Mystics 3-Book Collection (44 page)

The mystic stared at her. “I’m a mystic, not
an alien,” he repeated, clearly offended.

Simon grabbed Zoey and pulled her towards
him. “What are you doing?” he whispered, “This is our only chance
to get out of here. Stop insulting the man. Everyone knows aliens
are mystics. Now climb in.”

Zoey must have missed the memo about
aliens.

The Aleean smiled and said, “The name’s
Kirk—you can call me Captain Kirk.”

Simon stifled a laugh and scrambled into the
back seat with Tristan.

The interior was made of the same strange
green smoke. The old forest-green leather seats looked as though
moths had eaten away at the leather. The chauffeur sat behind a
U-shaped steering wheel in a revolving chair, surrounded by
flashing knobs and buttons. Green stickers on the seats and windows
read,
Area 51: Aliens on board
—
proceed with caution
;
I want to believe!
and
The Truth is out there.

Zoey turned around. Her heart caught in her
throat.

The six Sand people glared at her from the
entrance of the alleyway. One of them slammed his staff on the
ground. A giant tidal wave of sand came thundering towards
them.

“Zoey! Get in!” screamed Tristan.

Zoey dived into the back seat and pulled the
door shut, just as a wave of sand crashed into the space-cab. It
picked up the car like a giant hand and threw it into a building.
The cab crashed into the wall, tipped over and landed on its roof.
Zoey, Tristan, and Simon rolled over each other in a tangle of
elbows and knees.

Another violent burst of sand hit the upside
down space-cab. Zoey smacked her head hard against the window, and
warm blood trickled down the side of her face. She could see sand
slipping in through a small opening in the side window.

“They’re trying to get in!” she screamed,
backing away from the abominable sand.

The sand wrapped around them and blocked out
the light. The cab shook. Metal screeched. Pistons wailed. For a
moment Zoey thought they were going to die.

“Kirk! Get us out of here!” shrieked
Simon.

“Gotcha!” The Aleean floored the
accelerator, and Zoey’s head slammed against the backrest. “Buckle
up!”

A seatbelt light came on. Zoey searched for
her seatbelt and clasped it clumsily. The pressure in the cab
changed, and her ears popped.

She peered through the rear window and
watched the alley get smaller and smaller. The Sand people became
little ants and then disappeared entirely.

O
nce the turbulence
had subsided, and she was content that they
weren’t
going to
crash, Zoey actually started to enjoy herself. She leaned back
comfortably in her seat and stared out of the window at the white
puffy clouds below them. It felt like a private jet ride. It was
awesome.

The chauffer tapped a dial, and
The
Empire Strikes Back
theme blared through the speakers and made
the seats vibrate.

“Sometimes we accidentally take the wrong
passengers,” Kirk said to Simon, “That’s why there are always
rumors of
alien abductions,
you know. It’s always an honest
mistake—truly. You humans all look the same to us. Mistakes are
inevitable. We try to wipe their memories with the help of the
Erasers of course, but it doesn’t always work. Some Mutes
remember.”

Zoey remembered that Agent Barnes had
mentioned the
Erasers
when the Duyen demon had tried to kill
her, but she hadn’t asked about them.

Tristan could see Kirk’s bulbous yellow eyes
fixed on him in the rearview mirror. At last, Kirk said, “You’re
Mysterian, aren’t you? Yeah. You are. I can see it - you’re one of
us.”

He didn’t wait for a reply but gave Tristan
the Vulcan salute hand sign and said, “Peace, my brother.”

Zoey could see the tiniest smile curled on
Tristan’s lips. They had only talked once about his being a
Mysterian. She wondered what it must have been like to grow up with
a human mother and a mystic father. It must have been awesome to
have parents. But Zoey didn’t feel sorry for herself anymore. Once
the Agency had found her, they had become her family.

Tristan moved his hand gently towards hers,
and she moved hers away, almost unconsciously. She immediately
regretted it when she saw a trace of anger on Tristan’s face.

Zoey stared out of the window feeling
miserable. Why did boys have to be so sensitive? It’s not like they
were
dating
or anything like that. Why was he so
sentimental? She wasn’t even sure if she felt for him in
that
way. In fact, she had never felt for anyone in
that
way. Maybe she was so screwed up inside that she
couldn’t have feelings for anyone.

After about an hour’s ride in the mystic
cab, Kirk suddenly announced that they had arrived at their
destination. The cab banked to the left and then dropped. Zoey’s
heart was in her throat as the craft descended. Her ears popped
again, and she swallowed. The clouds cleared, and the Hive’s
building appeared below. It was covered in snow and surrounded by
woodlands. As they neared, she saw agents come out from the front
door, and her heart sank. This wasn’t exactly the discreet entrance
she had hoped for.

Simon looked at it differently and was
grinning from ear to ear.

“Now this is what I call arriving in style.
Can’t wait to see the jealous faces on Billy and James when they
hear about this. We’ll be
famous
!”

Zoey squeezed her hands together. More and
more agents came out of the Hive and looked up in their
direction.

“You okay, Zoey?” Tristan was looking at her
gently. “You look pale.”

“Well, we didn’t exactly ask permission to
go to New York. Agent Ward looks like she’s going to bite off my
head. It’ll be a miracle if we don’t get expelled.”

The mystic cab hovered for a moment, sending
snow into the air like great white waves. Then it settled on the
snow with a gentle thump.

“Here we are, safe and sound,” said Kirk. He
pressed a dial and the passenger doors opened.

“Oh, hang on, I almost forgot!” He fumbled
with a bag and then handed them three black T-shirts with a large
green alien head on them—identical to the one he was wearing.

“Souvenirs,” he said proudly, “Now you can
tell all your friends about how great it was to ride in my
cab.”

He pulled out some small cards and handed
them to Simon. “These are extra cards, and my email’s at the bottom
here. Later, little agents. Peace!”

The three of them thanked him and scrambled
out of the space-cab. The doors swung shut, and the craft shot into
the clouds and disappeared, leaving a trail of green smoke behind
it.

“Well, well, well—the three musketeers have
graced us with their presence.”

Zoey turned around.

Agent Ward marched up to them like a
pit-bull ready for a fight. Her black-rimmed glasses amplified her
sergeant major scowl. Zoey swallowed hard.

“I’m so
angry
with you,” she hissed,
making fists with her hands, “I don’t even know where to begin! How
dare
you take the
A-LEE-AN Taxi Express
, it’s only
for agents - and for
emergencies
! Operatives are not allowed
to use them.”

“But it
was
for an emergency!” said
Simon in a low voice.

“BE QUIET!”

Simon blinked, then blushed and stared at
the ground, his moment of fame crushed. Zoey felt sorry for him; he
really had saved them.

Tristan stepped forward and cleared his
throat.

“Simon’s right. Sand people were after us,
Agent Ward. If it weren’t for Simon’s quick thinking about the
mystic cab — we’d be dead.”

He looked over at Simon who just gave a
small nod of his head — they were instant friends again.

“And
why
were there Sand people after
you in the first place? Where were you, I wonder?” said Agent Ward
with a murderous sparkle in her eye. “I received a very interesting
call from the Hive in New York an hour ago. It appears that three
young Operatives had been snooping around in the archives. There
are rules of courtesy for that sort of thing. We do not drop in
another Hive unannounced and without permission. Especially young
Operatives with no supervision.”

Agent Ward pursed her lips and then turned
to Zoey, “Why do I get the feeling this has everything to do with
you
?”

Zoey’s face burned. “Maybe because it
does.”

Agent Ward pointed a bony finger at Zoey.
“Don’t you
dare
be impertinent with me, girl! I am your
superior! You will therefore accord me the proper respect! Do you
understand?”

Clenching her trembling hands together,
blood rose to Zoey’s face and ears. There was nothing more in the
world she hated more than to be told off, even more so in front of
her friends. The truth was, she had never cared for rules or
regulations. A few months ago she would have gladly told off the
old woman. But now she bit her tongue and counted to ten in her
head.

She took a deep breath and met Agent Ward’s
scowl. She knew, deep down, that Agent Ward cared, and that she was
probably so terrified about what was happening that her feelings
were coming out a little too prickly.

It was torture just standing there and
saying nothing, but Zoey remained silent.

“Excuse me, Agent Ward?” Agent Barnes made
his way towards them, and Zoey felt a sudden release.

“We’re about to begin,” he said, “and these
three have already been exposed to it, so Director Hicks wants them
at the meeting too.”

Agent Ward looked murderous. “He does, does
he?” Her body twitched like she was about to explode.

“Yup,” Agent Barnes grinned. “You forgot
your coat so you’d better go on inside before you catch a cold.
I’ll take these three with me.”

At first she’d thought that Agent Ward was
shaking from anger, but now she realized that the woman was
standing in twenty below zero weather in indoor black shoes,
nylons, and a skirt suit—she was freezing.

“Come, then,” chided Agent Ward. “But don’t
think you won’t be punished because you
will
. Right now
there are more important matters than three insubordinate
children.”

With a final glare, she stormed back in the
direction of the Hive, her arms wrapped around herself, trying to
keep warm.

Although Zoey knew they weren’t out of the
woods yet, she started to breathe normally again. Whatever this
meeting was, it had saved them from Agent Ward’s wrath. Tristan and
Simon did their best to hide the smiles on their faces, but not
very successfully.

Agent Barnes waited till Agent Ward was out
of earshot and started laughing. As he shook his head he said, “You
three seriously didn’t pick the right day to be misbehaving.”

“What do you mean?” said Zoey. “What’s
happened? Does this have something to do with the black oil?”

Agent Barnes was silent for a second.

“It does. Agent Franken will explain
everything. Management’s called an urgent meeting.”

He started forward. “Come on, everyone’s
gathered in the main hall, everybody that’s trapped here, that is.
We’d better hurry. They’re all waiting for us to begin.”

Zoey, Tristan and Simon shared a nervous
look and followed Agent Barnes.

“Do they know what caused it?” asked Zoey,
as she walked alongside Agent Barnes. “…The black oil?”

She remembered how the mirrors had been
consumed by the blackness, as though their innards were spilling
onto the floor like black blood. “It was almost like a virus. I
think it ate away at the mirrors.”

“Well, everyone’s in a panic. They haven’t
said much, only that it’s a deliberate attack,” he answered, “but
I’m guessing Agent Franken will have a solution. The man’s a quack,
but he’s a genius. If anyone can fix the mirrors—it’s him.”

Zoey hoped he was right but didn’t feel so
confident. With a sickening twist in her stomach, she followed the
others inside the Hive. They made their way through the front
doors. They had barely set foot into the main hall when Zoey caught
her breath and stared, shaken, at the horrible scene.

The once gleaming marble floors were soiled
and covered in puddles of black liquid. Every single mirror in the
main hall had become a hollow frame that dripped with remnants of
the black oil. And she could hear a strange, dull murmur, as though
the mirrors themselves were crying.

She flinched as thirty pairs of eyes turned
and stared at them. She spotted Director Hicks right away. His
white thinning hair and beard stood out amongst the crowd, but his
solemn expression was not the cheerful one she had begun to be
accustomed to.

All the other directors were there, too.
Director Johnson’s face showed no emotion as he stood amongst the
others. His dark skin stood out against his light blue suit.
Directors Martin and Campbell were huddled together in a deep
conversation, but they kept glancing at Zoey. She had the distinct
impression that they were talking about her. But why? She had
nothing to do with the black oil.

Everyone was gathered in the main hall. Aria
stood by the reception area next to Mrs. Jenson. Agents Ward and
Vargas leaned on the opposite wall. Everyone looked shocked with
fear and disbelief.

Zoey, Tristan, and Simon followed Agent
Barnes as he made his way towards the front. They stopped next to
Agent Lee, who gave a nod of his head at their arrival. When they
were settled, Director Hicks stepped out to the middle of the great
hall. He adjusted his red bowtie, pulled the front of his plaid
suit over his large girth, and cleared his throat.

“Thank you all for coming.” He clasped his
hands behind his back, looking stern.