” she called.

“Yeah?” he said as he turned around.

“Can I ask you something? I mean, if it’s
not too personal?” Her cheeks burned and she wanted to kick herself
for blushing so easily.

“Sure.”

“What part mystic are you?” She waited, her
heart in her throat.

The fact that he didn’t answer right away
made her feel like a fool. “Sorry,” she blurted out suddenly, “I’m
an idiot—none of my business—forget I said anything.”

Tristan smiled. “It took you long enough.
I’ve been waiting for you to ask me.”

He paused for a second and then answered.
“My mother is a Seventh, but my father’s an álfar—he would look
like mountain elf to you, I guess—with blue skin.”

Zoey didn’t know much about elves except for
what she had read. Tristan’s ears weren’t pointy, but it would
explain his high cheekbones and the blue halo and veins.

“They met while my mother was on an
assignment for the agency near the Apennines in Switzerland,” he
continued. “They fell in love, and the rest is history.”

Zoey bit her bottom lip. “So how does your
mystic side work? Your skin glowed blue and you had these veins all
over your arms—how do you control it?”

“Well, I’m just as human as I am mystic.
Both are part of who I am. Most of the time I’m the me you see
before you,” answered Tristan.

“Like my father, the mountain elves have a
super strength. It’s a kind of adrenaline that pumps into my veins
that gives me the strength of three men. It’s dormant until I need
it.”

“Do you have any brothers and sisters?”

“Yeah, I have a little sister. She’s
eight.”

“Can she do the things that you can?”

“You mean, is she strong?”

“Yeah.”

Tristan laughed softly. “Yes, she’s like me.
She’s a lot to handle at the moment though, I feel bad for my
mom.”

Zoey looked to the ground. “I envy you. Your
family sounds amazing. I wish I had a family.”

Tristan took Zoey’s hand in his and squeezed
it gently. “You do now. The agency is your family.”

Zoey looked into Tristan’s dark eyes, and
blood rose to her cheeks. She quickly looked away.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” She pulled her
hand away.

Z
oey climbed up to
the third floor and stopped in front of the door with the
inscription:
Mystic Laws and Regulations, room 3B.
From what
Agent Barnes had told her that morning, management wanted a full
report. She wasn’t sure what they were going to do with her. She
felt a little nervous because the hive had become her home, and she
didn’t want to leave. She had prepared a speech when she’d been
lying in bed, but now she couldn’t even remember how it
started.

Letting out a shaky breath, she reached out
and knocked three times.

“Come in,” said a voice.

Zoey pushed in.

The directors were seated on one side of the
large table. Agents Barnes, Ward, and Vargas sat across from
them.

Director Hicks smiled as Zoey closed the
door behind her. “Please take a seat, Zoey.”

Agent Barnes lifted his crutches to make
room for Zoey at the empty seat beside him. He didn’t look at
her.

“Your timing is perfect,” said Director
Hicks. “Were we just about to discuss the events following your
encounter with Agent Barnes when he had been injured at
headquarters. But I’d like to go back first. I’d like to know how
you spotted Agent Stokes as the traitor. Please tell us what
happened after you saw him at the Wander Inn, and what led you and
your friends to take that dangerous trip to London.”

Zoey folded her hands in her lap and
recounted her story. She told them how Nazar had locked them in the
basement, but she left out the part about the fire stallion she had
freed. She explained how they had made the jump to London and had
arrived in the middle of a full battle against the Alpha Nation.
She told them how she had found Agent Barnes, and then finally, how
with the help of Tristan and Simon she had destroyed the two
interlopers. When she was done she sat back and waited.

“So you believe that the people in red
uniforms were with the Alpha Nation?” inquired Director Hicks.

Zoey frowned. “Of course—who else could they
be? They
are
the Alpha Nation—and they were following the
orders of Mrs. Dupont.”

“Right, the cat-faced woman of your previous
stories,” interjected Director Campbell.

“They’re
not
stories,” said Zoey, her
temper rising.

“No, of course they’re not,” said Director
Hicks. He gave Director Campbell a stern look.

“I believe that
you
believe what you
saw was the Alpha Nation—of that I am positive. But you see, Zoey,
we’re not entirely sure that what you
saw
was indeed the
Alpha Nation. Perhaps these murders were committed by another
terrorist group, one led by Agent Stokes, a very deranged
individual—”

“No,” blurted Zoey. “No, you’re wrong. It
was the Alphas, I’m telling you.”

Director Hicks gave Zoey a kind smile. “But
we don’t have any proof. No one saw these individuals but you.
Frankly, what makes it so hard for us to believe that those
responsible for this terrorist attack were the Alphas is because we
don’t accept that they would be part of a scheme to let mystics
into our world. They have been opposed to the idea of mystics
coexisting with us for centuries. I’m afraid it’s quite impossible
that those you saw were the Alphas.”

“Without any evidence,” interjected Director
Martin, “we cannot take the word of a girl that the people she
thinks
she saw were actually Alphas. You told us you saw a
group of persons dressed in red.”

Zoey lowered her eyes. “Yes.”

“You saw them kill our fellow agents, but
where is the proof that they were actually Alphas? There isn’t any.
We couldn’t question any of them, because there was no one
to
question. There were no bodies to be found, and no
captives. The only real evidence is the remains of the interlopers
and the body of Agent Stokes. That is all the evidence we have.
That is what we must take into account. The facts. The proof.”

“But, I’m telling you, I saw—” The rest of
Zoey’s sentence drowned in her throat because the look on Agent
Barnes face said,
stop it
.

Zoey stared at her hands in her lap. She was
angry they didn’t believe her, but she was afraid that her attitude
might jeopardize her chance to stay in the hive. She pressed her
trembling lips together.

“Don’t look so distraught, my dear girl,”
said Director Hicks. He had a great smile on his face. “You have
done a great service to the agency. You and your friends have shown
enormous courage for ones so young. We are greatly impressed by
your skills and cleverness. Your true devotion to the agency will
not be forgotten. We are very grateful for all that you’ve done and
sacrificed for the sake of all of us.”

Zoey felt a tightness in her chest—something
was off. She remembered how the administration in the orphanage
would complement her, right before they told her that her adoptive
parents didn’t want her anymore—reverse psychology. Were they doing
the same now—preparing her gently for the fall? She didn’t want to
leave the program.

“Rest assured, my dear,” said Director
Hicks, “we will be investigating these attacks further. And I
promise you—we will discover the culprits behind this. Thank you
for your time, Zoey.”

His voice was kind. “You may go now.”

Numb, Zoey got up and walked to the door.
She didn’t say good-bye because she was afraid she would start
crying. With trembling fingers she pushed open the door and closed
it behind her. She shuffled down the corridor, feeling like her
life was over. Would she ever see Tristan and Simon again?

“Zoey!”

Zoey halted and turned.

“I was calling you,” said Agent Barnes
hobbling behind her on his crutches. “Didn’t you hear me?”

Since she couldn’t trust herself to speak
she only shook her head.

Agent Barnes gave her a kind smile. “Don’t
look so upset. They didn’t believe me either when I told them what
you told me. And since we don’t have proof
yet,
we have to
be satisfied that what you’ve told them is on record. That’s a
start. We can find the proof later.

“But for now, there are more important
things that require our attention. Those mystics that crossed over
need to be found and sent back to the Nexus. From what I’ve
gathered so far, they’re the worst hostiles you can imagine—a demon
lord and his cavalry—we’ll have a lot to catch up on.”