Run To Earth (Power of Four) (21 page)

Aaron found Drake waving at him, and gesturing to the seat next to him. Aaron climbed up to the third row and sat down by his side. From the raised platform, Aaron could see the map in the hollow of the table. It was the image of the mage realm, with its spidery black lines and thick-outlined blobs that represented different zones.

Scott was already there, leaning over the table, hands gripped at the rounded edge. His head was lowered but Aaron could just about make out the quivering of his lips as he muttered prayers under his breath. When he lifted his head, Scott’s eyes were still closed, but his lips were now pressed together, so tightly they were turning white. He lifted up both hands, and that’s when Aaron saw the chains looped around his fingers. Four silver symbols dangled from the ends of the chains: a circle, an inverted V, a spiral and three wavy lines. Scott opened his eyes and held up the circle, his lips still moving in silent words. He fitted the three wavy lines into the circle with an audible click. Then came the inverted V, which went into the middle of the circle and on top of the wavy lines. The last symbol, the spiral, slotted perfectly between the legs of the V. Scott finished his prayers and brought the silver mark to his lips and kissed it. He slipped all four chains around his neck, so the makeshift pendant sat proudly on his chest.

Scott sat down, hands pressed together, fingers resting against his lips and eyes trained on the map. Long minutes passed but nothing happened. The crowd gathered in the Hub were talking in hushed voices, worry and concern lacing their tones. Aaron looked around, waiting and watching, but nothing seemed to be happening.

“What’s going on?” Aaron asked.

“We’re waiting,” Drake replied.

Aaron rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I kinda got that,” he said, “but for what?”

“For the Lycans to be tricked out of the human world and into the Q-Zone,” Drake replied.

Aaron frowned. “That could take hours.”

Drake smiled. “It could take days.”

“But Scott said the Q-Zone can only be sustained for forty minutes.”

“Yes,” Drake replied. “Which is why the Q-Zone is set up, but not opened yet.” Drake glanced at the table, at Scott’s visibly strained concentration. “Scott will open it at the last possible moment, just before the Hunters lead the Lycans out of the human realm. It gives the Hunters as much of the forty minutes as possible to gather all the Lycans into the Q-Zone.”

“How is Scott going to know when that’s about to happen?” Aaron asked, feeling a flutter of nerves in his stomach.

“They’ll tell him.” Drake replied. “You see that pendant he’s wearing?”

“Aric’s mark, yeah.” Aaron nodded.

Drake looked surprised. He turned to stare at Aaron. “Starting to pick things up?”

“Shouldn’t I?” Aaron asked.

Drake paused for a moment before going on, ignoring Aaron’s last question.

“The Hunters have similar necklaces, depending on their individual talents. Scott can communicate with a
ll of them through that pendant,” he said.

Aaron turned to stare at Scott. Now he understood the careful consideration Scott was showing the four symbols when he slotted them in place; it was his link to his Hunters.

The minutes rolled into hours. Mary arrived at the Hub with trays of sandwiches and pitchers of apple juice. Everyone had a little to eat except for Scott, whose sole concentration was on the map. When it reached three solid hours with no action, Aaron wanted to get up and leave. He thought about all the information Rose and Sam may have acquired by now. He wondered how many useful books they would have found in those stores. He was sure they were back at their cottage by now, reading through mage history. He felt a pang of annoyance at himself. He should have gone with them. He would have been doing something, instead of sitting here.

Just as he tensed his muscles to get up and leave, he heard Scott’s gasp. Every eye turned to Scott, to see him drop his hands and grip onto the edge of the table. His eyes were wide, mouth open as he listened to something only he could hear. One hand closed over the silver necklace.

“How many?” he asked. “Okay.” He stood up and ran his hand over the map, making the image shift and change. A white blob began materialising, just above the location Aaron recognised as Japan. “Go!” Scott said.

No sooner had he said the word than a strange shadow began clouding the sky. Aaron turned in his seat to look outside, past the glass walls. Thick grey clouds rolled in, stealing over the brightness of the day. Thunder boomed ominously and a streak of forked lightening lit the darkening clouds.

“Start praying,” Scott said, speaking to the Hub this time. “The Q-Zone’s open.”

***

The atmosphere in the Hub was by no means relaxed before, but after Scott spoke, the tension was so thick it was stifling. Aaron drew closer to the edge of his chair, eyes narrowing at the map on the table, and in particular at the white cloud. Small green dots – tiny pinpricks – began appearing in it, spreading across the cloud.

Scott’s hands roamed over the map, etching thin white wisps leading to the cloud. One hand closed over his pendant and he spoke to the Hunters.

“Portals are open,” he said while one hand traced more spidery lines into the cloud.

“Portals?” Aaron frowned.

“Shortcuts,” Drake said, his gaze on the map also. “They’re like tunnels that lead from the human realm into the Q-Zone,” he explained. “All the Hunters have to do is lead the Lycans to one of the portals and they’ll be zapped straight into the Q-Zone.”

“
All
they have to do?” Aaron asked. “You make it sound like it’s the easiest job in the world.”

Drake smiled. “Trust me,” he said. “Tricking demons into portals
is
the easiest part of the job.”

“Is that how we move from the human realm to this one?” Aaron asked. “By portals?”

“Not always,” Drake replied. “Portals are set up and controlled by Scott. He doesn’t leave any open unless there’s a hunt. The other way to travel between the realms is through a tear.”

“A tear?” Aaron asked, remembering the way they had arrived in his dad’s car. The fall off the road, the intense heat, the bright flash before hitting the bricked road leading to the Gate.

“There are rips, little tears that allow access from one realm to the other,” Drake explained.

“Can’t humans see them?” Aaron asked.

Drake chuckled. “Humans don’t know what to look for,” he said. “Even mages have to work hard to see them.” He turned to look at Aaron, a small smile on his lips. “When you were in the human realm, did you ever see a flash of lightning but hear no thunder following it?”

“Plenty of times,” Aaron replied.

“That’s someone passing through a tear,” Drake said.

Aaron frowned at him. “Thunder is always there, it’s just sometimes too far away to hear,” he objected.

Drake chuckled. “Don’t get caught up in human explanations. They’ll come up with anything to explain that which they don’t understand.”

“So you’re saying every time there’s a thunderless flash of lightning, that’s a mage passing through a tear?” Aaron asked.

Drake shrugged. “Sometimes mage, sometimes demon.”

Within minutes, the cloud steadily changed from white to green, as Hunters and presumably Lycans entered the Q-Zone under Scott’s instructions. Scott leant over the table, both hands closed around the pendant, eyes fixed on the cloud.

“Get them in,” Scott instructed. “How many?” he asked incredulously. “No, no! There’s more!” His expression relaxed and he closed his eyes. “Good, good.” He looked to the small clock hung on the adjacent wall, where red luminous numbers had started a countdown. “You’ve got just under thirty-eight minutes,” Scott told the Hunters. “Get them in,
all
of them.”

Aaron watched with bated breath, even though there was nothing to see, only Scott standing over the table. A few minutes passed with Scott doing more of the same, instructing the Hunters. He glanced across to the clock.

“Thirty minutes,” he said. “How many?” He closed his eyes and one of his hands made a fist. “Fantastic! I’m locking it down. End those sons of demons!”

One by one, Scott shut down the portals, so the white wisps disappeared, leaving behind the now pulsing green cloud. The murmur in the Hub picked up volume, with many smiling faces and nods of approval. Aaron saw others with their hands clasped, rocking back and forth, eyes closed in silent prayers.

“Alright, twenty-five minutes to go,” Scott said. “Fred, Rachel, get your teams and move out.”

Aaron saw a few of the green dots that were swimming around in the cloud disappear. Four minutes later, Scott issued his next order.

“Sarah and Joshua, move out.”

Another few dots vanished.

Over the course of the next ten minutes, Scott instructed more and more teams to leave, turning the cloud back to its white form, with only a few green dots left squirming inside.

“Fifteen minutes,” Scott called. “Where are we?” He nodded, lines on his brow relaxing. “Okay, good enough,” he said. “Zhi-Jiya, Omar and Lilah – get your teams and move.”

The surrounding mages began giggling in relief, shaking their heads at one another with whispers of, “I told you there was nothing to worry about,” and “Good thoughts lead to good results.” Aaron looked around to see that even Drake was smiling.

Scott instructed another team to leave. Now there were only twelve dots inside the cloud, Aaron could easily spot them.

“Good, good.” Scott was smiling. “Just ease them out, just–” He gasped, eyes widened and his mouth twisted with horror. “Skyler!” he called. “Skyler?” His hands pressed into the necklace, palms crushed together in force. “No!” he gasped. “Skyler!”

Aaron’s heart skipped a beat.

“Skyler’s down,” Scott said, making practically everyone in the Hub suck in a breath.

It felt like the temperature in the room had plummeted, making everyone shiver.

“Get over to him. Get him out!” Drake instructed the other Hunters.

Aaron’s gaze was pulled to the Empaths who had closed their eyes, their breathing calm and even. The twelve women held on to each other, forming a circle. Armana breathed in, held her breath, and then her features twisted with pain and she cried out. Her eyes squeezed tighter, her delicate fingers clutched around the hands of another Empaths. Beads of sweat gathered on Armana’s brow, making her pale skin glisten. Slowly, panting softly, Armana relaxed, her shoulders dropping back down. The lines on her face disappeared and she let out a shaky breath. Her pale blue eyes fluttered open and she smiled.

Scott paused for a moment, tensed and worried. Then relief flooded him and he threw back his head, both hands covering his face. He straightened up and clutched the pendant again.

“Skyler,” he breathed. “Get yourself out of there. Go, take your team and leave.” He glanced at the clock. “Ten minutes. I want all of you out in five, got it?”

The minutes trickled down and when the clock glowed with a singular number five, Scott instructed the remaining four dots to get out.

“Go in pairs and get out,” Scott said, smiling in relief as two dots disappeared.

It came to the last two minutes and there were still two dots remaining.

“Alright, you two,” Scott said. “Leave now and stand guard.”

One dot disappeared, just as the clock flashed the end of a minute, and the seconds started their steady decline.

Scott frowned. “I told
both
of you to leave,” he said, holding onto the necklace. His eyes narrowed. “Kyran, get out.”

Aaron felt like the bottom of his stomach had dropped. He looked at the clock. Forty seconds left. The map still showed a singular green dot.

“Kyran!” Scott yelled. “What’s going on?” His eyes widened and he cursed. “Find a way past them. Get out now!”

Thiry-five seconds...Thirty-four...Thirty-three...

“Damn it, Kyran!” Scott’s face was now pink, one hand gripped around the pendant while the other balled into a fist. “Dodge them and get out!” He glanced to the clock. “Thirty seconds!”

Aaron could feel panic ballooning inside him, clawing its way up his throat, making him feel short of breath.

“He’s cornered,” he whispered in realisation.

“Don’t worry,” Drake said in a bored voice. “He’ll get out.”

“How do you know?” Aaron asked, angry at Drake for being so calm.

“It’s Kyran,” Drake said. “He always finds a way out.”

“Twenty-five seconds!” Scott yelled.

It seemed that only Drake was indifferent to Kyran’s fate – or perhaps Drake was the only one with faith in Kyran’s death-defying tricks, because everyone else in the Hub was panicking, just like Scott. Murmurs were breaking out, mages shifted in their seats, clasping hands together to mutter prayers.

“Weave your way to the door!” Scott was saying. “Don’t stop, just keep going!”

Aaron was close to hyperventilating. He looked at the clock to see fifteen seconds left.

He’s not going to make it.
The thought echoed in his head, making Aaron’s insides go cold.