The others in the group, including the man who had been watching Ed and Mike, had stayed behind. The man, Ed couldn’t remember his name, made Ed nervous. He couldn’t place why—just something felt off.

  It was somewhat understandable. Everyone had been through a rough time since the Connection, some worse than others. Each person would handle it differently. Was it so strange that some became a little off?

  They’d have to be watched, though. Anyone could be dangerous now and someone unstable was a potential risk.

  What was the man’s name?

  Ed couldn’t remember.

  It didn’t really matter. The man was just curious. Nothing wrong with that.

  Mike was already a headache enough, no need to add another, not when a new one was heading his way.

  Peter Millman was walking toward him. Not walking, stalking. Angry.

  “He took him again, didn’t he?” Peter asked, pointing out the doors.

  Ed didn’t need to ask who either of the ‘hes’ were.

  “Yes.”

  “Why? How? He didn’t even ask. He’s putting Davis in danger again,” Peter said, stopping just at the doors, hand reaching out like he wanted to open them.

  “Yes, but didn’t you choose to do that when you volunteered to go on the run to the grocery store?”

  “That was different,” Peter said, not turning around. “We didn’t know what was really out there, but now we do and Davis is…”

  Ed walked over, putting his hand on Peter’s shoulder.

  “It’s a dangerous world. Always was. Now it’s a little more.”

  “A lot more,” Peter said. “Davis is only sixteen. Lochlan shouldn’t be taking him.”

  “It’s Davis’ choice. He’s one of the strongest people here. And Loch is bringing Harper. His own daughter. He knows the risks and what he’s asking.”

  “But…”

  “Peter, this is our life now,” Ed said, squeezing the shoulder and pulling Peter around to look at him.

  “But…”

  “I know it’s hard. I was just talking with Mike, encouraging him to join the guard and Level up.”

  “I hate this,” Peter said, head sagging.

  “We all do.”

  Without another word, Peter turned and walked away. Ed watched him going. He looked around the lobby; the two had gathered more watchers, but not the man from earlier. He was gone.

  Ed wondered where he had gone.

  Theodore rubbed at his head. It was hurting.

  It was always hurting now. A constant dull ache. It never went away. Sometimes it got worse.

  He couldn’t remember when it had started. Days ago. Maybe more. Was it when they had gotten to this school? Joined this Clan? Clan Brady.

  What did that even mean?

  The voice in his head knew. It told Theodore some. Not all.

  Still probably more than most people in the school knew.

  Sheep.

  The lot of them.

  So scared of this new world that they followed blindly. Not knowing or caring what the ones above them were doing.

  The powerful ones.

  Like Lochlan Brady.

  He scared Theodore. Or scared the voice in his head, which in turn scared Theodore. He could sense the power that Lochlan had. Stronger than anyone else around. Not as strong as others on the planet, the invading aliens, but the strongest human.

  Theodore watched the interaction between Lochlan’s second in command, the one really in charge of the Clan, and a younger man. Father and son? There was a resemblance between them. The father was shorter.

  And fatter.

  The son leaner, his features harder.

  The voice in his head wanted the father.

  Ed Turner was his name.

  Theodore had momentarily been jealous when the voice had started suggesting finding others to join it. Why should others get the gift? Theodore was the only one worthy. He deserved it alone.

  But the voice had talked to him, soothed him, convinced him.

  Being one of many was better.

  Theodore was the first. He’d be one above the many. He wouldn’t be sharing, he’d be giving, and by giving, he’d be taking.

  He liked that.

  He could picture a day in the not-so-distant future when Ed Turner was part of his hive. Where had that word come from? Theodore wasn’t sure he’d thought of it. Maybe the voice had? Why would Theodore need a hive? He was human. Only bugs had hives.

  Images of Theodore telling Ed what to do and Ed making suggestions to Lochlan filled Theodore’s head. All thoughts of how strange a hive sounded were pushed away. He could be the true power behind the Clan. Let Ed be the public face and Lochlan the muscle, with Theodore ruling it all.

  Not that Lochlan would be part of the group.

  That was a better word than hive.

  Lochlan was too strong. The voice couldn’t influence him. Ed Turner would be easy.

  Theodore watched as the son walked away.

  Micheal Turner, who annoyingly went by Mike. Theodore didn’t like him just because of that. He hated shortening names. Theodore and Micheal were their names, not the shortened form. Even Lochlan went by Loch. Was Ed an Edward?

  The voice pushed those random thoughts away.

  Theodore was finding his thoughts wandering down roads like that more often lately. Annoyances would grip him, taking him on tangents. Instead of just a brief moment, they became something more.

  He was thankful for the voice helping soothe his mind when that happened.

  Mike Turner looked angry. Theodore didn’t know why, but the voice did. Mike Turner wanted Harper Brady, Lochlan’s oldest daughter. The voice said that it was obvious she had no interest in him. Theodore didn’t know how the voice knew, but it had been right about everything else, so he believed it.

  He just wasn’t sure why it was relevant.

  The voice explained it.

  The plan was changing. It still wanted Ed Turner but now found a better way to get what it wanted.

  Theodore tried to protest. His face twisted, lips moving as he mumbled his argument to the voice. Anyone looking would have thought him mad. Thankfully, no one was looking, but they wouldn’t have been wrong.

  The voice convinced him.

  The boy wanted to Level and gain a Class so he could compete with that other boy, the one who was always with Harper Brady. Theodore’s group needed a couple more members.

  There was only him, Roger, and Randy.

  And Theodore wasn’t sure Randy would be staying. Once they’d gotten to the school, Randy hadn’t spent much time with them. He was spending more time with that large black man who was always with Lochlan. The two seemed to be good friends already.

  Jim was giving up the fighting life. He felt he was too old.

  Which was okay. He was too old and would weigh the rest of them down. That’s what Roger said, and the voice, which meant Theodore as well, agreed.

  So just him and Roger.

  He didn’t like Roger, but the man was going to be useful.

  Theodore wasn’t a fool, he knew how he came across. He wasn’t a leader. Roger wasn’t much of one, but the man had the forceful personality to push others to do what he wanted. He’d make a good enough party leader.

  For now.

  Theodore, Roger, and Mike.

  What would Mike be? Did he have any Abilities yet? Any steps down a path to a Class?

  Why did the voice want Mike? Theodore didn’t know, but the voice did, so Theodore did as well.

  The problem would be in convincing Roger to take on the boy. That could be an issue.

  The voice had a solution.

  It had talked about Ed Turner being the first to join the collective. Theodore liked that word better than hive. Then it had changed its mind to Mike Turner. But now it might make sense for someone else to be the first.

  Roger could easily be brought around to the right way of thinking.

  Theodore inwardly grumbled. That would mean more of the obnoxious man calling him Teddy.

  The voice said it would be easy to change that once Roger was part of the collective.

  No more Teddy.

  Always Theodore.

  He smiled.

  Maybe the collective wouldn’t be a bad thing after all.

  And hive didn’t really sound that bad.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Loch led the small group down the hill, across the road, and into the fields. The fence that had once surrounded the playing fields was gone, taken by the Worldcore for its growth. The bleachers, what few there had been, were gone. Even the basketball nets and surface on the small court off to the side had gone to feed the Worldcore.

  He found it odd what remained and what hadn’t.

  It seemed things made of metal went to the core.

  They moved quickly but weren’t running. There was a sense of urgency. Even though Cerie had felt reasonably sure that the Crone wouldn’t start eating the hunting party right away. There was time. Loch wasn’t sure he believed her, but what choice did they have? She was the only source of information. Loch still wanted to confront the Crone that night, not wait.

  Just in case Cerie was wrong.

  But still, he didn’t want to run full speed. The spot marked on his map was pretty deep into the woods. It would take some time to get there in the dark. And it was going to be a long and hard fight. They needed to conserve their stamina.

  The moon was up, bright and high in the sky. Little cloud cover to block out the many stars.

  Now that Loch knew about other planets, he wondered which of the stars had Connected Worlds. Little River Stone had said it was a small percentage of the vast universe but still numbered in the high hundreds. Maybe even more.

  And new ones were being Connected fairly regularly.

  At least when judged by beings that lived for hundreds of years, if not thousands.

  The stars disappeared when they entered the forest, the thick canopy blocking out the night sky. Even the moon’s light barely penetrated. Just enough to keep them from running into the trees.

  Loch’s only time exploring in the dark had been in the dungeons, where there were dungeon-formed means of lighting. There was nothing like that in the forest. The darkness spread out before them.

  It wasn’t silent. The forest was alive with noise. Owls, birds, and the rustling of leaves as nocturnal scavengers ran along branches. Even the howl of a wolf warning the rest of its pack about their arrival.

  Much more noise than Loch had expected.

  The trail had been well groomed, remaining so after the Connection. It had been part of a network used by the school’s cross-country running team. Some had been just for school use, others were open to the public and used by snowmobilers in the winter. All were part of the network that connected to the trails at Loch’s own home.

  He’d walked them all over the years. Miles and miles.

  Even this stretch. He’d done it in both directions, from the field and to the field. Not even that long ago. A couple of years back, he’d done a charity event with Harper, running a 5k through the school’s trails.

  He hated running but had done it for her.

  She was upfront with Davis, about twenty feet ahead. Harper had her Shadow Sense, which wasn’t true night vision but allowed her to see details better than the rest. Davis had an odd Ability that covered a wide range of senses. His Spearhead Class wasn’t a true scouting Class, more of a damage-dealing Class. But it was made for intense opening attacks and then continued damage. Because of the opening attacks, he had an Ability that heightened his senses, allowing him to see the best avenues and time to attack while giving him some chance to deduce weaknesses.

  He couldn’t use it for long stretches, just bursts, but it worked really well in the dark.

  The location of the Night Crone had been marked on Loch’s mental map. Not that it was helpful, not yet. Because he hadn’t been there, and no one had the Ability to copy their own map to his, all he saw was a flashing point surrounded by nothing.

  As they walked, parts of the map were revealed. Just what he and the others were seeing, including Harper and Davis ahead. He’d left his hand-drawn maps back in the office. They weren’t going to be accurate anymore, not as they were, and in the dark, it would be too hard to adjust the scale to the new reality.

  That would have to wait.

  The maps had been reviewed with the hunter, so Loch had an idea of where to go and what trails to follow. The Night Crone wasn’t that far off one of the main snowmobile trails.

  Which, to Loch, just added to the likelihood that it was a trap.

  What he didn’t know was if the Crone’s presence meant the Silver Bark Elf Clan was close. He’d thought, hoped, that they were further east where he’d first encountered Misheal and the giant. That would put the elves days away. But if they were near the Crone, they were right in Loch’s backyard.

  Literally.

  Too close.

  Loch held out hope, slim as it was, that he’d be able to negotiate a peace with the Silver Barks. The giants? He had no hope for that. But the elves, maybe even the gaunts, why couldn’t there be peace between them? The world was already big enough and growing. They didn’t have to fight over the resources.

  Part of him wanted to fight. This was his world, not theirs. They were the invaders.

  But Earth’s history was full of one country invading another for resources. Why would it be any different on the planetary stage?

  The other part, the practical side of him, wanted to at least try to work it out. There had to be a way that they could all coexist. Wouldn’t it be better for the elves too? No fighting, no deaths. Everyone benefits.

  The presence of the Crone was a pretty strong indicator that the elves didn’t think that way. It was a preemptive attack. They wanted Loch and his people gone.

  They wanted all the resources.

  The trail wasn’t that wide, maybe five feet. There were some roots, some rocks, but mostly, it was flat. Years and years of feet running over the ground. It ran up a slight hill, the trees thick on either side.

  Loch looked into the woods as they walked. He thought he saw movement, low to the ground. Dark shadows moved from tree to tree. Even some yellow spots staring at them, following them.

  It felt like things were watching them. A hungry Presence.

  Nothing attacked, though.

  Brian brought up the rear, looking over his shoulder. They were all nervous, feeling the things in the woods. None of the hunters had been out at night so far. They hadn’t experienced what the woods had become. The things weren’t just curious, they were hungry. Watchful, waiting.

  Loch stopped walking, watching a pair of yellow eyes. They blinked, disappearing for a quick second, then back and watching him. Not moving closer, just watching. He could feel the thing out there. Evaluate wouldn’t work as he couldn’t see it, but it was there and had its own Presence.

  Could Loch project his Presence?

  He wasn’t sure how to do that. Being able to feel a Presence was new to him. It wasn’t something Cerie had ever mentioned. Maybe another one of those things that weren’t normally a concern to anyone at this Level in a new Connection? Loch knew that things were different on Earth and its Connection compared to others. Both Cerie and Little River Stone had confirmed that. And it wasn’t just his Unfettered trait.

  If other things were happening early, why not being able to feel a Presence? It kind of reminded him of what he’d read about auras. He’d never believed in that stuff, but back in his college days, he had dated a girl who did believe. She had explained that an aura was a feeling a person gave off. Good, bad, moody, and so much more. It was the soul of a person made almost physical, not just their mood. At the time, Loch had listened intently, but he knew the relationship wasn’t one that was going to last, so he hadn’t really committed it to memory.

  She’d been too into that stuff for his tastes. Now, he wished he had paid more attention.

  He had his Ability, Aura of Attack. Why was that different from the Presence? Did that mean an aura wasn’t the same? With the Ability, the aura was a field that spread out with him in the center. Within that field, all his allies were buffed. It wasn’t anything personal, nothing that came from it, but from his Class. It was fueled by his Spirit but wasn’t part of him. If he lost the Class, he’d lose the Aura.

  Maybe the old college girlfriend hadn’t been right about auras. Maybe it wasn’t a person’s soul made manifest but just an energy field that could be manipulated.

  Or he was way off base.

  Loch didn’t know, didn’t really care. He just wanted to be able to let the thing in the woods feel his Presence. Let it know something stronger was there. Looking inward, he tried to get a sense of his own Presence. It seemed that was more like what the ex had talked about. He couldn’t feel it in his body or his core, but he knew it was there.

  He just mentally pushed, not really sure it would work. With nothing to grab on to, Loch didn’t know what he was pushing. It was just the action he wanted.

  He wanted to make the thing in the woods feel him. His strength. He wanted to intimidate it.

  So he pushed.

  The yellow eyes blinked, then grew wider. There was a shuffling noise; leaves stepped on and pushed aside, and branches snapped. The yellow eyes disappeared. The mysterious thing’s Presence disappeared.

  Noises stopped around them. Everything fell silent. Nothing moved, the silence feeling heavy.

  “What happened?” Jenny asked.

  “I’m not sure,” Loch answered.

  Had it worked? It had to have. The thing was gone, but apparently, so was everything else in the surrounding woods.

  “Did anyone feel anything?” he asked.

  “No,” Jenny said. “Was I supposed to?”

  “Nothing,” Harper said.

  “Nope,” from Davis.

  Brian just grunted.

  Loch didn’t know what to think. Had it been a coincidence?

  Or was it something that his allies didn’t feel?

  He needed to talk to Cerie.

  “Let’s keep moving,” he said.

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58