Night Forbidden (22 page)

“So what the hell do they need you for? Didn’t they put the crystals in you in the first place?” Fence demanded. He did not like the way this was sounding. “Does this mean your crystals are going to die out too?”

“Remember, I have normal human blood too. The Atlanteans have used their crystals and procreated among themselves for more than eight thousand years, and their blood’s been changed—tainted, even—by the crystal energy. They have little gritty pieces of it in their organs and blood. The crystals that are in their lungs
grow
there from birth; unlike mine, which were implanted. As I told you before, that energy gives them strength and helps keep them youthful for longer, as well as help them to live underwater. But since I’m what they call a demiblood, my blood and body reacted differently to the crystals. They aren’t a part of me.”

“So they want to study you,” Quent said. “Like a bloody lab rat.”

Ana nodded soberly. “Now you understand why I didn’t want that Jarrid crystal near me. If it helps them to find me, they’ll take me back there.”

“So, knowing that you’re in danger of being forcibly taken back, you went out into the ocean for three hours today—and met up with an old Atlantean friend, who just happened to be hanging around?” Fence said.

She turned a frigid look at him. “What choice did I have? No one would go in the water with me.”

Yeowch.

“Then you shouldn’t have gone,” he fired back.

“If I wouldn’t have gone,” she replied in that patient voice his mama had used just before he got his ass grounded, “I wouldn’t know what they were planning.”

“And when you’re ready to actually
tell
us what the fuck they’re planning,” Zoë cut in, “we’d all be a lot fucking happier instead of going batshit crazy. And then maybe we could actually fucking
do
something to
fucking
stop it.”

Ana cast the other woman a steady look. “As I was saying, there are different sorts of crystals with different sorts of energies. There’s a collection of them, about the size of that chair there,” she gestured to a computer chair, “called the Goleths. Their particular force draws energy—and in this case water, around them in a great circular motion. If they’re lined up in a row—there are fewer than a dozen of them, from what I understand—the pull will be incredible. And it will cause the water to circle and surge around them, gathering up along the line, and then expel it in a great force.”

“Creating a huge disturbance in the ocean,” Quent finished.

“A tsunami,” Sage added.

Ana nodded. “Yes.”

“So how do you think you could stop them?” asked Fence. He didn’t like the direction his mind was going, and so he put it on pause.

“If one of the stones is moved out of the alignment, it should disrupt the energy flow and cause the process to fizzle out and abort. I’d have to find the stones and move one of them.”

“You said they’re the size of this chair,” Fence reminded her skeptically. “How in the hell are you going to move it, and what are you going to do with it once you do?”

Ana looked at him, her expression blank. “I don’t know. But I guess I’ll figure that out when I get there.”

“Do you know where these big-ass stones are?” Zoë asked. “And how deep in the ass-crack of the ocean they are?”

“I don’t think they’ll be that difficult to find, now that I know what I’m looking for. In fact, I suspect—although I’m not happy about it—that they, too, might be connected to my crystals. I might be able to find them by using that connection somehow. And, yes, they’ll be on the ocean floor, probably deeper than any of you can swim.” She wasn’t looking at Fence.

“We could rig something up to help move the stone,” Quent said. “Zoë’s brilliant at that sort of stuff.” He flashed her a hot smile that made Fence glance at Ana, remembering the slant-eyed look she’d given him before he turned into an asshole.

But if she hadn’t pushed him . . .

“We’re going with you,” Zoë said.

“And in the meantime, Vaughn can start to evacuate the city,” Quent said. “I saw him this morning. He said there’d been a couple guys in the restaurant yesterday asking questions about me. Probably those gits you saw in the Humvee,” he added to Fence. “But Simon sat down, chatted them up, and put out the word that I hadn’t been seen here for a couple months. And then he made sure the bounty hunters left without talking to anyone else, and he’s following them for a bit to make sure they don’t come back.”

Fence nodded. “Good for him. Wish I’d been around to see if I recognized them, but it doesn’t really matter. They’re deflected and redirected.”

“Too bad we can’t deflect and redirect the threat of a tsunami quite as easily,” Sage said. Her eyes were scanning the room and she looked as if she were ready to cry. “I’ll see what Theo and Lou want me to try and save.” Then she sat down at the computer and began to type with rapid fingers.

“Simon, Elliott, and Jade will help you get as much equipment out of here as possible,” Quent said. “Too bad Wyatt’s not back from Yellow Mountain yet. Fence—”

“I’ve gotta come with you,” he said without hesitation. “You can’t go without a guide.”

Quent nodded. “Probably right, but we could use the manpower here—”

“I’m going. You can’t afford to get yourselves lost, or in some other mess. Besides, if we have to haul up a big fucking rock from the bottom of the ocean, you’re gonna need some muscle.”

He just wished to hell they were going to be traveling on land for most of the way.

Chapter 16

“A
na.”

She paused at the top of the circular stairs, relieved to be out of that crushing space and back on the main floor again, and turned.

Fence was striding up with fast, smooth steps, skipping every other stair with his long legs. “Could I talk to you for a minute?”

“Yes,” she said, keeping her voice and face emotionless. She moved out of the elevator and into the deserted corridor, giving him space to maneuver past her.

Despite the fact that her heart was pounding, and, when he walked by, the brief brush of his warm arm made hers tingle, she really didn’t want to talk to him.

Try as she might, she could think of no reason for him to have gone so berserk earlier today. And so quickly. It was as if he were a coin, and flipped from one side to the other.

She did know, however, that it would be a lot easier to just keep her distance from the guy, especially since he seemed so . . . unstable.

Even though . . . jeez, he just looked so big and solid and strong. Like a rock himself. With all these things going on in her life, she really would have liked to have someone hold her.

Someone she could talk to.

Ana blinked hard. She got so damned tired of holding it all inside.

“Do you have any idea where these stones might be?” Fence asked.

Ana had to admit to a stab of disappointment that he wasn’t groveling at her feet, apologizing for being an ass, and instead was only worried about finding the stones.

And saving a city of hundreds of people.

Oh yeah.

Focus, Ana. This is not the time for a lovers’ spat to murk up your thoughts.

She sighed and tried to answer his question. “I really don’t . . . but I’m sure that once I get back in the ocean I’ll be able to figure it out. I’ve sensed for some time that something’s wrong, changing in the water, and I’m pretty certain this is what it is. The other aspect I didn’t mention—because there are so many tangents and it’s all so complicated—is that the stones will have to be situated on an energy center as well. So if I can find the closest one to Envy . . .”

“An energy center?” Fence frowned. “You mean, in the earth?”

“Yes, right. There are centers of energy all over the world, and they’ve used those in conjunction with the crystals in order to—”

“Cause the Change,” Fence said, looking down at her, comprehension dawning in his dark eyes with those long, curling lashes. “They used them to cause the Change, didn’t they?” That’s what Theo and Lou had suspected.

She swallowed hard, thinking about the horror people must have experienced when the world fell apart around them. All of the terror. All of the loss of life. Mothers, children, families . . .

She looked at him and the same stark, horrified realization was reflected in his eyes. Ana nodded in acknowledgment. Yes, that was how they’d caused the Change.

This was the other reason she would never return to the Atlanteans. How could she be part of a group of people who’d caused such widespread genocide? The Nazis had nothing on the Atlanteans and the Elites—the latter of whom were even more guilty and despicable, for having killed off their own families and friends.

Ana shivered.

“When you say energy center . . . ?”

“The way I understand it,” she said, “there are countless lines of energy that band the Earth. Whenever there’s a place where several of them cross paths or connect, that’s what’s called an energy center. The more lines that intersect—some people call them ley lines, we call them flash rows—the stronger the energy center is.”

“Whoa,” he said. He seemed to be nodding to himself as if finally understanding something. “Yeah, I know all about fucking ley lines and their intersections, and what they can do. And so you’re saying they—whoever ‘they’ is, the Elites, the Atlanteans, whoever—used crystals placed at these energy centers to what? Cause massive earthquakes and tsunamis throughout the world? Yeah, that’s what did it. Once they all started, it was a chain reaction,” he continued, half talking to himself. “Earthquakes, tidal waves, crazy storms, everything. Caused the whole damn Earth to change, with all those plates moving, crashing against each other—Jesus Christ.”

When he looked at her again, gone was the cool-eyed, remote, postberserker Fence. And also missing was the flirtatious, charming, happy-go-lucky guy who’d lured her into his arms.

Instead, she saw the same bleakness she felt at the realization of what one race had done to another. Not to mention to countless other innocent creatures.

“I can’t think of a goddamn bad enough name to call them,” he said, his jaw tight. He blinked hard and smashed a massive hand over his bald head, causing his forehead to crease.
“My God.”

Ana nodded soberly. “I know. So, if my crystals can help lead me to the energy center that they must be using, it’ll be a lot easier. But if I can’t, it’ll be a lot of hit or miss.”

“The way the shoreline is . . . I wanted to talk to you about that. I know my way around pretty damn well, and if we look at a map, maybe we can figure out what makes sense for the direction the wave’s gonna originate.”

Ana nodded, but before she could speak, the elevator door opened again to reveal Sage. She looked as if someone had just lit a fire under her—or maybe it was just her brilliant red-gold hair. “I was just on the network with Lou and Theo. We think we’ve got it figured out!”

“What?” Fence asked, turning in obvious surprise. Then he glanced around the corridor as if to make sure no one was around and looked at Ana. “I know you don’t like it down there, but we can’t have this conversation here.”

She drew in a deep breath, surprised he’d even noticed her discomfort. “It’s fine. I’m fine.” She joined them in the elevator, and once again the doors closed to whisk her down into the deep, dark earth.

Perhaps she was getting used to it, but this time the enclosed space didn’t bother her quite as much. Or maybe it was because Sage had some interesting information to share, and Ana found herself absorbed by it.

“A few months ago, Simon and I found an old flash drive—a computer thing,” Sage explained when Ana raised her brows in question, “that had belonged to Remington Truth.”

“Remington Truth?” Ana leaned forward. “I know that name. But I’m not sure why.”

“He was a member of the Cult of Atlantis,” Fence said, “a core member, and something happened around the time of the Change. We’re not certain what, but apparently he disappeared.”

“He died?”

“Not then. But we know that the Strangers have been trying to find his ass for fifty years—and they’ve been sending their zombies out looking for him. We’re not certain when he died, but we do know that his granddaughter is still alive. Her name is also Remington Truth, and she’s a real piece of work.”

“Do you know why they would be looking for him?” Sage asked Ana.

She frowned, trying to remember what she knew about Remington Truth. She wasn’t even certain she’d known he was a man. It was just a phrase she’d heard, like a password or a motto. Always spoken with a sort of malicious reverence. “I didn’t understand he was a person until you told me.”

Now, knowing that Truth was a
man,
not a thing or phrase, she thought she might remember more than she realized. Then all at once . . . her breath caught. “
Wait
. I remember now. I think . . . I think he disappeared around the same time as the Mother crystal went missing.” Ana frowned, trying to extract the details from her groggy memory.

“What’s that?” Sage asked. “The Mother crystal?”

“It’s a very important crystal to the Atlanteans . . . the source of their energy. I mean . . . it’s more like a
key
to their energy source, rather than the source. I don’t know,” Ana said, shaking her head, trying to remember, knowing she sounded vague—but she hadn’t even been thirteen, and only heard snippets of conversation. “Whatever it is, they need it. They’re desperate for it. I think there was a suspicion that Remington Truth destroyed the crystal somehow. All I know is it went missing at the same time he did.”

“How in the world could Truth have gotten it if it was in Atlantis?” Sage asked.

Ana shook her head. “I have no idea. I’m just repeating bits and pieces that I heard . . . I could be totally wrong . . . You were starting to say something about Truth.”

“Oh yes.” Sage nodded and continued, “Simon and I found his flash drive, and on it was a list of numbers. Theo and Lou have been trying to figure out what they meant for the last few months, and only recently realized that the numbers were probably coordinates on the globe.”

Ana shook her head. “I don’t know what you mean by that.”

“They’re numbers used for plotting a specific location on the Earth,” Fence explained. “But since the Change, not only has the geography been altered, but so have the axis points of the Earth. Things have shifted, and we’re only just now beginning to understand how much and how to account for that change. I’ve been drawing maps up the ass and trying to use what I know of astronomy to figure out where the hell things are.”

“Anyway,” Sage continued, “based on what they found in Yellow Mountain, Theo and Lou have come to believe that this list of numbers are geographic points that are the locations the Strangers—or the Atlanteans, or both—used when they set the Change in motion.”

Ana felt a sudden prickling burst of understanding, and she and Fence turned to look at each other. “The energy centers,” she said.

“Where all those ley lines connect up—just like in Sedona,” Fence said, glancing at Sage. “Strange shit happens.”

The redhead was nodding. “When I gave Theo the update about everything you told us, Ana, he suggested that maybe one of the sets of coordinates—the geographic points—would be a logical location to place the Goleth stones.”

“That makes sense,” Fence said, already leaning over Sage’s shoulder to look at something on the computer screen. “The one closest to us would be the most obvious. I’m going to have to look at these and transpose them onto one of my maps.” He glanced over his shoulder at Ana. “It’s going to take some time.”

She stood. “The moon is at its greatest size tomorrow night. You’d better work fast.”

And while they did that, she had other things to attend to.

“I
’ve never seen them like this before,” said Selena. “It’s almost as if they’ve gone crazy. Like they’re looking for something.”

“Crazy zombies? Isn’t that an oxymoron?” said Wyatt, looking down over the horde of gangas staggering toward them.

They were at the top of the wall surrounding the old estate in Yellow Mountain, where Selena, and now Theo, lived. Twenty feet of two-foot-thick brick separated them from the monsters. But the sight of the masses, toddling madly toward them with their glowing orange eyes and stinking, rotting flesh, made Wyatt more than a little uneasy. Selena was right: there was something different about the way these zombies were acting.

Wyatt had seen many disturbing sights in his lifetime—from the charred corpses of children and pets burned to death because their parents were too stupid to install smoke detectors, to the remains of marketplace shoppers after a suicide bomber in Iraq, to his first glimpse of an eerie post-Change city—but this one raised the hair at the back of his neck. Especially knowing, as he did now, that the zombies were nothing more than terrified, insane human souls trapped inside stretched and rotting bodies.

They were souls conscious of their skin and bones captivity, but unable to communicate or to control their desperate need for human flesh. And that made them bloodthirsty and dangerous . . . and yet pitiful, so desperately pitiful, at the same time.

Wyatt had been there. He’d been with Theo and Lou, and had seen the place where the Strangers turned men and women into zombies by injecting a tiny orange crystal into the skull of semiconscious humans. Thank God there was Selena, who had the special and strange ability to free the humanity trapped inside those terrible bodies.

Ruuu-uuuuth-ruuuthhhh-ruuu-uuuthhhh!
the zombies moaned and cried, over and over, in a mournful desperate way.

“Are you sure you want to do this tonight, Selena?” Theo asked. His voice was tight, and he was watching her in the moonlight with serious eyes. It was a dangerous prospect, her need to mingle with the crazed beings and get close enough to help release them. “There are at least two dozen of ’em.”

She nodded and climbed down from the platform that acted as a lookout post. “It’s going to be fine,” she told him, and Wyatt saw her reach over and touch Theo’s arm, sliding her hand casually along its length.

A simple gesture, meant to comfort. An easy one, between two people familiar with each other, who loved each other. Who trusted, respected,
knew
each other.

He turned away and focused his attention on the zombies. “I’ll keep watch to make sure they all make their way over to the holding area,” he said, knowing that his voice sounded clipped and harsh.

Selena did her special something with the zombies in a unique space built by Theo and his brother Lou, along with the vociferously bad-tempered old man named Frank. Actually, Frank—who had to be at least ninety—had done most of the actual building, with Wyatt’s help, while Theo and Lou used a cache of electronics and pinball machines to create a sort of funhouse experience that confused and hypnotized the zombies. That allowed Selena to do whatever it was that she did with the glowing pink crystal she wore around her neck.

Wyatt didn’t know, they hadn’t offered, and he hadn’t asked for a detailed explanation. He’d come to believe that the less he knew about this hellhole of a Changed world, the better off he’d be.

Because if he knew everything that had happened, who’d caused it . . . if he allowed himself to even consider, to imagine what had been done to the world fifty years ago—to his friends, family, wife, and
children
—he’d go mad.

Right now he was holding onto simple existence by a very slender thread.

He looked back out at the mob of Frankensteinian monsters, noting that most of them had turned toward the north side of the wall, which was where Selena and Theo were waiting for them. The twin pinpoints of their glowing eyes marked their progress, along with the shadows cast by a nearly full moon. Small pairs of orange lights jerked and jolted as their owners tried—