Terra Nova (The Variant Conspiracy Book 3) (11 page)

Chapter 13

When we checked into our old hostel, I was relieved to find no sign of Rose, Sage, or any form of police investigation. I’d already convinced myself the harpy twins were strong enough to break free from their pipe cages when fully awake and properly motivated over a long enough period of time.

I pictured them forcing the pipes apart and flying out the tiny window one after the other. The hostel staff would find twisted and bent copper piping and simply shake their heads, perhaps pondering the scrap value.

After a fitful sleep, I woke covered in sweat and goose bumps. I saw images of Tatiana injecting Ivan, of his hateful red eyes, and of his hand caressing the steel canisters which would bring humanity to extinction.

I recalled the bodies at Chatham Park—on the lawn, in the main hall, in the back garden. So much death. Their faces flickered through my mind. Jonah slept soundly next to me, naked and dead to the world. I hadn’t fully grown accustomed to waking up with him next to me, undoubtedly because I hadn’t thought he’d ever be able to withstand prolonged contact.

I slipped out of bed and pulled on my clothes in our chilly room, cold from the morning shade on our side of the building. I sat in the chair, rubbing my arms vigorously to warm up without having to wake Jonah. Just because I couldn’t sleep didn’t mean he shouldn’t get precious rest.

“Come back to bed,” he muttered into the pillow, otherwise motionless under the covers.

“I’m freezing. I had to get dressed.”

“You’re supposed to let me keep you warm.” He lifted his head to smile at me. His disheveled wavy black hair and blue eyes held my gaze and my heart fluttered.

“I had nightmares.” I crept back into bed fully dressed. I let Jonah spoon me. Heat radiated from his body and I felt that pull once more, in spite of my tense exhaustion. The hostel’s lumpy mattress and flat pillows were uncomfortable, but with Jonah wrapped around me I didn’t want to move.

“What were the nightmares about? Regular dreams or real ones?”

“I think it was my mind re-hashing the visions I had of Ivan in Nairobi blended with the carnage at Chatham Park. All those poor people. There were a few hints of the creature inside Ivan laced in there. I still remember the first time I saw its eyes, outside my motel room in Victoria. I feel like it’s been haunting me for years.”

“What do you think it wants? If Ivan’s sick from the creature being inside him, does it crave blood or bone marrow? Maybe Ivan needs to study your genes or Ilya’s to perfect some kind of gene therapy.”

“Awesome, Jonah. You’re really making me feel better.”

“They’re not going to get anywhere near you. Between me and Cole and Josh, nobody will so much as touch you. Or Ilya for that matter.”

“I can take care of myself, thanks.” I climbed out of bed again.

He reached for me and I pushed him back telekinetically to prove my point.

“I’m not trying to say you’re weak. I’m trying to remind you that you’ve got me to back you up.”

I let my shoulders drop. I knew it wasn’t his style to dominate. I knew he would take a bullet for me, and I for him. “I know you’re trying to help, but nothing will get better until we’ve dealt with Ivan, Tatiana, and Terra Nova. I’ve a creepy sense we’re going to have to kill them. Do you go to hell for killing your father if he’s under the influence of an alien demon?”

“If you’re saving an entire sentient species, it ought to keep you from eternal damnation. Not that I think there is such a thing.”

“Either way, the decision is pretty much made, so I should brace myself for whatever consequences come.”

“Why don’t we grab the others and go for breakfast?”

Back under Ilya’s illusion that we were Chinese students, we met on the street in front of the Berwick’s stairwell. We agreed on The Lazy Toad again.

The pub was only half-full of patrons, so we got seated and served quickly. We wolfed down our traditional breakfasts in record time.

Faith adjusted her eyebrow ring. “So what’s our game plan once we arrive in Crete, Melissa?”

She wrinkled her nose. “I’m going to put us on a hillside just outside a town called Fira. I don’t remember the streets well enough to know where the alleys and corners and parks or any other hidden spots will be. And it’s been about twenty years, so a lot could have changed.”

“What if the hillside is a suburb now?” Josh gulped on a mug of coffee.

“I tested the spot briefly last night. It was dark, but the area looks like it’s still pretty open.”

“Can we leave right away?” I said.

“It would be safer to wait for the cover of night,” said Josh, lifting his eyebrows.

“There’s no time to waste. Ivan and Tatiana aren’t waiting,” said Cole, also downing coffee.

Gemma watched everyone carefully, surprisingly thoughtful, and silent.

“Jinhua certainly isn’t waiting. That air current full of poison is devastating, but it won’t be enough to affect the global climate as quickly as they want. More will come, from points around the world,” said Jonah, his face grim.

“It’s too bad we don’t have Adelaide to question about what Evonatura could have up their sleeve.” Faith studied the ceiling for inspiration as she stretched.

“Have you been able to get any more concrete project objectives from
The Compendium
files?” Josh asked Melissa.

“Those Jinhua Energy assholes have four coal refineries scattered across northern China. Those facilities have an ongoing assignment to produce poorly refined coal, the effect of which is to increase emissions over time. No mega disaster event potential there.” Faith sounded so cold discussing engineered environmental decay.

“I found an Evonatura subsidiary with offices in Turkey and Syria. They’re working on something like the fracking earthquake technology, only their machine causes sandstorms. There are test results measuring wind velocity and displacement of top soil.” Melissa sipped her tea carefully.

“Sons of bitches,” said Cole under his breath.

Faith took a deep breath. Her dark eyeliner gave a hint of malevolence to the already frightening information. “Innoviro had subsidiaries as well, throughout California and the southern US. Everything from power plants and waste processing facilities to industrial agriculture and silviculture farms, probably all of which are doing business as usual even with Innoviro leadership in the wind. Some of those facilities could have ‘accidents’ with huge environmental impact, but I never found any timelines or future projects.”

“There’s more, but it’s going to take time to really make sense of the data. It’s organized, but the documents are long and wordy.” Melissa blotted her lips gently with a napkin. “Without big picture information from Compendium architects, it’s like putting together a ten-thousand-piece puzzle.”

“Then we get back on the road from Greece as quickly as possible.” Cole crumpled his napkin to a pile of crumbs.

Gemma’s eyes widened briefly and she opened her mouth. Cole glanced at her and then back at the paper bits on the table. They both flushed for a second.

Melissa crossed her arms with a satisfied air. “It won’t be a road per-say. I found a ferry from Santorini to Heraklion on Crete. From there, we can buy airfare to Cairo. From Cairo, we should be able to get a direct flight to Nairobi.”

“Remind me to take you out for that dinner someday.” Josh smiled at Melissa.

She returned the smile and then turned away. “Who’s got the British pounds? My credit card needs a break.”

“You bet. I’ve got you covered.” I jumped up and paid our server at the bar.

The alley beside The Lazy Toad smelled as foul as the one next to The Incinerator, but it was a bittersweet odor with the anticipation of our journey at hand.

Melissa opened a portal and I paused to watch it. The swirling silver oval gave off no light, but it imitated liquid metal.

Faith, Ilya, and the others plunged through the silver pool. I lingered. I wanted one more vision to show me we were on the right path. I hesitated, thinking I should see past Ivan’s arrival in Nairobi. If I concentrated hard enough, would I see the outcome of our sacrifice and peril? I saw nothing but black behind my eyelids, so I stepped through the portal.

A torrent of dust and sand engulfed me immediately in coarse brown curtains filling the air. I tried to open my eyes. Sand burned my skin and choked me. I walked forward. My foot hit something hard, knocking me off balance. My backpack lurched against my shoulders. I hit the ground, face first.

Chapter 14

The sandstorm beat my body. I choked. The air whooshed from my lungs. I curled my arms around my head, shielding my face. I cupped my hands around my mouth, desperate for a space to breathe.

A large hand grabbed my arm, yanking me to my feet. Jonah opened his jacket, enveloped me, and put his lips to my ear. His voice rose over the screeching wind and he said, “Something went wrong.”

“You think?” I shouted back.

“We have to find Melissa to get out of here. Cole has your sister. Ilya and Faith are here too, but we haven’t located Melissa or Josh.”

“We need to find shelter first and wait out the storm.” Jonah lifted his jacket enough for me to see Cole with his arms wrapped around Gemma. Ilya had his shirt up over his mouth and nose. Faith had pulled her dreadlocks around her face like a veil.

“Irina thinks we should find shelter and wait out the storm,” Jonah yelled to the group.

“Bad plan,” Cole yelled back. “The storm could last for hours. Melissa and Josh could get a long way from here in that time.”

“Can’t you hear them?” I yelled at Ilya.

He shook his head and yelled back at me. “No better than you can ‘see’ them!”

“Try again! Concentrate!” Faith shouted at Ilya.

“Wait, I have an idea,” I blurted.

I closed my eyes to focus and burrowed into Jonah’s jacket to escape the storm. I pictured the sand stopping mid-air and dropping to the ground, dust and all. I pictured us inside a bubble of calm air, like a glass dome popped up around us in the swirling mass of loose dirt. The crackling chaos around us went silent.

“Irina!” yelled Ilya, way too loudly.

“Nicely done!” said Faith.

I came out from inside Jonah’s jacket and I saw the reality of what my telekinetic ability had produced.

There was no glass dome. Not all the sand had been pushed away. It was like being inside a beige snow globe. Granules of dirt and dust floated as though moving inside liquid.

The sandstorm carried on in the distance. Invisible walls around and above us kept the wind and debris from entering our space. Faith shook copious amounts of sand from her dreadlocks as the rest of us brushed sand and dirt off our faces.

“There they are!” said Cole. He released an arm from around Gemma to wave, beckoning them into our fragile shelter.

As they moved closer to us, I saw Josh towing Melissa by her hand. He broke through into the bubble and took a desperate gasp of air. He pulled in Melissa. She gulped and fell to the ground coughing.

“Where the shit are we?” Faith shouted at Melissa.

“I don’t know. I think . . . I must have been thinking about the Syrian sandstorms I read about in Compendium files.” Melissa coughed a few more times.

“You brought us to a freaking sandstorm!” yelled Ilya.

“We would have been better off swimming to Greece!” shouted Cole.

“I’m sorry! It was an accident. It’s not that I can’t transport to places I’ve never been. It’s more I shouldn’t because I’m flying blind. My memories of Santorini are faint at best so I must have slipped off course. I’ll try again.”

“Damn right you’re gonna try again!” Faith continued knocking dust and dirt out of individual dreads.

“Would you mind testing it first before the rest of us go through?” said Jonah.

“Of course, she’s going to fucking test it!” said Faith.

“It’s not her fault. We’re lucky we have her with us. You know anyone else who can open a portal between two points in space?” I yelled at Faith.

Faith glared at me and resumed shaking sand out of her dreadlocks.

“Melissa, I don’t want to make this worse, but I’m not sure how long my little miracle bubble here will last. I don’t really understand how I made this happen in the first place.”

“I’m ready. Just give me one more moment.” Melissa dusted herself off and rubbed sweaty dirt off her face. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, coughed, and recovered. She breathed in and out and in and out. Then she swooped her arm slowly and carefully through the air until her liquid silver oval came back to life. She plunged through the uncertain gateway.

We waited nervously for a moment. No one spoke. Suddenly Melissa came back through the portal smiling. “Come on guys, it’s a sunny day on Santorini.”

She stepped into her oval and I followed first, hoping my confidence would inspire the others. Jonah kept hold of my hand and slipped through behind me.

Bright sun blinded me for a moment. As my eyes adjusted, a cliff-top plateau of dry grass unfolded around me. Melissa had chosen her spot well. We were isolated from the town which clung to a cliff far away. Beaches below were full of sunbathers too distant to notice the flicker of Melissa’s portal.

Josh brushed dirt from his vest and pants. “We should find some water and clean up first. If we head into town looking like we just escaped a sandstorm, we’re going to attract some attention.”

“I’ve got this.” Jonah walked to the edge of the cliff. As though he pulled a rope up from a climb, he guided seawater up a channel on the side of the cliff facing away from the tourist hub. He pulled and pulled until a pool of murky seawater swirled beside us in mid-air.

“That’s the best I can do on an arid Mediterranean island.” Jonah shook off his dirty jacket and plunged his arms into the floating basin-less bath. He splashed his face. The water pleased him and he immersed himself leaving only his calves and feet bare.

Faith plunged in and I gingerly touched the edge of the pool. The water smelled of salt and seaweed, but it felt warm. I splashed my face a bit and retreated since Jonah’s jacket had kept the worst of the storm from me.

Once everyone had their fill of wetting and washing, Jonah eased the water to the ground. Water flooded our feet and then gushed back down off the edge of the cliff.

“Everybody ready to meet some Greeks?” said Ilya.

“We’ll find more tourists than locals around here,” said Melissa.

“Just walk.” Faith kept frowning as she untangled a long strip of seaweed wrapped around one of her dreads.

The Mediterranean sun dried us quickly as we walked along a dirt path toward the cluster of whitewashed cube and dome homes at the edge of town.

Our group didn’t appear as though we’d just come from a sandstorm, but we weren’t tidy. I wanted to stop and buy clothes. I wanted a shower and a bed.

More than that, I was starving. “We should grab some food before we find this ferry. I’m assuming most people on this island will speak English?”

“Yeah, that’s a safe bet. We should buy some souvenirs too. If we start spending money quickly, no one will care that we look like vagrants,” said Josh.

“I’ve still got those rolls of Euros and American dollars.”

“Then, lunch is on you,” said Faith.

The town rose in front of us as we crested the last hill. Roasting meat and drumbeats greeted us. I was so happy I nearly cried. I held it in and tied my hair back into a ponytail.

We passed several bright white homes on the outskirts before the buildings connected and stone stairs descended into the commercial area.

A cobblestone street wound past a resort that emanated a vibe far too posh for the likes of us. Bright blue and yellow paint on window frames and doors shone in the strong sun overhead. Hanging baskets of bright flowers outside high-end boutiques betrayed the ancient age of the island.

We pushed on to where the white paint had faded to dingy ivory and sun-bleached baby blue peeled off the shutters. A general store had fruit in carts outside and enough young sweaty tourists milled about that we weren’t quite so odd.

I angled my way through a group of Spanish-speaking girls around my own age and I started filling a wire basket with food. A box of crackers, a loaf of bread, a bottle of water, some cheese, a jar of olives. I picked up a canvas tote bag, paid for the lot, and stuffed it all into the bag which hung nicely from my shoulder. My friends continued milling around outside, except for Josh who talked with the Spanish girls. I admired his seemingly flawless Spanish while Melissa sneered.

Jonah stopped a lady pushing a souvlaki cart and bought a dozen skewers of meat. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ilya’s head perk up before he ran off into a crowd.

We found an unoccupied brick ledge and sat down to eat our meat. I passed around chunks of the loaf of bread I’d bought. Faith bought six bottles of beer from a nearby pub and handed them down the line.

“Where did Ilya take off to?” I asked Faith.

“We should start finding that ferry.” Josh took a large bite of his skewer and ate hungrily.

“He thought he heard a variant,” said Faith calmly.

“What?” Cole frowned as he chugged on his bottle of beer.

“And he just took off hunting her?” I said.

“Him, I think. Ilya said he’d be right back.” Faith’s face conveyed contentment as she chewed on her bread and cheese.

“Jerk,” I said into my skewer of chicken. The meat and beer and bread tasted so good I couldn’t stay angry.

We finished our food while the street bustled around us. Finally, Ilya appeared in the crowd with a small olive-skinned man in tow. The man seemed much older than us, although he was several inches shorter than Ilya.

“Hey, guys, this is Giorgio,” said Ilya.

“And this is happening, why?” Josh warily eyed Giorgio.

“Don’t be rude. I’m Melissa.” She stood up and extended her hand, using her open palm to present each of us in turn. “That ill-tempered man is Josh. These are our friends, Faith, Cole, Jonah, Irina, and Gemma.”

“Nice meeting of you,” said Giorgio in a thick Greek accent.

“It’s nice to meet you too, but we’re not staying long on Santorini.” Jonah pushed back his wet hair from his face. I noticed his blue eyes matched the ocean water.

“Can you point us in the direction of the ferry to Crete, preferably Heraklion, specifically,” said Josh.

“I take you on my boat.” Giorgio nodded with an air of finality.

“Uh, I’m sorry, but we don’t know you well enough to hop on your boat. I don’t know what Ilya told you, but we’re in a hurry. And we’ve got a very important job to do.” Cole tipped his bottle and finished the last of his beer.

“Yes, is important to stop Evonatura from causing many more problems.” The features on his face were stone cold serious. “Giorgio knows what they’ve done.”

“All the same, we’re happy to take the ferry,” I said cautiously. Hairs on the back of my neck prickled. This was far too convenient.

“Ferry goes only in morning now. Only one ferry business left from better days. Costs too much for many trips. You want to go fast, you come now with me,” said Giorgio.

“He’s telling the truth. He’s a pyrokinetic. That’s how I heard him. He was keeping his temper in check to stop from burning down his ex-wife’s shop. Not unlike someone else I know.” Ilya playfully lifted one of Faith’s purple locks. She sneered at him.

“You’re serious, aren’t you?” I said directly to my brother.

“His boat is the only way off the island until tomorrow and that certainly puts a new spin on things,” Ilya said.

“Don’t you think it’s a bit convenient that this guy happens to cross our path?” Cole pointed at Giorgio with contempt.

“How do we know he’s not working for Evonatura? Or God knows who else?” I had a bad feeling and I needed Ilya to share it.

“Sis, he seems like a nice guy.” Gemma sipped from her bottle.

I wondered if she could still count on one hand the number beers she’d ever had. “Nobody’s trusting your judgment for the next decade, not after where we found you,” I told my sister. I reached out my hand to Giorgio. “Let me see what I can see.”

Giorgio sized me up and then took my hand. Santorini melted into a sunny hilltop vineyard. I saw Giorgio talking with a man in a suit. I recognized Claude Mueller from his portrait in Evonatura’s London office.

Giorgio wore overalls and a dirty brown T-shirt. He cleaned his hands with a cloth as he spoke. “Replacing grapes with new plants will kill business.”

“You will be very well compensated for participating in our work. Whatever you earn at your winery will be doubled by me. I will pay you in cash. Declare only what you want to the Italian government.”

“And what you want me to grow?”

“That’s on a need-to-know basis. Until you’re part of our project, you don’t need to know. Keep in mind, doing business with Evonatura comes with the added security our staff can offer. On the other hand, not doing business with us is risky. What if someone down in Messina learned about you and your wife? This is not a part of the world that embraces oddities, particularly of the non-human variety. What if a local found you out? They might just decide you’re a demon and that your wife is a witch. Wouldn’t that be sad? Frightened or superstitious people are dangerous.”

“You don’t make threats to me. Fine, I grow your crops for one year. Then you leave again. Is that deal good enough for you?”

“We need five years. Minimum. We’ll pull our plants when we’re ready. You’ll allow us to convert your winery to laboratory space as well.”

“My wife is going to be angry. The winery is in her family for many generations.”

“Help her understand this is how she can keep it for many more,” said Claude. “If she doesn’t go along with what we want, she won’t have a vineyard for long.”

I released Giorgio’s hand and returned to Santorini. “Yeah, he’s not onboard with Evonatura,” I said to the group. To Giorgio, I added, “I’m sorry they destroyed your wife’s vineyard. I don’t know how you ended up here, but that was unfair.”

“Many years ago now. She is not my wife anymore. Forget my past. Now, we go to Crete.”

I picked up my backpack and nodded. “Lead the way.”