Dire Destiny of Ours (40 page)

"Me either."

Cutsauce whined and looked up at us as if he wanted in on the loving. I sent him a mental command.
Go bother Shelton!
He barked once and took off upstairs.

Elyssa sighed, kissed me, and took on a business-like attitude. "I think it's time you filled me in on the broom situation."

"Let me sweep you off your feet, babe."

She groaned and rolled her eyes.

We went upstairs to our bedroom. Once there, I brought her up to speed and told her about the late-night rendezvous with Lina and her boyfriend, Ryan.

"I hope he can give us some help," Elyssa said.

I nodded. "You and me both."

Elyssa twisted her lips. "More importantly, we have to come up with a name for our airborne angels."

"What do you mean?"

"Daelissa has the archangels, so we need something badass for our people."

I snorted. "It just so happens I'm the master of naming."

"Let me guess, your idea of a wonderful name would be sky angels." She raised an eyebrow as if daring me to contradict her.

I had to admit, I liked the sound of it, but I wasn't about to let her know that. "No, that's an awful name. How about the Valkyries?"

"Now you're just stealing names." She frowned. "I'm actually a little disappointed hearing that from the same person who named a hellhound Cutsauce, and calls their arcphone Nookli."

"Don't forget Captain Tibbs."

She wrinkled her nose. "What poor creature did you call that?"

"That's what I called Nightliss in her cat form when I rescued her from a dog." I shrugged. "I thought it was a cool name."

Elyssa giggled. "Poor Nightliss. I'm glad that name didn't stick."

I rubbed my hands together. "Back to business. What's a good moniker?"

"Let's call them skydevils."

I scrunched my forehead. "I'm the only one who'd fit that description. I want something to make enemies fear our wrath. We need to up the poop-in-the-pants level."

"Hmm, I like the sound of that."

I raised an eyebrow. "The poop in the pants part?"

"No, silly." Elyssa tapped a finger on her chin. "We need a scary name."

One thing I'd always found frightening—besides clowns, of course—were ghosts. I imagined flying ghosts trailing tattered clothing, their skeletal hands coming for the throats of our enemies. That was when the name hit me. "Skywraiths."

Elyssa looked at me in stunned silence. "I can't believe it."

"What?" I winced in anticipation of her scorn. "Does the name suck?"

She shook her head slowly. "No. It's actually the coolest name you've ever come up with."

"Really?"

She nodded. "Totes, babe."

I pumped a fist. "Woot!" Unfortunately, I had no idea if our new Skywraiths would stand up to the archangels. "I just hope we can get them off the ground."

Elyssa made a dorky face. "Oh, you're so punny."

I tickled her until she threatened to karate chop me if I didn't stop, then we curled up together and made out like it was our first time, though this time she didn't pin me to the ground and hold a knife to my throat.

I felt so relaxed, so at peace. Deep down, I knew that every second of idle time with Elyssa was a luxury. A part of me argued I couldn't afford it. I put that part of me in timeout and ignored it. I'd been so busy over the past few months I'd almost forgotten what it was like to be bored. People who had that much time on their hands didn't know how lucky they were.

After a few more minutes of bliss, we grunted, groaned, and got up. I typed up a quick report on the day's events and sent it to Thomas so he could disseminate it as necessary.

At ten o'clock sharp, Elyssa and I arrived at the Science Academy ferry dock. Shelton and Bella flew to a position just beneath the cliff, their carpet hidden by a camouflage enchantment.

The bipedal robot guard for the dock was slumped over, its single, unlit eye facing the ground.

The air flickered, and suddenly Lina and a tall male appeared. Ryan lifted his finger from a button on his belt and nodded at us.

"Neat camouflage belt," Elyssa said under her breath.

I landed the carpet next to the dock.

"It is so good to see you." Lina gave me a firm hug and kissed me on both cheeks, Colombian style before repeating the greeting with Elyssa.

I shook her boyfriend's hand. "Ryan, I presume?"

"That's me." He was tall, thin, and geeky, but handsome in his own way. "We don't have a lot of time. I can only disable the robot here for twenty minutes before someone notices it."

"I'll get straight to the point, then." I looked around cautiously and then launched into my mini-speech. "Daelissa has massive battle golems. We don't have much to counter her and were hoping Science Academy might come through. I have to admit I don't know everything you all are capable of, but any help might turn this war around."

Ryan pursed his lips and nodded. "It just so happens that we have several brand-spanking new battle bots that could probably help."

I felt my hopes rise. "That's great."

His face darkened. "When we first started working on them, we thought they'd be for defending the academy in case the war spilled over here. One of my friends overheard Frankenberg talking to Newton recently and it turns out that's not the case at all."

"What do you mean?" Elyssa asked.

Ryan frowned. "I think Frankenberg is waiting for both sides to wipe each other out while he forces us to build an army."

"This campus isn't just on lockdown," Lina said. "It's become a prison."

"They keep us working like slaves." Ryan gazed longingly across the valley at the lights shining from Arcane University. "I could escape, but I wouldn't be able to get everyone out." His jaw tightened. "Frankenberg told me that if anyone leaves, he'll take it out on the other students. He's keeping some of my friends in an undisclosed location." Ryan's face screwed up in disgust. "He showed us video of his people threatening a girl. Even if we could escape, we can't leave anyone to suffer."

I briefly thought about using the map and key, or even a series of omniarch portals to help the students, but since I didn't know where the hidden students were being kept, that approach wouldn't work. "How is he maintaining control?"

"The council controls the security drones and bots." He regarded me. "From what I heard, they're no problem for you, but we can't handle them."

"How many?"

"Fifty airborne drones. They look like small flying saucers, and they pack a wallop." He jabbed a finger toward the disabled bot. "They have approximately thirty security bots."

"What about the battle bots?"

"Thankfully, they aren't powered." He looked around nervously and continued. "They use a hybrid aether-nuclear core that won't start without an Arcane. The students at the School of Magical and Scientific Synergy escaped before lockdown occurred, so Frankenberg has no way to ignite the power cores." He nodded his head toward Lina. "They don't know she sneaks in to see me."

I felt relieved. "So if we mount a rescue operation, we won't have to fight them."

"Exactly." The wind rustled nearby trees, causing Ryan to scan the area once more. "But there's another problem. Frankenberg claims that he has a failsafe. If he dies, or if he activates a trigger, he'll set off a series of explosives and take out everyone on campus."

My stomach knotted. "Like a nuclear bomb?"

Ryan shook his head. "No, I think it's more conventional. From what I understand, the Arcane Council set up wards to prevent Science Academy from detonating weapons of mass destruction after the Einstein Crisis."

"Well, we got that going for us, which is nice." I bit my lower lip in thought. "In other words, we have to do this quickly and covertly."

"There is no other way," Lina said. "I wanted to come to you for help sooner, Justin, but you've been so busy with the war."

"We tried to escape before the lockdown." Ryan looked down. "We're all supposed to be so smart, but everyone is too scared to do anything. I'm just ready for this to be over."

"We've all been there before." I thought about our options. "I'll need a complete list of Frankenberg's supporters, drone patrols, etc."

Ryan handed me an ASE. "This all-seeing eye has everything you need. We've been collecting the data ever since the campus went into lockdown. If you can help us, we'll get those battle bots online and do everything we can to win this war."

"We'll get you out of this," I promised. "You should get back to wherever you need to be before you're missed."

Ryan shook my hand. "Thank you, Justin."

I looked at Lina. "Is it safe for you to be here?"

"I'm sneaky." She smiled. "I can take care of myself."

Elyssa hugged her. "Be safe."

We headed back to the university.

"I always figured Frankenberg for a dumbass," Shelton said as we flew over the sparse lights of Queens Gate in the valley far below. "If he thinks he can mop up the winning forces after the war, he's gonna be in for a nasty surprise."

"I know who'd be perfect for this job." I looked at the others. "Underborn."

Shelton wrinkled his forehead. "Isn't he busy screwing around with the Alabaster Arch?"

"My mom can handle things there." I rolled the ASE around in my hand and tucked it into a pocket. "If he lives up to his reputation, he should be able to take out Frankenberg and his failsafe without raising an alarm."

"I agree," Elyssa said.

Elyssa and I parted ways with Shelton and Bella back at the mansion and went through the omniarch portal to El Dorado. We found Mom, Underborn, and Adam Nosti working intently on the Alabaster Arch.

"We're extremely close to a solution," the assassin said.

Mom nodded. "I think this might actually work."

Adam Nosti flicked a hand across his arctablet. "Serena probably knows we're up to something, so she opened a portal to Seraphina and has been keeping it open. That's why we can't take control of the Alabaster Arch network." He looked up from the screen. "We're going to bind the Chalons into one big Mega Chalon to concentrate their energy and send a power surge through this arch and into the nexus. That should cause it to reset and sever the connection to Seraphina. Then we'll have at least a minute to take control."

Mom's forehead wrinkled with worry. "We don't have long before the Second Battalion reaches the gateway in Seraphina. This has to work."

"I have complete faith in you." Worry tried to wedge itself into my chest, but I couldn't let it—not now. I turned to Underborn. "I have an important matter that requires someone of your particular talents." I led him to the far side of the room, explaining the situation at Science Academy. Elyssa walked by my side, but said nothing.

Underborn frowned. "I don't believe I'm best suited for such an operation."

I felt my eyebrows climb. "What do you mean? You're a stealthy assassin. Taking out some bureaucrats shouldn't be an issue for you."

"You're right. I could easily take them out and escape unharmed." He shrugged. "I am an expert at precisely nullifying a target or small number of targets. I can infiltrate just about any location. I might even be able to save a few people." He shook his head. "What you're asking me to do is carry out a complex rescue operation. Even though I could get past the drones and security bots, I would also have to neutralize this failsafe Frankenberg has and find the hidden hostages. To accomplish that, I'd likely have to capture this man and interrogate him for information."

"I never said it would be easy." It was hard not to feel disappointed. "After all the hype about you, I figured you'd be a shoo-in. Now you're telling me you can't do it."

Underborn smiled. "I never said I couldn't—I simply said I wasn't the best suited for such an operation." He sighed and looked at the Alabaster Arch. "Truthfully, I don't want to leave this project. We're so close to a solution, I can taste it."