Mystics 3-Book Collection (87 page)

“The lovely Mrs. Dupont used me. She used me
to set in motion the Great Junction. I tried to stop her, but I
couldn’t. And now we face the end of the world because of me.”

Her mother pressed a hand on Zoey’s
shoulder.

“Not because of you, but because of her.”
She hesitated. “I knew something must have happened when she sold
me off to the Aneraks. So she took you instead. She knew you were
much more powerful than I ever was. She’s been obsessing about the
Great Junction for years. I was a disappointment. She could never
open it with me.”

Zoey glanced back at her friends. “And now
we’re here to try to destroy the portals.”

“How?” asked her mother.

“With bombs,” answered Tristan. “UECs given
to us by our science officer. He got hurt, so he had to stay back
at the Hive.”

“So it’s just us,” added Simon happily.

Elizabeth studied Simon for a moment.
“Aren’t you a little old to still be in service, Mr. Brown? I’m
sure they agency could have found someone else to assist Zoey and
her friend Tristan.”

Simon’s jaw dropped. “Oh my God, she thinks
I’m an old geezer! But I’m not old! I’ll be fifteen in two
months!”

He lowered his voice when he realized he was
yelling. “This royally sucks!” he whispered.

Zoey quickly explained how Simon had
ingested the potion Muttab had given them. Her mother stared at
Simon but didn’t say anything. Zoey wasn’t sure if that was a good
thing or a bad one.

Tristan pulled at his collar. His
frustration increased with every new try.

“Urgh! If I don’t get this collar off soon,
I think . . . I don’t know what I’m going to do. I think I’m going
to go
crazy
!”

“We’re going to get them off,” said Zoey
with more determination than she felt. “And then we’re going after
Director Martin.”

“There’s an agency director to help us?”
questioned Elizabeth. “Is he somewhere near?”

The smile on her mother’s face pained Zoey.
She shared a look with her friends.

“Not exactly. He’s a traitor. He stole our
bag with the UECs in it. We need to find him and get the bag
back.”

Elizabeth measured her daughter and her
friends. “Are you sure about that? Are you
positive
it was
him?”

“We’re sure,” said the three teens in
unison.

“Well, I’m very sorry you all got involved
in this mess.”

She wrapped her hands around the metal bars,
and Zoey noticed the dried blood and scars on her mother’s
hands.

Zoey wrapped her fingers over them. “We’re
going to get you out. I promise.”

Elizabeth gave her a weak smile. “The
Aneraks are dangerous and mad. I’ve seen horrible things, things
that should only exist in nightmares.”

Tears spilled down her mother’s cheeks.
“I’ve been a part of their experiments for months. No one has ever
escaped. They’re all dead. They’re not about to let us go—”

“That’s right,
human
,” said a voice
behind them.

Before Zoey could even turn around, her
collar slammed her against the wall and pinned her there. It was
like the collar had been magnetized. She howled in pain and kicked
her legs desperately, but the invisible force wouldn’t let go. Her
feet dangled in the air like she was a puppet on a string. The cold
metal around her neck burned hot as it squeezed tighter. She tried
to scream, but her mouth wouldn’t move. She couldn’t even
swallow.

She could see that Simon and Tristan were
pinned on the wall next to her, struggling with the collars, their
mouths open in silent screams, and their eyes wide in absolute
terror.

Zoey tried to focus. A shadow moved in front
of her eyes.

“Don’t waste your time thinking up of a plan
to escape, agents.” Doctor One laughed as he pointed his metal
remote at them.

“There is no escaping. What you have is too
precious. We want your dreams. And we will
have
them.”

He unlocked the door to the cell and stepped
through. He carried a bottle of white liquid, and Zoey knew it
wasn’t milk.

“Leave them alone!”

Zoey she could see that her mother was
pinned against the wall in her cell, too.

“Use me! Take my dreams and let them go,”
Elizabeth pleaded between great gasps of breath.

Doctor One wrinkled his diseased face into a
smile. “Of course we will still use your dreams, silly human.”

He crossed the cell and examined the three
teens. “But we will have theirs as well.”

He stood next to Zoey and raised the bottle
to her lips. “Drink this, and the pain will stop. I promise.”

Zoey blinked the tears from her eyes and
gagged at his vinegar-like breath.

“Don’t drink it!” screeched Elizabeth.

Her face turned a deep shade of burgundy.
“It’s a sedative. It’ll drug you.”

She gasped for breath. “Don’t do it.”

“Don’t listen to that vile human,” purred
the doctor.

He tipped the bottle into her mouth. “Drink,
and you and your friends will live. I promise.”

The doctor’s wet, pink eyes whirled in their
sockets making Zoey dizzy.

“No, Zoey, don’t drink it,” pleaded her
mother with her last breath. “He’s lying.”

But Zoey opened her mouth.

The doctor smiled as he poured some of the
white substance down her throat.

Zoey swished it around in her mouth, on her
tongue, and around her teeth. It tasted like strong cough syrup and
burned the inside of her cheeks and gums.

Doctor One inched closer to make sure she
had swallowed it. His ugly, twisted smile widened as he got
nearer—and then she spit her mouthful into his face.

The doctor cursed and staggered back in
surprise. The bottle slipped from his hand and crashed to the
ground, spilling the contents.

“Simon! Now!” screamed Zoey. She spit again
and again, trying to get the taste out of her mouth.

Simon reached into his pocket with trembling
sweaty hands, pulled out his cell phone, and dropped it.

Chapter 19

Z
oey gasped at the
phone on the ground. Their last hope was fading away like a
dream.

Simon let out a tiny cry. “It’s not my
fault! It’s these old hands! I’ve got arthritis. It slipped.”

Doctor One’s face twisted in a frightening
smile, like the smile a serial killer gives before he kills. He
bent over and grabbed the phone. Twisting it in his hand, he
examined it.

“Now, what kind of contraption is this? Is
this one of the image players?” He looked at Simon. “One of the
other humans had one with him. It was a delight to watch, but it
won’t play anymore.”

He shook the phone and frowned. “Tell me,
old man, how does this device work?”

Simon’s face was a nasty shade of purple,
and his eyes bugged out of his head like they were about to
pop.

“I’ll show you,” he gasped. “But you’ll have
to release the collar,” he struggled to inhale.
“Can’t—breathe.”

Doctor One studied him for a moment, and
then he pressed a button on his remote.

Simon fell to the ground.

“Okay. Now show me, old man,” ordered the
doctor.

Simon staggered to his feet. He glanced
quickly at Zoey and Tristan, and then he faced the doctor. “You
have to hold it really close to your face. That’s it. Now hold it
there. Good, now—”

“I still don’t see anything,” grumbled the
doctor. “You better not try to fool me, human. I will kill your
friends if this is a trick.”

Simon raised his hands and did the peace
sign. “I’m not. I
swear
, Agent’s honor.”

Doctor One glanced at him distastefully but
kept the phone near his face, admiring it like a new toy.

Zoey glanced over to Tristan, and he gave
her an
I don’t know what he’s doing
look
.

She looked at her mother. Her face had gone
a gray color, and she could hardly keep her eyes open. Whatever
Simon was planning on doing, he needed to do it fast.

“So, what now?” pressed the doctor, his lips
curled. “How do I make it work?”

Simon swallowed hard. “Yes, that’s it. Hold
it
really
close to your face, yeah, near your eyes—exactly.
Perfect, that’s how it works. Now, see that tiny button on the left
side? Yes, that one. You just need to press it—”

A piercing white light blasted out of the
cell phone directly into the doctor’s eyes.

“AHH!” he bellowed. “I’m blind! I can’t see!
You’ve blinded me!”

He staggered around, rubbing his eyes,
ranting and raving, howling like a wounded animal. “I’m going to
kill you all!”

Simon didn’t waste any time.

He kicked the doctor hard in the chest. The
Anerak reeled backwards and landed spread eagle on the ground. The
remote fell from his grip.

Simon leaped over and picked up the remote.
He fumbled with it in his hands.

“Simon—hurry,” hissed Zoey. She didn’t think
she’d be conscious for much longer. She could hardly keep her eyes
open.

“I’m trying. I’m trying.” Simon hurriedly
flipped the remote in his hand and ran his fingers over the
metal.

“Simon!” yelled Tristan, “What are you
waiting for? Do it! Do it now, or we’re all going to die.”

“If it were written in
English
, I’d
know what to press,” answered Simon in a panic.

As Zoey began to slip into the darkness, she
heard Simon call out, “I think I got it!”

Her collar released, and she fell to the
ground next to Tristan. She could see her mother lying on the floor
in the next cell. She wasn’t moving.

“Mom!” Zoey shook the bars on her cell.
“Mom, can you hear me?”

She knew her mother was already weak from
the experiments she had endured. Maybe this had been too much for
her frail body.

As Zoey’s bottom lip trembled, her mother
turned towards her.

“I’m fine,” said Elizabeth.

She tried to look brave, but she looked grim
and sick. Zoey knew another violent blow would finish her. She had
to get her mother out of here, out of the Nexus.

Zoey stiffened and blinked back the tears.
She staggered to her feet.

Tristan leaned over Doctor One, his face was
as angry as Zoey had ever seen it.

“How do we take the collars and the shackles
off?” he demanded.

The doctor squirmed on the ground. “You will
die for this, humans! I will kill you—”

Tristan’s boot crashed into the doctor’s
abdomen. “If you don’t tell me soon, you’re the one who’s going to
die!”

The doctor spit the blood from his mouth and
smiled. “I’m going to enjoy seeing you die,
Mysterian
.”

Just as Tristan was about to stomp on the
doctor, Zoey pulled him away. “You better tell us, Doctor One, or
Tristan
will
kill you. I’m sure about that.”

The doctor scowled at them. “Even if you do
leave here, you will not survive in the Nexus. Our kind do not take
three young humans roaming around in our city lightly. We will kill
you.”

“We’ll take our chances,” said Zoey. She
loomed over the doctor. “Tell us! Or I swear
this
face is
the last one you’ll ever see!”

Tristan raised his boot—

The doctor shrieked. “Enough! I will tell
you.” He cowered as Tristan lowered his boot.

“Go on then.” Zoey turned around. Her mother
sat with her back against the wall, watching them.

Doctor One’s bulbous eyes fixed on Simon.
“The release lever is the green triangular button on the
controls.”

Simon looked up at his friends with a
do
we trust this dude
look on his face. But he pressed the green
button anyway—

CLICK!

His collar and shackles broke apart and fell
at his feet.

“Sweet.” He rushed over to Tristan, pointed
the remote and pressed the green button again. Tristan’s collar and
restraints fell to the ground. Smiling, Simon did the same for Zoey
and then leaped over to Elizabeth’s cell and released her from her
collar.

“Thank you,” she said weakly.

Zoey glared at the doctor on the ground.
Kneeling beside him, she searched his pockets and drew a set of
keys. She grabbed her collar from off the ground and moved towards
him.

“What are you doing?” squealed the doctor.
He tried to back away, but Tristan pressed down on his chest with
his boot.

“Giving you a taste of your own
medicine
, doctor.”

With a click, Zoey secured the collar around
the doctor’s neck. Then she bound his wrists together with the
metal shackles.

“There, all done. See? You didn’t even feel
a thing.”

Doctor One grimaced as he tried to pull off
his metal collar. “You’re going to
pay
for this! I’ll see to
it personally that you all die a slow and painful death—”

“Not if you die first, scumbag,” said Simon.
He pocketed his cell phone and the remote. He looked at his
friends. “What? Might come in handy later.”

Just as the doctor tried to yell for help,
Zoey hit him in the neck, and he gagged. She didn’t feel any
remorse for the Anerak. He had tortured her
mother
.

“Stay down and be quiet,” she growled. “Good
doctor.”

Zoey waited for Tristan and Simon to exit
the cell and then she locked the door behind them.

Doctor One squirmed and cursed. Blood and
spit flew from his mouth, and his rolling eyes made him look like a
massive and ugly iguana.

Then she hurried over to her mother’s cell.
After trying three different keys and kicking the door, she finally
heard a satisfying
click
and pulled it open. She ran over to
her mother and hugged her for real this time.

She pulled away and helped her mother to her
feet.

“Can you walk?” As Zoey said the words, her
own legs felt liquid, and she wondered if they’d support her
weight.