Terra Nova (The Variant Conspiracy Book 3) (18 page)

Chapter 25

“That sucked.” I pushed past my friends on the other side of Ivan’s metal gate. Cole followed me closely.

“Is that it? Did you get it all?” said Jonah, craning his neck to see the bins in Cole’s arms.

“Everything but the seeds Tatiana laced with oil. Ilya made that concession when he made the deal. He also made them promise this was everything, period, but I think if they have more oil off site, we can’t know for sure.” I marched angrily in the direction of the van, not caring for my surroundings any longer.

“We should set up camp somewhere nearby. I saw a cluster of trees on the edge of the slum just before we entered here. It’s like a no-man’s-land between the apartment towers in the city and Kibera’s border.” Josh’s spiky hair fell limp with sweat and his exhaustion returned with a vengeance.

“I can go back to the Mojave for your camping gear.” Melissa emitted fatigue, more dirty, beaten, and ragged than I’d ever seen her.

Jonah put a strong arm around my shoulder and I felt a brief second of security. “Are we going to get hassled? I’m sure there’s a reason nobody else is camping in a patch of urban Nairobi woodland.”

“We’ll have to take our chances. We are not leaving Ilya here. I’m not. None of you are either.” Faith’s voice had gone cold. Visibly sticky and uncomfortable, her face dripped with more than sweat. She stretched her tank top down for relief inadvertently accentuating her mix of muscles and curves. She massaged her face, stopping to rub her eyes, wiping them with her fingertips. Faith relied on her armor of stoicism, so I knew better than to comfort her.

We left the trash-lined street behind and were back outside Kibera. Jonah and I led the way toward the patch of forest Josh had suggested. As we closed the distance, I saw it was nowhere near as dense as I’d hoped. Trash covered the ground where underbrush would normally grow. It was a far cry from the kind of urban woodlands I’d been used to in Canada.

I dropped my backpack and sat down on an old wooden box. “Who says nobody’s camping here. People could be sleeping in here. These woods might get much more interesting at night. If Ilya was here, he’d just throw up an illusion and keep us covered perfectly.”

“We can manage without him for a few nights. We’ll get him back soon. And anybody who bothers us is going to quickly become sorry they did, day or night.” Cole set the two bins of canisters down on the ground.

“We can’t start a war with that slum. You can bet there is a system of power and politics in this place. We just don’t know what the system includes. Ivan won’t share his secrets. We’re better off to make friends than enemies.” Josh removed his hiking boots and socks to wiggle his toes in fresh air.

“I’m sure that takes money, which we no longer have.” Faith drew a water bottle from her bag as she sat down on the ground. She drank and then splashed her face.

“I’ll bring back some tradable valuables and more water when I grab the camping gear,” said Melissa.

My eyebrows lifted as I considered her proposition.

“Hey, don’t ask and I won’t tell,” said Melissa, hands raised defensively.

“In the meantime, I’m going to try to have a vision about this place. If we can get an ally or two, and if we can find where that hedge is going to grow, we’ll be in a position to actually fight Ivan and Tatiana.”

“Be careful. If we connect with the wrong people, anyone already working with or for Ivan, the gesture could backfire,” said Josh.

“We should be on our guard for other Compendium factions as well,” said Melissa.

“You’re the only one who knows anything about Evonatura. And this Jinhua business is a gaping black hole in our knowledge of personnel,” Jonah said to Melissa. She gave a deep sigh as her shoulders dropped. It was too much for now.

“I should get on with my trip to the Mojave.” Melissa swept her arm and opened a portal. She stepped inside without a word and closed it again after herself.

“Well, I think it’s time for a bonfire! How about you guys?” Faith eyed the shining canisters of Terra Nova.

“Wait until we’ve got the camp arranged. If the canister you burned back in Chester was any indication, these things won’t go quietly. If bees are going to fly out, burning and frantic, we should do them one at a time, at night,” I said.

I noticed a man walking out of the slum headed our direction. He had a head of tight black curls with a speckling of gray. He wore a weathered striped collared shirt and simple slacks. A leather cord around his neck had a single large tooth suspended from it.

“Uh, how can we help you sir?” said Cole.

Jonah stepped between me and the man.

“You are not missionaries. Polle, polle. I am come to help you.” His Swahili accent was strong.

“Thank you, but we have things under control here. We know it’s not a safe part of town,” said Cole. He took a step toward our visitor to make his point.

Faith and Josh continued scavenging the area for more wood boxes to serve as seats. Gemma moved toward me with a hint of unease on her face.

“I am Mr. Mbele. I am here for Irina.”

“What’s that?” Cole took a step toward the man. Jonah joined him.

Mr. Mbele peered around Jonah and Cole, extended his hand to me as though he expected me to recognize him. Josh and Faith stopped rummaging and fell in beside Cole and Jonah. They formed a human wall between me and Mr. Mbele.

“I am not here to hurt. She will see if she has not seen already.”

His soft-sounding voice put me at ease. He was not a large man. Even though my brother wasn’t there to verify our visitor’s truthfulness, I felt compelled to trust him.

“Stay here,” I said quietly to Gemma. I walked around my tall and highly protective boyfriend.

“Guys, it’s okay.” I made eye contact with Mr. Mbele.

“You should be aware that we’re very capable of defending ourselves,” said Cole.

“I know, strong man,” said Mr. Mbele. Cole’s eyes widened.

“I think you have me at a disadvantage. It doesn’t happen very often,” I said.

In response, Mr. Mbele shook his hand at me, reiterating his offer for me to take it. I hesitated for a moment. I examined the old, dry hand reaching out to me. I looked at Jonah, Cole, Josh, and Faith. Nobody knew what to do.

I took the man’s hand and the trash-strewn woods disappeared. I was in a dusty village of mud houses with thatched roofs.

A group of three women in bright, multicolored robes walked past me and filed into a hut with smoke wafting out a hole in the roof. I crept in behind them. The dark interior was tiny and I felt a wave of claustrophobia.

My eyes took a moment to adjust. They sat along the wall patiently waiting for a man drawing in the dirt on the floor. A few moments later, I could see that the man drawing was Mr. Mbele.

He gazed up at me and made eye contact. People rarely looked directly at me in a vision. It unnerved me every time, though it was usually a brief coincidence.

“Irina, I show you this time in my village. These women have come to find out what the gods will make in their lives. The gods show me many things. The gods show me you. They show me I am to help you,” said Mr. Mbele.

I stood in shock for a moment. I had never spoken to anyone in any of my visions. I took for granted that I was an invisible invader into scenes from the past and future.

“Can you hear me?” I said. “Can you see me?”

“Yes, I hear and see you. Now, we go to Kibera.” Mr. Mbele threw his drawing stick to the ground and took my astral arm. We flashed back to Kibera and the monstrous hedge from my vision.

Tatiana had nearly finished growing it. Ilya raised his hands and shot pulses of energy into the hedge’s roots. The bees were released from the flowers and I looked away. I hadn’t wanted to watch it again.

“I see these plants grow from those people many times. It brings sickness to everyone here. It is always the same when I see this vision,” said Mr. Mbele.

The bees started hitting targets on the other side of the hedge. Cries of pain and alarm rang out.

“If you’ve seen this, have you seen how to stop it? What are we supposed to do? That’s my brother over there and he’s possessed? How do we stop this and get him back?”

No sooner than I spoke, the vision-version of Faith stepped forward and torched the hedge. Cole picked up Tatiana by her ankles and thrashed her back and forth on the ground until her bloody body was limp. Josh restrained Ilya and Faith kept burning, but the cries evolved to screaming.

I watched our plan fail in front of my eyes. Ilya gripped Josh and the demon’s power engulfed both of them in a giant flare of blinding red light. Josh fell to the ground. Ilya rounded on Melissa and shot her with the same energy pulse. She fell instantly. He shot Faith next.

“That boy and the woman must die before this time. If they grow these plants, all is lost.”

“There has to be another way.”

“You are the only other seer I ever meet. If we do not see another way, there is not one.”

“When does this happen? How long do we have?”

“Sun has barely risen. It is morning. Could be tomorrow morning. Could be day after that. We have a person watch this spot.” Mr. Mbele pointed at the hedge in our shared vision. “When green woman and red-eyed boy come, we kill them. Your soldier friend and strong man can do it. Fire girl too.”

I stood speechless. We needed a new plan, but killing Ilya wasn’t an option. I had to talk to my friends before we took Mr. Mbele’s tactics as our own.

I pulled my arm away and released the hand I still held in the real world. In a blink, I returned to the trashy woods. I glared at Mr. Mbele. I had mixed feelings about trusting his vision.

Why hadn’t I seen that far myself? Why had he seen me, but I hadn’t seen him? Jonah’s words puzzling over why I saw what I saw when I saw it came back to me. I made a fist. If only I had more lavender liquid or some other way to boost my abilities.

“He’s telling the truth. He’s another psychic,” I said to my friends with Mr. Mbele watching quizzically.

“We must kill the green woman and the red-eyed demon boy. There is no other way,” said Mr. Mbele.

“What? Back that bus up. Hell, no, we are not killing Ilya!” said Faith, hopping to her feet.

“If the hedge grows, we’ve lost. I saw it again, with more of what happens. The aftermath is just carnage. We won’t win.” We were interrupted by Melissa’s liquid silver oval portal right next to me. A nylon tent bag came through and I had to jump out of the way. Another tent bag and another and another came through, followed by a large black duffle bag that clinked when it hit the ground. Melissa stepped through the portal and closed it behind her.

“That’s everything we left in the Mojave, plus some goodies from a pawn shop in St. George,” said Melissa.

“I thought you weren’t going to tell us where the ‘goodies’ came from,” said Gemma.

“Eh, why not? What are you going to do, rat me out?” Melissa opened one of the tent bags and pulled out its contents as she noticed Mr. Mbele. “Have we taken on an extra camper?”

“I am here to help kill the green woman,” said Mr. Mbele.

“Tatiana? Good, we need all the help we can get,” said Melissa.

Josh and Cole joined Melissa in pulling open tent bags.

“Mr. Mbele is a psychic, like Irina,” said Gemma, clearly impressed.

Melissa stared at her with a confused brow.

“Don’t forget the part where he thinks we’ve got to kill Ilya.” Faith glared at the ring of rocks she was building for our fire pit. “Do I need to say I’m not happy about that?”

“We’re going to find a way around that, don’t worry,” I said.

“If we can’t save him, he did leave knowing exactly what he was doing.” Jonah helped Cole spread open a tent.

“I’m not going to entertain a notion of killing my brother. What I am going to do is work on having a vision about that alien demon inside him. It’s got to have a weakness.”

“Why don’t you check on Ilya?” said Faith.

“We must find growth site and have someone start the watch. I will know the place when I see it,” said Mr. Mbele.

“Remember, the fact that this demon thing needs to get out of Ivan and into Ilya in order to pull off its energy blast buys us some time too,” I said.

“Maybe we should make a move to get Ilya out of there now. I knew this was a stupid plan!” Faith scowled at me and turned away quickly.

“I’ll try to connect to Ilya and see what our best chance to break him out could be,” I said.

“In the meantime, we need to destroy the canisters we already have.” Jonah regarded Faith with a mix of urgency and empathy.

“I’ll go with Mr. Mbele to find the hedge site. Once we know exactly where it is, we’ll take shifts watching it in pairs,” said Cole.

“We go now then.” Mr. Mbele departed.

Cole frowned and followed him.

Faith dumped a handful of loose twigs into her new fire pit. She shot a small fireball into the wood and the fire sprang to life. “Once the sun is fully set, I’ll start burning these canisters.”

Jonah and Josh fed assembled poles into collapsed tents. Gemma took a seat in front of the fire. She started unpacking a cooler pulling out bags of flatbread and cans of food.

“When our tent’s done, I’ll need some time alone,” I said to Jonah. To everyone, I announced, “Once I reconnect to Ilya, it’s going to be hard to conceal that we want to break him out. He’ll fight me. He’s ready to let the proverbial bus flatten him.”

“Then it’s just too damn bad that we love him enough to fight for him,” said Faith. I could tell she meant ‘I’ love him, but was too proud to single herself out.

“Here you go.” Jonah unzipped the door to our tent.

I kissed him on the cheek, picked up my sleeping bag and crawled into the tent. I unrolled the bag and unzipped the entire thing. I laid it out like a large blanket covering the base of the tent.