Wyvern and Company (25 page)

Remains were scattered throughout the small community in
Arkansas, covered by sheets, tarps and anything else emergency workers could
find to hide the bodies from curious onlookers and the swarming media.

The National Guard was on the scene, securing the perimeter,
just as they were doing in a small town in Arizona.

Were there now two hordes of spawn on the loose? Were Adam and
the others planning their searches? Was this the work of one horde of spawn
that had somehow managed to appear and disappear with the help of something
more powerful?

I'd asked Pheligar, the last time I'd seen him, whether any Ra'Ak
could be detected on the planet. He'd already
Looked
for them and said
he'd found no evidence. If they were here and could hide from a Larentii, the
future of the Saa Thalarr was in serious jeopardy.

It was all we had—Pheligar always knew of their presence. No,
he couldn't interfere in our search for them after we reached a world, but he
always knew they were there.

I felt ill anyway, and belatedly lifted my sandwich, taking a
determined bite while I watched the rest of the broadcast.

* * *

Justin's Journal

Mack had to go home with his dad before most of the rest of us
were folded to Green Bluff, Arkansas. Darzi and Karzac stayed in Fresno with
Marlianna, Joey and Bearcat.

For the second time, I stared at covered bodies while
emergency crews searched buildings and houses for more remains.

Nobody was left alive.

Nine missing here
, Dragon sent mindspeech to all of us.

They're gathering allies while they have a snack
, Dad's
mindspeech was little more than a snarl.
This town is slightly larger than
the one in Arizona. It's my guess they'll select larger and larger targets as
they go along
.

By now, on any other world, we'd have found and killed them
,
Lion said.
I have no idea what is hampering us from
Looking
for them
here
.

People are beginning to panic everywhere
, Merrill broke
in.
I've heard from Wlodek in the UK. While Europe hasn't been attacked yet,
everybody is afraid and passengers are refusing to get on planes headed to the States
.
The President is attempting to calm everyone by calling these isolated
incidents, but that won't last much longer. We could have rioting soon, if
something isn't done. The military is worse than helpless in this
situation—because they could become the spawn horde's next target
.

Agreed
, Dragon responded.
That is my worry, too, as
those trained for the military will make deadlier spawn if they are turned
.

All it will take is a spark in the proper place to start a
conflagration
, Lion nodded slightly.
After that, nobody will be safe
here, and the Ra'Ak will have won the world without a challenge
.

There is no trail to follow, here—it disappears just as the
one in Arizona did. Shall we return to Fresno, or somewhere nearby so we may
plan our next move?
Dragon asked.

Fresno
, Dad said.

Everybody agreed. We were there in less than a minute.

* * *

"Where's Darzi?" I asked Karzac, who moped at the
kitchen island over a cup of tea.

"With Martin and young Mack Walters," Karzac sighed.
"He worried that he might be needed, so I didn't argue. At least he feels
useful, watching the Pack while they run."

"I like him—a lot," I said, opening the fridge and
pulling out the orange juice. "We need groceries again," I sighed,
pouring the last of the juice into a glass and drinking it in three swallows.

"Your mother does so much that goes unnoticed, until she
is gone," Karzac observed.

"Yeah." I took a seat nearby and studied the orange
juice carton, turning it this way and that in my hands. That's when Gina
called.

"Hi, baby," I strode away from the kitchen while
answering her call. "You okay?"

"I was calling to ask you the same thing," she said.

"We're still in a funk after the funeral," I said,
not mentioning the full reason why.

"I'm so sorry," Gina said. "I don't suppose you
could come over for dinner tonight? Mom's making pot roast and there's plenty
to go around."

"I might be able to," I hedged. "Let me check
with Dad and I'll call you back."

"Okay," she said brightly. "I hope you can
come."

* * *

"Go ahead. I doubt we'll arrive at any sort of solution
for a few hours, so there's no reason not to," Dad said when I asked if I
could visit Gina. "Just be careful," he added.

"I will. The old house isn't far away; I should be fine.
Oh," I said, remembering something, "What are we going to do about
lessons, now that we're officially back?"

"We'll have to continue them," Dad sighed. "I don't
see how we can do otherwise at this point."

"I'll let Gina know," I nodded. "Thanks, Dad."

* * *

An hour later, I was in my Jeep and driving toward the old
house. I'd phoned Gina before I left, letting her know I was on the way. She sounded
happy—excited. That made me feel good. Honestly, I needed some happy around me,
after everything else that had gone down recently.

Mom's absence still worried me, but I shoved it aside for now,
determined to have a good time with Gina and her mother. After all, they'd gone
through trauma, too, and who knows what they needed to make them feel secure?

Security
—it was a thing I'd never been concerned about,
before. Mom and Dad always made sure I was safe. Half that team was now missing
and in need of protection herself.

Still, it hadn't sunk in completely how vulnerable she was. I'd
seen Joey close to tears several times as he frantically switched from one
website to another, searching for any activity on her bank accounts and such.

Maybe teaching our lessons would pull him out of his funk—at
least for a while.

It wasn't long before I was parking in the driveway of the old
house. It's funny how things change once you leave something so familiar behind,
replacing it with something new.

The strawberry farm was home, now. That's when it hit me—home
wasn't a place—home was the people. Mom, Dad, Mack, Joey. They made home what
it was. It was never about the structure, although I had fond memories of it—of
us, rather—inside it.

This house was home for Gina, now, because that's where she
and her mother were. Opening the door and climbing out of my truck before more
nostalgia set in, I strode over the familiar walkway, my shoes crunching on the
concrete walk as I walked toward the front door and rang the doorbell.

Gina met me at the door and lifted her face to me, inviting a
kiss. I gave it to her willingly.

It felt good.

* * *

Darzi's Journal

Nefrigar come to me before I go to Earth. He say to write, for
Larentii Archives. He say it important.

I agree. I write often. Did not before. Nefrigar make sense.

I watch from hill as Pack run by. They in danger. I here to
make safe. Was told to keep alive.

All important.

I do.

* * *

Adam's Journal

"This is where the footprints and other evidence
disappears in Arizona," Lion tapped a map spread across the kitchen island
as we had sandwiches for dinner. "Here, they disappear in Arkansas."
He tapped the second map. "Both times, they travel less than half a mile from
the town before vanishing. Something powerful is behind this, but I'll be
damned if I know what it is."

"It has to be more powerful than the Larentii, or
something that the Larentii may not be able to detect. Has there ever been such
a thing?" Dragon asked. His eyes, narrowed and questioning, turned toward
Lion and me.

"Do you want to call Pheligar and ask?" I said.
Dragon was currently in charge of the Saa Thalarr, and Pheligar should heed his
call anyway. Dragon seldom asked the Larentii for anything.

"I'll ask, just be prepared for a refusal to answer, or an
answer cloaked in even more mystery," Dragon sighed, leaning back in his
chair and lifting the glass of Scotch he'd poured for himself.

Radomir, Russell, Will and the other vampires sat around the
island with us, but were more than content to listen. They were completely
trustworthy and we talked freely in front of them.

If they hadn't seen Pheligar yet, they were about to be
surprised.

"I know what you're asking," Pheligar appeared—he'd
employed nexus echo and heard his name mentioned. "The Larentii seldom
speak of it, but yes, there was something we could not detect. We thought it
extinct. That may no longer be true."

Frowning, he enlarged a barstool with power and sat between
Lion and Dragon while Radomir schooled his face to hide the surprise. "Can
you elaborate?" Dragon asked politely.

"I do not wish to, but yes, I will." He sat for a
moment, as if considering how he might tell us what he knew. The information
was painful to him, unless I missed my guess.

"There was a world," he began, "called Sirena. Its
inhabitants were called Sirenali, and they could place obsession. As terrible
as that seems, it wasn't the most dangerous thing about them. The race was
created—as a whole—as unreadables to all. Even the very powerful cannot see
their presence. That, in itself, made them very, very dangerous."

"What happened to them?" Will blurted, staring
wide-eyed at Pheligar. After all, Pheligar said they were supposedly extinct.
The question was valid and one I wanted to ask myself.

"The Larentii destroyed their world, after they attacked
the Larentii homeworld," Pheligar said simply. "If a few escaped, or
any enemy capable of bending time rescued some before their world was
destroyed, we could be in terrible trouble."

* * *

I learned something by listening to Pheligar that evening.
Obsession was stronger and more volatile than compulsion placed by any vampire.
It was a frightening truth that we heard from our Liaison, and I was glad I
never knew of it until now.

Of course, if Pheligar's suspicions were correct and a Sirenali
was involved, then we could be waging a war we couldn't win. If there were more
than one involved, that was too terrifying to contemplate.

I longed for the days when Ra'Ak were deemed the worst enemies
we might face. Those days could be gone with the sweep of a hand. The Ra'Ak
could bend time. And, although the knowledge of Sirenali had been removed from
every other race, the Ra'Ak may have obtained it in some way.

It was inevitable that they'd use whatever they had to destroy
the Saa Thalarr. I'd never felt that my new race might feel like a tiny island
under siege, but that's how I saw things, now.

We needed help. We needed more Saa Thalarr. We needed so many
things.

I needed Kiarra. To talk to. To discuss this new turn of
events. I had no doubt that Pheligar would never have given us information on
the Sirenali if he didn't suspect their presence.

I shuddered.
Kiarra
, I sent,
we are in terrible
trouble. Be safe. I'd beg you to return to me, but I know I haven't apologized
properly, yet
.
Nevertheless, I miss you terribly and love you more than
you know
.

* * *

Justin's Journal

Gina's mom was a good cook. The pot roast was great and we ate
and talked at the table. I felt comfortable with them, too. After listening to
some of my old friends at high school tell about their experiences with girl or
boyfriends' parents, I figured it would be the inquisition all over again.

It wasn't. Mrs. Allen treated me like a member of the family
and I appreciated that. We talked about Grampa Frank; how he wasn't related by
blood but had been just as close and just as loved.

What surprised me, though, was Gina's best friend, Sarah, had
been invited, too. Perhaps she was hoping Mack would come, because she asked
about him.

"He had a family function he couldn't get out of," I
shrugged without elaborating. Sarah accepted that and I was relieved. After
all, how can you explain to humans that your best friend is out running through
fields, hunting deer or bear with his dad and sister, and that on full moons,
he can't help turning to wolf?

For the first time in a while, I felt almost normal—as if I
were still in high school instead of worrying about monsters. The fact that others
might consider me a monster wasn't a concern.

At least not then.

We laughed, joked, teased, played Monopoly after dinner and I
went home at eleven, because the following day was a school day, as it turned
out. The drive home was peaceful, with no unexpected surprises.

* * *

Kiarra's Notes

(Deleted from her personal files by her father.)

I'd stopped at another motel next to a restaurant in Little
Rock, Arkansas. Somehow, somewhere along the road, I realized I was driving
toward Corpus Christi and ultimately, Port Aransas. Yes, that's where Adam and
I met, and our M'Fiyah manifested. I'd driven more than eleven hours and was
exhausted for the second day in a row. I only wanted to crawl in bed after my
meal and huddle there, feeling lost, alone and sorry for myself.

Everybody has days when they want to crumble. This was one in
a string of several, all in a very short period of time, beginning with Mack's
near-death in a Fresno jail cell.

Slumping on the side of my hotel bed, I tossed the key card
onto the nightstand with a plastic, ticking noise. I wanted to cry, but the
tears refused to fall. I knew they would eventually, but for now, I was just
too tired.

That's when he came. I hadn't seen him since I'd become Saa
Thalarr. It's funny that I never recall him until he appears again, and then I
remember.