Mystics 3-Book Collection (73 page)

He raised his voice and made sure everyone
in the great hall could hear him. “
We’re
the ones who helped
find the cure for the black oil—the three of us! You have no idea
what we can do. We’re a team. We’re like the three musketeers—only
better. You
need
us.”

Another group of agent volunteers had
already taken their place at the table. Among them was a skinny
woman who clasped a portable computer nervously to her chest, like
a newborn child. Zoey knew she was that group’s science officer.
She looked terrified.

But Zoey wasn’t terrified. She wanted to go.
She
needed
to go.

Zoey pushed her way back through the
volunteers towards Agent Ward. “Please Agent Ward. I know I can
help.”

A flash of sadness appeared on Agent Ward’s
face. “I know how difficult this must be for you, Zoey. But without
a science officer, I’m afraid there’s nothing else I can do—”

“I’m their science officer!” said a
voice.

Zoey turned around. Agent Franken shuffled
through the crowd in his usual silver full body HAZMAT suit, but
without the hood and visor. He had two large metal tanks on his
back and had rubber tubes wrapped tightly around his waist. He held
a gray carry-on bag and looked like he was ready to explore the sea
in in an antique diving suit. He moved slowly, and with some
difficulty; finally he reached Agent Ward.

“I’m their science officer,” repeated Agent
Franken a little out of breath. “They’re with me.”

Slowly, he brushed a strand of stringy white
hair from his forehead. And when he looked at Zoey, his thick
glasses magnified his eyes to the size of grapefruits. He
smiled.

“Sorry I’m late. I needed to make sure we
had all the necessary supplies for this mission. Can’t be too
careful, especially with where we are going.”

He adjusted his glasses, and Zoey could see
a freshly stamped V marked the top of his right hand.

Zoey wanted to throw her arms around the
little old man and hug him, but she was afraid she might crush
him.

“Not a problem, Agent Franken,” she
answered. “Just glad you finally made it.”

She smiled at him, and when she looked at
Tristan and Simon, their grins were the size of the great hall.

“Move over!” Simon pushed the other group of
volunteers back. “We were here first. Very important science
officer as our teammate! Coming through, coming through! Thank you,
but we’ll sign autographs later.”

Zoey couldn’t have asked for a better team.
Agent Franken was the cleverest scientist in all of the Agencies.
Tristan was a brave and strong Mysterian. And the ever-resourceful
Simon Brown was always an asset. It was a team made in heaven.

Simon leaned forward and whispered to Agent
Franken. “So, what’s the master plan?”

Agent Franken blinked his oversized eyes and
said, “Just get me across to the portal alive and keep me alive
while I work on the Nexus portal on the other side. I’ll need maybe
twenty minutes at the most . . . if everything goes according to
plan.”

“That’s a pretty good plan,” said Simon,
still beaming. “Did I ever tell you how awesome you are?”

Agent Franken stared at Simon without
blinking.

“Are you ready?” commanded Agent Ward. She
tapped her foot impatiently. “You’re not the only team to leave
today.”

“Time to go, team.” Zoey turned and looked
at Agent Ward. She wasn’t sure, but she thought that she smiled for
a second. When she looked again, it was gone.

“Well now, I see that everything is in
order,” said Agent Ward. She typed something on the small
computerized panel. “Well, then off you go and best of luck.”

The green light lit up and the surface of
the mirror churned and wavered like liquid water.

Zoey could hardly restrain herself from
jumping to the front of the line, but she waited to let Agent
Franken step through first. After all, he was a senior agent, the
science officer, and he was much older than they were. It was only
fair that he should go in first. She would go in after.

Agent Franken stepped forward, and with a
flash of white light he disappeared.

With a last glance over at Tristan and
Simon, Zoey walked through.

Beams of green and blue flashed behind her
eyes as she was stretched and pulled like gum. As the sick feeling
started, she thought of her mother to stop the sensation. Then she
smelled the ocean and wet leaves, and her feet touched solid
ground.

She grabbed her boomerang instinctively as
she opened her eyes.

The early morning sun shone in a clearing
surrounded by trees as tall as skyscrapers. To her right was the
great stone wall outside the Alpha city. And outside the wall, at
the edge of the forest loomed an enormous blue hole about two
hundred feet wide. It was just as she remembered. The blue inside
of the hole stirred and wavered like water, alien and imposing in
the forest.

Outside the portal, the agents and science
officers who had gone through the mirror before her were under
attack.

Chapter 7

A
t first, Zoey
thought she was hallucinating. But as her eyes focused and adjusted
to the dim light around her, she knew she wasn’t.

Hundreds of Alphas and monster hybrids
stabbed, shot, whipped, crushed, and pulled apart any agents trying
to get near the great portal like they were nothing more than mere
insects. Her chest tightened as she watched a familiar science
officer with puffy yellow hair make a run for the portal. He didn’t
make it. An Alpha woman with the legs of a lion and a lizard tail
plunged a spear through him and then picked him up like he weighed
no more than a child. Her distorted face gleamed as she stuck the
other end of the spear into the ground and admired the dying man
like a prize. Zoey wanted to throw up. It was too horrific to
watch, but she couldn’t look away. All around the portal, agents
shrieked in a chaotic fog of panic and blood.

Agent Ferguson appeared through a break in
the cluster of attacks. Zoey held her breath as he slipped unseen
past the attacking Alphas and scurried over to the portal.

He drew a knife and sliced his right palm,
chanting as he did so. He squeezed blood from the wound and flung
some of it at the portal. She could see the strain on his face.

Why wasn’t he stepping
through
to the
other side? He needed to close
both
portals for the Great
Junction to shut down.

“Wait!” she cried. “You need to go through
to the other side!”

But Agent Ferguson didn’t hear her voice
over the roar of the battle.

Agent Ferguson stood back and waited. He
looked triumphant. At first nothing happened, but then, like a drop
of ink in water, a spot of purple appeared in the portal. He threw
his fist in the air in triumph, and then lowered it very slowly.
The purple blot dissolved as though it had never existed. His blood
didn’t work. The blood of an Original wasn’t enough to close the
portal.

As he inched forward again to try again, an
Alpha woman with long white hair and milky skin appeared in a flash
of red behind him and raised her dagger.

“NO!” cried Zoey.

The Alpha woman stabbed him repeatedly.
Agent Ferguson yelped, fell to the ground, and tried to crawl away.
But he wasn’t fast enough. The Alpha grabbed his hair, pulled back
his head, and slit his throat like she was carving a pumpkin. His
eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he fell face first into
the dirt, dead.

Without thinking, Zoey rushed forward and
crashed into Agent Franken. His thick glasses magnified the terror
in his eyes. He turned to her and whispered, “Oh dear, it’s much
worse than I anticipated.”

Tristan and Simon appeared at her side.

“I had a feeling it wouldn’t work.” Tristan
looked at Zoey. “He died in vain—”

“At least he tried!” Zoey turned angrily to
Tristan. “He died
trying
to save us all!”

“But he also died trying the wrong side of
the portal,” added Simon.

He winced at the scowl on Zoey’s face, and
then he added quickly. “And now we know that blood alone won’t do
the trick.”

“No, simple blood most certainly
won’t
.” Agent Franken adjusted his glasses with a look of
grim determination. “Follow me.”

The little man waddled forward as fast as
his ungainly suit would allow him to go.

Zoey looked at Tristan and Simon and then
followed Agent Franken. He hid behind a tree and waited. Zoey knelt
down beside him. Tristan and Simon came up behind her, and she
grasped her boomerang tightly. She hoped Agent Franken had a plan
to get them across.

She searched the scene for a safe passage to
the portal, but there wasn’t one. Everywhere she looked, agents,
science officers, and Alphas were in combat—and the Alphas were
winning easily.

Seconds became minutes as they waited, and
waited, and waited. Finally, Zoey couldn’t stay quiet any
longer.

“Agent Franken,” she whispered, “what
exactly are we waiting for?”

He raised his hand but didn’t speak. She
could see sweat trickling down the sides of his temples and
realized he must be boiling hot in that suit. She hoped that the
suit would protect him.

Nobody said anything.

“I need you to help me get across safely,”
said Agent Franken finally. “Once we’re through, I’m going to need
twenty minutes or so to shut down the portal on the Nexus
side—”

“But how will we get back home?”

Simon’s voice rose, and the whites of his
eyes showed. “Are you planning a suicide mission? There are things
I’d like to get back to, you know . . . like food and video games
. . . and maybe even a first date!”

Agent Franken turned slowly towards Simon
and looked at him like he had never seen him before.

“This isn’t a suicide mission boy. I’d like
to get back to my things as well once this is over.”

He wiped his forehead with his sleeve. “But
it’s a very
dangerous
mission, nonetheless. In theory, once
the procedure is done we should have enough time to slip back
through the portal before it shuts down completely.”

“Do your theories usually work?” Simon
blurted out.

“Usually.”

“Well, that’s comforting—ouch!” Zoey knocked
Simon on the head with her boomerang.

Agent Franken turned back to the portal.
“Once the Nexus side is closed, I’ll still need your help to keep
me
breathing
while I work on
this
side of the
portal.”

“Got it,” said Tristan. “We’ll keep you
safe, don’t worry.”

“Good.” Agent Franken said. “I picked you
lot because I believe in the three of you . . . and in me of
course.”

Agent Franken’s belief in her made Zoey feel
invincible. She could tackle all the Alphas singlehandedly. She
caught Tristan smiling at her and felt the blood rise in her
face.

Agent Franken stared at the scene in silence
again. And then after a moment, he raised his hand again and said,
“Now!”

Together, the three of them began to cross
the grounds towards the portal. Zoey had a bad feeling that Agent
Franken’s slowness would get them all killed, but Tristan took over
and attacked anything that came near them with his silver dagger.
His skin gleamed blue as he punched and kicked a path for them.
Zoey and Simon protected the back, and the team fought their way
towards the portal doing their best to keep Agent Franken
alive.

Simon flung homemade explosives with his S9
slingshot. He hit a rat-faced Alpha man in the face, and he
exploded in a sticky pink mess.

Zoey kicked and slashed, using her boomerang
like a sword. She had to keep Agent Franken safe, and the only way
to do that was to get the Alphas to focus on
them
instead of
him. They had to shield him until they reached the portal.

For one exciting minute, Zoey thought they
were winning. She hurled her boomerang and knocked down four
unsuspecting Alphas. A young Alpha panicked when he saw her and ran
face-first into another Alpha, knocking them both out cold.

Another mystic with large bat wings
screeched and tried to fly away, but Tristan grabbed him by the
legs and sent him spiraling into the forest.

Even Simon showed skill and bravery as he
knocked out two large Alpha men with an explosive shot of yellow
slime.

But for every one they put down, twenty more
appeared. It was an impenetrable force. They hadn’t even made it
halfway to the portal. The giant blue hole seemed hopelessly out of
reach.

After half an hour of fighting and dodging,
Zoey’s blistered hands and skinny frame couldn’t take much more.
She wished she had Tristan’s super strength. She saw the strain on
Simon’s face, and Tristan looked even worse. He had fought ten
times more Alphas than Zoey and Simon combined and looked drained.
His glowing blue skin had dimmed, like his battery was failing. He
clutched his chest with his right arm, while he fought with his
left. She could see blood seeping through his fingers. He was
injured.

As Zoey blundered towards Tristan, an Alpha
broke through behind her. She spun around and raised her weapon,
but Agent Franken got there first. He swung his carry-on bag and
smacked the Alpha with surprising force for someone so small. The
Alpha fell unconscious.

Miraculously, Agent Franken was still
safe.

Zoey could feel her hope of finding her
mother washing away.

Mrs. Dupont had guarded her great portal
with such enormous strength that Zoey wondered if they were
fighting for a lost cause. Where was the woman anyway? Peering down
at them grotesquely from her grand mansion? Just the thought of her
made Zoey’s blood boil.

The combat seemed to break for a moment, but
Zoey’s relief soon vanished when a new enemy came forward.