Mystics 3-Book Collection (40 page)

Even before she saw Stuart, she knew this
must be his mother. He was sprawled on a leather chair near the
fire, but when he saw Zoey he stiffened. His scowl met her as she
passed them. His hatred blazed in his cold blue stare.

Zoey grabbed her gray woolen coat and her
red woolen mitts. She turned and gave Stuart her best smile, and
then she ran outside, laughing.

The snow crunched loudly under her boots as
she ran behind the inn and made her way to the edge of the forest.
She felt as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She had
finally manipulated the mirror-port using only her mind. It had
worked.

The cold air seared her hot cheeks. She had
a favorite spot, right next to a big boulder. It was the spot
where, a few months ago, the leprechaun gang had kidnapped a crying
Stuart. He had come back a few hours later, red-faced, and with a
permanent scowl. They were now sworn enemies — and that was just
fine.

Although she knew he was planning something,
right now she had more to think about than what Stuart King was
planning to do to her next.

Movement caught her eye.

A pretty girl with long brown hair rushed
out of the Hive. It was Claudia Walsh, Stuart’s right-hand woman.
She froze when she saw Zoey. Zoey expected some mocking remark or a
grimace, but instead her expression was troubled, almost
frightened. She glared at Zoey when she saw her. But before Zoey
could make any sense of it, Claudia hurried away in the opposite
direction.

The sun warmed Zoey’s face as she ran up a
small rise and dropped to her knees in the snow. She looked around
to make sure no one was taking a stroll nearby. The she pulled off
her mitts, retrieved her DSM from her pocket, and flipped it open.
Her hands trembled in excitement.

“Okay, my little mirror friend. Let’s try
this again.”

Even though her heart hammered in
anticipation, she let out a long, misty-white breath and forced
herself to relax. Her reflection bounced around on the mirror
because she was shaking, and she strained to calm herself. She
didn’t want to have a mirror-port accident, not when she had just
discovered what she could do with her abilities. Mrs. Dupont may
have been a cat-faced lunatic, but she hadn’t lied about Zoey
having special powers.

She relaxed all her muscles. Where could she
mirror-port to now? Her green eyes and freckles stared back at her
in the mirror, and she smiled despite herself. She looked like her
mother…

A tingle fluttered inside her. Her skin
prickled as if millions of ants were running over her. Her DSM grew
hotter and hotter until the metal frame burned white-hot. Zoey
yelled as she dropped her DSM into the snow. It popped and sizzled
as it melted into the snow and disappeared in a cloud of mist.

Zoey cursed and examined her hand. It had an
angry red mark. Before she had time to think about what had just
happened, she realized that a cloaked figure stood in the snow
beside her.

Z
oey stiffened. At
first she thought she was seeing things in the glare of the snow.
She blinked, but the black figure was still there. And then she
knew. She recognized the figure as the same black silhouette she
had seen in the field yesterday.

It must have stood nearly eight-feet high
and was draped in a heavy weather-worn black cloak, like a dirty
Venetian costume cape. She couldn’t see any eyes, nose, or mouth
under its black hood. Where its face should have been, she could
only see a blank white façade like a mask. She could see pointy
black leather boots through a gap in the drape of the cloak. They
looked like the sort of boots a witch would wear. It had
surprisingly thin and delicate white hands that peeked from the
sleeves.

Whatever this thing was, it was definitely
female. Strangely, Zoey didn’t feel frightened. Somehow she knew it
wouldn’t hurt her.

“Who are you?” asked Zoey.

The cloaked figure didn’t answer. It just
stood there. Its cloak bellowed around it in the cool winds.

“Why have you been following me?” pressed
Zoey. “I saw you. It
was
you, wasn’t it?”

The figure reached into the folds of its
cloak and produced a small gray rectangular case. It raised its
hand to Zoey, urging her to take it.

Reluctantly, Zoey reached out and took the
case. She brushed her fingers over it. It was cool, smooth
stainless steel. She could see a single button the size of her
thumb on top.

Zoey looked at the creature and shook the
metal case.

“What is this?” When it didn’t respond she
asked again. “What
is
this? What’s the matter? Don’t you
talk? No. Well, you don’t have a mouth, so I’m guessing you
don’t.”

Zoey stared at the contraption in her hand.
“And now you want me to press on this button, don’t you?”

The creature gave a single nod.

“Well, at least we’ve got this great
communication between us,” said Zoey. Something nagged her. “Was it
you? Did you make my DSM burn just now? Was that you?”

The creature gave another nod.

“I’d ask you how and why, but I’m guessing
I’m about to find out.” Zoey exhaled loudly.

She reached down and made sure her DSM was
cool before she pocketed it.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this. Well, here
goes nothing.” She pressed down on the button with her thumb…

A flash of white light blasted out of the
metal case where her thumb met the button. It fanned out and
created a white screen that hovered in the air like a movie
projection. And in the white screen Zoey could see the image of a
woman with bright green eyes and fiery-red hair.

Zoey dropped the case and sat back into the
snow. Tears welled in her eyes.

“Hello, Zoey,” the woman in the screen
smiled.

She wore a long black traveling coat, which
made her red hair stand out even more. Her face was flushed and
sweaty, like she had been running. Her voice was throaty and had a
sense of urgency to it. It was not at all like the soft, soothing
voice Zoey had imagined she would have.

“The orphanage chose a pretty name for you;
I like it.”

The figure paused, and then she said, “I’m
not sure if you recognize me, but I’m your mother.”

The world wavered around Zoey. She felt like
she was dreaming. She forced herself to speak.

“M-mom? Is that really you? I—I can’t
believe it. Is this real? I’ve been looking for you for so
long.”

The woman didn’t seem to hear her.

“I know you must have so many questions for
me. Why did I give you up?”

Her mother’s eyes filled with water as
sadness washed over her face. Her smile disappeared, and she
continued.

“It was with a heavy heart. You must know it
was the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make. It’s still hard
when I remember you crying when I put you on their doorstep. But I
took comfort in knowing it was the right decision. It was the only
one.”

Tears flowed freely down Zoey’s cheeks as
she stared, bewildered, at the woman before her. Her lips trembled.
She wanted to run into her mother’s arms, and yet she couldn’t
move.

“Mom…mom…”

Her mother’s projection wavered and she
turned abruptly, as though she had heard something coming from
behind her. After a moment she turned back around with a terrified
look on her face.

“Mom, what is it?” Zoey raised her head and
looked behind her mother, but there was only a wall of trees and
snow.

“I don’t have a lot of time. They’re
coming.” Her mother looked at Zoey, but not
directly
at her,
like she couldn’t focus on her exact spot. It was almost as though
she couldn’t
see
her.

“I hope one day you’ll find it in your heart
to forgive me. I only wanted to protect you, to keep you safe, and
the orphanage was the safest place. I knew you’d be safe from them
there.”

Zoey watched her mother carefully. “You mean
from the Alphas? From Mrs. Dupont? Mom? Can you hear me? How does
this thing work? Is this a one-way thing only?”

Again her mother seemed not to hear her. Her
form flickered like a light bulb losing power, and then it
refreshed again.

“You’re probably wondering what this is,”
said her mother as she looked down at herself. “How I’m standing
before you now like this - how it’s even possible after all these
years. As you can see, I’m not
really
here; I’m merely a
shadow of myself - a recording.”

Zoey struggled to her feet. “You’re some
sort of hologram, aren’t you?”

Zoey realized that this figure wasn’t
actually her real mother. Although her chest ached, she blinked her
eyes dry and pulled herself together. She stepped closer. When she
was face to face with her mother she reached out. Her fingers
passed through her mother’s figure as though she were nothing but a
ghost.

Her mother looked straight past Zoey again.
“By now you will have met my dearest friend, Muttab.”

Zoey turned her head and looked at the
hooded figure with the inscrutable white face.

“She’s a Minitian,” her mother continued.
“You might call her a sorceress. Minitians are shy creatures, and
mute. They spend their lives mostly studying their arts. She’s been
my friend and ally for many years and is one of the few I can
trust. I asked her to give you this recording when she felt it was
time - when your life was in great danger.”

“My life’s in danger?”

Zoey felt a dark weight on her shoulders.
She looked at Muttab, but without a face she had no idea what the
creature was thinking. She turned away and stared transfixed at her
mother, waiting to hear more.

Her mother stopped talking and looked over
her shoulder again, as though she had heard something. She turned
back and continued.

“I wish things could have been different for
us, for you. I wish I could have given you a real childhood, a real
family, but it was impossible. Your father changed. He betrayed me.
He’s not the same man I fell in love with. That doesn’t matter now;
he doesn’t know about you. He’s with the others now. He’s
dangerous, Zoey; you can’t trust him.”

How can I trust him
? said Zoey to
herself,
I don’t even know who he is—

“This recording is the only way for me to
contact you without risking exposing you to the wrong people,”
interjected her mother.

“If you’re watching this recording, then I
can only assume that Muttab felt it was time, and that you’ve
figured out by now that you’re
different
from the rest of
the Sevenths. Only two Sevenths in the world can manipulate the
M-Mat and the anchors—you and I. But your abilities far outweigh
mine. I could never do what you can. When you were just a baby I
noticed how the portals shifted only by your presence. I knew then
how much danger would follow.”

She paused and drew in a shaky breath.

“You are a target because you’re
different
. By now you’ve probably found your way to the
Agency or the Agency has finally found you. Either way, I cannot
pretend that I’m happy about it, because I’m not. If the Sevenths
know about you, then the Alphas know, too. And it won’t be long
before the others find out. Hopefully, they haven’t yet learned who
you are.”

Her mother cast a worried glance behind her
again and lowered her voice.

“They’ve found me, I don’t have much time.”
Her voice was rushed.

“Who’s found you? God I
hate
this! I
wish you could hear me,” growled Zoey.

Her mother’s emerald eyes sparkled with
tears.

“Zoey, listen to me carefully. You must
leave
the Agency at once. You’re not safe there.”

Zoey’s jaw dropped.

“But—but that’s the only place I
feel
safe! Why would I want to leave? It’s the first place that actually
feels like a home to me. I know you can’t hear me, and I’m babbling
along like a fool - but you have
no
idea what’s it’s been
like for me - living from foster home to foster home, not knowing
where to belong, feeling like a freak. I like it here, I don’t want
to leave—”

“I know this must sound crazy to you, but
there are double agents in the Agency.”

“Yeah, I know, like Agent Stokes.”

Her mother brushed her tears away with her
hands.

“You can’t trust anyone, even if you feel
they are your friends—they’re not. They’ll want to use you and kill
you. You must do as I say. Leave the Agency! Hide amongst the
Mutes. You’re much safer there. It’s your only chance. You must
leave!”

Zoey shook her head like a stubborn child.
“No. I won’t leave. Why would anyone at the Agency want to kill me?
I haven’t done anything!”

Her mother’s voice rose and cracked. “Leave
the Agency, Zoey! You must leave now!”

A bone-rattling growl interrupted the
projection. A shadowy figure, a great beast, appeared behind her
mother.

Her mother stumbled, whimpering in fear.
“Get away, Zoey!”

“Wait! What
is
that? Mom? Wait! I
don’t know where you are! I want to help you! MOM!” Zoey threw out
her arms in a desperate attempt to grab her mother, but they only
flapped in the empty air.

Her mother fell to her knees.

“Run Zoey! Get as far as you can from the
Agency! You have to hide! You
must
do as I say!”

Her mother’s green eyes were wide with fear.
Her image started to falter. “I love you.”

The dark shape rose behind her mother, and
the projection shimmered like a mist caught in a breeze. Her mother
screamed, and the image vanished.

“MOM!” cried Zoey.

She leaped to the spot where the shadow of
her mother had stood moments before. She turned on the spot
frantically.

“Mom, come back! I don’t know how to find
you. Please come back! Tell me where you are!”