The Sphere Chronicles: A Holding Kate Series Book (5 page)

“Put me down!” she screamed, jabbing at the phantasmal zombies. He set her down, and she never missed a beat. Fighting like a banshee, she whirled and jabbed, taking a pound of flesh with each thrust. Mel broke free of Dirk’s and Donnie’s grasp, and joined her. Kate ripped the short sword out of Corey’s hand and threw her body over Caitlyn’s, jabbing at anything that came near. A wild swing slashed across Corey’s calf. Trip yanked him out of the way.

The four men stepped back, shoulders heaving from adrenalin pumping, and helplessly watched their women wage a war that they could not.

Corey shook with righteous anger, tears welling and spilling down his dirt-encrusted cheeks. He couldn’t take his eyes off Kate, fighting against the zombies like a mad woman. Kicking and screaming, hair flying around her, she whipped and whirled around to address the repeated attackers.

“
Corey
,” Trip growled, his eyes wrenching back and forth between Kate and Tara. “Do something.” Tara and Mel, drowning in a sea of acidic corpses, fought bravely, but they were losing. Every slice and touch sizzled parts of their flesh away.

Corey raised his face to the night, opened his arms, and bellowed loud and long. A heart cry full of anguish and power burst from him. A burning sensation grew from his lungs, and flashing pain wrenched from the center of his chest. Golden light burst out of his core. He latched onto Trip’s shoulder and the light leaped onto him, sizzling up his arm and over his whole body. He seized with the power of it. Shunting through him to Dirk and Donnie, a super nova flash of power rushed outward from them and seared through the zombie spirits, leaving wafts of dust on the wind.

The girls collapsed.

The sphere fell.

©HwV Productions, LaDonna Cole. Lost jump from
The Keepers
, Book 2 of the Holding Kate Series.

TRIP JOGGED ACROSS
the deck with a goofy grin plastered across his face. Eunavae had never seen him so at ease. She almost spewed her orange juice from the laugh that rose.

“He is such a goofball.” Tara rolled her eyes and grinned back at him as he approached the table.

“Ladies! Morning.” He pulled the chair back, stole a piece of bacon from Eunavae’s plate, and sat down across from her.

“Sleep well?” Eunavae flashed her brows and passed him a piece of toast.

“Like a baby. What’s on the schedule for today?” He waved the waiter over.

Tara handed him a brochure. “We can choose the excursion to snorkel at Darwin’s Arch or another scuba dive at Wolf Island.”

“I’ll have what she had,” Trip told the waiter, pointing at Eunavae’s plate. “And coffee, black.”

He opened the brochure, then closed it again. “They both sound great to me. I want to do both.
Can
we do both?”

Tara laughed. “Both it is.” She sipped her coffee and then added, “Today, Wolf Island, and tomorrow Darwin’s Arch.”

A tall, sandy-haired island god paused at their table. “Did you say Wolf Island today?”

“Hey, Nicolas!” Tara beamed at him. “Yeah, are you guiding the excursion?”

“You betcha! All three of you coming?”

They all nodded. Trip stiffened and eyed the shrinking distance between Nicolas’s hand on the back of Tara’s chair and Tara’s shoulder. Eunavae pressed her fingers against her lips to keep from laughing. Nicolas ogled with a goofy grin and knelt down at eye level with Tara, obviously smitten with the Warrior Barbie. He’d found her on the dance floor every night of the cruise so far. The only time on the voyage when Trip wasn’t giddy with glee was when Nicolas latched himself to Tara’s elbow.

“Hey, I got permission for a private luxury tented camping safari on Thursday.” Nicolas leaned in to speak softly. “I can only take seven people with me and wanted to offer it to you guys first.”

“What island?” Trip questioned.

“Santa Cruz. We’ll be on a ridge near the tortoise preserve. The view is amazing. You’ll love it.”

Tara raised her brows to Trip and Eunavae. They both nodded. “Sign us up.”

“Perfect.” Nicolas touched Tara’s shoulder. “You are gonna love the stars at night.”

Trip smashed his toast between his fingers and ground his jaw.

“Are you finished, Tara?” Nicolas pointed to her plate.

She nodded.

“Want to go for a quick swim?” He held out his hand.

“Yes, please!” She took it, and they sauntered toward the back of the catamaran.

The waiter set Trip’s food in front of him, and Eunavae leaned toward him. “You are gonna love the stars,” she said in her best Ecuadorian accent and batted her eyes at Trip.

He snorted and dove into his eggs.

The swoosh of the respirator and trickling bubbles accompanied Tara’s amazement as she floated over the sandy ocean floor. The water above her, as vibrant as a bluebell, was dotted with tiny fish in bright neon colors. Ahead, the ocean floor flora swayed in vivid shades of pink and red, teeming with strange and exotic creatures. A rectangular fish swam by that looked like it had swallowed a large matchbox. Tara focused her underwater camera at an orange plant that camouflaged two seahorses.

A wall of darkness passed overhead. Tara looked up through her mask to see an enormous school of hammerhead sharks inch by. She retrained her camera to capture video of the silhouettes as they crossed the orb of light made from the sun above. The never-ending school of sharks sent spasms of delight through Tara. Row upon row fishtailed over them. Tiny scavengers swam alongside the larger sharks, in tow or darting between.

Tara spun in the water to grin at Trip, and he gave her a thumbs up, then he swam over to Eunavae to film her interaction with a seal that had joined them. The school of hammerheads moved on, so Tara swam toward the vibrant coral and what looked like an eagle ray.

Mesmerized by the undulating wings and graceful motion of the beautiful ray, she startled when a wall of tiny, purple-striped fish bolted past her. She turned her camera to try to capture them, but they were gone as quickly as they came.

Tink
,
tink
,
tink
!

The sound drew her attention. Nicolas tapped his tank, flagging her down. She’d moved farther away from the group than she had intended and started heading back when he thrust his hand out for her to stop. She hovered for a moment wondering what he was doing. He pointed frantically to her left and kicked furiously toward her.

Tara turned, and slowly it dawned on her. The purple-striped fish were fleeing a predator…

Bam
! Something slammed into her.

She whirled around as it flashed by, then turned for another pass. A long, tapered body, topped by a sharp fin jutting from its back, faced her. Its chin, belly, and extremities were tipped in white. Tara understood immediately. Not the social hammerhead, but an aggressive white-tipped shark had turned its attention to her. She grabbed her flipper and ripped it off her foot. Just as the shark neared, she smacked it on the nose with all her strength. It jerked to the left and swam away after the eagle ray.

Heart pounding and limbs shaking, she let out a puff of bubbles when Nicolas grabbed her from behind. She held onto his arm with an iron grip. Eunavae and Trip caught up. Trip pried her flipper from her hand and gently pushed it back onto her foot. Nicolas gave the signal, and they swam for the surface. The raft motored over to them, and they climbed aboard.

Trip flung his gear off and helped Tara out of her mask.

“Trip,” she said shakily.

“It’s okay, hon.” He held her head in the crook of his arm.

“I just wanted my sword. I felt so helpless, so exposed. Nothing is the same in the water! I couldn’t make my body work right.”

“I know. I know.” He wiped wet strands of her hair out of her eyes.

Nicolas eyed them while he assisted the other divers into the boat.

“Shh. It’s okay, Tara. You were brilliant!” Eunavae coaxed. “You beaned him! Just like we were told to do.”

Tara nodded, shoulders heaving with every breath.

The raft, having collected its passengers, turned and headed north toward the catamaran.

“Pinky, I think you have a secret admirer,” Trip whispered from a rock overlooking the strand of beach. Eunavae sunned on a towel about four feet away.

She lifted her head to Trip then looked in the direction he pointed. About three feet from her, a cute, little, black furry seal scooted hesitantly toward her. It inched forward, coating its black fur with spots of sand, its big eyes gazing at her.

Eunavae stayed still as it approached. She cut a huge grin to Trip, then back to the precious seal pup. It wriggled within inches of her face and stared at her, nose to nose, for several minutes. She reached up to stroke its soft fur, and a sigh of contentment escaped her lips. The pup closed its eyes and pressed into her palm for a fraction of a second, then mama seal barked and it scurried away, all flippers and waddles.

Trip leaped down from his rock and sat beside her. She turned over and sat up.

“You know, this isn’t a jump. If you burn here, you have to suffer the consequences.” Trip plucked at her bikini strap. “Pinky is looking pink.”

“I’ll never be as tan as you and Tara,” Pinky grumbled, fished out her sunscreen, and handed it to Trip. She turned her back to him, and he sprayed her thoroughly.

“I thought you were Chinese. You should have a nice amber skin tone.”

Eunavae punched him. “Prejudiced, much? Anyway, I’m half French.” She lifted her wrist with the fleur-de-lis tattoo. Trip sprayed it. She snorted.

“There’s not a lot of shade, is there?” Trip adjusted his ball cap and scanned the beach.

“Nope. I’m sure being on the equator doesn’t help, either.”

“Here, put this on.” Trip secured his cap onto her head and tweaked her nose.

“Thanks.” Eunavae took two water bottles from the cooler and handed one to Trip. “So, what’s next? Are you going to go home when we get back, or stay at the Village?”

Trip took a long swig from his bottle, and then screwed the bottle cap back on. “Nothing for me at home, really. Besides, now that I have training as Jump Commander, I thought about staying on at the Village.” He searched the east end of the beach where Tara was last seen turning a corner with Nicolas. “Depends, really.”