Aetherial Annihilation (16 page)

I spared a wary glance for the baby crystoid. It was already noticeably larger. "Um, how are we going to contain that thing?"

"I suggest you take it through a portal for the time being so it doesn't interfere with the magic within the pocket dimension." Meghan deposited the gray substance on a piece of cloth. "Use the leather to shield your hands."

"Ya think?" I wasn't about to touch the thing, especially having seen what it did to the mercenaries.

"I think we should put it right next to the crystoid in North Dakota," Elyssa said. "Since the bigger crystoid is already soaking up most of the aether, the smaller one probably won't be able to grow."

Adam gave her a thumbs up. "Excellent idea."

I took the squirrel hide and gingerly cradled the crystoid inside. Elyssa walked with me back through the portal leading to the Grotto. I saw Shelton and Bella on the other side of the portal leading to North Dakota. The baby crystoid began to grow even more rapidly from the aether flooding through the gateway.

"Clear the way," I said, racing toward the portal. "Dangerous package coming through."

Shelton's eyes went wide when he saw the crystoid. "Where the hell did that thing come from?"

"No time to explain." I motioned him to move with my head. "Out of the way."

"Harry, stop asking questions and move." Bella took his arm and the pair ducked beneath the portal.

I stepped through the gateway, turned, and made my way down the stairs. The small crystoid stopped growing the second I was out of the aether beam. Shelton and Bella gave me wide berth as I navigated around the platform and to the crystoid trench. I knelt, placed the baby crystoid to the side of the big one, and stood up.

"What the hell are those?" Shelton said, pointing up in the sky.

I looked up and saw parachutes pop from three large black cubes about a hundred feet above us. Even with the parachutes, the cubes dropped quickly. I dashed out of the way as they clanked to the ground.

"This can't be good," I said.

The cubes confirmed my suspicions by immediately unfolding into robots identical to the one at Sweetwater Creek. Once I realized what they were, I didn't hesitate a second longer. I raced toward the closest robot and rammed it with my shoulder. It hurt like a bitch, but sent the robot slamming to the ground.

Elyssa took on the second one, tripping it up, and jamming a sword into the gun barrels on the robot's arm to keep it from firing.

I turned to face the last one, and a metal fist met my face. I flipped through the air and rolled against something hard. Woozy from the blow, I reached a hand back to see what I'd hit. Absolute zero cold and intense heat burned into my skin. Dazzling motes danced in my eyes. The air shimmered and burst into flame around me. Energy roared like the ocean through my very soul. My brain burned. My muscles froze, heart slamming inside my chest so hard I thought it would burst.

I'd touched the crystoid.
I'm dead!

I tried to let go of the crystal shard, but my hand refused my commands. I was burning up.

Too much! Can't keep it in!

A ragged cry tore from my throat. The world was in flames. I had to open a pressure valve before my body exploded.

Using all my willpower, I jerked up my right arm and unleashed hell. A torrent of crimson energy exploded from my hand. It absolutely annihilated the nearest robot. The next robot aimed its weapons at me. I adjusted my aim and disintegrated it. Elyssa threw the final robot into the path of my death beam, and sent it to oblivion. The torrent of raw power blew a hole the size of a bus into the hill behind the space the robots had once occupied and burned into the baked red clay beneath, reducing it to molten stone. The beam continued to bore through the hill and slammed into a rise on the other side.

The pressure in my body abruptly abated and my muscles went slack. I jerked my hand free from the shard and stumbled forward, still holding my other hand out toward the hill. The crimson beam sputtered and died. I fell to my knees then face-planted against the red clay.

"Justin!" Elyssa gripped my arm and hauled me out of the trench.

My body felt like overcooked oatmeal. "Am I a zombie?"

She hugged me. "Not yet, babe. Not yet."

"Holy flaming goat turds!" Shelton yelled. "You just blew up three robots and a freaking mountain!"

"It was a small hill, Harry." Bella kneeled next to me. "Are you okay, Justin?"

I nodded. My insides felt hollower than a political promise. "I'm really glad I'm not a zombie."

"We all are." Shelton gripped my shoulder and pulled his hand back. "Man, you feel like you just hopped out of a microwave."

Nausea slithered up my esophagus. I pulled away from Elyssa and heaved. Black, curdled blood oozed from my mouth. I felt like a hungover alcoholic after a two-week binge, and my throat was raw and dry.

"Justin!" Elyssa grabbed my arm.

I heaved again. More blood, this time brighter red spattered on the ground. I sucked in a ragged breath and dropped to my knees. "I feel overcooked."

"Someone get Meghan," Elyssa said.

I held up a hand. "No, I feel better now." Despite vomiting a pint of overheated blood, I felt a lot better.

"I don't care how much better—"

"No." I cut off Elyssa's protest. "Give me a moment, and then I'll go see her. She needs to figure out what that gray stuff from the chalice is." I gazed at the tunnel I'd blasted through the hill. The jagged red scoria looked like a wound in the earth. A pair of smoking metal feet were all that remained of the three robots.

"Wow, that was some light show," Ann said. She and Viola stood next to the pickup truck, having arrived just in time for the Justin Laser Spectacular.

"Were those robots?" Viola asked, peering at the meager robotic remains.

"Sorry about your hill." The words caught in my raw throat.

Ann chuckled. "I think it's really neat. My grandson will probably love riding his dirt cycle through it."

I shook my head and turned to Elyssa. "I wonder why I didn't turn into a malaether zombie."

"Maybe because you were able to release the energy." Elyssa shrugged. "That's the best explanation I can think of."

"About a good as any," Shelton said. "If you'd gone rogue on us, I don't think we could've stopped you."

Bella shivered. "Thank goodness you're normal."

Elyssa gave me a worried look. "He's anything but normal."

"Where did those robots come from?" I wheezed.

Shelton looked up. "I have no idea. The sky portal, maybe?"

Bella nodded. "They didn't come from an aircraft."

"Then the robot in Sweetwater Creek couldn't have been made by noms," Elyssa said. "Whoever launched the crystoids is trying to fortify their positions."

I hacked up more blood and nodded. "I wish I hadn't completely destroyed them."

Shelton looked at the slagged metal feet. "Yeah, we ain't gonna learn much from those."

My stomach ached with the burn of a thousand spicy Indian meals, and my eyes watered. I didn't let the discomfort stop me from telling Shelton about the baby crystoid, the dying dragons, and our theory about the end of magic in Eden.

He didn't seem to appreciate finding out so much bad news all at once. "The dragons are dying?" His shoulder slumped. "Holy mutated monkey meat. We've got to save them somehow."

"Well, if anyone can figure it out, we can," Bella said. She motioned to the little crystoid I'd placed in the trench. "Where do you suppose the witches got those from?"

I thought I'd already told them but repeated myself. "Adam said the witches found them near Thunder Rock a few hundred years ago."

"It's a Seraphim relic." Shelton slapped the back of his hand into the other palm. "Someone found some of the old relics from the first war and figured out how to make them really nasty."

Bella's forehead pinched. "It would appear so."

Adam appeared through the portal at the top of the platform. His eyes widened when he noticed the hill. "What the hell happened?"

"Justin touched the crystoid," Shelton said.

"Whoa." He walked down the stairs and joined us. His forehead scrunched when he looked at me. "Is that blood on your mouth? And where did those metal feet come from?"

"Robots," Shelton said.

I groaned. "Don't touch the crystoid."

"Gee your voice sure sounds dry there, Justin." Ann held out a bottle. "Want some water?"

I took it gladly and gulped it down. I could have sworn I felt it sizzle into steam as it traveled down my throat.

"Using yourself as a test subject is pretty dangerous." Adam shuddered and spoke before I could clarify that it had been an accident. "Meghan is analyzing the gray stuff on the squirrel hide. I figured I'd come down here and see what Shelton and Bella found out about these things. Maybe some of our facts will click." He looked at the metal remains again. "And where the hell did a robot come from?"

"Now that's a good question." Shelton took out his arcphone, fully charged thanks to the aether beam, and projected a diagram of the crystoid. "Here's what we've got."

I tried to make sense of the numbers and symbols scrolling across the image, but they looked like gibberish. Despite my abilities with Seraphim magic, I'd considered going back to Arcane University for a formal education so I didn't feel like a nitwit when the subject of magical analysis and spell coding came up.

"Wow, no wonder it sucks in so much aether," Adam said.

Shelton pointed to what looked like elemental symbols. "I've never seen this combination before. Any idea what it means?"

Adam looked just as puzzled. His eyes narrowed and he gazed at the crystoid. "Remember Moore's law of aether dynamics?"

"Of course. The concentration of aether is directly proportionate to the power output." Shelton shrugged. "So?"

"Justin's experiment—"

"It was an accident," I said.

Adam nodded. "Justin's accident gave him such a high dose of concentrated aether that he almost blew up a mountain."

"It's a hill," Bella said.

"What would an ultra-dense concentration of aether look like?" Adam seemed to know the answer, but let Shelton think it out.

I thought back to basic chemistry when a gas condensed and suddenly understood what the crystoid was.

Shelton slapped the back of his hand into the other palm. "Those things are solidified aether!"

"That's the best explanation," Adam said.

I pushed myself up and went to the crater, careful to keep my distance from the ledge. In retrospect, the dark purple and white crystal shards should have been a big clue, but I'd never seen crystallized aether.
That's not true.
I'd seen something like it on Seraphina. "When I was in Tarissa, the Darkling capitol, they used magic to create furniture out of Murk."

"Interesting." Adam pursed his lips. "Did it suck in aether like the crystoids?"

I shook my head. "No, it wasn't anything like this."

Adam snapped his fingers. "I know what the gray stuff is."

"Gray stuff?" Shelton took off his hat and scratched his head.

"Inside the squirrel skin," Elyssa said. She retrieved the squirrel hide from next to the crystoid.

Shelton glanced at it and understanding lit his face. "It's Stasis."

"Makes total sense," I said. "Stasis allows aether in, but prevents the crystoid from growing."

"That thing"—Shelton jabbed a finger toward the crater—"is like a magical snowball. When the aether is crystallized, its new magical properties suck in aether and convert it to more crystal."

Adam look up. "The excess aether follows the path of least resistance and flows out of the top shards and into the sky."

"So what's the answer to stopping these things?" I asked. "Do I channel Stasis into them?"

Adam and Shelton both shrugged.

"Maybe," Shelton said. "Then again, it might blow up."

"That's no bueno." I looked to Adam. "Ideas?"

"Here's one," Elyssa interjected. "Test out your theory on the little crystoid first. At least if it explodes, it won't take out the entire countryside."

"That sure would be great if we kept the farm intact," Ann said with a cheery smile. "Though, I suppose I could retire and move to Minnesota with Viola."

Viola looked a bit unsure about that prospect. "I'd sure like to keep the farm around if that's possible."

"Ah, don't worry about it." Shelton plastered on a reassuring smile. "Justin here hardly ever blows up stuff he doesn't want to."

"I think today would be a good day to visit some friends in town," Viola said to her mother. "Let's take a ride."

"Well, if you think that's best." Ann went to the pickup and took out a large glass dish. "I made some brownies. You guys sure are welcome to help yourselves."

Viola unfolded a card table and put a pitcher of red punch on top of it. "If you guys get hungry, there are some leftovers in the refrigerator back at the house."

"And you're welcome to use the bathroom there too," Ann said. "Just be careful with the toilet in the add-on room. It clogs kind of easy."

Bella glanced at Shelton. "Maybe you should use the other toilet, Harry."

He gave her a dirty look. "Don't be jealous of my healthy digestive system."

"Thank so much for your hospitality," Elyssa said. "Please remember that all of this is strictly confidential."

"Golly sakes, it sure would make for good gossip." Ann chuckled. "But even I can keep a secret." She waved goodbye and climbed into the pickup.

Viola paused as she got into the driver's seat. "Be careful, you guys."

"We will." I hoped I wasn't lying.

Elyssa spoke to the other Templars and sent them back through the portal to the Grotto to await further instructions.

The only thing that remained was for me to retrieve the baby crystoid and test our Stasis theory.

As we walked toward the crater, Shelton did a double take. "The ASE we sent to the sky portal is back."

"I'll get it." Bella climbed the platform and used her wand to lure the recording device over to her. "Want to watch it now?"