This Is Where I Want To Be

178. Sticky Situations

Fahan

We could not send anyone anywhere yet. And as soon as I was able to cut off En-gannin from Palmyra… I would do it. Let them feel how it was to ask permission to come and go. Ian was not impressive at all. The vampires were small creatures. He did not look like his father. Avrio was fat and short and ugly as far as other species were concerned. Ian was slender in his face and thinly structured. His legs were too long for his body. Once he stepped over the threshold, he held out a glass plate. It wasn’t a communicator. My fists balled at my sides. We were one step closer. I took it from him.

“With this, I can travel on Palmyra?”

“Yes. And you can send anyone out if you have the coordinates.”

“Do you have any?” The other man asked.

“This is James.” Ian gestured to the other vamp next to him. “He was our contact in The Tower. You can trust him.”

“We cannot manage these small instruments. Nothing on the planet is made for our enormous hands.”

Ian and James sat down at the table. “It will have to do for now. Keep those scientists safe, and you will not have to do anything. Use them. They can help with a lot of questions you have.”

“How many coordinates are on this thing?”

“There is one for En-gannim. It is where I live. If you send someone there, they will be safe.”

“Only one?”

“I can not have you travel anywhere you want.” Ian took in a long breath. “We have started the war on En-gannim. Even as we speak, my troops are moving.”

“What are your plans?”

“We have stationed our army everywhere. At first, we will attack at random. They will have to divide their forces. Our oceans are vast and cannot be crossed. If we hinder their ability to teleport. They would be rendered useless.”

“But so will you,” I said.

“My father has been preparing to take over for far longer than anyone knows. We have spread out already, and they will be stuck… And…” He pulled out a little black round tube from a jacket pocket. He pushed it over the table. “This is four coordinates on Palmyra. One for the Palace. One for here and two other coordinates around the world. If you allow us to use your station if and when we need it.”

I picked up the tube. My chest filled with pride. We were moving forward. A moment ago, I was at their mercy to travel me where I needed to be. “You have it… Chris came to make alliances. But I do not want to work with them.”

“Then we are well on our way to a good union.”

I stood up. “Show me how this works. Before you leave, I want to visit the other two spots.”

James took his communicator and traveled us out. All we had to do was enter a chamber. The glass plate went into the wall, and you picked it up again. It was as simple as a few buttons. We were in the cubicle, and instantly, somewhere I did not recognize. It was a small, round structure with a roof… open on all sides. I stepped down the few stairs. Guard towers at four corners surrounding the station. A wall from one to the other. We opened the gates to a city that spanned down rolling hills as far as my eyes could see. No streams. No ocean. No roaring waves. Endless open space with houses large enough for our enormous bodies.

“This is one of the biggest cities on Palmyra. They mostly worked with fabric. The city is known for its craftsmanship. If we keep trading, I will capture workers for you. You will have to learn to utilize the whole planet’s resources. After that, the possibilities are endless.

We kept traveling until we were back on the platform. They sat down, and we talked for some time. The three of us jumped up when we heard the alarm. It resonated over the harbor in continuous loud cries. I ran to the edge. In the distance, my men were closing the gates. The expanse of water between them and me was great, but you could still see the massive wooden structures moving in the water. My head jerked back to Ian. He and James were already in the cubicle.

“What is going on?”

“We have nothing to do with it. We have our own war to fight… I had to run the day you came for Aries. Since then, we had no one in The Tower.” James said.

“Except my sister. For a few days.” Ian mentioned.

“Is she as useless as you are?”

“Our women are under us. We know how to control and make them bend a knee. They do what they are told.”

He was insinuating that I did not have control over Palmyra. Or even my own house. I did not like his tone. “Says the man fighting a vampire woman for the throne.”

“None of us know why Ahasuerus threw that stone at her! Why he was fighting them in the first place… We have order! Had order until my father started dealing with you.” Ian spat the words out. “Juliet will be brought down from that throne she thinks she sits on. And once we kill her and the child she carries, the Ahmed line will fall into my sister’s lap, and there will be peace again.”

I glanced down at the glass plate. It seemed too good to be true that it would be that easy. James took out a communications device and sent a message.

“Oh! Did we mention… You have to sync that plate with your teleporter. The scientist will have to do a lot of work getting those four coordinates on your plate. You can not think that you would allow you to piggyback on ours any longer.”

My steps were enormous toward the smug little man. “Send me back first!”

James tossed another communicator toward me. “Maybe you should try a boat,” Ian said before he and James disappeared.

I cursed them and wanted to drive my sword through his chest. I had a plate but could do nothing with it. I spun around at the howling cry that suddenly stopped.

Me [ What is going on. What happened? ]

Dimitrios [ Caleb and Marcus killed our five men ]

I roared into the sky, wanting to crush the glass in my hand. I fell to my knees, hitting the floor several times instead. I didn’t stop until my knuckles were bloody. It had been too long since I had killed a worthy opponent and released my frustrations in a good fight.

Dimitrios [ They are stuck inside. On the Island ]

Me [ You have one chance to redeem yourself. I want that boy’s head on a rock. Displayed in my garden ]

Dimitrios [ Marcus disabled the teleporter. Only you can activate it. I need more trust if you want me to fight by your side ]

I had dug my own grave for the time being. I hoped I would not be pushing myself in as well. I should have trusted others with my knowledge. It was the one thing Avrio said to me, “Never share your knowledge with anyone.”

***

Caleb

Marcus and I were walking through a jungle. It was thick and lush and hard to get through in some places. We came across some beasts that we had to fight and kill. I was happy that I could eat and drink and get my strength back up. The Chadari had not tried to find us. There would be no point. I was glad I had done it. It felt like enough retribution for Chris. Fahan would be forced to work with us. Even if he had Chris’s ability, he would be able to do nothing with it. “Thank You, Marcus. For helping me.”

“Do you feel better?”

“Yes!”

“There!” Marcus called out, pointing to a small stream with a jetty and a boat. “I just hope the fish is still connected to it.”

He showed me what to do, and we both tugged gently on the ropes. “It’s not that big.”

“It’s a small boat. We can be glad. They won’t even know we are sailing through the city… Do you think you’ll be able to make it all invisible?”

“I don’t know?”

The fish gently jumped into the water and started tugging forward. We smoothed out once it got going, and the ride wasn’t so jerky. “I don’t think we were so far out last time. I have no idea how long we will be.” Marcus checked the plate. We’ve already been gone six… almost seven hours. And it needs to be charged.”

I took mine out. “I still have some time left on mine. Hope it will be enough.”

Marcus and I were quiet for most of the ride. Some of the houses were close to the water. Others were built inside trees along the bank, overlooking the stream. The moonlight shone on the surface. It was rather magical, and I regret Chris giving it away. Juliet never said one word about losing it. I guessed she didn’t care.

At some point, I was sure we were close to their harbor. The stream became broader the further down we floated. There were more houses and structures and lights everywhere. I lifted my hand to touch the boat’s haul. I disappeared, and it went with me. Unfortunately, the fish could get no traction in the water. “What would happen to a car if Juliet makes it disappear?” Marcus lifted his hand and slowly got up. I stopped talking and lifted my hand off the boat so the fish could keep swimming. Marcus gestured for me to help him pull on the ropes. Marcus leaned on his side, and the fish followed his promptings. There was a small alcove in the bank. The fish didn’t need to be told again what to do.

“Why are we stopping?”

Marcus was quiet. I caught a glimpse of the entrance and what he had heard long before me. They had closed the gates. Massive waves crashed into the wood, splashing high into the sky. We had not seen or heard the men standing hidden in the gigantic plants along the shore. The sound of the water had drowned it all out. They stepped out in a perfect half-circle, covering the jetty from all angles. They hit their swords on the ground, and the red glow illuminated the area.

I made us both invisible. Marcus was standing, chest out, watching them. The men started chopping all around them, slicing through the air. We would have no way of turning around and going back upstream. They moved closer in small steps, making sure they touched every area. I picked Marcus up and teleported us behind all of them. They closed around the boat and crushed it, killing the fish as well.

“That wasn’t smart of them.”

Marcus spun around. Another wave of men were closing down on us. A more significant half-circle of dragons was coming towards us. Swords flinging. “You have to show yourselves some or other time. Or you will be stuck on this island with us.” Dimitrios said.

I picked Marcus up again and teleported us to behind the next wave. “You have to stop, Caleb. You will tire out.”

“What do you want to do?”

“Use one big jump to carry us across the river. The only bridge we saw was high upstream. We have no choice but to find another way. We walked in between the men to the edge of the bank, stood on the shore, and I had to manifest and teleport. They saw the movement and scrambled to get to us. We barely landed. I had to let go of Marcus for a second, trying not to fall into the water.

“I see you!” Dimitrios bellowed out into the air. The rest of the Chadari answered his call. Our heads snapped up at the sound not far from us. There were more guards on our side of the river, stampeding downstream.

Jade came walking out of the thicket and stood next to Dimitrios. “All I want is my son.” She yelled.

“That might be what you want. But I can tell you now. Your mate… isn’t thinking about him at all.”

That familiar glow lit up her chest. She had a sword in hand, and her strength was back. No more frailty in the way she walked. She came to stand at the edge. “Fahan is not here right now.”

She glanced back with a slightly tilted head, listening to something. The plants started moving. The thunder of the Chadari’s heavy tread crashed through the plants. Dimitrios was running towards the water. He stepped on the ledge of the bank and jumped. Marcus grabbed my clothes. “We’re going underneath the gates. I hope you can hold your breath.” He pushed me, and we dove into the water.

Dimitrios’s sword dug into the mud, pulling himself to shore. He was a second too late. Jade was already running downstream. Her hand stretched into the air. Our heads bobbed out of the water. The current and waves took us down and up. The last wave crashed us into the wood of the gate. The guards onshore were dropping giant nets into the water. Heavyweights made it sink swiftly around us. “Deep breath. Let go and follow me. Whatever you do. Do not manifest.”

Marcus dove down and cut through the net. His knife sliced through easily. He grabbed my collar and pushed me through the gap between the bottom and the edge of the wooden structure. I looked back, still underneath the water. Marcus’s hands were busy gripping and tugging the ropes. His feet were caught, and they were pulling him up. He was almost out of the water and pulled out his gun. He emptied his clip into the air. I couldn’t hold my breath any longer and swam away from him to the surface on the other side of the gate. The waves slammed me into the wood on that side. Marcus came up behind me and pulled me under again. He tugged and swam under the current until we were clear of the worst. A violent fit of coughing assailed me when we emerged, still treading water.

There was a droning, a rumble in the distance. Marcus’s eyes were wide. “Swim, Caleb, and don’t look back.”

I could feel the shift in the water; they were opening the gates, and we would be pulled into the mull of the ocean boundary. They would catch us, or we would drown. Marcus nearly dragged me through the water, pushing himself as far as possible. Neither of us looked back until we were clear and far enough from the island that it would not matter.

I grabbed onto his shirt. “We made it. Marcus, stop!” I sputtered, trying to yell to get through to him.

Marcus slowed and drifted, glancing around the harbor. There were a lot of dormant ships floating in the water. “We got to get out of the water. Right now.”

His voice was even tighter. I touched his shoulder. “Let’s swim together. Catch our breath.”

Marcus pointed in a direction. We slowly swam to the closest vessel. The waves were still high, picking us up and dropping us down. We used them to grab onto ropes on the side of one of the boats and hauled ourselves up the wood. He was on the deck first and helped me up. Marcus lay down on his back, breathing deeply, trying to catch his breath. I was on my knees and hands. He cursed loudly when it all sank in. “I should have never done this! What was I thinking.” His hands were limp by his sides.

“It’s my fault. If I had not missed.”

“Are you insane? That’s not what created this mess. It was me not knowing what the hell I was doing.” He cussed again, sitting up and ruffling the water out of his hair. “We’re not even halfway.” He pulled out the glass plates and tossed them on the wood. I did the same. I stared at my phone and chucked it next to the pile of useless glass. Marcus threw his gun on the stack. “I had to drop the knife in the water.”

“I still have my clip… I can still take us to all the boats. You have to rally Marcus.”

He bobbed his head and laid back. “Just give me a minute.”

***

Carl

James, Warden, and I were waiting for our orders for the day. Jack came in and told us about the attacks on En-gannim. The watchers were being deployed. All of us. En-gannim was switching off any comings and goings to Earth to prompt us to help. It had worked. Louis had evacuated everyone crucial to the inner circle to The Compound. In turn, the watchers would be teleported out into that massive field. The first chopper went to see if it would even fly there. It did, and they started sending out hundreds.

While the ground crew was scrambling on Earth, our unit would be the last to deploy. Warden would stay with Sammy, Liam, and Cindy. It was me, Jack and James. I was tying my boots around my ankles. The other two were busy putting on vests and gear. All three of our phones chimed at the same time. We all glanced up, picked up our phones, and opened the messages. I pressed play. The audio was loud so that the whole room could hear. It was a recording of Sita talking about the prisoners. It was cut, but the implications were there. We all huddled. Jack showed us his phone. It was a ledger page. Photos of names… Liam, Samuel, and Qadir were sent to Earth as prisoners. Next to the names were the relative crimes for which they were sentenced. James showed us his phone. It was a video of Qadir and the generals meeting before the first broadcast with Marcus.

“Jack, you will have to take it to the general and ask him what we should do.”

“We all know it’s Holly.”

“It might be. Should we bring her in?”

“Do we have the time to worry about this small thing coming out? We already know she is a nobody.” James ventured.

“If this is all she has… Let her get it out of her system.” I said.

“I agree. It’s hanging over our heads. Nonetheless, we have to report it. You two go. I’ll catch up.” Jack picked up his bag and left the room.

James and I made our way to the teleporter on base. The last of the American units was shipping out. If we stepped through. We wouldn’t be going back for a while. I didn’t know where I wanted to be. On Earth, sorting out Holly or fighting in another war. “I think we should wait for Jack.”

“I agree. We will leave with the general. We should stay as a unit.”

The two men didn’t take long to walk over the quad. I got another text. I turned away from James to read it.

An unknown number… { It’s time we meet. Holly }

My gut churned, and I knew my answer. I didn’t want to stay and sort out some woman. I wanted to be one step closer to getting to Charlene. Helping the guys sort out any threat to other species having the means to travel the freaking galaxy.

***

Lyla

My van needed a cleaning. The cup of coffee in my hand kept me warm. My computer screen was lit. I had been staring at it for a while. The group was messaging back and forth. All The Watcher bases were seeing activity. It was hard following anyone that could teleport. We had all chosen one person in our countries to keep tabs on. I chose Carl. I saw them for the first time at his father's funeral. They were on TV. Carl, Juliet, and another woman with them. With my finger, I traced a picture of a woman stuck to my PC screen. My sister’s photo. She was the one that was taken that night. Killed. We still didn’t know what had happened. My parents had fought hard for retribution. All we got was a few weeks of no Aliens and hush money. It wasn’t enough. So, I took the matter in hand. I had to figure out why she died in the first place.

It was easier following Charlene. She was an average human and went to school. She had received special privileges because she knew Juliet. She was a student up until a few months ago. Never returned to class after asking for an extension. I couldn’t track her after that.

The lectors and advisors were worried, so they ate up my undercover story. I was a P.I. looking into her disappearance. It wasn’t a complete lie. They all had the same thing to say. Straight A student. Top of her class. First, to use the teleporters. Testing how it would impact a student's life. Studying and going home at the end of the day. Across the country in an instant. All the schools were excited to have foreign students in their classes. It meant more money and opportunities for many kids from third-world countries. Some could afford the schooling but not the relocation. It meant no one had to worry about scholarships anymore. It had changed so much for the better. Everything was for a brighter future. I was on board until we sat around the table that night. My sister was flirting with a guy. We all were. He was so handsome and tall. Well built and didn’t seem like a threat. He was so nice to us that night. Indulged the group of girls.

My tiny little dog yelped at the door, scratching. I jumped up to let her out of the van. I was outside at a little table. I let her run around for a wee. I had bought an old RV, gave up the lease on my apartment, and was living in the van permanently. I took the last bite of my breakfast sandwich. The trip to Canada had taken me a few days. I was about to cross the border. I had started with our crusade, sending The Watchers some threats. No actual evidence. Just dropped hints here and there that I was pursuing some leads. Our group was people from all over the world who had lost family… friends. Vanished into thin air… I checked my phone. Carl didn’t bite and declined my offer to meet. I was sure it was about The Watchers deploying and didn’t take it personally. It was better, anyway. If they were not on Earth, we could move around more easily.

My sister had only died four months ago. My parents were grieving and not getting over it. I couldn’t stand it anymore, so I left. Told my father what I had been doing. All he said was that I should go to the pound and get myself a small dog to alert me of strangers. Then he took me to buy a gun from some guy in an alley. Handgun sales in the world had come to a crashing halt after Marcus came onto TV. Every last one was ceased. If you wanted to protect yourself, you needed to get creative.

My sister and I had followed everything the aliens were doing on Earth. Had all the clippings and videos. Mountains of regular internet sightings. We had become those conspiracy theorists. That night in the club, when they were there… We were so excited. Saw them fighting like ordinary people about a girl.

Not long after my sister’s death… I got a typical brown letter in the mail. It was a key and an address in an envelope. It was for a security locker at a train station. Inside was a large black bag. Once I was home, I was surprised to find a weird book inside. Some phones and another key. A lot of documents and notes. The book didn’t look like anything from Earth. And it wasn’t. The cover and the paper were different. Inside, the writing was foreign and translated into English, which was next to the original text. In the back of the book, there was a post-it. All it had on was an address. I opened my laptop immediately and searched for it.

The location was so remote. It looked like a typical farm with a small town close by. I clicked on the name and any articles written. There had been so many disappearances of missing men and women over the last eight years. It caught my attention. Since then, I put off going, too scared that it was some or other alien base. I didn’t really want to end up being eaten. Thought stalking Charlene was a safer option. If I could just talk to any one of them… Face the guy from the club. Get closure.

Nevertheless, I had put that off too. Convinced that I had to have a lot more information before I approached Carl. That morning, when they started deploying, it left me with no choice.

“Passport.”

I handed the man my documents.

“All clear.”

I drove over the border. Lucy and I had gone to The Netherlands for a two-week adventure. We were going to backpack and take river trips to all the places we wanted to see. We ended up in Amsterdam to go clubbing. It was our last night… She was kissing a guy, and then… she was gone.