Mystics 3-Book Collection (68 page)

Zoey noticed that the lines around Agent
Vargas’s eyes and forehead had deepened. She knew he wasn’t telling
them the whole truth. She was sure the Agency had discovered
something far worse. But what could be worse than unexpected
portals opening up and snatching people away with them?

Dread weighed Zoey down. “Agent Vargas? Can
I ask you something?”

“Yes,” answered the big man. “What is
it?”

Zoey swallowed hard. “What happens to the
people who disappeared into the portal?”

“Oh, man, that’s right!” said Simon
overdramatically as he pressed his hands on his head. “I hadn’t
even
thought
of that.”

Agent Vargas stared at them both without
speaking for a moment, as though he either didn’t
want
to
tell them or simply didn’t
know
what happened.

“I’m afraid their fate is not a very good
one,” he said finally. “I fear most of those poor souls are
probably already dead—killed by mystics. And if by some miracle
some survived, then they probably wished that they were dead
already.”

“What do you mean?” asked Zoey. “What’s
going to happen to them?”

She suppressed a shiver as she imagined the
teens she had seen on the beach being ripped apart by eyeless,
black-winged Duyen demons.

There would be nothing left of them but
piles of clothes stained in their blood.

Agent Vargas sighed. “Once the Mutes cross
over into the Nexus the veil will be lifted. They’ll be able to
see
every mystic, as we do here, but only in that other
world. The mystics won’t understand the difference and will think
the Mutes are agents. They’ll kill some and take others as
prisoners. They will torture them to get back at us. They will die
the most horrific and painful deaths. It saddens me to think we
can’t stop it from happening.”

Zoey and Simon stared at each other without
speaking. She thought of the teenagers on the beach again and felt
a stabbing pain in her heart. They had thought it was a joke. They
didn’t deserve to die. She prayed that some had survived and hid
somehow. She remembered seeing vast red mountains. Maybe there were
places to hide in the Nexus?

“So you think they’re all dead?” Zoey’s
throat was very dry. “We can never get them back?”

The big agent looked at Zoey, his lips
pressed together in a hard line, but he didn’t reply. He wasn’t
sure what to answer.

“That really sucks,” said Simon gloomily. “I
mean, how
can
they survive? They don’t even have weapons or
the proper training to defend themselves against the mystics.
They’ll probably die of fright when they realize the monsters from
their childhood nightmares are
real
.”

Zoey’s heart raced.

“You think no one can survive there? Not
even an
agent
?”

Simon’s head snapped in her direction.

Zoey’s insides twisted as she thought about
her mother trapped somewhere in that other world. She knew she had
to be extra careful about how much she was willing to tell Agent
Vargas. He was clever and could very easily read between the lines.
If the Agency knew what she was planning to do, they would most
definitely lock her up.

Agent Vargas watched Zoey carefully.

“What have you heard?” There was something
strange in his expression, like she had discovered some secret.

“What if an agent
accidentally
crossed into the Nexus,” said Zoey, with tension in her voice.
“Surely they
could
survive. I mean, like Simon said, they
would have the necessary skills, right? They could defend
themselves, right? So it’s possible?”

“Yes,” answered Agent Vargas, and excitement
fluttered in Zoey. “What are you getting at with this? Zoey, I get
the feeling there’s something you’re not telling me?”

Zoey had gotten her answer, and she wasn’t
going to tell him anything else.

Agent Vargas was about to drill her when the
door opened, and Tristan and Stuart strolled in.

Tristan’s dark almond eyes caught hers, and
her heart did a somersault. As much as she tried to ignore the
feeling, it always crept up on her whenever Tristan was near. She
hated herself for being so sensitive. There was no getting away
from it—Tristan was her weakness.

He was dressed all in black except for a
tight blue t-shirt. Although he wasn’t yet fifteen, he was built
like a professional athlete. His thick brown hair framed his
chiseled face and high cheekbones.

Zoey remembered how vibrant he had looked
the first time she had seen him at the abandoned theatre. He looked
taller now, thinner and a little more worn, like he was taking on
too many assignments and getting too little rest. His dark eyes
looked older too, somehow, full of concern and responsibility.

Simon hadn’t changed much. He seemed more
comfortable in his own skin now. He’d always had too much hyper
energy, but he seemed to handle it better. He was better at
thinking things through than the rest of them.

She wondered what they thought of her now
when they looked at her. She definitely didn’t
feel
like the
same person she had been back at the foster home. She was stronger
now and more confident. She had also gained a few extra pounds of
much-needed muscle, thanks to the intense training and Aria’s
cooking.

But when Zoey looked at Tristan’s partner,
she glowered.

His icy blue eyes, like a husky’s or a
shark’s made her want to punch him every time she saw him. Stuart
King’s clothes were too perfect. His black hair was groomed to
perfection, even his porcelain skin was annoyingly perfect—not even
a hint of a pimple. He didn’t look like an OSC working out in the
field—he looked like he was about to do a photo-shoot for a fashion
magazine. His ruby ring in the shape of the letter O was too
ostentatious. And to make matters worse, his OSC badge had been
sewn on professionally. Zoey had sewn hers herself and had added
glue just to be safe, but the edges had a tendency to curl
upwards.

“Agent Vargas,” said Tristan as he reached
the front of the big man’s desk. “We secured the Sagamite in
Riverside, California. It’s locked up now in cell block #412—”

“Pfft. A Sagamite?” mocked Simon as he
strolled around Tristan. “Those puny little critters that look like
monkeys with antlers? That’s nothing. Me and Zoey caught—not
one—but
two
giants single handedly. It was awesome.
I
was awesome. You and your
superstar
missed quite a
show.”

Stuart glared at Simon, but Simon blew him a
kiss.

Tristan turned and smiled at Zoey. “Two
giants? Really? That’s impressive.”

Zoey nodded. “Two nasty and very
smelly
giants. I feel like having a shower just remembering
their smell.”

Simon clasped his hands behind his back and
circled Stuart, eyeing him suspiciously.

“And did his
highness
participate in
catching the Sagamite—or did he watch safely from a distance?”

Stuart’s scowl deepened, but he kept his
cool, which only added fuel to Simon’s insults. If it had been her,
Zoey would have punched Simon already. But Stuart was his usual,
calm, unreadable, and ice-cold self.

“Figures. You didn’t want to get your
precious
hands or expensive clothes dirty,” said Simon. “. .
. So you made Tristan do all the work, and you hoped to get the
credit, too? Well, your royal stuck-up-ness, I’ve got news for you,
that’s not how it works here.”

Simon was dangerously close to Stuart’s
face. If he leaned forward an inch, their noses would touch.

“Get lost, Brown!” A large vein throbbed on
Stuart’s forehead. “Or I’ll do to you what
I
did to the
Sagamite.”

Simon shot his arms in the air. “Wait a
minute!”

He leaned closer and examined Stuart’s
hands. “I see a bit of dirt under
that
fingernail. Hurry,
call your manicurist—”

Stuart shoved Simon so hard that he crashed
into a row of desks.

Simon recovered quickly.

“Off with his head!” he shouted and charged
for Stuart like an angry bull.

“Enough!” bellowed Agent Vargas. Simon
skidded to a stop but kept glaring at Stuart who sneered at him
triumphantly.

“Are you little
children
or are you
OSC
?” Agent Vargas’s voice boomed against the walls like
thunder.

Zoey cowered back. The room was suddenly
very still and quiet. She could hear her heart drumming in her
ears.

“Because right now you’re acting like
spoiled, idiotic kids.” The agent’s expression darkened as he
measured them each individually, and for a second, Zoey thought she
and the others were about to join the giants and the Sagamite down
in the basement.

“We’re about to live through
very
hard times—worse than anything this world has ever faced. This is
no
time for immature, childish games.”

He raised a large finger and pointed to
Simon and Stuart.

“And you two better start behaving like
agents or there’ll be trouble, I can promise you that.”

“Yes, sir,” said Simon. “Sorry, sir.”

Stuart remained quiet, but Zoey could see a
smile on his lips. It was almost as though he felt that even Agent
Vargas couldn’t touch him.

Agent Vargas crossed his arms over his
chest. “Now, I want you two to shake hands.”

“What?” said Simon, and he nearly coughed
out his own tongue. With his eyes bulging, he stood and
pointed.

“You can’t be serious? No way. I’m not
shaking
his
hand. He’s got cooties. Besides,
he
pushed me
first
. Let’s face it, we’re
all
thinking
it—the guy’s a jerk.”

“You’ll shake his hand if you want to
stay
in this program,” warned Agent Vargas, his voice etched
with irritation. Zoey knew Agent Vargas wasn’t a man to be trifled
with, and she hoped Simon knew it too. If Agent Vargas wasn’t going
to make Simon shake Stuart’s hand, she was
going
to make him
do it. He was her partner, after all. She needed him.

Stuart jeered and raised his hand. “Come on,
Brown. Don’t be such a baby. We’re all agents here, aren’t we? Or
are you in a class of your own?”

“I’m not a baby,” growled Simon curling his
hands into fists. “I’ll show you who’s a baby, you rotten sovereign
wannabe—”

“Simon,” cautioned Agent Vargas, and he
raised an eyebrow. “Control yourself. I’m warning you—don’t make me
repeat myself—I
hate
having to repeat myself.”

Simon had a crazed look in his eye and
didn’t seem to hear. He took another step closer to Stuart. “You
scumbag, degenerate, deviant, dirt bag, sleaze ball, royal pain in
my—”

“SIMON!”

Simon clamped his mouth shut, but Zoey could
swear he whispered a few more insults.

Agent Vargas towered over him like a polar
bear. “If we didn’t need every able body right now, I’d throw you
in the cell blocks myself! Shake his hand, or so help me
I
will
make
you do it!”

Slowly, very slowly, Simon reached out and
shook Stuart’s hand with a grimace on his face, like he’d just
swallowed a raw onion. They didn’t look at each other, and both put
as much distance as they could between one another after the shake.
Simon wiped his hand on his shirt as though he still had some of
the giant’s mucus on it.

Zoey caught Stuart’s eye as he leaned calmly
on one of the desks. He smiled at her coldly like he had won some
sort of challenge. This wasn’t over. If he wanted to play, then she
was going to play hard.

“Now, can we get back to work, or do I have
to send for bottled milk and blankets?” continued Agent Vargas. He
eyed them dangerously, daring them to speak up.

“Good. Let us continue. I have here a
handful of assignments for all of you.”

He strolled over to his desk and picked up a
tablet computer. He touched the screen and then looked up. “Zoey,
Simon, I’ve got a report of a Fluegen in Mexico City. Think you can
handle that?” He looked at Simon.

“No problem.” Simon crossed his arms over
his chest. His eyes darted in Stuart’s direction.

Zoey leaned forward and whispered to
Tristan, “What’s a
Fluegen
?”

“They’re like giant frogs. They’re massive
but really stupid,” he said with a smile.

Zoey leaned back and made a face. “Great,
more big, stinky and slimy beasts—”

“Agent Vargas! Agent Vargas!”

Agent Ward ran into the room, her face
flushed like she had just run a marathon. Her chin-length gray hair
bobbed up and down as she crossed the room, and her bony legs
scurried under her navy skirt suit. Her usual sergeant major scowl
had been replaced by an urgent expression, like she had just
discovered some troubling news.

Zoey was itching to find out what it was and
strained to listen.

Agent Ward made her way swiftly to the front
of the class and raised her arms.

“I’m sorry to disrupt your class like this,”
she said a little out of breath as she straightened her
black-rimmed glasses. “But I’ve just been with Director Hicks
and—”

She turned and looked straight at Zoey.

Zoey felt like a fist had squeezed her
heart. Whatever pressing news Agent Ward had learned, it had
something to do with
her.
She wasn’t sure if that was a
good
thing or a
bad
thing. She could see Stuart
smirking at her on the other side of the room.

Agent Ward’s face softened. “Zoey, you’ve
been summoned to a
very
special meeting.”

“What kind of meeting?” Zoey was certain
everyone in the room could sense her nerves.

Agent Ward moved closer to her. She took in
a shaky breath and then said, “With the National Assembly.”

Chapter 4