Aetherial Annihilation (13 page)

Shelton shrugged. "Sure. They've got the tech to make remote controlled ones like the one you saw."

"Science Academy makes robots too," Elyssa said.

"Yeah, but the one Justin described doesn't sound like one of theirs," Shelton said. "We don't give the noms enough credit for their abilities."

Bella didn't seem to care about robots. "If we stand in the way of a crystoid's aether beam, we can use magic?"

"Yep," Elyssa said. "Which means if we're going to examine one, we need to go to the one under Templar control."

"That could be a problem," Shelton said. "It's in western North Dakota."

"Why in the world would anyone drop something way up there?" I asked. "It's the middle of nowhere."

"We examined the map of impacts, and there are at least a dozen, maybe more that landed in areas nowhere near major ley lines. The vast majority seemed to hit pretty close to where they could soak up the most aether." Shelton sat back down at the computer and pulled up a map with red marks on it. "When the mastermind behind this took the pictures from the sky, they didn't take into account how a single cloud might alter the destination."

I snapped my fingers. "Yeah, you're right. If they didn't take the pictures on a perfectly clear day, then a different cloud formation might confuse the omniarch."

Omniarches could open a portal anywhere so long as the user perfectly envisioned the destination. That was why we took pictures of destinations and sent them to omniarch operators so they could open the portal in the exact spot. If someone took a flying carpet up above the clouds, it made sense that a different cloud formation might confuse whatever enchantments allowed the omniarch to do its magic.

"In other words, some of these impact zones were accidental." I looked at the spot in Atlanta. "If they were after maximal aether drainage, why didn't they drop the crystoid into Thunder Rock, or the Grotto?"

Cinder provided an answer. "Whoever did it could not also take into account all the meteorological conditions on a specific day. There was a high altitude crosscurrent of wind on the day the crystoid was dropped here. If it had dropped straight, it most likely would have landed near Thunder Rock. Instead, it drifted to the west."

"Here's another question," Elyssa said. "Why drop them from high altitudes at all? Why not plant these things on the ground and let them grow?"

"Probably because by slamming into the earth, it allowed them to root themselves more firmly in the ground." Cinder, said. He stepped next to the computer. "Pardon me, Harry." He took the mouse and opened several images of the crystoid the Templars controlled. Unlike the crater in Sweetwater, this one rested in a shallow trench. "Notice how much of the crystoid is buried in the crust. This prevented anyone from removing it before it could root itself deeper."

"I'm sure the chaos and damage from these things slamming to earth was just a bonus." I bit my lower lip and fantasized about dropping the mastermind behind this from the stratosphere.

"I guess the next order of business is getting to North Dakota and checking out the crystoid," Shelton said. "But how in the hell are we gonna get there?"

A marvelous plan occurred to me. "The omniarch portals can't materialize without aether at the other end." I grinned. "But it just so happens their aether beam provides plenty of juice."

Shelton slapped me on the back. "That's the way to use the old noodle. We get the Templars there to take a picture from over the crystoid and bam"—he slapped the back of one hand into the other—"we got a portal."

"Exactly." I was feeling pretty good about my noodle right then.

We were getting closer to answers but time wasn't on our side.

Chapter 11

First thing the next morning we took off for the Grotto and its control room full of omniarches.

Elyssa called her father who contacted the Templars on the ground in North Dakota. They sent back a picture of the crystoid from overhead and we were ready to test my theory.

We went into the control room, told the operator what we were up to. He shrugged and went back to playing games on a nom tablet. We walked down the corridor between rows of arches to the niche where the omniarches resided. Several of them were marked with green paint to indicate they had been tested and functioned.

I took a deep breath, stepped into the silver band of metal encircling an arch, and willed it to close. After a few moments, I felt the static sensation of aether build to a point I hoped could sustain a portal.

Looking at the image on my phone, I willed a portal to open. The omniarch flickered. Bands of electrical energy flickered weakly on the columns. The portal struggled to open. The air split vertically just a crack. I felt a rush of aether from the crystoid and the gateway ripped open.

"Yes!" I pumped a fist.

A platform with a railing was on the other side of the portal. I stepped through and looked down at the crystoid. The tingle of aether against my skin felt so good I stood in place and sucked in a breath of air.

Hills rose to either side of the crater, and the smell of something sweet tickled my nose.

Shelton bumped into me from behind. "You gonna move or sit here looking like a pervert in a porn store?"

I chuckled and moved aside to make room for the others. While the others came through, I ducked beneath the portal and walked down the platform's stairs to the ground.

A woman with brown hair and fair skin gave me a friendly smile. "Why, hello there! That sure is a nifty hole you have there."

I grinned and extended a hand, noting that she wore civilian clothes. "I'm Justin, and you are?"

"Viola." She greeted the others as they descended the platform. "Welcome to North Dakota."

Another woman with just as friendly a smile waved to us. "Hello you guys. I have some cookies fresh out of the oven if you want some."

"That's my mom, Ann," Viola said. "She's really excited about all the activity."

"Yeah, I tell you," Ann said, "I heard the boom when that thing landed, and it sure panicked the horses something awful." She grimaced. "I came out to take a look and found that meteor there."

"Are you with the Templars?" I asked.

She laughed. "Nope, just a farmer. I was reading a real interesting story in the
Pioneer
newspaper about Thelma Hutchins and how she likes to pluck chickens when all of a sudden my house shook like we were having an earthquake."

"Um, where—" I noticed several soldier types walking our way along with two robed Arcanes and walked over to meet them. "Hey, I guess you arranged the portal?"

The woman in the lead nodded. "Ann asked us to go get these for when you arrived." She sighed and held out a pan of cookies.

Shelton grabbed one immediately and gobbled it down. "Man, these are good. Compliments to the chef."

"Say, I have some lemonade too, if you guys are thirsty." Ann pointed to another Templar carrying a cooler and some paper cups.

"So, these guys haven't told us much about this meteor," Viola said. "They said to keep it hush, hush. What is it?"

I wasn't sure how much they knew, but since they'd seen a portal open in the air and hadn't freaked out, I figured it wouldn't hurt to explain. "We're part of a magical society called the Overworld. These meteors—we call them crystoids—are sucking up all the magical energy and shooting it into outer space."

"Ooh, I like that name," Viola said. "Crystoid has a nice ring to it."

Shelton flashed a toothy smile at me.

"Sucking up the magic?" Ann tutted. "Well, it sure makes sense why you guys are so concerned." She motioned to the plate. "Take a cookie, Justin."

I did and had to admit it was very tasty. "Does anyone besides you and Viola know about the crystoid?"

"I don't think so," Ann said. "The phone lines went out when the crystoid landed, and my cell phone wasn't charged." She chuckled. "Luckily for you guys, because I probably would have told half the town by now."

"Well, we should get to work," Shelton said with a mouthful of cookie. He grabbed a cup and gulped lemonade.

"Goodness, Harry." Bella looked at the nearly empty plate of cookies. "You need to slow down your cookie consumption."

I snorted. "We could be in the middle of a life-threatening situation and Shelton would still take a time out for cookies."

"Damned right," Shelton said. "A true life-threatening situation is being in a life-threatening situation without cookies."

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Viola said.

"Well, I'll let you guys get to work." Ann turned toward a pickup truck. "I've got to go do farm chores."

"We'll let you know what we discover," I said. "And thanks for the cookies."

"Oh, sure, you betcha," Ann said and waved goodbye then she and Viola got in the pickup and drove away.

Elyssa, Bella, Shelton, and I walked back toward the crater. The two Arcanes who'd accompanied the Templars walked with us.

"I'm Pixie and this is Boris," the woman said. She was short, petite, with a pert nose and a short pixie haircut to match her name.

Boris stood a head shorter than me. Thick unruly hair hung low on his face, framing big brown eyes like those of a puppy dog. He waved. "Howdy."

I introduced the group.

"I can't tell you how awesome it is to meet you guys," Boris said. "Watching the Skywraiths zip around on flying brooms and blast Daelissa's goliaths was awesome."

"Yeah, there's no way we could've won that war without the Skywraiths," Pixie said. "We're avid broom racers ourselves."

"Oh, I used to race brooms too," Bella said.

"Cool." I glanced ahead at the crystoid. "The Skywraiths worked out a lot better than I hoped. Those boomsticks aren't easy to ride at first."

"Yeah, racer brooms have a steep learning curve," Boris said. "Our buddy Rai won't stop bragging about how he trained you guys."

Pixie groaned. "I know. You'd think he saved the world himself."

"How is Rai doing these days?" I asked.

Boris gave Pixie a knowing look. "He's designing a new boomstick he calls the Skywraith Edition."

"Hah, you should've trademarked that name," Shelton said. "First decent name you come up with and it's gonna make someone else money."

"I don't know," Elyssa said. "I'm sure there's a market for the meteocryst or crasteroid names."

I huffed. "You people don't recognize genius when you hear it."

Pixie made a face. "What's a meteocryst?"

"Is a crasteroid like a hemorrhoid?" Boris asked.

Shelton snickered.

I threw up my hands and turned to Shelton. "Don't you have work to be doing?"

"Yep." He backed away. "Gonna go treat a nasty case of the crasteroids."

"It's a shame we don't have an ointment for that," Bella said.

Pixie giggled. "Just wait 'til we tell Tasha that Justin Slade was here."

"She's gonna be so jelly." Boris looked at the crystoid. "We'll be around if you need us."

"Thanks guys." I waved goodbye and our group headed for the meteor.

The offending crasteroid sat in a shallow trench of broken red clay. I kicked at the ground. "The terrain is pretty hard. I guess that's why the crystoid didn't make a deep crater."

Elyssa knelt and held a sample that looked like broken pottery. "Yeah, it's like crushed rock."

"Welp, I'm gonna go up the platform and use some magic to analyze this thing," Shelton announced. He rubbed his hands together. "This is gonna be great." He and Bella headed toward the platform.

There wasn't much I could do since Shelton was the one with the expertise in this department. I looked around at the hills. "Want to take a walk?" I asked Elyssa.

She looked at Shelton and Bella as they wove a diagnostic spell over the crystoid then turned to me. "I could use a little break."

We climbed up a hill, treading over patchy grass until we crested the rise. A few scraggly trees dotted the landscape, and in the distance, a herd of antelope grazed peacefully in the valley on the other side.

"Smells nice out here," Elyssa said. "So fresh."

"And quiet." The sounds of traffic and people were oddly absent here. Only the occasional breeze broke the silence.

"It's really nice." Elyssa picked a flower and sniffed it. "I wouldn't mind visiting when we're not fighting to save the world."

I sat on a rock and jumped up when something stung my backside. "Ouch!" I looked down and noticed cacti poking between the cracks.

Elyssa giggled. "Better watch where you sit."

"No kidding." I decided North Dakota didn't want me sitting on its hill, so I took Elyssa's hand and we walked back down through the valley to a large pasture where cows chewed their cuds and stared at us curiously.

"I've always enjoyed farms." Elyssa leaned against the fence and mooed.

Every cow that wasn't already watching us looked up from the grass and ambled toward us. One of them mooed back, and a chorus of bellows joined in.

"You really know how to work the crowd." I kissed her cheek. "You're the cow whisperer."

She elbowed me playfully in the ribs. "Guess I'm just special."

My phone rang—surprising given we were so far out in the country—but the nom cell signal showed four bars. "This is the cow whisperer's boyfriend," I said.

"Apologies," Cinder replied. "I must have the wrong number."

I barked a laugh. "Dude, it's me, Justin." I put him on speakerphone so Elyssa could hear the conversation without use of her super hearing.

"I wasn't sure, because a moment ago I phoned Shelton and somehow contacted a Joe's Pizza Parlor where the sausage is always big and hot."

That sounded like something Shelton might say just to mess with Cinder, but I decided not to tell him. "What's up?"

"Agent George Walker and his team returned with some of the powerless ASEs." Cinder made a noise as if taking a breath, despite the fact he didn't need to. "I took them inside the Grotto so they would have enough aether to operate and then watched the recordings."

I tried not to get excited. "What did you find?"