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Chapter Three

“She’s here,” Greyson said, frowning into the viewer.

“You don’t sound very happy about it,” Bruno replied. Behind him,
Solomon, one of their other brothers, quirked his lips in a half smile of
sympathy.

At least he understands my dilemma,
Greyson thought. “I’m not,” he
said aloud.

“I don’t know why you’re so worried about her. So she moved back
to Ohio, so what?” Bruno glanced down at his phone. “Can we make this quick? I’ve
got a teleconference meeting in five minutes with the President.”

Greyson sighed. “The Spiders are massing near Alpha Centauri for
no apparent reason and we have someone here on Earth trying to hack into our
tech. Why would I be bothered by her moving here?” He ground his teeth as he
considered the silicon-based aliens that threatened their corner of the galaxy.
He’d given over two hundred years of his life to protecting Earth from their
penchant for swarming. “Because I’m a little busy, that’s why.”

“So? No one said you need to go see her, Greyson.” Bruno waved his
hand. “Ignore her. Problem solved.”

“I don’t think that will be an option,” Solomon said, joining
Bruno at the viewer.

“Thank you,” Greyson said feelingly, grateful that someone seemed
to understand his point of view.

“You’re not making any sense.” Bruno frowned.
“Either
of you.”

“I believe he’s feeling, hmm, what did our father call it?”
Solomon murmured, touching his temple. “Ah, yes. Greyson is feeling the effects
of a possible pairing.”

Bruno glanced at Solomon. “Feeling the effects before bonding? That’s
a myth.”

Solomon raised an eyebrow, silver speckled light brown eyes
glittering sardonically. “And yet, do we not exist? We wouldn’t be here if our
father hadn’t paired with our mother. Isaac would agree with me, as well you
know.”

“You’re always so melodramatic,” Bruno complained, deflecting the
point.

“Can you sense her?” Solomon asked Greyson.

Greyson ran his hands through his hair. “Yes.”

“That’s because you gave her your ring, you idiot,” Bruno snapped.
“For all we know, she’s the source of the hacker trying to break into our tech.”

“Impossible,” Greyson said flatly. “You’d have sensed that when
she was in New York, where you were supposedly watching over her.” He crossed
his arms over his chest. “And you wouldn’t have hired her to spruce up the
Stronghold website.”

Bruno pursed his lips.
“Fine, fine, whatever.
I don’t know what you expect me to do about her, Greyson. She’s already there,
all moved in, according to you.” He glanced at his phone again. “And I have to
go.”

Greyson growled under his breath. “Don’t call the President a
moron again. It makes him difficult to work with.”

Bruno snorted. “If you want to come here and take the meeting for
me…” He trailed off.

“No, no, good luck,” Greyson hurriedly said. He
hated
meetings.
And cities.
And the
President.
Bruno was the only one of the four brothers who had even a
little bit of patience for stroking politicians’ delicate egos. “Good luck.”

“Yeah, it’s going to be great fun telling him that we’ve had
access to the
NSA’s
systems all along. I’m really
looking forward to that,” Bruno said sardonically.

Greyson grimaced. “I don’t know why we have to inform him at all.
We were better off in hiding. That worked for years.”

“Don’t be so obtuse. You already know why,” Solomon said. “We need
cooperation, now that human tech is catching up to ours. Otherwise the mortals’
blundering could inadvertently attract the Spiders.”

“We’re human, too, you know. All this ‘ours’ and ‘them’ stuff is
misleading.” Greyson didn’t want to admit his brothers were right.

“We are mostly human, but the differences are significant,”
Solomon said.

“It frightens them,” Greyson said. “That makes protecting them
more difficult.”

“We’ve been over all of this before,” Bruno interrupted. “Is there
anything specific you want me to bring up with the President? Otherwise, I’ve
got to go.”

Greyson tapped a finger on his viewer in thought.
Should I
mention it, or let it go until after his meeting?

Bruno lifted his hand, about to cut the transmission.

“Wait,” Greyson said, making a split-second decision.

Bruno tilted his head. “What?”

Greyson took a deep breath. “I found a deactivated Spider in the
woods a little while ago.”

“What? Are you serious?” Solomon asked, face going tight. “You
destroyed it, correct?”

“Of course.
I
demolecularized
it myself. You know what this means, though.” Greyson shook his head as the
cold feeling that had lodged in his gut for the last hour grew worse.

“Infection,” Solomon replied.

“One Spider does not imply a Swarm,” Bruno said.

Greyson eyed his brother, recognizing the tension in his
shoulders. “No, it doesn’t. But we need to be wary. I wanted you to know before
you spoke with the President.”

“You want me to tell him?”

Greyson lifted a shoulder. “It’s your call. See how the meeting
goes. Let me know.”

Bruno pinched the bridge of his nose. “You waited until five
minutes before I had to talk to him to tell me this?”

“I just found the Spider a half hour ago,” Greyson replied.

“This is a bad omen,” Solomon said.

Greyson agreed. “Yes.”

“Jesus. Okay, keep an eye on things. I’m not going to mention this
to the President unless I have to. No sense in getting him all worked up,”
Bruno said, rubbing his face.

“I’ll have Isaac take a ship out to Alpha Centauri. Maybe he will
be able to gather more data to help us,” Solomon said.

“Good idea,” Greyson said, thinking about their youngest brother. “Tell
him to be careful.”

Solomon smiled. “He’s never careful. That’s why he’s the best
pilot of all of us.”

Greyson shook his head. Solomon was right. No one would ever be
able to tame Isaac. Of all of them, he was the most emotional and impulsive. Solomon
was thoughtful and methodical.
Bruno, suave and intelligent.
His brothers thought of Greyson as the most reserved, which was why giving Eva
his ring had shocked them all so thoroughly.

“All right.
We’ve done what we can. I’m off.”
Bruno tapped the corner of his eye. Isaac hastily did the same, and Greyson
lifted his hand, but Bruno disconnected the viewer before he could complete the
familiar gesture. He sighed,
then
touched his eye
anyway, needing the comfort. He was a Sentry. So were his brothers. As long as
they lived, they would keep watch for the rest of humanity.

****

“Thank you for picking me up.” Eva slid into the passenger’s side
of Lucy’s mom’s car. “Did your mom mind you borrowing her car for the day?”

“Nah, she was cool. Dad dropped her off at work. She knows you and
I need to locate a vehicle for our own use, so she was nice about it.” Lucy
pulled out of Eva’s driveway slowly, obviously not wanting to kick up gravel
onto her mom’s leased commuter car.

“
What’s
this
you
and
I
you’re talking about?”
Eva teased, pushing the button to let down the window a little. She liked the
fresh air and it was a beautiful summer day.

“Ha. You know that I’ll mooch on you for all my transportation
needs, at least until I manage to find a job,” Lucy replied, shooting her a
mischievous look. “I’ll need someone to drive me to the clubs and I’m not going
to ask my mom to do it.”

Eva laughed. “What clubs? We live in mostly-rural Ohio.”

“You will be driving my delectable ass to Columbus whenever I
require civilization, which will probably be every Friday night. It’s the least
you can do since you talked me into moving back here.”

Lucy turned onto the highway and sped up. The breeze riffled
through Eva’s long hair, whipping strands into her face. She didn’t care. She
loved the quiet and the smell of growing hay. They whizzed past rolling
farmland and Eva tilted her head up, smiling.

“You’re going to catch flies if you keep your mouth hanging open
like that,” Lucy said, chuckling.

“Shut up. I’m enjoying the lack of sirens, exhaust, and body
fluids. And once again, I didn’t talk you into moving back here.”

“Uh-huh, and what is that I’m
smelling
?
Hmm, fertilizer.
Lovely.” Lucy pushed a button and closed
the windows.

Eva shook her head, but didn’t argue. She wasn’t particularly fond
of that scent either. “Oh well. The fresh air was nice while it lasted.”

****

“I like that one.” Lucy pointed at a cherry red, brand new
Mustang.

Eva snorted.
“Um, no.
I can’t afford that
and you know it.”

“It’s pretty,” Lucy whined, walking closer.

Eva followed her, amused. The used car lot was filled with
serviceable vehicles, but of course her best friend headed right towards the
most impractical car of the bunch. “It’s pretty, but it will suck gas I can’t
afford.”

“It’s red.” Lucy stroked her hand down the hood.

“I’ll buy you a red lollipop on the way home,” Eva said, grinning.

Lucy sent her a disgusted look.

“Is there something I can help you ladies with?” a man asked,
walking toward them. He wore khakis and a dress shirt with a nametag buttoned
to the pocket. He winked at Lucy. “This one’s a beaut. Want to take her for a
spin?”

“No, thank you,” Eva said before Lucy could get any ideas. She
squinted at the man’s name. “I’m looking for something more practical. Good gas
mileage.”

“Well, you’ve come to the right place. I’m Harold.” He smiled and
held out his hand.

Eva shook it. “Thanks.” She started walking between some cars,
heading towards the cheaper used vehicles. “I want something maybe two or three
years old.
Certified.”

“We just had a nice Honda come in,” Harold said.
“Down this way.”

A minute later the three of them were standing in front of a puce
green
econobox
. She didn’t know a thing about cars,
but this one looked ugly enough to be practical. It probably had great gas
mileage.

“It’s the color of mashed peas,” Lucy stated, frowning. “No. I
absolutely
can not
go clubbing in this, Eva.”

“Can I test drive it?” Eva ignored her friend.

Harold nodded.
“Sure, no problem.
Let me
just get the keys. I’ll need to make a copy of your driver’s license, too.”

Eva dug it out of her purse and handed it to him. He smiled
briefly and hurried off.

“You can’t be serious.” Lucy made fake gagging motions with her
hand.

Eva laughed. “It just needs to run and be reliable.” She cocked
her head.
“And not too expensive.”

“Didn’t John give you a pile of cash to get started?”

“I’m not going to spend all his money, Lucy. I want to support
myself,” Eva said severely.

Just as Lucy opened her mouth to argue, Harold hurried back out.
Saved
by the salesman,
Eva thought, smiling inside.

“Here you go.” He bent down and unlocked the car, holding open the
door for her. Eva thanked him and leaned down, eyeing the interior. Everything
looked okay, but she waited a moment for the hot air to waft out. A locked car
sitting in the sun on a nice summer’s day tended to turn into an oven and she
had no desire to sear her lungs.

Lucy unlatched the rear door. “I’ll sit in the back,” she said,
beginning to slide in.

Eva nodded, smiling at her friend. “Okay.”

That was when all hell broke loose.

****

Greyson dropped the glass of water as energy flashed through him
in a painful rush. He clutched his head, moaning, and then he pinpointed the
cause: Spiders.
Somewhere in the nearby town.
Near
Eva! He was feeling his ring activate, shielding her from the aliens, but he
couldn’t tell anything else. Was she alive? How many Spiders were there? Did
she know what was happening?

He cursed, stumbling against the counter as he took a couple harsh
breaths, trying to calm the wild surges of energy rushing through his brain.
You
can do this,
he told himself, building a mental wall between him and energy
rocketing from his ring to his skull. When he finally managed to get some
control back, he could filter out more details. Eva was okay, but upset.
Someone else was there with her.
Dammit! I need to get there. No one knows
about the Spiders.